Is Kronos on it's way out?

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Fri Nov 09, 2018 4:51 pm

Got some disturbing news today from an insider

The Kronos could very well be the last fullfledged workstation on the market ever. Seems Korgs next big thing could be much more along the lines of Montage and Jupiter 80. a performance station instead of a recording studio.

High end integration between hardware and PC and Ipad. Namm could be where we hear more about this. IS my source trustworthy, well, he has been right before, but also been wrong before. Only time will tell.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Fri Nov 09, 2018 5:27 pm

thats not a total surprise. Years have passed. No updates since Feb 2017.

That was a sign that Korg is otherwise engaged, for whatever product or business reason.

Montage is not a strong seller and I think price was a show stopper. The MODX is validation of this, IMO.

I would be disappointed that Korg simply follows Yamaha MODX, under $2000 'performance ' synth. It would really have to be juiced up, multiple sound engines, more innovation etc.

Plus, I record 100%. I don't have any plans to gig. Which mostly takes me out of the 'performance synth ' market niche.

I understand that a "performance synth ' avoids many of the constraints of Kronos. IOW, that approach is 'less risky' in terms of business.

So its a business tradeoff on product development and use of resources.

If I was president of Korg, I would try for another home run , all in 1 W/s.
But its not my money . And its can be easy to dream. I also call it ' think Big or go home "

Koekepan · Post by **Koekepan** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 2:04 am

If this is true, KORG should just come clean and say:

"We would have done this, but it's really too hard. I mean, everything in one box? Nah, brah, that's for Casio and Akai professional."

As Casio makes gains, KORG steps back. Very gentlemanly, really.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 12:51 pm

Koekepan wrote:If this is true, KORG should just come clean and say:

"We would have done this, but it's really too hard. I mean, everything in one box? Nah, brah, that's for Casio and Akai professional."

As Casio makes gains, KORG steps back. Very gentlemanly, really.

Over the years, ( Kronos) I have made somewhat similar comment along the line of 'this is what Korg " should " do'.

For whatever business reason, Korg never pre announces . I have disagreed with this deliberate silence. It is typical of most companies in their market niche.

Just the same, for a +$3000 product, I have asserted a general announcement by Korg would be helpful to the community. It does not have to have dates.

I am aware of some comments made by engineers, last summer, during a Korg Japan visit by Francis of the FB group.

I prefer something more official and possibly conclusive by Korg. " Still working on it " is unofficial IMO

Koekepan · Post by **Koekepan** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:31 pm

I guess I can't blame them for continuing to sell the Kronos while they still have stock. It's just that on the one hand, the all-in-one workstation, or at least workstation qua studio master is alive and well, and in the form of the MPC X, selling pretty much like hotcakes, ergo any claim to the effect that those days are gone is clearly nonsense. Similarly, Casio is bringing keyboards with ever-greater sophistication forward, and I would be utterly unsurprised if they were to announce a major workstation upgrade themselves.

On the other end, we're seeing lots of people demand sequencers and recording capabilities. Just consider the fuss around the DP32SD losing MIDI capability over the DP32, or the interest around new sequencers, or the rate at which they sell (the Social Entropy Engine sold well on three production runs, if I remember correctly).

Another approach would be a development of the AIRA concept, into a decomposed workstation that can be configured piecemeal to meet the demands of the occasion.

Or they could just drop it, keep their arranger lines, and do the software-and-synths thing with Gadget and the logues.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 6:49 pm

Koekepan wrote:I guess I can't blame them for continuing to sell the Kronos while they still have stock. It's just that on the one hand, the all-in-one workstation, or at least workstation qua studio master is alive and well, and in the form of the MPC X, selling pretty much like hotcakes, ergo any claim to the effect that those days are gone is clearly nonsense. Similarly, Casio is bringing keyboards with ever-greater sophistication forward, and I would be utterly unsurprised if they were to announce a major workstation upgrade themselves.

On the other end, we're seeing lots of people demand sequencers and recording capabilities. Just consider the fuss around the DP32SD losing MIDI capability over the DP32, or the interest around new sequencers, or the rate at which they sell (the Social Entropy Engine sold well on three production runs, if I remember correctly).

Another approach would be a development of the AIRA concept, into a decomposed workstation that can be configured piecemeal to meet the demands of the occasion.

Or they could just drop it, keep their arranger lines, and do the software-and-synths thing with Gadget and the logues.

I am a song writer throwback to the 70's. Thus I have little interest in new SEQ's. The idea of dumping midi is blasphemy. If I was 17 yrs old I suppose
all the new products have an appeal.

Another rant is my near total dependance on Korg's Song file format. Sure I can dumb my 40 songs [ and counting] down to midi and recreate them in another
software sequencer file format. But thats not what I enjoy doing with my time.

I suppose Korg doesn't give a %^%^ about preserving an archaic file format that they created. Another example of what Korg " should " do- stay consistent.

Then again, if Korg goes performance synth they skirt that potential demand. Maybe there are not hundreds or thousands of Kronos owners that want a file format to live another 10 years- in a next gen keyboard.

jeremykeys · Post by **jeremykeys** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 10:27 pm

Has anybody tried making a song file convertor?
I'm not sure if this is even possible but it might be an idea.
I do know that there are a lot of very smart people here on this forum.
Just a thought but it may be a good one.

Koekepan · Post by **Koekepan** » Sat Nov 10, 2018 10:57 pm

GregC wrote:I am a song writer throwback to the 70's. Thus I have little interest in new SEQ's. The idea of dumping midi is blasphemy. If I was 17 yrs old I suppose
all the new products have an appeal.

I agree; I'm not happy about the DP32SD losing MIDI. That said, to be fair, I can mix in a sonic marker at the beginning of a track to help line them up old-school.

The other possibility is a desktop-only Kronos update, with modern CPUs, more RAM, faster buses and more connectivity options. Maybe they'd even update the interface to offer a 10 inch touchscreen with pianoroll. Kronos 3 for your sonic pleasure!

marc1 · Post by **marc1** » Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:33 am

Bachus wrote:

The Kronos could very well be the last fullfledged workstation on the market ever. Seems Korgs next big thing could be much more along the lines of Montage and Jupiter 80. a performance station instead of a recording studio.

What would be the rationale behind that, copying other companies failures? If that's supposed to be the future after Kronos then... well.. good luck with that Korg!

No, what people really demand has been shown with the MPC X. People were complaining for years that they want it all in one unit and Akai seemed completely oblivious, not willing or able to retreat from their 90ies paradigm when the original MPCs were in their prime. But it's now more obvious than ever that people actually like all powerful and flexible devices. Or have you ever wondered why everyone loves their smartphone? It's simply because smartphones meet a wide range of demands not necessarily restricting them to their original purpose.

Koekepan wrote:

It's just that on the one hand, the all-in-one workstation, or at least workstation qua studio master is alive and well, and in the form of the MPC X, selling pretty much like hotcakes, ergo any claim to the effect that those days are gone is clearly nonsense.

I agree.

leonh · Post by **leonh** » Thu Nov 15, 2018 4:41 pm

Yamaha new keyboard MODX is half price of Montage and is selling fast why would Korg make another expensive Kronos they will rather as an Krome update make Kronos lite like MODX with all engines in cheaper package and it would sell for sure.

marc1 · Post by **marc1** » Thu Nov 15, 2018 6:27 pm

why would Korg make another expensive Kronos

Simply because they dominate the market in that segment, the workstation segment that is. And from time to time you can see people complaining on this very forum, also new forum members, arguing that they would be interested in a Kronos follow up, because in their view Kronos is obviously too "limited" in its capabilities (for this day and age). And I think the Montage would have sold better, if it was a convincing concept. Personally, I have no doubt that a Kronos successor would sell, even more so after all those years.

they will rather as an Krome update make Kronos lite like MODX with all engines in cheaper package and it would sell for sure.

Now that's something to be reckoned with anyways.

afr · Post by **afr** » Fri Nov 16, 2018 1:21 pm

https://microkast.podbean.com/e/korg-mi ... xpertease/

something new it will be presented at the WinterNAMM '19

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Fri Nov 16, 2018 3:02 pm

afr wrote:https://microkast.podbean.com/e/korg-mi ... xpertease/

something new it will be presented at the WinterNAMM '19

yes, that would be obvious. Korg and other cos present 'something ' new at NAMM 2019

Lets help out some- a new analog Volca. I suppose that is the news.

Otherwise==. N D A. or NDA

Kronos2ison · Post by **Kronos2ison** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:03 pm

What a great idea..

leonh wrote:Yamaha new keyboard MODX is half price of Montage and is selling fast why would Korg make another expensive Kronos they will rather as an Krome update make Kronos lite like MODX with all engines in cheaper package and it would sell for sure.

Heyjp · Post by **Heyjp** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:38 pm

Sweetwater and B&H PhotoVideo showing Krome 61 as discontinued and 73/88 on close out.

Korg Forums

Is Kronos on it's way out?

Krome 61 discontinued