drmaestro wrote:Add arrangements to Kronos :) Then you'll have the ultimate arranger-workstation which will unify this artificial separation between those two kinds of keyboards.
Adding arranger capability as a separate function is never going to happen, it's too big a change. But KARMA could provide this with fairly minor changes (is there any such thing as a minor change to a complex released product?), such as:
(1) There should be a way to have a KARMA scene play once (or some number of times) when selected, and then go to another scene (either the next numbered scene in sequence, some specified scene number, or the previous scene), or turn KARMA off. This would allow scenes to provide the different parts of the song, like intros and endings, without the performer having to always remember to select the correct scene.
(2) Each KARMA scene should be able to use a different GE for the same module. Since the scenes would be the different parts of the song (intro, fill, ending, etc.) an entirely different kind of backing part might be needed. Currently, the selected GE can be modified for the different scenes, but being able to select an entirely different musical pattern for part of a song would more like an arranger.
These two things alone, along with some new GEs, would make the KRONOS usable as an arranger (and may already have been implemented in later versions of KARMA). There are all kinds of other things that might be useful:
(3) There should be some way to allow notes currently being played by KARMA modules to sustain (for some number of beats, maybe) after KARMA is turned off, instead of cutting off abruptly.
(4) Some additional and more musical Dynamic MIDI note group sources would help: for example, a "note density" source, proportional to the number of notes being played at one time; a "complexity" source, relating to the complexity of the chord being played and/or the relationship between notes inside the KARMA zone and those outside; a "push" source, proportional to notes being played ahead of or behind the beat; etc. All of these (and some existing sources like velocity) should not be instantaneous but should be averaged over some period (a measure? a selectable number of beats?) of time.
(5) Etc., etc.
With these kinds of added KARMA functionality, the KRONOS would be a kind of "super arranger", not only providing the kind of backup parts (intros, fills, endings, etc.) that arrangers traditionally do, but also modifying them in realtime using KARMA's Performance Real-Time Controls and Dynamic MIDI capability. It would be an arranger that can respond to what the performer is playing. And maybe more KRONOS owners would actually start using KARMA...
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Then you'll have the ultimate arranger-workstation which will unify this artificial separation between those two kinds of keyboards.