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Has anyone here actually had their hands (or ears) on the Kronos? I'd be interested in hearing from someone who knows first hand, and (no offense intended here) who is not "pimping" it for Korg Korp.

-- seen the NAMM demos LIVE?

-- participated in sound design?

-- allowed to touch the actual keyboard?

BB

billbaker wrote:Has anyone here actually had their hands (or ears) on the Kronos? I'd be interested in hearing from someone who knows first hand, and (no offense intended here) who is not "pimping" it for Korg Korp.

-- seen the NAMM demos LIVE?

-- participated in sound design?

-- allowed to touch the actual keyboard?

BB

I know SHarp has seen it on the NAMM, don't know if he had a handson experience...

...

billbaker wrote:I'd be interested in hearing from someone who knows first hand, and (no offense intended here) who is not "pimping" it for Korg Korp.

I take it you're looking for honest assessments. Fair enough. But surely you risk alienating some of the very people who fit your criteria for answering your post by leading off with such a smarmy premise. So count me out. Oh, and "no offense intended."

Peter -

Pardon my vernacular.

People who get paid to say Kronos is the greatest thing since the invention of fire may actually believe it's true, but because they're being paid there's just a tinge of doubt.

My intention was not to tick off people who have a job that, frankly, I'd love.

If you're one of them, or just sympathetically vibrating with perceived insult, I apologize to you, too.

But the question is legit.

BB

Sina172 wrote: I was there as well. You couldn't play the keyboard there, but the demos were amazing! I was able to feel the weight of the 61 note KRONOS. They let me pick it up and feel how light it was and there was only one that was turned on and functional which was used to demo the unit.
Sina

Did you touch the keys? Have any thoughts?

I don't think people who don't work for Korg or was one of the voicing artists (Jordan Rudess, Herbie Hancock etc.) were able to have a decent play on the Kronos.

Sina: did you play just ONE Kronos?

Not FIVE of them?

Pheewwww... Are you downshifting on your usual pace?

18 Tritons, 6 Oasys, and now just one Kronos?!?

ozy wrote:Sina: did you play just ONE Kronos?

Not FIVE of them?

Pheewwww... Are you downshifting on your usual pace?

18 Tritons, 6 Oasys, and now just one Kronos?!?

Hey don't forget the SV-1 he also has too

Keybed is the same on the KRONOS 73 and 88 as the SV-1 73 and 88. But realize that the SV-1 uses EDS-1 instead of HD-1. So your going to get compressed samples and lower quality DAC's.

KRONOS Samples are uncompressed and in stereo with HD-1. Add to that the Burr-Brown PCM1792 DAC chip and you've got one hell of a sound!

That said, I have the SV-1 and it compliments my M50 SO well, to the point where I use the M50 as sort of a groovebox and I jam along with the SV-1 sounds to generate ideas and inspiration for new tracks.

But in comparison to KRONOS, there IS no comparison. Think Merecedes C-Class to a Maybach, sonically speaking.

Sina

_________________
OASYS 88 #001602

http://www.myspace.com/sinasmusic2

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=58971

billbaker wrote:But the question is legit.

What's the question? You just want a yes/no response to the three points in your original post? Or you want a personal endorsement of the Kronos from someone who played the instrument but has no ties to Korg? I'm not sure if such a person exists.

At any rate, I think you'll just need to play the thing yourself anyway. What could anyone possibly say that would work in lieu of actually playing the keyboard yourself?

There's an Indian fable about the Blind Men and the Elephant. Each of them has a perspective based on which part of the elephant they happen to be touching.

So my question had more to do with asking if anyone had actually "seen the whole elephant" or whether all the discussion here was based solely on the video releases... and the 15 or 20 sounds out of the thousand + that are on the board.

And my three questions, while short and answerable Yes/No were intended to elicit a response beyond the monosyllabic... "it's in there" -- not to muzzle the discussion down to binary response.

-------------

...and yes, getting my own hands on it will be the deciding factor.

'Til then I'm just looking for what you are --- more informed opinion.

BB

I realize I'm ABSOLUTELY not the guy you want opinions from, but as far as "getting your hands on the keyboard," there are facts I an point to that should illuminate.

If you've played the M3-61 keyboard, you know how the KRONOS-61 keys feel.

If you've played anything else that has our RH3 action (SV-1, SP250, M3-88, M50-88, LP350, Pa588), you know how the KRONOS-73/88 keys feel.

RichF wrote:If you've played anything else that has our RH3 action (SV-1, SP250, M3-88, M50-88, LP350, Pa588), you know how the KRONOS-73/88 keys feel.

I played a M50-88 yesterday. I really like the feel of the keybed.

Thanks, Rich...

It's not so much that I absolutely did NOT want to hear from you... I recognize your talent and experience in presenting as much information as you have in the relatively small windows provided by the NAMM videos.

Great job there... as you can tell by the excitement (including mine) and the dialog they've inspired.

So... maybe I should've just asked you.

------

I'm 55 and at the point in my career (such as it has been) that my next keyboard will probably be my last.

And nothing I can recall has had the allure and hold that Kronos seems to have on the ears and imaginations of keyboard players (at least at this forum) so my original questions were directed to guys like me - long time players who might be at NAMM watching you do those demos; I wanted to know what they were thinking - has it "changed the(ir) game"?; are they blown away? was there an opportunity to play a key or twist a knob?

I know you've got years of making Korg synths of all descriptions look like the "last keyboard I'll ever need" - I just wanted to know if anyone else had reached that conclusion based on actual time on the machine.


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billbaker wrote:I'm 55 and at the point in my career (such as it has been) that my next keyboard will probably be my last.

Try to be a bit more optimistic. That means if Jack LaLanne had been a keyboard player, he'd have bought his last keyboard in 1970 - a year before the introduction of the Minimoog Model D!

No lack of optimism - I plan to play forever... just think my kids will have better things for me to do with my money.

BB