I finally put my hands on the kronos

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:11 pm

I finally could test the Kronos today.

Review follows tomorrow.

Anybody else involved in the North-Italian tour?

Highlights:

* sound definition IS oasys-like.

Let's forget the motif.

Impressive.

* best EP emulation I ever heard. Very, very, very good.

The plus is: it's pair or better than cp-1, but you have the full palette of effect modeling and programming.

Kronos wins hands down.

* ws-like pads 90% of WS.

* analogue emulations very good, jury still out about their modularity

* HD-1 is "mature". Meaning: it's at the end of the road, its boobs are sagging. Can't be improved.

* the LCD is unsatisfying. They crammed too much definition into a too little screen..

not very detailed at touch, controls are very small and will need a pen. Difficult to read. Too many pictures, too little info. Can't ever imagine playing pads on it.

Bottom line:

a) if Korg releases an SV-2 based on the Kronos' piano & EP emulations under 2000, Clavia is dead. DEAD!

b) the rompler as a concept is dead. physical modeling is too advanced.

Brass and winds are ashamed by comparison to pluked strings (the fretless are huge) or EPs.

c) the Kronos is "incomplete". It's a transition machine.

sampled brass and strings, choirs, whatever seem to belong to a DIFFERENT synth.

If you split (piano/brass) the keyboard, it's like your playing a cp5 on the keft hand and an M3 on the right. The ears just revolt.

d) until they develop a decent orchestral physical modeling, korg will live a dichotomy.

Marginal comment:

build quality is not good.

visually it doesn't look 3/4000 euros, and functionally it's not-so-tough metal... and the part most exposed to live and transportation damages, the side panels, is... rigid and fragile plastic?!? Come on, THAT's the part that should have been wood or soft plastic or steel.

Further "news" from Korg personnel:

* no chance of a rack. never. the concept is DEAD.

* Sv-2 could be in the making, with Kronos' ep, hammond and piano engines.

Also a "pure synth" could be in the making (a few light keys, only VA synth engines, no hd, no sequencer, just a performance polysix+ms20+etc etc)

"in the making" meaning: AFTER the kronos has been throughly MILKED. NAMM 2012?

I can wait.

My final decision:

a) no final decision, I'll wait for the reference guide because I need testing the conflicting information about the Kronos' modularity [I am afraid I believe Danatkorg (=no modularity), not Mirabella (modularity)]

b) if SV-2 is released tomorrow for 2000 eur, I'll immediately buy one.

See ya tomorrow

ScoobyDoo555 · Post by **ScoobyDoo555** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:19 pm

Interesting. Interesting.

Look forward to the deep review

jmexio · Post by **jmexio** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:33 pm

ozy wrote:Review follows tomorrow.

What do you mean tomorrow?

You talk like you have the right of conducting a normal life after experiencing Kronos live!

Oh, wait, you have?

Oh, OK, see you tomorrow

Cheers,
Juan Miguel

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:40 pm

jmexio wrote:You talk like you have the right of conducting a normal life after experiencing Kronos live!

starting this morning 8am, I have

traveled 300 km

passed the examination for a step-up in my career, I had been preparing for months

taken the car

traveled back 300 km to Milan

gone to the store at 6.00, tested the kronos until 7.30

had celebration dinner with my wife about the career,

got bashed for ever discussing the kronos purchase.

I think I am allowed to call it a day

billysynth1 · Post by **billysynth1** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:46 pm

Yes, brass are crap on the O, thats why i have my Z1 to take care of that. Korg really need to give us Brass/Reed and Strings Model...of course if they do that then K will be 11 not 9

Dan has already said the reason they didnt give the brass/reed was because of time...they never had time to work on this...so they do have the intellectual ability to do this.

Billy

robinkle · Post by **robinkle** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:51 pm

Questions:
Will the picture of the display, become synced with the plugin software?
How is the velocity sensitivity? Banging hard or expressive?
Do you have more info on the Pure synth?

About the too small display, I don't think I will have problems with that. I use to read books on my iphone. Stick your nose closer to the display and it becomes bigger, I dunno how, but it does.

Kronos being a transition synth? How about Oasys then? :X

Samples sound different? I'm going program my own sounds anyways.

how about a software version of kronos?

Are you saying the buildquality is Roland-Like?

ozy · Post by **ozy** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:03 pm

robinkle wrote:How is the velocity sensitivity? Banging hard or expressive?

only the 61 keys was available... sorry, I have big and strong fingers, I hate those keys.

But it's not worse then the m3's

robinkle wrote:Do you have more info on the Pure synth?

no. I just teased the korg guy repeatedly and on details, and I could detect that the rack is a no-go, but they would like to have a shot at the "stage piano" and "solo synth" markets.

a "pure synth" would be "what the R3 was to the radias".

"probably with an external editor instead of lcd and menus, to get the price down".

His words, not mine.

robinkle wrote:I use to read books on my iphone. Stick your nose closer to the display and it becomes bigger, I dunno how, but it does.

...er... yes, in a way...

why not a 3" screen then? one could just stick it INTO his right eye...

robinkle wrote:Are you saying the buildquality is Roland-Like?

Now that's nasty

I didn't say the Kronos is a Gaia.

I said the sidepanels look and feel cheap.

The buttons and sliders don't look megabucks either.

they are good, but... 4000 euros?!?

oh, by the way - I almost forgot mentioning:

61 = 3000 euros
88 = 3900 euros
73 = 3400/3500 euros.

Sounds like this is final.

And we were discussing at Lucky's (best store prices in Milan)

robinkle wrote:Samples sound different? I'm going program my own sounds anyways.

I can't understand.

You program your sounds based on samples, and rompler architecture. If its filters etc are lame... your programs will be as good as the basic sound material allows them.

robinkle · Post by **robinkle** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:15 pm

robinkle wrote:Samples sound different? I'm going program my own sounds anyways.

I can't understand.

You program your sounds based on samples, and rompler architecture. If its filters etc are lame... your programs will be as good as the basic sound material allows them.

I will make my own samples mostly. And spread them across the keyboard. Hopefully the HD-1 filters and modulation and effects is good enaugh for that. 90% I might use the MOD-7 with samples.

dokido · Post by **dokido** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:24 pm

well, thats ok prices for me
and thanks for the review
but Im starting to loose interest, perhaps I keep my M3
and it seems to be hard to sell anyway

ScoobyDoo555 · Post by **ScoobyDoo555** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:30 pm

Thanks for this extra info - appreciate you must be rather tired!!

If it really is 3000 Euros..... that's £2.5K.....

That's encouraging.

robinkle · Post by **robinkle** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:31 pm

the display didn't really surprise me though. By looking at the pictures, the display is as wide as an octave of keys. Using 800x600 on a small display like that is very high resolution on a small area.

I wonder how the build quality on the surface is. Side panels are one thing.

Lando · Post by **Lando** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:35 pm

Seems like the "old" samplings from the Oasys (HD1 with it's expansions) are what's lagging behind the rest of Kronos, and that's what my ears tell me when I hear the demos aswell. Pianos are obviously amazing, EP-1 sounds awesome, synths seems really solid and I can get amazing strings with KARO samples but sad to her that wind/brass/choirs are not up to par.

Another thing that struck me in all demos is how crappy STR-1 sounded, but I guess it has to do with personal preference and what sounds the demos have shown.. What I've heard so far are horrid upright bass-like and something vaguely remenicent of a bad fretless plus an acoustic guitar which sounded nothing like the real thing, but I'm guessing it has potential for some cool, not life-like plucked string sounds?

Also, 3,9k€ for the 88 when it's 3799$ in the US??? That's more than 1000€ more in Europe???

EDIT: 3900€ is 5375$ right now. Wonder who would pay that in the US?

Post by **Sharp** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:40 pm

EDIT: 3900€ is 5375$ right now. Wonder who would pay that in the US?

Never use European prices to gauge American prices. Everything costs more here, even the air we breath.

Lando · Post by **Lando** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:42 pm

Sharp wrote:
EDIT: 3900€ is 5375$ right now. Wonder who would pay that in the US?
Never use European prices to gauge American prices. Everything costs more here, even the air we breath.

Still you have to agree that is some crazy ass big prize difference?

Post by **Sharp** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:43 pm

HD-1 is "mature". Meaning: it's at the end of the road, its boobs are sagging. Can't be improved.

Oooh it can, trust me. Those KORG guys are very clever. While HD-1 is by a mile the best PCM based sound engine they have ever introduced to a workstation, but it's by no means the limit of their imagination.

Pop on over to korgpa.com and take a look at their DNC technology that they are driving the EDS engine with. Imagine that driving HD-1.

Regards
Sharp.

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