They changed the specs!

[danatkorg]

...Perhaps it's simply a case of Korg adding more sample data than before.

Yup.

- Dan

[zahush76]

...Perhaps it's simply a case of Korg adding more sample data than before.

Yup.

- Dan

Great!

So, can you please give some more information about what are the new additions to the sample library?

[EXer]

[...]Yup.

- Dan

Could you please be a bit more specific?

[ScoobyDoo555]

Thanks for the clarification Rich.

Personally, I'm looking at it that you can in essence set up an "autoload" macro - that only loads up what you want.

I've only come to this conclusion from dabbling with this aspect on my Kurz K2000 years ago - not really done anything with it since!!

I'm assuming that Kronos will allow the same type of thing. Seems a bit daft to have to load everything up, only to then manually take out the stuff you don't want, to then manually load in the stuff you do want!

[jimknopf]

billbaker wrote:

Maybe the reason there's not as much RAM is that there's more good stuff in the primary EXi's boot up than there was before.

That's part of the reason for the change, along with OS updates.

Is it often that you need both a German and a Japanese grand piano loaded at once?
Do you always need the brass/woodwind expansion library on hand?
If you play with a drummer, do you need to load the new drum kits?

if you're exploring a Kronos for the first time in a store, or when you're incorporating it in into your workflow, the answer to all of this is usually "yes." In these cases, you should be able to experience everything it can do as a fully loaded instrument. Even though we want to show off how fast the SSD is, loading an EXs library just isn't quite as much as fun as playing one.

Customization often follows exploration. Once you've gotten to decide which aspects are the most important to you, you can trim down your preload to suit your needs, and gain sample RAM as a result. There's nearly 1gb of RAM available without the EXs libraries loaded.

To summarize, a new Kronos will auto-load nearly all of the included expansion data. If you don't need it, you can load/unload it very quickly, and the speed of the SSD makes this quick and painless.

Hope this helps.
-Rich

Hi Rich,

as far as I understood, the RAM holds only the "headers/preload"-information of the SSD libraries. Could you name for example how much RAM is really freed up when using only one of the two big pianos?

I guess, even if someone doesn't want to keep all the factory stuff on board, still most of us might want most of it available for different purposes. And yes, depending on the different character of the two grands, I also might well want both on board and still would enjoy some sampled favorite instruments of mine if possible.

If, just to name an example, I wanted to load just one 8-layer Scarbee Rhodes, Wurly, or Clav, the Rhodes alone as Soundfont would need 500-600Mb Sample space (similar with the other ones). I could name other libraries summing up to hundreds of Mb fast. Of course due to the huge sound possibilities on board of a Kronos there hardly will be a too urgent need for sampled stuff. But to enjoy making full use of that option and use own additional favorite samples, I admit that would make me ask for 4Gb very soon.

I'm certainly aware that it is a luxury problem we deal with!
But if we really want to use the great samling possibilities, 4 Gb RAM are probably more appropriate than cutting down EXis too much within the available 2Gb.

[zahush76]

Could you name for example how much RAM is really freed up when using only one of the two big pianos?

Dan has already answered that question on the "memory specs" thread.
If you unload one of the two 4.7GB grand pianos, you free about 216mb of ram. That's the ratio.

[jimknopf]

Thanks, Zahush76.

About what I expected, and not really convincing from my view, to lose a great grand piano sound for not more than 216Mb.

It means that we would have to sacrifice big parts of the factory EXIs to get at least half or two thirds of the sample RAM, which for example I use right now with my Fantom G.

As I said: a luxury problem. But still it would make much more sense to use such a concept with 4Gb RAM from my view. I certainly wouldn't mind paying for extra RAM.

[EvilDragon]

4 GB of RAM and all problems solved. Korg knows this and they are aware of that. I would be very shocked if they don't release support for more RAM as an OS update, or until actual release in June/July or wherever.

[zahush76]

The other problem would be if one wanted to purchase a Karo expansion library, that - as it appears right now - can only be preloaded into ram, and not streamed thru the ssd, which makes it very hard to use. I thought it was difficult when the specs said 273mb of free ram. Even more so with only 148mb of free ram.

I'm toying with the idea that the added new samples are actually a KSL Karo expansion, after korg struck some kind of a deal with them and made it a standard on each kronos.

Dream on...

(though it could make sense, since with this little ram left, and no abillity to stream user samples - who would buy Karo expansions? Maybe both korg and karo can benefit from a collaboration like this)

[danatkorg]

I'm sorry, I responded without sufficient thought. Rich was correct, it's a combination of changes to data and changes to the OS.

Best regards,

Dan

[drama1]

[quote="
I'm toying with the idea that the added new samples are actually a KSL Karo expansion, after korg struck some kind of a deal with them and made it a standard on each kronos.

Dream on...

quote]

That would be KILLER. Karo strings included in Kronos would be the ABSOLUTE deal breaker for me...preorder me an 88 right now. While I really like the warm analog string sounds on the Oasys/Kronos/M3, they're nowhere near as realistic as Karo or Kurzweil PC3 string/orchestral sounds.
Just dreaming.

[danatkorg]

Thanks for the clarification Rich.

Personally, I'm looking at it that you can in essence set up an "autoload" macro - that only loads up what you want.

I've only come to this conclusion from dabbling with this aspect on my Kurz K2000 years ago - not really done anything with it since!!

I'm assuming that Kronos will allow the same type of thing. Seems a bit daft to have to load everything up, only to then manually take out the stuff you don't want, to then manually load in the stuff you do want!

Brief excerpt from the manual:

KSC stands for Korg Sample Collection. KSC files contain links to RAM and/or EXs sample data, including Multisamples, Samples, and Drum Samples. Loading a KSC file loads all of the linked sample data.

At startup, the KRONOS can automatically load one or more KSC files. This page lets you select which KSC files are loaded. These settings are saved automatically, and are not part of the Global PCG file.

[EvilDragon]

Karo strings included in Kronos would be the ABSOLUTE deal breaker for me...

You mean deal PUSHER?

[NuSkoolTone]

I think it's great there's more content included, even if tha tmeans less RAM available.

Though I must admit, the AKAI compatibility makes me excited because I have a LOT of great libraries that I would LOVE to play live with. Though that will definitely require more RAM. So count me in on requests to be able to upgrade the RAM.

Also, so we don't need as much, some user streaming capability would be awesome too.

These requests are a bit spoiled, but it's the only obvious thing that's lacking in the Kronos given the information released.

[synthguy]

Is it often that you need both a German and a Japanese grand piano loaded at once?
Do you always need the brass/woodwind expansion library on hand?
If you play with a drummer, do you need to load the new drum kits?

In my case, the short answer is yes. The long answer is

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssss....

Okay, I'm sure this is an old joke by now. But yes.

Some of us like Kevin Nolan are soundtrack makers or one-man-band guys (me), at least until I can find some awesome collaborators. Until then, my synths are the collaborators, and I need every tool I can get my grubby fingers on. So I want all the pianos, all the drumkits. All the vintage and orchestral libraries. All the synth engines. And all the Karo samples too.

I hope KORG is noticing that just about every single poster wants the ram upgrade.