Songs played from Set List without preload in Sequencer?

marianghioda · Post by **marianghioda** » Sun May 22, 2011 3:40 pm

After reading the Kronos Manual, I have doubts that I clearly understood the function of the Set List, in relation to the Sequencer.

Currently, I'm using Triton Extreme to play songs of the sequencer.
My problem is, before each set, I have to preload the songs in the sequencer, and I'm limited to about 12-20 MIDI songs.

I know that the Kronos sequencer has double the size of the Extreme, but I got very excited when I saw Rich at the big opening presentation saying that "there is no more loading time, everything is being accessed directly of the SSD drive with a click on the Set Listt".

In Kronos manual says that you STILL have to load the songs in Sequencer before playing them.

My question is: Could somebody that has access to the Kronos do some simple tests and confirm, either way?

Could you please, click on a song that you have recorded and put on a Set List, but make sure that it wasn't already loaded in Sequencer.

Does it load directly, or not?

The second test would be, when you click on a song in Set List mode, does it start playing instantly, or you stlill have to press play on the Sequencer?

Third, in Sequencer, can you load a new song and Play while playing a song, interrupting the current song that IS playing, without having to stop it first?

Thank you very much,
Marian Ghioda

Gargamel314 · Post by **Gargamel314** » Sun May 22, 2011 4:05 pm

just to clear a few things up

There is no play list on the Kronos (i will greatly miss that feature). They have a "Set List" which basically makes a button on your screen, and when you press it, it will call up a program, combination, or sequence. It's a great feature for live use... not such a great feature if you need to play a playlist of songs... cause it doesn't. presently there's NO FEATURE on kronos that will do that.

What he meant when he said "there is no more loading time, everything is being accessed directly off the SSD drive" i believe he was talking about the SGX-1 piano EXi. That's a new feature that saves the user from having to load 9 GB of piano samples every time... instead, it just plays all the samples off the SSD.

Yes, you still have to load songs into the Kronos's sequencer... it's pretty much how all of Korg Workstations have worked, except the Triton series. But you can still save your SEQ data to the Kronos's HD... loading time for a SNG file is a blink of an eye.

The answer to your third question... nope... it's just like using SEQ mode on the triton. Imagine the Triton without "cue list" or "S. Play Mode" ... that's pretty much what you have with the Kronos.

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Sun May 22, 2011 4:29 pm

So how does one go about loading up a bunch of MIDI/audio .SNGs into the sequencer? One at a time or is there a way to do this in batch or autoload?

Busch.

marianghioda · Post by **marianghioda** » Sun May 22, 2011 4:31 pm

OK, I called the Set List - Playlist....my bad.

Still not clear, I have asked specific questions, Gargamel314, do you have access to the Kronos, or just your opinion?

Thanks again
Marian Ghioda

Gargamel314 · Post by **Gargamel314** » Sun May 22, 2011 4:55 pm

A Korg SNG file contains a whole set of sequences... up to 200 songs, or up to 400,000 MIDI events (whichever gets used up first). It includes all the proprietary settings like effects, tone adjust settings, track parameters, RPPR pattern assignments, etc. If I go to load a SNG file, within a second I have 16 sequences loaded at once.

To load MIDI files into the sequencer, you have to load a single standard MIDI file at a time (*.mid). From there you can add effects, set in some custom parameters to your liking, and then you can save the whole batch as a SNG file that can be loaded straight from the HD.

I don't have access to the Kronos... not many do. The only people who do at this point are people that work for Korg, and apparently somebody in Japan got his Kronos this weekend. My knowledge comes from my experience with quite a number of Korg workstations which include the 01/Wfd, X3, N364, Korg KARMA, Korg Triton Studio, Korg Triton Extreme, and the Korg M3 which all use similar means of loading and playing sequences. I rely heavily on the internal sequencer, so I know all of their functions. It hasn't changed much at all since the Triton came out in 1998. Also, I've read through much of the Kronos's manuals and followed all of the info on it since its announcement in January. Sorry if my experience doesn't cut it for you, but i know my Korgs. If those features you mentioned were on there, they would have listed it with the key features for these instruments... and it makes more sense for sequences to be played back from RAM and not SSD.

Also, i asked a similar question about the Set list, because i needed the cue list function, and asked if there was any way to automate playing a list of sequences back-to-back. The answer was no, and that answer came from a Korg Rep (Dan I think).

The Korg PA (PA2X, PA3X) series arranger workstations have the ability to mix sequences together. They actually have 2 internal sequencers built in so you can play one sequence, and fade in a 2nd sequence over that while the first is playing... that might meet your needs a little better.

StephenKay · Post by **StephenKay** » Mon May 23, 2011 7:25 am

A Set List refers to things that are ALREADY LOADED into the machine. A Set List reference to an unloaded sequence is an empty sequence. Yes, you have to have the proper sequences loaded into the song mode, for the Set List to function correctly, if they are referring to sequences.

PS. A Set list reference to a Combi containing Programs that are not loaded, is still a reference to a Combi with invalid programs. All referenced "objects" must be loaded into the machine. Hope that helps.

(In other words, a Set List entry does not go into the disk mode and load that song or combi or programs for you. It needs to already be loaded into the machine. Logical.)

Shakil · Post by **Shakil** » Mon May 23, 2011 12:50 pm

Can you load more than one songs on Kronos at the same time? If yes, how many?

Thanks.

Sina172 · Post by **Sina172** » Mon May 23, 2011 3:17 pm

Shakil · Post by **Shakil** » Mon May 23, 2011 6:11 pm

I see. So all the songs from .SNG files are loaded into memory..... not only the currently selected song.

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Mon May 23, 2011 10:06 pm

When you save a .SNG file it contains all of the songs that are currently in the sequencer. Unless you specifically choose otherwise perhaps (if that options is available)

So when you load a .SNG file it could contain five or six different songs. Or even 20.

As an extension of that, you could load a bunch of SNG files in order and then save a single .SNG file which contains all of those that you loaded so that you have all your songs available from a single load.

This is the way it has been with countless past Korg Workstations.

Shakil · Post by **Shakil** » Mon May 23, 2011 11:00 pm

Yes, I knew about the .SNG file management, but I wasn't sure about ALL songs from a .SNG file loaded into memory.

So, the Set List would refer to Songs in the currently loaded .SNG file.

Question, where is the Set List stored, with .PCG?

Gargamel314 · Post by **Gargamel314** » Mon May 23, 2011 11:34 pm

According to the manual, set lists get stored with PCG data.

When you save a SNG file, it saves EVERYTHING in sequencer memory... kinda like a snapshot. You can't save only one song, unless you delete everything else in SEQ memory like you can with PCG files. But you can choose to load just one song or all songs. You can also choose when you load all songs, to append to the current SEQ memory or clear out SEQ memory.

alogie · Post by **alogie** » Tue May 24, 2011 1:43 pm

So if you have multiple songs with audio tracks, is the number of songs you can load limited by the available sample RAM, or can audio tracks be streamed off the SSD?

StephenKay · Post by **StephenKay** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:37 pm

alogie wrote:So if you have multiple songs with audio tracks, is the number of songs you can load limited by the available sample RAM, or can audio tracks be streamed off the SSD?

Audio tracks are streamed off the HD. RAM is only used for samples.

alogie · Post by **alogie** » Tue May 24, 2011 9:26 pm

StephenKay wrote:
alogie wrote:So if you have multiple songs with audio tracks, is the number of songs you can load limited by the available sample RAM, or can audio tracks be streamed off the SSD?
Audio tracks are streamed off the HD. RAM is only used for samples.

Sweet