First Impressions

Mthomashow · Post by **Mthomashow** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 11:36 am

Although I've had the Kronos for two weeks now, because of a busy travel and work schedule I haven't had a chance to dig in until the last few days. Before I describe my impressions I'll provide some context so you know where I'm coming from. I'm an avid 61 year old amateur. When I turned 50, I was finally in a position where I could afford a few good instruments. I started with an Alesis 7.1 and quickly upgraded to a Yamaha S90 and a Korg Karma. Combined with software instruments (I particularly like Tassman), I started using Logic Pro and Ableton Live. I was very satisfied and inspired. Five years ago I sold the Karma for an M3, picked up a Nord Stage and a Nord Wave. Now I just bought the Kronos 61.

I am an average player (spending the other half of my musical time with guitars). Although creating my own sounds interests me, I almost always wind up playing the presets. I've learned enough about synthesis to tweak, but I wouldn't consider myself adept at it. When I read some of the very knowledgeable people on this forum discuss some of the details of sampling and synthesis, I try to learn as much as I can, but as for me, most of the time, I prefer to play.

Impressions:

(1) The Kronos sounds incredible. It has extraordinary fidelity and it represents a significant sonic upgrade over the M3.

(2) The 61 key action is excellent, even good for the pianos, especially the electric pianos. When I need 88 keys I have it MIDI'd to the Stage Classic.

(3) The pianos sound great to me, better and more tweakable then my other instruments. In fact, I've spent almost 80% of my time thus far just tweaking and playing the acoustic and electric pianos. They are so good that I've been lost in them. Last evening I spent two hours with the Lyle Mays piano, adding some auto reverse delay to it (check that out).

(4) The electric pianos are phenomenal, better than the Stage. The ability to tweak the bells and tines allows you to apply the best of physical modeling. I am very, very drawn to them. They are nuanced and deep.

(5) Not much has been written in this forum about the STR-1. I've been spending the other 20% of my time exploring it. It's not as intuitive to use as Logic's Sculpture, but I'll figure it out eventually. However, it is utterly beautiful and a joy to explore.

(6) I've only touched toes in the other synth engines, and I don't yet have a feel for how they work. Again, they sound so rich and fine.

(7) I've yet to explore the combis but they sound much less cluttered than those on the M3.

The only negative:

My only niggle is the fan. I don't know whether mine is louder than most, but as quite a few reports about the audible fan have been showing up, I'll assume it's par for the course. I don't hear it when I play, except for very quiet piano passages. It's noticeable in a quiet room, and slightly annoying. I can't see packing it up and returning it only to get another one with an equally noisy fan. I understand the necessity of a fan, but I am very surprised that a musical instrument that has paid such attention to the details of its sounds would have an audible fan. It is what it is and I am dealing.

Bottom line: Time to go and explore some new sounds! I'm delighted with the Kronos and look forward to years of exploration.

rderderian · Post by **rderderian** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 12:46 pm

I have no fan noise on the 88. i also don't have any keyboard noises and the dial is secure (I have not tried to pull it off but have used it).

McHale · Post by **McHale** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:57 pm

rderderian wrote:I have no fan noise on the 88. i also don't have any keyboard noises and the dial is secure (I have not tried to pull it off but have used it).

+1 x 3 = +3

spritz76 · Post by **spritz76** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:16 pm

Mthomashow wrote:My only niggle is the fan.

I've been spending some quality time with my K61 and yes, the fan is audible, but not more than my custom built Phenom II 6-core PC with a Zalman CPU fan.

At first I was a bit disappointed by the plastiky noise it makes when playing the keyboard hard. Something I haven't noticed in my now gone M3-73, nor on my Ensoniq SQ-1, but I already got used to it.

Applying some pressure to the aluminium part just below the keys makes it much more quiet. I recall having read something like that on the forums, but I can't seem to find the thread now...

Data wheel seems to be doing just fine too.

Anyway, the Kronos is mind blowing! When I first browsed through the presets the "wow" effect was unbelievable. My first session with the M3 was more like "yeah, nice" in comparison.

Mthomashow · Post by **Mthomashow** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:26 pm

I didn't mean for this thread to be further focus on the fan and build quality, although it's good to hear others weigh in. To me, the fan remains a minor issue. i only hear it when the room is totally quiet.

I'm much more interested in how folks are using the instrument, their impressions of the sounds, and what engines/patches/methods they're using in the early days.

Gribs · Post by **Gribs** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:51 pm

It seems that most of us Kronos owners are a bit older and established in life. I will turn 46 in August and work in R&D at a large, conservative, and pretty well-managed US-based manufacturing company. I consider myself to be an intermediate piano player; I have played guitar of all sorts for over 3 decades but started taking formal piano lessons about 3 years ago for personal growth and entertainment.

I bought the Kronos 61 for amateur reasons as well and like you I went for the 61 key version due to space and also since I have a nice graded hammer action board (Roland RD700GX) that I can use. I like technology and making interesting sounds as much as I like making music. On the Kronos, I went straight to MOD-7 and went through the tutorial in the parameter guide. In the process I read through other sections of the manual as much of the MOD-7 part refers to other sections for full info. I also experimented a little with Poly-6 and STR-1. Then I started playing through presets, usually just trying them out and coming up with something short and fun to play... just noodling really. I play my piano scales and chord progressions using the default "German" piano - just for fun and to accustom myself to playing such things on a synth-action board. I have always liked the sound of jazz EP, so I went through a bunch of the EP presets until I found one I like (E. Piano Dyno Chorus) and am tweaking it gradually over time - a little here and there - changing the chorus pedal model and settings and the various internal parameters to smooth out the sound a bit.

My plan for today - July 4th - is to spend some more time with MOD-7 and try to find a happy accident. I don't how to describe it, but I am looking for a sound I like, though I don't know what it is yet. I am not really sure how pro sound designers do this. I am not out to try to mimic something - just experiment until I discover. I do this a lot on other synths (Waldorf Q, a Euro rack modular, and others) and it seems to work.

Mthomashow · Post by **Mthomashow** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 6:11 pm

Thanks, Grib, for your description of how you are using the Kronos. i didn't realize that there's a tutorial for the MOD 7 in the Parameter Guide. I'll definitely check that out!

Chriskk · Post by **Chriskk** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 4:35 am

My plan for today - July 4th - is to spend some more time with MOD-7 and try to find a happy accident. I don't how to describe it, but I am looking for a sound I like, though I don't know what it is yet. I am not really sure how pro sound designers do this. I am not out to try to mimic something - just experiment until I discover. I do this a lot on other synths (Waldorf Q, a Euro rack modular, and others) and it seems to work.

FM synthesis is a totally different beast. Only Dr. Chowning & Brian Eno are believed to have mastered FM synthesis:-) I grew up with programming a Yamaha DX-11, which has a 4 operator structure. But when it comes to a 6 (or more) operator structure, I get totally lost. You may want to find some existing DX7 patches that you like, import them into the Kronos and tweak them.

JPROBERTLA · Post by **JPROBERTLA** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:13 pm

I am considering keeping my Triton Studio88 and using it as the weighted keyboard for a Kronos 61. Some of the participants in this thread use non-Korg weighted keyboards (a Nord Stage and a Roland RD700GX). Do you know if these keyboards transmit note off velocity thur midi out? If so or not so, how do they work with the Kronos? Also, does anyone know definitively if the Triton Studio88 transmits note off velocity? Someone on another thread said he believed it did.

drchris · Post by **drchris** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:21 pm

If I read it correctly, the Kronos does not receive note off signals from external MIDI sources. I think this was in the parameter guide, but I don't have a chance to get the page referece.

Chris

Bruce Lychee · Post by **Bruce Lychee** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 4:01 pm

drchris wrote:If I read it correctly, the Kronos does not receive note off signals from external MIDI sources. I think this was in the parameter guide, but I don't have a chance to get the page referece.

Chris

That would annoying for me, as I got rid of my CP1 as a controller for e Kronos because it doesn't send true note off velocity info. Well, at least I got a V-synth out of it.

drchris · Post by **drchris** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 6:02 pm

I may have been wrong about this, I can't find it again, but thought I read it somewhere.

Chris

JPROBERTLA · Post by **JPROBERTLA** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:10 pm

I looked through the manual for 30 minutes and could not find it either. I asked my contact at Sweetwater to find out directly from Korg whether (1) the Triton sends release velocity, and (2) does the Kronos recognize it. I will post the answer as soon as I get it.

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