When I wrote this I tried to report my impressions as accurately as I could or as accurately as my English allowed me to, but I have been reluctant to post because after I wrote this I realized my impressions were not as positive as I would have liked them to be. Nevertheless, let's go…
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In France there are very few retailers who have a Kronos in stock. Fortunately, a local store, Aux Guitares, in Alsace, not far from where I live, has a demo version. It's a 73 keys RH3 Kronos. That's fine: if I buy one it will be a K88. They told me the 88 will be officially available in France next January, and the price would be €3700.
1. First visual impressions
1.1 General impression
The Kronos is a beautiful piece of gear. It looks gorgeous with its dark color. I have always been convinced that a high end Korg workstation should look like a Trinity, but I changed my mind when I saw the Kronos.
Imo the bright plastic end cheeks look out of place, and it seems they can get scuffed too easily, which can quickly spoil the appearance of the Kronos.
1.2 Screen
The screen looks very clean, the resolution is fine.
I feared that a screen lying flat on the panel instead of being angled like the screen of a Trinity, a Motif XS or a Fantom G would be an issue as far as contrast and legibility are concerned, but the constrast is good and the display remains legible when the viewing angle is not perpendicular, even when the instrument is lying under a neon light like in the store. So far, so good.
As to the size of the fonts on the screen, that's terrible. I'm visually impaired and even with my glasses on I cannot read the fonts on the screen without bending over the screen and without straining my eyes. More about that later.
Now, it's time to play!
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2. First auditive impressions.
The Kronos is connected to Focal monitors.
2.1 EP-1
I begin with the EPs. Just a few words about my background: I have always been convinced that the most important thing about EP patches is not the sound itself, but the way it responds to how the musician is playing, and I absolutely love the FDSP synthesis engine of my Yamaha EX5 which really breathes life into EP patches and makes them sound kind of "organic" (afaik the EPs in the Yamaha CP1 and CP5 are based on a similar engine). 'Nuff said 'bout Yammies, let's talk about EP-1!
First, the sound itself: when you hit the keys you can hear tines or reeds sounding like if there were real tines or real reeds under the hood, and that sound has a superb definition.
Then, the behaviour of the patches: according to how soft or hard you play the keys EP-1 patches can sound mellow and dark, they can sound bright and bellish, they can stroke, they can bark and bite.
To put it in short words, EP-1 sounds fantastic!
2.2 Headphones output
Before playing the acoustic pianos, I turn off the Focal monitors, and I plug my own earphones on the K, a Sennheiser HD 25 that I have brought in order to be able to make a judgement about the Kronos sound without being biased by the PA.
Oddly the output level of the headphones of the Kronos seems rather weak, I have to turn the volume knob almost to its maximum to have enough output. Could there be an impedance issue between the Kronos and the HD 25?
And now, to the pianos!
2.3 SGX-1
Everything has been said before on this forum, so I'll put it in short words.
The "German D" has a convincing grand piano sound. The attack is as it should be, the body of the sound is there, and the decay sounds natural, albeit a bit short.
To sum up my impressions, I would say: while playing I forgot about the synth engine and I just wanted to go on playing. That's the best compliment I can make!
The "Japanese C" has too bright and too 'metallic' a character for my taste. I'm not saying it's not good, I'm saying I don't like it, at least for solo playing. Maybe Korg have programmed it this way to provide an alternative to the "German D" that cuts better through a live mix?
Korg plan to release an "Austrian piano". The Bösendorfer grand pianos are my preferred and I'm eager to give that EXs12 a try. Is there a hope it will be made available to the Kronos buyers without additional charge? After all, the EX-USB-PCM libraries that were initially planned as chargeable extras were included in the M3 Xpanded free update, and there's a good Bösendorfer Imperial included in the Nord Piano Library without additional charge...
2.4 CX-3
I'm not an organist, and when I need organ sounds for a gig I currently use sample based AWM2 patches with a Leslie effect, so I guess CX-3 will be more than enough for my needs.
Just wondering: wouldn't a true organist want a Vox Continental and a Farfisa Combo Organ modelled in CX-3?
2.5 STR-1
I'm not a guitarist either, so I'm not qualified to make a judgement about the STR-1 guitar patches. But I'm (also) in baroque music, so I try the STR-1 harpsichord patch (A059, if I remember rightly).
I listen to that patch carefully, and I can say Korg have certainly done a good job modelling the behaviour of the plucked string itself. Nevertheless imo there's a major issue with STR-1: what I believe I can hear is the vibration produced by the string alone, whithout any connection to a soundboard. Unless I'm missing something it sounds as if the interaction between the string and the soundboard, and between the air moved by the soundboard and the soundbox of the instrument, were not modelled in a convincing way, or not modelled at all.
That's a shame since I believe that - if the behaviour of the soundboard and of the soundbox was (is?) included in the model - with careful programming it should be possible to reproduce the idiosyncrasies of different harpsichords (in short, there are 3 main types: Italian, bright and sparkling sound with short decay; Flemish, dark and warm sound; French, strong and rich sound with longer decay).
I would be very interested to read guitarists' points of vue about STR-1 to know if they come to the same conclusions.
Btw, I also listened to the HD-1 harpsi patches (B067, B068). They are not good; in fact they sound like GM crap. That said, I don't expect a general purpose workstation to include good harpsichords samples(*), and if I buy a Kronos I'll have to load my own multisamples of a French harpsichord, which leads me to say: the Kronos should definitely provide streaming of user samples from SSD!
(*) btw Clavia provide good multisamples of Italian and French harpsichords with their Nord Piano Library.
2.6 HD-1 and analog modelling
It's not possible to make a final judgement by just playing a few presets, but I can say that it gave me a view (a hear?) through a window that showed me a landscape of huge sonic potential.
Sure, I want to come back and to go on discovering this instrument.
2.7 MOD-7
The shop was closing, no time left. I will come back!
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2.8 Overall sound character
The definition of the sound is superb. Everything is very clean. No perceptible aliasing.
Dare I say a Kronos sounds thin compared to a Motif XS on a Korg forum at the risk of being emasculated or beheaded? [with a Texas accent: OK dude, my Colt is loaded and I'm ready to put up a fight] Imo the Kronos sounds a tad thinner than a Motif. I know the aural memory is elusive, so I plugged my headphones on the XS they had in the shop for an immediate comparison; the difference is rather subtle, but real. I remember I noticed exactly the same thing when I compared the Korg Triton and the Yamaha EX5 12 years ago. This is more an observation than a criticism, and maybe the Korg sits better in a mix.
I also wanted to bypass the effects to listen to the dry sound of the programs; I believe this is a good test to assess a synth engine, but in the shop I couldn't find how to bypass the effects: there's no dedicated button on the panel of the Kronos like 'EF BYPASS' on the Yamahas or 'EFFECTS ON/OFF' on the Rolands.
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3. The hardware
3.1 RH3 keyboard
It's not easy for me to describe in English the sensations I felt when playing the RH3 keyboard, but let me try.
I'm used to play on the PHA II keyboard of a Roland RD-700 SX stage piano, and I also occasionally play on a PHA III keyboard which has a very similar action but with textured keys.
The RH3 keyboard of the K73 has a passable piano action feel, the sensation of moving hammers is there, the key travel is adequate, and the keys have a proper bounce.
The action of the RH3 is lighter than the action of a PHA II/III which is already one of the lightest serious piano action type keyboards. For me, the RH3 is too light (*).
I would also describe the RH3 as a bit spongy: when I play the RH3 it gives me the sensation of moving mechanical parts assembled with rubber connections, contrary to the PHA keyboard which gives me the sensation of moving well regulated and tight fitting mechanical parts.
So, with all the subjective aspects of such a point of view, in my opinion the Rolands PHA II/III remain better keyboards than the RH3.
And, to be more factual, unfortunately the RH3 hasn't got the escapement feel the PHA II/III have, which makes them feel very close to the real thing.
(*) I read on this forum that some people appreciate the fact that the RH3 keybed is equally suited to playing the piano and the organ and other types of sounds as well, but I don't share that point of vue at all: to play piano sounds I want a weighted piano action type keyboard and to play synth sounds I want a semi weighted synth action type keyboard; I don't want a compromise "bon à tout et propre à rien" (can be roughly translated into "can do everything, can do nothing properly").
That said, the RH3 would not be a turn off for buying a Kronos, and I could adapt my playing to it.
No, the real issue lies in the uneven spacing between the keys. On the K73 the store has in demo (their only K), the keys are unevenly spaced like on the pictures that have been posted on this forum before. That's not good!
Another not-so-good thing is the profile in front of the keys
That profile should be stiff enough to protect the keyboard from shocks when the instrument is being tranported or when you hit it with your knee by accident. On the Kronos that profile it way too thin and too flexible. When pushed again the keyboard it flexes enough to touch the keys and to exert a constraint against them. I have *never* seen that on any keyboard. That's not good (again)! Imo Korg have gone too far as to hardware cost cuts.
At least, the demo instrument didn't show another keyboard defect that has been reported on this forum: all the keys were on the same level, even the last one (the high E which bears the RH3 sticker).
3.2 Touch screen
As I said before, the screen looks and feels like a high quality screen. Nevertheless, navigating through the UI while trying out the Kronos definitely beared out my 1st impression: the fonts and the virtual push buttons are too small.
And I would also suggest Korg to bring back the "touch edit" function the Trinity had and the M3 Xpanded received.
3.3 Overall quality
Sliders and knobs: the sliders and the knobs look and feel like expected from a high end workstation, although imo bigger knobs would give a better prehension and allow a more accurate setting. And I'm concerned about their longevity, given the cost cuts than have been done on the Kronos...
Push buttons: they feel stiff and "clacky" like those you can find on a crappy device made in China. Those of my dish washer don't feel so cheap.
Data wheel: sure, it's not a component of the highest quality and it hasn't got a smooth feel nor is it very ergonomic without a finger notch, but at least it's fit for service: the horror stories I read on this forum didn't happen on the Kronos I put my hands on: the data wheel held well and didn't pop out when I pushed on it off-axis.
3.4 Boot time
I haven't measured the time with a stop watch, but it seemed long, very long, much longer than the boot time of my current hardware gear, too long for a gig (I guess that to gig with a Kronos you have to have an UPS, or a drummer who knows how to play a long solo...).
3.5 Fan noise
I played the Kronos in a store, not in a quiet studio, and most of the time I had my earphones on, so for the moment I can't say something relevant about the fan noise.
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4. Conclusion
I own several instruments. I consider them as tools, but I have developed an emotional and physical relationship with some of my keyboards, in particular with my EX5, and when I tried the Kronos out I was sincerely expecting to feel I could develop the same kind of relation with her, er, with it. Unfortunately that didn't happen.
I can get attached to a woman who has imperfections, sometimes a little imperfection can make me get even more attached to her, but the uneven spacing between the keys, the flexible profile in front of the keys and the low quality push buttons turned me off like a huge wart in the middle of the face of an otherwise attractive, smart and good-natured woman. Sadly, the hardware of the Kronos is not on the same level as its sound.
That said, I'll give the Kronos a second chance when it receives an OS update providing bigger fonts and bigger virtual buttons on the touch screen, streaming of user samples from SSD, "touch edit" function, "piano roll editing" and "track view editing" sequencer features, and 4 GB RAM from stock.
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