KARO libraries

Vova Ida · Post by **Vova Ida** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:03 pm

Hello everybody!
Is it KARO Total Control 1, 2 bring some energy or better buy something else?

Thanks.

mathieumaes · Post by **mathieumaes** » Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:21 am

I don't see much point in buying those KRS libraries. They don't offer sample data, just programs for existing samples or EXi engines. You can find a lot of that for free in the community...

Vova Ida · Post by **Vova Ida** » Thu Jul 26, 2012 8:03 pm

Thank you for answer.

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:42 pm

mathieumaes wrote:You can find a lot of that for free in the community...

I don't think you can find that for free, trust me, no one shares good stuff for free,
the ones that know how to make good stuff would not share, the ones that don't
know how to program good stuff...what will they share?
I don't think you can find free for share stuff in the same Caliber as the stuff
some of us program.

DennyC · Post by **DennyC** » Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:54 pm

I will second that!

mathieumaes · Post by **mathieumaes** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 5:46 pm

Since they don't offer a demo on those libraries, I can't really form an opinion on the quality of those specific libraries.

But I sure as hell can tell you that the programs offered freely by Qui Robinez and Kevin Nolan are pretty awesome!

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 9:53 pm

+1 to that. It's still possible to "improve" on those programs but I almost always at the very least tweak the fx on factory or bought sounds as well.

jeremyjcs · Post by **jeremyjcs** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:58 am

mathieumaes wrote:Since they don't offer a demo on those libraries, I can't really form an opinion on the quality of those specific libraries.

But I sure as hell can tell you that the programs offered freely by Qui Robinez and Kevin Nolan are pretty awesome!

Do you have a link to where I could get these programs please ? I'm particularly interested in strings and orchestral sounds, plus I'd love a Guitar sound like the Whammy & Pad combi on my O1.

I'm a relatively new Kronos owner so finding my way around it. The OS is on my board 1.0.8 and I do intend to do a full upgrade once OS v2 is realeased. I was then planning on getting one of the Karos orchestral libraries, but in the meantime if there are some quality Programs avaiable free , then I'd be keen to have a listen .

Any pointers would be much appreciated.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 10:59 am

Qui Robinez has made only synth sounds, no acoustic sample-based things. Nevertheless, some of his sounds are really good. He posts here under qrobinez, sending him a PM would be a good start probably.

Kevin Nolan has made a wider range of sounds which can be found in the download section for the Kronos, here.

However, speaking in general, the factory acoustic sounds make pretty good use of the on-board samples. If you really want much better strings or guitars, you would probably be better off looking at an actual sample expansion, like the Karo orchestral ones you mentioned. They've gotten some pretty good reviews/comments on here too.

mathieumaes · Post by **mathieumaes** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:24 pm

Most community-stuff doesn't include samples, indeed. But those KRS libraries to which the OP refers don't have any samples either.

And there are a few libraries out there that include samples. Check out Sharp's orchestra library, those are pretty good samples. I've just installed a free CP80 sample bank with 2 programs that I found here:
http://thekronosblog.blogspot.be/2012/0 ... s-for.html

This piano sounds truly amazing!

So, saying that "nobody shares the good stuff" is a bit unfair imo...

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:29 pm

Mathi, i dont think it is unfair, i gave the main reasons of NOT GOOD STUFF
which literary doesnt mean they dont wanna share, it might mean that they
wont or cant be that competitive as someone who is paid for doing that.
Also, you cant underestimate Sounds that have no Samples, i can give you
some Sounds and in No HELL in the WORLD you can find them in Samples
or Sample them, Sampled or not Sampled if they are good they are good.

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:31 pm

Please dont tell me these Sounds can be Sampled and Sounds as they
are in here with all Life and Modulation and Movements in them:

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IjS6Btjwa9s" frameborder="0"></iframe>

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:09 pm

Frankly, I wouldn't want to sample any of these sounds (yes, I know the list of famous people who used it, but that was at a time when fine VA alternatives were rare).

It's all a matter of taste, I know. But to me this synth sounds digital and harsh in a very ugly way, and does not have anything in it's sounds, which I personally would want to tweak and program with it's nice controller field.

But the main subject was synth programming:
There are of course synth programmers out there which are simply very experienced and creative in what they do, and of course they will be better at it than the average keyboarder programming his sounds.

On the other hand,
a) there is a lot of stuiff being sold which definitely isn't better than that of any average keyboarder programming his synth
b) in the (non-sample) programming packages I know there is always a lot of second rated filling stuff, and I rarely find more than 20-30 fine patches impressing me in a bank of 128
c) some free stuff is similar in quality to commercial packages.

So while commercial packages overall may show some more programming skills, they are most times far from being impressive throughout. I know only very few synth programmers who stand out from this general rule and deliver on a high level throughout.

mathieumaes · Post by **mathieumaes** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:33 pm

Basari, I think you're missing my point... Being paid for something doesn't mean you're actually good at it. A paid service isn't by definition a better service compared to free alternatives.

But let's talk Karo again. I've already purchased the Unison library which is a sample library but those require some programming nevertheless.

Even though I'm generally satisfied, I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that the library's programs and combis don't use any of the Kronos control capabilities.

For example, you might suspect that a large orchestra combi would at the very least take advantage of the JS to control volume of certain parts. It doesn't even do that... So, if we're talking about programming Kronos, imo they could've done a much better job!

If one could expect the same level of "finesse" in those KRS programs, it wouldn't be that impressive.

But again, I can't seem to find any demo's of those "total control" libraries... Did anyone buy them ? Is there anyone here who could write a review about it ?

NuSkoolTone · Post by **NuSkoolTone** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:35 am

It is too bad there's no way to demo this stuff or at least comprehensive you tube video demonstrations. I consider myself a fairly competent programmer, the issue is TIME!

I would GLADLY play the $50 or whatever for a full bank of great USEFUL sounds, that if not immediately I could see using ONE DAY. The problem is with these banks, is often there's only a handful of sounds that I couldn't whip up fairly quickly on my own and the modulation programming is woefully incomplete.

One example to me is the Karo strings. GREAT samples, but it burns my ass to pay that kind of money and then (e.g) the ribbon or vector stick does NOTHING. I mean maybe there's documentation I'm missing on how it's supposed to work with other patches in a combi, but otherwise it's just lazy programming and I won't pay for it.