Korg Forums

I am tossing this out to you all.

I am a professional musician and we are looking to pickup a few affordable home studio boards for both members and techies alike. We would like to take a few on the road as fun backup and live play.

My question is has anyone compared the YAMAHA MOX6 against the KORG KROME.

A Krome arrived yesterday and minus the nice screen. The thing feels like a cheap toy. I found a site with some on going questions (see bellow link). But, most important are the sounds and reliability tight with the MOX6? We are predominantly an Industrial, Elctro, EBM type band. We have heavy gear but I would like to work on other projects. Seriously, what the heck is the volume knob issue maxing out at about +3???

http://www.kromecity.com/?page_id=60

Thank you all again
~ Lefty

Bwa haha, the Idiot who wrote that article does not even understand the combi architecture of the krome yet wrote a review about it and tried to claim it took to many (button presses)/ If he can not even figure out how the Krome works and its basic layout I really do not trust his review lol.
Neither the krome or the mox6 are top end keyboards. They are both excellent boards in their price range however. The touch screen of course on the krome along with its extremely powerful sequencer make it stand out above the mox for song creation and editing patches ect.

csteen wrote:Bwa haha, the Idiot who wrote that article does not even understand the combi architecture of the krome yet wrote a review about it and tried to claim it took to many (button presses)/ If he can not even figure out how the Krome works and its basic layout I really do not trust his review lol.
Neither the krome or the mox6 are top end keyboards. They are both excellent boards in their price range however. The touch screen of course on the krome along with its extremely powerful sequencer make it stand out above the mox for song creation and editing patches ect.

I think that web site was created by a Yamaha rep. Notice they hide their ownership info ...

Registrant Contact:
kromecity.com Private Registrant kromecity.com@proxy.dreamhost.com
A Happy DreamHost Customer
417 Associated Rd #324
Brea, CA 92821
US
+1.2139471032



Edit: OK, the site is owned by Mark F. Johnson, author of "Commanding the Motif" series of books. He's hawking his new book series, "Commanding the Krome" with the web site I guess. To do that I suppose he has to make the Krome look difficult to use ... No problem, he has a book to fix that.

Note to self, do not buy his book/
The krome is so easy and intuitive to operate that I really can not picture many others who would be dumb enough to purchase his book either. lol

MOX6 - NARROWED keybed from PSR , octave 160mm ___

KROME61 - FULLSIZE keybed , octave 165mm


like this



This particular problem seems to be primarily in Yamaha’s unweighted digital keyboards. I first noticed this in the 80s when I got the famous DX-7 keyboard, and stacked it on other instruments; I tried to line up the “C” keys at the bottom, only to find they were misaligned at the top. Ironically, the Yamaha CP-70 Electric Grand was the other keyboard, and had the correct octave size. Years went by and for some reason Yamaha continued to make these smaller keys, and it continues to this day.
http://www.randyhoexter.com/?p=520

I actually think the Krome has a great build quality - apart from the power socket which is pretty naff. The keys are better than the TR61 (thank God) and the chassis feels way better than I was expecting.

Thank you again. We want to buy a bunch of affordable workstations. I was the keybed was disappointing as wee as the on-board volume knob for live self adjustment.

Someone was telling me we were fools for not picking up the Yamaha's and sent me that dated article. It read as bullsh**t. But, after checking out the Yamaha's (via video) I thought I would run it by you all. The record company is picking up the end tab. I just don't want them to collect dust. In the end it comes out of our pay.

Thank you again,
Lefty

I have the Krome 88 and the Motif XS Rack.I think for your style of music the Motif would be a better choice plus the MOX6 is probably a better built
board not like the MM6/MM8 which compares more to the Krome series though the Krome is better built.As far as I know the M0X6 has the same
motif engine,whereby Krome is similar to the Kronos but not the same.
If you get a chance do an A/B comparison of both boards see if you can take them out for a trial basis.

morty wrote:I have the Krome 88 and the Motif XS Rack.I think for your style of music the Motif would be a better choice plus the MOX6 is probably a better built
board not like the MM6/MM8 which compares more to the Krome series though the Krome is better built.As far as I know the M0X6 has the same
motif engine,whereby Krome is similar to the Kronos but not the same.
If you get a chance do an A/B comparison of both boards see if you can take them out for a trial basis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERGJFJzXN3A MM(PSR) VS MOX(MOTIF-XS)

While you have asked for a comparison with the Yamaha MOX series, they have actually published a new Series of work station Synths called the MX 61 and Mx49.
Looks like this is Yamaha's competitor to Krome? Any thoughts folks out there?
I feel both Yamaha and Korg are just flooding the market with affordable synth toys without much features.

I played the MX49 in-store for a good hour with earbuds and I was impressed, especially for the price. If you don't need a sequencer or care about a big screen, it is a good sounding little board.

I own both a Krome 61 and a MOX6 and briefly owned an MX49.

The MX49 is not in the league of the Krome or the MOX. It's really just a preset machine. Tone editing is at a minimum. It also has half the wave memory as the MOX. Don't get me wrong, it's a great board. It's just not in the same class as the others.

I can never decide which I prefer between the MOX and the Krome. In my opinion, they're both fantastic and they each have a few interesting features that the other lacks.

The display on the Krome is a real treat to work with. I really miss it when working on the Krome. I also really like the control layout. While it may not have as many controls as others, it seems that what I need is always at hand. I don't seem to ever be able to get the editor to work in a DAW which is frustrating. I even bridged it to 64 bits and still have trouble. As with any piece of equipment, there are always little annoyances.

The MOX's audio interface is great. I can't say that I use it that often, but it's come in handy a few times. The DAW integration is both fantastic and weak. If you happen to use Cubase, you're really in for a treat. The integration is fantastic. In other DAWs, it's mediocre at best. The editor does exist as a VST but it's a VST3 so there's no hope of running it in Sonar for example. I also really like the arps in the MOX. Strums and more intricate things like that are really cool. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, but I like them. The only problem is that it can be a job finding what you're looking for.

I really think anyone would be happy with either of these boards. They both sound great. People may niggle about this patch or that one, but I think, in general, they're all fine.

I'm glad that I own both. I also had a Juno GI for about a week and demo'd it along side these two and though it had a few tricks up it's sleeve, I thought it was weaker than the Krome or MOX in many respects. I did like it's keybed more and its extensive audio capabilities were nice. But it just didn't click for me. I guess it is a bit older than the Krome or the MOX so perhaps Roland has a new mid level board in the works

If you could combine the features of all these boards, you'd really have a monster. The display from the Krome - audio interface from the MOX - audio processing from the JUNO - MOX Cubase integration - best waves from all three. Wow that would be fun.

Greg

Out of interest, can either of them be used as a midi controller? sorry that it's irrelevant

I think the MX is an updated mm6 but with more features and better use of the Motif engine.... its not a MOX6.Owning the Krome 88, also having the Motif XS rack/Kurzweil PC3 and Roland Integra the Krome is not a toy... but after saying that, its not a Kronos either.I still think it's an awesome machine for the money.I dont regret the purchase at all.What I love the best, is its weight (it is easy to carry) and simple to set up.I do recommend using TRS cables when playing live and thru a decent DI box makes a lot of difference.Since the outputs on the Krome are unbalanced line outs.

beethovenslover wrote:Out of interest, can either of them be used as a midi controller? sorry that it's irrelevant

As long as they have midi out which they do, any keyboard can be a midi controller BUT!!! True midi controllers are specifically designed for that very purpose ei Roland Pro A800 controller,M Audio KEYSTATION 61ES,Akai - MPK49 etc.