Kronos Tutorial: 15 KARMA KK, Custom GEs, building Combi QR

QuiRobinez · Post by **QuiRobinez** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 6:27 pm

Korg Kronos Tutorial: 15 KARMA KK, Custom GEs and building a Combi
(use the 1080p quality to read the screens)

This tutorial shows you how to create your own custom GEs and transfering that to the Kronos and how to use this custom GEs in a Combi.

This is quite a long video (over 20 minutes), so if you want to know how to create your own KARMA GEs then watch the whole video, if you are only interested in watching the combi build proces then listen to the combi in the first minute and skip the Kronos KARMA Sofware (KK) tutorial part and go to 9:36

The following things are explained:
- creating a pattern in cubase 7
- export that pattern to a midi file
- importing that pattern in the KARMA KK software
- modifying that pattern in the KARMA KK software
- sending that pattern to the Kronos as a custom KARMA GE

The second part of the video which starts at 9:36, there you can see me building the combi in realtime that you heared in the first minute of the video. It shows the complete proces from zero till the end result. Since tutorial 14 explains in detail how to build your own combi, this tutorial will only highlight the actions i'm doing. So if it goes to quick then recheck tutorial 14 where the complete proces is slowed down.

The following items will be shown:
- selecting programs and copying those to the combi
- selecting the custom KARMA GEs
- setting up the KARMA modules
- finalizing the combi (EQ and effects)

At the end of the video i also show how to use KARMA for drum patterns, you can use KARMA Drum GEs to build up your drums, this is shown briefly at the end.

Let me know what you think of it and if you got questions don't be afraid to ask them.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CiYVPk9uZqo" frameborder="0"></iframe>

The complete transcript can be found on my tutorial site which you can find here (you can print all the text from the video over there)
Qui Robinez Tutorials: 15 KARMA Software, Custom GEs and building a Combi

For reference purposes, here are the other 14 tutorials
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Tutorial: 01 KARMA Introduction - How to program your first KARMA Arpeggiator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvAZqstk5E8

Tutorial: 02 Clusters - How to program Polyphonic Arpeggiators in KARMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSXNL8-ZHFU

Tutorial: 03 Using the Sequencer for recording combis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djRsZihhSIQ

Ttutorial: 04 Sampling Omnisphere in the Kronos Sampler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nURLCUGAzTw

Tutorial: 05 Sidechaining and Compression
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCZfox4VwAk

Tutorial: 06 Using Backing Tracks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edzVvnGccgc

Tutorial: 07 Setup Kronos And VST Instruments for Live Performance and Recording (Internal Summing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd23OjFZjz8

Tutorial: 08 Using Existing KARMA Modules
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqRgIexH94

Tutorial: 09 Wave Sequences (Motion Pads)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv3aIfpq2h4

Tutorial: 10 IPAD Music App Synth Arp & Drum Pad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS6-AuyfSno

Tutorial: 11 Programming an AL-1 Lead QR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDA3k3O9ibE

Tutorial: 12 Step Sequencer and Patterns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_L_mm9-CQ

Tutorial: 13 MS-20 Patch Panel Programming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv7O95Gc2EY

Tutorial: 14 Creating your own combi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7frcN8ASFk0

BobTheDog · Post by **BobTheDog** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 7:31 pm

Ooooohhhhh.........

Thanks

Ksynth · Post by **Ksynth** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:49 pm

Excellent stuff Qui, Thanks.

apex · Post by **apex** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:15 pm

Two questions...

This would work almost exactly the same with the m3 karma software too right?

And

Even for complex midi files too huh?

apex · Post by **apex** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:23 pm

Also during the conversion to the c major scale....how did you know that the generated notes were NOT what you wanted....

The entire phrase sounds different because of the transposition...so how we're you able to tell which transposed notes you did and did not want to keep?

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:51 pm

Thanks, you make it look so easy!

SoundsOfPlanet · Post by **SoundsOfPlanet** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:30 pm

Well done

Qui ------

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:43 pm

Thanks Qui for another great video.

apex · Post by **apex** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:20 am

how do you do that transpose step in Logic?

not just transpose the track but actual tell it to transpose EVERYTHING to C maj?

Does anyone know?

QuiRobinez · Post by **QuiRobinez** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:17 am

apex wrote:This would work almost exactly the same with the m3 karma software too right?

Yes, it's exactly the same for the Korg M3 software

apex wrote:Even for complex midi files too huh?

Yes, you can create longer more complex patterns, for instance i programmed the disco inferno bassline, the superstition clav and bassline and converted that to KARMA GEs.

The only thing you need to do in that case is to spent more time in the duration and drum sections of the Generated Effect to make the patterns perfect, since during the conversion of complex patterns it can happen that they the outcome is a little bit different then you expect. But that can all be modified in the software in most cases.

The reason for using a simple example is that i wanted to show the progress and didn't want to spent to much time changing the GE itself.

I've only showed a very little part of what you can do with the software, it goes really deep and for the Generated effect editor alone i could create hours of tutorials if i wanted to explain everything. But that's not needed, once you know the basics then the Software documentation will explain anything you need.

apex wrote:Also during the conversion to the c major scale....how did you know that the generated notes were NOT what you wanted....

The entire phrase sounds different because of the transposition...so how we're you able to tell which transposed notes you did and did not want to keep?

good question!

I knew it based on experience and a little bit of theory. In my original pattern the Bb was the 7th of the Cminor scale and was an important part of that pattern. After the Cubase Scale correction the 7th was corrected to a 5th. This is also correct but i knew that i wanted the original 7th, so that's why i changed it back.

Another possibility was to export it with the 5th instead of the 7th. In that case i would have corrected it in the drum section of the Generated Effect Editor by adding the Bb note and put a marker at the correct position. So even when you don't know these things upfront then it's easy to modify with the software.

The reason that i showed the scale correction was to show that you can make use of tricks when you don't are really into scales. Normally i play the melody directly in CMajor.

zzz · Post by **zzz** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:33 am

Thanks for another tutorial, Qui. You're helping put down the foundations of a fantastic archive. Is it about time we had a seperate page for tutorials on the K? Sharp?

Sparker · Post by **Sparker** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:56 pm

Thanks again Qui

AlchemistMusicStudio · Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:11 pm

As usual, very good job, Qui!

ed_f · Post by **ed_f** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 4:52 pm

apex wrote:how do you do that transpose step in Logic?

not just transpose the track but actual tell it to transpose EVERYTHING to C maj?

Does anyone know?

I would use transformer.

ed_f · Post by **ed_f** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:02 pm

Just for clarity for those that haven't looked at this much. (I haven't watched the video yet, so correct me if I am wrong)

But, the "MW" software is what Karma Lab put out for the Karma Keyboard, and I don't think it can be used on the Kronos.

The Kronos version of the Karma software is actually "KK". This from KarmaLab: * With KARMA Kronos Software (KK) running on your PC/Mac, you get complete access to every feature of the powerful KARMA engine, not just the part that is brought to the surface in the keyboard.

Could get confusing if this inspired people and they went looking for MW.