Korg Forums

I had the immense pleasure of playing the King Korg for a few weeks at my studio, and I fell in love with it's sound, quite frankly the best VA that I've ever played! Nothing short of amazing in my ears.

Then I sat down in front of my Kronos, played the AL-1, and became very sad... Suddenly it sounded harsh and cold. Is it really all about the filters?

Anyway, as I can't afford a KK right now, I was wondering if any of you guys have any tricks to make the AL-1 sound warmer and more (I hate to use the word) analogue?

So, basically: help me get the KK-warmth out of the Kronos! At least until Korg decide to release the KK (or it's filters) as an EXi.

Thanks.

Currently I like PolySix and MS20 more for traditional synth sounds. Perhaps try adding a tube preamp IFX? Or messing around with the custom filter settings.

the filters do make a big difference, the al-1 is hard to program but you can get close (and remove the harsh sound). I agree with SanderXpander, adding a tube as an insert FX does make the sound warmer.

For the filter section, check the manual on the filter area, if i recall correctly there is a chapter which explains how to modify the filter behavior to create different kind of filters yourself. It's really powerful but quite complex to understand.

SanderXpander wrote:Currently I like PolySix and MS20 more for traditional synth sounds. Perhaps try adding a tube preamp IFX? Or messing around with the custom filter settings.

Yeah, the Polysix and MS20 come much closer, but you loose the depth of the AL-1 engine..

But you're right, I should experiment more with the filters in the AL-1.

i've looked it up in the manual, in the parameter guide on page 199 there is a section called Multi filter, this one is an extremely powerful filter, especially in the Crossmode: manual 1 mode (chapter 5-2c) you can define your own filter behavior and for my own sounds this was a world of difference to the sound.

i really recommend reading the manual on those sections for the AL-1 and experiment a lot to get a feeling what these filters are capable of.

although i do agree that it's much more simple to get results with the polysix and MS-20 i've learned to appreciate the power of the AL-1, it took me a long time to get a feeling how to program the AL-1, it's outcome is so much different than other substractive VA's i use, but now after a long time i more and more see the power and possibilities of the AL-1 and starting to love it as a VA with it's own sound character.

Thanks Quirobinez for taking the time to help out!

Yes, I will experiment some more with the different filters.

On a side note: switching monitors made a huge difference! I played the KK through Genelec 8040, and the Kronos through Yamaha HS-80. So, I connected the Kronos to the Genelecs: like night and day..

The Yamahas have something really nasty going on in the 2kHz range, very shrill and unpleasant.)

Whereas the Genelecs are beautifully balanced. They obviously cost three times as much, and for a reason!