Having lots of trouble with setting up Kronos X as interface

penguinpolice · Post by **penguinpolice** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:30 am

I'm really not sure what to do. I purchased my Kronos X about a month ago, and ever since then I've been trying to set it up as an audio interface with my DAW (Cubase), but I haven't had any luck. I even tried to use REAPER, but I couldn't get that to work either. For some reason, the Kronos X simply does not show up in the list of audio devices, even after I install all of the drivers and software. I've seen videos on YouTube of people setting up the Kronos as their interface, so I know that it can be done, I just can't seem to do it myself. I've read a few times that people have had trouble with using 64-bit DAWs with the Kronos Editor, so I tried using the 32-bit version of Cubase and REAPER, but that didn't work either. I've re-installed everything several times, but that didn't help, and I think that I might have made things even worse, because now I'm not even getting a MIDI signal... (connected over USB).

Has anyone else had this problem before, or trouble with the initial setup of the Kronos as the audio interface with a computer-based DAW? Because I REALLY want to set it up in conjunction with the workstation that I already have on my computer, but I'm beginning to think that Korg's focus with the workstation was to create a machine that can do all of that within, with its own internal sequencer and all of the other goodies on board, which I think is really great for people who like working that way, but I need my computer in order to work, and I'm going to be devastated if I find out that setting it up with my DAW is impossible after purchasing.

I'm currently in the process of playing phone tag with Korg customer support on the issue, but does anyone have any other advice or solutions in the mean time, or in case they can't help me? I'd be forever grateful! It's just so frustrating!

Thank you very much! Have a great day!

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 4:44 am

is this a Windows PC or a Mac?

penguinpolice · Post by **penguinpolice** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 4:55 am

Windows 7 64-bit

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:32 am

Professional audio software on Windows uses the ASIO driver standard. Much to the chagrin of the Kronos community, while the board itself has excellent hardware for DAW use, Korg doesn't provide an ASIO driver. A common workaround is to use the free ASIO4All driver, which is basically a "wrapper" meaning it takes hardware that is recognized as WDM compliant (most modern soundcards and also the Kronos) and pretends to the DAW that it is the ASIO driver for this hardware.

I believe results are a little mixed and if you also use other actual ASIO drivers (from other soundcards) ASIO4ALL will sometimes interfere. If it's your only shot at a solution, you should give it a go. For some people it works great. Just google it and you'll find a site/download.

penguinpolice · Post by **penguinpolice** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:28 pm

Can we expect to see an ASIO driver for Windows any time soon from Korg?

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:46 pm

penguinpolice wrote:Can we expect to see an ASIO driver for Windows any time soon from Korg?

I doubt it. It's been asked for on this forum and through support channels for as long as the Kronos has been available. The answer has always been that it's a "class compliant audio and midi device." This works great on a Mac, where the standard driver is a low latency driver that all DAWs on that platform support, but it means little on the Windows platform, where the de-facto standard low latency driver is ASIO.

There is the WASAPI driver built in windows that's supposed to give lower latency, but I'm not sure of the level of support that gets in the Kronos (I connect mine via midi cables). I do know that on my regular interface (a bonded pair of Focusrite Saffire Pro40s), only 1/4 of the inputs and outputs are seen by Sonar when using that driver method.

penguinpolice · Post by **penguinpolice** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:24 pm

Oh... that explains it, then. You're sure it works seamlessly on a Mac though, right? Because for how much I like the Kronos, I'd be willing to shell out some money to get the baseline mac computer model, but I want to be sure that I can use it as an audio interface not only for recording audio from the internal sound engines and the two audio inputs, but I would also like to create multiple MIDI parts that I can send back to the Kronos's sequencer so that I can use more than one MIDI part at a time. Would it be able to work in all of these ways on a Mac?

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 4:12 pm

You're confusing two things here. The ability to sequence multiple midi tracks has nothing to do with PC/Mac, nor even with the whole ASIO/audio recording bit. That is a feature of the midi spec, the Kronos has a Korg midi driver that allows you to do this on PC and Mac regardless of what you use as audio interface. Actually currently the most modern Macs seem to have a problem with the Korg USB driver (or USB drivers in general).

ASIO4ALL is a well working solution for some, you could definitely try that. If you're planning to record more than just the Kronos, you may be better off getting an actual recording interface from MOTU, Focusrite, RME, etc., depending on your needs and budget. These also work on both Mac and PC.

penguinpolice · Post by **penguinpolice** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 5:11 pm

But does the ability to sequence have anything to do with the keyboard's ability to sync up with a computer-based DAW? Because for me, even if the Kronos can sequence (and I know it can), it doesn't do anything for me if I can't get it working with the computer. I was actually considering a Motif workstation for this reason, because one of the features that Yamaha brags about all of the time is the superior integration with Cubase.

I really just want to get the Kronos working directly with a computer without the workaround of the ASIO4all, because I tried that, but that's only for audio and not for MIDI, and I'd like to get both working through the Kronos if I could.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:28 pm

If you install the Korg midi driver, you can already sequence your Kronos with the computer. This is completely separate from any audio recording you may or may not do, whether with the Ks audio interface using ASIO4ALL or any other interface.

fuse · Post by **fuse** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:58 pm

Having tried to install 32/64 bit usb drivers on a 64 bit Windows 7 sp1 with no luck I do wonder if the length of the USB cable matters. (3m)

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 5:57 am

No.

You may want to use the Korg midi driver removal utility to check for old and possibly corrupted drivers on your system. Windows has a limit on midi devices and once it's reached, it will cease to recognize any new ones. Start the utility and tick the box that lets you see non-Korg devices too.

I'm on Win 7 x64 sp1 too by the way, with two systems.

fuse · Post by **fuse** » Fri Apr 04, 2014 6:53 am

Thanks for the reply.

My issues is that my studio computer has quite the number of usb midi devices to it connected already. About 8 or 10 including some devices connected to my video card. And with uninstalling those unused devices it didn't solve it. I did know there was a limit Windows could handle but I'm not sure what that limit was again.

I will try to install it on my other PC and see what gives. Maybe I then can Frankenstein the registry to get it working somehow. To that extend many other midi drivers are most often plug and play. The Korg ones seem to be of another category.

fuse · Post by **fuse** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:20 am

This maybe handy to know and is a guessed estimate.
As to the Korg midi drivers they seemed to be poorly developed.
Here's why.

My studio computer has several midi/usb devices equipped resulting into a long list of midi ports in windows. And since the Korg is placed as #9 into the list of midi devices it doesn't get mentioned in the list of 24+ midi ports.

When I compare it with my other PC that has the exact the same OS with SP1 and drivers it places it at #4 of the list of midi devices. So it appears as the #4 midi port.

So I disconnected all USB midi cables for my studio computer and ran the uninstall removing all related drivers. Connected the Korg and it got registered as #5 (next to other hardware). And it seems to work now.
So if you Korg is higher than #8(ish) on the midi device list you have to be creative to rearrange your usb connections.

R Brenon · Post by **R Brenon** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:01 pm

Hi Fuse,
It's not that the MIDI drivers are poorly developed. They work great on windows. Windows only supports up to 10 midi devices. If you had other midi devices installed in the past you don't use anymore, it was good to run the software you did to correct the problem and get rid of your old devices stuck in your computer. With my setup, I once ran out of usb 2 slots and for me the work around was to install an extra USB3 card in a PCIe slot and it seems windows sees that as a separate bus for USB's and now I can do 20.