how to teach new owners

[azroin]

I am a new keyboard player and new owner of k88 and the depth of it is amazing.
Having said that it is also it's one draw back as far as i can see.
it's not an easy keyboard to learn.
I have been looking at the tyros 5 even before i bought the kronos
i came across this music store in the U.K. and how they educate their
customers after they make the sale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyjmUMeoByQ

....can you image how quickly you might come to grips
with the kronos, if we had that kind of customer education after spending
$4000. plus dollars
i guess my point is i wish these guys sold korg boards or some one would
post such straight head tutorials
well these are thoughts on trying to get the most out of a great board

[SanderXpander]

There are a lot of high quality user tutorials. The operation guide has some written ones and if you prefer visual ones you can find a ton on YouTube. Qui Robinez (also a member here) in particular has made a whole bunch in many categories. In addition, almost all tutorials you can find on the Oasys also apply to the Kronos.

[benny ray]

azroin be patient and the Kronos will make more sense in how the Kronos works. By the way i see you are from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I played up there back in the 90's at a Holiday Inn or Ramada Inn don't really remember but i know we went to Memphis across the bridge to Beale St. where BB King had his blues club back in the day.

[Ottawa58]

I'm also a new first time K88 owner. I found the intro videos on the Korg site to be just about right in terms of depth starting out. You don't want to be overwhelmed.

Personally, I'm finding that where I get lost has actually very little to do with the Kronos -- and more to do with my limited knowledge of sound itself. For example, all these years I have used reverb on my digital piano, without understanding what reverb actually is (I'm still only 80% there). Now with the Kronos, yes, it's a bit harder to change reverb, but once you get it, it is far more instructive and intuitive.

[ronnfigg]

The Kronos is NOT a beginner workstation. Period.

[ronnfigg]

I'm also a new first time K88 owner. I found the intro videos on the Korg site to be just about right in terms of depth starting out. You don't want to be overwhelmed.

Personally, I'm finding that where I get lost has actually very little to do with the Kronos -- and more to do with my limited knowledge of sound itself. For example, all these years I have used reverb on my digital piano, without understanding what reverb actually is (I'm still only 80% there). Now with the Kronos, yes, it's a bit harder to change reverb, but once you get it, it is far more instructive and intuitive.

Yes, understanding sound AND synthesis is key. Get back to the basics. Lots of good books and websites on the subject. And the Kronos also focuses on MIDI, digital audio recording, effects, and a wealth more of electronic music creation. Learn all you can. It will help with the Kronos.

[QuiRobinez]

The Kronos is NOT a beginner workstation. Period.

that's true.

This is not a workstation that you will understand in one evening. But as soon as you accepted the fact that you have to learn the kronos workflow and the 9 synth engines indepth if you want to create or modify your own sounds then you can start learning the specific area's that you need.

So my advice would be, start with:

first introduction with the kronos:
- changing beween programs, setlists, combis (how to change between them). For instance there are still quite some users that don't know that there are extra program banks when you press the I-A and U-A together (or I-B and U-B, etc).
- create your own setlist
- create a split sound combi, like bass on the left hand, piano on the right hand
- saving and loading sound sets

More indepth:
it depends on what you want, but as soon as you need something just focus on that specific area, like sampling, creating combis, programming your own sounds, using KARMA, using Midi files, backing tracks, etc...

[ronnfigg]

I am a new keyboard player and new owner of k88 and the depth of it is amazing.
Having said that it is also it's one draw back as far as i can see.
it's not an easy keyboard to learn.
I have been looking at the tyros 5 even before i bought the kronos
i came across this music store in the U.K. and how they educate their
customers after they make the sale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyjmUMeoByQ

....can you image how quickly you might come to grips
with the kronos, if we had that kind of customer education after spending
$4000. plus dollars
i guess my point is i wish these guys sold korg boards or some one would
post such straight head tutorials
well these are thoughts on trying to get the most out of a great board

After re-reading your post and watching the suggested Tyros video tutorial I had a few thoughts. Note the fact that they talk about the "one touch buttons". Yamaha built in a user friendly interface for the type of keyboard that it is- an "arranger". It is a very sophisticated machine much like Yamaha's line of consumer grade keyboards. The Kronos is NOT an arranger. It can be made into something close that approximates it, but it is designed to give a composer a tool to create personalized musical creations. Case in point. Let’s say you want to create a synth sound. Go to any Envelope Generator (EG) page. In the old days if you need to create an envelope, you hade 4 controls- Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. You turned a knob and got the desired effect. The Kronos has a much more sophisticated Envelope Generator with many more parameters to work with. Again, referencing an EG page notice there are also a lot of other parameters. If someone were to do a video tutorial, that page alone might take considerable time to describe, especially if they have to educate someone on what an envelope generator is and what it does. Then consider all of the other aspects of the Kronos, page by page. Imagine how many hours of video or pages in a book that would equate to. And of course, no one is going to do that for free. The point I am getting at here is that a full tutorial on everything the Kronos does and how to do it would be akin to going to medical school. Really. Makes you appreciate that people who have mastered workstations like the Kronos are as much a professional as a brain surgeon. Oh yeah- they are artists too. I am not trying to scare you off. If you really want to get a handle on an instrument like the Kronos, it is going to take some time. Go beyond the Kronos. Google "synthesis". It might help you in your endeavors.

[benny ray]

I have had a Kronos for over a year and i still learn new things from time to time. Then again there are some options i will never use but as time goes by you should get a better understand of the keyboard using tutorials and trial and error method.

[jeremykeys]

Another thing to remember is that a Kronos is a small recording studio all wrapped up in one machine. It takes time to learn but it is definitely worth it. I don't know of any other companies that have a keyboard that will allow you to write a complete song to the extent that the Kronos can.

[QuiRobinez]

Let’s say you want to create a synth sound. Go to any Envelope Generator (EG) page. In the old days if you need to create an envelope, you hade 4 controls- Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. You turned a knob and got the desired effect. The Kronos has a much more sophisticated Envelope Generator with many more parameters to work with. Again, referencing an EG page notice there are also a lot of other parameters. If someone were to do a video tutorial, that page alone might take considerable time to describe, especially if they have to educate someone on what an envelope generator is and what it does. Then consider all of the other aspects of the Kronos, page by page. Imagine how many hours of video or pages in a book that would equate to.

i agree,
but this is exactly why i think tutorials shouldn't go too much in depth. Before you know it the detail level of a tutorial is so deep that it's way too much info for someone who just wants to start using that specific topic.

In my opinion it would be enough to describe the basic EG operations (the ADSR parameters). As soon as people start using those in their own programs they will advance eventually to the more indepth features in a natural way. The good part of the kronos is that you can touch the
parameter you want more info off and just press the help button on the kronos and you see the page in the manual that explains what that parameter does. Very handy, as long you understand the basics of what an EG is and how to apply it.

Another example, let's say you got an explanation about how wavesequencing works. Now would it be really helpful if that same tutorial also explains how to use round robin or random steps during the creating of a program that uses that wave sequence? Personally i think it's way to complicated for someone that starts using wave sequences. If you don't understand the basics yet of a specific area it doesn't make much sense to explain all the features that are possible. I strongly believe that people can find those things out theirselves as soon as they understand the basics of the topic.

So personally i would never create a tutorial of 30 minutes or more on one topic. Their would be way to much info into it to make it useable. Those indepth features would be much better explained during workshops or in advanced tutorials where all the basic stuff is considered as learned.

Also i believe people can learn a lot by doing, reading all the theory is helpful, but building experience is also a very important factor of the learning proces. Of course you need to know some theory to get started.

[azroin]

Thanks to
SanderXpander, benny ray, Ottawa58, ronnfigg, QuiRobinez
and jeremykeys.
for all your feedback and for taking the time to respond with thoughtfull
comments.

[ronnfigg]

Qui- I made my statements based on the fact that the OP said he is a "new" keyboard player. I don't think the Kronos is marketed towards entry level users. The price alone is indicative of that fact. There is the Krome and the Kross.

[QuiRobinez]

Qui- I made my statements based on the fact that the OP said he is a "new" keyboard player. I don't think the Kronos is marketed towards entry level users. The price alone is indicative of that fact. There is the Krome and the Kross.

i understand,

but don't you think that almost every kronos user could be considered as a new keyboard player in the first week? Let me clarify this, when a Motif XS user which had the motif for 10 years buys a Kronos, he will face the same problems as a totally new keyboard user. The terminology is completely different, there are lots of synth engines that the motif doesn't have (only the HD1 would be slightly familiar) and the learning curve would be almost the same. The same applies for a Virus TI user that buys the Kronos, he will more or less understand the AL-1, MS20 and polysix, but also the terminology would be completely different. For instance words like: Timbre, EG, AMS (and many more) are all words that are Korg specific and these aren't used in the virus ti or motif.

So for me it's clear that new korg users would need to spent time to get familiar with the kronos. But i don't think it's complicated to learn it, it's just a matter of starting with the simple things and that they don't expect to master the kronos in one evening. Basically a new user is learning how to operate 9 synths. The good part of the kronos is the generic user interface (that some people hate), but since it's more or less the same for each synth engine people can get up and running within one week in my opinion.

A good place to start is to use the operation manual of the kronos. It has a very good description of the most common needed functionality.

You are right that it can get really complicated and offers some extreme depth, but if someone really wants to learn those, they will get there eventually. I'm positive that everyone can learn how to operate the kronos.

But it's all about expectations. I've seen it lots of times on this forum, someone has the kronos 1 or 2 days and shouts with lots of big words how bad the kronos is designed and how easy things are on other synths. What they forget at that time is that the other synths just can do one thing and they are comfortable with that interface on that synth because they have experience with it. So they will face quite a challenge because now they need to learn how to operate 9 synths together in one workstation. If they stick to the basics in the first week and then dive into the more complicated features then i have no doubt that they will understand the kronos quite fast.

so bottomline, i really believe that the kronos isn't that complicated once you accept the fact that it takes some time to learn it. There is a huge amount of content available for the kronos based from great guides (tutorials and manuals) till video demonstrations, video tutorials (written steps) and video tutorials where someone explains one or more elements of the synth. Even 'korg workshop' type of videos can be found online.

Then there are hundreds of free sounds available which people can analyse and learn from. And there is a user forum where people reacts quite fast to almost any question. So There is absolutely no reason that people can't master any aspect of the kronos ranging from starting players till experienced players from other brands.

Just my opinion

[Ottawa58]

So my advice would be, start with:

first introduction with the kronos:
- changing beween programs, setlists, combis (how to change between them). For instance there are still quite some users that don't know that there are extra program banks when you press the I-A and U-A together (or I-B and U-B, etc).
- create your own setlist
- create a split sound combi, like bass on the left hand, piano on the right hand
- saving and loading sound sets

More indepth:
it depends on what you want, but as soon as you need something just focus on that specific area, like sampling, creating combis, programming your own sounds, using KARMA, using Midi files, backing tracks, etc...

Qui - This is great advice - and it is exactly what I am doing. Your video's are very helpful. Your advice is also sound from the aspect of adult learning. Small chunks focused on immediate tasks that give reinforcement as a new area is learned.

As far as other comments on this thread, it never surprises me how judgemental (rather than helpful) many people can be. If a new keyboard player wants a Korg Kronos, and pays for it, and wants to spend the time to learn it, then who is anyone else to rain on their parade? A Ferrari isn't a beginner car, so to speak, but I don't criticize someone who goes and buys one. It's their business.