Kronos Future - Evolution or Revolution

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sun May 31, 2015 3:04 am

I can't help but wonder about the future of the Kronos. I used the original for a short while but just wasn't into it so much. Now I have a new found interest with the K2 even though it is essentially the same.

I know the paint is not even dry yet but am wondering again what might be next and when. No one other than than Korg knows that but I would like to think it will continue an evolution and existing hardware will contiinue to be supported and enhanced.

But how much more can be squeezed into the existing hardware architecture? I'm sure that new engines could be added. But then what? What more is needed in a workstation?

Any major hardware advances would render the existing models incompatible so what major enhancements might we expect in the current architecture?

Broadwave · Post by **Broadwave** » Sun May 31, 2015 5:20 am

Obviously it's a very subjective topic, but it's been 10 years since the release of the Oasys Workstation, and let's be honest here, the Kronos *is* a consumer version of the Oasys, albeit with a few differences. I honestly don't know where Korg can go from here... they have produced an amazing keyboard.

Despite the plethora of new products from other companies trying to prise cash from my hands, I look at the Kronos and think "Nah, I don't need anything else". Yes, I suppose they could add more engines but, except for a few updates (CX-3 & SGX) nothing has happened on that front, and I don't expect that to happen now. They could even add the ability to load 3rd party VSTs!

The Kronos is now 4 years old, we've had 2 revisions, and my MkI has been fully updated - other than a few cosmetic changes, it's exactly the same as the K2. I expect Korg to continue support and develop for the K2, which the rest of us will benefit from - Korg *could* have locked previous Kronos users out when OS V3 came along, but they didn't.

If Korg came out with a new workstation that blew the Kronos out of the water, I still wouldn't rush out to replace it. Four years on, I'm still discovering new and amazing things it can do, some engines I've not even delved into yet!

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Sun May 31, 2015 8:00 am

The revolution was indeed ten years ago, when the Oasys arrived..

After that it was evolution, as there is absolutely no reason for Korg to have a new devolution right now, they lead out onnthe competitiin by miles, and only Kurzweil seems to be taking steps to catch up....

I hope hen Yamaha and Roland finally catch up Korg has had enough time for another revolution. I hope that revolution is backwards compatible with the Kronos. And if they dont catch up, i think that Casio will come with a Kronos competitor at a much much lower price but with the same capabillities as the Kronos.

karmathanever · Post by **karmathanever** » Sun May 31, 2015 8:40 am

Korg *could* have locked previous Kronos users out when OS V3 came along, but they didn't.

Yes!! That was awesome!! Really had not expected that.

I cannot think of anything they could add that I would truly benefit from….
..maybe a universally adjustable cup holder…
But seriously, from a deep technical point of view, the Kronos is huge

and from a non-technical point of view, the Kronos is huge

Recently tried another "current" workstation for a couple of months but just continually "missed" many Kronos features.

Maybe a Kronos version of the Roli Seaboard???? Hmmmmmm…now that would be a massive playing-learning-curve!

Pete

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Sun May 31, 2015 8:45 am

Agree that the Kronos is streets ahead of the competition, which is why I jumped ship from Yamaha last August. Whilst I haven't had much free time this year, I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of the Kronos, which is the type of synth I was after; I.e. Something that would keep me occupied for a long time!

I think Korg can evolve the Kronos by introducing more synth engines, They have the architecture to do so. I for one would be happy to pay for such synth engine upgrades at a reasonable price, as obviously Korg need to make money for their shareholders and to develop products. Free OS updates are nice, and I've already benefited from OS 3 for nought, but we can't always expect that.

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:03 am

karmathanever wrote:
Korg *could* have locked previous Kronos users out when OS V3 came along, but they didn't.
Yes!! That was awesome!! Really had not expected that.

I cannot think of anything they could add that I would truly benefit from….
..maybe a universally adjustable cup holder…
But seriously, from a deep technical point of view, the Kronos is huge
and from a non-technical point of view, the Kronos is huge

Pete

Really, there are many little things i can think of..
- detection of legato play and assigning samples to that in HD1 engine
-an engine specially suited for brass and wind sounds and effects
- more effects
- better daw integration
- a pattern based mode in sequencer
- a piano roll in the sequencer
And many more small things..

Not that the kronos, isnt a beast witouth them, but these things would certainly allow it to make another step in the Evolution..

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:07 am

Derek Cook wrote:Agree that the Kronos is streets ahead of the competition, which is why I jumped ship from Yamaha last August. Whilst I haven't had much free time this year, I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of the Kronos, which is the type of synth I was after; I.e. Something that would keep me occupied for a long time!

I think Korg can evolve the Kronos by introducing more synth engines, They have the architecture to do so. I for one would be happy to pay for such synth engine upgrades at a reasonable price, as obviously Korg need to make money for their shareholders and to develop products. Free OS updates are nice, and I've already benefited from OS 3 for nought, but we can't always expect that.

I think it was Dan at Korg that said that adding more engines to the Kronos is nearly impossible in the current structure of the software..

tomto66 · Post by **tomto66** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:12 am

Here's what I would do if I were Korg:

No need for revolution: make a K3 that is compatible with K, Kx, K2
Upgrade the OS to 64 bit, provide room for 8+ Gb, keep all 64bit versions of all synth models backward compatible with the 32bit versions
Provide *many* more user banks; combi banks too but need for prog banks is higher
Give us a larger, capacitive touch screen

None of the above would involve a major R&D effort I would think.

For a bit more effort:

Better version of the sequencer, give us piano roll editing
Some more synth engines, ability to run VSTs would be nice but I'm not sure whether stock VSTs would play nice with a Kronos touch screen. Though I'll admit there is no particular engine I'm missing right now - engines would be at the bottom of my list of priorities
More/better effects. Particularly tube FX
Karma3 - but I would like to see both Karma2 *and* Karma3 for backwards compatibility. Give us, in any combi, option to use either Karma 2 or Karma 3
Ability to combine RPPR with Combi mode: ability to assign patterns to keys (or pads) in combi mode.

Oh and since we've now had plastic shoulders on the original K, followed by wood shoulders on the K2, I want brushed metal shoulders on the K3

methusala · Post by **methusala** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:23 am

Voice in the wilderness here. Make the Oasys banks easily transferable across to the K ! I started a short thread on this a few days ago in this section.

Patrick

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:40 am

All basic Oasys sounds are already in the Kronos, and then some. The main issue is with combis that expect programs to be in different banks. Although you can easily remap all program bank references inside an entire bank of combis if you know which bank to replace.

As for the Kronos, while I would like more engines too, my main "left over" issues after all stellar upgrades so far are:
1. A better vocoder
2. A better vocoder
3. More polyphony
4. A higher maximum frequency for AL-1s band pass filter (I use this for noise sweeps sometimes and it doesn't go nearly high enough)
5. The ability to use the screen as a Kaoss Pad, M3 style
6. A better vocoder

That's just based on the stuff I need/use daily. Obviously many small enhancements are conceivable.

media-igor · Post by **media-igor** » Sun May 31, 2015 10:29 am

methusala wrote:Voice in the wilderness here. Make the Oasys banks easily transferable across to the K ! I started a short thread on this a few days ago in this section.

Patrick

It is not clear - what the problem is. Any bank OASYS can be easily loaded into the KRONOS. Anyway - PSG, SNG from Oasys without problems loaded into the KRONOS.

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sun May 31, 2015 10:36 am

methusala wrote:Voice in the wilderness here. Make the Oasys banks easily transferable across to the K ! I started a short thread on this a few days ago in this section.

Patrick

Why do you feel its not easily transferable,at least Korg have allowed the PCG data to be readable,the sounds convert over perfectly,certainly beats having to rely on conversion software or manually copying over each parameter within a program,like I did with the Triton>Oasys,now that was tedious.

A little common sense and its easy as pie

The Kronos has the same amount of Bank slots,(albeit an extra set of 7 User ones)

If your bothered so much about the program/combis not calling up the correct programs then your more than able to load the Banks into the correct bank slot as they were on the Oasys.

In Kronos disk mode you have the option of selecting which bank slot you want to load individual Banks/Program banks into so simply load them in the order the Oasys bank A to bank A the same for the combis if not you have 7 USER spare slots to load them in,same for the combis

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sun May 31, 2015 11:00 am

tomto66 wrote: Provide *many* more user banks; combi banks too but need for prog banks is higher
Give us a larger, capacitive touch screen
None of the above would involve a major R&D effort I would think.
For a bit more effort:
Better version of the sequencer,
More/better effects. Particularly tube FX
Karma3 - but I would like to see both Karma2 *and* Karma3 for backwards compatibility. Give us, in any combi, option to use either Karma 2 or Karma 3
Ability to combine RPPR with Combi mode: ability to assign patterns to keys (or pads) in combi mode.

Some of these things you mention are interesting,As an Ex Oasys user,as a personal preference,I say the Screen size is fine,the Oasys had a larger screen which although gave more real estate I don't feel it was any advantage over the Kronos.

Somebody mentioned the Screen as a Kaoss pad,that would be useful,I wonder if this is in development??there is already a swipe motion to change values like lifting the lid on the piano,so who knows maybe an OS upgrade for using it to control efx is in the wings!!

Extra user Banks,again this is something the Oasys never had,so the Kronos is more than expandable to what I'm used to,but as always the more you get used to extra the more you want,so I'm sure Ill fill up these extra ones and need more

Better sequencer: Yes,this is something i would like to see,I've documented my gripes over the sequencer over the years and have had to rely on external hardware sequencers over the years,Kronos is fine for doing demos but I hate the constant page flipping to complete basic midi editing duties,Kronos sequencer will never be anything more than a scratchpad for me until its revamped but its useable,allowing it to have a larger track/Midi channel count would be a start,and not have to compromise between internal and external channels if you run a lot of external midi devices like I do, i would welcome an extra Midi out socket too.
I'd like to see a Cue list brought into play on the sequencer like the Triton,that was mighty useful,as I liked to build up sections of my songs and chain them together to create a full song

Effects:Usable and fine,Tube fx,possibly,although the Triton Extreme had this,great for adding a bit of dirt to organs but in hindsight was a little bit gimmicky,who knows maybe we'll see a Kronos Extreme....Would like to see each program retain its own effects when copying over a program into combi/Sequencer mode(think we're a long way off from that type of processing power)

RPPR mode:The Patterns needs to be able to access multichannel/track assignments,and allowing triggering of such from a single key rather than only a single track per key,this is one of the reasons I prefer to use an Akai MPC4K for sequencing,I would like to have an RPPR pattern that I could use to create a whole section of a song i.e. chorus/Bridge or Verse,at this current moment I'm having to do this by creating an octave of patterns to be able to trigger sections and different tracks like this.perhaps a workaround but time consuming and slows the workflow down.

One thing I would like to see,the ability to highlight ANY parameter on the screen in any mode and assign it to one of the hardware controllers by moving the knob/slider you want to assign it to and pressing enter,so for example if I want to use the Ribbon to alter the lid position of the piano I simply highlight the lid position Value and then move the joystick and hit enter and its assigned

I'd also like to be able to add text to the external midi assignments in Global mode so rather than seeing them just as channel and CC numbers you could add a name to what parameter its controlling,i.e. "Moog Voyager Filter" or at least an abbreviation "MV Flt" and also the ability to rename the setups,naming them after an external synth/Device so its more practical than relying on a number,just being able to name the setup would be a welcome start

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Sun May 31, 2015 12:00 pm

Bachus wrote:
Derek Cook wrote:Agree that the Kronos is streets ahead of the competition, which is why I jumped ship from Yamaha last August. Whilst I haven't had much free time this year, I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of the Kronos, which is the type of synth I was after; I.e. Something that would keep me occupied for a long time!

I think Korg can evolve the Kronos by introducing more synth engines, They have the architecture to do so. I for one would be happy to pay for such synth engine upgrades at a reasonable price, as obviously Korg need to make money for their shareholders and to develop products. Free OS updates are nice, and I've already benefited from OS 3 for nought, but we can't always expect that.
I think it was Dan at Korg that said that adding more engines to the Kronos is nearly impossible in the current structure of the software..

I hadn't seen that comment before; it's a bit surprising if it's true. I'd have that it would be modular enough to support expansion if it already supports different synth engines? Shame if it is true....

SeedyLee · Post by **SeedyLee** » Sun May 31, 2015 12:52 pm

I'd like to see Korg continue to support and evolve the Kronos in its current form. After spending four years learning it, I feel very comfortable with its operation and feature set. I'd hate to see my investment in learning the platform wasted simply because a new product is released.

Korg have done an amazing job continuing to release OS updates that maintain compatibility and feature parity between the Kronos, Kronos X and Kronons 2. Perhaps future versions could support more polyphony through faster processors, whilst still supporting the same basic architecture (and hence backwards/forwards compatibility to a degree).

I'd also love to see a high-end version of the Kronos re-released, like the OASYS. I'd be willing to pay for such a creation as the Kronos is such a pivitol part of my studio now.

Finally, hopefully Korg can continue to focus on the little things that make a big difference in usability.