Korg Forums

[SanderXpander]

You can load entire bank from disk into any bank of your choosing. Just navigate into the file until it shows a list of the program of combi banks and click whichever one you want to load. When you click load it'll prompt you for where to. I do this all the time, hence being confused by your problem.

[synthguy]

SanderX, then I jumped the gun, following advice on an old thread which suggested the only way to load things into the banks of one's choosing is to load the whole thing as a multiple. That must have been addressed since then. I'll have to exparimant with that a bit.

[Rosebud]

synthguy,

I'm a long-time lurker here but, planning on purchasing a Kronos X after NAMM, provided something else new isn't announced. I would love to have some of the sounds done by Thomas Dolby for his work with Foreigner. You've demoed those to great effect in your Motif libraries I believe. I have to say, of anybody doing this type of programming, your work is the best to my ear. Always impressed!

[synthguy]

Thanks Rosebud, but I must admit that while I have done sounds for numerous synths in the past, I'm not the guy from Motifator. My quality is similar though.

In any case, I do FINALLY have a few tidbits to share - and is my back giving me hell over it, oy. Rather than clutter up the Korg Patches board with occasional temporary uploads that will have to be deleted when more patches get done, I'll send them to those who want via email. Just PM me and I'll send them right to you. If you want to send me some money, that would be great, but I won't hassle anyone over it. So, for a quick overview of what this mess is...

I only managed to make a little less than 30 patches, because I wasted a bunch of time trying to figure out the Kronos control scheme, and then realized that I changed my controller setups halfway through the process, and had to spend about two hours fixing them to make them remotely consistent. GAH! Another thing is that these are mostly generic 70s through 80s style patches, so I don't have any "Baba O'Riley" plunky things or Pink Floyd "On The Run" helicopter patches yet. Sorry.

Everything is programmed using the AL-1 synth, though I'll be using the other synths in later patches. These are set up to load into bank U-DD - I assume, that's where I programmed them. There are a number of string patches, brasses and gushy pads based loosely on the Oberheim, Jupiter and Prophet 5 and 10. The Obie patches respond to velocity and pressure rather dynamically, though all the patches respond to expressive playing at least a bit. Most have some reverb, though I do need to fine tune them a bit more when I get a new set of speakers for my stereo. Many have chorus and a couple have phase shifter. I also have four Minimoog-ish lead sounds, using various mixtures of sawtooth, square and pulse waves.

There are a few standouts. The first patch is kind of a Polymoog Vox Humana stringish sound rather like the one Gary Numan used for his hit "Cars." The ubiquitous Prophet/Jupiter hard sync OW sound used in many 80 songs from pop to prog is included. There is a big fat Tony Banks Prophet 10 pad synth reminiscent of the one used in the Genesis song "Mama." I managed to make a pretty decent ARP/Solina string ensemble sound, one with phaser. The first lead patch is specifically based on the one used in the Divinyls' song "Science Fiction," by request.

I thought about adding some delay to a lead, but timing or tempo is really song dependent, so if you want it, I can school you on how to add it or whip something up later on. The patches might be a little quiet for you guys, but they crackled a bit in my phones or my speakers if I made them much louder. I also biased the volume lower in the high range of the K-88 to soften the highs a bit, and boosted the low end of the keyboard slightly. I also didn't observe the 100% filter tracking of the Prophet because it makes the sound very dark on the low keys. I didn't go crazy with the waveform layering parameter, only resorting to using the detuned sawtooth OSC on occasion, so polyphony should be reasonably high. EQ was used sparingly if at all.

I put some work into giving you guys some control over these sounds, and for the most part, everything is consistent with this protocol. It may matter, as I think the controls are set on RT/KARMA (not Tone Adjust as I originally posted).

Ribbon = opens filter, can pitch bend on some patches
SW1 = octave down on one OSC, though on a few patches tuning is up an octave, and both switches are set to toggle
SW2 = up seven semitones (a fifth)
Knob 1 = filter frequency
Knob 2 = filter resonance
Knob 3 = envelope depth (sorry, I sold my brain on ebay a few weeks ago, don't ask me why I ignored these two)
Knob 4 = release (filter and amp)
Knob 5 = +/- octave tuning of one OSC
Knob 6 = fine detuning, usually of both OSCs
Knob 7 = +/- attack adjust (filter and amp)
Knob 8 = +/- release adjust (filter and amp)
Value slider = vibrato, or pulse width on leads and possibly some synth sounds, can also bring in chorus or phaser on a couple of patches
Key pressure = opens filter or can bring in vibrato - and it might be a little strong on your Kronos, so let me know if it's over the top for you
Expression pedal = opens filter - and guys, buy one, as well as an extra footswitch, they're pretty useful

In particular, on the Prophet sync patch, Knob 5 will allow you to sweep the pitch of the slave OSC for all kinds of gnarly sync timbres. Knob 6 slows the attack of the pitch mod envelope, so nudging that towards the 2 o'clock position will give you the characteristic "bwop" sound favored by Dave Stewart (the "real" Dave Stewart of National Health and Bruford fame). On the Mini leads, I did follow the 50/35/15% pulse width rule of the Minimoog waveforms. SW1 brings in the square wave SubOSC. Using Knob 5 to tune one of the OSCs, and using the Value slider to change the pulse width on patches that use pulse waves (hey, the Voyager has variable pulse width) will give you a wide variety of Moogy leads to play with. As an unintended bonus, at the end of the bank are burningbusch's Prophet 5 patches, which I probably should have used as a basis for my own Prophet sounds. Oh well, maybe next time.

I intend to make a bunch of patches later on using the various VA synths in the Kronos, trying to capture the flavor of Moog, ARP, Oberheim and other vintage synths, and build some of those song specific patches. And on that point, if you want something in particular, mention it in here so I won't be making my faves and leaving you guys having to tweak something. And if you like what I did, be sure and let me know.

Edit: don't ask me why I ignored Knob 3 and 4, I'm not completely in this universe since going back to my early EARLY shift at work. As for why there are two release controls, I think it's better to have the attack and release knobs NEXT to each other and in ORDER - HELLO KORG DESIGN TEAM?! Why the hail didn't you give us access to ALL eight knobs to use as we see fit?? GAH!! And if it matters, I'm using the RT/KARMA selection in the controller scheme, not the other one.
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[drama1]

Some exceptionally good analog stuff. Keep up the good work. Looking forward for more from synthguy.

[synthguy]

Just as a heads up, I'm changing the control scheme on my patches. I figured I should do this because having a redundant knob, envelope release, was beginning to bug me. I can't really think of any truly sensible way to arrange things, thanks to KORG's infinite wisdom to only allow so many knobs to be used as controllers. So for now anyway, the ATTACK knob is after the RELEASE knob, and complain to KORG about that. I want to give you guys a decent amount of controls to shape sounds like an actual synth.

Ribbon = opens filter, sweeps sync oscillator
SW1 = octave down on one OSC, though on a few patches tuning is up an octave, adds SubOSC on leads, and both switches are set to toggle
SW2 = one OSC up seven semitones (a fifth)
Knob 1 = filter frequency
Knob 2 = filter resonance
Knob 3 = envelope depth (filter - mostly?)
Knob 4 = release adjust (filter and amp)
Knob 5 = attack adjust (filter and amp)
Knob 6 = +/- octave tuning of one OSC, on some pad/string patches, adds SubOSC
Knob 7 = fine detuning, usually of both OSCs
Knob 8 = vibrato, or pulse width on leads and possibly some synth sounds
Value slider = effects
Key pressure = opens filter or can bring in vibrato - and it might be a little strong on your Kronos, so let me know if it's over the top for you
Footswitch #2 = portamento on/off (temporary, meaning you hold it down to add or kill glide), or adds an effect like phase shifter
Expression pedal = opens filter

If you guys have any suggestions on how you want to use footswitch 2, post them in this thread and I'll consider them.

Unfortunately, my life has gone through some upheavals lately, and I'm going to be moving in a couple of weeks, so I'll be a little distracted from this project. But some of you guys have been very generous in your giving, so I intend to create more than one full bank of stuff with some of my own patches, based on vintage Moog, ARP, Oberheim and other synths. If I can come up with any, I'll throw in some MOD-7 patches at some point. I'll try not to make it a long wait.

Edit: one more thing. Portamento doesn't seem to really suit the strings, brass or some of the key/synth sounds, so I'm leaving that off unless some of you want this left in for some strange reason. A lead violin patch would be a different matter.
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[pfrocha]

Hello Synthguy

Have you been able to release anything yet?

[synthguy]

Maybe I should do another heads up.

I got an email from jimknopf, which I really should reply to, dealing with some suggestions on the patches which I agree should be done. Making sure everything is working right and consistently is being more of a pain than it really should. Plus, as long as this is taking, I want to give some extra patches to those I sent the first set to, and make it worth while to the new folk. Unfortunately, this is often mind numbing work - pretty much data entry with sound, plus my back is beginning to complain a lot. You guys who grouched about being hunched over this thing, I completely understand now! Anyway, I'm having to take a lot of breaks.

We also had a death in the family, and I'm the oldest member, so I'm having to deal with a lot of headaches and interruptions. I'm still trying to get this done for you guys as soon as I can, but with the mess I'm inheriting, it might be more like the weekend before something is ready.
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[jimknopf]

synthguy, don't feel obliged to do anything.
Family comes first. Sincere condolences.

Else:
It is your time, and it is a fun project. As soon as this becomes a thing of expectations of others (concerning results and time needed), you will no longer enjoy it.
Take a breath, and enjoy your fun in programming, whenever you feel like it. We all will have a listen, whenever you're ready.
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Kronos 73 - Moog Voyager RME - Moog LP TE - Behringer Model D - Prophet 6 - Roland Jupiter Xm - Rhodes Stage 73 Mk I - Elektron Analog Rytm MkII - Roland TR-6s - Cubase 12 Pro + Groove Agent 5

[Phinnin]

I just wanted to add myself to the "definitely buying" category on this project. I fully support the hard work and will help feed the expensive habits.

[Diego5150]

Synthguy,
Take your time and be with your family, sorry for your loss.

[synthguy]

First of all, thank you for the condolences. Life does have an overcast to it, but I'm a man of faith, and the days will brighten in due time.

In the meantime, I really do need to do a project like this to give me something enjoyable to do. It has been a while since I've programmed new patches, and it is a lot of fun creating sounds. So most of you who I sent the first batch to - hopefully all of you! - got the update. As I stated in the email, I've gone back to my stupid early shift at work, so I haven't had as much energy as when I started this project, so there are only about five or so new sounds. But I've changed the controller scheme around to make it more flexible, and made notes in my post above. I made a number of tweaks and enhancements. One thing is a little awkward in that the envelope release knob is before envelope attack knob, but that's KORG's fault for making half of them fixed.

Anyway, I've added a phase shifter effect on a few patches which can be brought in with the Value slider, or by pressing Footswitch #2. Since many of you may not have another footswitch, I've added some phaser patches separately. I'll be fussing with delay effects on some of the leads in the coming weeks.

A few of the string and pad patches now have the SubOSC set to be added with Knob 6 for some extra body. From a suggestion of jimknopf's, reverb has been trimmed back in most patches.

I've added a few of Dennis DeYoung's Oberheim 8 Voice and OB-X patches from a few Styx songs. A couple of his string/pad patches, one with phaser, and his distinctive lead sound from "Fooling Yourself." Also, there are a few Jupiter-8 percussive synth sounds Johnathan Cain of Journey fame used in "Separate Ways." The five lead sounds I programmed start at program 50.

Anyone who hasn't got theirs, wants them, or has a problem, send me a PM with your email address and I'll get a good file to you sometime over the next day or so. Tomorrow is going to be completely busy. I hope you have fun with them.
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[synthguy]

Err... one more thing, and forgive me but I'm a little slow since starting this stupid early shift at work.

Rather than PM me, send an email to

lfast1999@live.com

and I'll reply with the patches on an attachment. Like Qui Robinez, I program these in bank U-DD and so they may want to load there by default. For you Mac users who might have issues, look at Diego5150's "Downloading Issues" thread for help, though so far, no one has had any problems with it.
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[johnnydr]

Nice patches Synthguy.
Looking forward to the complete set.
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Kronos 61
Nord Stage -classic
Yamaha Motif XS Rack

[JuneauUnderground]