Korg Forums

[Shutoku]

To the OP, are you looking at the 88's or the 61's?

I'm in a very similar situation. I play prog rock, in my case vast amounts of Wakeman solo stuff, and I too was choosing between the Kross and Krome.

To me the big difference is the Krome has the big sized piano samples that are beautiful, but within the mix of a band I'm not sure you will get the full benefit, and the digital audio recording and favourites in the Kross.
Another difference is price. The Kross is about three quarters the price of the Krome.

For me I went with the Kross and I have no regrets.

As a kind of mini-review:
Pros:
I like the pianos a lot. e.pianos are great. Organ sounds are decent as are mellotron sounds, synth leads, and orchestral sounds. I am 100 % happy with the sound of the board.

The Favourites section makes it a super stage friendly board!!!

I find the sequencer quite easy to use.

You can create very complex combi's, and while working from the Kross display wading through menus would be pretty tedious, the free editing software it great. (In fact if they made an ipad/iphone version, you would basically get the Krome touch screen)

Polyphony has not been a problem at all thus far, and that is using the Kross for everything and triggering it both from it's own keyboard and a second one as well.

Run's on batteries. Now the promo video has people taking their Kross to the park to jam, but to me the real value of the batteries is that if for some reason you lose power even for a second onstage, you won't have to reboot. The Kross just seamlessly switches to battery if the power is cut. A great thing on stage but also when editing.

The Con's:
The synth action keybed is pretty awful. It's ok for basic playing mostly on white keys, but playing something like a Ab arpeggio is not going to turn out well.
I think the 88 key would be fine, but for the 61 (and I'm pretty sure it is exactly the same on the Krome) it is a weak point.
Once I get a midi merger so I can play the Kross from both my digital piano and my old m1, I'm not sure how often I would even use the Kross keyboard in performance because of this. I should maybe add I teach piano for a living and have been playing for over 40 years.

There are some odd limits in the fx section. Specifically delay is pretty much solely a master fx, and it cannot be combined with reverb.

My biggest beef outside the keybed is that there is no real way to mute tracks within a combi or sequence. If you could do that with the 16 favourite/step sequencer buttons....OMG it would open up a whole world of multi keyboard options in a one or 2 keyboard rig.

I guess the main thing is this....every night I cannot wait to sit down at my kross, and create combis and just play. I have a strong emotional connection to it already. I'm using it as a solo-ist, but if I were in a band, most of the limitations I mentioned become unimportant and it is a really great stage instrument.
It's also incredibly portable!

[tommymandel]

That is a GREAT review, Shutoku! Accurate and insightful.

[Ricky_jcr]

Hey thanks Shutoku! That really is a fantastic review.

Well, there's been some developments on my side as well, but I'm a proud Korg owner now so woot woot

Well, as I'd said before, I was on a tight budget, but I had my mind set on a Korg(lets face it, nothing else compares). I went to the local music store, and tried out a KROME, cause I'd been receiving some incredibly positive feedback about it. I passed it through the Peavey amplifier at the store, and then through my headphones. Headphones all day, although the amp does do a good job.

I was tremendously impressed with the Pianos, they're world class, really. Organs, brilliant, the synth pad sounds are a bit of a let down, but the overall interface more than makes up for it.

There are 5 preset banks, and 1 user bank, and contrary to what many people think there IS a way for favourites on the KROME. You can edit and save your custom combis to the user banks, or overwrite existing sounds as well.
All in all they're available at a single touch.

Also @Shutoku, what you said can be done on the KROME. Muting certain tracks in the combis, and then editing/saving them as a preset or in the user banks. There are a total of 16 tracks programmable on each combi, each having a MUTE, PLAY and SOLO button to do the respective.

Then there's the totally awesome joystick, which the KROSS doesn't have.

The only major drawback IMHO is the Keybed. Its feels cheap, and isn't anywhere close to the NH keybeds in the 88 keyboards.
Also, the KROME is nowhere near as light or portable as the KROSS.
Doesn't run on batteries, so thats a bummer for gigging musicians.

All in all, after playing and hearing the KROME and the KROSS, I decided I must have the KROME. I stretched my budget and I'm a proud owner of a new Korg Krome-61
_________________
"Ask not what your keyboard can do for you, rather ask what you can do with it."

[Ricky_jcr]

Guys, I didn't know where else to post this, I'm relatively new here, but I've hit a snag relating to file transfer from the Krome and as far as I know, its a problem with all other Workstations as well.

I'll be clear:

Is there any way to convert a .SNG file to .MP3?
_________________
"Ask not what your keyboard can do for you, rather ask what you can do with it."

[Shutoku]

[Ricky_jcr]

[SanderXpander]

.SNG to MP3 "conversion" doesn't exist. You will need to record the song on your computer (or any external recorder) and then create an MP3 from it.

[Shutoku]

[twstone1983]

Although there is no iOS version of the Kross editor, if you happen to have a Windows tablet that runs a full version of Windows 8 (not RT) you can run the editor on that and hook it via USB to the Kross and that essentially will give you touch screen capabilities on the Kross.
_________________
regards,
Tim

Current Gear: N364, TR88, Kross61, Art Pro MPA II, Studio Projects B1, Shure SM58/SM57, Behringer C1, Behringer XM8500, Yamaha MG 10/2, Behringer Xenyx 1002FX, Steinberg CI2, Cubase AI 6.

[Shutoku]

Good point! I'm mostly an apple guy, but that is an option to consider for sure!

[twstone1983]

I understand many musicians are, but you can find windows tablets very cheap. For example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-VivoTab-ME400C-C2-BK-Intel-Atom-2GB-Memory-64GB-EMMC-10-1-Touch-Tablet-/261457678194?pt=US_Tablets&hash=item3ce0178f72#ht_2602wt_882

That one is $179. So you could get one for the primary purpose of using the editor with the Kross. And use your iPad for everything else.
_________________
regards,
Tim

Current Gear: N364, TR88, Kross61, Art Pro MPA II, Studio Projects B1, Shure SM58/SM57, Behringer C1, Behringer XM8500, Yamaha MG 10/2, Behringer Xenyx 1002FX, Steinberg CI2, Cubase AI 6.

[razzaq1]

Does anyone know where to get KROME settings for Programs and Combis?
Can the same settings be set in the KROSS (to get KROME Combis on the KROSS)?

[Ricky_jcr]

[razzaq1]

I have a KROSS and not a KROME so I'd need some kind of chart unless the KROME default pcg is downloadable.
Yes PCG TOOLS may indicate settings that I could try and set on the KROSS.

I saw Master Luke (who def. has the Force about him) in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgpaeitOoV4
and, say, at 4:50 there is a great Arp and Drum accompaniment to the bass sound. I'd like to use the same set on the KROSS if possible to cook it up!
See 6:55 and also 8:36.

Obviously the depth of the KROME sounds will differ, but the KROSS and KROME don't seem so very different from each other.

Let me know if you have any ideas about this.
What a GREAT forum

[SanderXpander]

PCG Tools does NOT let you copy settings from one board to another.