The Kronos Tips & Tricks Thread

[psionic311]

Set OSC 2 as modulator into the carrier OSC1
OSC 2 ==> OSC 1
- on the EXI1 / Patch Panel tab, drag and drop a cable from OSC2 blue output to OSC1 red input

Full PWM sound using a saw wave to Frequency Modulate (FM) a square wave.

(For some real sonic exploration, try changing OSC2 mode = sin + waveshaper. Then go down to the Waveshaper section, and touch the dropdown arrow to open up all the wave Tables. First press the safety pin icon to "lock" open the window, so you can press different waveforms at random and keep the window from closing each time. There's tons of different flavors of bass notes here. Have fun!)

Thank you but what engine are you using there ? You speak of MOD-7 in your post but it seems to be AL-1 parameters !

Hi Liviou, thanks for your interest! This is definitely in the MOD7 engine, as noted with the parts in bold lettering above (Patch Panel, Waveshaper). This method gets a more pronounced PWM sound than in the AL1 engine.

Give it a try! I think you'll be pleased, especially with the waveshaper section. It's an underrated and overlooked aspect of the Kronos.

EDIT: I changed the original post so that it is more clear that we are using the MOD7 engine. HTH

[Liviou2004]

Set OSC 2 as modulator into the carrier OSC1
OSC 2 ==> OSC 1
- on the EXI1 / Patch Panel tab, drag and drop a cable from OSC2 blue output to OSC1 red input

Full PWM sound using a saw wave to Frequency Modulate (FM) a square wave.

(For some real sonic exploration, try changing OSC2 mode = sin + waveshaper. Then go down to the Waveshaper section, and touch the dropdown arrow to open up all the wave Tables. First press the safety pin icon to "lock" open the window, so you can press different waveforms at random and keep the window from closing each time. There's tons of different flavors of bass notes here. Have fun!)

Thank you but what engine are you using there ? You speak of MOD-7 in your post but it seems to be AL-1 parameters !

Hi Liviou, thanks for your interest! This is definitely in the MOD7 engine, as noted with the parts in bold lettering above (Patch Panel, Waveshaper). This method gets a more pronounced PWM sound than in the AL1 engine.

Give it a try! I think you'll be pleased, especially with the waveshaper section. It's an underrated and overlooked aspect of the Kronos.

EDIT: I changed the original post so that it is more clear that we are using the MOD7 engine. HTH

Oh, yes, of course, sorry !

[psionic311]

I think this is a great feature that's overlooked and underappreciated. Here's a quick overview to help de-mystify the Kronos Control Surface.

CS physical controllers vs the CS tab (onscreen):

1. Note that along with the physical controllers themselves, there is a corresponding Control Surface tab.
From any mode (Combi, Program, etc), press the EXIT button several times to get to its "home" screen.
Control Surface tab will be on lower right of that home screen.

2. You can still use the knobs/switches/sliders no matter what the touchscreen shows.
In other words, you can be looking at the Set List screen,
but still control your iPad volume when the Control Surface is set to Audio. Etc.
Let the Control Surface LED be your guiding light --
If Track/Timbre is lit, then sliders control the volumes of individual parts.
If Tone Adjust is lit, then sliders control whatever you have assigned to them (like drawbars, etc).
(again, this is no matter what the touchscreen shows)

=============================

Alright, now for the bird's eye view of the Kronos Control Surface.
Going by the column of CS buttons by which you pick your poison:

Timbre/Track
- most useful in Combi mode as a live mixer for mute, pan, volume
- adjust volumes, etc, on 8 parts at a time (1 thru 8, or 9-16)
- 9th slider acts as Master volume (MIDI volume CC#7)

Audio
- sliders control stereo Audio in, USB in, and SPDIF in, in that order.
- press SOLO button on right to use lower switches as "solo" instead of "select"
- see also GLOBAL mode Audio tab, for Bus Select ==> Output jacks

EXT
- for using your Kronos as a MIDI controller for softsynths or external hardware
- any knob/switch/slider can be set to any MIDI channel and CC
- first, you make your External templates (called "Setup" in Korg-speak) in GLOBAL mode
- then when in Program/Combi/Set List mode, press EXT button
- go to Control Surface tab, and choose your relevant Setup # from upper right

RT/KARMA
- first 4 knobs are permanently assigned to Filter Cutoff, resonance, etc
- last 4 knobs can be manually assigned whatever you want
- main action is on the KARMA sliders and scene switches

Tone Adjust
- this is where the good stuff is at!
- yes, you can make your own template and save these per program/combi

- in Program mode
-- knobs/switches/sliders are often pre-assigned to useful parameters
-- moving it adjusts the related parameter
-- if you leave the program, changes are not saved
-- if you save after adjusting, the program remembers the change
-- use dropdown arrows to customize and make your own templates!
-- pro tip: highlight value field under switch to make continuous data entries!

- in Combi mode
-- you have 16 pages, one Control Surface for each timbre/part
-- see upper right corner to choose which part you're currently looking at
-- pro tip/shortcut key: press and hold Tone Adjust then press Switch to select which timbre to work on

in Set List mode
- Tone Adjust works like Combi or Program mode
- the button also toggles to the Set List EQ
- this is a Total EQ, which comes *after* all other sound processing
- designed for live use, like your FOH sound man's graphic EQ
- saved per Set List, so George's Pub and Grand Ballroom have different EQs

Hope that helps!

[HardSync]

Tone Adjust
- this is where the good stuff is at!
- yes, you can make your own template and save these per program/combi

- in Program mode
-- knobs/switches/sliders are often pre-assigned to useful parameters
-- moving it adjusts the related parameter
-- if you leave the program, changes are not saved
-- if you save after adjusting, the program remembers the change
-- use dropdown arrows to customize and make your own templates!
-- pro tip: highlight value field under switch to make continuous data entries!

Tone Adjust is awesome.

There is something else you can do with Tone Adjust. You can actually save the changes you made to a program with Tone Adjust into a combi instead of saving the program itself. This is particularly useful when you were editing in Program mode, and you have no free program slots left and don't want to overwrite anything. Usually, you'll have tons of blank combi slots to use. So use them!

Here's how you do it:

• In Program Mode, make your changes with Tone Adjust until you get the sound you want.
  Do NOT save. And do NOT change to another program.
  Switch to Combi Mode and dial up a blank, default combi.
  From the menu, choose Copy From Program. It should automatically select the program you were editing.
  Check any or all of the boxes for IFXs, MFXs, TFX... from the pop up dialog as required.
  Touch the OK button to copy the current state of the edited program into the combi.
  Play keyboard to ensure it sounds correct. You can even switch back to program mode to confirm, but switch back to combi mode when done. Or you can confirm by switching to Tone Adjust mode and viewing the control surface on screen to ensure your edits were captured.
  Now, save your combi. It will be saved with the edits you made in the program.
  You can now go back to the program and discard your edits by switching to another program.
  When you return to your saved combi, it will keep the edited sound and your program will retain its original sound.

:)

[psionic311]

Nice one. I use this feature in the opposite way when tweaking my cover song combis. It goes a little something like this:

- While in Combi mode main mixer page, select a program (touch its fader)
- from upper right dropdown window, choose Edit Program*
- Kronos jumps to the Program but stays in Combi mode (both LEDs are lit)

Now you can tweak the program as you need. Notice you're still in Combi mode. If you have splits or layers, you still hear them play. (If this is annoying, just SOLO the program first in Combi mode, then jump to Edit Program).

- make your tweaks as needed
- press EXIT or Combi button again to go back to combi
- Now, if you save the Combi, it remembers your edits to the program.
- the original program is not altered
- If you drastically change the program, and want to save a copy of it to another Program slot, you can do that too.
The Combi will update that timbre slot and now point to that new Program instead.
Again, the original program remains the same.

--------------------------------------------

How is this useful for saving space?

Instead of having 50 different variations of a lead or synth brass sound, you can just keep a few "template" programs.
Re-use these in your Combis, but alter them using this method.
The combi remembers the tweaked program, leaving your template untouched.

It was a great day for many of us when Korg released that OS update. Many other workstations or synths with single and multi modes still have that problem. If you change a single program in a combi/multi, it changes the original, which then ruins all your other combi/multis that also had that original program.

Those were the good old days when Korg released Kronos OS updates regularly.

*pro tip keyboard shortcut: use ENTER + 4 to jump, instead of dropdown window

[Poseidon]

KORG KRONOS Tutorial - Control the cutoff with a pedal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe2NQc36gSI

[ArminH]

Change the current Timbre directly:
Press and hold Tone ADJ/EQ switch (LED on) + Switch 1..16.
(PLAY/MUTE selects Timbres 1-8, MIX SELECT selects Timbres 9-16, EXIT return to main page)

[ArminH]

Switch additional sounds via mute on/off.
To avoid that all muted sounds still use up voices:
Globals / Mute Mode / Live