Korg Forums

Strangeglow · Joined: 23 Sep 2019 Posts: 5

Hello.

I own a Kronos 2, and am wondering if it is possible to increase the number of banks and programs that can be created in the Kronos.

From what I have seen, it seems that increasing storage space is possible by adding extra hard drives, but I also read that it won't increase the number of programs, and that you are stuck with the predefined number of banks and programs.

I am asking both because I'm getting closer to all my programs being full, and because I would like to add some sample packs from the internet to my Kronos, which to my understanding take up program slots. Is it possible to store and use samples from sample packs in another way than as programs?

tyvm

ChrisDuncan · Senior Member Joined: 17 May 2018 Posts: 389

I can't speak to whether or not you can expand the number of banks / programs, but you might look into PCG Tools, which is a librarian. This would allow you to take some of the stuff you're not currently using, save it off to disk, clear the space, and then have room to experiment with other stuff.

Because no matter what the limit is on banks / programs, it's a pretty safe bet that we can use them all up. Smile

voip · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Nov 2014 Posts: 3777

The number of Banks available for Programs and Combis on the Kronos is fixed to give 2560 Program slots and 1792 Combi slots. The early versions of the Kronos Operating System only allowed 1792 Program locations but, from OS v1.5, an additional 7 user Banks have been available.

The difficulty, from Korg's point of view is, that the 21 Program Banks currently available is the maximum that can easily be accessed using just simple presses of the front panel Bank buttons, and the extra 7 banks, post OS v1.5, were accessed by pressing adjacent pairs of Bank buttons. It would be possible, at least in theory, for Korg to add another 42 Banks, by allowing the OS to recognise the pressing of non-adjacent pairs of buttons e.g. to give USER-AA, USER-AB, USER-AC, and so on, and this would certainly have an appeal for at least some users, and could also be done for Combis. In my mind, there should be many more Combi slots than Program slots, since the 16 Timbres in a Combi, containing various combinations of all the available Programs, gives an extremely large number of possible permutations (~1.6 x 10^41), and that's before the myriad combinations of effects, LFO, ADSR, and other parameter settings are taken into account. OK, not all of those Combis would turn out to be sonically useful, but you get the idea.

As you say, increasing the storage space won't increase the number of Programs available at any one time, but it would allow a greater total sound library, sample and multisample size to be stored. The ways to increase the available storage space would be to add an SSD, or to clone the existing SSD onto a larger drive, and extending the partition.

Bear in mind, that the Programs and Combis can be saved as PCG files, which are basically descriptors, used by the OS, for how to create sounds, and any number of different PCG files can be saved on the Kronos, and then any of those PCGs recalled to suit a particular purpose, or genre. The basic sample files that are part of the various Korg libraries, and user sample files, remain on the SSD unchanged when PCGs are saved or loaded. To make the most of the available slots limitation, the Programs and Combis need to be carefully curated, using something like PCG Tools, or Kronos Factory. Once some practice is gained in doing this, adding new Korg libraries, or other new sampled sounds, becomes much easier. Just remember the mantra "make a full PCG backup before starting".

Ultimately, the fixed maximum number of Programs and Combis available on the Kronos, is not the limitation that is first appears to be.

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