Korg Forums

[elkrukador]

I've been using the Kross for a couple years both at home and in my band--I've had relative success with most of the sounds I use (organ, electric piano, etc.), but in general the piano sounds just sound/feel awful when I play them through the Peavey keyboard amp I use. I've read many times that in general these piano sounds are somewhat weak on the Kross, but that with some tweaks they can be made "usable." Does anyone have any advice for how to accomplish this?

The other day I discovered the "Amp Level" setting and started messing with turning this way down on the piano sounds (from 127 to say 35) and this seemed to improve the piano sounds a great deal. This setting is super confusing to me--is it modulating an amp as a part of the keyboard sound? Or is it just volume? Is it normal to have to adjust this setting when using an amp or different output source? It seems like it's wildly different between different patches to simulate a different effect for each instrument, but the manual's description of what is actually happening is vague and not particularly helpful. Thanks for any info/help anyone can provide!

[Biggles]

Welcome.

If you have not already done so then there is a system update available which once installed will allow the three bonus packs to be installed.

In one of the bonus packs there are about thirty new piano sounds and in amongst them should be one that you find more acceptable.

But I agree Korg pianos do leave a bit to be desired and the many times translated Klingon language in the manual does not help much in finding solutions.

BTW
In January Korg UK are starting the Synth Show, a live webinar which once the broadcast is over it will become available to watch at anytime. These are great since questions can be asked and solutions given live, if you cannot watch live simply post the question prior to the even. Access via Korg World UK.
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Biggles
Lancashire, UK

[OpAmp]

Hi,

The amp level is comparable to the volume, but not exactly like that. Volume is the final loudness.

The amp level is the loudness for one oscillator in a program. E.g. if a program consists of 2 oscillators, you can create a difference in loudness between the two oscillators.
In combis, it controls the relative loudnes of each track.
Note that after the amp section, controlled by the amp level, the oscillators are still routed through the effects.

So why do the pianos sound better with reduced amp level? No idea. Maybe it does not saturate the effects section and that may result in a better sound?

Have fun!
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microKORGXL, Kaossilator Pro, monotribe, SQ-1, volca fm, Kross 88 BK
Alesis SR18, Akai Miniak, Fender Strat, Line 6 Spider II 112, Zoom MS-50G

[elkrukador]

Thanks for the responses and info!

After having a lengthy discussion in a Korg Kross facebook group I determined a few things.

1) Many others have run into problems running the Kross through Peavey amps. Even through my little Fender Champ guitar amp at home it sounds much cleaner.

2) The electric pianos and organs from the cross I'd been using with this band sounded great and worked fine, but the combo of the amp + the Kross is adding a certain level of gain to the signal, giving me nice EPs/organs with a little bit of bite, but the sound was way grittier than the original patches. I haven't found a clear answer of why, but either way this made things really difficult for me because I would try to create patches at home (without the amp) and they would sound completely different with the band.

3) Adjusting the amp setting adds a great amount of detail, usability, and clairty to all programs/combis when used in combination with this amp. Maybe this means the Kross's signal is too hot for the amp, but adjusting the volume knob doesn't seem to help even remotely. None of the settings on the Peavey help. The only way I can get an accurate/usable sound out of the Kross + Peavey keyboard amp is to lower the amp setting which neatly resolves the issue.

So for now, I'm just going to remake patches for each song we do with lower amp settings (I'm putting most of them around 30-35). I still have no idea WHY exactly this works, but figured I'd report back in case someone else runs into this down the line. Thanks again for the help!