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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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 Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 7:37 pm Post subject: Kronos with adjustable angle screen |
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Just completed this latest mod on my Korg Kronos which is even more perfect to me now. 
My LCD screen now has three positions/angles :
- Normal - like any other Kronos
- High stick - screen at perfect angle to work while sitting
- Low stick - midway for better vision yet not too much in your face in certain situations like practicing very fast or complex pieces, etc.
Especially, this mod solves several problems, including but not limited to :
- Much better view of the LCD screen while sitting
- Much better tone of the colors in setlist mode - especially the lighter ones - while sitting.
- No more head, neck and back aches while working intensively for hours designing new sounds, creating multisamples and so on.
- Etc...
Pics below show difference between normal and "high stick" position.
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BlackForest
Junior Member
Joined: 11 Aug 2020
Posts: 60
Location: German, Black Forest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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KK, this is stunning!! How did you manage that? Do you have pics of the mod?
Truly a skilful hand at work here.
Q: why are your LEDs on the left hand buttings in different colours? Did you also mod that?
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Kronos LS, MicroPiano, Kontak 5, nylon guitar Ilya Efimov, Xtant Audio Uilleeann Pipes - in use
Korg DS-8, Roland D-10, M1Rex, Wavestation, JV2080 - all RIP |
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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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| BlackForest wrote: | KK, this is stunning!! How did you manage that? Do you have pics of the mod?
Truly a skilful hand at work here.
Q: why are your LEDs on the left hand buttings in different colours? Did you also mod that? |
Hello BlackForest,
Thank you, it was indeed by far the most complicated mod I ever did on any keyboard ! 
Took me about 80 hours to complete this. It was a bit stressful to do as zero room for error, otherwise very expensive repairs or worse the whole thing become useless. And there is no procedure as something completely new, with some steps bringing challenges until I could figure out solutions to them. But it was worth the effort. I wanted to do this since a while so to not have head/neck/back problems anymore when working hours literally "above" the screen. What I can tell you is that every millimeter of space counts in the Kronos. And it is remarkably well built, as opposed to what some say about it.
I took some pics so to remember certain critical steps, especially when transforming the Kronos into just a set of components. I might post some of them if there is any interest.
Finally, about your other question indeed in a previous mod I wanted to use different colors on the Kronos to help me work/remember the different control modes , etc. Took a quick video of that back then which you can view here : https://vimeo.com/234769273 I actually slightly improved on this during this most recent movable LCD mod, as I didn't like some of the green and blue colors. The greens and blues are now even better. |
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StephenKay
KARMA Developer
Approved Merchant
Joined: 18 Jun 2002
Posts: 2910
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 4:57 am Post subject: |
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| StephenKay wrote: | | Wow! Truly awesome. That was the best bit of my OASYS. If only Korg made it like that to begin with! |
Hello Stephen,
Thanks for the nice comments. Tonight is the first time I play my Kronos in a long week after working extensively on this and I had a great time. I feel more connected than ever to the Kronos because I now have all the controls right in my face. Even the tiny Polysix buttons are now super easy to select when I place the screen on (what I refer to as) the "high stick". In Set List mode, the white font on the lighter backgrounds (like Azure, Denim and others) is now easy to read as a direct angle optimizes the tint/contrast. |
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IAA
Full Member
Joined: 10 Feb 2013
Posts: 121
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:08 am Post subject: |
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A great Mod - I think you could market that - I’d love it!!  |
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Lightbringer
Senior Member
Joined: 07 Jan 2018
Posts: 355
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Well that is totally fantastic! Wish I had your hardware skills! |
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alamo
Joined: 22 Jul 2012
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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outstanding!
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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| IAA wrote: | | A great Mod - I think you could market that - I’d love it!! |
Yep, I was thinking of getting a design patent.  The good thing about this mod is that it costed me very little to complete it. For the few specialized parts, one just needs to find longer ribbons for the LCD screen. The rest is basic like screws, a couple of plastic parts and then a lot of mm-precise Dremel cutting, etc. Doing a second identical one on another Kronos 2 would take me less time now that I know exactly what to do, but I doubt anyone would want to pay me a little fortune for that. 
Note that this mod was made on a Kronos 2. The previous models don't have a plastic middle part to hold the LCD screen. It is instead one big panel of metal, so this mod as is would be more complicated to do on earlier Kronos models. Of course, there are many alternative ways to do such a mod, it could instead be a LCD holder placed on top, but IMHO it would not have looked good. I wanted my Kronos to keep its original look - and it does, with the screen in its normal position. Thank you for your nice comments ! |
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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Lightbringer wrote: | | Well that is totally fantastic! Wish I had your hardware skills! |
Thank you ! It was actually difficult for me as I'm far from an expert at Dremel tools, but looking at video online for tricks and then proceeding with extreme caution it ended up well. 
| alamo wrote: | | outstanding! |
Thank you ! To me, this mod was mainly about getting rid of head/neck/back aches because I like to work a lot on sampling and creating new sounds on the Kronos. Now, with the screen just in front of me, it is so much easier on my old body parts. |
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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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Just messing around this afternoon with some removable "aesthetic" sides.   
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omvibraphone
Joined: 30 Dec 2014
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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As others have said, this looks fantastic, great work! Any further pictures of the process you could post would I am sure be of interest.
I see there are also two additional buttons on the far left of your Kronos, what do they do? |
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benny ray
Platinum Member
Joined: 28 Nov 2014
Posts: 629
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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That is awesome great job!
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K2 Kronos 88, Mojo 61, Korg CX3, Roland FANTOM 7 |
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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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| omvibraphone wrote: | As others have said, this looks fantastic, great work! Any further pictures of the process you could post would I am sure be of interest.
I see there are also two additional buttons on the far left of your Kronos, what do they do? |
Thanks for the nice comments ! They serve to adjust aftertouch (AT). Around two years ago, I wanted to make the AT much easier to trigger/control, so did that little mod back then. More info in this video : https://vimeo.com/260649165. |
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KK
Platinum Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2016
Posts: 932
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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| benny ray wrote: | | That is awesome great job! |
Thanks Benny ! With the previous mods, I now call mine the Kronos 7. |
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