Kronos release - stunning move from Korg

Kevin Nolan · Post by **Kevin Nolan** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:21 am

I posted this in the old thread but felt the urge to post it here - I have to say that this is an absolutely incredible release by Korg. As an OASYS owner, I am incredibly excited. This release totally vindicates the vision and efforts of Korg in OASYS, and vindicates our belief and investment in it.

To anyone who doesn't own an OASYS - believe the hype! Kronos is the OASYS II, make no bones about it. It is everything the OASYS is, and then some.

Korg have simultaneously done the following in releasing Kronos:

- They've redefined the workstation. Previously a jack of all trades, now you have the real deal - among the best synthesizer engines and now sample libraries under the hood. But - THE most important thing of all that makes this leave even NI Komplete standing is - no or virtually no latency! You have all of this, live, on a keyboard. The workstation is a real and viable entity again, but vitally, instantaneous in production and live environments alike. Stunning.

- Now that all of OASYS’s stunning engines such as MOD-7, AL-1 and STR-1 are available to the masses, they will receive a massive injection of newly programmed sounds from 3rd parties. Finally, these awesome engines will get to reveal their awesome potential, barely realised to date.

- Korg have just given Yamaha and Roland a hiding. A right trashing. There will essentially be no point to buying any workstation but the Kronos for the foreseeable future. With the synthesizer, sample library, pianos and karma now all integrated into DAW environments and delivering the real deal on stage; Yamaha and Roland have only two options – drop out of the workstation market totally, or respond with similar capabilities. So watch this space for staggering developments in the next few years.

- Finally, for OASYS users, our investment in knowhow, methodologies and so on with OASYS have been given a huge new lease of life.

Overall I think this is a stunning move by Korg. They nailed their colours to the cross, the believed in the hardware synthesizer/workstation at a time when even most on this forum gave up on them, and they have made their incredible technologies available to virtually all musicians who want it badly enough, and they have put it right up to Yamaha and Roland - those two companies are, of their moment, in serious trouble regarding workstation sales. In fact, I’d even say that the CP-1, VPiano, Nord pianos and SV-1 are in serious trouble.

In one release, Korg have literally – and I mean literally – listend to and answered every gripe on the OASYS and M3 forums for the past three years. A stunning release and I’m incredibly excited by it. Again I’ll say to all non OASYS users to date – get the Kronos – it’s a massive improvement on the OASYS in all the ways that OASYS matters – yet the OASYS is still truly stunning – so just think what power you’ll have under your fingertips with Kronos. Get used to that name – you’re going to be seeing it on a lot of videos and live sets – it’s like DX7 or M1 all over again. Yamaha, Roland, Nord (Clavia) and Kurzweil must be quaking in their boots right now.

Kevin.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:11 am

I, for one, am not afraid for Kurzweil.

Kronos is a smart move, and a game changer in many ways. However Kurzweil is differently flavored, and will always find its way to the rightful owners. I love my PC3K8 and can't wait for their next move

Till then, I'm saving up for Kronos 61

I just hope it has aftertouch.

keego · Post by **keego** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:13 pm

I agree with Evil Dragon. I love my my PC3 and will be saving for the Kronos 61. Kurzweil are working on a new workstation to replace the K series and I believe it will be a bit special.
That being said Kronos is gonna rule for the next few years

Kevin Nolan · Post by **Kevin Nolan** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:41 pm

1. It appears that the voice count of Kronos is 75 - 80% that of OASYS. That's quite surprising. After all, OASYS is 6 years old yet it provides 20- 25% greater CPU power - a mark on how powerful OASYS has been and remains to be (in this regard). I would have thought it'd be quite cheap to increase on CPU capability given the 6 year gap in release date. That will have implications for projects composed on OASYS and imported into the Kronos sequencer (which I believe can be done) - you'll loose MIDI track voices on the Kronos if you had stretched OASYS close to its voice count limit (quite easily done with layered programs).

2. I'll stand corrected on this if incorrect, but from my reading of blurb to date it looks like the voice architecture within some of the traditional OASYS engines are a little simplified - less LFO's per voice for example (remember on OASYS it has polyphonic LFO's - many LFO's per voice and not per synth engine instance). In STR-1 with about 52 note polyphony and I think 5 LFO's per voice, when you call up an STR-1 program you're actually activating 52 x 5 LFO's (160 LFO's!). While most of the time you don't really care because the LFO's per voice react the same way, it does matter when, for example you add control of the LFO's to, say, note number or velocity. Then, each LFO for each voice can be controlled individually (an excellent feature).

Anyway, I suspect there are less LFO's and perhaps other features per voice in Kronos compared to OASYS voice architeture; which might have a bearing on their compatibility. But as said - I could be wrong on this.

Kevin

realkuhl · Post by **realkuhl** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:08 pm

The dual-processor handles things differently. There will be polyphony issues if you are playing huge chords with monster Combinations plus Drum Track. It's still very easy to make OASYS cough if you use unison patches and effects without thinking of the cost.

You can resample itself easily if necessary

The engines parameters are the same, Kevin. Drum Track has been added but every patch sounds identical to how it sounded when we made them for OASYS.

Kevin Nolan wrote:1. It appears that the voice count of Kronos is 75 - 80% that of OASYS. That's quite surprising. After all, OASYS is 6 years old yet it provides 20- 25% greater CPU power - a mark on how powerful OASYS has been and remains to be (in this regard). I would have thought it'd be quite cheap to increase on CPU capability given the 6 year gap in release date. That will have implications for projects composed on OASYS and imported into the Kronos sequencer (which I believe can be done) - you'll loose MIDI track voices on the Kronos if you had stretched OASYS close to its voice count limit (quite easily done with layered programs).

2. I'll stand corrected on this if incorrect, but from my reading of blurb to date it looks like the voice architecture within some of the traditional OASYS engines are a little simplified - less LFO's per voice for example (remember on OASYS it has polyphonic LFO's - many LFO's per voice and not per synth engine instance). In STR-1 with about 52 note polyphony and I think 5 LFO's per voice, when you call up an STR-1 program you're actually activating 52 x 5 LFO's (160 LFO's!). While most of the time you don't really care because the LFO's per voice react the same way, it does matter when, for example you add control of the LFO's to, say, note number or velocity. Then, each LFO for each voice can be controlled individually (an excellent feature).

Anyway, I suspect there are less LFO's and perhaps other features per voice in Kronos compared to OASYS voice architeture; which might have a bearing on their compatibility. But as said - I could be wrong on this.

Kevin

Dany · Post by **Dany** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:11 pm

Kevin Nolan wrote:
Anyway, I suspect there are less LFO's and perhaps other features per voice in Kronos compared to OASYS voice architeture; which might have a bearing on their compatibility. But as said - I could be wrong on this.

Kevin

You can of course compare the specs for the OASYS and KRONOS on korg.com. For example:

KRONOS: AL1: Modulation:
Five Envelope generators, four per-voice LFOs, two AMS Mixers;
Per-voice Step Sequencer.

OASYS: AL1: Modulation:
Five Envelope generators, four per-voice LFOs, two Key Tracking generators, and two AMS Mixers; Per-voice Step Sequencer: 32-step sequencer with smoothing, adjustable step duration, and tempo synchronization.

KRONOS: STR1: Modulation:
5 Envelopes, 4 per-voice LFOs, 2 Key Track generators, String Tracking generators, 4 AMS Mixers.

OASYS: STR1: Modulation:
5 Envelopes, 4 per-voice LFOs, 2 Key Track generators, String Tracking generators, 4 AMS Mixers.

KRONOS:
SGX-1: 100 voices
EP-1: 104 voices
HD-1: 140 voices
AL-1: 80 voices
CX-3: 200 voices
STR-1: 40 voices
MOD-7: 52 voices
MS-20EX: 40 voices
PolysixEX: 180 voices

OASYS:
HD-1: 172 voices
AL-1: 96 voices
CX-3: 172 voices
STR-1: 48 voices
MS-20EX: 48 voices
PolysixEX: 172 voices
MOD-7: 52 voices

Off Topic for Kevin: Didn't forget about Mars...

realkuhl · Post by **realkuhl** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:24 pm

AL1 is the same between the two.

Dany wrote:
Kevin Nolan wrote:
You can of course compare the specs for the OASYS and KRONOS on korg.com. For example:

KRONOS: AL1: Modulation:
Five Envelope generators, four per-voice LFOs, two AMS Mixers;
Per-voice Step Sequencer.

OASYS: AL1: Modulation:
Five Envelope generators, four per-voice LFOs, two Key Tracking generators, and two AMS Mixers; Per-voice Step Sequencer: 32-step sequencer with smoothing, adjustable step duration, and tempo synchronization.

Off Topic for Kevin: Didn't forget about Mars...

Dany · Post by **Dany** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:34 pm

realkuhl wrote:AL1 is the same between the two.

Yes, that's what I've guessed as well.

I assume that all the Synth engines of the OASYS and KRONOS, resp. all their program parameters are exactly identical.

-

Synthoid · Post by **Synthoid** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:56 pm

keego wrote: Kurzweil are working on a new workstation to replace the K series and I believe it will be a bit special.

Hmmm, I hope more than a bit. We've been hearing rumors of the "K3000" for almost 5 years now. Hopefully Kurzweil is working on something truly phenomenal--with a LARGER screen please!

synthguy · Post by **synthguy** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:14 pm

I'm in full agreement with Kevin. While some poo-poohed the OASYS, and then anything new workstation-wise from KORG, this is a serious new entry in the synth market. An OASYS that (most) keyboard players can afford. Nine distinct synthesizers and a rack of nice effects, with 16 track recording in one instrument. This really does change the game for everyone.

keego wrote:I agree with Evil Dragon. I love my my PC3 and will be saving for the Kronos 61. Kurzweil are working on a new workstation to replace the K series and I believe it will be a bit special.
That being said Kronos is gonna rule for the next few years

I agree with this too. While Kronos is going to make the PC3 "that other neat synth" when it comes out, VAST really is too cool, the PC3 does sound just awesome in its own right, and it is going to be a little cheaper. Though I must say that Kurzweil's R&D guys are going to have to keep their pencils pretty sharp. And as Synthoid says, a bigger screen please, and an integrated - not plug in - big ribbon.

realkuhl wrote:You are all going to love this instrument.

That's all I need to know. Of course, I did already, but it's always cool to get confirmation from someone inside.

thekeymaster · Post by **thekeymaster** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:21 am

KRONOS:
SGX-1: 100 voices
EP-1: 104 voices
HD-1: 140 voices
AL-1: 80 voices
CX-3: 200 voices
STR-1: 40 voices
MOD-7: 52 voices
MS-20EX: 40 voices
PolysixEX: 180 voices

OASYS:
HD-1: 172 voices
AL-1: 96 voices
CX-3: 172 voices
STR-1: 48 voices
MS-20EX: 48 voices
PolysixEX: 172 voices
MOD-7: 52 voices

Curious as to why some engines offer less and other's offer more.Is there a technical reason for this? I would have thought HD-1 should have been the same? It will get used the most after the piano engine me thinks.

This says to me that the KRONOS has more power than the O but its just been allocated differently. Patch switching for a start between all modes up's it's processing ability I would assume?

robinkle · Post by **robinkle** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:53 pm

EvilDragon wrote:I, for one, am not afraid for Kurzweil.

Kronos is a smart move, and a game changer in many ways. However Kurzweil is differently flavored, and will always find its way to the rightful owners. I love my PC3K8 and can't wait for their next move

Till then, I'm saving up for Kronos 61

I just hope it has aftertouch.

According to this video, the 88 key and 73 key versions has the same
keys as the SV-1. The SV-1 does not have aftertouch, atleast I didn't find it on the specs list. I don't know if it means that it can have aftertouch after all or not. But I hope it do have aftertouch, it's a pricey piece of gear!

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2011/01/ ... ty-kronos/

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:00 pm

M3 88 also has RH3 and has aftertouch.

robinkle · Post by **robinkle** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:04 pm

EvilDragon wrote:M3 88 also has RH3 and has aftertouch.

Do we need the manual to find that? I can't find it on in the specs on korg website.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:15 pm

It has aftertouch, you can see it in MIDI implementation chart in the manual.