Returned my Kronos 88

KorgKeymaster · Post by **KorgKeymaster** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:27 pm

I was mid performance and it shut down and restarted on its own. Another Kronos did the same which I purchased for a worship center. I'm going to exchange back to a Nord Stage 2-88. I may possibly get a Kronos 61. Doesn't seem to have as many issues as the 88.[/list]

tmatos75 · Post by **tmatos75** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:36 pm

KorgKeymaster wrote:I was mid performance and it shut down and restarted on its own. Another Kronos did the same which I purchased for a worship center. I'm going to exchange back to a Nord Stage 2-88. I may possibly get a Kronos 61. Doesn't seem to have as many issues as the 88.[/list]

The same exact thing happened to me during a performance. Luckily, the lead singer was able to talk to the audience for 2 and 1/2 minutes while the Kronos rebooted, so noone realized it was a keyboard malfunction. I checked to make sure that the powerplug was in securely, and it was.

Sometimes, I wish the Kronos wasnt so damn good! Then, it would be a no brainer to just return it and buy something else. But I am quickly losing confidence in it.

Has anyone used the Kronos at an outdoor Festival gig where the temperature is 90+ degrees? I have one coming up this summer, and I'm worried.

Dany · Post by **Dany** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:35 pm

As time goes by, it appears to be more and more obvious, that tragically the Kronos is not only suffering from an inferior hardware design, but also from an inferior software design. And I don't mean the design of the outstanding sounding synth engines or the great sounding effects, which were designed by KORG USA, but I mean the whole rest of the software structure, causing all the problems, which the Japanese developers at KORG Inc. Japan are responsible for.

Is the new CEO at KORG Inc. Japan the person who is responsible for the whole Kronos debacle? His father (the KORG founder, who unfortunately died not too long ago) was obviously responsible for the greatest achievement in the history of synthesizer design: The OASYS, which is completely reliable, because of a superior hardware and software design.
Unfortunately KORG ruined the child of the OASYS and their own legacy with their problem child Kronos.

If you are looking for perfection, look for this in the second hand market:

popmann · Post by **popmann** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:13 pm

Only a deaf person would claim the software/sounds of the Oasys were superior. Hardware build? Wouldn't doubt it--at twice the street price for a pentium4, it should be.

...I have had no issues with my Kronos. I'm a picky bastid, with a very quiet studio, so I had the fan replaced when the ram was upgraded...but it honestly wasn't "loud" relative to any other actively cooled piece in the studio (stock). But, I've now replaced ALL the fans in every piece of gear because I'm OCD about cumulative noise build up in here.

The authorized repair center here in Nashville (not that there any musicians here) have replaced a single keybed--and the tech said they could never actually reproduce the issue I'm the shop, FWIW. a year of sales. 1 repair. I think the claims on the Internet are silly overblown. Venture over to Avid's forums and see the number of issues with the $20-30k industry standard DAW workstation.

People need the perspective that people go to the Internet to complain when something's wrong...then people who are considering buying something go and read "all the horror stories" and convince themselves not to buy--and then echo the "why they don't buy X POS" even though they've never even taken the leap.

I tire of the absurd insulated BS feedback loop of no nothing's on the Internet. Really do. Do you think Mike Finnegan would be touring with Bonnie Raitt with an unreliable or bad sounding board?

I feel for those having issues. But, if someone thinks a Nord is even in the same league in terms of instrument quality...you should buy one. And be wrong. All over the internets (sic).

Dany · Post by **Dany** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:31 pm

popmann wrote:Only a deaf person would claim the software/sounds of the Oasys were superior.

You should read my post exactly and yes, I am not a deaf person, which is the reason, why I didn't state anything in my post, concerning the software part of the OASYS or Kronos beeing superior, responsible for the sound production, which sound quality is identical on Kronos and OASYS, apart of course from the two new engines, SST, and the new streaming technology from Kronos.

It would be a dream to have the reliabilty of the OASYS combined with the new sound engines and sample libraries of the Kronos. The Kronos EXi EP-1, the electric piano, would also run on the OASYS because it doesn't depend on the new streaming technology of the Kronos. And it would still be possible to load quite large new sample libraries into the OASYS, but as we all know, KORG Inc. Japan took the decision to stop any support for the OASYS some years ago...

-

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:30 pm

I would say restarting mid performance is probably hardware related, somewhere down the line of components, connections. Or perhaps at the driver level.
I don't believe that the keyboard is inherently unreliable though. A few people have had issues, as said, but don't let it be blown out of proportion.
We know Korg have made a few mistakes, there are for example a few bugs at the moment.

I don't think anyone disputes that the Kronos software wise is superior to the OASYS..

I couldn't be happier with the Kronos, currently.

Dniss · Post by **Dniss** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:11 am

popmann wrote:People need the perspective that people go to the Internet to complain when something's wrong...then people who are considering buying something go and read "all the horror stories" and convince themselves not to buy--and then echo the "why they don't buy X POS" even though they've never even taken the leap.

I tire of the absurd insulated BS feedback loop of no nothing's on the Internet. Really do. Do you think Mike Finnegan would be touring with Bonnie Raitt with an unreliable or bad sounding board?

+1

Dniss · Post by **Dniss** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:17 am

X-Trade wrote:I couldn't be happier with the Kronos, currently.

Me neither! My k-73 works flawlessly.

Best workstation I have ever owned.

KorgKeymaster · Post by **KorgKeymaster** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:42 pm

the Kronos is an awesome instrument! So is the Nord Stage 2. Of the 3 Kronos 88 I've owned, there have been issues with all of them. I can't affort to have reliability problems on stage with my main 88 key bottom tier board.

The NS2 is NO slouch by any means. I'll just be changing things around and getting a K-61 for my top tier board. In my opion, these are the two leading boards in the industry. Why not have the best of both worlds

Davidb · Post by **Davidb** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 9:41 pm

KorgKeymaster wrote: Of the 3 Kronos 88 I've owned, there have been issues with all of them. I can't affort to have reliability problems on stage with my main 88 key bottom tier board.

Count me in on that one!

djcactus · Post by **djcactus** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:03 am

i took my kronos 88 back... My wife and i bought a house, spent a few grand more then anticipated, back to the park with the puppy... My only issue with the kronos is that its no longer on my stand and its left my heart broken with another man.

easy1 · Post by **easy1** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 9:28 pm

[quote="Dany"]As time goes by, it appears to be more and more obvious, that tragically the Kronos is not only suffering from an inferior hardware design, but also from an inferior software design. Is the new CEO at KORG Inc. Japan the person who is responsible for the whole Kronos debacle? His father (the KORG founder, who unfortunately died not too long ago) was obviously responsible for the greatest achievement in the history of synthesizer design: quote]

Well the way I heard it from a reliable source is that after the death of Kato, there was a big turnover in personnel at Korg -- Too bad the new guys didn't embrace and maintain the same quality control standards to which we are accustomed -- Imagine how difficult it will be to rebuild the reputation after making what were probably mistaken cost cutting decisions -- I still want a K88, but I'm going to wait yet even longer

NuSkoolTone · Post by **NuSkoolTone** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:38 am

The Kronos isn't perfect and has room for improvement, but the point is they ARE improving it. The new sound libraries and OS updates are testament to this. Please keep it up Korg!

This might sound snobbish, but IMNHO the Kronos is NOT a candidate for people considering "My first workstation". While they've made it pretty easy to use, you have to have some understanding of certain computer concepts to truly understand it. Even though it's origins are from 2005, it's still a pretty advanced board and with the 2011 updates there's still nothing that touches it (yet).

Yeah they skimped on the hardware a little. Personally I need to buy new knobs and sliders to be happy with the control surface. The weighted keybed has had teething problems for some (Which they're correcting), and some of the soundset is a touch dated. What's great about the last part is you can update it. The only thing is we have to WAIT for official libraries to become available to make full use of the potential of the Kronos. Basically this is what I see needs to be done:

-Make User streaming available to users so we can take advantage of that technology for our own samples. Maybe even create our own libraries! It'll also give us more choices since strictly loading 3rd party libraries into RAM is VERY limiting.

-Update the sequencer to at least the M3 feature set

-Release soundsets that address the weak spots in the stock Kronos, and without requiring huge amounts of RAM. (Like 250+MB)

-Fix the editor

-If possible increase how much ram the Kronos can see. Even if it's only that extra 250mb of Ram from the last GB of a 4GB set. Many of us will take it!

1jordyzzz · Post by **1jordyzzz** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:04 pm

NuSkoolTone wrote:The Kronos isn't perfect and has room for improvement, but the point is they ARE improving it. The new sound libraries and OS updates are testament to this. Please keep it up Korg!

This might sound snobbish, but IMNHO the Kronos is NOT a candidate for people considering "My first workstation". While they've made it pretty easy to use, you have to have some understanding of certain computer concepts to truly understand it. Even though it's origins are from 2005, it's still a pretty advanced board and with the 2011 updates there's still nothing that touches it (yet).

Yeah they skimped on the hardware a little. Personally I need to buy new knobs and sliders to be happy with the control surface. The weighted keybed has had teething problems for some (Which they're correcting), and some of the soundset is a touch dated. What's great about the last part is you can update it. The only thing is we have to WAIT for official libraries to become available to make full use of the potential of the Kronos. Basically this is what I see needs to be done:

-Make User streaming available to users so we can take advantage of that technology for our own samples. Maybe even create our own libraries! It'll also give us more choices since strictly loading 3rd party libraries into RAM is VERY limiting.

-Update the sequencer to at least the M3 feature set

-Release soundsets that address the weak spots in the stock Kronos, and without requiring huge amounts of RAM. (Like 250+MB)

-Fix the editor

-If possible increase how much ram the Kronos can see. Even if it's only that extra 250mb of Ram from the last GB of a 4GB set. Many of us will take it!

i'm about to buy kronos for my first workstation..

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Returned my Kronos 88

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