How do I send ALL drums to outputs 1/2?

[Teejay]

Hi, all!

I am trying to configure my Kronos to GLOBALLY send ALL drum tracks, patterns, programs, sounds, etc. to Individual 1/2... ALL THE TIME, and for the life of me, I can't figure out how.

In Global mode, I can edit the outputs, but it seems as if the output needs to be set for every single key in every program... so there must be an easier way?

Does anyone know how to do this?

Thanks!

[Mike Conway]

In Global mode, I can edit the outputs, but it seems as if the output needs to be set for every single key in every program... so there must be an easier way?

Have you tried this:

1) Go to GLOBAL mode and press the BASIC tab.

2) Press the AUDIO sub-tab, right above that.

3) On the top right of the screen is a little box section - AUDIO OUTPUT. Select L/R BUS INDIV. ASSIGN and select "1/2."


Note: From 1/2, the main volume knob is bypassed. Use the MASTER slider.

[ronnfigg]

I believe you have to do that in Combi mode and each Combi would have to be set up to do that. You could create and save a Combi "template" for this purpose.

[StephenKay]

There's no way to do it "Globally" - other than to edit each key of each drum kit, as you have noticed.

And even if you did that, settings in each combi could override that.

So as ronnfigg suggested, the best (and only good way) is to edit each combi to route the Drum Kit timbres to outputs 1/2.

[Teejay]

I mean, "wow!!". There are simply not enough hours left in my life to edit every combi's settings to get the drums separated from the music.

So, what am I missing?

How do musicians make recordings with a Kronos into multi- track DAWS?

I really love the sounds this thing makes, and really don't want to have to sell it. It's like having a Ferrari with two wheels - do I really need a funky Roland drumbo sitting next to my Kronos, just for track isolation, when the Kronos sounds better? Can we fix this in a software update, please?!

[Teejay]

There's no way to do it "Globally" - other than to edit each key of each drum kit, as you have noticed.

And even if you did that, settings in each combi could override that.

So as ronnfigg suggested, the best (and only good way) is to edit each combi to route the Drum Kit timbres to outputs 1/2.

Stephen- thanks - your comment infers that for each Combi, one can steer the sum of all drum sounds to 1/2... Meaning I would only need to edit circa 1400 Combi's, versus 1400 Combi's x 61 keys per Combi.

Is that correct, and if so, how is that accomplished?

I'm 53 as of this April... It's a race against time, but I'll get right to work if you'll steer me down the simplest path!

I can't be the only person that ever wanted to do this!

[ronnfigg]

Teejay, why do you want to assign the drums to O/Ps 1 & 2?

[Mike Conway]

Hang on TeeJay. I'll post a quick video. It's not as bad as you think. You want drums separated from other programs, correct?

[ronnfigg]

Teejay- from your question and the fact that you just joined the forums, is it safe to say you are new to the Kronos and possibly Korg products? Time to "crack" open the manuals. This is a deep machine, and to carry on a conversation here you need to be fairly specific about what you are trying to do and possibly why. The manuals help to get you speaking the Korg Language.

[Teejay]

Hi, Ronfigg - regarding: Time to "crack" open the manuals.

Your surmise is absolutely correct - I'm brand-new to this machine, , having just come from a lifelong background of Roland. (Not that I particularly-liked Roland stuff, but over a lifetime in electronic music-making, I learned how to read between the lines in their wretched manuals.) I also have a Korg MS200R module, whose manual is pretty concise and clear.

I started reading the Krono's 3000+ pages of documentation when I ordered the machine in November, and immediately started looking for the method to split the drums off to 1/2. Still haven't found it - although in truth, the Paramater List is too large for my iPad apps to index - so I can't search in them, and the on-screen help menus are context-sensitive, so you gota be close to what you need already on the machine, or commit to hours of reading that tiny text on the screen...

Where I have found references to drums, it's in the context of some other deep-level editing, and doesn't [seem to] explain how to do the routing I need.

You asked "why I want to do this", and the reason is pretty simple - in the past 30+ years I've been recording, I have assigned drums to one or more individual tracks, to control their volume, EQ, and processing independently during mixdown. I started with a 4-track reel machine, where I had to commit to mix levels while engineering, and thought those days were long behind me.

In my current-state studio (SONAR X1), I want to preserve that paradigm - I bought the Karma as a synthesizer, not to replace my DAW. E.g., I don't want to use the onboard 16-track sequencer, etc... I just want to get the drums split-off from the music, on their own tracks, because until I lay down all the vocals in a recording, I never know precisely how loud the drums need to be, or what "voices" they'll use. And the drum sounds in the Kronos are such a step ahead of my DR880, and KARMA adds so much diverse coolness, it's insane not to want to use the Kronos' sounds - just in a way I can properly groom them at mixdown.

I'm probably hamstrung by my "classical" recording tecnique, but that's how I was trained...

...which in no way demeans my **thanks!!** for offering to assist, guys! When Mike posts tthat vid, I'll take a look, and if anyone can steer me to which manual/page explains this stuff, I'm on it PDQ.

Cheers!

[Mike Conway]

Okay, here's the video.


DRUMS ON SEPERATE OUTPUTS



Yes, this is per Combi, but there are usually only a couple of routes to check (often just one), which is much easier than doing it per key.

[Shakil]

Teejay,

How were you doing that on Roland or other workstations you used before?

[StephenKay]

Stephen- thanks - your comment infers that for each Combi, one can steer the sum of all drum sounds to 1/2... Meaning I would only need to edit circa 1400 Combi's, versus 1400 Combi's x 61 keys per Combi.

Is that correct, and if so, how is that accomplished?

Great video by Mike - I'm sure that's given you a ton of information you didn't have before.

My question is: why do you need to do this, now, to every single combi? Can't you just do it when you need to record the output of the combi? In other words, you decide "today I'm going to make a recording with this combi, so now I'll reroute the output of the drums."

Secondly, when recording with the Kronos, if you are planning to record the output of KARMA as MIDI (and not just audio tracks), then you would need to copy the combi into the sequencer mode *anyway* (so that you can send MIDI from certain tracks by changing their Track Statuses to "BOTH", which is not available in combi mode) - so you could reroute the drums at that point.

Thirdly, do you really want your kick and snare summed together? With or without effects? I mean, normally if you're going to go through the trouble of separating the drums, you'd separate probably at least the kick and snare to separate mono outputs, and the rest of the stuff to a separate stereo mix. And while all of this is doable, even in a combi, without necessarily editing the drum kit, it's not the sort of thing you would do ahead of time to every combi in the unit. More like something you do when you're ready to record...

I guess you might say "I want to be ready to record, in my usual fashion, at any given moment" - and that I can understand - but unfortunately there's no easy global way to do what you want.

[Teejay]

You rock, man. Just watched the video, and headed downstairs to try it out.

Thanks SO much, not only for the quality vid showing me how it's done, but also for the couple of different scenarios I might encounter along the way.

While the process isn't global, it's at least so etching I can do tactically as needed, and allows me to preserve the effects - which I was willing to trade in order to isolate the tracks.

Thanks again!!

...and Shakil - you asked how I was doing this before... I wasn't using a workstation... I have a slew of Roland drumbos, including a 606, and 808, and R8, and a DR880, some hacked to provide separate physical outputs, which I'd then bring into the mixer on separate channels.

...but this routing thing is waaaay better, cause the Korg sounds better than any of my drumbos.

Cheers, all!

[Teejay]

Works like a charm!

It's more complex than it really should be, but as long as it works, I can document the process for tactical use, and now that I've had some practical experience with the IFX, it actually kind of makes sense... In a way that the manuals don't.

Stephen- in addition to recording (and yes, you're right in that summing the drums to a L/R mix is suboptimal, but I was willing to settle for that), another reason I wanted the Global control is that when called into a session (that's the $10 word for "drunken basement get together with my boozing buddies"), I didn't want the drums playing when I called up Combi's at random, and stepping on the live drummer. They get kind of sensitive about that.

So, yeah, I still think there should be a Global way of routing that, without all the fuss and squinting and sussing out how the Combi was built, but I now have a better understanding as to why it wasn't made that way in the first place.

At the end of the day, I'd rather play than program, but with great Power comes great Responsibility, I guess. The upside is that when needed, I can get pretty granular with the outputs, so it's a lot more flexible than I thought!

Thanks again to All of you... I'll be trolling this forum for more stuff I've missed, but I sincerely appreciate the kindness and work in helping me sort this out!