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Scott wrote:

billbaker wrote:But I, for one, would be disappointed to hear that Korg wasted more than minimal memory resources on these voices when you could squeeze in a huge number of vintage synth or drum waves into the same space.

The whole point of the Kronos is to get away from the traditional restraints of "minimal memory resources." There's a 30 gB drive in there! If you don't want the mellotron sounds, and you want other sounds instead, just don't load the mellotron sounds, and free up the space for other sounds.

Personally, with all the resources at the Kronos' disposal, having made the decision to include mellotron sounds at all, I would be disappointed if they did NOT include each of the 35 notes at the full 8 seconds sampled, with no stretching, no looping. The last thing we need on a high end workstation is another bunch of adequate-at-best mellotron patches like everyone else has, where they lose much of the original character by not including complete samples. Why bother? These are the limitations the Kronos is designed to end.

If you choose not to load the Mellotron sounds, you must also choose not to load that entire expansion bank. I didn't pay too much attention to what else was in it, but...

My disappointment is mild bordering on amusement; as in, "I can't believe they did that TOO."

OK, let me say that I have the "adequate-at-best" Mellotron voices on my current gear. I've never had a complaint about 'em as not being "true" to the original. They do exactly what I expect and over the full range of the keyboard (not just the original Mellotrons 3 octaves).

They aren't my "go to" sounds except in cases where I'm covering something on which they were originally used - and that's admittedly not a big part of my set list. I don't hate those sounds, they're just not my first or even fifth priority.

Piano is. Drums are. Bases, organ, comp synths and pads. Yes.

I simply don't think I get as much use out of those Mellotron samples in the course of a gig as I would in, for example, extended and unlooped cymbals. Particularly ride cymbals that wouldn't cut off or go all fake after 1-2 seconds.

In another thread, posts came thick and fast about how little sampling memory there was. That's where I would expect true and exact Mellotron samples to get loaded by those who want the "true" sound; as some folks will want someone else's orchestral strings -- because they need that level of detail -- or vocal samples -- because they're in that side of production.

BB

BillW wrote:If you choose not to load the Mellotron sounds, you must also choose not to load that entire expansion bank. I didn't pay too much attention to what else was in it, but...

Ah, I didn't know that. So you can't make a copy of an expansion bank that has only the sounds you want? (Or copy something you want from an expansion bank into a user area?) The only way to have access to any sound in an expansion bank is to load that entire factory bank? I'm surprised.

billbaker wrote:They aren't my "go to" sounds
...
Piano is. Drums are. Bases, organ, comp synths and pads.

I simply don't think I get as much use out of those Mellotron samples in the course of a gig as I would in, for example, extended and unlooped cymbals.

But your needs are no more or less important than anyone else's. I use mellotron in some of my gigs. I have never, needed drum or cymbal sounds at a gig, since I play with live drummers.

And who says it's one or the other? Maybe the Kronos has the mellotron sounds I want AND the drum/cymbal sounds you want? Again, it's all about there being the capacity to store and have access to a huge library of sounds without compromise.

billbaker wrote:In another thread, posts came thick and fast about how little sampling memory there was. That's where I would expect true and exact Mellotron samples to get loaded

The small amount of sampling memory refers to what's available to users for loading their own sounds. If Korg supplies the mellotron sounds, using their streaming technology, they will take up far less RAM than if a user has to use up precious user RAM to load them in himself.

Though again, the idea is to be able to store whatever you want on the SSD, always having your bread and butter stuff at hand, and then having the flexibility of being able to bring in whatever you need for a specific project. Though yes, this works better if you can load "pieces" of stock libraries as opposed to "all or nothing."

FYI, the number of drum samples on the Kronos is quite extensive. In fact, there are more drum samples, 6944, than the total number of multi-samples on the Motif XF (3,977) and Fantom G (2230) combined. Many are in stereo and at eight velocity layers. I would have to think there are some high quality cymbals included.

Scott wrote:

BillW wrote:If you choose not to load the Mellotron sounds, you must also choose not to load that entire expansion bank. I didn't pay too much attention to what else was in it, but...

Ah, I didn't know that. So you can't make a copy of an expansion bank that has only the sounds you want? (Or copy something you want from an expansion bank into a user area?) The only way to have access to any sound in an expansion bank is to load that entire factory bank? I'm surprised.

That is typically how Korg's stuff works...it's all or nothing with each expansion bank Let me crack open the manual again and verify.

I thought Dan or Rich had stated that we can pick and chose which sounds we want from each expansion bank...

Pretty sure I read that somewhere.

X-Trade wrote:I thought Dan or Rich had stated that we can pick and chose which sounds we want from each expansion bank...

Pretty sure I read that somewhere.

Yes, that's correct. You can load individual multisamples from EXs banks, if desired. User-defined groups of samples - user, EXs, or both - can be saved as "KSC" files and loaded in a single step. Multiple KSC files can also be automatically loaded at startup.

Hope this helps,

Dan

Scott wrote: "But your needs are no more or less important than anyone else's."

Never said or meant to imply that they were - so +1 to that sentiment.

The original post simply queried whether and where (EXi-wise) Mellotron emulations would be in Kronos, and it would appear that a more than "adequate" Mellotron will indeed be included (more than just "Tape String" and "Strawberry Flt") -- just having them generated by HD-1 should help them out-shine my current TritonEX programs.

So for me that question's answered. They're in there.

burningbusch: I have indeed looked over (omG!) the 6000+ multisample list from the Korg.de posting. And I can truthfully say I'm really happy with the large number of kits and individual instruments including (especially) world/ethnic stuff and at the level of detail implied by "snare 1 pp...p...mp...mf...etc."

I'm hoping to be inspired by all the potential implied by those kits and by the 600+ drum patterns and the additional Karma patterns that can be set up to play them.

I hope I may even find a use for many of them... and with luck, maybe a Mellotron sound or two, since Korg took the trouble to include them.


BB

danatkorg wrote:

X-Trade wrote:I thought Dan or Rich had stated that we can pick and chose which sounds we want from each expansion bank...

Pretty sure I read that somewhere.

Yes, that's correct. You can load individual multisamples from EXs banks, if desired. User-defined groups of samples - user, EXs, or both - can be saved as "KSC" files and loaded in a single step. Multiple KSC files can also be automatically loaded at startup.

Hope this helps,

Dan

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but can someone provide a link to a tutorial on how to do this?
Lets say I only want certain sounds from an EX, do I have to edit the sound, write down the MS or samples, then extract them to save?

Some other good Tron sounds are the ones in the old EMU sound library and one that is my favorites is Sonic Implants String Machines which has IMHO really good Tron sounds. I bought this one years ago and it was a Kurzweil format library and I used Translator to convert to use with other keyboards such as Motif and now the Kronos.

It isn't necessary to Load the Mellotrons if you're using the Kronos PRELOAD KSC files. They all include:
0000 Tape 3 Violins 1
0001 Tape 3 Violins 2
0002 Tape 16 Violins
0003 Tape Mixed Strings
0004 Tape Brass
0005 Tape Strings+Brass
0006 Tape Flute
0007 Tape 8 Voice Choir
0008 Tape Boys Choir
The PRELOAD PCG also loads the U-A Mellotron Programs U-A071 -A085 (the new Kronos has these programs in the U-D bank).
I made looped versions of the Mellotron Multisamples with X-Faded Wavesequences for EXs11, KRS04, KRS05, EXs15, EXs18 and Sound Pack 3.0 (KRS07).
All these libraries include several Combis which use Tone Adjust to reference the Looped versions of the Mellotrons.
I owned a 400 SM, and hated the 8 second limit - especially when it would "eat" tapes being held for more than 8 seconds, forcing me to replace them.
Currently, I believe the latest KRS07 PCG now includes the looped Mellotron Wavesequences.
I've also found the Mellotron Multisamples to be useful elements when they are layered with other HD-1 Multisounds in Programs & Combis.
Hope this info helps & inspires.
Happy programming!

I use the Mellotron sounds extensively and I can confirm they are very good samples, compared to my Mellotron 4000D, which I'd rather keep in my studio


They compare favourably to the Mellotron samples in my Roland Fantom XR and XP30 (via Vintage/Keys of 60s cards) but there is little in it when you are in the mix of a live band.

I agree with previous sentiment - these are vintage sounds and are just as important as Hammonds, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzers etc etc. as vintage essentials.

jackh wrote:It isn't necessary to Load the Mellotrons if you're using the Kronos PRELOAD KSC files. They all include:
0000 Tape 3 Violins 1
0001 Tape 3 Violins 2
0002 Tape 16 Violins
0003 Tape Mixed Strings
0004 Tape Brass
0005 Tape Strings+Brass
0006 Tape Flute
0007 Tape 8 Voice Choir
0008 Tape Boys Choir
The PRELOAD PCG also loads the U-A Mellotron Programs U-A071 -A085 (the new Kronos has these programs in the U-D bank).
I made looped versions of the Mellotron Multisamples with X-Faded Wavesequences for EXs11, KRS04, KRS05, EXs15, EXs18 and Sound Pack 3.0 (KRS07).
All these libraries include several Combis which use Tone Adjust to reference the Looped versions of the Mellotrons.
I owned a 400 SM, and hated the 8 second limit - especially when it would "eat" tapes being held for more than 8 seconds, forcing me to replace them.
Currently, I believe the latest KRS07 PCG now includes the looped Mellotron Wavesequences.
I've also found the Mellotron Multisamples to be useful elements when they are layered with other HD-1 Multisounds in Programs & Combis.
Hope this info helps & inspires.
Happy programming!

No Mellotron organ sounds anywhere? I’m trying to create Greg Rolie’s part from the Journey song “Any Way You Want It”
where he used mellotron and his B3 doubling but can’t find any mellotron organ sounds to even get close:

I was going through and auditioning all the patches last night in preparation for some patch management. I saw the "tape" ones and never connected the dots that it was Mellotron emulation (which should have been obvious in retrospect), so thanks for that!