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Hi all!:)

I was at a store yesterday, checked SV-1 and PA-588 out.
While the SV-1's keyboard was just plain awkward and IMHO absolutely unbecoming to the Korg's name, the PA-588 was the most amazing thing I've ever touched - smooth, ideally weighted, etc. etc.

Are they made by different third-party manufacturers, perhaps?

How can I know which one of them (or perhaps some other modification) does Kronos 88 have? And generally, how can one tell one from the other, other than manually (uber-secret version numbers)?

Dunno what you're talking about. Both have pretty much the same keybed. RH3 is made by Korg.

They were utterly different. The salesman confirmed that.

Then either Korg is lying with the product information they give out or the salesperson doesn't know what he's talking about. Or the SV-1 that you tried could've been a fluke, something might've been wrong with it?

The salesman confirmed that.

Salesmen are less reliable information sources than internet rumors.

Chriskk wrote:

The salesman confirmed that.

Salesmen are less reliable information sources than internet rumors.

It was a difference so striking that even the "least reliable" of salesmen could not help but notice. I wrote that statement merely in order to stress that I wasn't the only one to have noticed.

If anything, I'd compare that particular SV-1 action to an Extreme 88, only a bit heavier and a lot more incongruous. The PA-588 was much smoother, lighter action, shorter keystroke, fast, balanced, just about perfect to my taste.

SanderXpander wrote:Then either Korg is lying with the product information they give out or the salesperson doesn't know what he's talking about. Or the SV-1 that you tried could've been a fluke, something might've been wrong with it?

The first point seems true. They have to sell the "worse/older/cheaper" version, so no big surprise there.

I know by first hand experience that for Roland and Yamaha, it's not uncommon for the same advertised hammer action (PHA, GH, etc.) to feel different on different models, due probably to interaction with the cabinet enclosure--weight, depth, presence or lack of integrated speakers, etc.

That said, I've found Korg's RH3 to be more consistent--at least between the M50 and M3. I was actually hoping the RH3 might be better on different models just like Roland and Yamaha since I didn't really like the RH3 on those two.

mrpanoff wrote:
Are they made by different third-party manufacturers, perhaps?

Dan Philips from Korg R&D posted some time ago in another topic that the RH3 keybed in the Kronos has been altered from the RH3 in the SV-1.

If you search you might be able to find it.

Even if the actions are identical, if a keyboard has been on the sales floor a long time it might feel different from another keyboard.

>> RH3 keybed in the Kronos has been altered from the RH3 in the SV-1

Right, as most people here I preordered my K88 after only having seen the 61, and I was concerned that I wouldn't like the RH3 action.
I have a Yamaha P80 piano that feels really sluggish - kind of like playing through molasses.
Later I got to try an SV-1 locally (store model), and I wasn't particularly fond of its action either, but then yesterday I finally got my k88 and wow! The action feels really great, and very solid. It feels lighter and 'faster' than the SV-1 I tried, the keys seems to return quicker and it doesn't feel like it wants to prevent me from playing it. Couldn't be happier with the action.

Chrutil wrote:>> it doesn't feel like it wants to prevent me from playing it. Couldn't be happier with the action.

Well said.

Congrats on the Kronos!

Chrutil wrote:>> RH3 keybed in the Kronos has been altered from the RH3 in the SV-1

Right, as most people here I preordered my K88 after only having seen the 61, and I was concerned that I wouldn't like the RH3 action.
I have a Yamaha P80 piano that feels really sluggish - kind of like playing through molasses.
Later I got to try an SV-1 locally (store model), and I wasn't particularly fond of its action either, but then yesterday I finally got my k88 and wow! The action feels really great, and very solid. It feels lighter and 'faster' than the SV-1 I tried, the keys seems to return quicker and it doesn't feel like it wants to prevent me from playing it. Couldn't be happier with the action.

THis is EXACTLY what I hoped to hear. I played a Kronos MIDI'd up to an SV-1 and it left me with reservations for exactly the reasons you stated. A hair heavy (but fine really, this is nitpicking) and pretty slow on the return (This was my major issue). I hope my experience will be the same as you when I get to try a weighted Kronos. It's too bad they didn't make a 76 key version of the 61 (GREAT keybed). It'd already be in my house! So for now hurry up and wait til I can finally try the real deal

-I have a Yamaha P80 piano that feels really sluggish - kind of like playing through molasses.

When the p80 was new the action was very good. What you have is not how it was.

Remember also that the feel of a kebed is affected by personal taste, the actual programming of the sound being played back and even the physical size / weight and feedback movement/vibration from the instrument itself. And then there is wear and tear and Aron points out - if the SV-1 has been abused a lot in that shop - I'd say that the SV-1 is popular instrument to demo in a quite hard way by many gigging keyboard players.

Whenever I audition new Yamaha Clavinova's by Yamaha I always find it tough to make any sort of objective judgment on the advancements they say have made - usually if it costs more or Yamaha make some bold statements in the brochure for one model over another I'll tend to get sucked in and regard it in a more grand way and deem it better.

I betcha that if you put a Kronos88 on a tilt on an old A frame stand over a synth in a dingy club and played it, it's keyboard would feel quite different in feel and action than if it were placed, say on a custom, beautiful stand in a show room with K&H Monitors, a Grand Piano stool and expensive pedals.

Kevin.

Kevin Nolan wrote: I betcha that if you put a Kronos88 on a tilt on an old A frame stand over a synth in a dingy club and played it, it's keyboard would feel quite different in feel and action than if it were placed, say on a custom, beautiful stand in a show room with K&H Monitors, a Grand Piano stool and expensive pedals.

That K88 would have to be on quite a tilt (unless the A-frame was the size of a children's swing). You'd be doing the limbo just trying to get at the keys, gravity would have its way with them... yes indeed, that would feel different

I wonder if the differences in feel stem from the changes they made to incorporate aftertouch.