Korg Forums

I've been getting some really nice Wurly EP patches through working with the effects and routings. The organs are still disappointing, but maybe Korg figures people will have a clonewheel axe to go on top of this one. I found some great presets in the Synth Pads department too. And the Acoustic Pianos are starting to show some exciting possibilites with a little smart use of EQ and Dynamics. The U-Vibe effect is coming in handy, because you can't throw Stereo Chorus on most of the IFx or MFx busses. Just iFx #1 and one of the Mfx, I think. I assigned the effect's Wet control to the Mod Wheel, and I'm controlling the Echo as a Mfx, with the tempo control knob. I wish there were an extra knob or two for controlling things (i been spoiled by working so much with the Novation ReMOTE SL series, I guess!) But there are inputs of a pedal and a switch, which would accomplish this.

I've taken notes watching the fairly good McNally video manual for the Kross, and I still find myself confused by the Effects section, and making the assignments for SW 1/2, and also just accomplishing a simple Octave Down in Prog or Combi when that perimeter is not already assigned to SW 1 or 2....all of which is to say tommy, you would be doing this forum a huge solid by explaining how you did the moves you describe in the above post!

I'm hoping Korg does a bit more in the support material dept. for this board....for midiots like me....

thanks
TM

tommymandel wrote: ...The organs are still disappointing, but maybe Korg figures people will have a clonewheel axe to go on top of this one...

If all the MicroStation waveforms are in Kross then there's hope:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUGPe8Xc5Q

Organ waveforms are just stacks of sine waves and easy to loop and store in ROM, MicroStation contains a nice selection of B3 and Korg BX/CX samples , the magic is in the rotary speaker and overdrive effects and the C1/2/3 sims that Korg does so well with the standard effects. Tweak on

rrricky rrrecordo wrote:

tommymandel wrote: ...The organs are still disappointing, but maybe Korg figures people will have a clonewheel axe to go on top of this one...

If all the MicroStation waveforms are in Kross then there's hope:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUGPe8Xc5Q

Organ waveforms are just stacks of sine waves and easy to loop and store in ROM, MicroStation contains a nice selection of B3 and Korg BX/CX samples , the magic is in the rotary speaker and overdrive effects and the C1/2/3 sims that Korg does so well with the standard effects. Tweak on

Thanks, RRRRRR, I will get to tweaking!

moontom wrote:I've taken notes watching the fairly good McNally video manual for the Kross, and I still find myself confused by the Effects section, and making the assignments for SW 1/2, and also just accomplishing a simple Octave Down in Prog or Combi when that perimeter is not already assigned to SW 1 or 2....all of which is to say tommy, you would be doing this forum a huge solid by explaining how you did the moves you describe in the above post!

I'm hoping Korg does a bit more in the support material dept. for this board....for midiots like me....

thanks
TM

Me too, MoonTom, but little by little...I did just now figure out that the Input/Control page is where you set the physical type of switches SW1 and SW2 are, but not where you assign them. That is on the individual Mod Pages of the various Menu's. So to make SW1 a down-octave switch, for example, on the Input/Control Menu Page, you'd make it Toggle (i think!) and then go to the Pitch/Mod page, to actually assign it to the Octave destination and amount.

tommymandel wrote:

moontom wrote:I've taken notes watching the fairly good McNally video manual for the Kross, and I still find myself confused by the Effects section, and making the assignments for SW 1/2, and also just accomplishing a simple Octave Down in Prog or Combi when that perimeter is not already assigned to SW 1 or 2....all of which is to say tommy, you would be doing this forum a huge solid by explaining how you did the moves you describe in the above post!

I'm hoping Korg does a bit more in the support material dept. for this board....for midiots like me....

thanks
TM

Me too, MoonTom, but little by little...I did just now figure out that the Input/Control page is where you set the physical type of switches SW1 and SW2 are, but not where you assign them. That is on the individual Mod Pages of the various Menu's. So to make SW1 a down-octave switch, for example, on the Input/Control Menu Page, you'd make it Toggle (i think!) and then go to the Pitch/Mod page, to actually assign it to the Octave destination and amount.

From my knowledge of Korg workstations in general this is correct, and you've got exactly the right idea. however:
the Controllers page is where you set what the button does, yes. So if it is set to 'SW1 mod' or 'SW2 mod' then you can use it as described. But you can also set the button to be an Octave Down or Octave Up, in which case it actually transposes the MIDI range that is sent by the built in keyboard, rather than in your solution where you are transposing the oscillators pitches themselves.

Either approach is viable. In fact yours will allow you to have the pitch 'jump' on already sounding notes, which may or may not be what you want.

OOPS, As soon as I posted this, I saw X-Trade's answer, which is more correct: In my 'old way' posted earlier - it had other undesirable consequences: the multisamples were triggered differently resulting in a change in timbre.
I will include what I just now posted, below this sentence, but you can ignore it, and just read X-Trade's post instead.

moontom, I found the answer to something that you were asking: To assign the SW2 to be an octave up button, it is done here: Menu/Program/Input&Control/ SW2/OctaveUp/Toggle.
hth.
(PS. If that SW2 is also assigned to something else, you might have to remove that programming on that particular page; I'm not sure.)

X-Trade, would it be fair to ask you to comment on the D/A's (output quality) of the Kross compared to the Karma. I've been A-B'ing the two lately, and am pretty confused! Thanks either way. Appreciate having someone here to come with with my (many) K-questions!

Edit_ I was just in the store playing a Krome and then a Kross, through headphones, enabling an instant comparison of the sound of the same patch on the two machines.

Clearly, and not surprisingly, the Krome had a little more lower midrange, and a tiny amount of more clarity. The Kross sounded a little 2-dimensional, but amazingly close for something less than 1/2 the price and weight. (the Krome wasn't that heavy either though, which I was surprised to find out...) The output level of the Krome was higher too. And the German Grand Piano on the Krome, which doesn't appear on the Kross, is really nice.

Still, for bringing along to gigs to add better Piano, EP's and Synths to what the Hammond SK-1 can do, the Kross is a great choice.
If I didn't like the organs better on the PA-50sd (and the same-sounding MicroArranger), I'd say the Krome would be a great one-axe solution...

If only the Pa1x had wings, lol.

I'm just going to be honest here and say that I'm not at all impressed with the Kross.

Also, would somebody else support my desire that Korg use Yamaha key beds again? Is it an RH3 in it? I can't recall.

Also, how's everyone doing? It's been quite some time since I was last on here.

splinters wrote: Unless this is sub £499 I really cant see why you would buy it over a Krome.

Pardon the bump but how about it's far cheaper? Some of us are on a budget and you have to make tough choices about where to draw the line.

csteen wrote:Heck the M50 outshines the krosss and you can pick one of them up fo a whole lot less. Thanks but no thanks on the kross. M50 has touch screen, joy stick, dual arps. The audio in on the kross is nothing but a novelty at best. Kind of a weird entry from korg. Is it a nice board yes .Does it make any sence in the market ,definately not.

It does to those of us without unlimited budgets.

Saxifraga wrote:The point is: If someone wants to spend 1000,- € on 88 keys, I think he can get much more and better than an old style pimped up mini display Korg microstation.

Like........

Saxifraga wrote:The point is: If someone wants to spend 1000,- € on 88 keys, I think he can get much more and better than an old style pimped up mini display Korg microstation.

First, your description is incorrect, at least for the 88. Second, I give up, what's better for the price?

jojo wrote: Also, would somebody else support my desire that Korg use Yamaha key beds again? Is it an RH3 in it? I can't recall.

Interesting...the first thing that drew me to the Kross was I liked the keyboard more than the Yamaha 650 I was looking at (can't speak to Motifs/etc offhand).

Saxifraga wrote:

michelkeijzers wrote:

Saxifraga wrote: Why buying Korgs old stuff repackaged again and again?
Buy a Studiologic SL-990 Pro keybed. I guess you have a computer.
Use it and buy Logic/Mainstage or Cubase ,Live etc.

Not everybody wants a computer on stage for e.g. live performance.

Btw ... I don't think you like any Korg at all (remembering you have a lot of complaints about the Kronos). That one has no 'old stuff repacked' and still is not according to your wishes.

Probably it is very difficult to handle for some people that their opinion is not the same like everybody else.

You are mostly wrong and Jammmy did not mention stage play as the major use case. He is more into playing piano it seems.

I very much like my used Korg M3 61.
I like the King Korg and would buy one if I had the money and did not already own an Ultranova.
I like my microKey 25 and the 64bit KLC.
I also like the Microkorg XL and the PS60.
So don´t tell me I don´t like Korg.

The point is: If someone wants to spend 1000,- € on 88 keys, I think he can get much more and better than an old style pimped up mini display Korg microstation.

(btw: The Kronos is a repackaged Oasis with many cut corners. So don´t get me started on this. It was a disaster I hope to forget.)

Sorry for my very late post, but I saw this co-incidentally.
I want to apologize for my too-fast assumption. Although I don't agree the Kronos is a disaster, I see you as a critical Korgforums-poster, which is very good (it enables discussion and may improve the product).

The Kross is a really fun keyboard with a super low end keybed. Yeah it doesn't sound like my Kronos, but it does sound good. There are functions in it that are a lot of fun and I get great sounds out of it.
Finally, I paid it off with ONE GIG! So yeah, I like it!

Is this the only $1000 or less (88 key) workstation/stage piano/synth with 3 pedal inputs? I'm helping a friend replace her old Triton LE with something lighter. I know you could use a midi foot pedal but she wants to keep it simple.

andrewt wrote:Is this the only $1000 or less (88 key) workstation/stage piano/synth with 3 pedal inputs? I'm helping a friend replace her old Triton LE with something lighter. I know you could use a midi foot pedal but she wants to keep it simple.

Yes, it seems that Kross 88 is the only sub $1K board with 3 pedal input at the moment. A logical upgrade for Triton LE user, but consider that Kross does not have aftertouch.