Korg Forums

The first, thing that makes me angry is that the in editor of the patch there is no possibility to change the octave of each layer. (Sampling mode)

The second, is not possible to disable the transmission of MIDI time code on MIDI port.

The third, is that there is no transmission MIDI of KRONOS to the USB device (two usb in back panel work only as MIDI input or flash disk)

What you do not like in the Kronos?
Is it possible to contact the of developers Kronos to correct shortcomings?

I'm in. I hate the display. Here I am playing along and that display is right there enticing me to start editing. Before I know it I'm building this ginormous sound that just sounds incredible reminding of how powerful and awesome this thing is. I hate that!

Geo

-I "ONLY" have 2560 program slots available to take advantage of all that Kronos can do. It's surprising how quickly they get eaten up. Though it's silly I'm not kidding! Impossible to choose which patches to do "without" at times.

-4GB of RAM goes quickly with all the wonderful libraries available. If only the OS was migrated to 64 bit.

-Karma requires you to buy PC software to make your own patterns, and you HAVE to do it on a PC. Inspiration killer.

-The Drum Pattern organization is AWFUL (This is a legit gripe). At least categorize the damn things!

-Electric Guitars on the Kronos still SUCK!

-Solo Brass and Saxes are still weak. EX16s has made sections great though!

-The wonderful FX in MDS/ EP-1 aren't available globally.

-Lack of developer documentation to take advantage of some of the Kronos Engines.

-MDS/EP-1 and SGX are closed engines that cannot be developed for by a 3rd party.

-(Global)Distortion/overdrive FX are pretty bad. They sound like they haven't been updated since the 90's.

-Global EQ ONLY applies to setlist mode. It'd be nice if there was a true global EQ for those of us that setlist mode is not the best option and use combi mode.

-The sequencer still needs a serious update to be considered current.

-The software editor still SUCKS. With the tiny screen resolutions available, there's little point to using it over just programming on the Kronos.

-Um the Kronos is without Peer, and it's basically the only choice if you want a cutting edge workstation that sounds great?

-Waiting for OS 3.0 and the new libraries if you're a current Kronos owner.

NuSkoolTone wrote:-Karma requires you to buy PC software to make your own patterns

Yes. it's silly to sell Kronos $ 3000 (I bought for so much) Software for karma sell separately.

NuSkoolTone wrote:-Electric Guitars on the Kronos still...
-(Global)Distortion/overdrive FX are pretty bad. They sound like they haven't been updated since the 90's.

This is also true.
I had to sampling the guitars of Roland Fantom X together with the effects

NuSkoolTone wrote:-The sequencer still needs a serious update to be considered current.

On the PC, and it is easier to compose something, even at the old midi sequencer software than on Kronos

I don't have any major gripes about the Kronos. I only use it for live
gigs. I never use a workstation sequencer, so couldn't care less about
that. There's more program slots than I could ever fill up.

Love all the "analog" synth engines and the Mod-7. Those are killer.
They're my favorite aspects of the Kronos.

Never been that keen about the acoustic pianos, although they're good
enough for live. The CX-3 engine is ok, but the Leslie effect still has shortcomings, and I've switched to using my 2004 CX-3 running through a Neo Instruments Mini-Vent, which is an awesome combination.

You can get good guitars out of the Kronos, but you have to program them yourself. It's mainly how you work with the amp simulators. For
some reason the factory guitar patches aren't programmed that well.
Saxes and brass - I never use those live. For any songs that require
brass sections, I record sequences in Digital Performer using Sample
Modeling brass instruments for each individual part. That's the only
way to do good brass parts…playing a brass section sound with one
hand always sounds iike an accordion to me.

Love the Set List, it's so handy for live gigs. And I've always liked the
display and the look of the Kronos.

Seems almost unfair for a thread like this to exist considering how far behind other manufactures are compared to KORG.

That being said, if I was granted one wish, I'd wish for a major Sequencer update.

Regards
Sharp.

Yes. Kronos is a triumph. I sold the Roland Fantom S,X and D50 because Kronos took my soul. Still, there are drawbacks in Kronos. Wait for KRONOS System Version 3.0 and see what's new and what fixed...

Davd C. Polich wrote: You can get good guitars out of the Kronos, but you have to program them yourself. It's mainly how you work with the amp simulators. For
some reason the factory guitar patches aren't programmed that well.

Dave, not to challenge you but could you show an example of a "Good" electric guitar sound from a stock Kronos? And not played by a guy that could make a ukelele patch sound rockin. Just normal guitar parts. The raw samples are pretty weak and to me akin taking blood from a stone. Perhaps we have different opinions or standards of what "Good" is in this case?

I'm comparing to actual recorded guitar sounds or the higher end VSTs (Forgiving scripting) as my measure. With sample streaming, I should be able to play a rhythm guitar that is pretty convincing as the real thing. At least power chords and chugs at a minimum. I don't see how that is possible without a new library at the least.

Granted most of my "gripes" are a touch tongue n cheek If you've been around since analog synths, these are all petty things. Especially when very few boards do this stuff better (Better guitars on Motif XS and newer though IMO).

Sharp wrote:Seems almost unfair for a thread like this to exist considering how far behind other manufactures are compared to KORG.

That being said, if I was granted one wish, I'd wish for a major Sequencer update.

Regards
Sharp.

The Kronos is very good, but nothing is ever perfect. I have two main gripes (so far)

1) Lack of a MIDI Echo Function (Echo MIDI IN to MIDI OUT and merge with the Kronos data). OK, you have the risk of MIDI feedback depending on how you connect, but I am so used to this feature on my other boards! It avoids the needs of MIDI splitters and Mergers. Right now I am having a major headache trying to get the Kronos to replace my Remote61 controller as my second board! I've tried to use Karma to replicate the function, but have failed so far. Will be trying again tonight!

2) The fact that CX3 supports dual manuals, but I can see no way (that I can see) of specifying a MIDI channel from an external board to play just the lower manual (e.g. whilst playing the upper manual on the Kronos), which seems pretty odd. If there is a trick I am missing, please enlighten me!

Right now I am struggling to setup combis with the ease that I could setup EX5 Performances and Motif Multis, but I am hoping that this is due to the innate power within the Kronos (hence the many 1000 pages of manuals to try and digest), so I guess that is a shortcoming right now, but hopefully that will be rectified by operator familiarity in time.

Apart from that I am glad I purchased the Kronos, I don't think there is anything out there to touch it. The fact that Korg are doing OS updates as well makes me happy that there is some longevity in the model as well.

They say Love is blind.

I love my Kronos even though it has a big nose 3 chins and knobbly knees.

Derek Cook wrote:The Kronos is very good, but nothing is ever perfect.

Quoted for truth.

It's not unfair to have this kind of thread, Sharp. Even the arguably "best" things out there have their shortcomings, and Kronos is not an exception.

My list:

* 2+ min boot time. Embarrasing if it crashes live - and it CAN crash live, nothing is ever 100% solid. Not even Rudess could escape it
* 32-bit OS limiting things to 4 GB RAM max. Too bad, considering the streaming power SSDs can offer.
* EXs cannot be transferred between machines (at the price they cost, it's a BIG no-no!)
* Can't do custom velocity or aftertouch curves, if any of those that are in there don't do it for you, you're in deep
* No dedicated global transpose/octave switches (doing it at program level is not fun at all, on a performer instrument like this they should be ALWAYS right there at hand). This is a big letdown, not having such a rudimentary and simple feature available at ALL TIMES.
* Personally I think that ribbon is in a wrong position, should be above the joystick, not below. Being below it's all to easy to accidentally swipe it, depending on how you work the joystick.

I've only had my Kronos for about 6 months, so I have a lot to learn yet. I like the Kronos a lot. Especially digging the Orchestra & Timpani combi... that one is SO expressive to me (I've tweaked it a bit), it's like having an orchestra at your whim.

Here are some shortcomings for me:

Limited filter types. I'm talking about colors and flavors, not HP vs BP, or simple bass response of the resonance. Guess I got spoiled by the Fusion and the Micron's many filter types. I've mapped out the most important parameters on my Micron to both a BCR and a BCF, and being able to tweak those filters immediately lets me really dial into the sound I want quickly.

Limited global velocity and aftertouch response selections.

I also thought the FX section would be richer than it is. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty versatile and fits most basic needs. But the phasers don't shimmer, and the guitar distortion effects are meh... but hey, it's all digital, so what do I want? (I had a BOSS SE-70 which had a magical phaser unit in it... that was early 90's digital... guess it's all in the algorithm).

No total transpose in the combis.

The purchased EXs sound libraries are stuck with the one board they're registered to. Just found this out a couple days ago, after I had already bought EXs17...

File system is daunting.

One day I'll be like burningbusch and figure out how to make it so just what I need is loaded from startup, so that I can use as much of the many Kronos sounds as I can... Right now at 2GB I can't load the Austrian piano, the Funk&Soul Brass, the FamousSynths, and the preload.ksc at the same time... Some sacrifices have to be made, and I've already inadvertently wiped several combis I worked hard at making while experimenting at loading files. Luckily, I had tinkered with the Editor and salvaged about half of my work. Live and learn..

EvilDragon wrote: * Personally I think that ribbon is in a wrong position, should be above the joystick, not below. Being below it's all to easy to accidentally swipe it, depending on how you work the joystick.

You are right, good call.

Wow, I just posted my response above and saw EvilDragon had posted his response while I was writing mine. Very similar lists we have. Is that a good thing or bad?

I have only a small wish. It would be really handy if we could remove samples from memory that are not used by any loaded program at that time.