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I am an Oasys owner of some 3/4 years. It's fully loaded with Korg extra sound-sets. I've played the Kronos in music shops many times and watched countless YouTube videos on it as well. I could well be a Kronos owner but I'm hesitating over a question of sound quality. I'm prejudiced being an O owner for so long but my first impressions are that the K has a synthy edge to it 'out of the box' throughout which I don't go for. It depends of course on your monitors but I'm hearing the guitar sound-sets are very unrealistic: that the orchestral sets fall into the same category: that Korg seem to be throwing umpteen extra sound-sets into the K which might not have been very closely sampled.

I'm really wanting to hear from owners of both the O and K.

Can anyone throw some light on how well sampled the K sound-sets are ?

Patrick

Are you looking for sound differences between the K&O or opinions on the K in general? It was established long ago that the Kronos sounds identical to the O if you load O soundsets. They have the same DAC. The Kronos factory sounds were tweaked slightly with EQ and compression and other small adjustments, compared to the O.

Guitars are generally considered a weak spot on the Kronos, but they're identical to the ones on the Oasys. There are some expansions available depending on which you need. I haven't checked them out because I never need keyboard guitars.

I have the Legendary Strings expansion and the Funk and Soul brass which are excellent. I think EXs19 included with Kronos 2 is sort of a "best of" of those, plus some choir stuff. Maybe that's worth considering.

I traded my Oasys for a Kronos. I could hear no difference in sound quality.

I've recently bought myself a MK2 Kronos,I wanted to get a K as a backup for my aging Oasys so I could retire it to studio use only and the Kronos to use for gigging,as the O was becoming a little bit of a burden to gig with however the Issues that have been highlighted in here about Kronos's build quality and everything else put me off,that was until Korg made the MK2.

Build Quality on the MK2 is awesome(not that the original is poor,before anyone slates me)but this MK2 Is just as I remember the days of Tank built workstations like the M1,I thought that smaller screen would be an issue,but infact the opposite its very pleasing to use and all the extra things like setlist just makes this machine every bit as on par if not more than the Oasys.

I opted for the 61 key and at first wasn't so keen on the key feel and action,I believe this is korgs Own keybed as fitted to the M3,perhaps not as firm at first to the Oasys synth action but I've grown to like the feel of it,The problem with the Oasys was that its a massive chunk of material and there was no alternative to the synth,Kronos is everything the same in a more practical compact workstation if you opt for the 61 note.

In terms of sound Quality,I don't care for DA/AD or all the other bull that goes with purists,but to my ears,loading in my Oasys sounds and songs into the Kronos(other than having to shuffle the progs/Drumkits into the correct destinations to make sure they call up the correct number)there is no difference that I can detect sonically whilst some may disagree,its always a personal thing anyhow and I've not done and a/b comparison with my Oasys as I'm not interested in any discrepancies that are irrelevant to the outcome of my songs anyway,so long as my songs playback as they were created on the Oasys thats good enough for me and the fact this is compatible with my Oasys PCG is awesome.

Thats one of things that annoyed me about Korgs workstation evolution that they never allowed cross file exchange in PCGs and the Pianos/EP just make this machine even more complete than the Oasys package and having those extra user banks is a lovely addition,and the SST is brilliant,no cutoffs or note dropouts between sound changes,perhaps not groundbreaking but makes all the difference for gigs,I was perhaps the same as yourself in terms of maybe having a snobbish attitude towards the Kronos and it maybe being inferior sonically,after some time with it,I think it has a kind of lushness about it that I felt for the Oasys.

I've decided to sell my Oasys and the SV-1 now as i don't really see the point in keeping them since the Kronos gives everything those have in one unit,one thing I do miss although its a personal thing is the Lit up encoders and Sliders but I've got use to not having them on the Kronos,to me the setlist option was worth the upgrade alone,and I didn't realise how much quicker and better getting my ideas down with the drum track has made,My only gripe about the Kronos and its a personal one is within the Wood end cheeks,I wish korg had made them fitted with a recess so that you could grip either end whilst lifting it.

I had lost faith in Korg after dropping the Oasys like a lot of others and then all the Problems with the Original K made me have reservations in the brand,however that faith has been restored in Korg now with this latest Model,in a way I'm kind of glad I waited till this newer model came out.

As a long time Oasys user since 2008,I'm really happy with the MK2 Kronos to me theres no difference to the sound quality,but I'm sure there will be people who will discuss the minute details that they aren't the same,in all honesty I'd rather spend my time writing music.

The idea that there is a difference in the sound is a myth.

I have both here, and constantly am listening to them both playing the exact same combi when working on sound sets. As long as you very carefully balance the volume of each synth, there is no difference.

Thanks for all your replies. I value what you say. I do have an open mind. I'm not so concerned with the K's ease of use over the O just the sound qualities. I am well aware Korg would not produce the K with inferior sampling so I'll spend more time with it

As I said some presets were tweaked for the K. So they may have slightly different EQ settings and things like combi levels, panning and compression could be particularly affected. But you can load your Oasys sounds directly if you want and they'll sound identical. They have the same relevant hardware.

I must admit I've come to the K rather late in the day but is it really correct, as the last post SanderXpander says, that I could transfer all my Oasys factory sound banks--and those individual combis I've generated myself--across onto the K, and, say, incorporate them with the drum kits there? It must be. Crikey! Now that changes things: it really does. It would not necessarily make the O redundant-- it's not only the machine that lights up every time I switch it on! I take it the reverse is not possible ie K over to the O.

Patrick

You are correct in both statements.

The only problem would be if you purchased specific sample banks for the Oasys.

I only have the additional Oasys Korg Expansion banks.

I also have Stephen Kay's Catalyst Vol 1 which is compatible with the K. I gather Vol 2 is around the corner.

I like the idea that I can still compose with the O yet tie into the K without compromising on sound quality--going by everyone's helpful input here. Many thanks.

Patrick

For those expansions I would ask the developers if you can freely move them to the Kronos. I know that Korg sample expansions can't be moved. Or rather, they're protected and Korg won't let you move them unless it involves a warranty repair or something.

Stephen Kay will be able to tell you if you need to repurchase the Catalyst pack.

methusala wrote:I only have the additional Oasys Korg Expansion banks.

I also have Stephen Kay's Catalyst Vol 1 which is compatible with the K. I gather Vol 2 is around the corner.

I like the idea that I can still compose with the O yet tie into the K without compromising on sound quality--going by everyone's helpful input here. Many thanks.

The thing with loading combi-based sound sets (which Catalyst 1 and Reincarnated are) that are in an OASYS format into a Kronos is that, unless you load all of the OASYS program banks (which I think is possible), the combis will have all their program references screwed up and will be useless. While the Kronos can "read" OASYS combinations, it does absolutely no conversion to change the program locations to the new Kronos program order. Not to mention that there are now (2) completely different Kronos program orders in use: (1) Original Kronos + Kronos-X and (2) the new Kronos 2.

So, if you load an OASYS combi-based file into the Kronos, all of the programs will be wrong. If you want, you have to manually change each program in each slot to the new location of the Kronos, making sure when doing so that the auto-load EQ and auto-load Tone Adjust functions are turned off or each time you select a program you'll blow out the original EQ and tone-adjust settings. Among other things...

That is why we consider a Kronos version of Catalyst, for example, to be a new sound set compared to the OASYS version. If you have both, and want the file in both, then you have to buy both. It was a lot of work to do the conversions, it's not trivial at all, we now have to maintain support for (3) different program orders, and if you want to load the OASYS version into your Kronos and do all of the conversions yourself, well then that's possible and you can go for it. Otherwise, we're only talking $32 here.

On the other hand, if you just want your Kronos to be a duplicate of your OASYS with some extra banks of programs, you can probably load the OASYS programs into the Kronos as well and then your Kronos will have the OASYS Program order, and your combis will transfer over just fine. Of course, then none of the combis created specifically for the Kronos will be usable.

Stephen,

I hear what you say. Reality check kicking in. Thank you. If something appears too good to be true, it probably is !

Patrick

I've still got the oasys catalyst vol 1 and loaded them in Kronos a long while ago. The sounds were all over the place.! I'll just buy the Kronos version, it's simpler

Stephen, the Kronos 1 and Kronos x seem to use slightly different banks or something when loading, so would the catalyst vol 1 have slightly different load paths for the Kronos 1 (what I have ) and the Kronos x? (Then theres the Kronos 2

Anthony.

AnthonyB wrote:Stephen, the Kronos 1 and Kronos x seem to use slightly different banks or something when loading, so would the catalyst vol 1 have slightly different load paths for the Kronos 1 (what I have ) and the Kronos x? (Then theres the Kronos 2

The Kronos 1 (original) and Kronos-X have the same program order, and the same program banks (except for some demo banks that were included in the Kronos-X). Therefore, we now supply two versions of Catalyst Vol. 1 and Reincarnated: one for the Kronos 1 and Kronos-X order, and one for the Kronos 2 order. You get both versions when you download the files, and instructions on how to load.

So, no - Kronos 1 and Kronos-X use the same file and same program order. Unless a person has specifically loaded the Kronos 2 version of the PCG files with the new order into an older Kronos.