KORG KRONOS

[realtrance]

EP that about sums up the internet. Thanks! I'm going back to my nap now.....

[ChristianRock]

Yup. The internet is srs bzns, as you well know.

 

Good to hear Korg's got the issue covered

[seamonkey]

I still would like to hear an explanation in regards to the double sided tape idea.

[ChristianRock]

Who cares, if they fix it.

 

Or do you also want the name of the engineer that's going to get fired?

[seamonkey]

Who cares, if they fix it. Or do you also want the name of the engineer that's going to get fired?

I care..because I would like to know how a company of their stature could have something like that slip by. Surely it couldn't have been one person's decision, but rather a collective.
If you get a bad batch of parts from the vendor, that is one thing, but to incorporate something like that into the design of a final product?

I think it's a fantastic synthesizer, soundwise, features, and looks.

I've had numerous Korg synths over the years, the Triton and the Triton Extreme, both built sturdy as a tank.
I've had 3 Korg Prophecy's, 2 of them had the output jacks cut in/out, which is a common problem with them.
My Korg Wavestation has a loud inverter(common problem), plus I've had to lubricate the keybed several times(keys were collapsing) because there was a flaw when they manufactured them(the 01W I believe had the same problem). Now my output jacks are cutting in/out. I bought this unit new and it's never been gigged.
So.....that's kinda why I'm curious.

[ChristianRock]

Well, you have the right to be curious, but knowing the corporate world like I do, if any Korg employee comes here (on a public forum) and tells you how this came to happen, they'll get fired immediately. In my company I get constant e-mail reminders from our legal department about online forum behaviour - do's and dont's (we're expected to be in some work-related forums, just like Dan, Jerry and Rich are).

 

I'm just glad it's fixed.

[evildragon]

I bet in all the hassle they accidentally sent some of the preproduction units for sales.

[ChristianRock]

I bet in all the hassle they accidentally sent some of the preproduction units for sales.

 

Or, "accidentally" as in, "we have these laying around from the trade shows, and tons of orders, might as well make some money"

[Cydonia]

If you Google "Kronos Knob" you'll find photos of what the knob assembly looks like.

[ChristianRock]

So, apparently Sweetwater is saying they'll ship the Kronos 88 on July 7. That's like, 3 weeks from now?

[Michael Blue]

 

So, apparently Sweetwater is saying they'll ship the Kronos 88 on July 7. That's like, 3 weeks from now?

 

 

Crap...Time to seriously sell some gear.

I have money down on an 88 already.

[zoink]

 

I just read about the knob problem - I did a little review of the kronos in a Yamaha moX thread a while back and mentioned how crappy that dial felt. Little did I know just how crappy it was!

 

 

 

 

I finally got my hands on a Kronos yesterday and spent about an hour playing and tweaking it.

 

Some observations:

 

1. I do not like the data knob. It's not that it was ready to fall off or anything, but I found it imprecise and difficult to use when dialing in patches. I was surprised at how much smaller it was in person than it looked in the pictures, and scrolling down one instrument at a time in the instrument menu was actually quite difficult. My advice to Korg would be to change to a better quality internal rotary knob assembly.

 

2. The sound is very good, even excellent on some counts. The pianos and EPs were among the best I've heard. Orchestral strings sounded full and rich -- though, as they were, all of them had a very short attack presumably to showcase their acoustic realism. Electric and electronic basses sounded out of this world. Brass sounds were a letdown. So were electric and jazz guitars (acoustic guitars were very nice). Ditto for saxophones (basically sounded like the Triton). I know all of this can be ameliorated with some tweaking and reprogramming, but maybe after Korg has some more time to refine things they'll release better sound sets in those departments (esp. brass and elec. guitar)

 

3. The big problem I saw was with the screen. At first I had a problem even getting on-screen buttons to work, since the calibration was out of adjustment and I had to aim about a half inch BELOW what I was trying to press on the screen. Some menu diving in GLOBAL settings brought up the recalibration function that fixed it.

 

The real problem with the display is that the words are just way too small. They wasted a LOT of space on every screen, and it's easy to see where they could have increased the font size by 50-100% in just about every case. I hope they change this in a future OS update. Fortunately I don't have problems reading small text, but it was small enough that I can see a lot of people experiencing eye fatigue after a while. The text is just really amazingly small. Wow. Korg, change this ASAP.

 

4. The vector joystick is fine. A bit small and dainty, but it should work. A hardier JS would have been nice, but it moves smoothly and holds its position.

 

5. The keybed and action are pretty good. It's not like the M3 *AT ALL*. The action is not as smooth, and the springs for each key are noticeably tighter, as is the general feel. You really notice a difference when fully depressing a key. The Kronos keys also has a much harder stop at full throw. But it played well. Fast runs, scales, and arpeggios weren't a problem, though I like the M3 keybed a little bit better.

 

6. The buttons are good and durable. I like that they no longer print on the buttons themselves like they did with the M3, as the ink can eventually start to wear off.

 

---------

 

In general, you can tell that Korg was very conscious of keeping the Kronos's weight down, and that they cut some corners cost-wise on the interface itself. But it's a nice board. I'm sure they'll fix the font size issues. They also should have tilted the display a little bit, since you're looking at a lot of information on each screen.

 

I'm a big fan of Korg, and I always wanted to get an Oasys. So I was all set to fall in love with the Kronos. Yet at first blush I find myself more or less in like, but not in love, to be honest. Oddly this has more to do with the physical aspects of the instrument and interface than with the sound itself. This is only the second time I've ever at a product's release been so conscious of the things they'll likely improve in the 'next' version -- the first being Roland's release of the original Fantom.

[evildragon]

I wouldn't use the data wheel for dialling in patches, but that's just me

[-groovatious-]

I wouldn't use the data wheel for dialling in patches, but that's just me

 

Maybe not, but many do, myself included - so it should be up to the task.

[Citizen Klaus]

 

5. The keybed and action are pretty good. It's not like the M3 *AT ALL*. The action is not as smooth, and the springs for each key are noticeably tighter, as is the general feel. You really notice a difference when fully depressing a key. The Kronos keys also has a much harder stop at full throw. But it played well. Fast runs, scales, and arpeggios weren't a problem, though I like the M3 keybed a little bit better.

 

 

I wonder if the RH3 versions might not fare a bit better in tactile response compared to the 61. I wouldn't expect things like buttons and the data wheel to be terribly different, but perhaps the playing feel on the Kronos-73 and -88 would compare more favorably to the M3-88 than the Kronos-61 compares to the M3-61 and -73.

 

I know I'm giving at least a little bit of thought to getting an RH3 Kronos after recently spending a few minutes on an 88-key Fantom G. I'll still have the M3-73 for synth and organ parts.

[evildragon]

Maybe not, but many do, myself included - so it should be up to the task.

 

 

You'd dial in patches with the data wheel LIVE? That's just bad practice, IMO.

[dan88z]

I agree it's not the best practice to use a wheel to dial in patches, but it should be robust enough to handle the abuse of wheeling thru parameters and pages. It should not be a "don't use it too much" entry system if people are used to using one on other keyboards.

[-groovatious-]

 

You'd dial in patches with the data wheel LIVE? That's just bad practice, IMO.

 

 

Not so much live, but in the studio when scrolling through patches.

 

Your Korg fanboyism is sickening. You'll do anything to defend their products - even criticise the way pros use their gear. Amazing!

[evildragon]

What? Are you {censored}ing serious? In what way is my comment regarded to as being "fanboyism"? If anything, I was critiquing. How could you see my comment as fanboyism is beyond me.


I'm a far bigger Kurzweil and Waldorf "fanboy", FYI. There's no gear without faults, too.

[-groovatious-]

Apologies if I misunderstood your post. But it seemed as though you were defending the Kronos data wheel and criticising the user in a somewhat ''Steve Jobs'' manner - ie. Nothing wrong with the product - "You're using/holding/turning it wrong"

[evildragon]

Nope, and sorry if I was unclear. I definitely would never defend a lousy data wheel design


I love the data wheel on my PC3K8. It's BIG. It's precise. It does things right. Kronos' looks like a joke in comparison.



Also, the day when I would sound like Steve Jobs would be the day when I die.

[Conbrio]

a somewhat ''Steve Jobs'' manner - ie. Nothing wrong with the product - "You're using/holding/turning it wrong"

 

 

One of the biggest corporate snobs?

[plaid_emu]

[AnotherScott]

 

I agree it's not the best practice to use a wheel to dial in patches, but it should be robust enough to handle the abuse of wheeling thru parameters and pages. It should not be a "don't use it too much" entry system if people are used to using one on other keyboards.

 

Zoink didn't seem to be complaining that it was not robust, but rather that it was imprecise or fussy when using it to try to make fine, small-increment changes. But I would suggest that that's what the INC/DEC buttons are for. Korg gives you multiple ways to adjust parameters... wheel, slider, INC/DEC buttons, and direct numeric entry. I think it's really a matter of "right tool for the job." In this case, once you use the slider or wheel to get about where you want to be, switching to the INC/DEC buttons is probably the most solid way to make those kind of single-increment adjustments.

[Vito Corleone]

Arrived about 4 hours ago. Working with it to try and get it ready for a long rehearsal tomorrow and a gig on Saturday. Here's the initial thoughts from someone who has never owned a Korg board before, and who is going to use it primarily as a live performance instrument:

The knob:

Mine seems to be fine. It is centered nicely. It has a slight "play" back and forth when I TRY to make it go back and forth, but otherwise seems solid. I've pulled up on it a bit. It doesn't feel like it is in any danger of coming off. I've used it quite a bit. Spun it pretty hard and fast to navigate large across large values. Seems fine to me.

The keyboard:

I like the action. And I don't have any problem with looseness or clicking. Good keyboard.

Navigation:

This was my biggest worry. This is the first Korg board I've ever owned, and I didn't really delve into the manuals. But it is VERY intuitive. Editing programs, creating combis...very easy to do. I'm really liking how it works. So far, much easier than first-learning my Motif years ago, or working with my Roland gear for the first time. I don't think I'll be coming here asking dumb questions nearly as much as I thought I might.

The Screen:

I think it's fine. My 50-year-old eyes (which require reading glasses for some very close-up work) have no problem reading everything on the screen. It's not NEARLY as bad as I thought it might be based on so many things people have said here. And it's also not as hard to use the touch screen as some have said. There HAVE been a few times where I've had to touch a button two-or-three times to get it to work, but I haven't calibrated it yet either.

The Fan:

It IS a bit loud. Certainly not enough to make any difference at all with anything I'll be doing, but I'm sitting about 2 feet away from it as I type this and I can hear it.

Knobs and Sliders:

All feel solid. I don't feel anything "cheap" about this board at all EXCEPT maybe the data wheel which, like I said, rocks back-and-forth a little. Something the knob on my Motif does NOT do.

The End Caps:

Nice shiny plastic. I think they look great.

I've so just barely scratched the surface with this board, but as one who had many fears about the reports of problems and defects, I just wanted to say that I'm not really noticing ANY of those.