Members Mediterranean Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Congratulations!!!!!Record something NOW and let us hear!!!!!!!:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtrance Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Zoink, some questions inline: 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michael Blue Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Thanks Guido, THAT's what I like to hear.If someone who occasionally uses reading glasses can read it, a 20-something has no business complaining. People, I personally take the review a NEW board over one on a stand somewhere (very likely beat on).Now, if you're one of those people who don't treat your equipment any better than the kids destroying stuff at your local GC,the beat-up ones are a good indicator of what yours will look like after a while...For the rest of us, they'll NEVER look/function that poorly.Really seems some people have an ax to grind with all the nit-picky and poor reviews. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 @realtrance - yes, you can use +/- buttons, or bank select buttons, instead of the data wheel to switch presets. Value slider also replaces data wheel when editing parameters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtrance Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Ok, so a total non-issue, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zoink Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Does the keybed feel long-term reliable, i.e. can you really sforzando-pound on it if you're playing a piano emulation, or does it feel like you'll wear it out if you try to do so? Also, more importantly for the organ emulations: how smooth are the edges of the keys? Will they be fine for swipes/smears (I'm blanking on the term for it, sorry). I'd say the keyboard felt durable and reliable. I was mainly responding to someone's earlier statement that the Kronos 61 had the same keybed as the M3-61. It's not the case at all. The Kronos has a very different keybed, with tighter action, and (I would guess) thinner felt padding receiving the keys at full throw. As for organ playing, I didn't notice if the edges of the keys were smooth, but I did play some organ patches, and the action was tight and fast. Depending on your playing style, this could either be a good or a not-so-good thing. No problems with swipes and smears. I didn't try any heavy sforzando with piano patches, which again, sounded great. I just played some rich chords, some scales, and played some impromptu tunes on the various patches. I hated the sound of the amp they had it hooked up to, so I turned it off and used a pair of cans the whole time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michael Blue Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Fan noise = deal breaker Korg should have used something bigger, slower and quieter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted June 17, 2011 Members Share Posted June 17, 2011 Kind of a bummer about the brass section sounds. Can anyone who has one spend some time there and see if you can get them tweaked? I don't play a lot of horn sounds but definitely need a nice fat section and some velocity drop off sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carbon111 Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 The brass library on the Oasys is stellar! One would have hoped this had just been "ported forward" to the Kronos. Edit: I have confirmation that the entire EXs3 Brass Library from the Oasys has indeed been included in the Kronos. This is one of the best-sounding sets of horns I've ever played from a keyboard! The velocity and modulation routings are extremely expressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michael Blue Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 The brass library on the Oasys is stellar! One would have hoped this had just been "ported forward" to the Kronos. Edit: I have confirmation that the entire EXs3 Brass Library from the Oasys has indeed been included in the Kronos. This is one of the best-sounding sets of horns I've ever played from a keyboard! The velocity and modulation routings are extremely expressive. :thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bdub Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 The brass library on the Oasys is stellar! One would have hoped this had just been "ported forward" to the Kronos. Edit: I have confirmation that the entire EXs3 Brass Library from the Oasys has indeed been included in the Kronos. This is one of the best-sounding sets of horns I've ever played from a keyboard! The velocity and modulation routings are extremely expressive. Don't go by the brass patches that are loaded into the Kronos banks...there is an extra .PCG file with the better patches in a folder on the SSD. I'm not sure why Korg didn't think to put these into the keyboard's I banks up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Kind of a bummer about the brass section sounds. Can anyone who has one spend some time there and see if you can get them tweaked? I don't play a lot of horn sounds but definitely need a nice fat section and some velocity drop off sounds. The stock brass section sounds suck, IMO. (Those loaded into the main banks. Apparently there are other sounds loaded on the internal hard drive I've got to go dig out....) Long one of Korg's weaknesses, IMO, and one the major reasons I chose a Motif over a Trition when I was last making a major board purchase in 2001. (That and the Motif had better piano and EP sounds. The piano and the EP sounds on the Kronos are great.) A couple of the stock patches have some good velocity drop off sounds. And, within a few minutes, I was able to combine a couple of stock sounds in a "combi" and come up with a brass patch that is pretty close to what I've been using the last few years. (Which is a layer of brass sounds from my Motif and sounds in my Roland JV 1080 and Emu Proteus modules). Now the next step is to create an even better one. I'm pretty confident this is possible. There are so many options for editting and layering in the Kronos that it's really just a matter of learning the board and doing it. Why a big, fat brass section isn't one of the presets, I have no idea. The good news, for me, is that this a very easy and intuitive board. I've been doing all sorts of editting and tweaking the last couple of days and haven't yet once referred to the manual for help on how to figure out how to do something. I'm sure as I go deeper I will need to. But so far it's been pretty easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Don't go by the brass patches that are loaded into the Kronos banks...there is an extra .PCG file with the better patches in a folder on the SSD. I'm not sure why Korg didn't think to put these into the keyboard's I banks up front. I haven't even looked at those sounds yet. Maybe I will this morning! BTW, why is it that between my Motif, the Kronos and my rack synths (Emu Proteus/Vintage Keys/Mo' Phatt & Roland JV-1080) I can't find even a BAD patch for replicating a human whistle? I was trying to find a patch to at least start tweaking from when we were working up "The Lazy Song" yesterday to replicate that little whistle line. All the sample and patches in the world and no one has ever done a human whistle? Why is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Syntex Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Human whistles are not popular with most listeners. The MOTIF has a human whistle patch in the PDR 20 Psychedelic Kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Don't go by the brass patches that are loaded into the Kronos banks...there is an extra .PCG file with the better patches in a folder on the SSD. I'm not sure why Korg didn't think to put these into the keyboard's I banks up front. Yep! Some good sounds in there. Nice! Something weird going on in that not EVERY sound PLAYS when I select it? hmmmm....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Citizen Klaus Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Yep! Some good sounds in there. Nice!Something weird going on in that not EVERY sound PLAYS when I select it? hmmmm....... Not sure how the Kronos ships from the factory in terms of samples set to pre-load into memory, but it's possible that there might be an unloaded EXs set somewhere. When you get a patch that doesn't sound, is there a line of small red text at the top of the screen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Not sure how the Kronos ships from the factory in terms of samples set to pre-load into memory, but it's possible that there might be an unloaded EXs set somewhere. When you get a patch that doesn't sound, is there a line of small red text at the top of the screen?No. I can't see anything different about them. There are some patches in the file that don't make any sound, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McHale Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 I can't find even a BAD patch for replicating a human whistle? Odd. The M3 had one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Odd. The M3 had one. Well, maybe there's one in here somewhere...but I haven't found one yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Human whistles are not popular with most listeners. When has that every stopped a synth maker from creating a patch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mediterranean Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 You can rent mine for 21 cents an hour [KSS discount]. It's usually 23 cents/hour for non-KSS members![video=youtube;tGErn-0PDzI] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McHale Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Wow, I actually encourage the use of autotune for that guy. He was CLOSE to the pitches but only CLOSE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtrance Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 Yeah, data wheel vs. buttons remains a difficult question. I've learned certain values over the years that I like on my Roland synths that I can just tap right in to get specific starting points on various elements of a patch, so entering the numbers directly is a useful option to me. Am also used to the "tap once for single value, tap and hold for scrolling, shift-tap for incrementing by +10," etc. so when I can find that, it's intuitive to me. Whirling a data knob seems much less efficient once I'm familiar with a synth, but that's just me. Especially since doing so is usually selecting digital values anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Syntex Posted June 18, 2011 Members Share Posted June 18, 2011 When has that every stopped a synth maker from creating a patch?There are so many patches now competing for space that human whistles are very low priority. The "Young Folks" hit ain't gonna happen soon again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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