Korg Forums

[Space Girl]

I have watched a lot of Roland Fantom 4x4 challenges and they look easier record quickly on, just wonder has anyone done a Kronos challenge to record a whole track in a few minutes? I'd love to see some if anyone knows of any video's/ links out there.

I have not recorded much on my Kronos as I use Ableton but I would like to get into it more so I don't have to put the computer on. I normally use a Zoom Pro when recording on the fly as it's so easy.

Would be great to see some if anyone is up to it, not sure I am ready myself yet.

[Koekepan]

I think that you run into a bit of an apples-to-apples problem here.

The Fantom is basically a groovebox with some software synthesis capabilities and a keyboard. Banging out a quick set of chords and slapping them into a pattern, then plugging patterns together is not a big challenge in that structure, and the KORG linear sequencing model isn't quite as optimised for that sort of thing.

However, if you look at challenges such as OHC (the One Hour Compo) workstations can do perfectly well in them.

I have done something pretty similar to this set of challenges live, as well as in the studio using sequencers that deliver patterns quickly. The Social Entropy Engine is fun, fast and effective, and the Akai Professional Force does a great job as well.

The good news is that you can sequence the Kronos externally, so you could even use something like a Polyend Tracker to sequence it, and the results can be amazingly fast.

If you want to do something along these lines with a Kronos or a Krome, but all in the one device, what you should learn to do is quickly layer a few sounds - perhaps using a combination to kickstart a rhythm section and pad before recording a melody over that. This should get you a minute and a half of music with time to spare.

[blazerunner]

[tunaman]

Don’t know what a 4x4 challenge is, but I can start recording as quickly as I need on my Kronos just fine when the mood strikes.

I don’t care if it sets a land speed record or not, as long as it is efficient enough for me to do so when the mood strikes. A couple of quick button presses is enough for me. YMMV

[blazerunner]

[bpoodoo]

Is it a clever Fantom Marketing / PR stunt by Roland. I think it's a great idea! I wonder if they'd let me participate using my Roland MT-32 instead of a Fantom? Probably not.

It is yielding mostly meh so-so looped sketches. Of course the usual youtube promoters / influencers have thrown their hats in the ring first, garnering lots of view counts. I'd like to see contributions by heretofore unknown "regular folk" too!

I think the Kronos could work in a similar style contest. Maybe focus not on the 4 minutes but in producing quickly a quality song that you would actually want to listen to more than once.

"Load Song Template" could be used to jump start the sequencer setup as you choose various preset drum patterns to populate the number of measures you want for the length of your song. Maybe copy a favorite combi into tracks 8-16. Set a repeating loop for all tracks. Record each track in turn. After recording, play back sequence selecting Play or Mute on various tracks as it loops for variation. It could work! It'll probably sound better than the blips and bleeps of the Fantom.
_________________
bpoodoo
Triton Extreme 88 w/MOSS
"We all move on, like centuries and doves."

[blazerunner]

Yeah, it's a good way to market the keyboard and showcase how fast you can navigate it and throw a track together.

It's a keyboard speed contests. I mean I hope Roland would win they've only had a decade to finally make a Keyboard to compete with the Kronos . They should have all the quick go-to features by now.

I look at the Fantom as the Keyboard that the Jupiter 80 should have been. They focused on adding a lot of "performance" features on the Jupiter for that kind of music production workflow but then tossed the keyboard out the window when no one wanted to pay $4K for that experience.

Usually if I'm not here bugging you guys I'm on the Roland forums and sometimes the vibe is about the same when it comes asking for features and updates. Back in the day that Jupiter 80 thread was a very long one full of disappointment. Not that I ever think any of these companies ever check these forums to listen but a lot of the stuff people wanted or complained about the JP-80 not having were features Roland put on the Fantom.

I cross my fingers hoping we get the same experience from Korg with a Kronos Successor.

[Koekepan]

[blazerunner]

[Koekepan]

Well, you found me out.

Roland hater. Hate-hate-hatey-hater. Hate.

Wait, what's that? Roland gear in my studio? What? Have I been living a lie all this time? How can I go on like this?

Real talk: I'm not a Roland hater, and Roland aren't the only company that make grooveboxes. I don't even have anything against grooveboxes (looking here at a Novation Circuit in my studio as well, for example).

But what is the defining characteristic of a groovebox? Pattern-based sequencing and performance. You could call it a groovesynth, like a former Roland product, and you'd be on target.

Now, what does a workstation have that differentiates it from a groovebox? Why isn't, for example, the M1 a groovebox? Is it the synthesis? No, because you've had grooveboxes over the years with leading-edge synthesis. Is it the keyboard? No, because we've had keyboards on grooveboxes before. Is it the ability to handle multiple layered tracks? Again, no, otherwise the Novation Circuit would be a workstation. Is it the ability to drive other devices over MIDI or through timecodes? No, again.

If there's one key defining criterion to an actual workstation, it's the ability to do linear sequencing and put a full track together as a unit. Here's where we see full workstations coming together, and it's not even a KORG thing; it's a Kurzweil, even a Casio thing.

If you're going to ignore what I already pointed out about Akai's devices, that you can get linear sequencing simply by indefinitely extending a track, so that Akai's devices can actually do precisely what is missing on the Fantom, and is literally not in the Fantom's featurelist, then I feel just as able to ignore the Fantom's keyboard on the grounds that I could plug a MIDI keyboard controller into an MC707 - or do you want to call that a workstation, all of a sudden?

I don't resent Roland. I use Roland products. I don't resent grooveboxes; I have and use them too. The only problem I have here is Roland's overblown marketing that claims that Roland can do everything a workstation should do - to be the hardware equivalent to a DAW that a serious composer/producer might use to do everything from an advertising jingle to a six-part fugue. Could you piece a fugue together, spread across the patterns? Sure, and you could patch together a jacket out of two-inch squares of cloth, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

In essence, Roland lied. That's all. It's not a tragedy, it's not even a surprise - it's just a lie. A plain, simple, straightforward lie. Unlike you, I don't feel the urge to sit still for it.

That's all.

(Now go do four tracks in four minutes on a Circuit. It's not hard.)

[blazerunner]

[Space Girl]

[quote="blazerunner"]

[Space Girl]

[quote="blazerunner"]

[tunaman]

Pro tip for anyone who doesn’t know… Enter + Record sets up recording in the sequencer with the Program or Combi currently selected.

Start the drum track and/or Karma, use the RT option to tweak the real-time controls, use the Timbre option to bring voices in and out, and have a blast.

Easy peasy- hours of fun at the press of a few buttons.

Once you have the sequence recorded, you can tweak the Karma and voice parameters real-time to evaluate different settings and effects.

[bpoodoo]

FWIW (not endorsed by Korg). Just for fun!

4+4 Fast Track Challenge
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=126020
_________________
bpoodoo
Triton Extreme 88 w/MOSS
"We all move on, like centuries and doves."