Korg Forums

[psionic311]

[GregC]

If we see a price drop on Kronos, thats a signal of a potential successor or replacement.

If NAMM 2020 is a marker, Korg does not have much time to reduce new K inventory.

And there is the used market. It has been growing.
_________________
Kronos 88. MODX8
Achieve your musical dreams
https://soundcloud.com/user-898236994

[Poseidon]

Deeper look at Logic Pro DAW integration ( starts at 6:53 )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuUq4eVec98

Wow! I am really impressed!

if only Fantom had Kronos HD-1 capabilities and ability to empty all banks,
I would buy it right now and probably sell Kronos, ‘cos there would be no need for such two keyboards anymore.

[Purgatory]

Okay I have to ask has anyone here actually tried one ?


I have today and I also tried a Montage 8 for the first time.

I will sum it up with Korg is rolling around the floor laughing at what Roland has done and taken them so long to do.


The Keyboard is way over priced for what it is and the only reason to buy it is for the Roland sounds if you like that. I like Roland sounds, but this is only forcing me to go buy an Integra 7, all they have done is repackaged the same Roland tech into a new keyboard with a new screen and some new features for keyboards like the TR stuff, the sequencer is humm.. This is coming from a Kronos user mad about the sequencer on Kronos.. The Piano roll part is not very well done, my old Technics KN3000 still had a better piano roll sequencer and shocking that a keyboard with that size screen and resolution shows very little of the piano roll. The other DAW like part of the sequencer is not for me either and actually was annoying to use, maybe due to the work flow style, because I'm more of a classic sequencer user. Ohh also the sequencer has no audio recording like the Kronos 16 track audio on the Kronos sequencer.. Again how is it a workstation in 2019 with no audio tracks in the sequencer, it only has 16 track midi (welcome to 1990), that shocked me actually that one and was like really your older products had 128 midi tracks and audio tracks too.


Okay now the layout to me was a lot better than Montage but again the colour scheme and the silly knobs right under the screen was very annoying in use and I felt in the way of accessing the screen.


Now I spoke to a Roland rep that was at the store and was told the sampling will come with a future update and not just the limited form it is in now, but have been burned by Roland in the past with such promises that never materialized but again same with KORG and the Kronos with their future updates to engines and new engines .. humm..

Now back to Montage and the only reason Montage got so many updates so quickly was there was no reason to buy a Montage over a Kronos and they quickly started to add features that were missing and fixing many of the broken things on the first release.


Anyways I got to try out two Keyboards I never had my hands on and came out of the store thinking thank god I ordered the Kronos and I ordered the Kronos only by watching Youtube videos and reading reviews and the manual to see what it could really do, without once having my hands on it. I still like the RH3 keybed over the Montage 8, but I have to say I have a little love for the RD2000 keybed and the same keybed on the Fantom 8. I do like the escapement on that keybed but again no aftertouch :-/ on that keybed, only the semi weighted 61,76...


Also I kept pushing for an answer of polyphony from the Roland rep and got not a lot out of him apart from V-piano is infinite and the synth part he had no idea and the rompler was 256 to his knowledge but can't confirm :-/...

Honestly I left with a really bad taste in my mouth after talking with this rep and found it very hard to answer simple questions. When questioned he would try show me some pretty graphics on a screen with a circle on it and how he could move the sound around with his finger for four different sounds I was like my Kronos does that with a joystick..

Anyways lets hope they do what Yamaha did and rush out some updates and some features that make it a real workstation, it is not a workstation when it can't sample and can only do sample to the pads or do audio track recording in the sequencer and not having aftertouch on the 88 key model is beyond real.. I was shocked at Korg with the Kronos LS missing aftertouch after they had it on their other Kronos models and was basically a downgrade for a lighter 88 keybed.


One nice thing was it is really nicely built and nice amount of outputs and inputs at the back of it... But £3520 for it or a new Kronos 2 that is £2730 at most places and that leaves you with £790 to go to the Korg store and add the sounds you want with the remaining money.. humm easy decision for me, if I was buying now a new workstation it would be the Kronos 2 .. but as you all know I already have one. The Montage was never in the running for me and thank god I didn't buy one from videos on the internet as in real use it annoyed the hell out of me the onscreen rubbish and how to do certain stuff.. and people complain about the Kronos being not user friendly (Kronos is my only purchase from Korg and never owned anything else from them, now I love the logical approach on the Kronos, yes some things are confusing but logical once you understand why, how and where).


Anyways one good thing came out of the store visit I finally got a Rode M3 mic for the Kronos and hope to play with the vocoder and sample some acoustic instruments too... You know something a real workstation can do .


Sadly was hoping for great things with the Roland to maybe make Korg and Yamaha up their game... but sadly Korg has nothing to worry about but Yamaha should have some concerns with the Montage after me having a play with one.

Also to add I am not a fanboy of any company and never will be for any type of product, I always buy the best from any company making any product at the time of purchase and if something comes out better than my purchase I will let others know not to waste their money on what I have and get X.


I actually walked out sad with the thought in my head that the Kronos maybe my last workstation keyboard in my lifetime and may be too old in the future when they finally make something I want to buy and can actually still physically play.


OKAY got some new information regarding the Fantom 8 keybed, Roland site states "88-note, aftertouch-sensitive, PHA-50 progressive hammer-action keybed with escapement" , so the Roland rep was of great help instore stated was the same keybed as the RD2000, the RD2000 doesn't have aftertouch though .


So it has aftertouch for the 8 model, so ignore what I said about that for the 8 model.

[GregC]

I think some or many see that Fantom is different than Kronos.
we are talking mostly different beasts

It has some features and sound quality that Kronos can't touch.
You know that Fx are the key to the Kronos sound.

For example, I think Fantom synth engine
is ballsy and has a huge attitude. The distinct layered sounds are
pristine. They are not washed in FX.

I like the aggressive Fantom sound character. The evolving sounds/scenes
are more in your face than Kronos. I compared my recent originals
to the Scott Tiibs 20 minute youTube. Really for sound quality
compare, not playing ability [ Tibbs is out of this world talented].

My reaction to this compare is ' man, Fantom has a massive sound quality
that I can't match '.

I think its striking to listen how it sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEE4EPAhNnY

I am not emotional about the $4000 price. I am not in the group
that thinks " Awwww fdammit, its $4000, I gotta have, I can't
buy it, so I hate on it '.

Think how quiet it was 2 weeks ago. We didn't have a new $4000 w/s then.

Now we have it and seemingly everyone is checking it out and immediately giving opinions.

This is exciting IMO.
_________________
Kronos 88. MODX8
Achieve your musical dreams
https://soundcloud.com/user-898236994

[psionic311]

[psionic311]

[billysynth]

Hello,

Does the Fantom have a fan in it? And, if so, can it be heard like the Kronos fan and the many complaints we received over the years and people attempting to change the fan in the Kronos?

Vas

[Mike Conway]

[GregC]

[Jan1]

[GregC]

[yeskeys]

Admittedly I've done almost zero research, apart from watching a couple of short youtube vids, that kind of gave me the yawns.

Does Fantom have any way to modulate the modulators, like we have in AMS? IMO, that's where REAL synthesis power lies....

From what I've seen so far, Kronos is still winning hands down. Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase with it. Just seems way deeper in every area.
_________________
Korg Karma module, Kronos61, SEQUENTIAL PRO3, DSI OB6, Oberheim OB8, XStation25, Yamaha MFC (for Karma Pads), Omnisphere, guitars by Tom Anderson, Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, D'Angelico, Parker, Line6, Guitar Processors by Fractal Audio, Amplification by Mesa, Carvin, w/Celestion V30(!)

[B1000]

Watched the first wave of Fantom videos and was blown away. Thought this would be the new workstation standard. Not so fast. Drive down to the details and I will wait for a new Korg workstation. Korg’s sound engines are so much more capable of producing a full menu of sounds and instruments, multi sampling, audio recording etc. Kudos to Roland for the phenomenal control interface though. Truly brought an interface that puts the antiquated and counter intuitive control platform of the Kronos to shame.

Imagine a Kronos replacement workstation with an even more powerful menu of sound engines, cutting edge intuitive control interface with a larger high def touch screen, video output that supports an external touchscreen, 240G or larger SSD, audio processing power capable of 512 note polyphony at high resolution, improved cutting edge weighted keyboard, new look multi color controls to assist with on the fly changes, new and improved Karma or Karma like system, and ..... Sorry I got carried away dreaming and hoping Korg is ready to announce soon such a beast. They have the King of workstations so come on Korg do it maintain your workstation dominance for the next 10 years. Don’t be afraid. Do it!!!!! I’ll buy it day one!!!

[GregC]