Korg Forums

[cabasner]

Hi All,

I have a question that I'm sure has been addressed previously, but I had no luck finding such discussions...if you have a link or two, please provide...

I currently own an M3-88 (for sale in that part of the forum, by the way) which I am selling because it is physically too large for the spot in my home where it needs to live. I need a 73 key board, and since I've got to downsize, I thought I might as well get a Kronos. My question, as a still-novice keyboard player, is how significant is the loss of keys from 88 to 73? That is, for those who can really play, is the loss of those 15 keys REALLY significant? I know that the type of music one plays, particularly classical, affects how significant less than 88 keys is, but in practical terms, for someone who aspires to classic rock, pop, blues, jazz, just about everything BUT classical, to what degree will a 73 key board affect me? How do you compensate for those loss of keys, if you NEED to get notes like those that are missing?

Sorry for what I'm sure is a repeat question, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

[dfahrner]

My take on it is that 73 is enough for just about all piano playing, except for those few classical things...yeah, the 88's lowest range (C - Eb, anyway) comes in handy sometimes for solo playing, and the highest is good for those Jerry Lee Lewis slides, but I don't think you really NEED them...and if you use keyboard splits, 73 keys could be an issue...I have a KRONOS 88 set up for in-home use, and a KRONOS 73 that stays in a case ready to pack in the car for gigs, and I've never had a problem switching to the 73...

df

[Cobra Jet]

I went from a Triton Extreme 88 key to a Kronos X 73 key. I play in a classic rock cover band and have yet to find a song that I wished I had the missing keys. The 73 key Kronos is still heavy to carry around, but it fits nicely in my small music room and on the small stages I tend to play on.

[kaptainkeyboard]

I have recently moved from a Fantom X8 to the Kronos 73 and had the same fears as you as to how I would adapt to the loss of keys.
It's only when you start to think about how you actually play your keyboard, you realise the loss is not significant.
Most of us play in the "Heavy Traffic" area, which is within the 73 key range.
On the few occasions you may need the extra top or bottom keys, Kronos accommodates for this by providing 2 buttons which transposes the entire keyboard either up, or down an octave in an instant - this may seem a bit unwieldy when you read it, but in practice it works very well with a bit of practice.
The bottom line is the loss of keys is not significant for most of the styles you play, and the transpose function takes care of the few instances you may need some extra notes.

[cabasner]

Hey guys, thanks a bunch! The answers you've given me so far are sufficient for me to make my decision to go the 73 key route and not worry. Just one question for kaptainkeyboard, are the buttons that you speak of for transition dedicated buttons? Where are they located on the unit? Thanks again to all of you who answered

[Synthoid]

[Bugra Ekuklu]

[cabasner]

[kaptainkeyboard]

This is a full response to the Transpose Buttons from a total Kronos Newbie to other, fellow Newbies in the hope that it clears up some of the points raised..

Hi Cabasner,
I'm not sure if you have your Kronos already, however here is a rundown on where to find the buttons and their functions.
The switches are on the left of the keyboard just above the main Joystick.
They are called SW1 and SW2 and can do all sorts of things, but I wanted to answer your question as simply as possible.

To access their various functions do this:-
Goto PROG and select the German Grand Piano - I-A000
At the bottom of the screen press "Common"
Look for 'Controllers' on the various tabs you see on the screen and press the tab to open the Controllers Page.
At the top of the screen you will see SW1 and SW2.
Press the > arrow bellow SW1 and you will see a whole bunch of stuff the switch can control (Octave Down will be one of them).
Do the same with SW2 (you will see Octave Up)
Underneath the > arrow, there is another arrow where you can select "Toggle" or "Momentary"
Toggle mean that the effect will remain "ON" after you press it.
To return the piano to it's original Octave, press the button again.
Momentary means it will only be on as long as you keep pressing it - as soon as you take your finger off the button, the Piano will go back to it's original Octave.

Kronos has 2 types of Programs - EXi and HD1.
The above explanation is for EXi programs.
To access the "Controllers" page on a HD1 Program do this.

Goto PROG and select I-B000
You will notice that this looks different from an EXi Program.
At the bottom of the screen press "Basic/Vector"
Look for 'Controllers' on the various tabs you see on the screen and press the tab to open the Controllers Page.
Everything else in the above explanation is the same for the HD1 programs and Exi programs.

I hope this helps

[Dniss]

I don't miss it not one bit. But I do a lot more than just playing piano.

Sold my TE-88 and got the 73, never looked back.

[phattbuzz]

A weighted 73 key is a good option for anyone playing in a band with a bass player. You wouldn't normally miss those extra keys, plus it's easier to find room for transportation.
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[cabasner]

Many thanks to kaptainkeyboard for the detailed response!

I remain amazed at how anyone can know all (or even some) of the details of how to operate these fantastically complex machines. I wrote to kaptain privately, and asked him how he happened to know how to program those keys. I spent some time perusing the Kronos owner's manual online (I don't have one yet), to see if I could figure out how to program those keys on my own, only to fail miserably, I found several references to the keys in the manual, but as far as detailed instructions to program them, no luck. The various controls and options, when reviewing the manual (the same can be said of my M3) is totally overwhelming to a relative keyboard novice such as myself. How do all of YOU figure out how to do stuff on your complex 'boards?

[kaptainkeyboard]

Hey Curt

This is a Rant..

My response to your question was from one Kronos Newbie to another.
I have long held the belief that Manuals should Not be written by experts (EVER).
I have read some posts from experts on this forum who say stuff like ".....you can use Karma to achieve the result you are looking for"....what does that mean to a Newbie ? - what buttons do I press to make it work ?, what was the point of that post ?.
Read the manual !!! - if manuals were written by non experts, we wouldn't need forums.
A Yamaha Motif XS owner wrote on this post:-
"If the Kronos is like other workstations I've used--and I'm pretty sure it is-- then they aren't dedicated buttons for octave jumps."
On my Motif XF there are 2 buttons immediately above the SEQ Transport buttons called Octave Up and Octave Down, and I didn't put them there, Yamaha did.
This statement alone could have swayed a potential Kronos buyer away from the 73...again, what was the point of this post.
There are a few guys on this forum ( and you know who they are ) who are a joy to read - clear, concise instructions on how to do stuff.
We are Newbies, and by default we are Idiots and need Idiots guides - we will look back at some of our requests for help and may be embarrassed by what we asked - so what, ask away fellow Newbies.

Rant Over......

[SanderXpander]

I know it's a rant, so I'll just have one from my side;
It gets terribly frustrating to have to give step by step guides of stuff that really is explained very clearly in the manual, or sometimes on the forum itself. On top, I believe it's very important for people to try and understand to grasp some of the underlying basic principles. Many problems seem to have to do with routing, whether it's midi, audio or AMS. If you only ever follow step-by-steps, you're never going to really understand the machine. You'll just know how to do maybe 8 of the 5 million things it can do.

But everybody learns in a different way of course. Just remember that everybody who gives any type of answer on here is doing so in his free time.

[Hal2001]

The best way to answer your initial question of whether or not you will need 88 keys is (this is how I decided): Take two post it notes. Tape each sticky note beyond the lowest and highest keys on your current 88 that correspond to the 73 key layout of the Kronos. Now you have a 73 keyboard map to play and test all your songs with the most extreme scale ranges. Just saying classical or pop is a generalization because your personal playing style may or may not tend to go to the edge of the scale e.g. if you compose or improvise like I do. Anyway, you can test this right now and have your answer. If your fingers never need to touch the post it notes, you're all set. If you do hit them often enough, you'll miss the 88. Another consideration is, how important are making splits to you? The ability to make extra splits with an 88 increases the functionality of the keyboard greatly. But if that's not essential, most likely the 73 will fit virtually all your needs. My next keyboard (to accompany the K) will be a 76 (I think the K could have sprung for 3 extra keys - I personally do use the 74th-76th keys regularly). Good luck.
_________________
My Music: www.youtube.com/Halunlimited
Kronos 88 and Genos, Logic Pro, Omnisphere