Using Sample Robot to create programs from VST's

[Peter1960]

I have recently purchased Sample Robot Korg + Wave edition (£66). I would highly recommend it.

I have used it to sample patches from my Roland Integra 7 sound module, but mainly to sample some of the many VST’s that I own. The idea is then to load the samples on the Kronos and create programs from them, which will then “live” in the Kronos. I can then easily switch between playing the Kronos’s own programs and the created programs from the VST samples, which will save me having to go to my computer, open the VST and then select the patch that I want. If it is already in the Kronos there will be no need to do this.

The process for creating a program in the Kronos is fairly straightforward – for those of you that have had difficulty (as I did, initially !!), I followed the very helpful post by Mike Lees in Jan 2019 :

I find it very usable. My normal workflow into Kronos is:
1. Export from Sample Robot in Korg Kronos (KMP) format on the computer. This creates a .ksc file and a directory with the same name containing the samples. Sample Robot truncates the name of the .ksc file to 8 characters, ending 000, so there are 5 useable characters. I name Sample Robot projects with deliberately short 5-character names so I can tell which ksc is which.
2. Transfer the .ksc file and the directory to a USB drive. Keep a mental note of the amount of data the computer said it transferred (e.g. 100Mbyte).
3. On the Kronos, in the Disk mode, Utility tab, copy the .ksc file and the directory (using multiple select) from the USB drive to a directory on the Kronos SSD.
4. In Disk mode, Load tab, load the .ksc file, using the "clear all" option.
5. In Disk mode, Save tab, chose Save Sampling Data, choosing the "Sampling Mode Data" and "All" options, and save a new _Userbank.ksc into the same directory on the Kronos SSD. Here, you can re-name the .ksc with a more useable name again.
6. In Global mode, KSC Auto-Load tab, add the _Userbank.ksc that I've just created to the list of ksc files to auto-load. The size of the ksc file to auto-load should be roughly the same size as the amount of data transferred in step 2 - this is how I check everything has gone OK up to this point.
7. Hit the "Do Auto-Load Now" button in the KSC Auto-Load tab. Takes a few minutes.
8. Create a new HD1 program with the Osc 1/2 pointing to the new sample ksc as required.

The last stage of the process prior to creating the HD1 program is to add the (samplename) Userbank.ksc to the KSC Autoload list under global settings, so that the samples are automatically loaded when the Kronos is switched on. However, I am wondering if there is a limit to the number of Userbank.ksc files that can be added, to automatically load on start up ?

I have all the popular VST’s from manufacturers such as Arturia, Syntronik, Spectrasonics and Native Instruments, and have access to literally 1000’s of sounds. It will take me a long time, but I would like end up with my favourite VST patches “converted” into Kronos programs, which could involve several hundred programs if I were to do this.

Let’s say I ended up with 150 Kronos programs all created from VST samples produced through Sample Robot. In order for every one of these programs to be available at start up, the respective Userbank.ksc files would have to be added to the KSC Autoload list. Would I be able to add 150 of these files ?

I am sure the answer would depend on my memory available. I have recently had a second hard drive installed, which is where all the Userbank.ksc files that I have already created are stored, and where the further files will also be stored. I have also increased my RAM to 3Gb.

If I start up my Kronos and look at the available memory under global settings, I note the following :

EXS / User Bank (blue box) – 1097 Mb
Sampling (red box) – 132 Mb
Free (green box) – 731 Mb

Is it likely that I have sufficient space and memory to allow a further 150 programs to be created ? If, not presumably I will have to manage the Userbank.ksc files that are autoloaded, by unticking some from KSC Autoload list and adding others to autoload, although this will mean that I will not be able to use all the programs that I have created.

Any suggestions /assistance would be most welcome !

Thanks

Peter