Korg Kronos OR Yamaha Montage 8?

[Bachus]

Thanks for the reply!

Unfortunately there isn't a music store within 250 miles that carries either one.

I know it is "overkill" but I am looking for an 88 key "synthesizer" that has the best grand piano sounds first and foremost - and then the other instrument sounds come secondary.

I don't plan on recording or sequencing - just playing.

I don't really want a stage piano - because I really do like a lot of the synthesizer sounds/instruments. And I love 80's music! lol

Again, I know the synthesizers I am looking at are overkill - but I don't want some piece of plastic; and I want something that looks like a real piece of equipment and not a toy as so many keyboard today do.

Hope this helps!

where Kronos shines is being an all around workhorse, it can function as a performance synth, a stage piano, an organ, a recording studio..

Where Yamaha shines, is it interface and studio integration, the visuall feedback of knobs, sliders and buttons is just brilliant, the touchscreen interface in combination with the 4 rows of 8 buttons is very well tought out and modern..

But soundwise, kronos can do so much more, better piano's as said by a few here, with resonance... real VA synths, an organ, a piano engine.. huge expandabillity.. very flexibel effects section.. Karma, which can be used in so many ways, its much much more then the Arpeggiator of the Montage... also there is a huge amount of advanced workstation functionallity in the Kronos, not available in the montage...

However, the Kronos requires quite a lot of indepth experience to pull all that out of teh engine.. no problem if you are a techhead.. but to some all the menu's and submenu's are just to much a funspoiler..

If you just want a good piano, dp, organ, strings, synth... then the upcomming Nord Stage 3 will be a nice alternative.. very straightforward layout and it gives you both that piano, as well as that organ and espescially synth feel, with lots of direct interaction towards the Nords VA synth...

For some reason, price of the various boards and perceived value/price, is not discussed.

I still think thats #1 or #2 purchase criteria. Such as is the Montage 'worth ' $4000 to me. Or is the Nord 3 'worth' $4500 to me.

I am guessing at the Nord 3 price. Feel free to clarify it.

Nord gave a hint of the Stage 3 price at musikmesse

A little over the price of the 2ex versions.. making the 88 about €200 more expensive then the 2ex...

Overhere in Holland that makes all 3 of equally exspensive in new form, costing €4000 each

But then... when you choose Kronos in Holland, you could be lucky like me, found an orriginal Kronos 88 for €1400.. in a very good condition.... sometimes living in a densely populated area has its advantages...

At a price like that, buying a new Montage or Nord stage 3 is nor even an option...

[GregC]

For some reason, price of the various boards and perceived value/price, is not discussed.

I still think thats #1 or #2 purchase criteria. Such as is the Montage 'worth ' $4000 to me. Or is the Nord 3 'worth' $4500 to me.

I am guessing at the Nord 3 price. Feel free to clarify it.

Nord gave a hint of the Stage 3 price at musikmesse

A little over the price of the 2ex versions.. making the 88 about €200 more expensive then the 2ex...

Overhere in Holland that makes all 3 of equally exspensive in new form, costing €4000 each

But then... when you choose Kronos in Holland, you could be lucky like me, found an orriginal Kronos 88 for €1400.. in a very good condition.... sometimes living in a densely populated area has its advantages...

At a price like that, buying a new Montage or Nord stage 3 is nor even an option...

Interesting to compare these boards from our countries perspective.

BTW, 1400 Euros for the original Kronos 88 is a stunning buy. Good for you.

There are few used Kronos for sale in our state. Nothing in the SF Bay area, a few in LA. I think they sell somewhat quickly, when priced fairly.

California is also densely populated, along the coast and in the usual urban areas(where jobs are). 39.5 million people.

Montage 88 is $3900 , maybe $3800. I noted before K2 88 (new) seems to command at least $3300.

$500 diff is,, well, still a bunch of money to consider, I would guess.
My guess is the high Montage 88 price is making the K2 even more attractive.

[navydave]

I know it is "overkill" but I am looking for an 88 key "synthesizer" that has the best grand piano sounds first and foremost - and then the other instrument sounds come secondary.

The new Kronos LS88 is a light touch 88 key (aka semi-weighted) that might be something to look at. Aka, 88 synth keys . Identical to a regular Kronos (minus the 88 "weighted" keys). Weighs less too!

[swarupmahapatra]

Anyone in, or was in, the same boat?

Trying to decide between the Kronos and the Montage 8.

I will be using it mainly for the grand piano sounds 70% of the time - the other sounds 30% of the time.

I would go for a Nord Stage 3 88 keys, if piano sounds are important.

[benny ray]

I agree if I was planning on using piano most of the time a Nord Stage 3 would be my choice if money was not a factor. If I was using synths, layers, splits a Kronos would be my choice. But the thing with the KRONOS is you have a powerful machine that covers about everything.

[G]

Anyone in, or was in, the same boat?

Trying to decide between the Kronos and the Montage 8.

I will be using it mainly for the grand piano sounds 70% of the time - the other sounds 30% of the time.

I would go for a Nord Stage 3 88 keys, if piano sounds are important.

If I only wanted a piano - it would be between a Nord Stage 3 (although I really don't like the looks) and a Kawai MP11/7 or Yamaha CP4/1.

But I really want a synthesizer...

[ChasingPerfection]

Hello, everyone.

I know this is an old thread, but I found it via a Google search, so .... yeah.

I'm trying to get a keyboard that does the best job of across the board bread and butter sounds. I'm not only just looking for great piano sounds. Acoustic instrument, and non-acoustic instrument, BnB sounds.

I don't care about price. I'd spend 5k if I HAVE to.

[jimknopf]

Concerninmg the original thread comparison, Kronos hands down, if you want full sonic and workstation flexibility.

A Kronos has to offer a lot over the Montage, while the Montage offers very limited advantages over the Kronos. The Kronos for example has
- 3 VA engines, plus dedicated B3 and EP engines
- Midi and Audio Sequencer on board
- much better Masterkeyboard functionality

Pianos are well done on both. But the Kronos has a piano engine with a much bigger variety of big detailed piano sample libraries in reach, if you look both at factory sounds and available additional libraries.

Both offer FM-Sounds, where some of the details are a matter of taste.

The Montage offers much better guitar sounds (both acoustic and electric), has some very nice new FM patches, and the modulation matrix for the big knob (live modulation) seems a bit more easy to program than the Kronos vector joystick. It also has some other excellent natural sounds on board, and it excels with much better DAW integration than the Kronos. But most of the sampled synth sounds on board of the Montage are lower mid quality to my ears (compared to Korg VAs as well as Roland VAs and sample based synth sounds), and its B3 sounds are nowhere even near to dedicated modern B3 clone quality, rpgramming and handling. It has no sequencer worth naming that, and not remotely the flexibility of user sample streaming as offered by the Kronos.

That's just a rough short description from my view. And as my main keyboard, I would still prefer a Kronos over anything else out there, including Roland, Kurzweil and Nord keyboards besides the Montage. I would only consider other boards, if I needed only limited bread and butter sounds, and less advanced functionality.

[ChasingPerfection]

I would only consider other boards, if I needed only limited bread and butter sounds, and less advanced functionality.

For bread and butter sounds, what is the best for bread and butter sounds, with no budgetary limitations?

[benny ray]

For bread and butter sounds the Kronos and Nord Stage 3 are both really good in that department IMHO.

You can make arguments for both.

[GregC]

I would only consider other boards, if I needed only limited bread and butter sounds, and less advanced functionality.

For bread and butter sounds, what is the best for bread and butter sounds, with no budgetary limitations?

depends on type of bread and type of butter.

I would draw up a list of instruments/categories and do an A/B comparison. If you
are going to spend +$3000, I recommend some decent analysis.

For example , organs. Kronos has a CX-3 engine. Far better than Montage sample based. No vent talk, please. Talking apples to apples.

Acoustic and E guitars. I believe Montage/AWM does a superior job. Oddly enough, the STR-1 engine of Kronos has not been developed IMO. So the potential for an "A" is there but has not happened.

I think the drums on both are excellent. Maybe a slight edge to Kronos due to Karma. Montage likely has killer ARPS. Drums are a coin toss, possibly.

Kronos has a superb SGX-2 acoustic piano engine. Given the variety of AP's, edge to Kronos. The " Japanese Grand " of Kronos is my go to AP. Its a actually a Yamaha grand.

Other important instruments, flutes, sax, brass/trumpet, bass guitar, strings, orchestra, bells etc etc etc.

I can't complete this A/B comparison other than saying Kronos sax sounds are ok/average and I have solved that by purchase SOP's excellent Sax sample lib. So its possible, Montage sax sounds are superior.

I place lots of emphasis on a variety of top notch acoustic instruments since
I write music and need that realism.

many other keyboard players may not care about a flute sound comparison but I do. So you have to also 'define your requirements'.

Of course, many are not interested in my A/B approach and prefer ' gut feel'.
If I went by gut feel, I would have 15 keyboards

[ChasingPerfection]

I would only consider other boards, if I needed only limited bread and butter sounds, and less advanced functionality.

For bread and butter sounds, what is the best for bread and butter sounds, with no budgetary limitations?

depends on type of bread and type of butter.

I would draw up a list of instruments/categories and do an A/B comparison. If you
are going to spend +$3000, I recommend some decent analysis.

For example , organs. Kronos has a CX-3 engine. Far better than Montage sample based. No vent talk, please. Talking apples to apples.

Acoustic and E guitars. I believe Montage/AWM does a superior job. Oddly enough, the STR-1 engine of Kronos has not been developed IMO. So the potential for an "A" is there but has not happened.

I think the drums on both are excellent. Maybe a slight edge to Kronos due to Karma. Montage likely has killer ARPS. Drums are a coin toss, possibly.

Kronos has a superb SGX-2 acoustic piano engine. Given the variety of AP's, edge to Kronos. The " Japanese Grand " of Kronos is my go to AP. Its a actually a Yamaha grand.

Other important instruments, flutes, sax, brass/trumpet, bass guitar, strings, orchestra, bells etc etc etc.

I can't complete this A/B comparison other than saying Kronos sax sounds are ok/average and I have solved that by purchase SOP's excellent Sax sample lib. So its possible, Montage sax sounds are superior.

I place lots of emphasis on a variety of top notch acoustic instruments since
I write music and need that realism.

many other keyboard players may not care about a flute sound comparison but I do. So you have to also 'define your requirements'.

Of course, many are not interested in my A/B approach and prefer ' gut feel'.
If I went by gut feel, I would have 15 keyboards

The only thing you can do is go for the board that does the best across the board job in terms of bread and butter sounds.

I'd love for a co. to get super-ambitious and try to be the best at everything. There has to be at least ONE company with that mindset, right?

So, if I asked you to name the best all-in-one boards, who would they be? I'm talking everything from BnB sounds to synth sounds. What would be your top three, in order?

[GregC]

)

The only thing you can do is go for the board that does the best across the board job in terms of bread and butter sounds.

I'd love for a co. to get super-ambitious and try to be the best at everything. There has to be at least ONE company with that mindset, right?

So, if I asked you to name the best all-in-one boards, who would they be? I'm talking everything from BnB sounds to synth sounds. What would be your top three, in order?

I tried to point out " bread and butter " is not clear to me. It could mean different sounds to different people. So what is bread and butter to you ? What
instrument categories ?

I can state for 'synths ' I think Kronos is stronger. But that is a topic that needs to be thoroughly discussed and understood.

[ChasingPerfection]

)

The only thing you can do is go for the board that does the best across the board job in terms of bread and butter sounds.

I'd love for a co. to get super-ambitious and try to be the best at everything. There has to be at least ONE company with that mindset, right?

So, if I asked you to name the best all-in-one boards, who would they be? I'm talking everything from BnB sounds to synth sounds. What would be your top three, in order?

I tried to point out " bread and butter " is not clear to me. It could mean different sounds to different people. So what is bread and butter to you ? What
instrument categories ?

I can state for 'synths ' I think Kronos is stronger. But that is a topic that needs to be thoroughly discussed and understood.

For what I do, things like pianos, electric pianos, organs, and strings are an absolute must. Layering and splits are important, too. Guitars, brass, etc, etc. etc, those are all important, but are of secondary importance. Frankly, I have play those on the top board.

But, yeah ... my meat and potatoes are piano, EPs, strings, and organs.

[leonh]

https://youtu.be/CDCchm2zP6s