Korg Forums

Newbie here... long time ( almost ancient ) pro musician

Just got off the phone with my favorite repair person in the world.
Super helpful knowledgeable and experienced..
My 2005 Korg CX3 I come to find out, has most of its parts DISCONTINUED!!!

As a pessimist cautious type...
After I hopefully can have the minor issue fixed on my trusty 2005 CX3 organ
I have to face the fact that cx3 will "die" sooner than later, due to lack of interest in
CX3 Korg is a business first. and cannot supply parts eternally. That is how business works. I do not fault them.

My question... CAN the KRONOS be expected to duplicate the cx3 presets with all their "glory", that the CX3 was so smartly engineered to?

I have played newer B3 clones, and I do not get the backing away from CX3.

Which Kronos recommended of the 73 or is it 76 versions ? I ask because I found out that the frequent updates to Kronos have to do with the way it was designed .
Updates ( in my lack of understanding and articulation ) put simply, are a big deal with Korg, no simple matter to update.

So I ask which kronos?

I am also interested in better bass piano strings etc... so my question about Kronos, a major decision , includes those meat and potato sounds as well.

But primarily, CAN the Kronos sound as good as the CX3? It has the engine but it doesn't necessarily have the fine tuning of CX3.

I would love to step up to Kronos non weighted for Organ, AND other sounds.

There is no 76. For an organ style keybed I would go with the 88 LS or the 61. The 73 and the standard 88 are weighted piano keys.

Thank you for that. So 88LS was first made when?
I ask because with the fact that my cx3 is soon to be obsolete, I have to take into consideration manufacturing dates.

Thanks again.

The 88 LS is the most recent iteration of the Kronos line. I own one. The keys are not waterfall, they are more like a piano key, but they are not heavily weighted. They are definitely not diving board keys like the 61 note version. But you do get 88 notes so you could get away with some splits and whatnot. As far as sounding as good as a cx-3? That would be up to you to decide. Quite personally I prefer a Hammond clone because it sounds more like a Hammond. I owned a cx-3 back in the 80s and enjoyed the sound back then. But after having a Hammond clone I find the CX3 sound on the Kronos is just not as satisfying. But it may be for you. I have made a few attempts to dial in something I am more satisfied with, and little by little it is getting there. I would suggest you go out and play one in a store. Looks like you're from Southern California and I'm sure you've got a lot of stores down there. One thing you have to keep in mind is that the Kronos does not have the circuitry that an original cx-3 had. At least I don't think it does. Everything in the Kronos is generated buy modeling, sampling, and a few other synthesis types. So, once again I recommend you just go play one and see what you think.

If you don’t mind two keyboard and want both 88 weighted and the organ style keys, you could get an 88key Kronos and then find a decent keyboard with 61 organ style keys. It will not have to be packed with features but will have to have at least 5 pin midi in and out ports to interface with kronos.

One big part of kronos is its design and systems to interface with other keyboards. You can never use Kronos to the maximum potential without more than one added keyboard via midi.

So if someone is looking for the best of both key feel worlds via Kronos workstation, getting an extra keyboard is natural.

Kronos full weighted is among the heaviest keys you can get, so no need to bother with that unless you are trained up on Acoustic piano keys.

I have owned the CX3 and now Kronos 61. The Kronos sounds at least as good as the CX-3 to me, though I am more on the synth side of things. Korg later introduced a second improved rotary effect and offers 2 free additional banks of CX-3 sounds on the Korg shop. My understanding was that the CX-3 engine in the Kronos was a direct port of the software in the 2001 CX-3. A bigger issue may be the generic and somewhat rickety control surface on the Kronos, compared to a dedicated clonewheel keyboard. You do however have a large touchscreen, showing all the drawbars and the state of the rotary effect. Updating is pretty simple. There has been a firmware update, which is done from a connected computer, and OS updates,installed from a flash drive.