Kronos gone from Korg USA web site

[methusala]

Just seen this !
Patrick

[average_male]

Just seen this !
Patrick

This being this? https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/kronos2/

[methusala]

I also go Korg.com > synthesizers/keyboards and find no kronos.
Patrick

[timg11]

It is curious - it could be a web site issue.
At this site https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/
the Kronos is not shown in the group of 7 music workstations.
But it does appear in the scrolling images across the top of the page third from the end.

And as @average_male said, this page is still there.

[Bachus]

Kronos is end of life..

Nautilus will cover the high end till the Next high end Korg workstation rolls out of Korgs factories..

Much like the M3 covered the time between Oasys and Kronos.

[average_male]

Kronos is end of life..

Nautilus will cover the high end till the Next high end Korg workstation rolls out of Korgs factories..

Much like the M3 covered the time between Oasys and Kronos.

I was under the impression that the Nautilus was a watered down version of the Kronos for covering lower price-point consumers. I’m hoping the next flagship will have more features as were noted in these threads on this site.

[danmusician]

Kronos is end of life..

Nautilus will cover the high end till the Next high end Korg workstation rolls out of Korgs factories..

Much like the M3 covered the time between Oasys and Kronos.

I was under the impression that the Nautilus was a watered down version of the Kronos for covering lower price-point consumers. I’m hoping the next flagship will have more features as were noted in these threads on this site.

The M3 was watered down compared to the Oasys. I bought the M3 not knowing that the Kronos was coming. It was weak by comparison to the Kronos.

Having said that, I don't think there's another Kronos level workstation coming. I hope I'm wrong, but I think the market for this type of instrument has shrunk too much to be viable.

[hephiroth]

The direct links to the individual product pages are still active, but they have been moved to the “Product Archive” section. I suspect they are just quietly moving them out of production (or have likely already done so).

[blazerunner]

Think the pandemic expedited the end of the Kronos's production.
The rising expense costs and labor just sent it into early retirement but Korg doesn't quite yet have a replacement for it.

They'll probably finish whatever Kronos models they still have parts to complete and push the series into the "legacy" graveyard and pimp the Nautilus out as the budget/price point consumer version for the next few years until the real Kronos replacement is ready to be launched and then introduce that to the world... if there are no further setbacks.

[ITguy54]

Sweetwater now has only the Kronos 61 and a used LS 88.

[Derek Cook]

Not that i do not think that the Kronos is end of life, but when i followed the link above out of curiosity, the page is still loading for me

The Kronos may be EOL but so is my SY99, TG77, EX5R, AN1x, FS1r, Nord G2.....

They still sound great and I still feel that I have barely scratched the surface of the Kronos even after over seven years of ownership.

So the fact that it might be EOL holds no fear for me.

[timg11]

IMHO, Korg permanently dropping the Kronos and abandoning the top-end market would be like Toyota dropping the Lexus brand to focus on the Yaris and Corolla brands

I hope it's not true, but my suspicion is that somehow Korg has "lost the recipe" for Kronos (due to staff attrition or other factors) and is unable to progress the platform. Hence we've seen updates like decorative colors, and downgrades like Nautilus. With 10 years of technology advancement for computing platforms, it should not be a challenge to develop a much more capable successor at a lower cost.

For example, consider the Raspberry Pi 4. It is considered roughly comparable to the Atom X5-Z8350. The Atom X5 is several generations advanced from the D510 used in the K1. Although K2 uses a more modern Atom, the performance is unchanged. So very likely a Raspberry Pi 4 could provide the computing needed for a K1. Even the lowest-cost i3 or i5 CPU could go far beyond that. And of course the 3.5Gb RAM limit imposed by a 32 bit OS should also be eliminated.

Maybe they just need more time to "re-invent" the next generation?

[average_male]

My money is on Korg coming out with a mind-blowing workstation that will continue it's domination in the synth industry. They always have had great vision and quality keyboards.

[billysynth]

Let’s hope the technology is not in a cheap plastic box with cheap knobs, sliders, primitive touch screen, and other inferior parts. Hopefully it’s all supreme hardware too…at a greater cost of course!
Happy to pay extra for a Bushido product. True Japanese craftsmanship.

Vas

[JonSolo]

It is hard to know what the next developmental step could possibly be.

Korg has always lead the way with workstations, beginning obviously with the M1. And the Kronos added something special that had not been done before: a workstation that combined the best of their classic technology with new technology...and then make as affordable as possible without compromising too much in quality. Then they made it expandable which was even better.

So what is left? To make a better "Kronos" now would be an expensive feat. I don't think they can keep building Kronos as it is and bring it in at the price point it currently is in some stores. And most of the new technology has been in the form of software.

With so many companies focusing back on synthesizers instead of workstations, my gut says it will be awhile before we see anything really "new" from the big three (Korg, Roland, Yamaha) in the way of workstations. If we do, it will have to be expandable in a different way to allow for new technology to be installed. Roland is proving that is possible with the Fantom...but Korg could really 1-up them if they tried.

In the meantime, I am not convinced Kronos is done. I just think making it as it is has become more expensive.