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I know this is a question that has been asked so many times before, but I need to renew it again today, yet again:
will there ever be a new successor to Kronos? maybe a Kronos 3? would anyone have any news about that?
I need to ask you because I am finally ready to buy a professional synty/workstation. Regarding the Kronos, I have always loved the acoustic piano and electric piano sounds, IMHO. I also loved the physical modeling synthesis engine, in my opinion one of the most powerful ever made.

Also, my real question is: should I spend more than 3,000 euros to buy a Kronos today? As powerful as it is, it is a product that was conceived and made many years ago ... the sounds, user interface and workflow perhaps should be updated

loopman wrote:Also, my real question is: should I spend more than 3,000 euros to buy a Kronos today? As powerful as it is, it is a product that was conceived and made many years ago ... the sounds, user interface and workflow perhaps should be updated

If you are concerned about a successor, perhaps wait until the winter NAMM show passes. Korg doesn't always announce at NAMM, but at least you will be somewhat diligent.

If my Kronos were to die, I would pick up a Nautilus, which is reasonably priced. While the physical interface is lacking, it is the full guts of a Kronos. All my sounds (including 3rd party libraries) would still play on it.

If you get a Kronos, I think it's still the most amazing synth/workstation out there. It still samples, sequences, and has many abilities that most of the new workstations (Montage M, Fantom, Kurzweil, etc.) lack. If there can be only one, Kronos is my Highlander.

Life is too short. Just get the Kronos now. I doubt if you'll regret it. If/when a worthy successor appears, the time that will have been spent using the Kronos will help to hit the ground running with the new board, which will probably be buggy to start with.

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What do you need/like in an instrument? That will give you the answer. There is nothing like the Kronos (Nautilus almost the same), even if it came out in 2011.

loopman wrote:I know this is a question that has been asked so many times before, but I need to renew it again today, yet again:
will there ever be a new successor to Kronos? maybe a Kronos 3? would anyone have any news about that?

Not from Korg. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else comes out with something better than the Kronos. But Korg? They couldn’t care less.

There is always hope, if you are optimistic. However, don't put all your eggs in one basket. If there is keyboard that meets/exceeds your needs that is available today, jump on the deal. I am sure many people were in your shoes when the K2 was being sold and they waited and waited for something better then got the Nautilus--a fraction of what the Kronos offers.

If there were a Kronos 3 imminent, it is a near certainty that they would not have bothered adding aftertouch to the Nautilus.

Scott wrote:If there were a Kronos 3 imminent, it is a near certainty that they would not have bothered adding aftertouch to the Nautilus.

Yeah, sadly that makes sense.

loopman wrote:Also, my real question is: should I spend more than 3,000 euros to buy a Kronos today? As powerful as it is, it is a product that was conceived and made many years ago ... the sounds, user interface and workflow perhaps should be updated

Never buy something based on name, specs or what others say about it. If you are ready, go test what is available and choose according to your taste and feel. Forget about vaporware.

drama1 wrote:

Scott wrote:If there were a Kronos 3 imminent, it is a near certainty that they would not have bothered adding aftertouch to the Nautilus.

Yeah, sadly that makes sense.

Not necessarily. I’ve heard from someone in the retail business that the Nautilus has fallen way short in sales, from what Korg hoped. That’s why the price became discounted some time ago, and now AT has been added. If a new Kronos should come out, its price point would be well above the Nautilus.
So I don’t see that as an indication either way.

Still, I don’t believe Korg is interested in any new keyboards that can’t be built around a Raspberry Pi.

The way I look at out it, my 2014 Kronos is still Korg's ultimate, so they are saving me money!

I do not think I have exhausted what the Kronos can do, and I doubt anybody has?

So I am happy to wait and see what happens.

loopman wrote: Also, my real question is: should I spend more than 3,000 euros to buy a Kronos today? As powerful as it is, it is a product that was conceived and made many years ago ... the sounds, user interface and workflow perhaps should be updated

As mentioned by others, what you buy will in large part depend on what you need out of a keyboard.

I have a Kronos and have recently bought a Fantom (full, not Fantom 0-, which is comparable to the Nautilus / ModX). When I bought the Kronos, I wanted the full range of possibilities without compromise, and felt that it was overall more full-featured than the Fantom or the Montage. It's definitely lived up to that.

For my taste, the sampled pianos in the Kronos are more realistic than the modeled ones in the Fantom. For sampled sounds in general, the Kronos would be my pick. However, I like the classic Roland synths, e.g. Jupiter 8, Juno 106, etc. and the Fantom has very good models of those. The Kronos synth engines are very powerful, but the Roland stuff has a certain bite to it that appeals to me. I could probably get very close with the Kronos synth engines, but they're all right there in the Fantom, so it's easy to just grab it and go.

The Fantom has an Ableton-like approach to sequencing that is centered on loops. In that area as well as general UI, I like the Fantom. The Kronos has the power to be sure, but the UI is dated, dense, and not as user friendly. I don't own a Montage, but the videos I've seen of their UI come in somewhere between the fiddly nature of the Kronos and the more user friendly Fantom.

Yamaha just released the Montage M, and with the exception of poly aftertouch it honestly feels like they're playing catch up. One of their hot new features is an analog synth engine. Kronos has several, and the Fantom has very good models of their line of synths. I'm sure there are things that set the Yamaha line apart, but in terms of general features I don't see anything that the Kronos / Fantom don't already do, so I feel no need to buy one.

So, is it worth buying the Kronos today? If you want a balls to the wall, no limitations keyboard, I would say yes. I believe the sound engines are the most comprehensive out there, the control surfaces are excellent, and if you're willing to dive deep, it seems like there's nothing this keyboard can't do.

However, the Nautilus is essentially a "Kronos lite." It has the same engine under the hood and a few artificially imposed limitations to keep the price down. If you don't need a "no limitations" keyboard, it could very well be a good fit for you. It would be worth doing the research to see exactly what's different between the Nautilus and Kronos to decide whether you care or not.

If sequencing with an Ableton / loop style workflow is more intuitive for you, the Fantom is worth looking at. Like the Nautilus, the Fantom-0x line is "Fantom lite" with some limitations (for instance, it can't load the classic Jupiter-8 and other models because of limited memory).

I can't speak to the Montage / ModX because I don't own one, but the general idea of ModX being "Montage lite" applies here as well.

When I bought my Kronos it had already been out for something like 8 years. For me, I saw that as a positive. Lots of years to do bug fixes, address any glaring problems and make it solid. Also, by the time I bought it, they were pretty much done with feature updates, allowing me to buy it for what it is instead of buying a 1.0 keyboard and hoping there would be feature updates (which are often vaporware) at some point in the future.

If I could only have one, it would be the Kronos. I like the feeling of no limitations (even though I've only scratched the surface of this thing). I also like the sampled sounds and the sound engines in general. I would miss the Fantom's sequencer as I'm finding it a fast way to capture ideas, but when I want to play piano, I want the sound I get from the Kronos.

Above and beyond determining what features are most important for you personally, there's one other consideration. I have a very hard time envisioning any of the big three coming up with a "next generation" workstation that would be a major step forward from the Kronos / Fantom / Montage. It really feels like everything that can be done has been done. I think that's why you haven't seen a new keyboard from any of them, only incremental updates to their existing line.

So, to echo the advice of others, put your crystal ball back in the closet, make a list of what you care about, and buy the best one on the market today for your needs. That way when there's still no "next generation workstation" several years from now, you will have nonetheless made several years' worth of music.

And yes, it appears that I do have a little too much time on my hands today...

I think the Kronos 3 is on it's way to us. Just a guess, of course. When it arrives it will be too expensive for me to buy - maybe!!

The reason for my positivity is what others say here - it does what it does very very well, and there is a lot it does. A few weeks ago I was in a local music gear shop and I overheard a sales guy speaking to a shopper and he said that the Kronos 3 will be released at some point. And he will have a bit more inside knowledge than just us consumers.

I think the new Keystage controller is the first major sign that the Kronos 3 is well in development. The Keystage's features will be a working test bed on how to impliment Midi 2.0 and Polyphonic and Channel Aftertouch into a studio and stage environment.

I think the biggest issue will be the position of visability and prestige that the Kronos brought Korg. Even now when you see gigging keyboard players with major Artists it's either the Kronos or a Nord, and often both that you'll see somewhere on stage. Thats the best advertising that any keyboard manufacturer can get. Other keyboard players look for what keyboardist are playing and take note. The Kronos 3, as long as it does deliver what it needs to, will continue to keep the Kronos on stages of major gigs across the globe. I'm certainly not seeing any of Korg's toys - Modwave, Wavestate, Opsix- on stage. The toys are fun and creative, but are not workhorses.

And we know what Kronos 3 needs to include, well at least for me - a sequencer that has well over 16 midi channels to fully take advantage of Midi 2.0, with piano roll editing. In fact, it's those features that would probably get me to take out some sort of finance and sell some gear to buy the Kronos 3. I really hope that will be sometime in 2024.

Steve

I love the Kronos, and will continue to use it as long as possible.

I've got a slightly different take on "next generation". For my needs I no longer desire a fully integrated physical keyboard/workstation.

If I ever give Korg any more money, it will be for a plug-in version of the Kronos that I can run in a Windows or Linux environment.

Processor power has come so far in the 14 years since the Kronos was designed. It was underpowered from the start. Polyphony and program limits would be gone on a modern computer system and host OS.

For my uses, I find that SST is essential for live performance with the Kronos.
I thought plug-ins like Omnisphere could never be used for live performance because they don't have SST.

However it turns out to be a non-issue. I can have 10 instances of Omnisphere running together on separate tracks in a VST host, each with a different program. I can switch between them, layer, etc seamlessly to get the same result as SST with even more flexibility. I can layer as deep as I need without running into voice stealing issues.

I would definitely buy a Kronos (not Nautilus - I do use Karma) plug-in that would let me more easily transport my Kronos sound banks to my next-generation software environment.

I'll be the contrarian.

There is no hope. KORG have had lots of time to announce, present, or provide a Kronos 3, and have steadfastly failed to do so at every turn. Their closest approach has been the aftertouch version of the Nautilus, that does not even provide Karma.

If you want a full workstation, and you don't want to be at the mercy of whatever passes for the availability of repair parts for synth support shops, then you want a supported, credible device that is available today.

There are a few ways to do this.

One would be to throw up your hands, get a Nautilus, a brace of external controllers (including faders, pads, what-have-you) and a software Karma installation to provide what Nautilus doesn't. This is one option.

Another is to go for a different manufacturer only. If you like being tied to software for a workstation experience, Roland has your back (and a grip on your wallet) but then so do various more distant relatives such as Native Instruments and Ableton. If you want a hardware experience without an umbilical cord to a computer, then Kurzweil's K2700 is the king of the hill. On the other hand, if you're more in the beatmaking world, consider something in the MPC world or its cousin, the Force.

You could also lean harder into deep pattern creation with the world of arrangers (provided that they give you on-board pattern creation options, which so far, unless I missed a memo, seems to leave out the PA5X) and see what you can get there - but then the price rises a lot too. Arrangers aren't cheap.

Finally, you could go for the fully decomposed workstation, where you combine various items, each of which is good at one thing, and thus have a flexible (but less portable) layout.

But a Kronos 3? That's a bit like going to Beethoven's grave and demanding to know when he'll stop messing around and publish that twelfth symphony.