A beginner's question or two

zoe · Post by **zoe** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:40 pm

Hey all,

I'm a pianist and recently got my first workstation ~ and am pretty lost. Hoping to do the composing I've always dreamt about...

I can see that it will take a long while to learn everything on this baby but in the meantime it would be nice if I could know how to do just a few basic things so I can continue to do my regular piano practicing on it.

So, my apologies for the lameness of my questions, but here goes:

1. How can I just turn on the drum machine and play to it- (keyboard/piano sound) I'm looking for jazz drums in particular and this is sort of my second question since I haven't found much yet ~ are the majority of jazz drum kits a separate purchase? (really should have pushed to have this clarified... before I bought it :/

2. How about the metronome? with the same idea---

3. As to Jazz- I've come across some of the rhythmic option controls in some modes but eh, I guess this is where even my ability to asK the question stops. I was trying to figure out how to altar the drums to be more straight ahead jazz.

Guess the smilies aren't working for me either... haha. gotta laugh ~so blond~

thanks!
z

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 9:09 pm

The Kronos is probably not the very easiest or most flexible machine to do this kind of thing with, but if you just want a basic 4 or 8 bar drumloop you can definitely use the drumtrack. Every program has a drumtrack already set up and if you navigate to its drumtrack page you can change patterns - there's a bunch of them labeled jazz or swing etc.
If they need a particular kit they will usually reference that in the pattern name somehow, otherwise you're free to choose.

I think you may be referring to the Ricky Lawson drumkits, yes, those are a paid expansion.

You could do a lot more with (jazz) drums using Karma, but it's definitely more work to set up and kinda complicated for a new user. Best advice would be to browse combinations until you find one that has nice drums going on, and then switching out the main sound to your piano.

zoe · Post by **zoe** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:35 pm

Thank you. Your reply is one of the first truly helpful things I've read

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 5:46 am

You're welcome. Don't hesitate to ask specific questions! And keep the operation manual and parameter guide close, people may refer to them. Don't read them as a whole just yet but perhaps browse the index and get a feel for what's where.

Niarf · Post by **Niarf** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:35 am

You can push Drum Track button and choose a groove in Basic / Drum Track and check the list. If you don't have what you need, you import some midi grooves taken on the web and convert them into user drum tracks =)

Metronome : press enter + rec, choose Ok and you'll go in sequencer mode with a metronome enabled. Record your perf or not =)

There should be jazz groove in the karma section, and you can swing up the groove with the first slider, if I remember well =)

ed_f · Post by **ed_f** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:20 pm

The Kronos is great because of all the sounds and drum tracks that come with it. But, I have found if you want to really concentrate on an area or just mix it up a little more you are going to have to create your own drum tracks.
Niarf suggestion of use midi is one way to do that.

As my needs in areas like jazz have grown I just keep adding and end up with full banks in different genres. It is a little effort but you end up with just what you need and can organize in ways that works for you.