A month till namm... (speculations)

[GregC]

My position is a little more complex than that:

I don't think that the Kronos 2 will be replaced in the coming year. It's too young, it's too available, it's too competitive with everyone else. A few updates, possibly, on the software end, but I'm not betting on much.

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Thats ok by me. you could start another topic for your other observations.

[Bachus]

Hi Kevin.

still think Linux kernal was the only way to go - at that they are using the bare bones of the OS

Fair enough but I think if someone like Wersi can do it, KORG can too if they wanted to.

Windows and OSX could never have been stripped down to a small enough size - seriously!

Windows Embedded can be cut down quite considerably. The end resulting “Size” of the OS doesn't really mean too much though. It's not like the KRONOS is so super lean that it boots up like a rocket. It's actually slow.

and the way Linux handles 'devices' is probably something to do with it - generic I/O streams with no overhead - honestly - Windows could not handle the audio

It sounds to me like Linux is just more straight forward for KORG to lock down to the point where you can never access the desktop. All in order to make it appear that the KRONOS is a normal Keyboard and not Intel PC running Linux. This doesn't benefit me as an end user in anyway given what I see Wersi doing with Windows. I would love my next workstation to be able to load VST's. With KORG using Linux, this is still doable, but it's is far more complicated.

Regards
Sharp.

VST's and Linux, i think receptor shows it can be done... just requires an extra effort from Korg for every VST they want to add...


Sadly i dont see any of the big 4 workstation builders (korg, yamaha, roland, kurzweil) make the step towards VST's... they are to much devoted to their own hardware engines...

I think that chances are bigger we will see a true windows based hardware workstation from software companies like Ableton, Native instruments or Akai... if they can create a keyboard that makes you feel you are playing a hardware workstation while totally based on VST's...

If Native instruments could make a deal with Steven Kay and Varranger and combine that in a single workstation with their maschine engine and kontrol they would be well on their way pushing Korg and Yamaha into a corner where they dont want to be...

[Kevin Nolan]

Agreed - lets stay on topic - it's too interesting, it's the new year and NAMM is approaching.

Agree with last post - Kronos2 and Kronos LS are surely too 'fresh' to be close to comtemplating an update.


My honest appraisal is - if Korg are doing an ARP2600 - they'll show case there current status at NAMM. I feel they've got to Maxibrute is out.


I'm also aware that one of the big companies is about to release a serious polyphonic analogue synthesizer - I have that from someone beta testing it - but they can't tell me who it is as they've signed a non-disclosure agreement. just a hunch but I don't believe it's Korg, Yamaha or Roland and suspect it's Moog but that's just a personal hunch.

[RogerL]

Would love to see Korg update the SV-1 which is now approaching 10 years old and hasnt been updated except for cosmetic changes.

I love the SV-1 but it really really needs an update, especially for piano sounds. Is Korg just abandoning the SV-1?

[GregC]

Would love to see Korg update the SV-1 which is now approaching 10 years old and hasnt been updated except for cosmetic changes.

I love the SV-1 but it really really needs an update, especially for piano sounds. Is Korg just abandoning the SV-1?

More like 2009 or 8 yrs. the model is still in the catalog and retailers still offer it. The price has dropped significantly since introduction.

I guess its not 'user upgradeable ' ? Thats what it needs, at 1st glance. Maybe January NAMM will provide an answer.

[wma]

maybe korg is focusing this namm on their arrager line - they introduced the pa4x last year or before and then variations of it, may be they will announce the successor of the pa600 and then later this year maybe on summer the successor of the pa900 - with respect to the workstation line - if something will be announced after about two weeks it might be an update for the krome something like some flash storage space for user samples or if something new upcoming it might be a synth/workstation the fills the gap between the krome and the kronos and a big update for the current kronos - if they want they can add new engines on the current hardware as an update - or might be korg will not announce something interesting for us at all, i've learned well from what roland did last year when they wanted to change the world

[SeedyLee]

Windows Embedded can be cut down quite considerably. The end resulting “Size” of the OS doesn't really mean too much though. It's not like the KRONOS is so super lean that it boots up like a rocket. It's actually slow.

If I recall correctly, it's not actually the Linux boot process which is slow on the Kronos, it's that fact that the Kronos application (OA) does an integrity check of the entire application, operating system and all sound libraries at boot to prevent tampering. The actual OS boots in a matter of seconds.

Though this getting off-topic.

[wma]

is it possible to make a kronos-like app for ipad?
i believe ipads are the best development solution at the time but non has offered an app that really replaces a workstation keyboard like roland fa, kurzweil pc3, korg kronos or krome

i don't think in those workstation a more powerful hardware than what's found in ipads and some other tablets and i've read smewhere on this forum mabe that the pa4x is based on android

[Koekepan]

is it possible to make a kronos-like app for ipad?
i believe ipads are the best development solution at the time but non has offered an app that really replaces a workstation keyboard like roland fa, kurzweil pc3, korg kronos or krome

i don't think in those workstation a more powerful hardware than what's found in ipads and some other tablets and i've read smewhere on this forum mabe that the pa4x is based on android

Right now the closest thing on the iPad, philosophically speaking, is probably Gadget.

Gadget offers a whole series of synthesis engines, and if you add some of the optional extras, you get some semi-modular interfaces as well. This makes it incredibly varied, and quite powerful.

Gadget's main deficits are input, effects and audio - but audio is a bit of a red herring, because the iPad's other facilities can get you there.

If you added a decent MIDI keyboard, Gadget would take that, so input is at least conceptually handled.

Where the iPad is fundamentally, constitutionally incapable is being an all-in-one device that handles I/O duties on the level of the Kronos.

So it really depends on what you mean. Can you make wild sounds on an iPad? Sure. Can you compose on an iPad? Given a few reservations about note entry, absolutely. Can you address a substantial library of samples and presets on an iPad? No problem. Can you mix your audio, add effects and generally get a fairly polished outcome on an iPad? Definitely, given various software tools such as Gadget, Caustic or Sunvox. In the immortal words of Paul Haslinger: "If you know what to do, you can do it with an iPad, and it can sound right. If you don't know what to do, it doesn't matter what you use; it still won't sound right."

Can you drive a rack full of gear with an iPad, handling MIDI coming and going in half a dozen directions while sending stereo audio through different outputs and switching patches on the fly and .... no? ... well, I hope you weren't planning on doing that with your iKronos, because it isn't equipped for the job.

So it's kind of a what-do-you-really-mean sort of question. If it's just composition and effects you want, I have a copy of Caustic on an old Kindle Fire that works surprisingly well...

[Bachus]

is it possible to make a kronos-like app for ipad?
i believe ipads are the best development solution at the time but non has offered an app that really replaces a workstation keyboard like roland fa, kurzweil pc3, korg kronos or krome

i don't think in those workstation a more powerful hardware than what's found in ipads and some other tablets and i've read smewhere on this forum mabe that the pa4x is based on android

Right now the closest thing on the iPad, philosophically speaking, is probably Gadget.

Gadget offers a whole series of synthesis engines, and if you add some of the optional extras, you get some semi-modular interfaces as well. This makes it incredibly varied, and quite powerful.

Gadget's main deficits are input, effects and audio - but audio is a bit of a red herring, because the iPad's other facilities can get you there.

If you added a decent MIDI keyboard, Gadget would take that, so input is at least conceptually handled.

Where the iPad is fundamentally, constitutionally incapable is being an all-in-one device that handles I/O duties on the level of the Kronos.

So it really depends on what you mean. Can you make wild sounds on an iPad? Sure. Can you compose on an iPad? Given a few reservations about note entry, absolutely. Can you address a substantial library of samples and presets on an iPad? No problem. Can you mix your audio, add effects and generally get a fairly polished outcome on an iPad? Definitely, given various software tools such as Gadget, Caustic or Sunvox. In the immortal words of Paul Haslinger: "If you know what to do, you can do it with an iPad, and it can sound right. If you don't know what to do, it doesn't matter what you use; it still won't sound right."

Can you drive a rack full of gear with an iPad, handling MIDI coming and going in half a dozen directions while sending stereo audio through different outputs and switching patches on the fly and .... no? ... well, I hope you weren't planning on doing that with your iKronos, because it isn't equipped for the job.

So it's kind of a what-do-you-really-mean sort of question. If it's just composition and effects you want, I have a copy of Caustic on an old Kindle Fire that works surprisingly well...

I love the way gadget handles many things... its got a great interface, is very very flexible.. and they keep adding new plugins... like recently the ARP odyseus and the wavestation...


A future Kronos could definately bennefit from the work Korg has done for gadget on the ipad.. they made huge steps where it comes to a touchscreen interface compared to the dated touch interface of Kronos..

[wma]

an app like kronos for example that has combis, performace mode,

i have the gadget app but it's closer to a daw, not possible to use it as using a krome or kronos for performing, if kronos is too complicated, maybe the krome is possible to apply as an app for ipad, or something morw old, like the korg tr, would be nice if korg makes an app like this korg krome/tr, but might be they don't sell keyboards anymore

[wma]

as i intended to get a korg workstation in the future, a mid-rage or a flagship, it's no more a big care for me about the apps - i will have the real solution.

[Koekepan]

Speaking of workstations - how about a voice synthesis engine in Kronos? Something similar to UTAU.

It would certainly be useful for a wide range of productions.

[Kevin Nolan]

Speaking of workstations - how about a voice synthesis engine in Kronos? Something similar to UTAU.

It would certainly be useful for a wide range of productions.

Such as?

[Koekepan]

Off the top of my head:

Roughing out vocals if you don't have a singer, to make sure that what looks fine on paper is still euphonious, and that you're not making unreasonable demands in terms of diction.

Live playing the vocals from the keyboard in a sort of melismatic style, as if you were using a vocoder to add flourishes.

In many genres of music, synthesised voices are welcome. Nothing wrong with those.

Harmonising after the fact with a live singer (or vice versa, they both work).

Driving a vocoder effect directly, so as to get all the timbral opportunities that offers.

I'm sure you could come up with a few more uses with a few minutes' consideration. Everything from House to Trance to Ambient (dark or otherwise) to various forms of rock and metal could make good use of such a facility.

It could be useful even if you had to pre-freeze the vocal content track (although I doubt you'd have to).