Korg Forums

Wanna make sure I'm not missing anything: I only see 1/4 inch jacks for Audio In on the back of my Kronos 2 61. So in order to "plug a mic in" to use the vocoder, I need to get an adapter from XLR to hi-Z? Or is there another port I'm not seeing? Do you guys' Kroni have XLR inputs?

No, there are no XLRs on the back of the Kronos, and the Kronos doesn't supply phantom power.

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I use an XLR to 1/4 cable for my mic.

The Kronos inputs are able to handle a wide range of signal levels and impedance. To connect a mic such as an SM58 you need a cable that takes the mic’s XLR balanced out (+&-) and shorts the - to the screen so making it a two connector lead suitable for a standard 1/4” jack. You will need to adjust the Kronos input gain trimmer in conjunction with the input mixer page to ensure you have a reasonable sign level without overloading the Kronos ADC.

For reference I usually use a DI box taking the main feed directly to the mixer and the secondary through going straight to the Kronos input. This means I only need one mic on stage for both vocal and vocoder. I simply mute the desk when I’m using the vocoder.

Important points to note when using the vocoder ifx live on a noisy stage.

You will need two ifx boxes in series with the mic input. A noise gate and a compressor. This is because the stage noise will trigger the vocoder even when you’re not singing into the mic and because you mic positioning can be less than constant when performing live, the compressor helps even out the modulator signal feed to the vocoder.

To get a classic (get lucky - mr blue skies) type vocoder effect you need a simple broad frequency sawtooth based synth patch with and open filter. as a carrier, and a parametric eq ifx post vocoder to boast the middle and upper middle frequencies a lot! This gives the overall timbre enough balls to cut through the mix enough to carry those sort of lead sounds.