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Qui says it better then I did! Maschine is a hip hop dream. I have no integrated it to Kronos yet but it sure dems like a good combination. I hope for down time soon to try this but busy season what it is free time is a lost treasure.

Watch some of the tutorials of the maschine and mpc and Qui's Kronos tutorials. I think by th time you are done you will have a good idea of what you would be able to work with.

Being that I mostly play live, I've always been a hardware guy. In searching for a better Hammond clone, I discovered N.I. B-4. I started integrating a laptop with my hardware (Triton Pro). I then wanted a better piano and bought N.I. Piano suite. Then the Synth suite. Bought N.I. Kore and eventually Komplete 5, 6, & 7.

I was sold on soft synths and never thought I would get back into hardware. Eventually got VB-3 and Omnisphere.

I never had a problem with the laptop live. (It was the only thing battery backed up!)

My playing job changed where I would no longer be able to leave things setup. The though of a weekly setup and break down dealing with the computer, sound interface, all the audio wires and mixer, MIDI cables etc, I decided to get the Kronos last Sept. which I had been following every since it came out.

Since switching to Kronos I have not felt any loss. The few "must have" sounds I had in software (Omnisphere) I sampled into the K and use them every week. Kronos has opened other doors with Karma. And, there is still so much to look forward to with the VA engines I haven't gotten into yet.

I run L/R out for keyboard sounds. Output 1 for organ to Ventilator. Output 3 for click track, and output 4 for backing tracks. It still amazes me all this can happen from one keyboard. I still am able to run an 88-note controller and now have more zones than I did with software.

I've always said software synths sounded better than hardware because the sound makers were not concerned with hardware, just the sounds. All their effort goes into making the sounds. That, plus the lack of restrictions with memory etc. in a modern computer. That all changed with the Kronos. So I can't go out and but a new plug-in with this setup, but I can certainly sample any sound I want and have it auto-load.

Like others said, it's more about workflow than the hard, and/or soft ware.

Geo

thanks for all the feedback!
i bought the kronos x and logic pro x last night. i'll be plenty busy with this setup for the immediate future but am assuming i'll be interested in adding some good bass and drum sounds, if anyone has recs on good software in this arena?

thanks again

Dig into Logic Pro X it has some on board sounds that are great and stacks is quite impressive. If you don't mind a monthly subscription macprovideos has some great tutorials on logix pro x the stacks and drums etc. also some of the other hardware and software discussed so far. Logix pro x is way ahead of my old express8. I can't wait to upgrade.
Congrats on the new Kronos, had mine since march and I haven't put a dent in any of its capabilities.

2 workstations for me, no question.

Kronos X 88, Kronos 61 and whatever MIDI control would be necessary after that. A foot controller, a bass note pedalboard, and a mixer for all of the outputs of each Kronos, either a Yamaha O1V or a Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2 to also be MIDI'd to the Kronos... Kronoses, so it's settings and presets can switch with the Kronos... Kronoses.
If I'm going to be conducting an orchestra that requires 32 tracks of instruments and that many effects, I'm going to need all that control at some point.
I'd also have a pedal board full of like... Guitar pedals (yes, guitar pedals) and foot control (sustain, expression and switch jacks, the SoftStep, etc.), and whatever. I'd totally have all sorts of fun with what I can do with capabilities.

Point is, even though you can do all that with a computer, I'd just rather use the device(s) that are intended for this scenario exactly. I don't like putting laptops at risk. Especially MacBooks... MacBook Pro's too. If I'm really doing that much more than the keyboard can handle, then I'll get a computer involved.

Interesting thread to read through if you are looking at midi controllers. I have been wondering if some other USB controllers would be functional if programmed through the editor as well.

Using the BCR

For studio I would probably go software over hardware most of the time. Comparing with the Kronos specifically, I don't think there's much it can do in a studio situation that can't be done equally as well or likely better with software.

I still bring my Kronos to the gig 100 percent of the time.

I use Maschine a lot too, it's especially useful for beat building and hiphop and modern electronic music. Definitely recommended, it has a ridiculous amount of drumsounds it comes with and they're almost invariably excellent.

I've had a Kronos since 2011 and I've found that the ONLY limitation with this beast is your imagination. I truly think you can make it do anything and everything!

What a senseless question... If money is not a point, then why you simply don´t buy both, a workstation AND software plugins ?

I think the implication was that there might be a resulting price difference between a Kronos and a PC loaded with software to replace most/all functionality of the Kronos.

E.g. a modern computer, good soundcard, a good midi controller, a bunch of VSTs and a DAW will probably end up more expensive than the Kronos. Disregarding that price difference, what are the opinions. Doesn't mean there's enough money to buy anything and everything you want.

EDIT:
That said, in a studio situation, if money truly were no object I can think of almost zero reasons of using the Kronos over software or dedicated hardware. For me, the power of the Kronos is in mobility (gigging) and bringing together all those engines in one board. Not in being "best" at anything in specific.

No slam on hip-hop, but I still fail to understand why Kronos wouldn't be a great platform for the genre. Again, I'll add that I'm not a hip hop musician. But, I've found that Kronos is a great instrument for exploring the complex, texturally astounding to this day sound experiments from The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Listen to a lot of what The Beatles created from Revolver through the album popularly known as "The White Album." Not knocking hip-hop at all - I admire the work these musicians do - but, The Beatles were doing considerably more complex work. What is even more astounding is when one considers that Sgt. Pepper was recorded on a FOUR track! Yes, Sir George Martin is a demigod among engineers and Alan Parsons, assistant engineer on Abbey Road and principal engineer on PF's Dark Side of the Moon, but still, we have exponentially more power in one Kronos than The Beatles and Pink Floyd had in all of Abbey Road Studios at that time!

So I am posting this with good intent and asking for some education. I am trying to understand how hip-hop requires special approaches that prog rock, complex classical music, and jazz to name but a few would - by the tone of this thread - seem NOT to need a different approach.

That said, I think that the OP made a great decision. Man, I wish money was no object for me! I'd have two more Kronoses, a couple of V-Synths, and a Solaris.

Yikes, that sounded like the beginning of a monster rig allegedly owned by a former member of this hallowed forum.

Best,
Vlad

PS: Again I want to reiterate that I am not slamming hip-hop at all. I want to grow as a musician and to learn more about a genre I've never played.

Not a senseless question, even when money is no object a wise person still spends wisely.

Vlad_77 wrote:No slam on hip-hop, but I still fail to understand why Kronos wouldn't be a great platform for the genre.

If you compare just KRONOS for this particular genre, then there are better alternatives from 'workflow' point of view. It's not saying the KRONOS is bad, but there are more flexible and faster hardware options for recording beats and layering drums...

in KRONOS you have to stop the sequencer a lot to change tracks or auditioning different sounds.... layering samples on a drum key is not even possible while the sequencer recording or running... you have to get out of sequencer, go to global, then layer the sample, and then save it as a new kit..... And this applies, even if you use a computer DAW with KRONOS.... Other instruments let you do this on the fly while you are making your beats...

Shakil beat me to it. A lot of hiphop is about building a good beat and while the Kronos can produce some great sounds and can certainly be used in hiphop productions and playing (we use two with Lange Frans, though he is somewhat more on the commercial side of things), it's just not very practical from a workflow point of view. There's a reason the MPC became the staple of hiphop production.

Money is definitely an object - I just wanted to leave that argument out of the discussion. I definitely plan to add VSTs down the road as I assume I'll need to add some drums. If anyone has recs, i would appreciate it. People seem to dig Maschine - does anyone have experience with it or with other good drum VSTs?
I didn't think about workflow being a problem since i plan to do all sequencing on Logic - hopefully it won't be much of an issue.