Korg Forums

robinkle wrote:I think Korg should sell the Kronos without any processor

I can't continue beyond this. I have no words...

Wow people sure lack of imagination. Making up problems. Problems are there to be solved, I'm sure it is possible to make the Kronos hardware customizable, if Korg wanted to.

dream is free my friend.!!


What happens with cuztomizable "keyboard" like Oasy or Open labs..???

or too many years ago.... like sinclaviers or fairlight..?
hardware customizables..?? yes.

But tooooooooo expensives for many musicians..!!

Ok.!
create a Kronos open.
You decide processor, ram, engines, inputs/outputs, number of keys, color case, lcd size, Capacitive or resistive lcd, 3d lcd.. OS with different specifications, and many many more...

How many cost a keyboard like this??

what the people looking for??

Sounds..!!

let me tell more.

A keyboard with 2000 sounds...!! or 3000.!!

how many soud really use to play??

honesty..?? 10 sounds?? 20??

always use the sound that connect with you. the rest of this sound sometime you use it.!!


The kronos is for a especific public.

Its a workstation ready to go.!!
Play live, compose, create, pre-produce... all in one package.!

what more?? yes.
You turn on and touch a key and sound good..!! really good..!!
Organs, pianos, synth, strings, fx, drums in one package.

Need more sound..?? use the sampling...
Need more memory?? put usb memory in the usb port.


need more?? Use a PC full customizable.. or a mac (macpro), conect the kronos and work with all technology ..!!

But and but...
In many cases you only need a good acustic piano, a good rhodes or wurli, a good organ (yes with drawbars) and some cool pad strings and a real feel Lead Sound... a sequencer midi and audio, good fxs and a headphones.... seat in your bed with the keyboard you. and the inspirations.

anything else my friend.

robinkle wrote:Wow people sure lack of imagination. Making up problems. Problems are there to be solved, I'm sure it is possible to make the Kronos hardware customizable, if Korg wanted to.

It would have to have a Windoze OS, something which is designed to adapt to different processors, motherboards and other components by supplying a database of drivers to properly link to them all.

Meaning, it's less streamlined and less efficient, requires more memory and resources, is slower, more laggy, more complicated and possible to crash.

You can have your Windoze based solution, I'll take a KRONOS.

Doesn't have to be Windows. Kronos is Linux based. Linux can also support different models of CPUs...

robinkle wrote:I think Korg should sell the Kronos without any processor, but instead allow users to install the CPU of their choise. If they don't mind Fan noise, okay let's get a i7 in there. This way you could indrease the polyphony even further, if needed. But offcourse a certified Korg dealer would be needed to insert it so no mistakes are made. The Korg Software should support more then one type of CPU then.

Bad idea IMO. No one in their right mind would allow common users under the hood. Fans? No thanks. I think the possibility of a socketed processor that could eventually be upgraded is good, but making it a do-it yourself project? Not so much...

It was mentioned before with the OASYS that different sets of hardware respond differently under different workloads. The code in the OASYS and undoubtedly in KRONOS too is tailored specifically to make use of instructions in the P4 or Atom processor and fine-tuned to get the timings of events perfect in the system.

If it works, then what does it matter what is inside?

The Atom is increasingly popular for embedded systems. There is even talk of using it in mobile phones because of its low heat output and power consumption.
Yeah, sure windows runs terribly on it, but that just shows up how bad windows is more than anything. One of the great things about KRONOS and OASYS is it is NOT windows. It is specifically designed for the purpose at hand.

X-Trade wrote:It was mentioned before with the OASYS that different sets of hardware respond differently under different workloads. The code in the OASYS and undoubtedly in KRONOS too is tailored specifically to make use of instructions in the P4 or Atom processor and fine-tuned to get the timings of events perfect in the system.

If it works, then what does it matter what is inside?

The Atom is increasingly popular for embedded systems. There is even talk of using it in mobile phones because of its low heat output and power consumption.
Yeah, sure windows runs terribly on it, but that just shows up how bad windows is more than anything. One of the great things about KRONOS and OASYS is it is NOT windows. It is specifically designed for the purpose at hand.

now THAT made sense to me...
+1

X-Trade wrote:The Atom is increasingly popular ...
Yeah, sure windows runs terribly on it, but that just shows up how bad windows is more than anything. One of the great things about KRONOS and OASYS is it is NOT windows.

+1

NuSkoolTone wrote:

robinkle wrote:I think Korg should sell the Kronos without any processor, but instead allow users to install the CPU of their choise. If they don't mind Fan noise, okay let's get a i7 in there. This way you could indrease the polyphony even further, if needed. But offcourse a certified Korg dealer would be needed to insert it so no mistakes are made. The Korg Software should support more then one type of CPU then.

Bad idea IMO. No one in their right mind would allow common users under the hood. Fans? No thanks. I think the possibility of a socketed processor that could eventually be upgraded is good, but making it a do-it yourself project? Not so much...

You should read the post you are quoting.

Secondly I think you would say the same thing when the first PC came out.

OK, upgrading the CPU on the Kronos is a bit specific and a non-starter for a board that is already bringing expensive high quality compenents to the table for this price point and needs to run in a standard configuration to keep down costs.

However- the future is happening very quickly, and it's not inconceivable that in the near future the engines are run from an IPad type device that integrates seamlessly with the hardware keybed and controllers- similar to the new Akai SynthStation.

So instead of paying $3,000 for the 61 note, you pay $1,500 and use your own IPad (or whatever tablet is able to run the Korg OS and UI). And of course the beauty of this is being able to have other apps that run on it- because the Korg OS runs as an IPad app! And, you swap out the next generation IPad when you want to upgrade the processor speed!

Randelph wrote:OK, upgrading the CPU on the Kronos is a bit specific and a non-starter for a board that is already bringing expensive high quality compenents to the table for this price point and needs to run in a standard configuration to keep down costs.

However- the future is happening very quickly, and it's not inconceivable that in the near future the engines are run from an IPad type device that integrates seamlessly with the hardware keybed and controllers- similar to the new Akai SynthStation.

So instead of paying $3,000 for the 61 note, you pay $1,500 and use your own IPad (or whatever tablet is able to run the Korg OS and UI). And of course the beauty of this is being able to have other apps that run on it- because the Korg OS runs as an IPad app! And, you swap out the next generation IPad when you want to upgrade the processor speed!

It's very similar to what I mean. The Concept of customization is there.
And customization means for us Keyboardists or Synth enthusiasts the following: Being able to suit our needs.

As you can see on the voice counting, the HD1 got tons of polyphony, so if you like to use HD1 mostly, the Atom Processor is enaugh for you. But if you like to use MOD-7 and MS-20 mostly you might hit the wall, and a bigger processor might be a solution to that.

Though Korg would want to get the price down to sell more units, so they offer the machine with a processor they think will be best noise/price/performance wise which is all good. But if you want a bigger processor and Kronos is shipped with a processor already, it would be a waste of money. Because you payed for a processor you didn't want. So I think it would be best to ship it without a processor and have the dealers install the processor the customers want.

This is the exact same reason, people build their own computers. I have always done that, so could get the computer exactly how I wanted it.
The same could be done with Kronos.

I won't deny that Korg think their solution is the best at the moment, but that is a totally different discussion.

Randelph wrote:...the future is happening very quickly, and it's not inconceivable that in the near future the engines are run from an IPad type device that integrates seamlessly with the hardware keybed and controllers- similar to the new Akai SynthStation.

I do expect to see some of this, but I suspect that hardware keyboards will continue to be about half or more of the market. Synthmakers are keenly aware of how piracy cuts into the profits they worked so hard to create, and hardware synths make a very nice hackerproof dongle. And as some of us have been saying, they also provide some sort of variety in their sound compared to other instruments.

The other side is coming. The Muse Receptor, nEko, Lionstracs and others are opening the doors for this, and for the most part are admirable attempts. But I suspect that a few choice offerings are going to remain in the hardware specific domain for the foreseeable future. I.E., Motif, Kurzweil K series, KRONOS and the like, and I can live with this. When workstations began offering 128 voice polyphony, and as the Jupiter-80 is pointing to, soon more than 150 voices being common, I can't see that much expansion will be necessary. Unless your instrument is like that synthesizer-and-DAW-in-a-box, in which case it's already based on a computer, and likely will be upgradeable with off the shelf PC components.

robinkle wrote:As you can see on the voice counting, the HD1 got tons of polyphony, so if you like to use HD1 mostly, the Atom Processor is enaugh for you. But if you like to use MOD-7 and MS-20 mostly you might hit the wall, and a bigger processor might be a solution to that.

Though Korg would want to get the price down to sell more units, so they offer the machine with a processor they think will be best noise/price/performance wise which is all good. But if you want a bigger processor and Kronos is shipped with a processor already, it would be a waste of money. Because you payed for a processor you didn't want. So I think it would be best to ship it without a processor and have the dealers install the processor the customers want.

The thing about an 'embedded' system is to consider it not as a PC which has interchangable components. It may be slightly upgradable but at the end of the day it is a purpose built machine that just happens to use a PC architecture and a certain processor - it is purely incidental.

In the near future Windows will be available for ARM processors - that doesn't mean that you should have the choice or be able to swap out the processor on your mobile phone.
That's what hardware and embedded systems are all about.

X-Trade wrote:

robinkle wrote:As you can see on the voice counting, the HD1 got tons of polyphony, so if you like to use HD1 mostly, the Atom Processor is enaugh for you. But if you like to use MOD-7 and MS-20 mostly you might hit the wall, and a bigger processor might be a solution to that.

Though Korg would want to get the price down to sell more units, so they offer the machine with a processor they think will be best noise/price/performance wise which is all good. But if you want a bigger processor and Kronos is shipped with a processor already, it would be a waste of money. Because you payed for a processor you didn't want. So I think it would be best to ship it without a processor and have the dealers install the processor the customers want.

The thing about an 'embedded' system is to consider it not as a PC which has interchangable components. It may be slightly upgradable but at the end of the day it is a purpose built machine that just happens to use a PC architecture and a certain processor - it is purely incidental.

In the near future Windows will be available for ARM processors - that doesn't mean that you should have the choice or be able to swap out the processor on your mobile phone.
That's what hardware and embedded systems are all about.

I'm not talking about now. I'm talking about how I would want it to be. Give it a second.