Kronos so complex, it makes me feel like an idiot...

[Scatter]

Not trying to sound condescending here but I strongly recommend reading the manual.

[jeremykeys]

Scatter's probably right but if you're anything like me, reading a manual is a lot like volunteering for rot canal without an anesthetic. I find them painful as can be to read and I read a lot. Every night before bed I'm reading. I'm not a TV guy. But manuals, man, who writes these things? Any drier and they'd be dust.
Granted I know they are written only to impart information but for me; and I'm only speaking here about myself; it hurts to read them.

But like I said, Scatter is probably right and you should read the manual.

[psionic311]

Can anyone tell me how to use aftertouch to control the loudness of a sound?I'm trying to trigger a sine wave to only come on when using aftertouch. I want zero volume on the sine wave when pressing the key normally. I've been trying to do it in the Amp section with confusing results. I can sometimes get aftertouch to make it a bit louder, but I seem to need the Amp Level slider up at least somewhat or else I get no volume in aftertouch. Is it something to do with setting different EGs for normal key press vs aftertouch? If so, where would I find this?

I've found this ability somewhat limited. Hopefully more experienced users can chime in with better techniques. Section 6-3b Amp EG in the manual does not shed much light on this either.

First off, once the amp envelope has faded to zero amplitude, there is no raising the volume any more, except by a one-shot re-triggering of the envelope, which is not what you want here. Therefore, leave the break/sustain with at least a level of 1 so that the math has something to work with other than zero.

Using the AL-1 engine as an example:

Amp/Driver => Amp Mod tab
In the Amp Modulation section, set AMS1 to Aftertouch, Intensity +99
Also, set its Intensity Mod AMS to Aftertouch, Intensity +99

You're not going to get much perceived volume increase, but that's the best I've found. HTH

[ando727]

Thanks for the tip, psionic! I was poking around in that area, but this gives me something new to try.

Regarding the manuals: at present I don't have access to my manuals. My house had to be emptied for some structural work and the manuals ended up in a box somewhere in a storage warehouse. I'll try to get them out next time I'm there.

[psionic311]

No prob, hopefully you'll get some use out of that technique. In the past I've tried the same thing on other synths -- using a sine wave an octave higher but low in volume, only to be brought in via aftertouch. In general, using a sine wave with a good envelope but at a lower volume is a great way to beef up a sterile digital sound and make it more "analog" sounding.

As for the manuals, I'd highly recommend you just download the pdf version and reference them from your computer or mobile device. It's much easier to search that way.

[pedro5]

Also using the on-board Help may be easier to understand by providing a quick access to any relevant part for further information.

I've recently stared to use this facility and found it to be helpful.(Need to use my reading glasses though.....due to the small font... ).

Best Wishes.

[ando727]

I downloaded the digital versions of the manuals. Read everything related to this situation. Still quite mystified... I've never felt so out of touch with anything I've bought. Grr. wish there was somewhere I could just go buy this patch I'm trying to make.

[enigmahack]

I downloaded the digital versions of the manuals. Read everything related to this situation. Still quite mystified... I've never felt so out of touch with anything I've bought. Grr. wish there was somewhere I could just go buy this patch I'm trying to make.

PM'd you.

Also I give Kronos skype lessons. PM me for details.

[GregC]

I downloaded the digital versions of the manuals. Read everything related to this situation. Still quite mystified... I've never felt so out of touch with anything I've bought. Grr. wish there was somewhere I could just go buy this patch I'm trying to make.

PM'd you.

Also I give Kronos skype lessons. PM me for details.

thats a good idea.

Do I have to learn Canadian ?

[enigmahack]

I downloaded the digital versions of the manuals. Read everything related to this situation. Still quite mystified... I've never felt so out of touch with anything I've bought. Grr. wish there was somewhere I could just go buy this patch I'm trying to make.

PM'd you.

Also I give Kronos skype lessons. PM me for details.

thats a good idea.

Do I have to learn Canadian ?

Fortunately, I'm a polyglot... I can speak 'Murican.

[GregC]

PM'd you.

Also I give Kronos skype lessons. PM me for details.

thats a good idea.

Do I have to learn Canadian ?

Fortunately, I'm a polyglot... I can speak 'Murican.

good to know. We only have a few dialects here.

Lots of local slang, however

[chini]

Some sympathetic and great practical advice here already! Here's my 2 pence worth!… This is a lengthy post but I hope it helps you!...

I just turned 50 and have been a pro singer-songwriter/studio engineer/owner pretty much since my late teens. I am first and foremost a singer-songwriter playing keyboards and alto sax and through my own music as well as recording others over the years have owned and worked with pretty much all genres of synths and like yourself am very familiar with other forms of kit including ProTools/Logic/Cubase/Mac/PC/Atari 1040ST(!!!) and all manor of studio outboard gear. In my own studio I have had to learn not only how to operate my Otari Concept Elite mixing console but also understand it literally inside out including all it's electronic maintenance from recapping its modules to testing/maintaining its different voltage power rails to all its wiring structures to audio calibration! I mention all this to perhaps make you feel a little less guilty when you find the K too daunting to work with for I too, even with all my prior experience with gear was a little overwhelmed to start with! However I was not daunted or ever discouraged by the Kronos' initial appearance because I knew immediately that this wonderful instrument with a calm consistent approach was (and still is) going to open huge doors for both my songwriting creativity and master keyboard options live on stage.

Admittedly it took me a good few days of dedicated study to become familiar with the K's basic architecture from programming to saving my own presets in Program/Combi/Song and Setlist modes but I actually found that it was the Combi mode that was the key starter to get me on the right track with this beast! Also, as I have always tended to do with new gear, I only ever discover their more intricate functions out of necessity as and when I need those certain functions to be accomplished within my own projects. Hence I actually disagree with reading the manual from cover to cover! That's like asking me to read a Jane Austin novel from cover to cover in a week! What a bore that would be! (sorry any Jane Austin fans out there!) No! a manual should only ever be a "reference" manual and all the K's manuals should only ever be referred to - not read like a novel! Way too much info to digest!

As already mentioned by others in this thread: focus on accomplishing one task after another! This is key to understanding anything in life and ultimately you will be rewarded 10 fold for your patience and dedication!

Hence when I first started programming mine I found the best place to get to know the Kronos well was to concentrate on working on a combi. After all Combis can be projected into songs eventually and, since OS 3 was introduced, one can even edit Programs while staying in Combi mode! and poignantly combi patches are the most powerful means of building up sonic pallets in the Kronos. All I am about to explain you could actually cypher from the manual but it's much easier to hear it from a real user!…So here is an introductory exercise you may like to try to hopefully re-kindle your enthusiasm and courage to make the Kronos work for you….

1. Hit the Combi button to the right of the screen and load up a blank "Init combi" from one of the user banks. Once loaded you will see all 16 timbres are switched on (green light) and each one assigned to patch 000 Kronos German Piano. However only timbre channel 1 will play because it is assigned to midi channel 1 which, if you have not changed it, is the global midi channel that any timbre set to midi channel 1 will respond to (within its designated key zone playing area! (we'll get to "key zoning" as well as discovering where to change this channels reception later! remember! one task at a time!) For now switch out timbres 2-16 by touching each ones green button turning it to yellow. However this action actually merely mutes the timbres audio. To stop the timbre from receiving any data at all you must change the status of the timbre from INT to OFF. This is very important to remember because it saves vital polyphony and cpu power for other tasks!

2. When OS 3 was released it brought with it the ability to edit a timbres program from within the combie window. Let's do this now!… touch onto timbre 1 again so that it is highlighted either on the program number select box or the INT box, then go up to the top right hand pull down menu and select "edit program". This will then open up Program mode displaying that 1st timbres program where you can edit it, save it in a Program user bank of your choice. While you are viewing the Program for this timbre you will notice that the combie panel button to the right of the screen is flashing to tell you that you are still accessing program mode via Combie mode and that once you are finished editing and saving your program you can hit the combie button and you will find the Kronos has automatically re-written your edited sound complete with its program location number into timbre 1's slot!

3.OK! simple stuff so far! Yes?!...So… let's say you would like to add some customised strings to the piano but you only want them to be triggered by your right hand. Touch on timbre 2's OFF button and change it to INT(goes from yellow to green). If you wish you can solo Timbre 2's channel for the moment. To select sounds for timbre slots you can either touch on the program number box above INT or you can touch on the program type description box at the top of the timbre column. Touch this box and you are then presented with a Program selection screen where on the left hand side you can choose the type of sound you are looking for, in our case strings, or, if you are running OS3 you can click the magnifying glass in the bottom right hand corner which brings up another smaller window where you can actually type in the first few letters "string" and ask the Kronos to "Find" all sounds that contain the word "string". Locate a string patch that appeals and then hit "OK". Select: I-C036 "Analog Strings" which you should scroll to either by hitting "previous" or "next". I've chosen "Analog Strings" as it uses the HD-1 synth engine to generate its sonic power! This is a conventional subtractive synthesis type engine with 2 filters + amp per oscillator and plenty of AMS possibilities (envelope/LFO/cc modulation routings). Having hit OK the finder window disappears to reveal the front general programming page of "Analog Strings". If you touch on the synth layout picture you will be then taken directly to the filter/enevelope page where you can tweak the sounds res/cut off etc. If you look at the bottom of the p[age you will see all the other aspects of subtractive synthesis you will be familiar with. Tweal away! if you ever want to listen back to the original just hit the compare button on the main pannel with which you can toggle between your edited version and the original. by the way! underneath the compare button is the 'help" button from where you can pretty much gain any info you like about the Kronos. This is a vastly overlooked, extremely practical thing on the Kronos which is extremely intuitive as it opens up the page according to which window you are actually working in on the Kronos! In fact I hardly ever refer to the physical manual as most of it can be found with this help button! Fantastic!

4.OK! Once you have edited your strings to your liking you then need to save that program somewhere. To do this go up to the top right hand pull down menu and click "save". A window will appear where you can rename the program and choose which bank you wish to store it in. IWhen I first started programming the K I began with User Bank G and as a general practice I have always tried to save an adapted sound to the same number slot if within the User G bank. Thast way I have a kind of reference to that edited sounds preset origin should I wish to use the same original preset as a basis for conjuring a similar sound later on. So! rename the program and save it in the location of your choice! Once you hit OK you will automatically be brought back to the Combie window where you newly edited program will have been automatically set in place in timbre slot 2. You can then save the combo itself by following the same procedure you saved the Program only this time of course your will automatically be saving the combi in the combi user G bank. Combi banks are totally separate from Program banks (as are Song/sequence banks).

5.Now you have your new string sound in order to have it triggered by your right hand you need to set its key zone. To do this touch the tab: "midi filter/zones" at the bottom of the screen. You will then be presented with the 1st midi filter page for all 16 timbres. Have a look at the tabs: midi filter pages while we are here to familiarise yourself with all the functions you can filter individually for each timbre and you can begin to see why the Kronos makes such a versatile master keyboard in a large rig like I have on stage! Hit: "Keyboard zones": now you have arrived at the page where you can set th keyboard area you are going to choose where the strings will be triggered. Simply highlight the "top key" box then holding down the "enter" button on the main panel tap on the keyboard where you wish the highest note the strings will respond too, then do the same for the "bottom key" box.
The corresponding zone is displayed in the window above. While we are in this window hit the "velocity zones" tab: this is where, if you wish, you can choose at what velocity you strike the keyboard the strings will respond to.

6.Back on the main combo page tap on the "timbre" tab at the bottom of the screen. Thos is where you choose which midi channel each of the internal timbres will respond to. I say"respond to" because in order to respond to different midi channels simultaneously this is where each of the 4 KARMA engines can be used to trigger 4 respective midi channels. I won't get into KARMA here! but of more immediate interest on this page concerning the timbres midi channels maybe when you wish to use the Kronos as a sound module from your external sequencer (LOgic/Cubase etc). On this page youu set the receiving channels for all 16 timbres. On this page also is duplicated the same INT/EXT/EXT2 timbre status switch that can be found on the main combo page. EXT/EXT2 are of course what you use to send note/cc data to external synths - something I do all the time! Another example of how the Kronos is a fantastic master keyboard!

7. Once you have the hang of the above you can continue assigning more timbres as you like, setting what areas of the keyboard are going to trigger them and if you are feeling adventurous you might like to choose, as your needs demand, which of those timbres you would like to respond to controller info like sustain pedal, aftertouch, bender lever etc in the midi filter windows. One worthy thing to note is that the "other enable other control messages" option on "midi filter page 3" is the one to hit if you want a timbre to respond to midi volume messages. I have always wished Korg had added a dedicated box option for cc7 but alas as yet it has never been implemented! (one of my few minor niggles!)

8. With your new combi complete one really useful function is that you can import it into the sequencer (Song). To do this you simply hold down the main panel "enter" button and hit the "re/write" button and follow the prompts. The first time I did this it got me exploring Song mode and I soon discovered that in Song mode one can assign a timbre channel to an internal sound and external sound simultaneously which even further expanded the possibilities of organising my live stage rig! For live playing I tend to use a sequence of combis I switch through during a performance (Setlist) or I sometimes use a Kronos song if I need to use drum patterns longer than 99 bars.

I hope my explanation entices you to explore perhaps from a more practical angle. It sounds to me that so far you have been trying to "tackle" the Kronos rather than using it as suits your needs as you move along your musical path. As I have said I think it's more prudent with any complex piece of equipment to only ever delve into its depths when necessary. Rather than attempt to make it do everything you want it to do all at once try addressing each aspect of your desires separately one after the other.

If you get stuck use that help button! it really is one of the unsung great features of the Kronos because it is such an immediate way of understanding something wherever you happen to be on the screen. I was fortunate enough to latch onto this feature early on and in combination to working mainly in combi mode (no punn intended!) I soon began to find my way around the instrument and what seemed initially a little confusing soon developed into a real pleasure of discovery and more importantly resolution of important performance issues I needed to address in my stage rig.

It is true: the Kronos is a most complex electronic musical instrument but it should not be approached as one! Instead if you ask questions of it only when you need to it will reveal solutions to aid your workflow and furthermore if you follow things through diligently, rather like exploring a new city, it will reveal a wealth of wonderfully inspiring secrets that no other workstation/synth can!