Kronos - new sound libraries announced by Korg

[EXer]

Most Kronos sounds are already excellent, plus they can easily be edited to your liking.

To get welcome additional options can't and should not reverse this logic.

There are territories where the Kronos sounds are weaker, that is the orchestral strings.
Imo, EXs 11 Legendary Strings should be not a be a chargeable option.

[burningbusch]

I agree that this is a very good idea in general. But I also agree the price for the sampleset seems a bit high right now. For 250 you could get many competitive software packages or samplesets. The previous Roland, Korg and Yamaha expansion boards were similarly priced, but there you actually got some hardware.

It's too bad you had to pay for that hardware but you did. As I recall, Roland had some of the biggest at 64MB (that was the "uncompressed" size) so it was actually less on the hardware. The Ricky Lawson kit is 640MB. The new piano is likely 4+GB. Once you authorize the library on your Kronos, it's a part of your keyboard. To my way of thinking, the value of your Kronos increases because this.

To get a feel for what's involved in making these large libraries, here's what John Lehmkuhl wrote about the two new ambient drum kits that are in the Kronos:

"The Fusion kit was recorded in Los Angeles (Dan Philips was there, too) and the rock kit I recorded here in Portland Oregon at a studio that has a massive wooden ballroom upstairs that is wired into the studio downstairs (Secret Society). These 2 kits represent hundreds of hours of painful work to get 8-velocity drums that have phase locked matching not one, but THREE different ambiances that you can control the balance between. I won't even tell you how many months it took to make each kit, but I hope you hear the end result even in this short demo....

There are actually 8 different variations to the Rock Drum kit - 4 variations with Snare ON (Dry, Ambi1, Ambi2 and Ambi 3) and 4 variations with Snare OFF (Dry, Ambi1, Ambi2 and Ambi 3) . I FREAKING LOVED the drum kit with the snares off. It's such a beautiful sounding kit - you can hear it at the 15:00 part of the demo."

Busch.

[arne v]

oh no..i dont think my brain could handle more sounds
I have enough trying to keep up learning the Kronos

But, i usually start modifying when i find a sound that i like. I edited the German Grand to be more spicy. Since im a chick corea fan i like those "tight" and sharp pianos like "a real" Steinway.
I have not found a electric piano that has the same "snap" to it like Chick Corea uses, but im getting there programwise (ok, i know i uses yamaha, but i dont )

back to topic:
I hope they release some sort of sound demo
regards

[sani]

There are territories where the Kronos sounds are weaker, that is the orchestral strings.
Imo, EXs 11 Legendary Strings should be not a be a chargeable option.

Ask ten different persons about weak sounds in one keyboard, and you'll get ten different answers. From that perspective, everything Korg is going to release would have to be free.

[SanderXpander]

Also, compared to its own soundset, one of the categories will necessarily be "weakest" - so by that logic, all updates following that rule should be free. The Kronos comes with lots of high quality sounds. If you feel competitors do a better job, buy their boards. If you feel the expansions are too expensive, don't buy them. If you can afford everything and need all the extras, go that route.

[Bruce Lychee]

If they can work keyswitch articulations into their acoustic sounds I will be thrilled. Outside of that I can do without more static acoustic sounds, but would love some professionally developed synth sounds. Anyone with Korg history know who much these type of sound expansion packs typically cost?

[GregC]

Most Kronos sounds are already excellent, plus they can easily be edited to your liking.

To get welcome additional options can't and should not reverse this logic.

There are territories where the Kronos sounds are weaker, that is the orchestral strings.
Imo, EXs 11 Legendary Strings should be not a be a chargeable option.

this has been discussed before. Orchestra instruments are extremely difficult to represent due to a great variety of articulation.

And a lot of keyboardists simply are not versed in playing trumpet or cello, for example. You can't expect a workstation to program all the nuance for you. IMO, when folks say " Kronos is weak in Orchestra", they need to qualify their " opinion ". In many cases, they have no or little experience in playing these acoustic instruments, thus, they would not be skilled in using
articulated instruments on a Kronos.

Software libraries for Orchestra have been the solution and are the solution for the demanding and skilled player. It takes considerable expertise to reach the very top level of instrument articulation.

I find it perfectly reasonable to buy Orchestra libraries for my Kronos as I appreciate the complexity involved.

[Bruce Lychee]

GregC,

Playing with the various software programs I have and the Jupiter, I really don't think articulations are that hard to use or understand. It takes time, but they add so much to the performance, I think including them in the Kronos would address it's one area of weakness. Even in areas like electric bass they can be used effectively in real time to create much more dynamic phrasing. Plus articulations don't have to be used if the player isn't comfortable using them.

[GregC]

GregC,

Playing with the various software programs I have and the Jupiter, I really don't think articulations are that hard to use or understand. It takes time, but they add so much to the performance, I think including them in the Kronos would address it's one area of weakness. Even in areas like electric bass they can be used effectively in real time to create much more dynamic phrasing.

how many acoustic instruments are there ?

[DavyP]

Good news for Kronos owners. Especially the OS update and editor software.

I hope the sound libraries will not be too expensive as I think its a bit harsh to release these sounds and charge a high price just after owners have selled out £2600GBP - £3200GBP for the keyboard itself.

Surely it would be a better marketing strategy to release FREE sound sets and samples like they did with the M3???

Maybe the Kronos is selling too well?? Unlike the M3??

Its also disappointing that this will come before many potential users have even been able to purchase and receive a Kronos!

[GregC]

Good news for Kronos owners. Especially the OS update and editor software.

I hope the sound libraries will not be too expensive as I think its a bit harsh to release these sounds and charge a high price just after owners have selled out £2600GBP - £3200GBP for the keyboard itself.

Surely it would be a better marketing strategy to release FREE sound sets and samples like they did with the M3???

Maybe the Kronos is selling too well?? Unlike the M3??

Its also disappointing that this will come before many potential users have even been able to purchase and receive a Kronos!

this has been posted before. Consider all the work and effort involved in producing custom libraries/sounds.

Who pays the folks for all that custom work ? The easy answer is ' Korg should ". But in many cases, I don't find that realistic.

I think its smart business the allow the market to decide if the custom work is worth the extra expense.

I understand that many subscribe to instant gratification and that it must be free. I don't have that expectation.

[Bruce Lychee]

GregC,

Playing with the various software programs I have and the Jupiter, I really don't think articulations are that hard to use or understand. It takes time, but they add so much to the performance, I think including them in the Kronos would address it's one area of weakness. Even in areas like electric bass they can be used effectively in real time to create much more dynamic phrasing.

how many acoustic instruments are there ?

Quite alot, but articulations also can be used for electric instruments like bass and guitar. I think live musicians might not care so much, but you can imagine that it is quite useful in the studio. If it is done via keyswtich, which is how I imagine Kronos articulations would have to work, the player can always choose not to use them.

[GregC]

GregC,

Playing with the various software programs I have and the Jupiter, I really don't think articulations are that hard to use or understand. It takes time, but they add so much to the performance, I think including them in the Kronos would address it's one area of weakness. Even in areas like electric bass they can be used effectively in real time to create much more dynamic phrasing.

how many acoustic instruments are there ?

Quite alot, but articulations also can be used for electric instruments like bass and guitar. I think live musicians might not care so much, but you can imagine that it is quite useful in the studio. If it is done via keyswtich, which is how I imagine Kronos articulations would have to work, the player can always choose not to use them.

exactly, there are 100's of acoustic instruments to emulate/produce. I know you appreciate this, Articulation adds character to the instrument.

I will always say , you can't expect Kronos ( or any workstation) to be all things to all people . Thats just not possible.

Speaking of bass, I think Kronos uses SW1 for additional articulation. For that matter, there are 100's of bass guitars to choose from plus all the FX.

Lets always circle back to the JP 80
Does the JP80 have bass harmonics(2 high notes) in their articulation ? That would impress me.

[DavyP]

Its gonna cost well over $1000 to buy each of the additional EXs banks ($249 each) and the KRS sound sets ($59 each)!!

Thats a lot on top of $3000 for the keyboard. Should Korg not price these more realistically!

They did not charge for the additional M3 expansion samples/libraries??

Maybe they see the Kronos as a long term money spinning, ''Cash Cow''??

After all its only taken a few months for these additional ''money spinners'' to appear before they have even distributed sufficient supplies of the original keyboards within europe??

[sani]

If it is done via keyswtich, which is how I imagine Kronos articulations would have to work, the player can always choose not to use them.

If you mean velocity control by saying keyswitch, I don't think that this is the only way. The joystick, the SW buttons, in fact any other controller could be used as well. A lot of articulations on the JP80 work in the same way.