Korg Kronos

[kpr]

Some of you might already saw the new Korg Kronos Music Workstation here and there on the web. It is a quite interesting keyboard with a couple of very cool features, for instance a direct-from-harddisk sampleplayer and the smooth sound transition.

I had the chance for a first close look: Korg invited me to a VIP event in Scheveningen (Netherlands) and I wrote a report about this event too.



You can find the article here: www.amazona.de/index.php?page=26&file=2&article_id=3295

It's written in german language, but you can try the Google translator. Be aware that the translator is doing weird sometimes ;-)

A huge review will follow soon. According to the official Korg announcement the Kronos is a game changer. And it might be true, there are really some very cool sounds, features, specifications.

I will tell you more as soon as I have the review unit.

To get a brief insight you can watch this 54 minutes NAMM show clip and not only the Kronos is interesting but also the sound demonstrations of Jack Hotop, a sounddesigner fellow, as well as especially the last tune composed and performed by Jordan Rudess, a keyboardplayer fellow ;-)

Here we are:



Some more pics from the event. Here we have the Kronos far right side close up:



And this is the Korg vize president John McCubbery together with the german product manager Michael Geisel and the senior product manager Simon Steinhoff.



Afterwards they got us into a terrific live music location, the Crazy Pianos! There are playing skilled pianoplayers and singers plus live drums and everything goes on for hours. This is their website: scheveningen.crazypianos.com/

If you ever have the chance for a Scheveningen visit you should not miss the Crazy Pianos, it is totally hot!!

[jpvideo]

Some nice quality samples although not a breakthrough instrument. It seems that the engineers at KORG really sat down and broke down and analyzed SPECTRASONICS OMNISPHERE's STEAM ENGINE and consolidated it all into a hardware instrument. I knew this was coming.

Good performance instrument less the powerful arpeggiator and control matrix of OMNISPHERE.

Good effort by KORG but not the next big thing. Only a refinement of OASIS.

And of course they drag out Jordan Rudess to pitch it's virtues as he does more demos these days than performing and writing his own music. $$$.

[psionic11]

Klaus, how were the acoustic pianos on the Kronos? Can they satisfy a classical pianist? If so, then I imagine the streaming disk technology opens a whole new world only previously imagineable in software.

Were the plucked string instruments realistic from a player's point of view? The ergonomics of the whole thing? I have high hopes for this machine, especially if it is so musical and so easy to compose on.

After all, the Fusion was just a poor-man's Oasys, and if the Kronos can do better and cheaper than the Oasys, a Fusion user should at the very least pay special attention to this multi-engine workstation...

[kpr]

Feb 25, 2011 6:55:35 GMT psionic11 said:

Klaus, how were the acoustic pianos on the Kronos? Can they satisfy a classical pianist? If so, then I imagine the streaming disk technology opens a whole new world only previously imagineable in software.

Were the plucked string instruments realistic from a player's point of view? The ergonomics of the whole thing? I have high hopes for this machine, especially if it is so musical and so easy to compose on.

After all, the Fusion was just a poor-man's Oasys, and if the Kronos can do better and cheaper than the Oasys, a Fusion user should at the very least pay special attention to this multi-engine workstation...

The both internal each 4.5 GB Grands sound good. They have 8 V-Switches and unlooped full decay release time. Ergonomic seems cool, but I can say more later after the huge test, which will follow. Surely Kronos is doing a lot of things better than the Fusion, but it is a different instrument with a different sound character. Actually the Fusion never was in a competition with the Oasys and won't with the Kronos, a 3-4 k Euro instrument.

[kpr]

"KRONOS | SYNTHESIZER

Symbiose. Fusion. Fortschritt.

Eine Gemeinschaft verschiedener Arten zum gegenseitigen Nutzen wird als Symbiose bezeichnet. Sie lässt Neues entstehen. Sie ermöglicht eine Weiterentwicklung bestehender und bewährter Elemente zu zuvor unbekannten Formen. Dies ist nicht nur in der Natur der Schlüssel für Evolution und Fort- schritt. Auch Technik begeistert dann am meisten, wenn das Zusammenspiel verschiedener Formen mühelos gelingt und dabei ein nächster Schritt in der Entwicklung einer Art gemacht wird. Dies potenziert sich in dem Moment, in dem zusätzlich gänzlich neue Elemente und neue Maßstäbe hinzu kommen. Nur dann kann man von echter Innovation sprechen und dem Beginn einer neuer Ära, die begeistert. So wie beim KORG KRONOS. (...)"

www.korg.de/produkte/synthesizer/kronos-produktinfo/kronos-produktinfo-1.html

;-)

[kpr]

photo taken a couple of minutes ago while doing something funny ;-)

[kpr]

My Korg Kronos review now published here:

www.amazona.de/index.php?page=26&file=2&article_id=3450

It's part 1, the part 2 will follow on June 15.



Can't keep my fingers off that Kronos ;-)

[Jesse]

Jun 11, 2011 14:40:12 GMT kpr said:

My Korg Kronos review now published here:

www.amazona.de/index.php?page=26&file=2&article_id=3450

It's part 1, the part 2 will follow on June 15.



Can't keep my fingers off that Kronos ;-)

I can tell by that shit eating grin on your face!

If I had the money I would by a Korg Kronos and a Roland RD-700NX, but I will never get rid of my Fusion 8HD!

[kpr]

;D

[mercury]

I just ordered an 88 key version of Kronos. Sadly I will have to wait a couple of months for it. I Will propably get rid of all my other keyboards exept the Fusion, (and Akai Synthstation 25:-) )

[kpr]

As I have the Kronos since a good while I thought I could post a little clip I played on it. Here we are with the November EP:



BTW you can see a Nord Stage 2 below the Kronos and a Andromeda A6 on the rear. Nice ones too

[80ins]

The Kronos and Nord Stage 2 have their attraction. But no synth can cover all your demand, even just the sound, regardless all other characteristic. I heard many, many demo of almost synths and I think the Fusion still have some sounds that can't find the competition in other synths. The fact is true for some older synth, for example this is the best E.piano I've heared:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMUvZ5zP-M&feature=player_embedded