Help selecting weighted 88-key for 80's pop/progmetal

[Mighty Motif Max]

I have a Krome which is one level above the Kross and I know that the Kross ironically has many more synth options.

I'm surprised to hear that. What kinds of synth options does the Kross have that the Krome does not? I know of some feature advantages (like the sampling/trigger pads, battery operation, audio inputs/vocoder) but I didn't know about synth options.

 

The Kross 2 has a ton of EDM and modern synth programs. It's a much more synth-preset-heavy keyboard than the Krome, even more than the EX I believe. It's a much more "modern"-synth programmed keyboard than the Krome for whatever reason. Which is sad as it's a pain to create similar programs on the Krome (the Kross 2 has additional waveforms etc). The Kross 2 also has way more electronic drums (again because of the EDM focus).

[counterpoint]

At the lower end of the OP's price range...is a Casio PX560 or S3000 worth considering?

[JediMasterThrash]

Complexity is in layers.

 

I want the simple things to be simple. THe complex things I probably won't tackle (ever).

 

Is the kronos still quick to power on, pick a layered string orchestra, and just start playing a star wars theme? That's probably 80% of what I'll do. And that's where just having a really good key action and really good strings sound matters the most. And I'm sure i'd probably be satisfied with a XE20 or kross strings/synth. It's probably still better sounding than the 15 year old keyboard I'm used to. Though having listened to some of the kronos demos on youtube, those strings and synths sounds are pretty amazing.

 

The next things I think I would play with is just trying to split the keys and doing some arpeggiator rhythm with some synth solos. It seems like there's plenty of the combi presets that are setup to be good enough for my purposes already. So from that point of view, if I can just scroll through to some really useful synth combi/layered presets and they sound pretty good and provide some variety, that's probably the remaining 20%

 

And then for guitar jamming, if I can just scroll through some backing drums and maybe trigger a simple arpeggio or rhyhm to go along with the drums while I play, that's probably all I need there.

 

Is it relatively easy to do some dynamics on the fly, adjusting effects and modulation using the joysticks or knobs?

 

I will say the kross 88 videos were pretty impressive. The simple style wheel and preset wheel seemed intuitive, and the two master effects adjust knobs looked looked easy to use. Even that lighted button pad seemed pretty simple to learn. But I haven't really found any good videos showing the kronos in use. The main reason I was moving from kross to kronos was the strings sound quality, multi-samlpes, and the RH3 weighted hammer action.

 

So I'd say if the top 90% of the things I would do are quick/easy/intuitive, and the other 10% I may never do are deep menu editing with a steep learning curve, that's OK with me.

 

But I am still open to a more intuitive/simpler to use keyboard. But having heard what I've heard of the good key action and great synth/strings sounds on the kronos, and the create combinations and presets. I wouldn't want to sacrifice too much of that at the same time.

 

But I am envisioning that in the future, I or my kids might start using more advanced features. I still don't think I'd ever really edit presets much, but making more use of sequencing or backing tracks or layers, I might get into that.

 

I'm primarily a guitarist, and I literally spend years tweaking every knob on dozens of pieces of equipment and swapping pickups and creating and recreating all my guitar presets tweaking every parameter. So I really, really just want a keyboard with great presets. I don't want to do the endless preset tweaking on keyboard that I do on guitar.

[RandyFF]

A lot of {Kross'} mojo is being able to record something and then play along with it and record on top of it.

I wonder if it's easier to do something like that on the Kross than it is on the Kronos...?

They're different kinds of boards. The Kronos is a workstation that can do it all, whereas the Kross is a board designed to make it easy and fast to do a relatively small subset of what the Kronos can do. It was years ago when I tried a Kross, and I was kind of blown away with how fun and straightforward it was to record and overdub, it was a real blast to play and the learning curve was almost non-existent.

 

At that time I was helping a friend buy his first keyboard and was surprised at how much I had to explain, things that seem really basic to me. Perhaps as a guitarists that has deep dived with his pedals, he won't have as much to learn, but still, it's easy to take for granted how much we know. The Kronos is an amazing board, but after the Korg M3, a predecessor to the Kronos, after owning that for several years I was greatly relieved when I got a Stage piano and could stop spending so much time auditioning thousands of sound and endlessly learning the OS. A board that is focused can be a good thing if it has the functions you need. Better that than endless options to cycle thru.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Complexity is in layers.

 

I want the simple things to be simple. THe complex things I probably won't tackle (ever).

 

Is the kronos still quick to power on, pick a layered string orchestra, and just start playing a star wars theme? That's probably 80% of what I'll do. And that's where just having a really good key action and really good strings sound matters the most.

 

That goes to Kurzweil hands down. They have the absolute best orchestral sounds of any keyboard (unless you go to third-party libraries). They were and are super popular in Broadway productions for that reason.

 

The next things I think I would play with is just trying to split the keys and doing some arpeggiator rhythm with some synth solos. It seems like there's plenty of the combi presets that are setup to be good enough for my purposes already. So from that point of view, if I can just scroll through to some really useful synth combi/layered presets and they sound pretty good and provide some variety, that's probably the remaining 20%

 

And then for guitar jamming, if I can just scroll through some backing drums and maybe trigger a simple arpeggio or rhyhm to go along with the drums while I play, that's probably all I need there.

 

Is it relatively easy to do some dynamics on the fly, adjusting effects and modulation using the joysticks or knobs?

 

Korg will win for preset combis unless things have majorly changed with Kurzweil from the PC3 to the PC4. It also wins for simplicity of adding drum tracks by far. I own a Krome, midway between the Kross 2 and Kronos.

 

 

But I am envisioning that in the future, I or my kids might start using more advanced features. I still don't think I'd ever really edit presets much, but making more use of sequencing or backing tracks or layers, I might get into that.

 

I'm primarily a guitarist, and I literally spend years tweaking every knob on dozens of pieces of equipment and swapping pickups and creating and recreating all my guitar presets tweaking every parameter. So I really, really just want a keyboard with great presets. I don't want to do the endless preset tweaking on keyboard that I do on guitar.

 

Either a Kurzweil PC4 or a Kronos 2 will do all of those - there are tons of presets so you might go a long time before needing to tweak anything. Likewise both will work well for sequencing, backing tracks, and layering. Since you're going to be using mostly presets, listen to a lot of recordings of both keyboards' presets, and go with your favorite. Both are excellent instruments.

[AnotherScott]

Is the kronos still quick to power on, pick a layered string orchestra, and just start playing a star wars theme?

One of the knocks on Kronos is that it has probably the longest boot time of any keyboards, topping 2 minutes.

 

Sound selection is good, though. You may need to go through a bunch of sounds initially to find what you want, but once you do, you can put a touchscreen button for it on the first screen, so from then on, once it finally boots, at least all you have to do is tap the screen to get to your favorite sound! You can put 16 favorite sound combinations on that first screen, and easily navigate to more screens of favorites if need be.

[JediMasterThrash]

I've listened to a bunch of comparison sound vids on youtube (for whatever that's worth, but I can't find any of these things local). Focusing on strings and some synth-pad. To me the roland and korg sound is different from the yamaha and kurzweil sound. The yamaha montage and kurzweil pc4 sound more like a keyboard/synth doing the strings/brass/orchestra. The kronos to me sounded like the real thing. The kurzweil in particular sounded like it nailed video game rpg and some movie strings/orchestra sound. Not saying either is bad or good. In fact I could understand some posts saying the korg tone doesn't stand out in a mix as well because it's more of an open sound. Yamaha montage I wasn't as impressed with, but the pc4 was definitely a full lush tone. But I liked the kronos tone more. It just sounded a fraction more alive vs. digital.

 

Between the roland fantom and the kronos, I'd say they're each different, definitely have their own unique sound, and both sound amazing. But the kronos presets seemed to resonate with me a bit more. But I'd be happy with either.

[AnotherScott]

I've listened to a bunch of comparison sound vids on youtube (for whatever that's worth, but I can't find any of these things local). Focusing on strings and some synth-pad. To me the roland and korg sound is different from the yamaha and kurzweil sound. The yamaha montage and kurzweil pc4 sound more like a keyboard/synth doing the strings/brass/orchestra.

You may already know this, but just in case... A lot of whether instrument emulations sould a lot like the real thing vs. a keyboard playing it is in the skill of the player. For example, if you're trying to sound like a string section and you play more different notes at once than a string section would play, or not voiced at appropriate intervals, or use a sustain pedal, it will sound less real and more like a keyboard. So when comparing online demos, it's best to stick with ones from the manufacturers themselves or ones done by the major resellers, because then you can be more confident that you're hearing them played by people who know how to authentically play their instrument emulations.