Hotrodding a Kronos

[Julius D Majestic Studios]

On 11/5/2022 at 9:21 AM, Stokely said:

I missed out on a great deal on a used Kronos 2 with a case yesterday...it was on the guitar center site for less than a day, had it in my cart but then had a work zoom meeting and it was gone afterward.  Argh!  Congrats if one of you nabbed it.      I'm trying to decide between a used Kronos 2 and a used Fantom, 61 key...pros and cons for each for my uses.

I'm a bit leery of the original Kronos simply because they might be as much as 15 years old at this point, otherwise I'd go for one of the ones they have on there.  Plus I admit I like the wood sides on the 2, and the price for the one I missed was only a bit more than the originals.   There's still some nice deals for the Kronos 2 88 on there but I'm not sure I'm manly enough to deal with tendonitis loading that thing.  If I can play piano on my Modx7 I'll have no issues playing on the Fantom or Kronos 61 

I got a UPS with "voltage regulation" (not sure if a 60 dollar UPS really has this, but hey!) after some dodgy power at one gig caused some really weird behavior from my keyboards.  I don't always take it out but sounds like I'd need to if I got the Kronos.

How much would the Kronos have been?

[Julius D Majestic Studios]

On 11/6/2022 at 1:35 PM, RABid said:

Boot time is my second biggest gripe with the Kronos. My biggest gripe? ...

 

At one time I owned 3 Kronos. (Kroni? Kronoses? Kronoon?) Kronos 2 61, Kronos 2 76, and Kronos 1 61. Was going to sell the Kronos 1 after buying a pair of 2's but the going rate was so low at the time I just kept it as backup. Started selecting sound libraries that I wanted to install. Contacted Korg about the ability to install sample packages on the three machines and was told that a sample pack can only be installed on one machine. They are locked by machine id, not customer id. I really wanted flexibility on which sounds were coming from each keyboard but according to Korg I would have had to buy sample sets for each one. I sold the 76 and the Kronos 1. Will sale the Kronos 2 61 as soon as I save up for a Fantom 7. I hate Korg's method of sample management. Don't have that issue with Akai.

Well it's completely understandable why they would lock the samples to a single machine.  But I used to hate that as well. 

 

With that said, it's no longer an issue.  You can now license the samples on multiple machines.  I think up to 3.  But may say 2 to be safe.  (It's more than one though.😁)

[Stokely]

9 hours ago, Aynsley Green said:

With the competition the Kronos has these days, why would you bother? 

One can get a MODX or a Fantom-06 that does much the same thing but cheaper, faster, lighter, easier to use, and arguably sounding better. If you need fancy sequencing, backing tracks, or huge sample libraries, use the money left over to buy a laptop and a copy of Logic.

Keys and build quality.  After gigging my Modx a ton, I have found that I still desire the type of quality I had with my Pc361...yes it's more weight, and in the case of the Modx, the same exact sounds.  And cheaper!   And I have no evidence that longevity would be greater with the metal, heavier boards.  But I just like them!

That said, I wouldn't mind "exchanging" the Modx for a used white montage, that is a looker.   And "easier to use", very subjective.  For instance, I suck at Kurzweil programming but take right to the Modx, and I know people that are 100% the other way! 

I have to also say that after listening to some of the Narfsounds Modx patches, I'm doing a reevaluation of what the thing can do.  If he's using the stock samples/waveforms, and isn't somehow doing something "in post", the synth sounds he's getting stomp all over what I've been able to do (and stomp all over the stock patches).   If it's just a skill thing keeping me from appreciating the synth capabilities, challenge accepted!  I may get one of his packs just to reverse engineer.

---

re: that used kronos 2, it was 1999 with a case of some kind.  It was gone rather quickly.

[drawback]

8 hours ago, Julius D Majestic Studios said:

Well it's completely understandable why they would lock the samples to a single machine.  But I used to hate that as well. 

 

With that said, it's no longer an issue.  You can now license the samples on multiple machines.  I think up to 3.  But may say 2 to be safe.  (It's more than one though.😁)

I had a few libraries on my Kronos 61 that I’m wanting to install on my Kronos 2 73, but not enough room. I’ll need a second SSD. Anyway, I checked and it’s three installs. 

[Theo Verelst]

The memory access method might be an efficiency matter ( bank wise access, no missing page real time response spoilers).