Korg Kronos Review
Korg invented the workstation keyboard over 20 years ago – but it hasn’t been resting since. Hollin Jones road-tests the Kronos.
Price: £3,838.00
Manufacturer: Korg
Website: http://www.korg.co.uk
With so much focus on computers nowadays, it’s easy to forget that a lot of people still use keyboard workstations to make music, as they usually offer the dual benefits of a performance instrument and a studio-in-a-box for recording. In fact, modern workstations are almost as much computer as they are keyboard. Korg, of course, debuted the phenomenally successful M1 in 1988 – the first modern workstation keyboard – and has stayed at the cutting edge of what it’s possible to do with these instruments. Its latest innovation is Kronos, a professional workstation aimed at serious players and producers. With a staggering number of features, Korg believes it represents the pinnacle of workstation technology. Naturally, we were eager to put it to the test…
Function feast
Kronos comes in three versions, functionally identical but with different-size keyboards. The 61-key version has semi-weighted keys; the 71- and 88-key models have fully weighted hammer-action keys. Before we get to the internals, a word about connectivity, which addresses the many functions of the instrument. Around the back you will find six line outputs, two balanced inputs with mic/line switches and level controls, MIDI in/out/thru, S/PDIF I/O and a number of pedal inputs. There are two USB ports for connecting Flash-based storage and one for connecting to your Mac or PC, after which Kronos is able to stream audio and MIDI straight to the computer, as well as act as a two-channel audio input device. This is also the method by which you use the downloadable sound editor/librarian software and the plug-in, which allows you to stream signals from the instrument directly into a DAW project. This is a feature found in some higher-end workstations and really helps with integration in your studio.
The front panel consists of a number of buttons and dials centred around a large colour touchscreen via which you perform a lot of interaction with the keyboard. There’s a ribbon controller, an X/Y joystick and a second X/Y controller for sound manipulation, plus a bank of eight faders, buttons and dials whose functions alter depending on the mode you are in.
Firing up Kronos takes a moment as it boots from its internal 30GB SSD hard drive and you are placed straight into Set List mode, which provides instant access to your favourite patches, sounds and other settings from a single screen. There’s something called Smooth Sound Transition, a technology that allows held or sustained notes to continue sounding even after you switch to a new patch or mode. For performers this is excellent news, dealing nicely with the problem of notes cutting off abruptly as you flip between patches. The technology behind it is doubtless pretty complex, but it just works without you really noticing it.
Record and mix
Some of the concepts on show will be quite familiar to workstation users, so you have several modes including Program, which plays individual sounds, Combi, which uses multiple layers and splits, and a Sampling mode, accessible from any other section with a couple of clicks. There’s also an onboard sequencer with 16 audio and 16 MIDI tracks capable of recording up to 24-bit, 48kHz sound. As ever, the paradigm is a little different from computer-based DAWs given the smaller screen, but nonetheless it works well.
The touchscreen interface on the whole is very good, providing better interaction than you might expect and pairing with the real-time controls to make everything suitably hands-on. There are a ton of effects available of course, and you can use up to 16 simultaneously in various combinations for performance, recording and mixing. Once a track has been finished it can be fired over to your Mac or PC for mixing or mixed in-the-box and exported as a single file.
Kronos has nine different sound engines, all able to function together thanks to a system called Dynamic Voice Allocation. These include a piano engine, electric piano, tonewheel organ, PCM, sampling/wave sequencing and more. It uses something called VMT (Virtual Memory Technology) to enable high polyphony and the use of long, unlooped samples, something which Korg says is used extensively in its grand piano sounds. These are very good and though they didn’t quite live up to the billing, it could have been because our review model was the 61-key, semi-weighted version. Grand pianos sound best and most expressive when played with the weighted keys (as found in the other two models).
Elsewhere, though, the sounds are immense. Kronos has more than 1,500 sounds plus more drum kits and space for many more presets, split across a number of banks. These range from gritty tape strings and brass through funky double basses to fearsome buzzing synths and soundscapes. The single patches are great, but really come alive when you use Combis and KARMA. The former involves layering and splitting sounds across a keyboard, creating powerful multi-instruments. KARMA is Korg’s innovative technology that acts as a sort of space-age ‘auto accompaniment’ based on what you play. But abandon any thoughts of the naff accompaniments of old – this is amazing. Harmonies, variations and rhythms are added dynamically as you play the keys, and you can control how they behave using the real-time controls on the front panel.
It’s a highly intelligent system that more often than not sounds fantastic, bringing new and unexpected elements to even the simplest of playing and providing inspiration to boot. In fact, performance is at this keyboard’s heart, and many of the sounds are gorgeous, from a jazz trio spread across the keys to full-on thumping house tracks and movie soundscapes. The sounds are powerful, lush and immediate thanks to the judicious use of onboard effects, and instantly usable in any number of musical contexts.
Heavy hitter
If there is a catch it’s perhaps that you will get the most out of Kronos if you invest a little time delving beneath the surface. It’s a blisteringly powerful synth that sounds incredible, but as with anything this powerful there is a learning curve. Of course, you could just play the presets and that will sound great, but you’d be missing out on a lot of the other things it can do. Sequencing, audio recording, sampling, mixing and patch-creation are all here if you’re willing to get involved with them. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but Kronos packs quite a punch. MTM
VERDICT
WHY BUY
Solid build
Incredible sounds
Full audio input and recording
Audio and MIDI sequencing
Full sampler
Great computer integration
Extremely powerful
WALK ON BY
Learning curve for programming
Grand piano perhaps not quite as stellar as suggested
A powerhouse of a workstation with something for everyone. Cutting-edge technology and a ton of features coupled with slick, gorgeous sounds.
★★★★★★★★★
Score: 9
This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 102
Filed under
Hardware,
Hardware Instruments,
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