Best keyboard I have ever owned! Korg reached the pinnacle of workstations with this board! It has a VERY realistic sound! The most realistic I have heard on a keyboard. In my opinion, By far better than anything Yamaha or Roland has made. I have a 1st generation Kronos and a Kronos 2. I like to record my own songs and covers with this board. I upload my songs on RUclips and in many comments, a lot of people in general can’t believe the sound! They think I’m doing playback! 😆 that’s how good this keyboard sounds. It’s unbelievable! Im crossing my fingers Korg releases a Kronos 3 or a successor to this board. In the meantime im good with my Kronos. You don’t need anything else to make amazing music. Just this board!
I feel you..Its gonna be very hard for Korg to top this keyboard..They might be able to in the Spec's category.. But I dont think they will be able to with sound and performance.
I have the Kronos 2,and as it has been stated by others,this board is a BEAST...you can use something else with it, but you don't need anything else. The learning curve is great, however it can be conquered, And really the persistent discipline of exploring this instrument is the productive process of unlimited creativity. I can say for myself,when I play my Kronos,many times I get flooded with ideas. Korg and all the other keyboard manufacturer's have quite the challenge to try and upstage the Kronos 2.
I have a pair of Kronos 2’s (61 and 88)…and will not (and cannot) sell either one of them. They’re magic !! I have owned the Roland Fantom and the Yamaha Montage…both stellar keyboards, to be sure. But the Kronos is always my go-to keyboard. A milestone piece of gear to be sure, worthy to be in the keyboard hall of fame. I can literally do any kind of gig with them confidently.
Love the video. I play in a traveling band. I’ve got two Kronos2’s. Tip: buy a computer UPS because when the power drops as it will sometimes do, it is a life saver. Using set list has helped me tremendously going between songs pretty fast. At rehearsals I can come up with a new sound patch in about 5 minutes. With the Motif I had to drag out the manual everytime. I have a new love and her name is Kronos.
Till this day, no other keyboard even comes close to the Kronos…STILL!!!! I’ll never sell mine!!! I have the Kronos 2, and still am amazed at it. Even the Roland Fantom can’t mess with it! Korg really outdid THEMSELVES!!
In fairness, the Fantom has the potential to surpass the Kronos .... someday. Zen Core has great potential, and the hardware has the capability to emulate or model pretty much anything Roland wants to throw at it. They just need to add capability to the software. The questions I have about that is when, and how they will make it available. By the same token, Korg /could/ theoretically add more capability to the Kronos, though they might start to over-run the processor.
@@GerenM63 …and that’s why I said what I said! I actually love the Fantom, or what I’ve seen of it’s capabilities. Out of the box though, the Kronos is winning! You have to go computer based to even surpass it, and that’s saying something in 2021!! Personally, I’m thinking that other manufacturers may be thinking the keyboard workstation is dead or dying, so they don’t put that much into it. Look at the Montage; it didn’t get a sequencer added until later! It was just an awesome synth…until the complaints started. There are people that still love workstation keyboards, and I believe they’re seeing it now.
@@tuneunleashed If you're talking about replacing a Kronos with a computer and a controller, there's no way on this earth I would do that, especially in a live situation. I /might/ consider using a PC /with/ a Kronos in a studio application. But, doing this for over 40 years has taught me -- the hard way -- that strictly computer-based is not the way to go when stability is a requirement.
SO happy to find this presentation on the Kronos. Having owned a long line of Korg instruments since the mid 70ies, my last stop has been the Kronos! I played in a 9 piece Neil Diamond tribute band for many years. Orchestral mostly, while a second keyboardist played all the piano arrangements. I bought the Kronos X-73 and Kronos 2-73 the same year (2015). One has the optional Leslie Speaker for the CX-3 for the organ. The other has optional strings from the Korg orchestral library, purchased and downloaded from the Korg site. I know I only scratched the surface with these instruments the way I used them on stage, but I need to spend more time now since they are retired to my studio. Thanks again ! PS. don't forget the Kronos 88 key model for synthesizer players (NON weighted keys) in that neat burgundy color (O:
The biggest complaint of the Kronos (that you missed) is that it takes at least 2 minutes to turn on. This is not a problem if you are in your studio producing, but in front of 50K people, waiting 2 minutes for a board is deadly. But it's an amazing keyboard, and the tech has lasted for 10 years at this point, a real testament to the power of Korg (reminds me of when the Triton was the most keyboard in the '90s).
@@docteurgreene Good evening Wembley!!!! Switches on keyboard. How's everyone doing tonight??? Are we all feeling good??? Yeaaaaah! Phoning roadie hire company for new guy while listening to the sound of tumbleweeds blowing in Wembley for 2 minutes. Dude has a point!
I have a first generation 73 key Kronos. Love it! I've written a ton of sounds into it and use it a lot! As far as I'm concerned, nothing sounds better and nobody makes a better keyboard. It does everything and it does it the best! Before I got into recording on a computer, this was my studio. I'm a huge Korg fan. I have 8 Korgs. The only 2 keyboards I have the aren't Korgs are my Hammond M3 which live in my living room and my Moog Grandmother. Because everybody needs a fat sounding organ and a pure analogue synth! Great video by the way!
Which Korg keyboards do you own?)I was also a big Korg fan owning a T3EX, O1WFD, DW8000, Trinity Plus, fully expended Triton Classic with MOSS board, X5D, IX300, PA2X Pro Z1EX, TR Rack, Wavestation AD and Wavestation SR. They were golden times!
@@madness8556 I have several. My first is my Minikorg. It's the one with the single oscillator. Then I have a Polysix but it needs repair. I have a Wavestation EX, a Triton Pro X 88, 2 Monotrons, a KingKorg and my 1st gen Kronos.
Great video as always, one of the negative things is the boot up time. Almost 2 minutes. Other than that. It is a great investment, specially for a gigging musician as you mentioned. Those 16 audio audio tracks come in handy for backing track playback on stage. Multiple outs also good, send a click track to the drummer on one output and a stereo feed to the sound engineer.
I don't know why people complain about the load time. I thought it was petty back in 2011. I always felt it more so it was a deliberate attack as that was the only flaw critics could pick with it. The minute and 20 seconds it takes to load isn't that bad. It's an intense keyboard with a lot of functions. Even Analog keyboards need a minute to "warm up" and those are analogs. If you're playing a guitar that's going to take even longer to set up your pedals, power your amp and play into tune. I just never understood the complaint about a keyboard that requires you to sit for a minute.
@@187onasimp well it is no problem as long as you don't lose power in the middle of a performance, It happened to me twice by the time the the keyboard loads back up the song is almost over. In the studio or at home no problem with loading, it's just something to keep in mind in certain venues.
My Kronos 2 actually takes just a hair under 3 minutes to boot. I travel with a small UPS so that I don't have to worry about bad power on stage causing an unscheduled shutdown -- once was enough!
Korg has always been innovative with their technology. From the Wavestation, to the Z1, to the Kronos, Korg has always had really good products. BTW, your videos are great.
Dope Video man! I've been a Kronos owner for 4 years now. Only problem I have with this video is the use of "was" haha!. The Kronos is still currently the top Keyboard in the music industry. Roland tried, Yamaha tried and still fell far behind Kronos. No one else has knocked this keyboard off its throne yet and it's been like a decade. Seems like even Korg can't get has yet to release a successor. They only made a streamlined version of it called the Nautilus. It's really hard to describe this keyboard as to what it is and what it really does. A lot of people that own them don't even know what they're capable of because it has so many features. It's biggest fault is that it's complex and cryptic. Nothing is done easily and it has a huge learning curve some people never get past. They just learn what they need to know and stick with it. If you do put in the work to learn it you are heavily rewarded. It basically a complete recording studio inside a keyboard. For starters this Keyboard lets you do pretty much anything. I like to think of its features like Rooms. If you want to Sample it has a dedicated room for that, you want to record instruments it's got a dedicated room for that, you want to play piano it's got a dedicated room for that, Analog synths, FM synths it's got a dedicated room for that etc etc. You want to mix and master music you make it's got a room for that even. It does everything not only extremely well but to acute precision. It's got automation galore,a ridiculous effects lists,guitar amp and pedal emulators, effect module emulators, signal processors, EQ,Compressors all kinds of stuff. You dive into the sound design functions and you realize that it's capable of emulating sounds from every analog keyboard out there and even some digital ones and that's not even a joke. Korg filled it with presets showing you this. They were even bold enough to name the instruments after the songs they came from. That's just the recording side of things. You want to play on stage it has all the weapons ready for that with the set list features. People that use this on tour actually take the time to program it to play the sounds of their studio gear. Like recreate the sounds from their classic analog synths they use to record at home so they can leave their studio pieces safe and sound and let the Kronos recreate the magic on stage. It's a box full of dope. It's just so massively deep though I'm 4 years in still learning new stuff about it. The Korg Forums are almost like an information exchange for people trying to figure out how to understand the Kronos's features better. The cons of it is that nothing comes simple. There's a way to get it to do what you want but most of the time but the manual doesn't make it obvious. You have to spend a lot of seat time getting used to the work flow and hair pulling sessions before you feel cool enough. I've come across things the Kronos can do by accident that even Korg doesn't address. That's kind of a scary thought when you realize it but that's common and why Kronos users trade techniques on how to do stuff. It's a beautifully complex keyboard. Thank you making this great video about one of my favorite pieces of gear.
No doubt fam!..Dang!.. Now im thinking you should've done the video Lol...I had a longer video that ran about 18mins originally with the Kronos..I was gonna mention the dope Set List capabilities..The Wave Sequencing..How the Karma app can basically play notes and chords out for you lol..It was too much stuff I had to cut it down.
Native Shades, I love your videos. I'm not a huge fan of Hip-Hop, I think the last Rap album I bought was the Fat Boys 12" single of "In Jail." However, I have always been a huge fan of Keyboards, drum machines and samplers, ever since my nerdy friend with lots of disposable income from caddying bought a Roland 707 and Juno 106. So watching your channel triggers nostalgia, and in this case renewed envy and jealousy of Mr. Hancock and Mr. Rudess ( and now Dj Rek too!!!). Keep up the great work, I love your perspective on these things.
Wow you took me back to the 80's with the Fat Boy's Lol..Kool Rock Ski could really rap though..I remember his song Champagne with Chris Rock lol..Thanks for the support fam!
Price tag was too high for me to even look at the specs when this came out. Never realized how powerful of a keyboard it is. What hardware piece do u think is killing the game now?
The Kronos is kinda still up there when is comes to keyboards..I know alot of modular guys were feeling the Prophet 6..But really Akai got it on lock with the new MPC series The X, LIve 2, The One.. I think there the best buy for the money..The One can easily go for 1800 and there giving it to you for 700.
Kronos is still King but if not that MPC X, Live, One or even the Force like Mr.DyReck said. It's a close indirect competitor. Reason being MPC 2.0 Software, the ability to hook up a midi keyboard and make it into a full on DAW with every sound you could imagine completely downloadable to you. Kronos comes loaded but if you want to add sounds without making your own those expansion packs are pricey 100-300 range. Meanwhile people make Akai expansions and keygroups are like 50 a pop and less.
@@187onasimp agreed on current MPCs w/ 2.0 software. Renaissance is my main piece and the workflow is like using a 2kxl connected to a dedicated daw. Auto sample feature is a blessing. I used to want the Miko/Neko mainly for that purpose. Never used a Kronos tho. It kinda sounds like the last true keyboard workstation.
This workstation was the board the the M1 was destined to be. And the price was just $1000.00 more. Wow. But! What the Kronos is an example of why owning separate synth could be more productive, even offering more focus because it allowed different instruments to excel a certain things that the Kronos was awful at. I still use my MPC sequencer before I would ever think about sequencing in the Kronos. Still I’m a fan of the Korg lineage of workstation. Again going back to the D20-M1 era, I just have to own “the future of workstations.” I was hoping Omnisphere would eventually drop a workstation a hardware keyboard. The dream of all dreams. Lol
@@ran777m I honestly don’t remember how much I ended up selling the Krono‘s because that was well over a year ago before the pandemic and I’ve gone through some gear changes since then. It was definitely lower than I wanted, but my Guitar Center buddy cut me a great deal at the time (pre pandemic deal) on the Fantom, which made up for the loss. You can typically get somewhere in the 2K ballpark on the street, depending on the condition of your board. They have a lot of units on eBay in that low 2K price range. For me, it was more than worth it…ESPECIALLY with the new OS 2.5 update that just came out last week. Roland literally just destroyed the competition! No joke. You are seriously missing out if you don’t upgrade NOW. Highlights…(drumroll) 1) A REAL Tonewheel Organ that uses all the sliders for B3 drawbars and the the left pitch bend bar as the Leslie switch. 2) Full touchscreen integration with Ableton Live. You can run your Ableton sessions on your laptop from the Fantom. Game changer for real. Competition…destroyed!
Its kinda like an updated Korg Z1 (or Trinity/Triton with the MOSS card). Those had heaps of different sound engines, but this is 2010s tech not the 90s!
Love this video! I am a proud Kronos owner who happens not to be a working musician. I got an amazing deal on an 88 key that I couldn't pass up. I already had a M3. So learning the in and out of the Kronos was a smooth transition for me.
@@DyReckProductions you would not believe it. Without naming names, I came across a used Kronos 2, 88 keys for $2,500 advertised by an online music store. I called to inquire about the condition of the instrument and was told it was actually in a warehouse. However, if I could wait a month he could sell me a brand new one still in the box for $2,600. Still way lower than the list price of $3,800. Of course, I waited. Sure enough in a month's time I had the brand new Kronos in my possession. I asked how in the world could he sell me the axe at that price? His answer, "We just like to take care of our customers." He has a customer for life. BTW, I kept my M3. I was going to sell it to finance the Kronos. There was no need! I am a happy camper.
In 2011, nothing could could touch this keyboard. And in 2014, the Kronos-2 came out and fixed some of the complaints, like fan noise, on the original. But people still have a few complaints. The start-up time is ridiculous (about 2 minutes). The screen is cluttered and the workflow can be confusing. The 10-year old CPU is very slow. And the keybed isn't to everyone's taste. Finally, it doesn't really integrate with DAWs like newer keyboards do. In 2017, Yamaha introduced the Montage. In 2019, Roland introduced the Fantom. And in 2021, Kurzweil introduced the K2700. All of these are workstation class synths that compete durectly with the Kronos in price and general capabilities. But the screens are easier to follow, the workflow is simpler and the sounds and samples are newer. And they start up a lot quicker too. Finally, in 2022, Korg stopped selling the Kronos as a new instrument. So what now? Korg will probably introduce a Kronos replacement in 2022 or 2023. But nobody really knows yet. They have also introduced the Nautilus, which is a slightly cheaper version of the Kronos, with a cheaper screen and missing some faders. Many buyers now prefer the Yamaha and Roland workstations, but the Kronos still has a lot of fans--not to mention that many players still have a lot of money invested in their Kronos hardware and expansions. The Kronos is still a great board, and if you find a used one at a good price and in good shape, than you'll probably love it. But 10 years is a long time for any electronic device (would you use a 10-year old phone?) and the Kronos is definitely ready for its update. If you're considering one, be sure to check out a Montage and Fantom also before you spend your money.
I have two friends who purchased a Kronos and both stopped working immediately after warranty ran out. Unfortunately Korg made no replacement parts for them so they are now useless. I heard from a synth repair place that he constantly is receiving calls concerning non working Kronos synths and is not able to repair since there are no replacement parts.
You need to do a WHHHHAAAAHAAADHAAAPPPEEEENED wad about the Minimoog and how it was the Main synth fir the funk era and then was picked up by Dr Dre in the early 90s and became the main type of synt for GFUNK
I just bought my First Brand new KRONOS for $3600 and I love it I hooked my 2021 IPad pro to it and bought Kronor Remote and now I have an 11 inch screen with better touch function
Here in Philippines, kronos is cheaper than say, Nord or YAMAHA Montage. It's cheap given the power you get on a keyboard. But some complain about the screen being unresponsive, and boot time. I wish they made Nautilus a lightweight Kronos. I can't see sliders on Nautilus and a Karma marking
As a life long Korg lover, I'm extremely happy with my Kronos 2! Only issue is the load up time is long, and the RAM can get rattled and cause the Korg to fail bootup randomly.
Bruh, you have to do your next video on the Korg Krono's predecessor, the Korg Oasys. I had both boards. Amazing!!!! And yes, I bit the bullet on both price points. From a music historical standpoint, this board cannot be overlooked because that timeline for Korg was so pivotal due to the technology. I think your segment can bring out why the Kronos was even developed based off the success and missteps behind the Oasys. FYI: Jordan Rudess and Herbie Hancock both had Oasys keyboards first, then went to the Kronos. Just a kind suggestion. Love your content!!!
@@DyReckProductions NOOOOO….Nothing like that…😂😂 . I was just good at saving up my money when I played organ and keys at church and combining those funds with trading in gear when I didn’t want to use all cash. You always lose a little some gear value in the trades, but you gain so much more by staying on top of the technology. Like with the Kronos, when everybody was just starting to go crazy over the board, I was over it already because I spent so much time with the Oasys which was the predecessor BEAST. I love staying on top of the curve.
@@eugenephillips481 I feel you the Kronos and the Oasys were pretty close..So I guess if you were real use to one the others features didn't really surprise you that much.
I feel you..There are so many people on YT teaching how to play piano..If I was you I would get an old certified instructional video from the 90's that teaches you the proper intro to playing the keyboard or piano..And once you get that down just pick up lil things as you go along and add to your repertoire.
@@DyReckProductions Last year I bought a Akai mpk mini play but I took it back to the store. I do need to learn another instrument. I watched the documentary Summer of Soul today and I seen Stevie Wonder play the drums. If a blind man can play the drums I should at least learn how to play keys.
Korg should've kept Rich Formidoni with the company, because when ever Korg comes out a new Kronos, korg would add a new piano or cosmetic upgrades ,me personally would prefer new added synth engines with up dated sounds and presets .
Hey bro do remember the Korg M3 Workstation. I bought one then sold it when Spectrasonics Omnisphere first came out. Thinking back on it I wish I never sold it. Lol
Even at a low end Krome Ex with just one sound engine and no sample (other then using a DAW) It's still nice for the price.Too bad you can't get a Krones now 12/07/1922
You say "was" a lot in this video. The Kronos is still current product, even though they've released the Nautilus. But the Kronos is still the top of the stack at Korg. Nautilus is a kind of (slightly) dumbed down Kronos. ;)
Wasn't the Kronos recently replaced by the Nautilus (a less expensive cut down version)? I've recently played the Nautilus and the sounds in it are killer. I wouldn't mind having either one.
@@kvmoore1 Not replaced by. Kronos is still current product. The Nautilus is a slightly simplified Kronos -- not as much "hands on control" on the front panel, and KARMA is replaced by more conventional arpeggiators. It sits between the Krome and Kronos in the product line. (subject to change without notice, of course. LOL!)
@@GerenM63 Thanks. That's good to know. I'm actually glad the Nautilus is NOT a replacement for the Kronos because the Kronos has a better hardware interface. Hmmm, maybe this and the Nautilus are THE hardware alternative to computer-based software virtual instruments. With that said, I also like the option of the Nautilus available to us as well because let's face it, the Kronos is very expensive. So having a 61-key Nautilus with a more streamlined interface and the same sound library and sound engines from the Kronos as well as new additional sounds unique to the Nautilus for just under two grand is very, VERY appealing to me at the moment. From my understanding, the Nautilus has the SAME sound engines and soundset of the Kronos with a few new additional and more updated sounds (including pianos) added. You could just stretch your budget an addition grand and just get a Kronos, but that is a lot for just a few extra controls and a bigger screen. The newer soundset and more affordable price of the Nautilus would make it a no-brainer for me. I'm strongly thinking about getting one.........I'm thinking about it. My Korg Triton Rack....WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS!!!.........Lol.
@@kvmoore1 Apparently, the sound libraries are not 100% interchangeable -- at least that's what I'm hearing. Remember, the Nautilus not only lacks the hardware controllers, but it also lacks KARMA, which plays heavily in some of the Kronos sounds. So, while it shares the engines, programs and combis will not directly translate.
There was never intended to be a replacement for the Kronos. Korgs Truly Beloved Leader Passed away during its manufacture and they distributed them shortly after his demise. Thank You Korg.
My only complaint with this board is the piano sound which I don’t seem to like not matter how hard I try ! Always relying on my Montage or my Nord stage for piano sounds
Great review. I must say - I actually got mine up for sale. I was already like second-guessing that move, then you go and make this video! Might be keeping mine a little while longer. Sure it's a little heavy and yes, the boot-up time is long but I just plug it up, go get me a cup of coffee, ya know - make the time work to my advantage. By the way, you know you have to review the Krome now ...lol.
@@forrestperkins6237 you'll never gonna believe it. Here in my country, people used to sell their gear in a very low price because of economic problems & it was pandemic strike back then.
@Stanley C which country if u don't mind me asking? I'm from USA and spent 2800 on my kronos 2 61 keyboard. It had upgraded max ram and a 2nd installed 500gb ssd.
The screen wasn’t too small; it was still bigger than anything else in that price range. The problem was they shrunk down the same graphics from the much larger OASYS screen.
@@DyReckProductions Worst part of the screen from a performance standpoint, as far as I'm concerned, is if the light's too bright, you can't see the thing! If someone's having problems with the actual operation, usually a recalibration takes care of it.
@@GerenM63 I hate that it seems delayed/sluggish once you press it.. Even worse when they put Copy and Delete right next to eachother on the menu in Disk mode. You try to copy a track you just made and the entire thing gets deleted. had that happen once. Wasn't a good feeling.
@@187onasimp I haven't noticed sluggish performance from mine, but (and this is a big but), when I'm deep in doing edits and stuff like that, I move pretty slow, too. For live, I'm mostly in setlist mode, and that's perfectly responsive. I initially thought that I would want to use the touchscreen for drawbars on organs, but I usually use the sliders (I got a set of replacement fader handles that are shaped like B3 drawbars) for that live. I do agree that some of the interface layout is, shall we say, less than optimal. I haven't lost anything to "button" layout yet, though.
The amazing Motif XF has much better organic sounds such as violins, organs, some Rhodes, and definitely guitars. However, the Kronos is a monster of a workstation. I’m blessed to have both.
who can say anything against the legendary synthesizers from Rolanda or Yamaha. however, Korg, fighting against these two giants, created the first workstation with the M1, introduced the First touch screen with the Trinity, what to say about the Triton Extreme, when we thought that everything was said, they launched the Korg Oasis and we mere mortals saw it from afar by its exuberant price, take all these experiences and launch the best workstation to date with access to mere mortals the Kronos. Even in 2022 it is valid. Let's hope they surprise us again with a worthy successor, and enough to see the Korg Pa5X to understand what's coming.
Got dern! I love your videos. I remember when this came out. I mashed the keys a bit at Sam Ash..I saw the price tag and I politely walked away!!! My ASR10 will have to do
People complained and they discontinued it to make the crappy Nautilus, a shadow of Kronos' former self. Nice going. Maybe Korg will come out with a new Kronos. Korg is all about making plastic boutique models now for people who want cheaper products and have short attention spans. No one really learns their gear anymore. They just play with a piece of gear and then dump it. Korg, and other companies, noticed. Why build a big piece of gear for an actual musician when you can build a piece of plastic cr@p and sell to all of those influencers with YT channels. They will do free advertising for these companies and they sell like hotcakes, until the honeymoon period is over. Then they get sold for the next latest boutique plastic junk. Back in the early days these companies made gear that lasted. Musicians used the heck out of their gear. Not anymore. Oh, and look at the Korg OPSix that no one wanted after they found out how much work goes into making FM sounds. It's tedious and a lot of work. Can't have that. So, people started selling them off for the Wavestate, the Modwave, the blah blah. And so the search begins again. But the OpSix is now selling much higher than the discounted price and because it's becoming harder to get for a cheap price, is almost getting the OP-1 status. It's funny. LOL! Why make a workstation when everyone is jumping onboard the computer and using MIDI keyboards? Musicians like the instrument, but computer geeks like the computer tech. There is a definitive divide here. Musicians are losing their voice in the mix. They want a beautiful instrument but the manufacturers are listening to the younger, computer geek, tech crowd...the short attention TikTok consumers who pump out youtube videos of the latest gear and why it's so wonderful. Until the next piece comes out. To which they dump that gear for the next plastic box. I wish companies would go back to building Kronos type instruments.
Korg is very lazy. The Krome and KromeEx (approx 7 years difference) the only they changed was adding a couple of more banks of sounds and ....very important, the front panel is now aluminum. 😒
I feel you..Things did change..I did a vid on all of this new equipment coming out making things too easy and taking out all the fun..Folks told me I had to get with the times Lol.
I think the Kronos has 11 different synthesizers. The sounds on the Kronos are much better..The Key 61 is easy to navigate on..Not too much menu diving.
As with all things, it's a matter of personal opinion. I have a Yamaha Genos and a Korg Nautilus. Admittedly, the Nautilus is a " watered down" Kronos, it has the same sounds and engines as the Kronos. I find the Genos operating system much easier to use. Korg Pianos, synths, strings are all top qulaity, but the Yamaha not too far behind. As for woodwind ( saxophones etc ) the Genos wins hands down. The Nautilus saxophones sound like a duck call, very weak. All depends on what you are looking for. As for me, I love them both, they combine beautifully.
Duck call, haha, that was good. Korg engineers are very lazy. Yamaha engineers are much clever giving their customers what they really want and need, in Korg you have to edit a lot the instruments or buying packs. I hate that from Korg.
yo native shades my only con about the kronos is that they didnt make a desktop module or a rack unit instead they made korg nautilus the naked kronos i already have midi keyboards and drumpads i dont need any more keys korg give us the module/rack
Lmao these Jawns do be crazy. Literally Any korg workstation will have you set for the next 20 years if you’re really trying to learn it.. Korg Creator is the program to have if you want to add your own samples and have the organized
Man, I take my hat off of to you, you compressed probably 3 hours talking in just 10 minutes, but although you did a very nice "selling" I don't think it is what Korg really deserves, I might be wrong but IMO Montage eats the Kronos in 1 bite, talking about factory sounds (guitars, voices, strings, drums) and drum patterns.
Well, the Montage doesn’t have a full linear sequencer with audio tracks, wave sequencing, disk streaming, 9 sound engines, routable effects, large storage capacity, huge third party content market, KARMA, Setlist mode( buries Montage LiveSets.), more form factors and key bed options.
@@xp50player It is true that Korg has a better workstation but speaking about sound Montage is superior, at least the factory instruments, such as drums, st-guitars, choirs, saxs etc. You can get nice pack sounds for Kronos but you have to pay a lot of money and that's a cons.
Sequential Prophet X and Waldorf Quantum sound far better than Kronos, Prophet X being the supreme leader in strings, both solo and ensemble. Once you hear a Prophet X, you will not want to turn back to Kronos anymore.
This was the upgrade to the discontinued OASYS keyboard that was $10,000 in JAX FL when it came out at the Music Depot. The Kronos was a bit less than half that cost. Much better but indeed, the OASYS and KRONOS both used a INTEL computer inside with LINUX as the brains for them. The Kronos was under powered as it use an intel atom 230 cpu mini itx board I had inside my thin client. The OASYS used the top of the line ASUS P4 with hyper threading 2.8ghz 800mhz fsb 1mb cache cpu i865 chipset board. BOTH used only 2GB system ram! But the Kronos looks better, uses Actual PANASONIC keybeds like in the old days of Korg back in the 70s and 80s, and the new Kronos uses an intel i core board now.. I would pay the $4000 for the newest most stable 88 note version but not the version ONE heck no!
There's a interesting write-up and video of somebody upgrading the Kronos with an i7 for better polyphony. You need a motherboard meeting specific criteria, but it's impressive that it's possible at all.
On one hand it forced everyone to come out with their own "everything" version... Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil. On the other hand it's 10 years on and everyone is still waiting, right? Kurzweil just re-cycled a bunch of oldness in the K2700. Roland Fantom packed with stale. Now everything with FM again, reading sysex... All garbage. It's either drop a mint on a recycled package deal or drop a mint on a one-trick pony (hi Nord!). Not holding my breath anymore.
I am still determined to own a core Kronos. What is like you said native shades the price was fucking killing us I mean unless you won the lottery are you want to take out a loan and pay for the next what I don’t know brother what is 6to 7 years of your life there it was
I love the Kronos 2 61, and I also have its little brother the original Krome 61 -- both which Korg no longer manufactures. I also have a Yamaha ES-6 and a Korg SV-1 88 which I still love, too, and which are also unavailable. I just can't sell any of these 4 keyboards. Although, about 15 years ago I stupidly sold my Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 rev 3 and Rhodes Stage 73 -- I was a dumb mofo for selling those! (F*ck me!) I also had a limited run Roland JC-120X, which came from the factory with JBL speakers! I was a stupid mofo for selling that, too! But, I was much older and that amp was a freakin' bear to pick up and load into and out of my car and I had a seriously jacked up knee at that time.
The thing that really gets me is that when Korg released the Nautilus (or close to release), when one of their product specialists Luciano Minetti was showing it off, he said that the Nautilus would just be another 'option' for people and it wouldn't be replacing any of the current lineup of keyboards, particularly the Kronos. LIE!!!!!!!!!!! Because now we all know that the Kronos is effectively being discontinued. I just HOPE that Korg releases another workstation to be the successor to the Kronos. Because while yes, the Nautilus is a workstation, it's not quite the same as the Kronos. In many ways.
@@DyReckProductions I was just looking at the Pa5x actually. I've currently got a Pa3x so I think that it would be an excellent upgrade. Kind of looks like a hybrid of the Yamaha Genos, Roland Fantom and the Kronos keyboards with regards to the sounds, and the SST technology that the Pa5x has now. Also for the first time, the Pa5x comes in an 88 fully-weighted. If you're used to Pa keyboards from Korg in the past, you'll fit right in to this one. Yes it is different to the Pa4x and DEFINITELY the Pa3x and yes it might take you a bit of a learning curve, but the concepts are pretty much the same.
@@GerenM63 hahahaha, ok. I meant it in the sense that when it was released & on display in keyboard shops. Now, I don’t even see these. I just see the little midi controllers.
@@Airspider23 I guess it depends on the shop. I bought my Kronos 2 at my little local shop here, and at least three of the local, non-chain (meaning, not Guitar Center) music stores in my area have excellent keyboard departments with plenty of "real" keyboards on display. In fact, the smallest of the three has next to nothing in the way of controllers, etc. I suppose I'm spoiled by that! LOL!
Now I personally have this keyboard and it is very dope and the sounds sound natural
Nice..Its a great keyboard.
Best keyboard I have ever owned! Korg reached the pinnacle of workstations with this board! It has a VERY realistic sound! The most realistic I have heard on a keyboard. In my opinion, By far better than anything Yamaha or Roland has made. I have a 1st generation Kronos and a Kronos 2. I like to record my own songs and covers with this board. I upload my songs on RUclips and in many comments, a lot of people in general can’t believe the sound! They think I’m doing playback! 😆 that’s how good this keyboard sounds. It’s unbelievable! Im crossing my fingers Korg releases a Kronos 3 or a successor to this board. In the meantime im good with my Kronos. You don’t need anything else to make amazing music. Just this board!
I feel you..Its gonna be very hard for Korg to top this keyboard..They might be able to in the Spec's category.. But I dont think they will be able to with sound and performance.
That’s definitely not true when it comes to Strings, Guitar I think Yamaha takes the cake other than that....
@@tuneunleashed Are you serious ? Strings, pads, synths are the main strength of Korg Keyboards
Yea! Zappa would have said "what can I say about this elixir!. Sha DO BAY. The Best Keyboard.
I have the Kronos 2,and as it has been stated by others,this board is a BEAST...you can use something else with it, but you don't need anything else. The learning curve is great, however it can be conquered, And really the persistent discipline of exploring this instrument is the productive process of unlimited creativity. I can say for myself,when I play my Kronos,many times I get flooded with ideas. Korg and all the other keyboard manufacturer's have quite the challenge to try and upstage the Kronos 2.
I have a pair of Kronos 2’s (61 and 88)…and will not (and cannot) sell either one of them. They’re magic !! I have owned the Roland Fantom and the Yamaha Montage…both stellar keyboards, to be sure. But the Kronos is always my go-to keyboard. A milestone piece of gear to be sure, worthy to be in the keyboard hall of fame. I can literally do any kind of gig with them confidently.
I agree
2022 11 years later still the GOAT!!! I’ve been wanting one since the beginning now in a few weeks it will finally be mine!!!
Love the video. I play in a traveling band. I’ve got two Kronos2’s. Tip: buy a computer UPS because when the power drops as it will sometimes do, it is a life saver. Using set list has helped me tremendously going between songs pretty fast. At rehearsals I can come up with a new sound patch in about 5 minutes. With the Motif I had to drag out the manual everytime. I have a new love and her name is Kronos.
Oh ok..Yeah I heard the Kronos set list feature is really convenient.
Till this day, no other keyboard even comes close to the Kronos…STILL!!!! I’ll never sell mine!!! I have the Kronos 2, and still am amazed at it. Even the Roland Fantom can’t mess with it! Korg really outdid THEMSELVES!!
Yup..I feel u...The Fantom is jammed with features..But it cant duplicate the sounds the Kronos could produce.
In fairness, the Fantom has the potential to surpass the Kronos .... someday. Zen Core has great potential, and the hardware has the capability to emulate or model pretty much anything Roland wants to throw at it. They just need to add capability to the software. The questions I have about that is when, and how they will make it available.
By the same token, Korg /could/ theoretically add more capability to the Kronos, though they might start to over-run the processor.
@@GerenM63
…and that’s why I said what I said! I actually love the Fantom, or what I’ve seen of it’s capabilities. Out of the box though, the Kronos is winning! You have to go computer based to even surpass it, and that’s saying something in 2021!!
Personally, I’m thinking that other manufacturers may be thinking the keyboard workstation is dead or dying, so they don’t put that much into it. Look at the Montage; it didn’t get a sequencer added until later! It was just an awesome synth…until the complaints started.
There are people that still love workstation keyboards, and I believe they’re seeing it now.
Trust me a basic controller and a computer>>>>>>>Korg Kronos. you’re done
@@tuneunleashed If you're talking about replacing a Kronos with a computer and a controller, there's no way on this earth I would do that, especially in a live situation. I /might/ consider using a PC /with/ a Kronos in a studio application. But, doing this for over 40 years has taught me -- the hard way -- that strictly computer-based is not the way to go when stability is a requirement.
never stop calling them daft funk
Lol.
I never will sell it, NEVER❤
Got the 88 - 2 and I’m still scratching the surface! It’s a phenomenal thing and can’t see that I’ll ever need to replace it.
Nice!
"Herbie, we're closing 🙄" I'm dyinnn 🤣
Lmao!
SO happy to find this presentation on the Kronos. Having owned a long line of Korg instruments since the mid 70ies, my last stop has been the Kronos! I played in a 9 piece Neil Diamond tribute band for many years. Orchestral mostly, while a second keyboardist played all the piano arrangements. I bought the Kronos X-73 and Kronos 2-73 the same year (2015). One has the optional Leslie Speaker for the CX-3 for the organ. The other has optional strings from the Korg orchestral library, purchased and downloaded from the Korg site.
I know I only scratched the surface with these instruments the way I used them on stage, but I need to spend more time now since they are retired to my studio. Thanks again !
PS. don't forget the Kronos 88 key model for synthesizer players (NON weighted keys) in that neat burgundy color (O:
Thanks fam!..I appreciate it.
The biggest complaint of the Kronos (that you missed) is that it takes at least 2 minutes to turn on. This is not a problem if you are in your studio producing, but in front of 50K people, waiting 2 minutes for a board is deadly.
But it's an amazing keyboard, and the tech has lasted for 10 years at this point, a real testament to the power of Korg (reminds me of when the Triton was the most keyboard in the '90s).
Yeah I feel you Korg did there thing..They could be a masterful electronic company when they put there minds to it.
Don't you think a guy who will play in front of 50K people will not wait the very last moment to boot his synth? :)
@@docteurgreene Good evening Wembley!!!! Switches on keyboard. How's everyone doing tonight??? Are we all feeling good??? Yeaaaaah! Phoning roadie hire company for new guy while listening to the sound of tumbleweeds blowing in Wembley for 2 minutes. Dude has a point!
Time management problem?
Why would you turn it off after soundcheck?
I have a first generation 73 key Kronos. Love it! I've written a ton of sounds into it and use it a lot! As far as I'm concerned, nothing sounds better and nobody makes a better keyboard. It does everything and it does it the best! Before I got into recording on a computer, this was my studio. I'm a huge Korg fan. I have 8 Korgs. The only 2 keyboards I have the aren't Korgs are my Hammond M3 which live in my living room and my Moog Grandmother. Because everybody needs a fat sounding organ and a pure analogue synth! Great video by the way!
I feel you on that. Korg does make great keyboards.
Which Korg keyboards do you own?)I was also a big Korg fan owning a T3EX, O1WFD, DW8000, Trinity Plus, fully expended Triton Classic with MOSS board, X5D, IX300, PA2X Pro Z1EX, TR Rack, Wavestation AD and Wavestation SR. They were golden times!
@@madness8556 I have several. My first is my Minikorg. It's the one with the single oscillator. Then I have a Polysix but it needs repair. I have a Wavestation EX, a Triton Pro X 88, 2 Monotrons, a KingKorg and my 1st gen Kronos.
Great video as always, one of the negative things is the boot up time. Almost 2 minutes. Other than that. It is a great investment, specially for a gigging musician as you mentioned. Those 16 audio audio tracks come in handy for backing track playback on stage. Multiple outs also good, send a click track to the drummer on one output and a stereo feed to the sound engineer.
Thanks bro..Your right the start up time did take a minute..But when it finally did start you was good to go lol.
I don't know why people complain about the load time. I thought it was petty back in 2011. I always felt it more so it was a deliberate attack as that was the only flaw critics could pick with it. The minute and 20 seconds it takes to load isn't that bad. It's an intense keyboard with a lot of functions. Even Analog keyboards need a minute to "warm up" and those are analogs. If you're playing a guitar that's going to take even longer to set up your pedals, power your amp and play into tune. I just never understood the complaint about a keyboard that requires you to sit for a minute.
@@187onasimp well it is no problem as long as you don't lose power in the middle of a performance, It happened to me twice by the time the the keyboard loads back up the song is almost over. In the studio or at home no problem with loading, it's just something to keep in mind in certain venues.
@@descargamusicalny Well that sucks I could understand that.
My Kronos 2 actually takes just a hair under 3 minutes to boot. I travel with a small UPS so that I don't have to worry about bad power on stage causing an unscheduled shutdown -- once was enough!
Korg has always been innovative with their technology. From the Wavestation, to the Z1, to the Kronos, Korg has always had really good products. BTW, your videos are great.
Thanks fam..Yeah Korg makes alot of good products..They do have some janky ones every now and then..But most of them are pretty good.
I bought mine 2012, still have it, and 2024 it's still the best synthesizer/ workstation ever...💥💯🎶
Nice!!
Dope Video man! I've been a Kronos owner for 4 years now. Only problem I have with this video is the use of "was" haha!. The Kronos is still currently the top Keyboard in the music industry. Roland tried, Yamaha tried and still fell far behind Kronos. No one else has knocked this keyboard off its throne yet and it's been like a decade. Seems like even Korg can't get has yet to release a successor. They only made a streamlined version of it called the Nautilus.
It's really hard to describe this keyboard as to what it is and what it really does. A lot of people that own them don't even know what they're capable of because it has so many features. It's biggest fault is that it's complex and cryptic. Nothing is done easily and it has a huge learning curve some people never get past. They just learn what they need to know and stick with it. If you do put in the work to learn it you are heavily rewarded. It basically a complete recording studio inside a keyboard.
For starters this Keyboard lets you do pretty much anything. I like to think of its features like Rooms. If you want to Sample it has a dedicated room for that, you want to record instruments it's got a dedicated room for that, you want to play piano it's got a dedicated room for that, Analog synths, FM synths it's got a dedicated room for that etc etc. You want to mix and master music you make it's got a room for that even. It does everything not only extremely well but to acute precision. It's got automation galore,a ridiculous effects lists,guitar amp and pedal emulators, effect module emulators, signal processors, EQ,Compressors all kinds of stuff. You dive into the sound design functions and you realize that it's capable of emulating sounds from every analog keyboard out there and even some digital ones and that's not even a joke. Korg filled it with presets showing you this. They were even bold enough to name the instruments after the songs they came from.
That's just the recording side of things. You want to play on stage it has all the weapons ready for that with the set list features. People that use this on tour actually take the time to program it to play the sounds of their studio gear. Like recreate the sounds from their classic analog synths they use to record at home so they can leave their studio pieces safe and sound and let the Kronos recreate the magic on stage. It's a box full of dope.
It's just so massively deep though I'm 4 years in still learning new stuff about it. The Korg Forums are almost like an information exchange for people trying to figure out how to understand the Kronos's features better. The cons of it is that nothing comes simple. There's a way to get it to do what you want but most of the time but the manual doesn't make it obvious. You have to spend a lot of seat time getting used to the work flow and hair pulling sessions before you feel cool enough. I've come across things the Kronos can do by accident that even Korg doesn't address. That's kind of a scary thought when you realize it but that's common and why Kronos users trade techniques on how to do stuff.
It's a beautifully complex keyboard. Thank you making this great video about one of my favorite pieces of gear.
No doubt fam!..Dang!.. Now im thinking you should've done the video Lol...I had a longer video that ran about 18mins originally with the Kronos..I was gonna mention the dope Set List capabilities..The Wave Sequencing..How the Karma app can basically play notes and chords out for you lol..It was too much stuff I had to cut it down.
@@DyReckProductions haha, yeah my dude the Kronos is an iceberg it runs deep. You could do an hour long video on the sampler features alone.
How about the Roland System 8?
@@Rio-uv1gs Thats another interesting synthesizer.
@@187onasimp but can it beat FL studio
My baby! Korg Kronos!
Native Shades, I love your videos. I'm not a huge fan of Hip-Hop, I think the last Rap album I bought was the Fat Boys 12" single of "In Jail." However, I have always been a huge fan of Keyboards, drum machines and samplers, ever since my nerdy friend with lots of disposable income from caddying bought a Roland 707 and Juno 106. So watching your channel triggers nostalgia, and in this case renewed envy and jealousy of Mr. Hancock and Mr. Rudess ( and now Dj Rek too!!!). Keep up the great work, I love your perspective on these things.
Wow you took me back to the 80's with the Fat Boy's Lol..Kool Rock Ski could really rap though..I remember his song Champagne with Chris Rock lol..Thanks for the support fam!
Price tag was too high for me to even look at the specs when this came out. Never realized how powerful of a keyboard it is. What hardware piece do u think is killing the game now?
The Kronos is kinda still up there when is comes to keyboards..I know alot of modular guys were feeling the Prophet 6..But really Akai got it on lock with the new MPC series The X, LIve 2, The One.. I think there the best buy for the money..The One can easily go for 1800 and there giving it to you for 700.
Kronos is still King but if not that MPC X, Live, One or even the Force like Mr.DyReck said. It's a close indirect competitor. Reason being MPC 2.0 Software, the ability to hook up a midi keyboard and make it into a full on DAW with every sound you could imagine completely downloadable to you. Kronos comes loaded but if you want to add sounds without making your own those expansion packs are pricey 100-300 range. Meanwhile people make Akai expansions and keygroups are like 50 a pop and less.
@@187onasimp agreed on current MPCs w/ 2.0 software. Renaissance is my main piece and the workflow is like using a 2kxl connected to a dedicated daw. Auto sample feature is a blessing. I used to want the Miko/Neko mainly for that purpose. Never used a Kronos tho. It kinda sounds like the last true keyboard workstation.
This workstation was the board the the M1 was destined to be. And the price was just $1000.00 more. Wow. But! What the Kronos is an example of why owning separate synth could be more productive, even offering more focus because it allowed different instruments to excel a certain things that the Kronos was awful at. I still use my MPC sequencer before I would ever think about sequencing in the Kronos.
Still I’m a fan of the Korg lineage of workstation. Again going back to the D20-M1 era, I just have to own “the future of workstations.” I was hoping Omnisphere would eventually drop a workstation a hardware keyboard. The dream of all dreams. Lol
I feel you fam..It is better to have different pieces of gear for different things..Plus you lean more that way.
Had a Kronos 88, sold it for a Fantom 8, happy now. Great Keyboard though!
I did the exact same thing. I do not regret the decision one bit. The new Fantom is special. Plus, I LOVE the workflow!
How much did you sell it for and how much better is the Fantom8
@@ran777m I honestly don’t remember how much I ended up selling the Krono‘s because that was well over a year ago before the pandemic and I’ve gone through some gear changes since then. It was definitely lower than I wanted, but my Guitar Center buddy cut me a great deal at the time (pre pandemic deal) on the Fantom, which made up for the loss.
You can typically get somewhere in the 2K ballpark on the street, depending on the condition of your board. They have a lot of units on eBay in that low 2K price range.
For me, it was more than worth it…ESPECIALLY with the new OS 2.5 update that just came out last week. Roland literally just destroyed the competition! No joke. You are seriously missing out if you don’t upgrade NOW.
Highlights…(drumroll)
1) A REAL Tonewheel Organ that uses all the sliders for B3 drawbars and the the left pitch bend bar as the Leslie switch.
2) Full touchscreen integration with Ableton Live. You can run your Ableton sessions on your laptop from the Fantom.
Game changer for real. Competition…destroyed!
You can really tell how much herby Hancock really loved that keyboard..
Yup..He always talks about it.
I love how he says "daffunk"
Lmao. I been saying that for years.
Its kinda like an updated Korg Z1 (or Trinity/Triton with the MOSS card). Those had heaps of different sound engines, but this is 2010s tech not the 90s!
Love this video! I am a proud Kronos owner who happens not to be a working musician. I got an amazing deal on an 88 key that I couldn't pass up. I already had a M3. So learning the in and out of the Kronos was a smooth transition for me.
Oh ok nice..Must have been a real good deal.
@@DyReckProductions you would not believe it. Without naming names, I came across a used Kronos 2, 88 keys for $2,500 advertised by an online music store. I called to inquire about the condition of the instrument and was told it was actually in a warehouse. However, if I could wait a month he could sell me a brand new one still in the box for $2,600. Still way lower than the list price of $3,800. Of course, I waited. Sure enough in a month's time I had the brand new Kronos in my possession. I asked how in the world could he sell me the axe at that price? His answer, "We just like to take care of our customers." He has a customer for life. BTW, I kept my M3. I was going to sell it to finance the Kronos. There was no need!
I am a happy camper.
@@CorkyMeadows Nice.
Your pronunciation of "crème de la crème " is quite good for a US guy! :)
Lmao! Thanks fam!
In 2011, nothing could could touch this keyboard. And in 2014, the Kronos-2 came out and fixed some of the complaints, like fan noise, on the original. But people still have a few complaints. The start-up time is ridiculous (about 2 minutes). The screen is cluttered and the workflow can be confusing. The 10-year old CPU is very slow. And the keybed isn't to everyone's taste. Finally, it doesn't really integrate with DAWs like newer keyboards do. In 2017, Yamaha introduced the Montage. In 2019, Roland introduced the Fantom. And in 2021, Kurzweil introduced the K2700. All of these are workstation class synths that compete durectly with the Kronos in price and general capabilities. But the screens are easier to follow, the workflow is simpler and the sounds and samples are newer. And they start up a lot quicker too. Finally, in 2022, Korg stopped selling the Kronos as a new instrument.
So what now? Korg will probably introduce a Kronos replacement in 2022 or 2023. But nobody really knows yet. They have also introduced the Nautilus, which is a slightly cheaper version of the Kronos, with a cheaper screen and missing some faders. Many buyers now prefer the Yamaha and Roland workstations, but the Kronos still has a lot of fans--not to mention that many players still have a lot of money invested in their Kronos hardware and expansions.
The Kronos is still a great board, and if you find a used one at a good price and in good shape, than you'll probably love it. But 10 years is a long time for any electronic device (would you use a 10-year old phone?) and the Kronos is definitely ready for its update. If you're considering one, be sure to check out a Montage and Fantom also before you spend your money.
It would be cool if Korg made a workstation that can integrate with FL studio
I have two friends who purchased a Kronos and both stopped working immediately after warranty ran out. Unfortunately Korg made no replacement parts for them so they are now useless. I heard from a synth repair place that he constantly is receiving calls concerning non working Kronos synths and is not able to repair since there are no replacement parts.
Soooo. Can you do a video for the "poor man's Sp1200" Zoom Sampletrak St-224?
No doubt bro..Thats a piece folks still want.
@Miles Prower I feel u.
What had happened waaaassss, I was never able to get a Kronos, so I feel you pain. Love these vdieos.
I have several key in my joint Kronos 2 is still THE KING and its my go to synth. Still to this day nothing come close to it
I feel you.
By the time this dropped I became a native instruments maschine guy. But I was a fan of this board.
No doubt.
You need to do a WHHHHAAAAHAAADHAAAPPPEEEENED wad about the Minimoog and how it was the Main synth fir the funk era and then was picked up by Dr Dre in the early 90s and became the main type of synt for GFUNK
No doubt!..Thats a good one.
I just bought my First Brand new KRONOS for $3600 and I love it
I hooked my 2021 IPad pro to it and bought Kronor Remote and now I have an 11 inch screen with better touch function
Smart!
Here in Philippines, kronos is cheaper than say, Nord or YAMAHA Montage. It's cheap given the power you get on a keyboard. But some complain about the screen being unresponsive, and boot time. I wish they made Nautilus a lightweight Kronos. I can't see sliders on Nautilus and a Karma marking
Yeah some folks did complain about the screen being a little small and unresponsive at times..And alot of menu diving.
As a life long Korg lover, I'm extremely happy with my Kronos 2! Only issue is the load up time is long, and the RAM can get rattled and cause the Korg to fail bootup randomly.
Oh ok I feel you.
Bruh, you have to do your next video on the Korg Krono's predecessor, the Korg Oasys. I had both boards. Amazing!!!! And yes, I bit the bullet on both price points. From a music historical standpoint, this board cannot be overlooked because that timeline for Korg was so pivotal due to the technology. I think your segment can bring out why the Kronos was even developed based off the success and missteps behind the Oasys. FYI: Jordan Rudess and Herbie Hancock both had Oasys keyboards first, then went to the Kronos.
Just a kind suggestion. Love your content!!!
Thanks fam.You must have been balling to get both those keyboards..Who you work for?? lol.
@@DyReckProductions NOOOOO….Nothing like that…😂😂 . I was just good at saving up my money when I played organ and keys at church and combining those funds with trading in gear when I didn’t want to use all cash. You always lose a little some gear value in the trades, but you gain so much more by staying on top of the technology. Like with the Kronos, when everybody was just starting to go crazy over the board, I was over it already because I spent so much time with the Oasys which was the predecessor BEAST. I love staying on top of the curve.
@@eugenephillips481 I feel you the Kronos and the Oasys were pretty close..So I guess if you were real use to one the others features didn't really surprise you that much.
Dyreck have you released any music do you have a bandcamp would love to hear it?
Sounds like a dope instrument. I want to learn how to play keys.
I feel you..There are so many people on YT teaching how to play piano..If I was you I would get an old certified instructional video from the 90's that teaches you the proper intro to playing the keyboard or piano..And once you get that down just pick up lil things as you go along and add to your repertoire.
@@DyReckProductions That’s a good ideal. Maybe next year I’ll be a key broad. I have to pay off my MPC ONE AND SP-16 off first. lol
@@DyReckProductions Last year I bought a Akai mpk mini play but I took it back to the store. I do need to learn another instrument. I watched the documentary Summer of Soul today and I seen Stevie Wonder play the drums. If a blind man can play the drums I should at least learn how to play keys.
@@rashodlewis2918 Lol. I feel u.
I absolutely love your videos
Thank bro!..I appreciate it!!
Korg should've kept Rich Formidoni with the company, because when ever Korg comes out a new Kronos, korg would add a new piano or cosmetic upgrades ,me personally would prefer new added synth engines with up dated sounds and presets .
! now the casio guy! he good!
Rich made me buy like 10 products from Korg lol.
@@DyReckProductions real talk I owned 2 Kronos 73s cause of Rich lol 😂
@@Nickrdzkeys Lmao! I feel you!
I mustve been living under a rock. I didnt find out about that workstation until 2 years ago. Its been on my radar, henceforth.
Its a dope keyboard.
Hey bro do remember the Korg M3 Workstation. I bought one then sold it when Spectrasonics Omnisphere first came out. Thinking back on it I wish I never sold it. Lol
Yeah the M3 is legendary!
Even at a low end Krome Ex with just one sound engine and no sample (other then using a DAW) It's still nice for the price.Too bad you can't get a Krones now 12/07/1922
I feel you.
These videos aewcsooo dope man
Thanks bro..I appreciate it.
Still learning!! Love my Kronos!
I feel you!
You say "was" a lot in this video. The Kronos is still current product, even though they've released the Nautilus. But the Kronos is still the top of the stack at Korg. Nautilus is a kind of (slightly) dumbed down Kronos. ;)
I feel you..The Kronos is still one of if not the top keyboard.
Wasn't the Kronos recently replaced by the Nautilus (a less expensive cut down version)? I've recently played the Nautilus and the sounds in it are killer. I wouldn't mind having either one.
@@kvmoore1 Not replaced by. Kronos is still current product. The Nautilus is a slightly simplified Kronos -- not as much "hands on control" on the front panel, and KARMA is replaced by more conventional arpeggiators. It sits between the Krome and Kronos in the product line. (subject to change without notice, of course. LOL!)
@@GerenM63 Thanks. That's good to know. I'm actually glad the Nautilus is NOT a replacement for the Kronos because the Kronos has a better hardware interface. Hmmm, maybe this and the Nautilus are THE hardware alternative to computer-based software virtual instruments.
With that said, I also like the option of the Nautilus available to us as well because let's face it, the Kronos is very expensive. So having a 61-key Nautilus with a more streamlined interface and the same sound library and sound engines from the Kronos as well as new additional sounds unique to the Nautilus for just under two grand is very, VERY appealing to me at the moment. From my understanding, the Nautilus has the SAME sound engines and soundset of the Kronos with a few new additional and more updated sounds (including pianos) added. You could just stretch your budget an addition grand and just get a Kronos, but that is a lot for just a few extra controls and a bigger screen. The newer soundset and more affordable price of the Nautilus would make it a no-brainer for me.
I'm strongly thinking about getting one.........I'm thinking about it.
My Korg Triton Rack....WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS!!!.........Lol.
@@kvmoore1 Apparently, the sound libraries are not 100% interchangeable -- at least that's what I'm hearing. Remember, the Nautilus not only lacks the hardware controllers, but it also lacks KARMA, which plays heavily in some of the Kronos sounds. So, while it shares the engines, programs and combis will not directly translate.
There was never intended to be a replacement for the Kronos. Korgs Truly Beloved Leader Passed away during its manufacture and they distributed them shortly after his demise. Thank You Korg.
Oh ok.
Keep them shades up you roll--I just wanted to give out more of the scoop. Your stuff is solid--we really laugh a lot & such.
@@henryjraymondiii961 Thanks bro!
My only complaint with this board is the piano sound which I don’t seem to like not matter how hard I try ! Always relying on my Montage or my Nord stage for piano sounds
Oh ok.
They have a lot of optional pianos.
I'm must definitely gonna check into this keyboard
Its a dope keyboard.
Great review. I must say - I actually got mine up for sale. I was already like second-guessing that move, then you go and make this video! Might be keeping mine a little while longer. Sure it's a little heavy and yes, the boot-up time is long but I just plug it up, go get me a cup of coffee, ya know - make the time work to my advantage. By the way, you know you have to review the Krome now ...lol.
Yup and the Oasys Lol.
@@DyReckProductions Fo sho. Looking forward to it!
I love my Kronos! Wonderful video!
Thanks bro.
I was soooo lucky. Two weeks ago, I got my first Kronos 61 just about $900. What an amazing keyboard!
Nice!
How??? You stole that thing!
@@forrestperkins6237 you'll never gonna believe it. Here in my country, people used to sell their gear in a very low price because of economic problems & it was pandemic strike back then.
@Stanley C which country if u don't mind me asking? I'm from USA and spent 2800 on my kronos 2 61 keyboard. It had upgraded max ram and a 2nd installed 500gb ssd.
@@forrestperkins6237 I'm from Indonesia. Got the original Kronos 61 in mint condition for IDR 13.250.000 without any SSD or RAM upgrade.
Bro can you look into Kurzweil gear and do a video on their keyboards
No doubt fam..Definitely got Kurzweil on the list.
The screen wasn’t too small; it was still bigger than anything else in that price range. The problem was they shrunk down the same graphics from the much larger OASYS screen.
I feel u.
Big hello from the uk ,great content!
Wah had happened to Sequential Circuits Studio 440 man ! Keep it up
Thanks fam..Thats a good one.. Someone else mentioned it..Definitely got to do it.
your vids are hilarious, laughing my ass off
This touch screen was wack even back in 2011. The board is still boss tho!
Yeah the touch screen could be a lil finicky.
@@DyReckProductions Worst part of the screen from a performance standpoint, as far as I'm concerned, is if the light's too bright, you can't see the thing!
If someone's having problems with the actual operation, usually a recalibration takes care of it.
@@GerenM63 I hate that it seems delayed/sluggish once you press it.. Even worse when they put Copy and Delete right next to eachother on the menu in Disk mode. You try to copy a track you just made and the entire thing gets deleted. had that happen once. Wasn't a good feeling.
@@187onasimp I haven't noticed sluggish performance from mine, but (and this is a big but), when I'm deep in doing edits and stuff like that, I move pretty slow, too. For live, I'm mostly in setlist mode, and that's perfectly responsive. I initially thought that I would want to use the touchscreen for drawbars on organs, but I usually use the sliders (I got a set of replacement fader handles that are shaped like B3 drawbars) for that live.
I do agree that some of the interface layout is, shall we say, less than optimal. I haven't lost anything to "button" layout yet, though.
The amazing Motif XF has much better organic sounds such as violins, organs, some Rhodes, and definitely guitars. However, the Kronos is a monster of a workstation. I’m blessed to have both.
Nice!
who can say anything against the legendary synthesizers from Rolanda or Yamaha. however, Korg, fighting against these two giants, created the first workstation with the M1, introduced the First touch screen with the Trinity, what to say about the Triton Extreme, when we thought that everything was said, they launched the Korg Oasis and we mere mortals saw it from afar by its exuberant price, take all these experiences and launch the best workstation to date with access to mere mortals the Kronos. Even in 2022 it is valid. Let's hope they surprise us again with a worthy successor, and enough to see the Korg Pa5X to understand what's coming.
Yeah Korg always puts out great products..Most of my gear is from Korg.
Roland is good but theyre old keyboards lack the ability to split the keys
Korg Pa5x (a very capable Arranger) currently has many OS problems....😔
With that 😵 price tag
Still Yamaha Genos rules IMHO...
@@Talia.777 Genos is a proof that the 'Beauty and the Beast' can be 1 at the same time.
@@gabrielirlanda So True 😂😂
You already know! Philly in the building! ‼️
No doubt!
Got dern! I love your videos. I remember when this came out. I mashed the keys a bit at Sam Ash..I saw the price tag and I politely walked away!!! My ASR10 will have to do
Lmap!..I feel you..I bet you played the ish out of it at sam ash though Lol.
People complained and they discontinued it to make the crappy Nautilus, a shadow of Kronos' former self. Nice going. Maybe Korg will come out with a new Kronos. Korg is all about making plastic boutique models now for people who want cheaper products and have short attention spans. No one really learns their gear anymore. They just play with a piece of gear and then dump it. Korg, and other companies, noticed. Why build a big piece of gear for an actual musician when you can build a piece of plastic cr@p and sell to all of those influencers with YT channels. They will do free advertising for these companies and they sell like hotcakes, until the honeymoon period is over. Then they get sold for the next latest boutique plastic junk. Back in the early days these companies made gear that lasted. Musicians used the heck out of their gear. Not anymore. Oh, and look at the Korg OPSix that no one wanted after they found out how much work goes into making FM sounds. It's tedious and a lot of work. Can't have that. So, people started selling them off for the Wavestate, the Modwave, the blah blah. And so the search begins again. But the OpSix is now selling much higher than the discounted price and because it's becoming harder to get for a cheap price, is almost getting the OP-1 status. It's funny. LOL! Why make a workstation when everyone is jumping onboard the computer and using MIDI keyboards? Musicians like the instrument, but computer geeks like the computer tech. There is a definitive divide here. Musicians are losing their voice in the mix. They want a beautiful instrument but the manufacturers are listening to the younger, computer geek, tech crowd...the short attention TikTok consumers who pump out youtube videos of the latest gear and why it's so wonderful. Until the next piece comes out. To which they dump that gear for the next plastic box. I wish companies would go back to building Kronos type instruments.
Korg is very lazy. The Krome and KromeEx (approx 7 years difference) the only they changed was adding a couple of more banks of sounds and ....very important, the front panel is now aluminum. 😒
So True 😞😞
@@gabrielirlanda Yeah 😕
I feel you..Things did change..I did a vid on all of this new equipment coming out making things too easy and taking out all the fun..Folks told me I had to get with the times Lol.
Say what you will, I have gotten 20 years worth of use out of that Bose Wave radio.
Lol..Nice..I have the lifestyle 15 cube speakers and the 702's..never use the 702s though.
Compare the Kronos to the mpc keys 61 which one is better 🤔
I think the Kronos has 11 different synthesizers. The sounds on the Kronos are much better..The Key 61 is easy to navigate on..Not too much menu diving.
@@DyReckProductions Thanks 👍👍
@@jameshardy5578 No doubt bro.
You have said it all
I had to come back to this after researching the fantom. see a lot of comparisons lol
Yup!
What happened to Rich? I liked him introducing new Korg products over the years.
I think he's working with Casio now..He was really good with Korg. He made me buy like 6 products LOL.
As with all things, it's a matter of personal opinion. I have a Yamaha Genos and a Korg Nautilus. Admittedly, the Nautilus is a " watered down" Kronos, it has the same sounds and engines as the Kronos. I find the Genos operating system much easier to use. Korg Pianos, synths, strings are all top qulaity, but the Yamaha not too far behind. As for woodwind ( saxophones etc ) the Genos wins hands down. The Nautilus saxophones sound like a duck call, very weak. All depends on what you are looking for. As for me, I love them both, they combine beautifully.
Oh ok nice.
Duck call, haha, that was good. Korg engineers are very lazy. Yamaha engineers are much clever giving their customers what they really want and need, in Korg you have to edit a lot the instruments or buying packs. I hate that from Korg.
seriously good videos man
Thanks fam.
yo native shades my only con about the kronos is that they didnt make a desktop module or a rack unit instead they made korg nautilus the naked kronos i already have midi keyboards and drumpads i dont need any more keys korg give us the module/rack
Yeah that would be dope if they did desktop or rack unit..With all those sound capabilities for the right price folks would jump on it.
Worth every dollar
Yup.
You are HILARIOUS!
Lol..Thanks bro.
Ten years later and I still want a Kronos.
But that price tag though!
I feel you.. They go for like 2500 to 3000 on ebay.
@@DyReckProductions Yeah man...
Just get it. I got a used 1st generation Kronos. It was so dope I ended up buying a 2nd one, Kronos 2 titanium brand new! These keyboards are keepers!
@@FranciscoDiazMusic Titanium was the one I wanted. I missed out on that one.
What's a "Liberry"? kiddin...love your vids man :D
Lol. Thanks fam.
Lmao these Jawns do be crazy. Literally Any korg workstation will have you set for the next 20 years if you’re really trying to learn it.. Korg Creator is the program to have if you want to add your own samples and have the organized
Oh ok no doubt.
"This wasn't your bed room producer/beatmaker kind of keyboard"
**Superstar O and Vybe Beatz have entered the chat**
Lmao.
Great video. I went to check your drumkit but there was no demo. You should post one on the site, that's pretty essential IMO
Do the Korg M3 next :)
Lol. No doubt..Thats definitely on the list.
Hereby found his musical soul mate keyboard foe life lol
Lol..No doubt.
Please make the Motif xs
No doubt bro..I did one on the ES.
Man, I take my hat off of to you, you compressed probably 3 hours talking in just 10 minutes, but although you did a very nice "selling" I don't think it is what Korg really deserves, I might be wrong but IMO Montage eats the Kronos in 1 bite, talking about factory sounds (guitars, voices, strings, drums) and drum patterns.
I definitely should do a vid on the Montage.
Well, the Montage doesn’t have a full linear sequencer with audio tracks, wave sequencing, disk streaming, 9 sound engines, routable effects, large storage capacity, huge third party content market, KARMA, Setlist mode( buries Montage LiveSets.), more form factors and key bed options.
@@xp50player It is true that Korg has a better workstation but speaking about sound Montage is superior, at least the factory instruments, such as drums, st-guitars, choirs, saxs etc. You can get nice pack sounds for Kronos but you have to pay a lot of money and that's a cons.
Sequential Prophet X and Waldorf Quantum sound far better than Kronos, Prophet X being the supreme leader in strings, both solo and ensemble. Once you hear a Prophet X, you will not want to turn back to Kronos anymore.
And the Kronos still stands even with the new kids on the block.
Lol Yup!
"Hey, Native Shades, What's Modeling?" OMFG. Um...were you in The Goats?? That sounded exactly like ChickenLittle....
LMAO!!
Yeah the Kronos changed the game for keyboards
Yup!
This was the upgrade to the discontinued OASYS keyboard that was $10,000 in JAX FL when it came out at the Music Depot. The Kronos was a bit less than half that cost. Much better but indeed, the OASYS and KRONOS both used a INTEL computer inside with LINUX as the brains for them. The Kronos was under powered as it use an intel atom 230 cpu mini itx board I had inside my thin client. The OASYS used the top of the line ASUS P4 with hyper threading 2.8ghz 800mhz fsb 1mb cache cpu i865 chipset board. BOTH used only 2GB system ram! But the Kronos looks better, uses Actual PANASONIC keybeds like in the old days of Korg back in the 70s and 80s, and the new Kronos uses an intel i core board now.. I would pay the $4000 for the newest most stable 88 note version but not the version ONE heck no!
Lol..I feel you..The new version does look pretty nice.
There's a interesting write-up and video of somebody upgrading the Kronos with an i7 for better polyphony. You need a motherboard meeting specific criteria, but it's impressive that it's possible at all.
@@ozzyp97 I need to find that write up! LOL! Most indubidably so
R.I.P Herbie♥
I think hes still with us.
@@DyReckProductions Yaaa was just thinking about him.... he will be around forever❤
@@CrispSkimmer Word!
“It has NINE ENGINES!! “ 😂😂😂😂
Lol.
When bro pulled out the Joni cover 🥲
Lol.
On one hand it forced everyone to come out with their own "everything" version... Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil. On the other hand it's 10 years on and everyone is still waiting, right? Kurzweil just re-cycled a bunch of oldness in the K2700. Roland Fantom packed with stale. Now everything with FM again, reading sysex... All garbage. It's either drop a mint on a recycled package deal or drop a mint on a one-trick pony (hi Nord!). Not holding my breath anymore.
Lol..I feel you.
Wish they’d called it something that was pronounced the same both sides of the pond. Kronoss v Krownose
Lol!
Rich formidoni... golden days
Yeah..He made me buy so much gear Lol!
I am still determined to own a core Kronos. What is like you said native shades the price was fucking killing us I mean unless you won the lottery are you want to take out a loan and pay for the next what I don’t know brother what is 6to 7 years of your life there it was
Lol Word!
I love the Kronos 2 61, and I also have its little brother the original Krome 61 -- both which Korg no longer manufactures. I also have a Yamaha ES-6 and a Korg SV-1 88 which I still love, too, and which are also unavailable. I just can't sell any of these 4 keyboards. Although, about 15 years ago I stupidly sold my Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 rev 3 and Rhodes Stage 73 -- I was a dumb mofo for selling those! (F*ck me!) I also had a limited run Roland JC-120X, which came from the factory with JBL speakers! I was a stupid mofo for selling that, too! But, I was much older and that amp was a freakin' bear to pick up and load into and out of my car and I had a seriously jacked up knee at that time.
Dang! I feel you on that amp lol..Hopefully you got good money for them.
The thing that really gets me is that when Korg released the Nautilus (or close to release), when one of their product specialists Luciano Minetti was showing it off, he said that the Nautilus would just be another 'option' for people and it wouldn't be replacing any of the current lineup of keyboards, particularly the Kronos. LIE!!!!!!!!!!! Because now we all know that the Kronos is effectively being discontinued. I just HOPE that Korg releases another workstation to be the successor to the Kronos. Because while yes, the Nautilus is a workstation, it's not quite the same as the Kronos. In many ways.
There Pa5X looks good..Complicated but good Lol.
@@DyReckProductions I was just looking at the Pa5x actually. I've currently got a Pa3x so I think that it would be an excellent upgrade. Kind of looks like a hybrid of the Yamaha Genos, Roland Fantom and the Kronos keyboards with regards to the sounds, and the SST technology that the Pa5x has now. Also for the first time, the Pa5x comes in an 88 fully-weighted. If you're used to Pa keyboards from Korg in the past, you'll fit right in to this one. Yes it is different to the Pa4x and DEFINITELY the Pa3x and yes it might take you a bit of a learning curve, but the concepts are pretty much the same.
@@jordanking7711 Oh ok cool..Ima do some more research on it.
Bro I swear you’re always saying “Daft Funk” instead of “Daft Punk” 😂
Lmao.
Now the Korg Kronos is discontinued
Oh wow.
Kronos was fire.
Yup.
There's that "was" word again! Kronos /IS/ fire! LOL!
@@GerenM63 hahahaha, ok. I meant it in the sense that when it was released & on display in keyboard shops. Now, I don’t even see these. I just see the little midi controllers.
@@Airspider23 I guess it depends on the shop. I bought my Kronos 2 at my little local shop here, and at least three of the local, non-chain (meaning, not Guitar Center) music stores in my area have excellent keyboard departments with plenty of "real" keyboards on display. In fact, the smallest of the three has next to nothing in the way of controllers, etc. I suppose I'm spoiled by that! LOL!