Korg Kronos X - my experience in 2022

[@jamiepastman5594]

I'm a pro keyboardist out of Chicago. I've been a top call for dozens of bands and producers for a long time, and I have to say -- yeah, I'm a good player -- but a lot of it is my Kronos too. The sounds it makes (if you know how to play it) just completely blow people away in a live situation, it sits in a live mix so brilliantly. And it makes me look really good because of that, I'm sure it helped get me lots of work. I'm on my third one. They are also totally reliable. Number 1 fan here

[@alpao74]

Thanks for your message Jamie ☺️. Funny enough I read your message right after coming off stage and for the first time my Kronos had frozen twice!! I don't know why, maybe an electricity problem at the venue... Never happened before. It kept playing one note no matter what I was playing. So I had to restart, which means 2 minutes wait :) Luckily the Kronos is my top tier keyboard so I could keep playing the Nord one the meantime.

[@jamiepastman5594]

@@alpao74 yeah, i should've mentioned that load time is really a bitch, probably the only downside. Sounds like you got a drop in voltage at the source, not a Kronos problem but ac, but I've had mine freeze up like 3 times in 10 years so not sure what happened to you, must have been an "exciting" moment on stage (lol). Even Steph Curry misses a three every now and then, so let's cut the Kronos a little slack. Great video Alex!

[@franky547]

Korg Kronos x pioneros no hay más

[@AT-eh2eo]

Korg workstations are insane if you really want to dive into a rabbit hole for the next 15 years. I have a Triton that still keeps surprising me. Obviously it has a lot less features, but that only furthers my point.

[@rullirosandi3281]

I have one for about 8 years..still My favorite keyboard.. glad I know your Channel today.. Thank you ..

[@DanielMorales-qp8rf]

I also bought the kronos 2 right before the pandemic. This is such an amazing instrument. Like you said, everything is high quality, depth, and its programming is really deep. I think you can do anything with it. The only improvement i would think to recommend would be more ram memory, because it has 4 gigabytes an a 62 gigabyte ssd hard drive which is great but in ram it uses some of its memory for ex libraries. I would recommend that korg address this for us registered users of this fantastic instrument. I’d say expand it to 8 gigabyte ram and 1 terabyte hard drive.

[@bistermean2046]

I added a second 256 gb drive my kronos. There is a second slot inside the instrument and the installation is pretty straight forward. Of course there are always risks, so don't take my word on this.

[@zoltanvarga9248]

Actually the max RAM size is around 3,2GB due to 32 bit architecture (no PAE). I changed the SSD to 1T: cloned the original then resized the partitions on the new drive with gparted - not as straight forward is it sounds. Of courde it's easier to add a second SSD instead - however I wanted to archive the original as backup.

[@synthesist3003]

Great review!!!! I’ve had the kronos for 3 years now, and this is the keyboard Iwill nerver sell. I just love it!!!!

[@alpao74]

Thank you for your comment! What an inspiring instrument 🙏☺️

[@keycalmusic]

Greatness. My favorite keyboard workstation im blessed and glad I own one. You play amazing music blessings

[@aristotlekumpis7095]

It’s an amazing synth. I have purchased many of the 3rd party libraries for the Kronos. And they are really good. But I just love the synth tones out of it. Maybe they come out with new workstation soon.

[@kimdiez2681]

Aristotle Kumpis They did...the Nautilus but it sounds like a chep Casio compared to the Kronos.

[@jeremythornton433]

I got my Kronos in September 2011. I still have a huge amount to learn about it. I'm sad that it might not be being made anymore but I think it's still the best and most powerful keyboard out there, bar none.

[@alpao74]

Infinite power, as you say. I love the fact that I will never learn everything about it...

[@Bashanvibe]

Good to know it’s still the GOAT in 2022. I’m thinking about changing my work horse to the Kronos coming from using the Fantom most of my life!!!

[@alpao74]

It's a great board. Certainly the most powerful workstation around 😊 I've never used Fantom but I love Roland, I've had various iterations of the RD pianos. Thanks for your input!

[@marksmusicplace3627]

yes yes yes. the korg kronos x is my all time favorite synth that I own And I own a lot of synths to include the roland fantom G and roland fantom 6 as well as the yamaha motif xf and lots others

[@freddyperezmusicentertainment]

Beautiful own 2 61 and 88, great boards.

[@liviou2004]

It's a beautiful tribute to this marvelous instrument. Thank you. Unfortunately, the Kronos has been terminated by Korg and won't be sold anymore except as second hand one.

[@alpao74]

Hey Fred! Many thanks for your kind words. I agree with you: this is a marvellous instrument and I do think that whoever owns one should never sell it. Amazing and inspiring keyboard :)

[@John-lv6uj]

I just bought a 73 key Kronos 2 $3,500 for LIFE I will own this GREAT Synthesized WorkStation

[@madaboutretro]

You can still buy the LS in several countries at the moment, I really love mine, if a better korg board comes out I don't think I would be parted from mine it's superlative 👍

[@faditabassandmusic]

Wow! Beautiful review buddy, the sounds and the music too!

[@alpao74]

Thank you my friend! I appreciate it :)

[@dirkkeersmaekers4343]

The Kronos is 10 years old.I wonder when a new Kronos comes out?Probably with a different name.And elements of the opsix,modwave,wavestate,open sound engines.

[@JuanitoGT502]

The best KRONOS PERFORMANCE PROFESSIONAL 👏 I love that

[@alpao74]

Many thanks John, you're very kind 😊🙏

[@SeraphimHanischMusic]

I have a first generation Kronos. I souped it up a bit - it has 210GB of storage for sounds and samples, but is maxed out at 4GB RAM. I agree with Daniel Morales, it is a fantastic instrument and it is the flagship of all my hardware synths. I would buy a second one if I had the money to do so, maybe an LS88 model. ))

[@gq_79]

How did you do it? Replaced the hd?

[@SeraphimHanischMusic]

@@gq_79 Well, yes - and the funny thing was, I had a certified tech do it, but later when I had some problems with it not booting, I opened it up and fixed it myself. The Kronos original version has two USB-A style ports on its main board for SATA SSD's - so all they did was add one and mount it, and I think even the mounting is a no-brainer on this. It is possible to put huge SSDs on this if one wants, but I think they just need to be SATA compatible. NVME probably would not work even with an adapter, though I think if Korg wanted to make a Kronos that booted from NVME, they could have a machine that boots up in 20 seconds or less instead of four minutes. It is a very simple synth - a tiny Atom processor running Linux, I think. But what a machine, right? I love mine.

[@MarianoPerez]

I purchased my kronos X 88 last year. Part of me wanted to get the kronos 2 88, but I only paid $1600 USD. Its hard to beat that especially when it came with the Australian piano expansion. The piano sounds are fantastic and certainly better than most sounds out there. Im considering buying the italian grand expansion ex21 that is on sale right now. But i have to decide between the italian or upgrading my fantom 88 to the newsets update that includes the german grand.

[@rarvind7934]

I saw many Korg keyboard like Korg Triton or Triton extreme or m3 or m50 because it has feature like register numeric buttons with hold button feature it is to change any tone within in second please add that feature on latest keyboard on your Korg Nautilus or Kronos 1 or Kronos 2 or any new Korg keyboard because I am having Korg Triton keyboard it is easy to register any tone on numeric buttons with hold feature and it easier than touch please add that feature

[@janeskneereplacementjourney]

Great review which is really helpful. Thank you. 😊

[@alpao74]

Thank you Jane, I appreciate it ☺️

[@MarkSomosoMusic]

Great jamming man.. Amazing performance. I also used korg kronos on my channel

[@alpao74]

Very kind of you, thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback ☺️🙏

[@lucabertone]

I suoni della Korg sono spettacolari :)

[@alpao74]

Assolutamente Luca! Una macchina da guerra su cui puoi fare sempre affidamento ☺️ Grazie 🙏

[@Kitebrice]

Congratulations for your top-level demonstration ! Maybe you can help me: I am trying to obtain a nice organ sound with my almost-new Kronos to mimic the one they have on “born to be wild” and I can’t manage to have such a round , deep and lively Hammond sound. Especially the Leslie effects they produce but not only. Around 11:00 in your video you do very nice organ expression and maybe you can give me some advices to get the nice Hammond sound I am looking for? Thank you very much in advance!

[@alpao74]

Thank you for your kind comment ☺️ The major contributors of that organ sound was playing in real time with the drawbars, the leslie on / off switch, but especially I turned some of the real time controller knobs all the way up: knob 2 (amp gain) and knobs 6, 7 and 8 (eq). Hit the "control surface" virtual button on the right side of the display to see what every knob does.

[@Kitebrice]

@@alpao74 thank you so much Alex to have taken time to answer me. I’ll try to improve on real time modulation ; it is not something I am very used to. Do you think the Kronos can get close to the organ on born to be wild ?

[@profitstyles1683]

I'm looking to buy one korg kronos 2 I want to buy the rite one how can I tell the difference between kronos 1 and then 2

[@ImaginationBlue]

Nice job. You're a great player.

[@alpao74]

You are very kind ☺️. Thank you 🙏

[@ImaginationBlue]

@@alpao74 Absolutely my friend. ; ) Alex, how do you like the analog modeling, and in general, the analog synth leads? That bass is nice.

[@alpao74]

@@ImaginationBlue Like everything else about the Kronos, the analog sounds to me sound "perfect". What I mean by that is that they are just right, effective, ready to simulate an analog keyboard in a way that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in a live music situation or even studio, unless you had the real analog keyboard next and you were able to compare them on the spot. Even the sample based HD1 synths to me sound full and vibrant (let alone the AL1 and Polysix). 😊

[@alphasxsignal]

Can you get this fixed if something breaks????????????? Since they don't make it any longer.

[@Herriottaesthetics]

Having trouble getting my mac mini m2 to see the kronos

[@Justin_collier]

I have a kawai mp7se, which is a newer keyboard but in all reality it’s an amazing board, amazing touch and feel, piano sound, for a board it has alot packed in. I want to trade it in to try something new, as i feel the sound in the kawai can be old school at times. Even though the kronos is older, do you think it would be worth the trade for me? There really aren’t many keyboards that use RH3 that has very pleasing action. I’ve played on the most expensive boards like the yc88, stage 3, nothing compared to rh3. Yahamas don’t have the LET UP feature in their action so when you play your finger tips go straight to the bottom and slam down, rh3 dosnt do that to you! I’ve been looking at a kurzweil but they dont have midi thru which makes no sense on why kurzweil been making boards for years but they lack that midi thru port so that kind of turned me away as kurzweil has been using the same sounds the last 20 years that are super old school. The sound on the kronos don’t sound all that bad at all!!!! I wonder if switching from the MP7SE to the korg would be better for a engineer that makes music like me

[@evolution227]

Absolutely woukd make a huge difference to you. Kronos is the gift that keeps on giving. I’ve had one since 2012, and it’s still showing me new and useful things about it. Incredible sound too for the discerning ears of an engineer.

[@Justin_collier]

@@evolution227 how is the boot time and dealing with that couldn’t you just put in a newer solid state drive to make it faster?

[@evolution227]

@@Justin_collier No it’s about 1:45 or more depending upon what you designate it to autoload. The second ssd drive is to stream from, and provide more storage for exoo pi and ions, custom sounds or whatever files are relevant . You get used to it, and honestlly, the Kronos will have you so wrapped up in what it’s rREALLY capable of that you won’t be mucbothered by that much.

[@germanshepherdlover2613]

What are the keys like for playing piano in the 61 key model?

[@alpao74]

Not the best experience for piano to be honest...

[@germanshepherdlover2613]

@@alpao74 same action as the Kronos 2 (61)? Pity they didn't do a weighted action 61 for piano players that want small form factor.

[@johnjabesofficial]

I wish to buy Kronos 🥺🥺

[@Adriano-94]

Avis Kronos vs PA5X?

[@Evangelionism]

Is this fully-weighted, or semi-weighted? Is it MIDI-compatible?

[@alpao74]

This particular version is the 61 keys, so it's a synth action. Not very weighted at all, but still a nice action, very expressive keyboard. Yes fully MIDI compatible.

[@jeffreyreid6981]

If u listen to the Memphis soul organ it sound like a real hammon

[@Seekimo]

Those Strings @8:46

[@oldschoollee]

Definitely

[@alaraaslan2476]

Nord steg 4 or korg kronos 2

[@citygent101]

Absolute nightmare to use as a midi instrument in DAW .

[@jacobbrown1690]

It’s digital. Forget it

[@alpao74]

I know.. :) but they pay me to play piano parts and... I've tried with my prophet 5 and it doesn't really work 😂

[@AT-eh2eo]

Analog isn’t one size fit all. Lol

[@darrickkeels6387]

@@alpao74 😂😂

[@alpao74]

@@darrickkeels6387 🙄🙄😂

[@gq_79]

Beautiful keyboard but as a Korg tradition, awful pianos

[@stevegriffiths566]

This is a synthesizer!!! It should be used as one why on earth demos on you tube constantly play pianos organs and clavs arrrgghhhhh it's not an electronic piano !!!!!?