(P)Review: Korg Kronos:

Rarely do I see an instrument come onto the market any more than genuinely gets me excited. After owning almost every type of synthesizer at one time or another, and almost certainly at least playing every type, few things seem to impress like they used to for me. Recently there has been one glaring exception to that for me though: the Korg Kronos.

The Kronos:  

Billed as a workstation keyboard, the Kronos really looks to be nothing short of amazing. It sports just about every music technology and synthesis method that Korg has every implemented in one very sleek, very slick-looking keyboard. This list includes:

1.      SGX-1 Grand piano emulation, featuring German grand piano and Japanese grand piano models

2.      MDS Electric piano emulation, featuring both tine-based and reed-based electric pianos.

3.      CX-3, Korg’s proprietary tone wheel organ emulation

4.      MS-20EX, a software replica of Korg’s original monster monosynth, the MS-20

5.      PolysixEX, a software replica of Korg’s famous lush polysynth, the Polysix

6.      AL-1, what Korg advertises as a modern take on what an analog synthesizer should be.

7.      MOD7, an incredibly flexible model of FM synthesis

8.      STR-1, a complex string modeling instrument, featuring plucked, struck, and bowed string models.

9.      HD1, a high-definition wave playback engine, featuring massive sample libraries as well as wave sequencing.

Yep, I was excited too when I saw this list. There doesn’t seem to be a single thing you can’t do here. Every one of these engines is powerful and flexible enough that they could probably reasonably well work as their own independent instrument. In one body though, it makes you wonder if you’ll ever need any other piece of equipment again. The extensive synthesis methods aren’t the only thing that the Kronos has going for it though; this keyboard packs quite a broad variety of tricks up its sleeves.

The performer’s workstation:

            While this keyboard would sit right at home in just about any studio environment, it undoubtedly shines in just about any on-the-road gigging musician’s equipment lineup as well. Korg has developed a performance set list organizational scheme that allows you to store what is essentially over 16,000 performance combi’s (“combi’s” meaning programs for sounds laid out across the keyboard map). They can be organized into grids of 16 combi’s per page, so a large number of these performances can be reached and switched between without even changing screens. This organizational method alone is worthy of very high praise, but Korg took it a step further: on most keyboards, when you switch between patches or combi’s, the sound engine sort of resets, so any notes that were still depressed when the patch was switched go silent. Not so in the case of Kronos; switching between patches, performances, combi’s etc… allows you to still sustain notes from the previous loaded patch, even if you start playing new notes for the new patch. This allows for incredible flexibility for live performers. This scheme, coupled with the utterly jaw-dropping sound engine on-board (and the inclusion of Korg’s KARMA engine, which I will leave explanation of to Wikipedia), makes for a both a gigging musician’s and a studio producer’s dream.

Demo clip:

Unfortunately, I do not yet own one of these fantastic keyboards, so I cannot provide any original audio demo clips of it in action. I can, however, link you to a YouTube video of a premier party for the Kronos put on by Korg that demonstrates every on-board facility of the instrument, most of which by some incredibly talented musicians. I will warn you, this video is incredibly awesome to watch because of said musicians and it is an hour long, so BE PREPARED TO SET ASIDE TIME.