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Yes, with the number of velocity layers employed for the EPs alone, it had to be a decent size.

The Krome's 3.8Gb is the size when converted to 44.1khz 16 bit. Presumably it's compressed into a much smaller memory space before conversion. Let's hope it's not "lossy" compression.

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Isn't the "NH action" the same as in the SP170?

Good catch! Yes. So it's not an action that's going to compete with the high end actions, but it's still a reasonable MOX8 competitor. I would reserve final judgment until I played it and see how well they may have matched its response to the piano sound in the Krome.

Hello, I listened to the first demo and enjoyed it- it might be the Korg piano sound I am looking for. However, I do not find the NH action that wonderful. I might consider this in the 61 key version but their keybeds in the M50 and LE have been lacking.

What I really wanted it to have would have been a digital recorded like in the Juno Gi

@$1500 street it's going to be a big mover for Korg I'd predict ....

Boy, that would be disappointing if the action is the same one as SP170. Unfortunately actions are the achilles heel of Korg. It's not that they aren't playable, just not a really satisfying feeling under the fingers. Aside from that Korg offers a lot for a good price.

So I guess for the 88 it's NH (so so keybed), no three sensors (?) - o yes.....and no AT ;-)

I guess it would have made the Krome too expensive (and heavy) to do otherwise. On the other hand , if Casio manages to put a very good keybed with ivory / three sensor / graded into their low cost piano's - why couldn't Korg come up with a better alternative to the NH (enhanced NH II ?). They promote the Krome in the video very much as a stage piano with extra's , so 88 keybed quality is and important feature. Or should be.

Actually, now I'm not sure it uses the SP170 action. I noticed that the 61 key M50 and 61 key Kronos actions are both described identically as "Natural Touch" semiweighted boards, yet those two feel different from each other. So it seems that using the same description doesn't necessarily mean they are using the same keybed.


It's so subjective, some people really like the RH3, and someone in another forum just mentioned they like the SP170 keybed better than the RH3. But, personally, I tend to agree, the Korg weighted actions are playable, but they have nothing really competitive with the best from Yamaha and Roland.


I'm always wary of the "If X can do it, why can't Y" arguments. A lot of companies have developed their own proprietary technologies, sometimes covered by patents. Or they just have expertise in different areas. Or some may manufacture an item or component themselves, while others may farm it out to subcontractors, and either decision may affect what designs are feasible or cost-effective for them. The fact that different companies do different things well is what keeps them all going. ;-)

I added the Korg KROME "German D Grand" to the begging section of the DPBSD.


I wonder if/how it will differ from the Kronos AP? And I wonder why they talk about 8 velocity layers in the EPs but not the AP?

You really have to ask? ;-)

If 88 keys of unlooped samples in 8 layers took 4.7 gb in the Kronos, I would guess 4 layers in the 2+ gb version in the Krome.

That would kind of suck, but then again I suppose it would be par for the DP course (where manufacturers never met a sample set they couldn't somehow make even smaller).

It's weird how DP product announcements are almost uniformly a massive let down.

This is a budget model, after all.

It has 3.8 gb total PCM memory. 2.8 gb is for the piano, and since it is still unstretched and unlooped, the only way I can think of for them to have reduced its footprint from the Kronos' 4.7 would be to cut the # of vel layers.

BTW, 600 mb is dedicated to the EPs.

IMO, the best thing about the Kronos was the semi modeled EP engine. Too bad it isn't making it over. Hopefully an SV2 will retain the EP engine of the Kronos.

The Kronos turned out to be a big POS for me. I just sold it and really don't think I would consider another Korg unless they dramatically improve their build quality and QC.

With multiple EPs @ 8 layers each I'm thinking they're probably kind of hacked up.

600 MB
/ 2 (stereo)
/ 2 (16 bit samples)
/ 8 layers
/ 3 EPs
/ 44100 (samples per second)
/ 88 notes

= a whopping 1.6 seconds per sample. Meh.

"Lavish amounts of PCM memory have been used for this purpose..." Ha!

.

Dewster- thank you for working through that. i've never seen the math behind this.....

so if the American Steinway for Ivory II has 49 GB of data and 20 velocity layers- for one piano.... What would that be in comparison? i think they are 24 bit samples.

Yes, the more I learn about the Krome, the more I still see a market for an SV2, with the full 8-layer pianos and the full EP modeling. (Maybe the CX3 engine too.)


What I'm finding most intriguing about it at the moment is the 2.0 OS that allows you to load your own streaming samples. Someone in another forum has already loaded a couple of Ivory pianos onto it. Interesting possibilities.

The original Rhodes and Wurli pianos were mono (sometimes with stereo fx), so it's a safe bet the samples are mono. So assuming the rest of your math is right, that's 3.2 seconds per sample. That's not bad, I think.

24 GB
/ 2 (stereo)
/ 3 (24 bit samples)
/ 20 layers
/ 44100 samples per second (?)
/ 88 notes

= 51 seconds per sample (average).

Lower notes (and possibly higher velocities) would get the lion's share. Pretty respectable.

I think you need at least 30 seconds average before it's anywhere near right (solo recording quality). Too bad no one has attempted MP3 or similar compression instead of the wholesale violence of looping / stretching / limited velocity layers.


As these things go suppose (but the bar is incredibly low).

I was probably just born in the wrong century.