For those who liked the pianos of the Kronos, but found the 88 too heavy, too expensive, or too full of stuff they didn't care about, the new Korg Krome might be the answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91uwSddPO24

I'm curious about how they scaled back the piano sound. They say it is "Kronos derived" and features "full length samples for each key" but they can't be the full 4.7 gb pianos, because the unit only contains about 4 gb of samples total.

Looks pretty good, thanks for posting!

Still waiting for the SV-2 though...

James
x

It's a Rompler WS with a modified Kronos OS under the hood. Replacement for the M50 range. Don't expect miracles but it's priced right and it out MOXes the MOX by a pretty wide margin. But a cheaper version of the Kronos? I thought the Kronos was/is pretty cheaply built anyway and this worries me a bit.

This is very interesting. Maybe there will be no SV-2 now the Krome is here??? I wonder what the compromises are. Cheaper DACs? More compressed samples? Fewer velocity layers? Even so, it's possible it will sound as good as any current sub $3k board, and potentially better. I love the fact that Korg are leading the way with full-note samples.

Well its going to be cheap ....but I think the SV-2 is still on the cards as is a full Kronos rack. But with Korg ...who knows ? Their innovation recently has been encouraging if they can get their manufacturing quality up to the others they will do very well with this. I like the Kronos pianos very much so these should be fairly good too.

<SNIFF> I can't believe people talk about the SV-1 with such reverence. I think I'm gonna cry! Yes, I own one, and even though the posters here are mentioning SV-2, its reference to its predecessor cannot be denied. The SV-1, with 500mb of memory, is pretty groundbreaking. They got away by stretching out the samples of one key left and right to a whole step. I imagine SV-2 might have, like 4gb of ROM so each key could possible be individually sampled. They'd only have around 4 or 5 velocity layers, but that's not so bad. 12 or more velocity layers would require something like 30 or more gb, not practical for today's market. (Then again, what do I know?)

500mb for the SV-1? Are you sure?

how good is the NH keyed ? Any tech info on that ?

500 mb? on a SV-1..... I don't think so

I'd heard that the SV-1 had around 500mb of samples. And Studiologic claims that the Numa Piano has 1GB - so who knows?

Is that a little bit like saying "an MP3 file contains around 50mb of audio data"?

Well, every manufacturer seems to use different measurement methods. The discussions about polyphony reveal similar presentation of numbers that have little meaning by themselves.

My LCD display has 50.000.000 : 01 contrast ratio :-)

In further consideration, I suspect they mostly cut back on the number of velocity layers.


I hadn't thought about that, but this arguably obviates the need for an SV2. It offers better (near Kronos) levels of piano sounds in a lightweight package that would probably sell for about the same as an SV2 would sell for. I do see the SV appeal in terms of aesthetics/ergonomics, but other than that (and the tube?), I'm not sure where an SV fits into the Korg world once this appears.


It definitely has some advantages over the MOX. Touchscreen, availability of a 73 key version, and what most people will probably consider better pianos and EPs (though personally, I'm fine with the MOX pianos, less so their EPs). OTOH, I tend to like Yamaha's acoustic instrument patches better than Korg's, and there's still the variable of what Korg's new 88 action will feel like.

I'm seeing it as pretty much an M50 which much improved piano and EP sounds, and when it comes to an 88 key version, lighter weight than its predecessor. I'm not sure whether that would make it a MOX killer though. But there is more to be determined...

They seem to have revamped the touch screen too. Unlike the Kronos, you can actually turn the knobs and change values on the actual screen instead of using the buttons on the side. Bigger screen too. Seems like a big improvement. Will be interesting to see what the action is like.

Has this action already been used in previous products and if yes so, how good is it ?

It's only € 1570 in the uk and shipping very soon ! If the action is good, this board is very, ver tempting ! But I think I ask exactly the right question; how good is it from a critical piano player point of view ?! Especially when compared to the offers of the competition...

Music Radar has the press release - no word on how the actions differ from previous offerings:
Music Radar

Example sound files here:
Korg

http://www.pianotraders.co.nz/piano-details.php?-571

The above link will specify the amount of ROM in the Korg SV-1. It is 512mb. This number is reported on many forums, including those of Jordan Rudess and Greg Phillinganes. The amount of ROM in the SV-1 was part of the reason that swayed me to buying it in the first place. That, and the fact, that a real 12AX7 tube amp was built into it.

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.

From what I've read on Korgs forum, the general consensus is that almost the only thing this has in common with the Kronos is the K in the name.

It's really a souped up Korg M50.

If I understand correctly, it only has the 256MB of pcm rom that the M50 had, with the remainder of the 3.8 GB being taken up with the piano.

So it has 120 note polyphony instead of the 80 on the M50
It has a bigger and better screen than the M50
It has better piano section than the M50

Apart from that, there's little difference from the M50.

That said, it's still an awesome price for what you get and no doubt will fly off the shelves. But I do think Korg are trying to make people think this is a cut down Kronos when it isn't at all.

Edit: this YouTube clip says different to what I've said above, stating many other sounds are from the Kronos

http://www.youtube.com/v/OgF0aARbGeE&feature=player_embedded&autoplay=1

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?