There are times when a keyboard is so incredibly powerful that you keep discovering more and more useful things inside.
Last week I played a concert of original songs accompanying singer-songwriters. I used to carry a 30” rack full of MIDI synth modules and 3 keyboards to get all my sounds. With just the Kronos and one Combination per song, I could split and/or layer up to 16 different keyboard sounds, played sampled background vocals and was able to turn any of the sounds on or off with a switch and the sliders controlled individual volumes. The best was that the songwriter turned to me at rehearsal and said what great sounds I was using. Getting hired for additional gigs means having a keyboard set-up that sounds great and is easy to use.
Owning a computer based recording system means that I do not need workstations for sequencing and audio recording. I decided to test the Kronos’ sequencer mode and recorded a simple track by copying a Combination into the sequencer and laid 8 tracks in one pass. Just as easily as one can record up to 16 MIDI tracks, one can record 16 audio tracks along with your MIDI, so I selected “Audio Track one”, plugged a microphone in the back of the keyboard, adjusted levels of the mic, hit Record and Play and sang along. The great thing was I never left the "main Sequencer Mode page" and what makes the Korg Kronos even better was that I was able to create all this music without reading the manual!
John Ebata
Piano, Keyboard & Recording Manager
905.770.5222 x261
john@cosmomusic.ca
