I got the bug.....Love the Arranger for live and songwriting. I feel once I am ready for Studio work the sounds are limited.....

Thoughts anyone?

Hi Steve,

Liked your site and songs. Did you arrange these all and are these your originals too? Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Steve...sounds great. Are all backing instruments from pa? Sounds like guitars are played over the top. Nice pedal steel. Recorded at home?

Nice job!

jingleman

I don’t know what a synth could add to your existing arsenal. Maybe vsti’s ala EastWest could add some variation for you.

Hey guys, I appreciate the comments. I guess this thread is going a different direction .... I wrote all the songs and sang on them... I have a producer I have worked with in Nashville for years on my Country tunes, those are live players.

I am wondering about combining the Kronos with the PA 4 X for studio work at home.

Bachus would be a good resource as he has both the pa4x and Kronos. If your looking for more synth type timbre’s...the Kronos is hard to beat. (IMHO)

jingleman

Its an incredible combination..
The kronos is still the most powerfull sound engine in hardware
You can layer and split up to 16 sounds
Incredible piano, synth, cinematic, organ, ep’s ..
And Karma and many other tools on top of that..
Next to that with a single button(ext), you can choose it to be a full master controller
Comtrolling VST’s.. and more on a laptop.

Where it comes to sound design and and comtroll, its the perfect asset to any studio
If you add the pa4x which is the perfect tool for playing backings (midi/audio/styles)
You have the best of all worlds..

So is it perfect?
No, because there is no simple integration between kronos and pa4x
You have to preprogram everything.. nothing works out of the box..
But if you do so, its as close as you can come to perfect right now..

The pa4x and the Kronos enhance eachother..
The 88 keybed of my kronos is very allround..
Allowing for both piano, organ and synth solo’s
I love the keybed a lot..
Often i just use the keybed to play the pa4x..arranger amd sounds

Other times i play piano parts on the kronos, or organ right and bass left.. while using the arranger of the pa4x on top..

If there are any more specific questions
I will galdly answer them.

It’s not clear Steve whether you are doing the studio work at home to replace using your producer and real musicians or if it’s just for personal consumption .

If you are just laying g down tracks for your producer to get a good idea of what you are aiming at in terms of your songs thst will then be played by session musicians , then the pa4x is really all you need as any serious mastering , mixing etc will be done by the producer , studio engineer etc .

If it’s just for home consumption and you have the desire and money then go for it with this caution :

If you are predominantly composing music for the country / Nashville type sounding industry , you will get virtually no benefit from the Kronos in terms of better sounds for that genre . The pa4x beats the Kronos on virtually all natural accoustic sounds except perhaps some of the pianos and electric pianos but in the mix you won’t hear that . The Kronos does not have guitar mode or the tricks and articulations to make natural instruments sounds realistic .

You would be spending money that would in fact give you minimal additional utility.

Obviously if you just want to experiment with very many sounds and are into sound creation and sculpting then the Kronos is your guy .

Just my opinion

I have to disagree with you on this... while Kronos does not have automatic DNC and you have to switch articulations by hand, the Kronos espescially in a studio can have some awesome acoustic instruments.. (even more so of you invest in some of the expansion packs) .. where it comes to to orchestral sounds.. the kronos by default blows my pa4x dead out of the water...

For realistic guitars and guitar strumming there are several specific Karma modes..so again your statement is jot entirely true, you can make very very realistic guitar tracks, but... thye do require more work then on the pa4x.

Again, archieving things on the Kronos takes more time then on the pa4x, a lot more time, but the results for any sound can be stellar..which includes all the country sounds one could immagine.

Where it comes to sound design on the kronos, its so deep that after all this time, as a casual musicians (2 hours a day) i still only have touched the surface.

I also do Contemporary worship and contemporary styles of music along with the Country...I believe the Karma and the 700 additional drum programs on the Kronos will keep the creative juices going.

Personally I find the instrument choices on the PA4X somewhat limited. Though I would never get rid of the Arranger, contemporary styles are virtually non-existent. Style-wise I believe it is important to stay relevant & am always evolving

Gonna make a trip to GC and play it to feel if I want weighted or the LS...

Yes, I make good money......History tells me, once I got the bug, there is only one way to satisfy it.....And I ALWAYS buy the best gear I afford....

I know, I am hopeless.......

That’s always best Steve . Try before you buy . Best of luck

Unreal. GC Sherman Oaks doesn’t have it on the floor. Flagship keyboard not on display.

Now that is surprising. But it not a much longer drive to GC in Sunset Blvd Hollywood and I would think they would have it.

Hey Nigel,

Northridge didn't have it out either. Hollywood had me on hold twice for 10 plus minutes, so I gave up for the night...I was super hungry, rather than fight Friday night traffic without confirmation the board was on display, I simply went home....

G.C. Has big DEBT problems at this time...Most all stores within 100 miles in my area read... Can Have it in three days. Not good.

Hey Bacchus I played the Kronos 88 AND the Kronos LS today....The weighted keys I don't want as i will use it as a workstation...The LS keybed did not feel as good as my PA4X which to me is perfect....Maybe the velocity curve was too weak? Anyways I figured they would be the same....Are they?

No they are different keys...

Korg Japan uses their own keybeds..
Korg Italy (pa4x) uses a Fatar keybed..
Same as in the Roland G70

I don't know the LS
But my Kronos 88 has the Korg RH3 action..
its hammer action with aftertouch
Quite light, and so it is a good trade off to play both piano and organ and synth.. For me the RH3 works well..

Check this website, its the ultimate reference for keybeds..
And so far they never been wrong..

https://www.musiker-board.de/threads/verbaute-tastaturen-und-hersteller-sammelthread.435157/

In general Roland and Korg don’t make their own keybeds...
Mostly Japanese build products use Matsushita keybeds...
And their Italian products use Fatar..

There are a few small exceptions, where Korg has used some yamaha keybeds in the past..
And Rolands high end piano keybeds of the PH-a series are not branded at all...

Both the G70 as well as the PA4x use a form of Fatar TP8 keybed..
And both are top knotch..


In general people quote this reference when keybed questions are asked on forums like gearslutz, pianoforum and keyboardcorner... all asumed professional forums...

The German website is seen as an authority where it comes to technical knowledge
Maybe your dealer is/was wrong... espescially the g70 keybed was disussed quite a lot, since it has ever been so popular.. i will stick to this website untill you can proof me wrong with actuall proof.

Maybe if you open up our G70, and check the internal keyboard, you will see its a fatar... just compare it to the fatar in case you can not find a print/name on it

http://www.fatar.com/Pages/TP_8S.htm

That way you will know for sure.

Back on topic....

The pa4x keybed is top knotch fatar build... and among the best ever...
And many people agree it feels better then the Matsushita build LS keybed..

I had a Fatar MIDI keyboard for a while, had to return it because sometimes some sounds got frozen (as if I didn't release a key). It was a semi-weighted keyboard.

Can't say that I loved anything about that keyboard. The keys were fine, but overall quality seemed poor. The store told later that they would no longer sell it due to its low quality.

Later I played some PSR's, also played continuously a cheap old acoustic piano and a good Yamaha grand piano at restaurants, have got to say that PSR's keybed never seemed to me as a big problem. Of course it takes time to get adjusted, just like with new shoes, also, I think, we have to adjust our music to different instruments as well.

Just a thought. . .
It seems many people equate a "good" keyboard by how much it feels like a piano.
I don't want it to feel like a piano. The lighter and faster the better!

Fatar in general makes the keybeds not the keyboards...
They produce from cheap to high end quallity
There is quite some difference between the various fatar keybeds..
But overall their organ/synth actions are much more praised then their piano actions

When it come to keyboard preferences, i think their are 3 factors..
- quallity
- your personal preference
And a 3rd one which highly influenes the first 2 ones
- your personal experiences..
If you lets say where used to a cheap Light casio action
Chances are you will not like heavier actions..
When it comes to arranger keyboard action, it really matters weather you come from home organs, or have studied concert piano..

As with many things, to each their own..

ditto

Well said Bachus, as always!

X’s Two

So it isn't just me, the PA4x did feel superior....Still probably going to pull the trigger on the LS versus the regular KRONIS...14 pounds lighter is huge for me when and "IF" it leaves the studio. Plus I will be doing strings, bass etc on it....

Oh and thanks for getting back on topic.....