From ccmacdon@rogers.com Wed Dec 28 07:58:37 2011
Subject:Re: My Hammond SK1 saga is over!

Mark,
 
It's a bit too early to provide any detailed thoughts on the NORD vs the SK1 vs the CX3 in the Kronos.. (and I don't have the SK1 anymore to do side by side comparisons), but I have to say that I hated the Kronos organs when I tried them a few months ago....  the factory patches in the unit are really awful (my opinion of course), they sounded cheesy and rinky-dinky to me.  However, Fox convinced me to give the Kronos a try and, after spending about 10 minutes editing one of the organ patches, I discovered that all I had to do was to change the EQ, and all of a sudden they sounded great. For some reason most of the factory patches have no bass when EQ'd flat, so all I had to do was add some bass and they sounded hugely better. 
 
I have just loaded the new OS (1.5), and started creating the first "CRAIGS ORGAN" patch, and there are so many parameters it's like tweaker heaven, and with some parameters it's obvious what they do but with others it's not so obvious, so  I have a lot to figure out. So it's likely going to take me a while to get the organ sounding the way I like it. If you want to get a sense as to how good/bad the Kronos CX3 organ engine is you can give a listen to this third-party organ patches at the following site. 
 
http://www.ksounds.com/html/organimation_kronos_oasys.html
 
Some of them are OK (like the ballad organ demo), some of them (like the rock organ demo) sound as if they were programed by someone who has never played a real Hammond and doesn't really know what a Hammond really sounds like except for what they've heard of hammonds burried in the mix (which is sort of like how I would describe most of the Kronos's factory patches), because all you hear is the highend and there's no "body" to the sound. The jazz organ demo is so bad I was actually giggling.  However, I think there's gold in this Kronos, and it just has to be mined a bit.. I used to have one of the digital BX3's and I loved it (I only upgraded to the NORD C1/C2 to save my back).. and I would have to say the the new/updated CX3 engine is noticably improved (warmer, less digital sounding).  So it's just a matter of figuring out how to get around all the organ parameters, and find the sound that I like best.

Mark just off the top of my head.. straight out of the box and based on factory presents, I would rank the NORD C2 best, the HAMMOND SK1 next best, and the KRONOS last..  With some tweaking I think that the raw tonewheel sound is comparable across all three. All three leslie sims are pretty good but still not quite up to Ventilator standards, and I might give the edge to the SK1 for Percussion and C/V, and the NORD for leslie sim and fat/full/warm sound. So far I have tweaked the Kronos CX3 engine to the point where it is a very usable, but it's not quite where I want it yet.  So I have to reserve final judgement on this...

By the way Bobby I got the 61 note version, but I anticipate using it sometimes with an 88 note weighted action keyboard on the bottom tier for piano.  
 
Regards,
Craig MacDonald

11STEPS Debut CD has been awarded "2010 Best Toronto Rock CD Album" by Toronto Exclusive Magazine! "11STEPS' debut album isn't some plastic replica of today's trendy interpretations of rock music; instead, it's a shiny vintage 1970's rockin' Rolls Royce!"Cashbox Canada Magazine - September 2011
 
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Re: My Hammond SK1 saga is over!
Posted by: "mark k" mskremote@yahoo.com mskremote
Tue Dec 27, 2011 10:23 pm (PST)

Hi Craig,

Look forward to some Youtube of the band when you take the Kronos out,

Sound on Sound in a recent review

http://www.soundons ound.com/ sos/may11/ articles/ korg-kronos. htm

expressed the opinion re the CX3Â

"This version — which, in my opinion, remains the best and most authentic sounding of the so‑called ‘clonewheel’ organs — has now made its way
into the Kronos."

As you have had the opportunity to compare the Nord, SK1 and Kronos in the same setup in the past week how would you rank their clone wheel sound?

____________ _________ _________ __
From: ccmacdon
To: CloneWheel@yahoogro ups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 2:08 PM
Subject: [CWSG] My Hammond SK1 saga is over!

Â
So my SK1 saga is over.. I returned the SK1 and I just bought a Korg Kronos... so now I'll be back using the built in CX3 engine that I used to use in my BX3! Fox recommended this and I got a great "boxing-day" deal on the Kronos.. (only $500 more than my SK1) and as a overall package it's easily 2-3 times the keyboard that the SK1 is, and yet it only cost about 20% more, and holy crap the pianos and the EP's are f-ing outstanding! !

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