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I just spent some time on Youtube checking out the latest keyboards and man oh man did I find one. The brand new Korg Kronos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHV3rnkGt3EThis thing is so awesome even I am completely blown away and I thought I had seen everything in keyboards. I spent about an hour playing it this afternoon at West LA Music and it looks and feels even better than it does in the video. I'm not going to go into the whole thing except to say this, the guy doing the intro spiel says this is a game changer and he's right. Every other keyboard will have 64, 128, maybe 256 megs of on board sample ROM and if you're lucky another 256 of sample RAM. That's a lot. He selected the German Grand patch and said the sample set alone for that piano is 4.7 Gigs. 4.7 Gigs!?! This keyboard has a 60 gig SSD for onboard sample storage. Every sample and there's tons of them are like that. It's like a hardware Gigasampler. But, that's only for the sample based synths. There's 9 completely different discrete synths in this keyboard and all of them can be plugins on your computer system via USB. The 8" touch screen is amazing and then you can control...Ah, I'm starting to ramble. All you keyboardists out there just check out this video. I wanna, I wanna, I..Want..It, Waaaaa...... My problem is I never buy the latest and greatest when they first come out, I wait a while for a better price but man, this thing may just get me. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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yeah, somebody else posted a link to this when it first appeared at NAMM. It really is an impressive instrument (with an impressive price tag)
I don't even play keys but the video made me want one too.
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With the cash in my pocket to spend up to 3k on a keyboard, I spent 2 weeks messing with them.
I bought the Korg ps60 for a lot less. The sucker is light. And that's good for me.
We played a noon gig yesterday. I found out 3 hours before that my Bose sound system was having issues, and assured that the room was not big, hauled out my Roland Cube60 and we used that. It was heavy though. Worked out ok.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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That is an awesome sounding midi keyboard. It is incredible how far we have come with the GM sounds, wow. I have been a Yamaha user (keyboards) from the start because of their sounds. Korg and the others have also come a loooooong way with their GM sounds. The Kronos is actually MUCH cheaper then Yamaha's flagship Tyros 4 keyboard. I am hoping I can afford a new keyboard this tax return season  I haven't started looking yet, but this Kronos sounds incredible. Does Roland have anything to compete with these two (Tyros/Kronos) yet? Anyone been looking lately for me? lol Thanks for the link. That was an awesome demo of the features on that thing. Thanks !!! Trax
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This keyboard does eveverything that other keyboard does plus has 9synth engines extra which normally you have only 2 or 3 extra in other keyboards, probably you dont like what he's showing but that keyboard has everything you need, yu can even design a sound of an instrument and transforming into something never been heard before, what more you need?
Well...I do!!
Surround myself with my Korg M1, Korg Triton, Korg Karma, Korg PA-80 (Can you tell what
trademark I favor most??)...Yamaha Motif-88, Motif Rack, Roland XV-5080, Roland G-1000
and Akai S-5000...
but I'd sure like to add the ol' Kroney to my gunbelt/Walther PPKS!!
Yamaha...Motif ES-8, Motif Rack, CS6X
Korg...Karma,Triton Classic, PA-80, M-1+
AkaiSampler-S5000, Roland.. X5080 Rack/G-1000 Arranger
Various Guitars/Basses Amps Pedals Rec.Equip.
Plus, BIAB 2015 and Sonar Platinum 2015 Upgrade from Cakewalk's Sonar X-3
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Wow, my old Korg M1 is really showing its age now! I wonder if they offer a "PlusPAK" upgrade discount? 
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Wow, I thought I had a keyboard museum GDaddy.
Yes, those 9 separate synths are the bomb. Every company will put elements of their best keyboards in something like this like Roland putting some organ patches from their VK8 organ clone in their Fantom series. Here, Korg has put their entire CX-3 inside the Kronos. Same for the EP section. It's their entire SV-1 Vintage Keys board plus more that's not included in those boards according to their blurbs. Those keyboards sell for around $2,500 each and that's only 2 of the 9.
Everybody has opinions, I've read on a couple of forums where someone said they don't like the German Grand in the Kronos. They must be on crack or something. They haven't adjusted the height of the lid, the mic placement and mic type, the stereo field, the resonance dampers, and this isn't even going into the full software EQ/compressors/mixing/mastering suite that's available to adjust the sound. Anybody who can't get a good piano sound out of a 4.7 gig sample using all of that just isn't paying attention.
For me, I'm probably going to go back to Kurzweil and pick up a PC3 with the new 2.01 OS. I was looking at it last year and didn't like their KB3 but they have greatly improved it with the new OS. Since they've just come out with the new PC3K version the standard PC3 is now going for $1,500+ in some places. As much as I love that Kronos the PC3 is no slouch and I'll wait for the Kronos to drop down a bit.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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I am sure this is a wonderful instrument. I would love to have one BUT...
The long skinny knobs appear to be destined for breakage. Dont look like they will stand up to the stresses of working for a living.
The lettering on the knobs and sliders is way too small to work for me.
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I damn near lost my M1-Plus when my car engine blew up in the southwest Texas/Mexican Border mountains. Actually I was traveling from San Antonio to San Fran with what was left of my instruments (most lost in a breakin in San Antone--wonderful town for burglaries...)!
So I still have the ol' Plus and about a dozen Ram cards...
I've arranged to be buried with it and my cold hands clutching it and my Walther lovingly! I'm workin' towards my 78th next Feb 22nd..if I don't accidently blow
my my brains, or the "Plus" to bits...
Yamaha...Motif ES-8, Motif Rack, CS6X
Korg...Karma,Triton Classic, PA-80, M-1+
AkaiSampler-S5000, Roland.. X5080 Rack/G-1000 Arranger
Various Guitars/Basses Amps Pedals Rec.Equip.
Plus, BIAB 2015 and Sonar Platinum 2015 Upgrade from Cakewalk's Sonar X-3
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Bob, are you going to put a Nord Stage into your budget as well, or do you think this is enough?
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I've tested the Nord quite a bit at West LA Music. I like it, very good sounds but still as a full go-to keyboard it's too limited plus as good as the Nord's B3 is, I don't like the led "drawbars" I need something physical. I've been to Nord's website and checked out their library of downloadable sounds and again good but limited. For the money I think the v2.0 PC3 offers way more considering Kurzweils library of on board sounds.
I know you're an organ guy like I am, go online and find some PC3 videos also look for Daniel Fisher's "Big Fat Leslie" PC3 organ patches. He's with Sweetwater but they're freely available for download. Killer organ, and it certainly puts it in the same category as the other B3 clones. They're all slightly different from each other but remember real B3's have quite a bit of differences too. I remember one session I did way back where the studio had a B3 all set up ready to go and the thing was like brand new, not a scratch. It was way to clean sounding and turning up the Leslie didn't help, there was none of that normal overdrive in it. I was wondering if some tech had serviced both the B3 preamp and Leslie amp, made them too perfect and took all the character out of it. I hated it but since I wasn't the producer I couldn't go into the control room and tell the engineer to try to fatten it up with some post processing. I was hired to just go in, lay down some stuff and go home but that B3 sucked and any of these modern clones would have blown it away.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Quote:
...skinny knobs appear to be destined for breakage. Dont look like they will stand up to the stresses of working for a living.
Appearances aside, I would not make that assumption based on the smaller size of the controls at all. Technology marches on and there is no reason to believe that the smaller controls would not last as long, if not longer, than the older and larger predecessors.
Quote:
The lettering on the knobs and sliders is way too small to work for me.
That can be a valid complaint, but the sheer usability and sound of the thing might place that into backseat category for me. There are workarounds, such as simply spending whatever small amount of time it would take to memorize the locations of essential controls, which should be done on any equipment used for live gigging anyway IMO. After all, my good sight-impaired friend has to memorize the locations of all controls on everything he plays and frankly he can control my stuff faster and better than I can simply because I will still lean on the crutch of labels and being able to see those menu items as they cross the screen. Frank, on the other hand, I show him once how to access something - and it sticks forever - or so it seems.
--Mac
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My Korg has a lot of small print, and I need glasses to see the paper, but if I'm playing my keyboard, I've tested and figured the thing in and out, and played 10,000 tunes on it. I don't need to read much, just hit the presets I like.
If I'm playing something that's not intuitive, I print it on the leadsheet at the top. In my books (gig books) I might have 15 pieces per section.
I don't think you can judge a keyboard you use every day on the basis the print is too small. I actually had mine across the arms of my favorite chair with headphones on messing with the thing for a week before setting it up on the stand. Sounds crazy but we had to become friends.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Fascinating machine, and Korg again leads the way in keyboard development. I'll never get one, though. I still haven't gotten more than 25% out of my PA800. It does so much and I just don't even begin to scratch the surface of what it can do.
That's not to say I wouldn't like a PA3X, but if I never got another keyboard, the PA800 would most likely be enough.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Yes, that Pa3x sounds like it's really something. So far it looks like it hasn't been released in the US yet, most of the demos are out of Europe. I haven't decided what I'm going to get yet and the PA2x is still a possibility. I don't really need an arranger for my gigs but since I bought my Pa1x last year I just can't stay away from it, it's simply a ton of fun to play even though some of the sounds are not up to par like the organs. So far the prices on the Pa2x haven't dropped at all because the Pa3 isn't available. When it finally comes out then maybe the Pa2 would be a good deal.
That's the one thing that might hold me back on the Kronos or the PC3, they're not arrangers but man, the sounds on that thing...when I'm just playing around on my Korg what's constantly going through my mind is do I want to give this up for the awesome sounds on one of those new keyboards because unlike you GDaddy, I just don't have room to keep everything. The next keyboard I buy means I need to sell something.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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As my four ex-wives are most likely singing (in harmony), right now I'll bet...."FER THE GOOD OL' TIMES!" Jimmy Dean and Dottie West rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF7Qm-TE3Fo&feature=watch_responseBeautiful duet by Dottie and Jimmy. I did "Slowly" by them last week in a video and have been trying to put this song to video. Love the song by them. Good to see their music here my friend.
Yamaha...Motif ES-8, Motif Rack, CS6X
Korg...Karma,Triton Classic, PA-80, M-1+
AkaiSampler-S5000, Roland.. X5080 Rack/G-1000 Arranger
Various Guitars/Basses Amps Pedals Rec.Equip.
Plus, BIAB 2015 and Sonar Platinum 2015 Upgrade from Cakewalk's Sonar X-3
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My living arrangement/storage locker/studio set-up...
is in a 33' 5th Wheel, parked in a nice Christian RV Park
in West Cocoa...why-o-why-o did I ever leave Ohio...er...
Chicago??
Oh...forgot my Yamaha CS6X, a unique lil sampling keyboard
that makes ...enuff for me~!!
Yamaha...Motif ES-8, Motif Rack, CS6X
Korg...Karma,Triton Classic, PA-80, M-1+
AkaiSampler-S5000, Roland.. X5080 Rack/G-1000 Arranger
Various Guitars/Basses Amps Pedals Rec.Equip.
Plus, BIAB 2015 and Sonar Platinum 2015 Upgrade from Cakewalk's Sonar X-3
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There must be other players in your RV park, do you ever set up one of your boards next to your 5th wheel for a little jam session?
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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I did it, I just bought a new Kurzweil PC3. Got it as new B stock on Ebay for $1,340 with shipping and it was delivered yesterday. Initial impression is this thing is awesome, the sounds are every bit as good as all the Youtube demos and for that price I decided I'm not waiting another 2 years for the Kronos to drop to that level.
Now, here's the really cool part I just discovered that relates to this forum. I was trying to find out if Kurz had updated their GM soundbank in the last few years and the answer is no. Again, the attitude is who cares about GM, right? Ok, not a deal killer because their GM bank from 6 years ago still sounds pretty decent and I also have my Sonic Cell anyway. But, what do I find in the manual?
The PC3 provides you with a GM sound set editor which allows you to replace the PC3’s default GM programs with any other PC3 factory or user created program.
How cool is that? The bread and butter sounds that we all use with Biab or midi files are absolutely first class on the PC3. The drum kits, the pianos, EP's, guitars, organs are all as good as anything out there but what's a huge problem with midi files and some Biab tracks? Horns, strings and orchestral. This is what Kurzweil is really known for. The strings and horn sections on this thing are simply outstanding and to be able to plug them into the GM bank is a very pleasant surprise.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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How's the B3 emulation? Palm slide-ability? Distortion on B3, etc.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!
It's the perfect time to expand your Band-in-a-Box® style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs. These additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® offer a wide range of genres designed to fit seamlessly into your projects. Each style is professionally arranged and mixed, helping enhance your songs while saving you time.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
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Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac is Here!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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