Korg Kronos Sequencer Tips
2020-09-17
1. Introduction To Stuff
For a number of reasons, I continue to be attracted to the Kronos'
sequencer. Over the past few years, I have eschewed computer-based
sequencing options, despite their perceived power, over what many
believe to be a less powerful alternative in the Kronos.
So why do I continue to use the Kronos' sequencer when I have the
likes of Cubase, Studio One and Logic at my disposal? There's a few
reasons (excluding masochism):
o Timing accuracy and latency: I find MIDI latency and jitter with
modern PC-based solutions to be extremely variable. Manufactur-
ers have come up with all kinds of clever ways to try and
improve MIDI timing on modern machines (e.g. MIDI Time Stamp-
ing), but these often only work well with particular
combinations of hardware and software. Additionally, they're not
very well documented. The jitters and latency on the Kronos are
both extremely low. At the end of the day, most modern pre-emp-
tive multi-tasking operating systems do not place a priority on
timing accuracy.
o Ergonomics: This might sound like a strange reason, but every-
thing is right there in front of you: control surface, touch
screen, keyboard. I've never found a good solution ergonomically
for using a controller with a computer. Also, I simply find
myself being more productive with the tactile nature of the Kro-
nos, rather than transitioning between keyboard, PC keyboard and
mouse. Now, I know you can customise most sequencers to work
well with a controller keyboard, but as a programmer I
inevitably end up down a rabbit-hole of writing macros to get
everything to talk to one another, rather than making music.
o Integration: Everything is nicely integrated into one, cohesive
package.
o Simplicity: Sometimes, less is more - not having 4,000 different
ways to quantise a take can actually be a blessing.
o Stability: This thing, especially on the latest firmware, is
pretty much rock-solid. I can count the number of crashes on it
in seven years with one hand.
So is the Kronos sequencer perfect? Far from it! And this is what I
like about it. I spend less time installing updates in the hope of
a minor workflow improvement (at the risk of breaking everything
else), and more time learning to work within its limitations. Cer-
tainly there are features I would love to see added, but I accept
it for what it is.
There's also a stack of things you can do on the Kronos that are
simply impossible on most PC-based sequencers, which can help miti-
gate some of the other limitations.
What I wanted to go through are a few of the tricks and techniques
I've learned over the years to help you get the most out of the
sequencer in the Kronos. Some of these may be really obvious, par-
ticularly if you've used the sequencer extensively before. But
hopefully there might be something in here that's useful to you if
you're just starting out on the Kronos, or if you're giving the
sequencer another try. Would love to hear your tips and tricks too!
2. Think Different
The Kronos is not a PC sequencer. It is not designed to be used
with a mouse. Trying to edit visually on the Kronos in the same way
you would on a PC is an exercise in frustration. Instead, get into
the habit of using the keyboard and control surface to make edits.
The other key difference with the Kronos compared to PC sequences
is that almost everything you can adjust on the Kronos generates
Sysex - and Sysex can be recorded. This means that effects rout-
ings, transposition settings etc can all be adjusted whilst
recording, and the adjustments can be played back as part of a
sequence.
3. Getting Started
Global Setup: When using the internal sequencer, make sure the fol-
lowing options are set in Global. These are based on my own
experiences and preferences:
o Global -> MIDI: Song Track = For Master
o KARMA External Routing: Make sure both of these are selected.
(See tip #38 below.)
o Param Edit: Controller.
o Controllers/Scales -> Controllers: Make sure that there are no
MIDI Continuous Controllers assigned to any of the KARMA func-
tions - you can do this via the page menu. Having CCs assigned
here will cause all sorts of funky behaviour if you're suing
KARMA with the sequencer. Enable Sysex: Off (Enable only as
required - see below).
4. SysEx Filtering
Most operations on the Kronos generate and receive associated Sys-
tem Exclusive (SysEx) commands, which allows virtually all
parameter changes to be recorded and automated - even if you don't
want them to be! This can be particularly problematic because SysEx
messages aren't "channelized" - that is, they don't have a particu-
lar channel assigned to them and will be recorded to a track even
if the parameter you're changing is completely unrelated to that
track.
For example, I often find that if I adjust the volume for an audio
input whilst recording a MIDI track, the change is recorded as part
of my sequence - often not what I want.
Fortunately, the solution is simple: in Global -> MIDI, turn Off
"Enable Exclusive". This will prevent SysEx from being recorded
into the sequencer. It won't affect the recording of audio automa-
tion, nor continuous controllers. It also won't affect the
recording of MIDI volume and Pan changes if you've changed the
"Param Edit" option on the same page to "Controller". It will how-
ever prevent changes made in the Tone Adjust page being recorded,
so keep that in mind. Of course, it can be enabled as required but
it's generally advisable to leave this turned off.
5. Select The Current Track Easily
In Sequencer -> Control Surface there's an option to "Link KBD/Rec
Track to Control Surface". Use it (it's off by default). It allows
you to change the currently selected track that you're recording
to/playing/editing by using the 8 switches on the control surface.
6. Shotcuts Save Time
Learn to use the Page Menu shortcuts. For those unaware, you can
hold ENTER and [0-9] on the numeric keypad to quickly access that
item in the page menu (for example, clearing a track, quantising a
track etc). Combined with Tip #3 and the hardware transport but-
tons, this can actually make common editing tasks really quick.
7. Find Where You Belong
You can set the time location that the "Locate" button seeks to at
any time, simply by pressing [ENTER] and [Locate]
8. Tone Adjust
The Tone Adjust page of the Control Surface isn't just for config-
uring the control surface: it can be used to make fairly detailed
edits to an underlying program as part of the sequencer, without
having to actually edit the underlying program. You can actually
modify the vast majority of a program's parameters using this
method - and modulate them as part of a sequence.
(Here's a cool one - you can change the multisample assigned to a
HD1 program and record this as part of your sequence for some
really interesting effects ...)
9. Moving Around
You can use the [Pause] button in the transport section even when a
sequence isn't playing. This is really useful to navigate around
your song using the transport keys [<<] / [>>] without playing it
back. When you're finished, just press [Start/Stop] (Try increasing
the FF/RWD speed in the page menu too).
10. Recording Tempo Changes
You can record tempo changes whilst you're song is recording. to do
this just set "Tempo Mode" to REC in the "MIDI Prog/Mixer" page.
The secret here is to select this when recording is armed, but
before pressing [Play/Stop]
You can record tempo changes using the tempo knob, or even the [Tap
Tempo] button.
If you just want to record tempo change sin an existing song, just
select on empty track first before commenting recording (the Kronos
will insist that you record something other than just the Master
Track).
11. Measure To and From for editing
The currently selected track, along with the "From Measure" and "To
Measure" settings in Track Edit, will be used to set the editing
range when using any of the functions in "Track Edit". This actu-
ally makes it quite quick and easy to perform edits:
Select the track you want to edit, using the eight buttons on the
control surface (See tip #3) Set the From Measure / To Measure
visually in the track edit page. You can also use Tip #7 to cue up
this point audibly. Press [Enter] and [0-9] to select the edit
operation you want to perform. Here are some common ones:
[Enter] - [2]: MIDI Step Recording [Enter] - [3]: MIDI
Event Edit [Enter] - [5]: Clear Track / Pattern [Enter] -
[8]: Erase Measure [Enter] - [9]: Delete Measure
12. Track Edit is useful for recording, too.
When recording and arranging, I find it useful to stay on the
"Track Edit" page predominantly, even though it's not the default.
This gives you a visual overview tf your song whilst you're record-
ing and allows you to quickly perform edits such as clearing a take
(Bad take? Just hit [Enter] - [5] to clear the track and start
again)
13. Recording long notes
Sometimes, you want to have a note that is held for the complete
duration of the track. Obviously recording a note of that duration
is tedious, so there are two main ways to deal with this.
One is to use the "Hold" function of the underlying program - but
you don't need to edit the underlying program to achieve this! You
can do this through "Tone Adjust" and set one of the controllers to
toggle "Hold" on or off. The cool thing about this approach is that
you can record changes to this parameter, so you can toggle it on
or off as part of your sequence.
The second way is to use MIDI Event Edit to alter the duration of a
recorded or inserted note. Again, there's a trick that makes this
slightly counter-intuitive. The length of each track is independent
and is determined by the last note that was recorded there. If you
try and create a long note on a virgin track using MIDI Event Edit,
it will only let you se the duration to a maximum of one bar. the
trick is to go to the measure you want to end at, record any random
thing on that track there, then go back to MIDI Event Edit and
change the duration of the note you want held. Obviously you can
then delete the random note too.
14. Recording KARMA
KARMA only ever receives input from the Keyboard or MIDI inputs -
it never receives input from a track. The output of MARMA can obvi-
ously be recorded to a track, or even an RPPR.
The same applies to RPPR and Chord Pads - it can only be triggered
from the keyboard or from external MIDI, and the resulting note
sequence can be recorded to a track.
15. Marker Tracks
There are no marker tracks in order to keep track of different
events in your song. I tend to either just write down the measure
numbers and a description in a notebook. Alternatively, you can
sacrifice a MIDI track for the same purpose (e.g. MIDI Track 16).
Simply use the "Create Control Data" page menu command in "Track
Edit" to create some control data (doesn't matter what) at the bar
you want to note. this will create a green block in "Track Edit"
that you can use as a visual marker.
16. Record Resolution
You can change the "Record resolution" whilst recording. This is
really helpful when used in conjunction with loop recording, as you
can lay down a quarter-note bass drum for example, then change the
record resolution on the next pass for say, hi hats.
17. Sixteen Track Limit
The limit of sixteen MIDI tracks isn't as bad as it might seem -
think of it more as a limit sixteen simultaneous MIDI tracks.
Unlike a PC sequencer, you can easily completely change the
selected program / timbre and all effects routings halfway through
a track without having to have a dedicated track for each.
18. In-Track Sampling is cool and useful
In-track sampling is really cool. At first I wrote it off as being
a hold-over from the Triton series which was made redundant with
the addition of multitrack audio recording. However it is so easy
and easy to use, and gives much greater flexibility with editing
and effects than the hard disk recorder gives (at the expense of
polyphony).
One of the nice things about using in-track sampling is that you
have access to ADSR envelopes, which makes crossfading and repeat-
ing audio loops much easier than using the hard disk recorder.
Note that to use In-Track sampling, the sequencer only needs to be
playing, not recording.
19. SysEx and Multirecord
When recording Sysex with "Multi Record" enabled, the Sysex is
always recorded to the first record-enable track. I'm not sure this
is documented anywhere.
Audio Automation is always recorded to the corresponding audio
track - unless no audio track is enabled for recording in which
case it is recorded to the first record-enabled MIDI track as
Sysex. This has caught me out a few times!
20. Changing RPPR Parameters
Many of the RPPR parameters - such as transpose - can be adjusted
whilst the pattern is playing. This is really useful for creating
drum fills or otherwise finding new variations.
21. Karma to RPPR
KARMA can be recorded to RPPR.
22. SysEx and RPPR = macros
It's not only notes and continuous controllers can be recorded to
an RPPR pattern - SysEx can also be recorded. This is particu-
larly;arly useful for recording "macros" that can be used across
multiple tracks - e.g a "Fade Out" macro, or a modulated sustain
pedal, Tone Adjust, mixer adjustments etc are all fair game. I have
an RPPR setup and assigned to a key to mute and unmute the external
audio inputs, for example.
23. We Love Polyrhythms!
The time signature of an RPPR pattern is independent of the time
sequence of the sequence. This is great for creating polyrythms
etc.
24. Abusing the Quantise Function
There's no Track Edit command to move events around by fractions of
a measure. There is a workaround though in the form of the "Quan-
tise" command. Just make sure that "Resolution" is set to "Hi",
"Swing" is at 0% and adjust the "Shift" parameter accordingly. +240
is equivalent to moving events by half a measure, -240 back by half
a measure etc. This is great for changing the feel of a track, cre-
ating ghost drum parts etc. Combined with the Track Bounce and
Track Copy options, it's possible to do some pretty cool things.
25. Wouldn't have (half) a bar of it ...
Many of the "track edit" operations don't allow a range to be spec-
ified in part bars. For example, it's not possible to repeat half a
measure. There are a few ways to work around this:
The easiest method I've found for repeating one or two beats of a
measure is to use RPPR. The workflow is essentially to create a
pattern with a time signature half or a quarter of the project's
time signature. Use "Copy from Track" to take the first one or two
beats of the measure into the pattern. Then, use RPPR to play the
pattern back into the track.
If the portion you wish to repeat is at the end of a measure, you
can use the Quantise function as described in Tip 22 to shift the
events of interest to the start of the measure.
As for deleting part of a bar, frankly the easiest way I've found
is to use the MIDI Event Edit page and manually delete the events.
26. Tip #24
With a few minor exceptions, changes to almost all MIDI Track Para-
meters - such as transpose, delay, portamento, wave sequencer swing
and scale - can all be recorded in realtime for some pretty cool
effects. Make sure "Enable Sysex" is enabled in Global.
27. Crescendos and Diminuendos
The Kronos doesn't have a native mechanism for creating crescendo
and diminuendos whilst retaining relative velocities. If you use
the "Modify Velocity" command in "Track Edit" to do this, there
will potentially be an abrupt jump between the section you applied
the operation and the remainder of the track. However, there is a
work-around.
First, using the "Modify Velocity" command, get your crescendo /
diminuendo sounding as you want it, paying particular attention to
the strength and start or end velocity. Then execute the same com-
mand on the rest of the track. However this time, ensure the start
and end settings are both the same and match the settings used in
the first step. This will ensure a smooth transition between the
two sections.
28. In-Track Sampling Triggers
When using "In-Track" sampling, the normal options regarding when
to trigger sampling still apply: when the sequencer is started,
when a note is played, when [Sampling Start / Stop] is pressed and
threshold. This makes it really easy, for example, to sample a few
bars that have been recorded and edited in the sequencer. Using the
"Threshold" mode also makes it easy to capture an external source
at just the right time and automatically create the corresponding
event.
Be aware that I have however experienced a possible bug once or
twice with this where In-Track sampling has always started as soon
as [Sampling Start/Stop] is pressed regardless of the setting
above. However this has been very rare and after playing with many
settings, so it may be operator error.
29. Use RPPR as a sketchpad for creating audio loops
When the Sampler recording trigger is set to "Sequencer
Start/Stop", this works in the "Pattern/RPPR" -> "Pattern Edit"
mode as well. This makes it really easy to record a short pattern
(either for an internal synth part or an external MIDI instrument),
arm the sampler and hit "Sequencer Play/Record". This will sample
the loop without having to assign the RPPR to a key or edit any of
the sequencer tracks, essentially making it a great scratchpad for
creating audio loops.
30. Get in time
When using In-Track sampling, it's often helpful to make sure the
metronome is set to Play & Rec to give a time reference. If sam-
pling from an internal source, make sure to use the Record Busses
to prevent the metronome being recorded into your loop.
31. Tip #29
Whilst RPPR is great for creating MIDI loops and assigning them to
keys, I've found using the sampler really fun for creating audio
loops and assigning them to different keys.
A full multi-sample set can be built up really easily by succes-
sively pressing "Sample Start/Stop".
Rather than painstakingly loop each sample, I've found it easier to
create RPPR patterns to re-trigger each sample at the appropriate
time. For example, if you have an audio loop that should be four
measures long on C2, just create an RPPR pattern that triggers C2
for four bars. This ensures your loop stays nicely in sync, whereas
looping the actual sample can cause sync issues over time if
they're not exactly in sync. You can also then use the ADSR enve-
lope of the sample to ensure a nice smooth crossfade.
It sounds more complex than it is, but once you get the hang of it,
it can be really fast and lead to great results.
32. Drum kits are great for loops
Creating a custom drum kit isn't just for drum sounds - it's really
great for multisamples you've created of various audio loops. There
are a couple of key advantages to using drum kits for loops and
effects:
You can use "Exclusive Groups" in conjunction with the "Hold"
option in the HD1 engine to define loops that should stop when
another starts playing. You can give each sample (key) unique
parameters for filter cutoff etc.
33. Kronos as a digital mixer
Like everything else, any adjustments to the "Audio in" settings
can be recorded directly into the sequencer, essentially making the
Kronos a 6 in, 6 out digital mixer with automation! I use this reg-
ularly in sequences where i have external audio sources connected
and wish to automate volume changes, but don't necessarily wish to
record them to the hard disk recorder yet. Another use case might
be having house music playing over USB from iTunes and have it
automatically fade up by assigning a sequence to a set list slot
that does that.
34. [Rec Write] can be used to delete
When performing loop recording, either in Pattern Edit or in the
main sequencer with "Loop All Tracks" enabled, you can hold
[Sequencer Rec/Write] to delete the currently playing events.
Really useful for fixing mistakes without starting and stopping
recording.
35. Erase Selected notes in loop record
When performing loop recording, either in Pattern Edit or in the
main sequencer with "Loop All Tracks" enabled, you can use the
"Erase Data" checkbox to delete specific notes. When this box is
checked, whichever keys are played on the keyboard will be erased
from that part of the pattern or track. This is an easier way to
remove bum notes than using "Event Edit" (IMHO), and it's also
great for working with drum patterns as it makes it easy to remove
a specific part.
36. Keyboard velocity in step recording
When performing Step Recording, you can set the note velocity to be
the same as played by selecting "Note Velocity" (which will be 64
by default) and scrolling all the way up past "127" until it's set
to "Key".
37. Chords in Step Recording mode
In Step Record mode it's possible to enter chords one note at a
time - just keep holding the first note of the chord down whilst
you add the additional notes, making it possible to create some
pretty complex chords.
38. Tip #36
In Step Record mode, notes of a chord can have different lengths -
experiment with holding different notes of the chord and using the
"Tie" button. The chord will be completed once all notes are
released.
39. More advanced editing on the PC
It's possible to export a Kronos Sequence as a SMF (MIDI File),
load it into a PC based DAW for advanced editing, re-export it as a
MIDI and load it back into the existing song on the Kronos. If you
load a MIDI file into an existing song, all the parameters remain
unchanged - it's only the track data that changes. IFX routings,
tone adjust settings, track names etc all remain unaffected.
Coupled with the inbuilt FTP server, this makes it quite easy to
perform the odd advanced editing operation on the PC without break-
ing your workflow too much.
40. Tip #38
There appears to be what I suspect is a bug, or at least undocu-
mented behaviour, regarding the interaction between KARMA, the
Global Channel and External MIDI. If "Enable MIDI In to KARMA Mod-
ule" is disabled in "Global" -> "MIDI", there may be issues
receiving external MIDI on the Global Channel if the Global Channel
also coincides with one of the source channels in "KARMA" -> "MIDI
IO". This applies even if KARMA is turned off.
This behaviour has led to many long nights of trying to diagnose
MIDI routing issues!
For this reason I tend to leave both options enabled when "Local
Control" is on, even though the manual selects only having one of
the two options enabled. Your mileage may vary depending on you
particular configuration though.