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Review: Korg Kross Keyboard Workstation

Korg workstation goodness in a package you can carry around town.

By

15 April 2014

Korg’s little playstation comes in synth-action 61-key and weighted 88-key iterations, and while the Kross may look like a bit of a toy thanks to its lightweight frame, it actually packs a pretty hefty punch while covering a lot of musical bases.

KROSS PURPOSES

The Kross offers a remarkably large palette of sounds that belies its diminutive frame. In contrast to a ‘stage’ keyboard like the Korg SV-1 (that utilises a small number of piano and organ sounds and then provides extensive tone shaping and modulation controls), the Kross gives you a ton of different ready-made sounds to play with — many of them based on its elder brother Krome’s sound library. The piano sounds are rich and varied and I particularly liked some of the non-standard tonalities such as the undamped and honky tonk settings. Likewise the organ and electric piano offerings provide a stack of different tonal options that should cater to almost every style and situation while the Mellotron emulations are very useable indeed. 

Further afield are 49 types of tasty mallet and bell sounds including very handy vibraphone, marimba, steel drum and gamelan emulations, toy pianos and other tinkly things. The string and brass sounds are adequate but somewhat less convincing. The synth options will be a bit hit and miss depending on what you’re after, leaning generally towards the dance and atmospheric side of the spectrum. Drum sounds are very useable and range over a good number of styles, with the hip-hop and electro kits being particularly fun to play with. There’s even a bunch of sound effects hidden away at the back end of the drum section so you can throw a few FX curve balls if required. 

All in all it’s a great set of sounds for such a modest-looking keyboard, and while patch tweaking requires a good knowledge of the nested menus inside the program patches, you can spend some time with the Kross and really bend it to your will. Ergonomically the Kross works well, with all buttons and dials having a solid no-nonsense feel to them, though my main criticism is the playability of the synth-action keyboard. It feels just a little clunky on more complex material and adjustments to the MIDI sensitivity settings helped somewhat without totally putting my fingers at ease.

TICKS & KROSSES

Korg has got a lot of things right with this little keyboard. The basic patch sounds are very useful and there’s a great variety to choose from. The onboard sequencing and recording functions will appeal to a subset of users who would use the Kross more as a standalone music machine, whereas others will find it a handy addition to an existing studio or live set-up where it doubles as a powerful sound source and MIDI controller. For live performance there’s an easy out-of-the-box playability to the Kross, though the sparsity of real time controllers may inhibit some. For serious live use I’d recommend the weighted 88-key model for a better playing experience.

In the studio I regularly found myself using the Kross on overdubs that otherwise would have been taken care of by software instruments. Almost invariably the Kross sounds had the edge in terms of punch, character and playability. For the kind of film and TV work that I sometimes do, the range and character of the Kross was also a handy adjunct to the standard sound libraries I use. Overall the Korg Kross is easy to navigate, offers surprisingly flexible sound shaping tools under the bonnet and above all is a fun keyboard to play because it sounds good.  

NEED TO KNOW

  • PRICE

    Expect to pay
    61-key $899
    88-key $1449

  • CONTACT

    CMI Music & Audio:
    (03) 9315 2244 or [email protected]

  • PROS

    • Comprehensive sound library
    • Flexible patch editing tools including effects
    • Built-in sequencer, MIDI and audio recording
    • Lightweight pick-up-and-go design

  • CONS

    • Playing action on the 61-key model underwhelming
    • Limited real-time hands-on controls

  • SUMMARY

    The Korg Kross offers excellent sounds and a load of extra workstation features in a compact, well-designed package. A keyboard that’ll have you up and running in no time.

ROTARY CONTROL

A couple of rotary controllers give you access to sounds arranged in 10 pre-programmed soundbanks and one user bank. Backlit navigation buttons each side of the small, but well-lit LED screen, allow you to combine, edit and effect those sounds. And the usual suspects; pitch and modulation wheels, octave up and down buttons, and master volume are combined with comprehensive step sequencer controls, including a 16-button backlit sequencer array, for plenty of control. 

SOUND HOUND

Based on Korg’s EDS-I (Enhanced Definition Sythesis – Integrated) technology, the Kross offers 512 pre-loaded sounds, 265 user programmable patches, 80-voice polyphony, a 16-track sequencer as well as arpeggiator, MIDI and audio recording (16-bit/48k PCM) and a range of insert and master effects. 

ON THE CARDS

Separate transport and record buttons for audio and MIDI recording and a handy tap tempo function round out what is a well-thought out and surprisingly comprehensive control set. You can also load MIDI song templates and quantise onboard Kross. And when you’re done with a song or idea, it can be stored on a Kross-formatted SD card. 

BACK & A KROSS

Round the back things are pretty simple with audio outputs provided by a pair of unbalanced 1/4-inch jacks. You can record external audio via 1/8-inch stereo mini jack input or a non-phantom-powered 1/4-inch microphone input jack. MIDI to your computer is on a standard square USB socket. 

CARRY ON

The 61-key model is a lightweight portable affair weighing in at 4.3kg and measuring a svelte 91 mm at its thickest. And this is where the Kross comes into its own. While you can draw power from a wall-wart, Kross can also draw juice from six AA alkaline batteries to give you about five hours of operation. Underneath, there’s a nifty carry bar in a cut-away at rear of the keyboard. It’s the ultimate portable workstation.

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