Using Karma - Korg Kronos Quick Start Manual

Playing sounds

Using KARMA

Turning KARMA on and off
To turn KARMA on and off:
1. Press the KARMA ON/OFF switch, so that the
LED is lit.
When the LED is lit, KARMA is on.
2. Press a key, and KARMA will begin to play.
(Note that in some sounds, KARMA may be set to
respond only to notes played in a specific keyboard
range.)
Note the front‐panel LATCH switch. This switch
controls whether or not KARMA continues to play
after you remove your hand from the keyboard.
If the LED is lit, Latch is on. KARMA will continue to
play even after you remove your hand from the
keyboard. If the LED is dark, Latch is off; KARMA will
stop when you remove your hand from the keyboard.
Link to Drum Track
If the front panel LINKED LED and KARMA ON/OFF
switches are lit, KARMA will start and stop together
with the Drum Track. Importantly, KARMA will not
start if the Drum Track is not turned on. For more
information, see "Linking KARMA and the Drum
Track" on page 21.
Using the KARMA controllers
All factory sounds are set up for use with KARMA.
Some are stored with KARMA on by default, and
others are stored with KARMA off, as shown by the
LED on the KARMA ON/OFF switch.
1. Press the PROG button to enter Program mode.
2. Select a sound that you like, and press the
KARMA ON/OFF button to turn on KARMA.
The button will light up.
3. Press the RT KNOBS/KARMA button under
CONTROL ASSIGN.
When this button is lit, the Control Surface sliders and
switches will control KARMA.
4. Go to the Control Surface page.
This shows all of the assignments and current values
for the sliders, knobs, and buttons.
The sliders and the lower row of buttons are the
KARMA Sliders and Switches. These control
parameters within KARMA, which will vary
depending on the Program.
The upper row of buttons select KARMA Scenes,
which store values for the KARMA Sliders and
Switches.
5. Press the upper row of buttons, one by one, to
select different KARMA Scenes.
Notice how this also changes the KARMA SWITCH
and KARMA SLIDER values, as shown in the display.
You can move between entirely different settings of all
these controls simply by pressing a KARMA SCENE
switch.
20
En-
Each scene independently remembers any edits that
you make via the sliders and switches. Edits to all 8
scenes are stored when you write the Program.
6. Move the sliders and press the bottom row of
switches, and listen to the effect that they have on
the sound.
The sliders and switches will control different things
depending on the current Program and its KARMA
settings.
Using KARMA in Combination mode
KARMA uses "modules" to generate phrases or
patterns. Programs can use a single KARMA module,
but Combinations can use up to four simultaneously.
Each module can play a separate sound (or group of
sounds) if desired.
Modules are routed to different sounds via the
module's MIDI input and output channels.
1. Use the front panel MODULE CONTROL switch
to select the module that you want to control.
Select MASTER to control all four KARMA modules
simultaneously.
Select A–D to control the individual KARMA modules.
2. Move and press the KARMA sliders and switches.
The sliders and switches will control the pattern or
phrase generated by the selected module.
Playing chords with the Pads
The KRONOS includes 8 virtual "pads," which can be
played by touching the screen, from MIDI input, or
from compatible USB MIDI pad devices. You can use
these Pads to trigger chords for KARMA.
To play the pads from the screen:
1. Press the EQ/Vector/Control tab, and then select
the Pads tab.
This takes you to the Pads page.
2. Make sure that the on‐screen Enable Pad Play
button is lit.
3. Touch the pads to play their chords.
Dynamics are controlled by where you touch the pad;
touch higher for louder, and lower for softer.
You can also play the pads using Korg USB MIDI
controllers equipped with drum pads, including the
nanoPAD and nanoPAD2, padKONTROL,
microKONTROL, and KONTROL49.
To use any of these Korg controllers, simply connect
them to one of the KRONOS's two USB A ports. The
KRONOS will automatically determine the MIDI
assignments of the controller's pads 1‐8, and map them
directly to the KRONOS pads.
For more details, see "USB MIDI controllers" in the
Appendix of the Parameter Guide.