Korg Kronos Operation Manual page 10

Introduction to KRONOS
For information on any front‐panel button, knob,
slider, or real‐time controller, just hold down HELP
and then press the button or move the controller in
question.
For information on the current LCD page, press and
release the HELP button.
While the help page is on the screen, you can touch any
of the on‐screen links (highlighted in blue text) for
more information. You can scroll through the text by
using the on‐screen scroll bars, pressing the Inc and
Dec buttons, or spinning the Value dial.
The top of the Help page has "breadcrumb" links,
which show the hierarchy of pages above the current
one. Touch any of these links to jump to the
corresponding page.
The backwards and forwards buttons function like the
similar buttons on a standard web browser. If you use
links to jump between pages, you can then use the
backwards and forwards buttons to move through the
pages you've already viewed.
The Contents page lets you access any part of the Help
system, including almost all of the text and graphics in
both the Parameter and Operation Guides. The Index
contains a shorter list of links to important articles.
To close the help display, just press the HELP button
again, press the EXIT button, or press the on‐screen
Done button.
COMPARE button
Use this button to compare the sound of the Program
or Combination that you are currently editing with the
saved, un‐edited version of the sound. You can also use
this button to make "before and after" comparisons
when recording or editing in Sequencer mode.
7. BANK SELECT buttons
Use these buttons to change banks when selecting
Programs or Combinations. The LEDs in the buttons
light up to show the current bank.
In Program mode, these buttons select the Program
bank. They are active only on the Play pages.
In Combination mode, these buttons have two
functions:
• When you're selecting Combinations, they choose
the Combination bank.
• When you're assigning a Program to a timbre
within the Combi, they select the Program bank.
In Sequencer mode, when a track's Program name is
selected, these buttons change the Program bank.
4
General MIDI banks
Selecting General MIDI Program banks is a little
different from selecting other banks. Each time you
press the INT‐G button, the bank will step to the next
GM(2) bank or GM drum bank in the following order:
G, g(1), g(2)–g(8), g(9), g(d), G, g(1), etc.
What's in each bank?
For details on the contents of the Program banks, see
"Program bank contents" on page 27. For details on the
Combi banks, see "Combination bank contents" on
page 57.
8. KARMA buttons
KARMA stands for "Kay
Algorithmic Realtime Music
Architecture." It's an immensely
powerful recording and live
performance tool, which can
provide a wide range of musical
effects including:
• Arpeggiation
• Drum and instrument grooves
• Complex CC gestures (as if it
was automatically moving
knobs or joysticks for you)
• Musical phrase generation
• Gated and chopped dance production effects
• Any combination of the above
• ...and much more.
ON/OFF button
This switches KARMA on and off. As with the other
KARMA buttons, the button's LED will light up to
show you that it is turned on.
LATCH button
When LATCH is turned on, KARMA will continue to
play even after you've stopped holding notes on the
keyboard or MIDI In.
This is convenient when you want to play on top of a
KARMA‐generated groove, for instance.
MODULE CONTROL button
In Combi and Sequencer modes, KARMA has four
independent Modules, each of which can be generating
a different musical effect. When used to control
KARMA, the Control Surface sliders and switches are
five layers deep: one for each Module (A‐D), and then
a Master Layer which controls selected parameters
from all of the Modules at once.
The MODULE CONTROL button selects whether the
KARMA SLIDERS, SWITCHES, and SCENES will
control either a single Module independently, or the
Master Layer. In Program mode, only a single Module
is available, and the Master Layer is used to control it;
you cannot select other settings).