Korg Kross 2-88MB

Habe den Kross 2-88 MB erst seit einer Woche - insofern eine "Einstiegsbewertung" - bin semiprofessionell unterwegs - wollte eigentlich ein E-Piano kaufen...! - nutze es zu Hause - Schwerpunkt "homerecording" - schon beim auspacken (18kg) spürt man, dass man es nicht mit einem "Spielzeug" zu tun hat - das Gerät ist edel (gummiert!) und sehr bedienerfreundlich aufgeräumt - no show! - für diese Preisklasse sensationell!! - der erste Kontakt mit der Tastatur bringt Freude! - das hat nichts mehr mit einer klassischen Synthesizer Tastatur, wie ich Sie von früher kenne zu tun - TOP!!!! - die ersten Klaviersamples angespielt - satte, wunderschöne Sounds - 896 - (120 Stimmen/Polyphon!!) - sehr dyamisches Spielgefühl! - kann natürlich noch alles individuell eingestellt werden... - super E-Piano Sounds - alle Sounds können miteinander kombiniert werden - daher unzählige Möglichkeiten - es macht Sinn sich am Anfang einfach mal (ein paar Stunden) durch alle Sounds zu spielen, um zu wissen was sich hier so alles versteckt - Ich habe hier viele gut verwertbare Sounds entdeckt, die einen zudem für?s recording inspirieren...! In der direkten Bewertung E-Piano/Kross 2 kommt das Kross im Netz klanglich etwas schlechter weg... - wenn man den Kross das mal über Kopfhörer spielt fehlt mir da nichts! Sicher ist ein Profi Piano (3000€?) in der Tonerzeugung noch voluminöser - ich bin aber kein Profi!!! - der Klang ist für diese Preisklasse und unabhängig vom Preis absolut ausreichend - bedenkt man die weiteren unzähligen Features des Kross 2: Drumkits (68 - top!), Effekte (128), Sequenzer, Mehrspuraudiorecorder, Arpeggiator, Pad Sampler, real time tone control, Midi-Sequenzer, 128 Favoriten Sounds, ... - und vieles mehr - möchte ich bitte kein E-Piano...! Soviel für heute - wenn ich den Kross 2 weiter erobert habe, erfolgt erneute Bewertung...!

Entscheidend! - sehr guter Klang - in dieser Preisklasse konkurrenzlose Tastatur! Wünsche Euch viel Spaß mit dem Kross 2 -
aber bitte nur in "MB" Version bestellen...!
Kundenservice von Thomann ist absolut oberster Level - hier hat man noch mit (durchweg sehr freundlichen!) Menschen zu tun...!

Being from a very well know company I expected a lot more attention/care from Korg but the truth is that Korg consider the Kross 2 as being only entry level and you can't even register Kross 2 at Korg after purchase because they consider it too cheap to be bothered with that ! (I made a Korg ID and the only thing that it will let me register as hardware is Kronos and Nautilus)

The Korg Kross 2-88MB keyboard came well packed in nice cardboard box with a useful printed quick-start guide and a power-supply. But that's it ! No voucher or code for any software download from Korg. (You can download a USB driver and a Kross 2 editor if you care to look yourself) No explanation about how to interface with Windows PC and no cable of any kind to attach to PC.
Kross 2 seem to be of a nice enough quality but I only had the keyboard a month so far.
I am not a professional musician so I have no real basis for judging quality of sounds but to me it all sounds nice and the Kross 2 got a good selection of sounds. Strangely enough some of it plays somewhat differently when loaded from a favorite/combo which to me gave some nice surprises.
The ability to create drum loop patterns using the step sequencer is great to have as well as the ability to load and play samples to use on 'Pad Play'. And the ability to record songs and a lot of other stuff is equally great. You can also make not only octave user scales but also one whole keyboard scale (but I think that it looks as with limitations)(not completely free key assignment) .
In all the Kross 2 is packed with a lot of really nice features that you would want.
My main gripe with it all is that I think most of the functionality is not very intuitive and buried in the use of contextual multi-function buttons and a not very big screen. On top of that then most stuff one have to traverse manual to try find out or use the internet for help. One day I were trying to record something and after pausing recording then I were so confused that I couldn't find out how to get out of record mode. And a lot of stuff for settings is buried in 'next' side-wards menu or click another button to get to next menu. I honestly think it all very convoluted!
As it might be important to some people then I would like to point out that the Kross 2 only supports SDHC cards and NOT SDXC so it do not support SD cards larger than 32 GB !
Also , and I think that this is important. Then my experience is that the Kross 2 Windows driver functionality is very poorly made. Prior to installing the USB driver the Kross 2 got installed as a microphone I think it was by Windows. And I had a lot of problems getting the sound from the keyboard through to Windows. Even after installing the USB driver there has been problems , not every time keyboard is turned on but too often, getting the sound to work. I had to set the Kross 2 as default device and switch back to speakers afterwards , but that is only after that one digs into Windows settings of audio devices!

Will I still recommend the Korg Kross 2 ?
Surely ! , I mean that depends on who you are and what you want.
A keyboard with nice 'Natural Weighted Hammer Action' (Kross 2-88MB ) (Kross 2-61 just has 'velocity sensitive' which you may or may not like better) doesn't come free , and you get a 'Synth' with a lot of nice sounds built in and you can play it all with just the Keyboard itself powered by batteries and using a pair of headphones. On top of that you get loads of nice features including Sequencer & sample Pad Play. However , you may as I find a lot of it rather un-intuitive to use.
But if you think that the above is OK then I guess that you get a lot of stuff at a relatively competitive price !
Generally I think that it's hard to choose a good keyboard. They come with such a variety of different sets of features and different qualities. Without having had the Kross 2 that long then to me it looks as it got the apparent quality going for it and a lot of nice features including that it's a Synthesizer with at least a limit sampler feature.
The real problem for me is and was that I think that 'much better' probably is much more expensive and a lot cheaper probably are of a poorer quality and with a lesser set of features.
I have pondered that maybe I should just have bought a 'Master Midi keyboard' but one of them of a good quality are not cheap either else I would maybe have bought one of them instead (and at least they usually comes with some software and you can use a Midi Soft-Synth and a Software-Sampler instead)(but they cost money too !).
So in the end I think that if it is worth buying the Kross 2 really depends on how much you want the exact feature set that the Kross 2 offers and if you are OK with how it is presented/packed !
However be aware that the Kross 2 is an entry-level device no matter how great it all sounds and that the really better devices generally also cost a lot more !