Operating Komplete Kontrol S61 MK2 with Korg Kronos

PKK

How do I operate operate Komplete Kontrol S61 MK2 with Korg Kronos?

I don’t want any PC or Mac in the cicruit and I also don’t need a power supply because the usb midi cable already lit up the controller and I am able to play Kronos on the controller

The problem: I am unable to set a specific channel on controller so I can split the sounds to Kronos and Controller. My goal is to map controller to channel 16 so I can play Gch on Kronos and send controller to ch 16. Right now both Kronos and Controller are playing the same thing and that is pointless

Thanks

PK

JesterMgee

Nope, A61 is even les capable in that regards, you cannot store an "offline" MIDI template at all since it does not have a MIDI port, it just always has a generic template on-board.

Basically what you want cannot be done via the USB port, you need to utilise the MIDI port if you want to use a custom template.

Jeremy_NI

Hey @PKK So how do you plug the S61 to the Korg Kronos? By "controller" what do you mean, the s61?

In the Komplete Kontrol standalone application you can assihgn different MIDI channels to the whole keyboard or create splits:

PKK

Just like you connect to a Mac or PC. Korg Kronos has USB in. Once that port is used I can’t connect another device to S61. That’s why I am asking how to operate the S61 as standalone without any Mac or PC connected. For such an expensive piece of controller I find it so unintuitive to use without a computer

JesterMgee

As Jeremy points out, you can first open Komplete Kontrol on a computer, make the template you need then it will be stored on the keyboard when you disconnect and you can then connect it to your Kronos but the KK software is needed to configure the MIDI channels first.

PKK

Ah I see. I will give it a shot. I missed the fact that the settings stays intact even after disconnect. That is awesome if KK can remember those settings. Thank you!

JesterMgee

I think the first template created is stored as a standalone template, unsure off the top of my head if you can store multiple templates but you can create multiples which can be selected when connected to a PC. I don't have my MK2 keyboard connected at the moment and MK1 needs a separate app to configure it but there is some useful info in the manual, worth a thumb through if you get stuck at any point

PKK

I tried this and no luck :( Here are my steps.

1. Launch Komplete Kontrol app on my laptop running Windows 11
2. The controller is connected to the laptop via USB cable and I was able to see the MIDI icon
3. I launched the MIDI editor and I created a new template 'Channel 16 MIDI' and changed channel to 16 on all pages (knobs, keys, pedals etc..)
4. There is nothing like SAVE or SEND but the manual says to close the MIDI editor to save the settings. I can see the settings are saved. I tried closing re-opening and settings are still intact.
5. Now I disconnected the USB cable and connected to Korg Kronos.
6. FAIL! KK still plays the global channel or channel 1. The channel 16 in the editor had no effect.

Are you sure the setting makes sense when disconnected from computer and connected to some other device? When it was connected to laptop I could see the new template I created on the KK screen. Once I disconnect and connect to Kronos, I don't see anything on the KK screen. It just says "Smart keyboard controller" and nothing else.

JesterMgee

I have nothing to connect my keyboard to and I corrently ahve an MK1 keyboard. When I disconnect the USB I see the template I create for controlling drvices in Live and the template shows "Live" with the pages I created so in my case it appears to be working.

Have you flicked through the manual to see if it mentions anything?

PKK

Do you have a NI power supply to power up your controller? How are you seeing stuff when your controller isn’t connected to any device?

JesterMgee

The MK1 requires a PSU (is not able to be bus powered) which I also use for my MK2, I don't power direct from USB.

It could be an issue if you are using USB actually. I do not think the keyboard supports standalone MIDI over USB, only via the MIDI port when used standalone. If you connect it to the USB it is likely expecting a computer to talk and instead displaying a generic template.

So for your situation you would probably need a PSU and connect to the MIDI In of the Kronos not the USB.

PKK

Then what about KK A61? A61 only has USB midi port and no circular MIDI port. I tried on A61 and it doesn't work either. I tried creating a new template and set its channels to 16. I also tried changing the default Template1's channels to 16 as well. After plugging in from KK software and connecting to Kronos it still plays on Channel 1. It is pretty frustrating these keyboards are not much of use after disconnecting from a computer.

JesterMgee

Nope, A61 is even les capable in that regards, you cannot store an "offline" MIDI template at all since it does not have a MIDI port, it just always has a generic template on-board.

Basically what you want cannot be done via the USB port, you need to utilise the MIDI port if you want to use a custom template.

PKK

Looks like it. I got to buy the power supply to solve this. It’s out of stock on NI website and even eBay doesn’t have original power supply