Kronos 3 Editor

Kronos 3 Editor installs from a single signed, notarized .pkg. Download it from the download page (the link is also in your purchase email) and open it.

One installer carries three formats: a standalone app (no DAW required), an Audio Unit for Logic Pro and GarageBand, and a VST3 for Ableton Live, Cubase, and other VST3 hosts. The standalone is the simplest way to use everything in this guide; it talks to your Kronos directly.

After installing, launch the standalone app, or restart your DAW so it rescans plugins. Requires macOS 11 or later (Apple silicon or Intel).

• Logic Pro: the Audio Unit is a MIDI effect, so it appears in the MIDI FX slot of a Software Instrument track (MIDI FX, Audio Units, rumcake, Kronos 3 Editor). It is not listed in the Instrument or Audio FX slots.
• Other DAWs: the VST3 is listed with your instruments.

Without a license key, Kronos 3 Editor runs as a fully functional 7-day trial: editing and writes to your Kronos are enabled, so you can try the whole editor on your own instrument.

After 7 days the trial drops to read-only. You can still connect, pull sounds, browse banks, and switch programs, but live edits, writes, stores, .syx export, and set-list slot selection no longer reach the hardware. Activating with your license key restores everything immediately.

To activate, open the Presets view (top right), paste the license key from your purchase email, and click Activate.

One license covers two computers. The editor checks in over the network about once a month and keeps working offline in between, so a brief outage never locks you out. You can see and free your activated devices from your account page at any time.

Manage your devices on your account page

If a purchase is refunded, the license is disabled at the next check-in.

• A Korg Kronos 3 (61, 73, or 88 key). The app is developed and tested on the Kronos 3, the latest model. It has not been tested on the original Kronos or Kronos 2, so compatibility with those is not claimed or supported.
• A USB-B cable from the Kronos's USB B port to your computer. The small USB-A ports on the Kronos are for controllers only and cannot carry the larger messages an editor needs, so always use the USB-B port.
• The Kronos's Enable Exclusive setting switched on. It is on by default; if in doubt, check GLOBAL, MIDI, MIDI Filter, Enable Exclusive.

• Connect the Kronos to your computer with the USB-B cable and power it on.
• Open Kronos 3 Editor. It looks for the instrument automatically.
• Watch the status chip at the top right. A green dot with a line like KRONOS, USB-MIDI, ch 1, v3.x means you are connected (it shows the model, MIDI channel, and firmware version). 'Searching for Kronos' means it has not found the instrument yet: check the cable, that the Kronos is on, and that Enable Exclusive is set.

If you have more than one MIDI device, use the device picker (top left, next to the status chip) to choose the Kronos output, and the refresh button to re-scan.

The editor talks to the Kronos's own USB-MIDI ports directly, so it connects the same way whether you run it standalone or as a plugin; you do not need to set up any MIDI routing in your DAW. Use a single instance of the plugin at a time, since it owns the hardware ports.

The editor only ever sends safe messages on its own; it reads the instrument and follows your edits. Nothing is written to your Kronos's memory unless you explicitly choose to (see Writing a program).

• Top bar: the brand and current engine, the MIDI device picker, the connection status, the Flow / Classic skin switch, the WRITE button, a theme button (sun/moon) that switches between the dark and light look, and an ⓘ button (about rumcake, settings, and support).
• Librarian (left): a Search recents box, the Prog/Combi browser (find and switch any program or combination), Set list, Files… (load .syx files, save patches, write loaded files to the Kronos), and your list of recent programs (each row has a Favorite star, and a small ✕ on hover to remove it from the list).
• Editor (centre): the program name, the engine badge, Get from Kronos, and the controls for the current sound.
• Activity strip (bottom): a short log of what the editor is doing.
• Resize by dragging the bottom-right corner of the window (works in your DAW as well as standalone).

Two views: Flow and Classic. Use the Flow / Classic switch in the top bar to choose how the controls are laid out.

• Flow: a signal-flow view. The synth is laid out as the path the sound travels (for HD-1 and AL-1: OSC, Pitch, Filter, Amp, Mod, plus Common and FX on HD-1). You get each stage's key controls, live graphs (filter response and a draggable envelope graph), and the modulation feeding into it. Curated and visual, built for fast, musical sound-shaping.
• Classic: the complete editor. Every parameter, organised into pages and tabs the way the Kronos's own screens are. Comprehensive and familiar, and it covers all nine engines.

The editor opens each engine in the view that fits it best: Flow for the multi-stage engines (HD-1 and AL-1) and Classic for the single-stage EXi engines. The toggle lets you switch at any time.

Dark or light. The sun/moon button in the top bar switches the whole editor between a dark and a light look. Dark is the default. Your choice becomes the default for new projects, and each project can keep its own theme, so you can have one DAW project in light and another in dark.

Click Get from Kronos (top right of the editor). The editor pulls the sound currently loaded on the instrument, adds it to your Captured list, and opens it for editing.

The editor recognises all nine Kronos sound engines: HD-1 and the eight EXi engines (AL-1, SGX-2, CX-3, STR-1, MOD-7, MS-20EX, PolysixEX, EP-1), and lays out the right controls automatically based on what it pulled.

Your captured programs stay in the librarian for the session. Selecting one reloads it; if the editor knows which slot it came from, selecting it can also switch the Kronos to that program. Choosing a program on the instrument's front panel is followed in the editor.

Get from Kronos only pulls the one sound currently loaded. To find any program or combination across the whole instrument, by name or by category, click Prog/Combi browser in the librarian.

Along the top, three tabs pick what you are browsing:

• Programs: every program bank, as before. Clicking a program opens it for editing and switches the Kronos to it.
• Combinations: every combination bank. Clicking a combination switches the Kronos to it (the editor puts the instrument in Combi mode for you) and opens it in the combination editor (see Combinations, below).
• Both: programs and combinations together in one list, each row tagged Prog or Combi. Pick a category, search, or show Favorites to fill it.

The banks sit in a rail on the left: Internal (INT-A to INT-F for programs, INT-A to INT-G for combinations), User (USER-A to USER-G, with USER-AA to USER-GG for programs), and, for programs only, the read-only GM banks (General MIDI factory ROM you can browse and open but not overwrite). Click a bank and the editor reads its names off the instrument; empty slots read Init Program or Init Combi, and a small HD-1 or EXi badge shows what a bank holds.

Filtering by category. Above the sound list, a row of category buttons mirrors the Kronos's own Category Select (Keyboard, Organ, Bell/Mallet, Strings, and so on; combinations have their own set, such as LeadSplits and BPM Sync). Click one to see every matching sound across all banks; click a bank in the rail to narrow the list to that bank.

• One category at a time is selected, just like on the instrument, and a Sub row appears for a finer filter (Keyboard to A.Piano, Real E.Piano, and so on).
• The category names are read from your Kronos, so if you have renamed categories in Global mode, your names appear here.
• GM programs carry no category data, so they have their own GM button at the end of the row.
• In Both, the category row is the combined set of program and combination categories, so one click shows everything in a style, programs and combis together.

Working the list.

• Open a program: click any slot. The editor pulls that exact program, opens it for editing, adds it to your Captured list, and switches the Kronos to it so it is the active, audible sound. The window stays open so you can click through to audition; double-click a sound to select it and close the browser in one go. Make the plugin window larger and the browser widens with it, so more sounds show at once (on a big display a whole bank fits without scrolling).
• Open a combination: click a slot in the Combinations or Both view. The Kronos switches to Combi mode and loads it, and it opens in the combination editor (see Combinations, below). It also joins your recent list, so you can jump back to it later, and re-selecting it re-enters Combi mode automatically.
• Follows the hardware: dial through sounds on the instrument itself and the browser highlights the current one, in Program and Combi mode alike.
• Search: type to find a sound by name across the banks you have loaded. Use Import all banks to read every bank up front, programs and combinations, so search covers the whole instrument.
• Favorites: the star to the left of each row is its Kronos Favorite flag; click it to add or remove the sound from Favorites, written back to the instrument the same guarded way as a slot store. The Favorites button shows only your starred sounds, gathered from every bank. GM programs are read-only ROM, so their stars are disabled.
• Refresh: re-checks the instrument and re-reads any bank that changed.

The editor remembers each bank it has read, so switching back to a bank you have already opened is instant. It also notices when a bank changes on the instrument and marks it so a quick Refresh brings it up to date.

Click Set list in the librarian (under Prog/Combi browser) to swap the main area for the Set Lists view. It reads the names of your set lists off the instrument and shows them as tiles. By default only named set lists appear; tick Show empty to see all 128 slots, and use the search box to find one by name.

• Open a set list: click a tile. The Kronos switches to it, and the grid is replaced by its slots, shown as cards in each slot's Kronos colour with the slot number, label, performance reference, and the program or combi it points at.
• Switch a slot live: click a slot to jump the Kronos to it, so you can step through a set list's sounds from the computer.
• List or 4×4: a List / 4×4 switch (top right of the slots) chooses the layout. List (the default) fills the width; 4×4 shows the slots as fixed blocks of sixteen, side by side, to match the paged 4×4 grid on the Kronos itself. Your choice is remembered.
• Going back: from a set list's slots, click All set lists to return to the grid, or Editor to return to the sound editor.

To edit a set list, open it and switch its tab from Play to Edit, or double-click a set list tile to jump straight into Edit. The editor re-reads the set list from the instrument, so your work starts from exactly what is on the Kronos. Some controls change the Kronos live the moment you move them, just like the sound editor; others build up a draft that reaches the instrument only when you Write. A single Write saves the whole set list, live tweaks and draft changes together. The footer shows Unsaved changes while the draft differs from what you loaded, and Revert returns to the loaded version.

• Live controls, heard immediately: the 9-band EQ (bands, input trim, bypass), each slot's Volume, Hold time and Transpose, the Control assign from switch, and the Tempo slider all change the active set list on the Kronos as you move them. Tempo is the instrument's global tempo rather than part of the set list, so it is not saved, and selecting a slot whose program has its own tempo resets it, exactly like the panel.
• Draft controls, applied on Write: assigning a program, combination or song to a slot, a slot's name, colour, font size and comment, and reordering slots build up the draft and reach the Kronos when you Write.
• Choose a sound for a slot: select a slot, then click the Performance button. The Prog/Combi browser opens as a picker with all its banks, search and category filters; click any program or combination to assign it. Picking only reads from the Kronos, it never switches or changes anything on the instrument. For Songs, type the song number and choose which track your keyboard plays.
• Slot details: each slot has its own name (24 characters), a colour (the same 16 as the panel), label font size, volume, hold time, transpose (up to 24 semitones each way), and a comment of up to 512 characters that the Kronos shows above the slot grid while you play.
• Rearrange: drag a slot onto another to move it, or use Cut / Copy / Paste / Insert exactly like the panel's own Edit page (Cut removes a slot and closes the gap, Insert pushes the following slots down).
• Save your work: Write to Kronos stores the whole set list, so pick a destination (the list it came from, or any other slot to store a copy), confirm, and the editor writes it, reads it back to verify byte for byte, and only then commits it to permanent memory. Save .syx / Load .syx keep set lists as files on your computer, for backups and for moving lists between machines.

Live edits go to the set list the Kronos is currently on, which is the one you opened in the app. Writing set lists changes the Kronos's permanent memory, so it needs an activated license, and if the instrument's Set List memory protect is on (Global mode), the Kronos refuses the write with a 'protected' message.

A combination layers up to 16 timbres, each a program with its own mix, key and velocity range, and MIDI channel. Open one from the Prog/Combi browser (the Combinations tab) and it opens in a full editor. The header shows the combination's name (click to rename), a Favorite star, and, once you make a change, an edited marker. Three tabs sit below it: Timbres, Common, and Effects.

Timbres. The Timbres tab opens on a 16-channel mixer, one vertical strip per timbre, laid out like a mixing desk: the program it plays (by name), its status (INT for an internal program, EXT/EXT2 for an external MIDI part, or Off), a Play/Mute button, a Solo button, a pan knob (with the Kronos's C064/L/R readout), a volume fader with an activity meter beside it, and its MIDI channel. Click a strip to edit that timbre in the panel below.

• The activity meter lights when notes reach that timbre, like the signal indicators on the Kronos: it follows velocity, the timbre's volume fader, and its key and velocity zones, and it holds through sustain-pedal tails. It is a note-activity meter, not a true audio meter (the Kronos does not send audio levels over MIDI), and phrases the instrument generates itself (KARMA, the Drum Track) sound internally and are not sent over MIDI, so they do not light the meters or the keyboard.
• Solo works like the SOLO button on the Kronos panel: it silences every other timbre live so you can hear one part on its own (solo more than one to audition a subset). It is a performance control, not an edit: your stored Mute settings are never touched, soloing never marks the combination as edited, and releasing Solo puts everything back exactly as it was.
• Change a timbre's program: double-click the program name at the top of a strip, or click Change program on the selected timbre, and the Prog/Combi browser opens as a picker; one click puts a program on the timbre.
• Per-timbre tabs: the everyday mix is on the strip; Status, MIDI channel, volume, pan, mute and the two effect sends are on the Mixer tab; Transpose, detune, bend range and the timbre delay are on Pitch; and OSC, the per-timbre MIDI Filter, and the timbre EQ each have their own tab.

At the bottom sits an 88-note keyboard showing the selected timbre's zone: drag the two ends of the highlighted region to set the key range that triggers the timbre, and drag the bar below it for the velocity range. Other playing timbres show as faint bands so you can see where splits and layers overlap, and the keys light up as you play your Kronos. The Zones tab has the same values as numbers, plus the zone slopes. Timbre edits change the Kronos live, the moment you move them, exactly like the sound editor.

Common and Effects. Common holds the combination's own settings: the Vector joystick and envelope, the Controller assignments, and the Scale. Effects is the same effect-chain editor as the sound editor (12 insert effects, MFX 1/2, TFX 1/2), now editing the combination's chain. Effect parameters and on/off move the Kronos in real time, just like a program's effects; changing an effect's type is prepared here and committed when you Store.

Saving your work. Your edits build up over the loaded combination. Revert returns to what is on the instrument. Save .syx keeps a copy on your computer, and first asks whether to save the programs the combination's timbres use alongside it (see Backing up and restoring sounds); the edits you have made are what gets saved. Store writes the combination to a USER combi slot: the picker lists every slot in a bank with the name of what's already there, so you can see what you'd overwrite. Pick a slot, confirm, and the editor writes it, reads it back to verify byte for byte, and only then commits it to the Kronos's permanent memory. Once stored, the Kronos switches to that slot, exactly as it does when you Write on the instrument. As with programs and set lists, storing needs an activated license, and the Kronos refuses the write if Combination memory protect is on.

Not in this version: KARMA, the Drum Track, and audio-input routing are coming in a later update.

Move any control and the Kronos responds instantly: there is no apply step. The change is sent live over USB, and if you turn a knob on the instrument itself, the editor's control follows to match. It is fully two-way.

• HD-1 oscillators: when editing an HD-1 program, use the OSC 1 / OSC 2 switch in the top bar to focus on either oscillator.
• Drag the envelope graph: in the Flow view, the filter and amp envelope graphs are interactive. Drag a node up/down to change its level, or left/right to change its time. The sliders below follow.
• Pedals and switches: some controls (such as the una corda soft pedal) are driven the way the hardware expects, so the real pedal and the on-screen control move together.
• Keyboard control: every control is reachable and operable from the keyboard, and the editor works with screen readers (see Accessibility).
• It just works: a few EP-1 parameters (its tine EQ) cannot be changed by the usual live messages; the editor handles these for you automatically and sends the whole sound so you hear the change.

Live edits change the sound you hear but are temporary: they live in the instrument's edit buffer. To keep a sound, either Save it to a file or WRITE it to the instrument.

Every program on the Kronos runs through the same effect chain: 12 insert effects (IFX 1-12), two master effects (MFX 1/2) on sends, and two total effects (TFX 1/2) on the main output. The editor gives all of it a dedicated view, for every engine: click FX in the top bar (next to Sound) and the main area becomes the effects editor.

• The chain strip: all 16 slots are always visible, the 12 inserts on the top row, MFX 1/2 and TFX 1/2 below, plus a COMMON tile for the shared controls (the two FX LFOs, the MFX return levels and chain, and the TFX master volume). A green dot means the slot is switched on, and a small arrow marks an insert that chains into another.
• Select a slot to see and edit everything in it: the routing row (pan, bus, sends, chain, rec bus) and the effect's own parameters below, grouped the way Korg documents them (a dual effect such as P4EQ - Exciter shows one section per half).
• Choose an effect: click the selected tile again, or the Change effect button, to open the effect browser. Search by name or number, or filter by category (Dynamics, EQ, Modulation, Delay, Reverb, the duals, and so on) across all 186 effects. Picking one changes the effect on the Kronos live and opens its parameters at Korg's factory defaults, ready to tweak.
• Everything here is live on the instrument, exactly like sound editing, and follows the panel both ways: the effect type, its parameters, on/off, pan, bus and sends. To keep a chain you have built, store it into a program on the Kronos.
• Getting back to the engine editor is one click: Sound in the top bar, or just select another program.

The editor is designed to be usable without a mouse and with a screen reader. Every control can be reached and operated from the keyboard.

• Tab / Shift+Tab move between controls; the focused control shows a visible highlight ring.
• On a knob, the arrow keys nudge by one step, Page Up / Page Down jump by ten, Home / End jump to minimum / maximum, and Enter resets to default.
• Sliders and drawbars are standard range controls adjusted with the arrow keys. Drop-downs and on/off switches focus and choose with the arrow keys or Space.
• Screen readers announce each control's name and current value the way it reads on screen (for example +35, 0 cent, or a named choice like Poly), and the filter and envelope graphs are read as a short spoken summary of their shape.

A built-in high-contrast / large-text mode is not available yet; in the meantime your operating system's own zoom and contrast settings work with the editor.

Click the program name (the big title at the top of the editor, or the name in the WRITE dialog) and type a new one. Press Enter to confirm or Esc to cancel. Names can be up to 24 characters, matching the Kronos. The new name travels with the program into files you save and into the program you write to the instrument.

A .syx file is a standard MIDI patch file. The Files… button (top of the left column) is where sounds move between the editor and files on your computer, quite separate from the instrument's own memory. Everything that touches the disk lives in that one window: two big buttons at the top, and the Loaded files and Recents tabs under them.

• Save current program… (or Save current combination…, the button names whatever is in the editor): saves the sound you are editing, exactly as it is (your edits and its name included), to a .syx file. It is a complete, faithful snapshot of the whole sound. It is greyed out while you are in the Set list, Global (drum kit / wave sequence) or Sequencer view, since the editor's sound is not what you are looking at then; those views save their own objects, and going back to the editor re-enables it.
• Load .syx…: opens .syx files. One patch opens straight into the editor and is sent to the instrument so you can hear it; a file holding a combination opens in the combination editor, not as a program. Several patches (several files, or one file holding many) appear in the Loaded files list in the same window for you to review first.

Use them to back up and build an unlimited library (your computer has no slot limit), to share and collect sounds in a universal format, and to experiment safely. Save and Load only ever touch files; they never overwrite anything on your Kronos. To move more than one sound at a time, see the next section.

Saving one patch at a time is fine for a sound you are working on. For a backup, or for loading a sound pack, you want to move a lot of patches at once.

Saving several sounds at once. There are several ways in, depending on what you want:

• Several recents: Files… then the Recents tab. Tick the sounds you want and choose Save. These are saved from the copies the editor already holds, so it needs no MIDI at all and is instant.
• A hand-picked set: open the Prog/Combi browser, click Select…, and tick the sounds you want. The tiles stop opening sounds while you are selecting, so nothing changes on your Kronos as you click. Then choose Save.
• A whole bank: open a bank in the browser and click Save bank… next to the bank name. Set lists have Save… in the set list view. Saving a bank of combinations offers to save the programs they use as well (see below).
• Some drum kits or wave sequences: in the Drum Kit or Wave Seq page of Global, Select… opens the same picker you choose kits with, in a mode with a tick box on every row. Search by name, tick what you want from as many banks as you like, and choose Save. Your ticks are kept as you move between banks. Read-only banks such as GM cannot be ticked. Alongside it, Save INT… (or whichever bank you are on) saves that whole bank in one go.
• Files you have loaded: Files… then the Loaded files tab. Everything you have brought in from disk is listed with a tick box, all ticked to begin with. All / None set the ticks, and Save N… saves the ticked ones, instantly and without MIDI.

One file each, or one file for the lot. Choosing to save more than one patch asks which you want. Separate .syx files, one per patch into a folder you choose once, is what a backup wants and the shape other editors and sound packs expect. One .syx file, everything concatenated, is handy for sending someone a set. Either loads back into the editor. Saving a single patch does not ask. Set lists are the exception: they are always saved one file each, because a set list only means something once it is given one of the 128 destinations, and a combined file has no way to say which is which.

Combinations bring their programs. A combination does not contain its sounds. Each of its 16 timbres holds a bank and a number that point at a program, and the program lives in its own slot. Saving the combination alone saves those pointers and none of the sounds, which is fine for a backup of this Kronos and useless for moving the combination to another one. So when a save includes combinations, the dialog asks one more thing:

• Also save the programs these combinations use (on by default). Every USER program a timbre points at is added to the run, once each, even if six combinations share it, and saved under its own slot name like any other program. Only timbres set to INT count: a timbre that is Off, or that drives an external device (EXT, EXT2), plays no internal program.
• Include factory INT programs (off by default). The INT banks are on every Kronos, so a combination that uses them normally needs nothing brought along. Tick it if the destination might have different factory sounds, which is the case going from a Kronos 1 to a Kronos 3. GM programs are never added; they are identical everywhere.

The report afterwards says how many programs came along and how many were left out and why, for example "Saved 20 of 20, with 14 programs the combinations use (3 factory INT programs not included)". If the same programs are also in your selection they are saved once, not twice. Saving a single combination asks too, from the browser's Save, from the combination editor's Save .syx, and from Files… then Save current combination… alike.

Samples are not included. A program built on an EXs library or on your own samples holds a reference to the sample bank, not the audio, and a .syx file cannot carry samples. When any saved patch uses a sample bank other than ROM the report says which, and how many patches use it. Those libraries have to be loaded on the destination Kronos (install the EXs, or copy your KMP/KSF files by USB and load the same KSC) before those sounds will play. Banks are shown by number until the editor has seen them on hardware and can name them.

About the filenames. Files are named after where the sound came from: INT-A 003 - Berlin Grand.syx, Combi USER-A 000 - Big Stack.syx, Drum Kit USER-A 012 - Rock Kit.syx, Set List 005 - Friday Gig.syx. A .syx file carries the sound but not its bank and slot, so the filename is the only record of where a patch lived, and a folder named this way sorts in playing order. A combined file is named for what is in it instead: INT-A.syx for a whole bank, or Program patches (7).syx for a hand-picked set. If a file of that name is already in the folder, the editor adds (2) rather than replacing it. Nothing you have already saved is ever overwritten.

How long it takes, and stopping it. A program is about 5 KB and a whole bank of them comes back in one go, so saving a program or combination bank is quick. Drum kits (38 KB each) and set lists (69 KB each) have to be read one at a time and are much slower: all 128 set lists takes several minutes. Any save shows what it is reading as it goes and has a Stop button. When it finishes it tells you how many files were written, and names anything it had to skip and why. GM and other ROM banks are not saved: they are factory sounds that cannot have changed.

Loading a folder of files. Files… then Load .syx… takes as many files as you like. If patches are already in the list (it survives closing the plugin and reopening your DAW project), it first asks whether to Clear list, then load or Keep and add to it; the files on disk are untouched either way. Select one file and it opens straight away. Select several and they appear in the Loaded files tab, all ticked, ready to save or write. preview on a row loads that patch into the editor so you can hear it, and the window stays open so you can try a few in a row. A program or combination opens in its editor and is sent to the Kronos; a drum kit, wave sequence or set list joins the Loaded list instead, with a line saying where to use it, because those editors always show the object your Kronos currently has selected.

• Nothing about loading several files touches your Kronos. The sound you are playing does not change, the editor does not jump to a different patch, and no data is sent to the instrument. The list is there for you to look through first.
• Engine types: the Kronos's program edit buffer takes its type from whatever bank the current program came from, and will not accept a program of the other type (HD-1 vs EXi), which the instrument reports as "Program Bank type conflicts". So when you open a single program file, the editor first puts your Kronos on a bank of the matching type and tells you it has done so.
• While loading, the editor skips duplicates and tells you how many, lists anything that is not a Kronos patch by name with the reason instead of failing the whole load, and reads files that hold several patches.

Set lists are saved and loaded from the Set list view rather than from the librarian, because each one has to be given a destination. Save… turns on tick boxes over the set lists; each is written as its own file. Load .syx loads a set-list file as a draft for the set list you have selected, and nothing is written to the Kronos until you press Write.

Writing a folder back to a bank. Once you have reviewed a load, tick the entries you want in the Loaded files tab and click Write all to bank…. A bank holds one kind of patch, so the button is off while both programs and combinations are ticked. The write window opens with no bank chosen and its write button disabled until you pick one. Before anything is sent, you see the whole thing written out: the target bank, the slot each patch will go to, and what is in that slot now. Read that list. It is the only chance to notice that you are about to overwrite something you wanted.

• Patches go back in the order they came from, so a folder saved from a bank restores to the layout it was taken from, whichever bank you send it to. If a patch cannot be written, that slot is left exactly as it was and the report says which and why.
• A Kronos program bank is either an HD-1 bank or an EXi bank and cannot hold both. Sending EXi programs to an HD-1 bank is refused slot by slot with "bank type mismatch", and nothing is written. Choose a destination of the same type as the patches you loaded.
• Patches that would run past the last slot of the bank are shown struck through and skipped, never wrapped around onto slot 0.
• If Global's Memory Protect is on for this kind of sound, you are told before the run starts, rather than after the Kronos has refused all 128 writes.
• Each slot is written, read back and checked before the next one, and the bank is saved to permanent memory once, at the end, and only if something was written. Stopping halfway leaves the bank exactly as it was.
• USER banks are offered by default. The factory INT banks are behind a tick box, because writing to one replaces built-in sounds.

Programs first, then combinations. When you write a folder that holds both, write the programs first. The editor remembers where each one landed against the slot its filename says it came from. When you then write the combinations, the picker offers Update program references to where those programs were just written, on by default, with a count of how many timbres it would change. Each combination row can be opened to show the changes timbre by timbre, old address to new address with the program's name, and the timbres it will leave alone. The rewritten copy is what goes to the Kronos; the file on disk keeps its original bytes, so a later load starts clean.

• It works from the slot addresses in the filenames, so it needs the separate .syx files a folder save produces. Programs loaded from one combined file carry no addresses, and the picker tells you the references cannot be updated.
• Only timbres set to INT are rewritten. EXT and EXT2 timbres address an external device, and Off timbres play nothing, so both are left as they are.
• A timbre pointing at a program that was not part of this session's writes is left alone and listed as unchanged.
• The memory of where programs went lasts as long as the loaded files do. It survives loading more files, and is cleared by Clear on the Loaded files tab, by Clear list, then load, and by restarting the editor.
• Sample banks: if any loaded program, drum kit or wave sequence uses a sample bank other than ROM, the picker says so above the list, naming the patches. Make sure that library is loaded on this Kronos before you rely on those sounds.

A suggested backup routine. In the Prog/Combi browser, open each of your USER banks and click Save bank… into a dated folder; do the same for your drum kits and wave sequences if you have made your own; in the Set list view, Save…, Select all shown, Save, into the same folder. To restore programs and combinations, Files… then Load .syx… the folder back in, check the Loaded files list, then Write all to bank… starting at slot 000: the programs first, then the combinations with the reference update ticked if the programs went to a different bank. Restore set lists one at a time from the Set list view.

Saving never changes anything on your Kronos. Only Write all to bank… does, and only after you have seen the list and confirmed it.

The WRITE button (top bar) saves the current program into the instrument's permanent memory, in a USER bank slot of your choosing. This is the same Write operation you would do on the Kronos itself. Clicking WRITE opens the Write to slot picker.

• Pick a USER bank from the tabs (USER-A to USER-GG). Factory banks are protected and not shown.
• Choose a slot. Each slot shows the name of the program it currently holds; empty slots (Init Program) are flagged as safe to use.
• Confirm. The editor tells you exactly what you are replacing before it writes permanent memory.
• The editor writes the program, reads it back to verify it landed correctly, and only then commits it. If anything does not match, it stops rather than risk writing bad data.

Match the bank type: Kronos USER banks are typed HD-1 or EXi, and the instrument refuses a mismatch; the editor warns you up front. WRITE is permanent, so save a .syx copy first if you want a backup.

A typical session: Get from Kronos, tweak the sound (you hear it live), rename it, then either Save .syx to archive or share it, or WRITE it to a slot on the instrument.

Kronos 3 Editor edits Programs across all nine Kronos engines and every program's effect chain, edits Combinations (all 16 timbres, their zones, Common settings, and effect chain), edits and stores set lists, edits Global settings, drum kits, wave sequences and sequencer parameters, browses and switches both Programs and Combinations, and backs up and restores your library as .syx files, in bulk, with combinations bringing the programs they use.

Within a combination, KARMA, the Drum Track, and audio-input routing are not editable yet, and the sequencer edits parameters rather than recorded note data.

These may follow in future updates, shaped by what players ask for. Nothing here is a promise of a specific feature or date.

• Stuck on 'Searching for Kronos': make sure you are using the USB-B port (not USB-A), the Kronos is on, and Enable Exclusive is set (GLOBAL, MIDI, MIDI Filter). Use the device picker and refresh to re-scan.
• WRITE says the bank is the wrong type: the target USER bank is HD-1 and your sound is EXi, or vice versa. Pick a bank whose type matches.
• Wrote to a slot but do not see it: re-select the bank/slot on the Kronos so its display refreshes.
• Live edits disappeared: live edits are temporary until you Save or WRITE. Selecting another program discards unsaved changes.
• The Audio Unit does not appear in Logic: look in the MIDI FX slot of a Software Instrument track, not the Instrument or Audio FX slots, because the editor is a MIDI effect. Still not there? Open Logic Pro, Settings, Plug-in Manager, find Kronos 3 Editor, and choose Reset & Rescan Selection.
• A controller keyboard does not play the Kronos in the standalone app: update to v1.10.1 or later, then click Options (top left of the window), Audio/MIDI Settings, and tick the controller under the MIDI inputs. Notes, pedals, controllers, aftertouch and pitch bend then play the Kronos on its global channel and show on the on-screen keyboard. Program and bank changes from the controller are not passed on, so choose sounds in the editor or on the Kronos. An MPE controller plays too, with its notes merged onto the one channel. In a DAW, the DAW routes your controller instead.
• The Kronos's own keys are silent in the standalone app: Local Control is probably off, which suits a DAW that sends your playing back to the Kronos, but the standalone does not do that. Turn Local Control on in the Kronos's Global mode, MIDI page. Ticking KRONOS KEYBOARD in Audio/MIDI Settings does not help: the standalone ignores the Kronos's own ports as a controller, so its keyboard never plays a note twice.

• Reading is safe. Pulling sounds, browsing, and editing live are all reversible: selecting a program again restores it. Only WRITE changes the instrument's permanent memory, and only after you confirm.
• Files are forever. A saved .syx reproduces a sound exactly, even after you have changed or overwritten that slot on the instrument.
• One cable does it all. Everything in this guide works over the single USB-B connection: no extra hardware needed.
• Recall on project open. When you reopen a DAW project, the editor switches the Kronos to the sound that plugin was saved with, so the instrument matches your session without a click. This is on by default; turn it off under ⓘ, Settings if you would rather the Kronos stay on whatever is selected. It only changes the instrument when a project opens, never as you switch DAW tracks.
• Select the Drum Kit or Wave Seq tab on the Kronos too. The Global button puts the instrument in Global mode, but there is no MIDI message that selects a page inside it, so its screen stays on whichever Global page it last showed. The plugin reminds you to press the Drum Kit or Wave Seq tab on the Kronos, because that is what lets you hear the kit or sequence you are editing from the Kronos's keyboard as you change it. The edits themselves reach the instrument either way.