Korg Forums

[UncleBuck]

Hello all, I am trying to decide between three boards, the YAMAHA MOTIF ES6, the ROLAND JUNO-G, or the KORG TR61?

I am a guitarist for 20 years. My playing includes blues rock to hard rock/prog metal to ambient. My experience with outboard synths/modules, etc., have been the Roland Sound Canvas 33, then the 88Pro with a cheap 61-key controller, that's it. I use to be involved in PC based recording, but have since lost the studio space (equipment in storage now) and basically lost music for a few years. I am now wanting to get back to it, but in a more streamlined fashion. I got burnt out with the studio setup because ideas got lost with the "utility" of making things work. I want to spend more time on playing than working out the tech difficulties of a larger/PC based setup.

Unfortunately, these three keyboards are not available anywhere near me to audition/compare. I have been doing that online and have been unable to find enough info to decide, so I'm asking all you experts in the forum. I have heard them only through a couple "demo songs" for each keyboard, but none have demos of the drum kit sounds and most demos are techno/dance which is not what I'm looking for!

HERE'S WHAT I NEED (IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE):

#1 - the best drum sounds for rock/metal/blues?

-I need great drum sounds (rockin', heavy, crisp) for my guitar-based stuff. Ranges from blues (Gary Moore/SRV) to hard rock (Satriani/Vai) to Power-Prog Metal (Dream Theater/Stratovarius). I need the most and varied patterns to get a drum track together quickly and easily (or ability to get from the net and load into keyboard). Also, good bass guitar and piano sounds and good horns for the blues!

#2 - A simple (and quickest to lay down ideas) built-in sequencer as I want to create everything sans PC. I have never used a hardware sequencer before, so one that is easy yet feature-packed would be nice. I'd prefer a 16-track, but could live with an 8-track.

#3 - Good "on-the-fly" synth sounds!

-Would like decent synth sounds for my ambient stuff (Steve Roach/Vangelis). I do not want a synth to tweak for hours on end through a barrage of menus, just a bunch of nice, warm, ethereal pads and effects. Also, decent orchestral strings, choirs and such. I'm into composing film music as well.

#4 - MIDI ports! I can't believe how many upper level boards have a USB only for midi. I would like to use this to 'directly' control modules if need be and I would like to control this keyboard with a guitar synth interface. I have a GK2 equipped guitar with a Roland DI-10 to midi into a keyboard/module.

#5 - Polyphony, at least 32 (more preferred) since I am not a keyboard player I layer many tracks to get my accompaniment down. Ya know, 1 track for left hand, 1 track for right, etc.,

#6 - Some kind of drive except floppy (SM, SD, CF) that allows sequence to be saved to it and taken to a pc sequencer if I want to later on. Also, take old sequences, put on the card and bring them up on the keyboard to finish.

WHAT I DO NOT WANT/NEED:

-Rap/Hip Hop/Techno/Dance-based keyboards or sounds (not my use)

-A keyboard that you have to have masters in computer science to get going. When I had a PC-based system, I spent plenty of time on "sound designing" and not music. I am done with that. I want to press a button and the sound is there. Having to add some fx is fine though.

-A keyboard with awesome guitar sounds. I play all my guitar parts on guitar so I do not need realistic sounding guitars on a keyboard.

-76 or 88-keys, semi-weighted, fully-weighted, this action, that action. As I am not a keyboard/piano player, I really don't know the difference. I just want at least 61 keys (to avoid pitching the octaves like on the smaller keyboards).

KEYBOARDS THAT I HAVE ELIMINATED FROM MY CHOICES:

Korg Karma - Seems like it needs a lot of tweaking to get the most out of it. Don't like the floppy drive.

Korg Triton Classic - Only has half the sample-rom of the TR61 and a floppy drive. Ten year old technology.
(If I am I wrong about this and it is better than a TR61, please tell me why, I have no idea?)

Yamaha PSR-S550 - Looked like it could get accompaniments together fast, but with only USB midi, I can't trigger the sounds with my guitar synth interface. The demo for it (with the Asian lady) is terrible. It makes it seem like just another PSR with more features, but overpriced. I'd think a Motif is this and more???

Yamaha MM6 - Sounds OK. It seems to have too basic of a sequencer?

Yamaha MiniMo - It seems too difficult to use and I don't want to spend time on getting things to work!

Yamaha Motif 6 (original) - Has half the sample-rom and polyphony of the Motif ES6.


Please reply with you thoughts/opinions/experiences, any help is much appreciated!

Uncle Buck

[X-Trade]

[Stephen]

Having worked at guitar center among other music stores, I'd say you'll have trouble finding exactly what you want from any one of these three synths.
Yamaha has the best sounding drums of the three IMO, but the styles lean toward hip hop, techno, trance, etc, no real nice choices in the rock & pop category, but that said, with a sequencer you can create your own patterns.

I owned a Mosif ES, and wasn't happy with it for a lot of reasons, but it boiled down to subjective needs, and the motif didn't suit mine. too clunky to get around.

I now have a Motif Rack, TR, M3, and a Karma, and still have to go to my software to find good solid drum patterns that work for the styles I create in, Smooth Jazz, Rock, Pop, and Blues.

The TR is by far the easiest to use, and has dual arps, and RPPR, for drums, but the sound of the drums is just ok IMO, again the styles lean toward genres that I'm really not in to.

Sound wise, they're all pretty good, I've yet to get stumped on any sound I need on the TR, which I use for performing with the band, doing a variety of styles, but the Karma is by far the most versatile, and has many more sounds to choose from with the MOSS, and two Expansion boards installed, (a great benefit).

As for MIDI ports I can speak for the TR, it has them, as well as USB, and uses SD card for Media.

Just curious, Have you considered an M50?

I do hope some of this is helpful for you, and best of luck, it's not an easy decision.
Regards,
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https://www.soundclick.com/artist/default.cfm?bandID=1514031
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[Vadim]

motif or fantom. definatly not korg
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[UncleBuck]

Thanks for the responses! This definitely gives me more to consider. I hadn't realized the "1 IFX, 2 MFX" in the TR, but could foresee it being problematic.

I haven't looked at the M50, but now I'm pricing them used and it's not much more than the TR's. I have also come across the Triton Extreme? Is the Triton Extreme a true Triton (unlike the TR which doesn't seem to be)? Also, I read that the M3 is the newer, better version of the Triton and the M50 is the "lite" version, so does this make the M50 better than all Tritons?

This gets confusing how some of these models are stepped up. Especially, since the manufacturers make their latest sound like the best in their marketing, when in fact you find out in forums such as these that they really removed many useful features. Korg makes the TR sound like it's better (I guess because it's newer) than a Triton, but I'm finding out that's not necessarily the case.

I keep hearing that Korg is the easiest to use (sequencing), but then lower models leave out feautures I want. I do like the Yamaha Mo6/8 & Motif sounds, but the complexity of using it and the sequencer is a dealbreaker. The Juno-G has many features and then some (the 4 tracks of audio recording), but it doesn't sound much better than my SC88Pro and having to buy additional expansion boards to get the sounds I want is a bummer.

I'm tempted to go back to PC-based sequencing/recording on a laptop and use my old 61-key controller with my Roland module and also pick up Korg and Yamaha rack modules. This may eliminate the problem of trying to find ALL the features I need in one board. I just found out that the 8-track digital recorder in my GNX does not send/receive MTC/MMC. This is a problem as I would want to sync it with the sequencer of whichever keyboard I get. The other option there would be to send all mixed synth audio to one stereo out and the use tracks 3-8 for guitars. This would suck as I wouldn't be able to adjust drums, piano, etc., individually in the final mix.

...and I thought it was only us guitarists who were forever in search of "that perfect, unobtainable tone"--lol

[X-Trade]

I think the sequencer is pretty much equal on most korg workstations
but on the M3 and the M50 you now have layout views and such like you would expect on a computer though (e.g. piano roll, etc).

Regarding the M series vs the tritons, it seems to be quite subjective. I use a TR but if i could trade up i'd go for the M50 now.
The TR was cut down from the tritons, but they added some extra samples, whereas the M50 was cut down from the M3, but they left all the samples in there and cut down on features instead, but it has 5IFX, which alone sells it to me!
The new M's have a more hi-fi sound, particularly good for recording, and providing quite detailed sounds, whilst the tritons seem deeper, darker and warmer in their tonal colour.

so TR/LE and M50 are aimed at the same market, M3 is aimed at a similar market to the triton studio. there isn't yet an 'M3 Extreme'.

Triton Extreme... well, its in the name! its a 'best of' all of the triton series and features.

I thought the Juno-G was cool when it came out, but I ended up walking away with the TR - it sounded better to me.
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Current Gear: Kronos 61, RADIAS-R, Volca Bass, ESX-1, microKorg, MS2000B, R3, Kaossilator Pro +, MiniKP, AX3000B, nanoKontrol, nanoPad MK II,
Other Mfgrs: Moog Sub37, Roland Boutique JX03, Novation MiniNova, Akai APC40, MOTU MIDI TimePiece 2, ART Pro VLA, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40.
Past Gear: Korg Karma, TR61, Poly800, EA-1, ER-1, ES-1, Kawai K1, Novation ReMote37SL, Boss GT-6B
Software: NI Komplete 10 Ultimate, Arturia V Collection, Ableton Live 9. Apple OSX El Capitan on 15" MacBook Pro

[candlewick]

"Regarding the M series vs the tritons, it seems to be quite subjective. I use a TR but if i could trade up i'd go for the M50 now.
The TR was cut down from the tritons, but they added some extra samples, whereas the M50 was cut down from the M3, but they left all the samples in there and cut down on features instead, but it has 5IFX, which alone sells it to me!"

Ditto !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




I'm looking to pounce on an M50 sometime soon. The touch screen interface from Korg is wonderful for navigating.
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TritonLE76,X3R, M50-61, TD6V V-drum module w/ Pintech Mesh Triggers

[Gargamel314]

You really need to check out the Triton Extreme... it seems to have everything you want on your list. Yes, it is a true Triton... but with most of the EXB cards hardwired into it... a total of 160MB sample ROM. The only thing it doesn't have is a Hard Disk...instead it uses Compact Flash, and to be honest, i never noticed any disadvantages that had over a SCSI Hard Drive.

Basically, take a Triton Classic, paint it blue, install ALL the sample ROM expansions (including great orchestra sounds), double the polyphony (120 total), add a vacuum tube (such a cool effect), trade out the floppy drive for a Compact Flash drive, and two USB ports... see where i'm going with this? There's not a single thing that any of the other Tritons have that this one DOESN'T.

From your post, this covers everything you seem to want. Here's a link to the original brochure and some demos for you. I know you said you wanted a 61-key... and there are 61-key Triton Extremes, this page is just for the 88-key model. http://keyboards-midi.musiciansfriend.com/product/Korg-TRITON-Extreme-88Key-Workstation?sku=702257 They all have the same specifications, though.
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