Korg Forums

[jcniest5]

Hi, I'm shopping for a used professional grade sound for my own home recording studio and I'm torn between these three. Which one sounds the best, is the newest and offers the most bang for the bucks?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

JC

[X-Trade]

Triton is the newest from the set.

05R/W and M3R (not to be confused with the newer 'M3' and 'M3M' which is available in module form but tabletop and not Rack) are based on I think 2nd gen technology from the old M1, with AI2 synthesis.

I'm not intimately familiar with anything pre-triton although some have said that the older synths do have a nice warm fat sound. The Tritin is kinda thinner but has considerably better samples for real sounds. However, piano for example isn't strong in the Triton and also the filters are, well, a bit weird. Certainly have a unique character!
The Triton series has been an immensely popular sound engine though with a number of sample-based expansion boards available, as well as the MOSS synthesizer (taken from the Z1).
_________________
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

[jcniest5]

Do you think a 05R/W at $139.00 is still a good buy? How would you compare the M3R against the 05R/W? Comparable? One is better than other?

Thanks for your advice...

[jcniest5]

Or what about a X5DR? The deal on 05R/W went sour.

[synthjoe]

05/X5 are both quite a bit more recent than the M3R, the main difference being the sample set implemented in ROM (there are others, but probably not very significant to elaborate - maybe apart from polyphony). 05R/W is somewhat better than the X5DR (but at least one person out there will tell you otherwise, so you'll be the judge). The price you've quoted looks reasonable, but not a particularly good price. Triton is far better with a much wider range of possibilities, but you really have to listen to the sound to decide for yourself.

BTW: X-Trade quoted piano on the Triton, well, a realistic piano is not something to expect from these machines, even though the Triton will give you a lot of options circumventing this problem, if that's the sound you're after (e.g. with the excellent EXB expansion boards).

[jcniest5]

I'm so mad because I received the 05R/W and it outputs no sound from any of the ports on the back. The screen/LED readout displays 00:InitCombi0 and I can scroll through the whole sound bank, only the last digit (a zero) change from 0, 1, 2, etc... depends on which 00 number I'm on. The COMBI screen has no sound name, only the 00:InitCombi thing. I contacted the seller and I'm sending the unit back. He said he tested it and it worked. There is no physical damage so I don't know what to believe now. But he is refunding the price I paid for it, excluding shipping, which means I wasted about $30 paying for shipping from him to me and shipping the unit back. ARRGG!!!

[synthjoe]

[jcniest5]

[synthjoe]

[jcniest5]

I finally got it to work. I have to press Global Multi twice to enter the correct menu. Now everything is working as expected. Thanks for the advice! Much, much appreciated. Now I will go and enjoy my sound module.

[synthjoe]

Glad it worked - enjoy the ride!