M3 vs Triton Extreme in Sound Quality

[LivePsy]

You need a new synth in your own environment for a week to know if you like it.

B

[tritonlover2000]

I know, but I have enough synth sound designing and Triton Experience, so going around the M3 presets and editing them to equate to triton settings (oscillators, EGs, effects) were a piece of cake for me. M3 however sounds wimpy. The Radias sounds smooth, not aggressive like the MOSS board.

I think I am going to keep my Triton Extreme and get some software synths.

[LivePsy]

I'm sure you know what you are doing, but digging into the programming reveals some nice features in the M3 like accurate, fast and exponential curves in the envelopes. Some of these details were a stumbling block in the TE. However I have to agree, you get attitude with the TE

B

[Sina172]

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[Synthoid]

There were similar arguments when the Triton first came out.....people were saying it didn't sound as good as the Trinity.

History repeats itself.

[tritonlover2000]

I like the Triton Extreme for all the synth sounds (except drum kits and acoustic sounds which are horrible). Triton also has better filters IMO.

I also love the R3, it sounds very fat and smooth so it complements the Triton Extreme well.

I am not at all impressed with the M3 overall. Only thing I like are the new touchscreen (more solid feeling, faster responding and colorful than the TE touchscreen) and the radias expansion. EXB FW is a joke. 256 MB of sampling expansion in todays age of softsamples is also a joke. I also like Karma for a lot of random generators, especially arpeggios which sound more lively than the standard arps.

I think Korg can and will do better next time. Triton/Trinity are Korg's legacy besides Wave station, MS20 etc. I know the next generation: Trition V2 or M4 or whatever will address all the complaints users have of the M3.

[Synthoid]

I am not at all impressed with the M3 overall.

That's your opinion, and that's fine. The continued bashing, however, isn't doing anyone any good.

[QuiRobinez]

I find the M3's sounds quality quite dependent on the effects the you set-up in the M3.

For example, the total effects (TFX) which are kind of your mastering effects, can make a huge difference as to how the M3 sounds. That in addition to the insert, and master effects. (how much you apply to each sound, and what you apply).

The effects engine of the M3 is very high-quality, and has a lot to do with the first impression of how the M3 sounds.

When I first got my M3, my impression of the sounds was, "They are just OK", but once I began working with customizing the effects (IFX, MFX, TFX), the M3 sounded so much better, almost like having another keyboard !

So, don't be fooled by the first impression of the M3's sound quality, the M3's effects engine is a crucial component of the M3, and can make a major impact on how the M3 sounds.

I completely agree with you. When i compared the M3 to the triton sounds when i just bought my m3 keyboard, i also felt that the Triton has more pressure in the sounds which makes it stand out a bit more. During the learning proces of how to create sounds on the M3 i found out that my own patches were better sounding compared to the factory sounds. Further investigation resolved that i use the effects a lot more than most of the factory sounds. So it makes a real difference if you use the effects the way you like to sound it.

At this point i have my M3 filled with lots and lots of my own sounds and my personal opinion is that it is better sounding than the triton. The presets available for the triton are simply put very good, so you need to program the sounds yourself to really understand how good the sound engine is of the M3.

in a couple of weeks i'm going to do a one on one comparison of the soundengine of the m3 compared to the oasys. I'm really interested to see how my own sounds will stand compared to the oasys sound.

[Sina172]

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[LivePsy]

There's quite a bit of distortion in the Triton Extreme, mostly because the main amp level is usually set max and the effects clip. Try a single wave sine with amp on 127 and put the stereo mod delay on it - clear as anything clipping, but none at all on the M3. Mixed in with the overall impression of either keyboard's sound is that distortion on the TE, I always heard it even from the M1 days. Old ears aren't always objective ...

Cheers,
BF

[Sina172]

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[tritonlover2000]

I agree its not doing M3 owners any good! Glad I don't own one.

Now I am sure the M3 has better response curves, better effects, yadayadaya, but I want some aggressiveness in the sound. That's why I like Access Virus, its not at all smooth, its very harsh and metallic sounding. Even the synthpad sounds on the Virus are not as lush as the Korg's.

For smooth sounds, we have the R3!

[Synthoid]

I will give criticism, and go extreme if I have to because I KNOW Korg is listening, and I love them as a company. I sell MORE Korg at Sam Ash than I do ANYONE else combined, because I want them to succeed. When the rep comes to the store, I forward any customer complaints or issues to him because I KNOW they are listening.

I'd like to hear what Jerry has to say about all this....

[Daz]

No M3 here ... but I was wondering if you guys had tried pushing up the Drive parameter in the Tone Adjust settings in Combi/Seq mode or on the AMP page in Program Mode. That should go some way to giving you the punch and girth you remember experiencing on the Triton Extreme. If you want a more in the face sound, definitely check that out.

Daz.

[tritonlover2000]

Daz,

I tried that, but while the volume gets louder, the filter still sounds different (in a not so good way) compared to triton.