M3 vs Triton Extreme in Sound Quality

adlai · Post by **adlai** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:23 pm

I own a Triton Extreme 61 and am VERY pleased with the sound quality. I have heard a few demos from the M3 and I am not really impressed with the sound quality. Does anyone else think that the M3 sounds a bit sterile and digital? Of course I have not had any experience with the M3 other than the online demos on the korg site, but I really would like to hear from those who own it.

Bubba · Post by **Bubba** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:39 pm

I have an T-EX. The M3 sounds really good, different than the Triton.

adlai · Post by **adlai** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:50 pm

Does M3 have good piano sounds, eps, organs, brass, strings, basses, drums or is it just for dance sounds? In other words can it really be called a "Workstation" providing staple sounds as well as the electronica stuff?

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:41 pm

I have both ( extreme 76 and M3M)

your question(s) were typical last May/June /July. There is tonnage response on this, on the forum

The Extreme had a ' hot ' sound. Volume was beefed up on samples and eq/fx was added out of the box

The M3, out of the box, is more ' middle ' or flat sounding.

So all you do is EQ/add Fx, beef up the volume to instruments per your taste

So the M3 SOUNDS GREAT after you tweak it

And you should add a subwoofer. AND the EXB Radias

You can't go wrong

IMO

Synthoid · Post by **Synthoid** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:37 pm

adlai wrote:Does M3 have good piano sounds, eps, organs, brass, strings, basses, drums or is it just for dance sounds?

Yes, the M3 has a good selection of all those sounds, plus with the release of 512 new sounds (free upgrade) you have more than you know what to do with.

I've never heard of a keyboard that was "just for dance sounds." Of course, it's not the sounds that make the music anyway, it's how you use them.

Voltan · Post by **Voltan** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:44 pm

adlai wrote:Does M3 have good piano sounds, eps, organs, brass, strings, basses, drums or is it just for dance sounds? In other words can it really be called a "Workstation" providing staple sounds as well as the electronica stuff?

M3 has better pianos than TEX (IMHO) - espacially after the recent update which doubled the factory preset programs number

It's as much a worksation as Triton is.

davc · Post by **davc** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:40 pm

i traded my TR Ex in on my M3 ....

it does sound better after a liitle tweeking as others have said ...

the Extreme had lots of years of stuff in it .... the m3 is fairly new ...

the newest soundset from is very , very good ...

and there are a couple banks of conerted Triton files available ... they are also very good ... in case you miss a few Triton sounds ...

the Tube was a cool sound on the Extreme .... but i found it to be a bit noisy .... the m3 has MFX with a stereo tube preamp that works great to emulate those tube type fx , but i think it's much quieter ...

just got my Free Exb-Rad today .... i also traded my Radias-R in on my M3 .... so i'm glad it's here .... be under the hood of the m3 , it should work just fine ..!!

i was also a little leary when i went into the music store to demo the m3 , as it sounded a little weak .... but believe me .... it's Not ...!!

later;
Dave C.

wuss88 · Post by **wuss88** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:29 am

I've demoed the M3 and the Triton Extreme side by side in a music store (Digital Village Romford). Both synths were running thru the same sound system, on the usual Korg Store Display Stand. The M3 sounded noticeably bigger and fatter. The Triton in comparison was weak and plastic sounding. Bought the M3 the following week, nuff said. I have 15 years of gigging experience with various synths and I know what needs to be there (in terms of frequencies) to cut thru the mix. The Triton might sound good to your ears by itself but gets lost in the mix soon as other instruments join in.

OmarNoori · Post by **OmarNoori** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:26 am

for me i think that the korg triton sounds more live than the m3

-just my 2 cents

adlai · Post by **adlai** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:04 pm

OmarNoori
for me i think that the korg triton sounds more live than the m3
______________________________________________________

What is your experience with both boards OmarNoori, and what do you mean exactly by "live"?

OmarNoori · Post by **OmarNoori** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:08 am

um.. ive been playing music for my whole life from guitar to accordians to piano. and picked up my first korg (pa80) about 3 years ago, then got the triton extreme (61 keys) and roland d50 i used mostly for techno + middle eastern music

. i just sold my korg pa80 on ebay and triton extreme locally on craigslist. and i am using cubase with alot of sound plugins for making music at the moment.

what i meant by live was the feel of the sound, probebly due to more echo or reverb setting in the extreme if u know what i mean?

adlai · Post by **adlai** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:51 am

Ok, I know what you mean... Someone earlier said the same thing. They said that the Extreme is hyped in the effects, eq section compared to the M3. Ofcourse this does not mean anything as far as the individual prgs/cmbs because you could always sweeten them with eq/efx. I am considering an M3 purchase now that there are 1000+ pgms with the recent update. Initially I was like "Only 512 sounds for a $2500 board?".

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:53 pm

adlai wrote:O Initially I was like "Only 512 sounds for a $2500 board?".

the rest of us M3 owners had faith. And we pay attention to what Jerry/Korg says

KorgSinceTheM1 · Post by **KorgSinceTheM1** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:23 pm

My initial feeling of sound between the TEX and M3 was the same as most of you. The TEX was 'hotter'. I was torn, sold my TEX and took the M3 plunge. I don't regret it one bit. True, during a live setup, the M3 did need some tweaking make it cut thru a band. And I made it do what I needed it to do with great results. But in a studio recording setup, the M3 sounds wonderful.

It's the whole idea with any synth/workstation...it's meant to be tweaked and programmed, there's no right or wrong way, and these instruments provide us with all the tools to make it sound the way you want.

Synthoid · Post by **Synthoid** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:01 pm

adlai wrote: Initially I was like "Only 512 sounds for a $2500 board?".

That actually makes me laugh, considering back in the 80's you were lucky if a synth came with more than 64 sounds. Remember the Roland D-50? It came with 64 internal sounds and another 64 on a memory card.

As far as the M3's price of $2500, shop around. Retailers are flexible, especially in this economy......don't be afraid to bargain!