Korg Forums

Guys, I need some advice on the following matter: I'm thinking of buying a new Korg unit, that would be added to my current "tool set": Waldorf Blofeld, Alesis Micron and a Novation XioSynth. I can't decide between the MicroX and the R3. I will use the synth mainly for industrial & electro stuff.
On one hand, the MicroX seems to be loaded with samples (it's always good to have plenty to choose from), and I'm especially interested in the oriental patches (since I use such sounds in my music whenever I can grab my hand on such samples); on the other hand, the R3 seems to have some really nasty aggressive sounding leads.
The problem is that for the moment I can afford to buy just 1 of the 2, and on top of it, I'm unable to demo these units in a local store, so I'll have to buy them online without actually testing them in person. So sadly I have to rely on what I can find on the Internet (youtube demos and some mp3 patch samples). Considering all this, which unit do you think would complement better my current rig and would work better for the specified music genre: the MicroX, or the R3?

I doubt an R3 will add much value to your current set-up, as it's 'just a VA'. For oriental sounds the MicroX is a lot better then a VA and you can also make some very nice leads with it as it has a pretty big sample collection with among others samples of vintage Korg machines.

I see Tnx for the info!

Dont listen anyone... try them yourself.. go to a resale and spent some time there on both... chears

For industrial it's usually best to have at least one sampler to load industrial sounds that you find elsewhere. None of the synths/ROMplers you mention can do that. Look at the SP-404, ESX-1, or a sampler workstation like the TR61+EXB-SMPL, Triton Extreme, FantomX, Juno-G, or M3.

Tnx for the tip! For the moment we don't really need one, but I'm starting to see its purpose

xmlguy wrote:For industrial it's usually best to have at least one sampler to load industrial sounds that you find elsewhere. None of the synths/ROMplers you mention can do that. Look at the SP-404, ESX-1, or a sampler workstation like the TR61+EXB-SMPL, Triton Extreme, FantomX, Juno-G, or M3.

you don't actually need the EXB-SMPL for the TR to load samples, just sample ram and an SD card.
EXB-SMPL is only if you want to make your own samples... although without it you will need software like awave studio to make KSF files. you can load your own samples from SD card as soon as you have installed some SIMM modules.

whilst I would say something like the MicroX, TR, or another PCM workstation would be great to compliment your existing setup, I have to admit the R3 (and the radias, which I have) does have the modulation step sequencers which are great for making stepped industrial noises, e.g. with the DWGS waveforms doing crude wavesequencing.