Korg Karma - 520 euro: deal or no deal?

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:52 pm

Say, I can buy a Karma for 520 euro - should I take it or not?

Estimated values:
Sonistate (ebay): 1277 USD
Sequencer.de: 900 euro (rare)
AMAZONA.de: 875 euro

Sounds like a good deal...

dave · Post by **dave** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:11 pm

At that price I'd bite his arm off. But ask to see and hear it working from boot-up before you part with any readies. And make sure the pitchbender works OK.

Kind regards.

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:09 pm

I'll certainly check everything - I'll pick it up in person.

Being a solo performer, I could really use KARMA technology, I think...

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:21 pm

I'd love to find a deal like that!
I already own a Karma, but it's showing wear after a half dozen years or more, and if it ever just quit, I want a spare to replace it.
If that's a good Karma, you should jump on it.
$.02

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:29 pm

Yeah! It's mine!
Looks very good - few greasy spots and minor scratches, but mechanicly it's in a perfect fit.

I better go and play with it for couple of hours

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:50 pm

Okay - my thought so far... first bad things:
Piano sucks, as expected - on FX8 - 100x better.
I had expected more trancy synths, but I'm getting EXBpcm09 anyway, so...
Looks kinda gay

but I don't mind that

Good things: sound quality of synth patches is I think at least as good as on FX8
Keyboard feels very nice.

But the greatest disappointment, is that this guy ruined all Presets, I think!!!! None of them has Karma settings left! And I tried to make my own karma combies and it works fine - it can be saved and recalled... so presets are ruined, not keyboard itself...
Still - I would really like to know, what's karma is capable of! And now I can't

((.
How do I get factory presets? There is no factory reset, and I don't have a floppy drive...

themusicman2001 · Post by **themusicman2001** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:48 pm

Hi

You need a floppy drive - as this is the only way you will get the factory presets onto the KARMA. Did the seller not give you the discs?

I'd have a look on the net for a cheap USB floppy drive, then get the factory presets from a KORG site (if they are still there).

dave · Post by **dave** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:37 pm

SynthAntonius wrote:How do I get factory presets? There is no factory reset, and I don't have a floppy drive...

You do have a floppy drive. It's built-in. Look under the joystick at the front of the synth. And you can download the factory sounds here:

http://www.korg.com/downloads/

Choose Karma from the "Select a Product" menu and scroll down to the entry for Factory Preload Version 2.0, then click the PC or Mac link. To use the Version 2.0 Preload, you must have Karma OS Version 2.0 installed.

To find out which version of the OS is installed, boot up the synth and watch the LCD screen. You will see the OS version displayed briefly beside the KORG logo.

Kind regards.

themusicman2001 · Post by **themusicman2001** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:48 pm

Dave - I think what he's saying is that he doesn't have a floppy drive connected to the PC.

dave · Post by **dave** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:56 pm

Thanks for the clarification, musicman. I'm a Mac user myself and Macs haven't had floppy drives for many years now. I thought all PCs still came with them. Live and learn...

Still, these drives are dirt cheap these days. I got one for my Mac specifically to transfer PCG files to my Korgs – €30.

Kind regards.

themusicman2001 · Post by **themusicman2001** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:59 pm

No probs Dave... I too am a Mac convert...

Actually, right now I am in the middle of installing a new 250GB internal HDD as a replacement for the 80GB one I have. I have cloned the existing drive to an external USB HDD drive, have removed the 80GB HDD and replaced that with the 250GB HDD (made it bootable of course!), and am now restoring the clone to this new internal drive. Only 3 hours to go...

SynthAntonius · Post by **SynthAntonius** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:39 pm

Yes, I don't have floppy drive, since Windows XP can be installed directly from a CD/DVD, so there is no need for a floppy drive - who needs it anyway? 1.5 mb, very slow access... I have 2 gb flashcard which is 20 times smaller and 100 times faster, lol...
But I think I'll buy one, just for Karma.

Btw - is there a free editor, for Karma sound engine? It looks very simple and basic after Fantoms engine, but still... feels almost like Radias sound engine