Buying advice urgently needed: Korg LE 76, 7 hrs & count

[Persiflage]

Hi folks,

I'll try to cut a long story short because time is of the essence somewhat...

I already have a Fantom X7. I need a second keyboard to act as a controller for parts set on the Roland because you can only split a keyboard so many ways in live performances before it gets too hard to keep track of. I've investigated the Fatar VMK-88 and discovered that it's useless for my purposes. I also need better string and brass voices than the X7 has...

The bottom line is this. I could buy another MIDI controller keyboard and some SRX expansion cards for the Fantom, or I could take up what sounds to me like a very attractive offer. I can get the last - brand new - Triton LE 76-key workstation from a local music store for £600. That offer ends in, oo, about seven hours from now when their discount period finishes.

I need a keyboard that will transmit different splits and layers on different MIDI channels, which I assume the Korg does. Moreover, I've always been a fan of the Korg's fat brass and decent string sounds, which would almost certainly save me from having to buy SRX boards for the Fantom. And, of course, I'd have a backup keyboard for gigging!

I can get a MIDI controller keyboard that does what I want from the same people for around £200. The Triton LE, as mentioned, is £600; it's a fair old difference but might be worth it in the long run...

As Korg owners, what do you think? Would you spend the extra cash (and the money isn't a huge deal for me, it's more the principle of not spending what I ought not to) or would you stick with the Fantom X7 and just grab the MIDI device?

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance, guys

[xmlguy]

That is a very poor value for the Triton LE, plus I don't think you'll get better strings or brass than the X7, much less X7 + SRX. You also don't really expand the range of synthesis you have going with another ROMpler. Now if you got a Triton Extreme with EXB-MOSS, that would be different, but not the LE.

What kind of music do you play?

[Persiflage]

Thanks for replying! We're a function band, so it's mostly pop/rock/Motown/R&B covers. The LE's brass patches sounded significantly better to me than the Fantom's, although perhaps that was just the circumstances under which I was listening to them.

EDIT: Do you really think £600 is a poor price for a new 76-key LE workstation? It doesn't seem like too bad a deal to me; I certainly can't find one cheaper online unless I'm prepared to order from the States, and a local warranty is worth something to me in that regard.

[xmlguy]

There isn't much reason to buy the LE for any reason, much less for 600 quid. The X50 is cheaper, has double the ROM (based on the Triton TR), so if you want the Triton sound, that's a better value. You should be able to find cheaper, better, used gear locally, if you have patience to wait and search for it. The Triton Extreme is a much better value for a much better set of the Korg sound library than the LE. The release of the M3 has caused the price of the Triton to drop tremendously, but the TREX is a tremendous sounding synth, even more so with the EXB-MOSS board. The MOSS alone is reason enough to get TREX, and if you want the best sounding brass, reeds, and strings on Korg gear short of OASYS, that's the way to go.

Also be on the lookout for the Korg Z1, which is a 12 voice MOSS that can be found at bargain prices. Yamaha also has very good brass and strings, but the price of the Motif XS6 is rather high. The Motif XS Rack is a better value, but that won't give you another set of keys.

With a general downturn in the economy, selectively picking up used gear becomes easier when you have cash, and someone else needs it.

[Persiflage]

Thank you - that's immensely helpful. What with time constraints and all, I managed to persuade them to let me trial the LE and I spent a few busy hours with it last night. I found the user interface horribly unintuitive to begin with but I finally got to grips with it in the end...

Isn't the MIDI implementation *weird*? You can only send parts to specific individual channels if you set them to EXT, which means they won't play locally and every key-press is sent on the global channel whether you want it to or not - regardless of the key range set on that part - so you've always got to make sure that the receiving instrument isn't listening on the global channel or you end up with a total mess.

You're right about the economic downturn being good for buying used gear... I can see me improving my collection significantly over the coming months! I'm completely agnostic as to manufacturer - I've never been into this stuff enough to be a kit fanboy - but my impression of the Yamaha ES series was that it didn't look sturdy enough for gigging. One thing that has surprised me is the extent to which the release of the G series has failed to noticeably depress the price of used X-series Fantom kit.

I'm definitely going to get myself the SRX-06 board for the Fantom-X as it generally seems to be very well-regarded. Thus far I'm unsure about the LE. On the one hand, it gives me a lot of flexibility in programming presets and using both local and remote voices in whatever combination. And, of course, the 76 keys I need.

On the other hand, the user interface is cluttered and clunky, and the connectivity/backup options are distinctly antiquated. I stand by many of the patches being useful - not that I've had all that much time to experiment - but I wonder whether I'll ever find it anything other than clunky and hard to use. Hmmm.

Anyway, thanks again for the tips!

[a.schemkes]

I played a long time with the LE in a band. It was my only keyboard, because it was easy to make splits layers and so on (and very light to carry). But I think it has a terrible keybed. And after the years knobs are breaking and I think it will fail anytime now...