Radias / R3 sound quality

LiquidLE · Post by **LiquidLE** » Sat May 09, 2009 2:09 pm

I played a friend's R3 and loved it. I may be able to score a Radias sometime soon. I would love the larger keyboard, and more voices, but i don't want to do this if I'm going to feel I liked the sound of the R3 better.

Is this possible? Or is it the same engine, same filters, etc... just more with the Radias?

Or are there possibly some differences sonically?

Thanks so much.

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Sat May 09, 2009 5:27 pm

Of course there would be sonic differences, look at the prices.

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Sat May 09, 2009 5:55 pm

it is almost exactly the same engine, same filters, etc.
only the RADIAS has more: four timbres, each with two IFX, one MFX, two step sequencers plus the arpeggiator... plus you have drums which are a bit like a 16-part program in that each drum sound is like an individual program - you have access to all of the per-voice features that are in a program for example waveshapers, envlopes, LFOs, waveforms, filters... per drum!
The radias does have some PCM samples that the R3 doesn't have - the R3 has more single-cycle DWGS waves.

and obviously the higher voice count is brilliant when you're working with four timbres. and you get all those knobs and buttons....

the hardware for example amps, DACs may be different... but generally more expensive usually means higher quality.

you would probably notice a difference between the two because the preset programs are written in a different style... a lot of the Radias presets were aimed at club/dance/electronica sounds... First thing I did was erased all of them, and started from scratch - great way to get to know an instrument too. but I don't just mean a difference in the genre, but for example some of the R3 programs I believe are made to sound dirtier and harsher... closer to the microkorg. But if you were programming your own sounds you could easilly approach (and surpass) this with the RADIAS.

LiquidLE · Post by **LiquidLE** » Sun May 10, 2009 6:46 pm

X trade, your comments are so helpful! Thank you. This is a video with some stuff I really liked from the R3 at youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oufQcDoOutk&fmt=18

I posted this in the comments, the vintage bass sound I really liked, and a lead sound: Vintage bass at 2:15 ! Love it. Also the lead sound at 3:15

I can just click on the numbers and hear the sounds.

So the Radias would do these no trouble, then. I also wanted to mention, the R3 I played had wonderful Rhodes sounds. They didn't sound sample based, very alive and warm. Were there presets to start from like this on the Radias?

Thank you again for the great post.

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:41 pm

The R3 has several electric piano waves, one of which is probably used by the rhodes program you heard. Even though a sample is used for OSC1, it can still sound very dynamic due to how the sample can be modified through the full synth engine. The effects engine can also add a lot of warmth through amp modelling and tube sims for very smooth overdrive. The samples are just a starting point - not a final product - and they're one reason the R3 can sound richer than other synths even though it may have fewer oscillators or timbres.

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Mon May 11, 2009 12:17 am

I might also point out that a conversion of the R3 factory set has been made available a while back for the RADIAS. that should help you if you want to find any particular sounds from the R3.

LiquidLE · Post by **LiquidLE** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:43 am

xmlguy, thank you. Very interesting info. Yeah, i owned a 73 Stage Piano and I've played a lot of Rhodes patches, do you like the R3's? I loved it, what little i played. Maybe because it was modified through the synth engine, as you said.

LiquidLE · Post by **LiquidLE** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:48 am

X-Trade wrote:I might also point out that a conversion of the R3 factory set has been made available a while back for the RADIAS. that should help you if you want to find any particular sounds from the R3.

Really!? Right in the factory install of the Radias? Vintage bass sounds, and such?

By the way, does the Radias have a media card slot of some kind? Thanks again for all the helpful posts.

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Mon May 11, 2009 10:30 am

Yes, I like the R3 very much because it has so much of the Radias at an affordable price. I think it's probably the most powerful VA synth engine in it's price range vs. the Micron, SH-201, X-Station, and Microkorg/MS2K/MKXL, although each have their own unique traits and sounds. I've spent several hundred hours building patches on it, some of which you can download here in the R3 section.

For electric pianos though, it wouldn't be my first choice, because I've got a better selection of them on the X50, Triton Extreme, Z1, FantomX, PSR-S900, and softsynths. I use the R3 more for synth leads and vocoding.

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Mon May 11, 2009 1:05 pm

LiquidLE wrote:...
Really!? Right in the factory install of the Radias? Vintage bass sounds, and such?
By the way, does the Radias have a media card slot of some kind? Thanks again for all the helpful posts.

not in the factory install. but right at the top here on this forum (on this RADIAS/R3 section) there is a sticky post:
R3 factory programs for the Radias -- ready to download !

you load them through the PC editor, through the USB-MIDI connection (or over old fashioned MIDI if you have to, although that will be much slower!

)

so there isn't a media card connection.

RE the pianos... after several days of working on one patch, I've got a pretty killer wurlitzer sound (or at least to the ears of someone who's never played one before). maybe not entirely authentic, but it is so expressive! there are many tricks you can do in order to get to that level... you can achieve a much more dynamic response than on for example triton range like the X50, triton, TR, etc... because they are based on two velocity level samples...
using sine waves and waveshapers, VPM, or DWGS with filters and lots of clever programming, you can get something which covers all levels of expression (I currently have it bending with aftertouch too, although the radias keybed doesn't have aftertouch, I use mine with a controller).
if you want to play real EP sounds, for example with a sustain pedal, then the polyphony of the radias is also a great advantage.

but i do have to agree with xmlguy on the valueformoney on the R3. you can't get a much better deal for that price. but i've always equated KORG with great value for money, and often the most flexible and intuitive solutions.