R3 advice

[Taminka]

Hi R3 users

I play in a strange little band (elec guitar, ukulele, flute, harmonica, percussion) We are all in our 60s and are having great fun playing 60s - 80s light rock.
We would like to add some new sounds and were looking to get a small keyboard with some interesting presets. We need something small as our space is very limited in the venues we play. Our research seems to show no quality 3 octave keyboards except the small synths - which has led us here.

We are looking at a used R3. I understand that synths don't do what keyboards do (eg acoustic instrument sounds,) but am hoping I can get some sounds which will add some interest to our playing.
I will just be using presets - either included or downloaded from the internet, and won't be getting into the creative stuff you guys do.

I've read a bit about the r3 and like the idea of being able to get accompaniments using just one hand using gadgets like the arpeggiator etc.

My question is - is it realistic for me (60 yrs old but willing to learn,) - with no synth experience, but good general musical knowledge including piano playing, to get something worthwhile from an R3.

Taminka

[thehighesttree]

Honestly? No, don't waste your money. Just buy a Yamaha/Casio cheapo keyboard. No point buying a synth IMO if you don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of it. It's like a granny buying a souped-up muscle car to go to bingo and church.

[3DOFan]

Only if you want to learn how to make acid jazz folk dubstep and plan on becoming super famous.

[csteen]

A used M50 is selling for peanuts now days and they do most any sound you could want. They also have an excellent drum section should you require more fire power. They are more than capable of covering everything from folk to Metal and anything in between.
A 61key model certainly is not very space consuming. As far as learning, the M50 only would require you to touch the screen for whatever sound or combination of sounds you want. Of course should you decide to go further into editing the M50 goes just about as deep as you want if you chose to go there. . Only about 650 bucks on ebay at present.

[Re-Member]

The Korg M50, microSTATION, X50 and microX are all good synthesizers for you what you described. Hundreds of presets covering both acoustic and electronic sounds, very lightweight and compact.

The R3 is a very powerful synthesizer if you are familiar with sound design and subtractive synth programming, but if you plan on using it as preset machine, you'll find the sounds very limited after a couple of days.