Korg Forums

[Bachus]

I have an option to buy an m3 module with radias expansion..

Leaves me with a single question
How well did these units age?
Soundwise?
And physical build quallity wise?
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Korg Kronos 2/88 , Genos, Mainstage3 +VSTsu, ipad pro, GSi Gemini, Roland Integra 7, Jupiter Xm, Yamaha motif XS rack, Ketron SD90.
www.keyszone.boards.net

[karmathanever]

I had no problems with mine (had 2 of them) - loved them!!

But I think there were some screen failure issues but, like all models, you only hear about the problems.

I personally thought mine were well built.


Cheers

Pete
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PA4X-76, Karma, WaveDrum GE, Fantom 8 EX
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[HardSync]

I think it depends on a lot of different factors, such as price, condition and usage. If it was in storage, how and where was it stored? How does the seller describe the module, etc., etc.

One thing to consider is that almost every program and combi makes use of the SW1 and SW2 buttons on they keybed, so unless your MIDI controller can send out CC80 and CC81, you might get a little annoyed having only the module. There are, however, workarounds to not having the buttons, like programming the sliders to function as the SW1 Mod and SW2 Mod buttons, so it's not completely hopeless...

I've had my M3-88 for nine years and the module part of it is just fine. No screen issues or failures (which seemed to be fairly common in the past decade) -- all of the buttons, pads, sliders, LEDs work perfectly. Although the pads, which were white, have become somewhat yellowish as they age. As for the text on the buttons, they are just now beginning to show some wear on the ones I use the most, for instance the Drum Track, KARMA, Page Select and Exit buttons now show some wear. The analog outputs have no issues, nor do my analog inputs - MIDI and USB ports fine. Data wheel and tempo knobs also fine. I'd have to say that my M3 is aging very well, and I think it is reasonably well-built. But I don't gig with it or move it around much... The only issues I've had is with the joystick, but that's on the keybed side of things, and a few weird combi programming glitches with the EXB-Radias and KARMA together.

Soundwise, I think it's very good. People could obviously argue about that -- it is no Kronos, that's for sure (and some are saying that the Kronos sounds dated now). Kinda depends on what types of sounds you need or like. The samples for EDS are pretty good -- some of the samples are simply outstanding, some not so good or useful. But there is a huge amount of samples, plus you can resample stuff all day long if you want. LOL. The EXB-Radias is a must-have, in my opinion. Apart from only having 24 voices of polyphony, which get eaten up rather quickly, it's a really, really good virtual analog synth and it's my go-to synthesis type when I want to create basses and leads or analog-ish pads. It's relatively simpler to program the Radias compared to programming EDS sounds.

Anyway, the M3 is still a super synth/workstation, but I think a significant amount of players upgraded to the Kronos, which has a lot more going for it. If you can get a decent price on the M3 module, it might be worth it... but only if you actually need it, if that makes sense. Otherwise, hold out for something you do need. But I love my M3 and play it almost every day. :)

[Bachus]