x50 or mikrox

ilaneli · Post by **ilaneli** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:32 pm

i want to buy x50 or mikrox,
what is your advice for me. it dosn't imported the size of the keyboard.
the important is the sound . i need it for dance, house and rock show.
i only intrested on the sound.
please help me to decide mikrox or x50 i like them both.

thanks

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:59 pm

Only you can pick which is best for you. You have to listen to them both. The sound quality is the same. The difference is in the selection of patches included in the ROM. The X50 is more compatible with the Triton TR series.

A lot depends on what gear you already have. For dance and house I would often recommend the R3 or Radias instead of the MicroX/X50, particularly if you want to use a vocoder. The R3/Radias are also much better for changing the sound of a patch while playing live music.

MrT-Man · Post by **MrT-Man** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 12:15 am

Most of the sounds/samples are the same between the X50 & MicroX, some are different. I don't know what the specific differences are, unfortunately.

All I know is the X50 has a MUCH better piano, which is lacking in the MicroX. The MicroX, on the other hand, apparently has more samples geared towards dance/house/trance, and ethnic music.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:57 am

Whilst size was the biggest factor in my decision to get a microX, I think its sound-set is much better for the kind of music we do - EBM. If you are doing dance and rock, you will probably find the same. For your house stuff, you might find the either will do a good job. microX also has a lot more drum samples, if that matters.

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:51 am

For that kind of music NONE of this 2.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:01 am

Let me guess - he needs a Virus or some analogue rubbish, right? You couldn't give me any of that krap, my software is better in every way. But for some strange reason, software ROMplers just don't stack up against hardware stuff. Its strange because you'd think it was something that a PC and software would be able to do much better.

khortoom · Post by **khortoom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:56 pm

It's all about the parent company's supportiveness Bones... ACCESS use world class sound designers to make presets for their products... No wonder you always hear the latest "fashion" patches on Virus Ti... On the other hand, there are too many rubbish software on the market, which obscure the real good ones... Take Sylenth 1 for example, don't know if you've heard it before... It's got 4 damn oscillators and it SHOULD be capable of everything a virus does, in fact it was designed with one Hardware synth in mind, the Access Virus. But apart from a few good sound designers, nobody cares to make patches for it.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:28 am

I make my own sounds, so its irrelevant to me. Its probably one of the big attractions to software - sound design is so much easier than on something like a microX. We've had a Prophecy for 8 years or so and we have never made a single original patch for it. We've tweaked a few of the factory presets but its just too much effort to do something from scratch with such an obscure UI. Its a little different with the microX, the ROM plays a significant part in the process but if you start with a simple DWGS waveform and work from there, its a lot more hassle than your average software V/A for no better result.

I never rely on presets to assess a synth. I usually find a simple saw waveform and try to create a fat bassline with an envelope-modulated resonant filter. Its a good way to see how well both oscillator and filter stack up. Too many current synth presets rely almost completely on effects, which are usually good for solo work but need to be stripped away to get it to fit in a mix, so I try to assess the raw materials as I can put my own gloss on if I need to.

Clauzii · Post by **Clauzii** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:34 am

The biggest difference in the sound is that the microX contains more ethnic instruments (strings, flutes, percussion etc.).

microX: 642 multisamples + 929 drumsamples
X50: 470 multisamples + 518 drumsamples

But since they both use a 64MB PCM ROM for waveform storage, it's pretty safe to say that there are more synth and drum waves in the microX, whereas the X50 (including better Piano) has the better natural sounds (even though the microX isn't bad either).

I would say, save a few bucks and get the microX, if You really don't need the extra keys. For leadlines, fx-sounds and other synth stuff the keys on the microX will do. IF You'd like to expand, get a 150$ midi controller keyboard, and connect it to the microX. Not a bad setup

kimu · Post by **kimu** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:57 am

have a look also to new Waldorf Blofed with embedded GUI (price is less or more similiar to microX) or if you have much more budget you can try with a Virus Snow.

this supposed you are not interested in realist acoustic instruments for your music

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:22 am

khortoom wrote:It's all about the parent company's supportiveness Bones... ACCESS use world class sound designers to make presets for their products... No wonder you always hear the latest "fashion" patches on Virus Ti... On the other hand, there are too many rubbish software on the market, which obscure the real good ones... Take Sylenth 1 for example, don't know if you've heard it before... It's got 4 damn oscillators and it SHOULD be capable of everything a virus does, in fact it was designed with one Hardware synth in mind, the Access Virus. But apart from a few good sound designers, nobody cares to make patches for it.

Well, I suppose if you don't take the time to learn your tools properly, that might be an issue but I do all my own sound design and build most of the VST instruments I use in SynthEdit [the Sylenth 1 guy used it for his GUI].
Being a musician or producer who relies on presets is like being a driving enthusiast with a chauffeur or a guitarist who cannot tune his own guitar. All you should need are the basics of good oscillators and filter, combined with useful modulation routings. From there everything is possible. I see presets only as a guide to what I should be able to get from an instrument. 32 or 64 is generally more than enough, the rest are just for me to store my own work. Of course, its different with a ROMPler because there are so many more basic sounds to start from.
That said, world-class sound designer Rob Papen has a range of softsynths of his own design and other top-notch guys like Tim Conrady do a lot of presets for various softsynths.

ak · Post by ak » Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:57 pm

I would say got for the Micro-X. It has rich sounds and good quality for DANCE music.

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x50 or mikrox

x50 or mikrox

microX, I think.