Beginners Perspective on M3

[xus75]

For some time now I have played the keyboard, and just over 2 years ago I decided I needed to take full advantage of what these new advanced technologies had to offer. Also, now I was able to afford it .

Since I live in Bolivia I had to “virtually” listen and test my options on the Internet before traveling to the USA to buy my new keyboard.

I had my eyes set on a Kurzweil PC3, but at the Sam Ash shop in Miami I realized that the Kurweils were so complicated that I would end up totally frustrated. So the guys showed me some gear and I settled for an M3 – mainly because of its ease of use (vs. comparable machines).

A while back I posted here in the forum a little song I sequenced and the feedback I got was that the M3 is capable of so much more – I listen to some of the stuff other guys do on their M3s that is truly great.

The thing is that music technology is so complicated: people talk about filters, oscillators, MFX, TFX, etc that it’s taking me a really long time to learn this stuff. Many times it’s all Greek to me when I read some of the posts in the forum. To be honest I don’t know how you guys know so much (unless you have all gone to some kind of music school)

I love this machine immensely – I realistically know that my playing abilities have vastly improved over these 2 years – just because I spend countless hours enjoying this machine (the sounds, the keyboard feel, etc). But I am left with a feeling that I will never be able to take advantage of what the M3 offers.

I learnt the M3s basics through the Sudosonic DVD´s – but that’s it, just the basics.

Anyway, I wanted to get this out of my system.

[MarPabl]

Many of those articles will be useful for you

SOS All Synth Secrets

[apex]

I tell you what I've done over the last year or so...

I'd go to the oldest page of threads in the Korg m3 forum. Then I just go from page to page and click on every single thread that seems like it would be interesting to me to read. (especially if there are a lot of post in it) and I always "right-click" and choose open in new tab (so I never leave the screen with all the thread topics on them).

Then one thread at a time, I would read everything (i've probably done this a few times). It helps you learn alot real quick and you also see questions that guys have been asking.

think about it... the m3 forum opened either right before or right after the m3 announcement... so guys have been talking about it since then (just like we did with the Kronos)

it will help you out quite a bit. Then you can go to youtube and just type Korg m3. there's videos to watch and listen to and learn even more.

Just try it... it's at least a great start!!!

[SanderXpander]

SOS Synth Secrets is great.
But don't be afraid to experiment on your M3 and ask questions here. If you're learning synthesis, most people will appreciate your interest and try to help. As long as you don't ask things like "make this patch for me"

[xus75]

Thank you guys.

I really appreciate the giving and helpful nature of the people in this forum. I have already started browsing Synth Secretes and I think that browsing through the beginning of the M3 forums is a simple and entertaining learning resource.

Sometimes I feel uneasy about experimenting too much on my M3 - I am afraid to do something that I will not be able to undo But I will take it a step at a time!

[Synthoid]

Sometimes I feel uneasy about experimenting too much on my M3 - I am afraid to do something that I will not be able to undo

Don't be concerned about that... you can always restore the factory sounds.

Of course I would definitely recommend making backups of edited programs and combis from time to time.

[biggrime]

Sometimes I feel uneasy about experimenting too much on my M3 - I am afraid to do something that I will not be able to undo

Don't be concerned about that... you can always restore the factory sounds.

Of course I would definitely recommend making backups of edited programs and combis from time to time.

also using the m3 software to save is good to use as well

[SanderXpander]

Don't worry too much; pretty much anything you could think of doing can be undone, somehow. If you're talking about changing sounds, there's a really simple way around this; find an "empty" patch or combi (called "init patch" or "init combi"). Note the bank and number. Find the sound you want to edit. Press "utility" in the right top of the screen. Select "write", and instead of pressing "enter" right away, select the location of the empty program/combi. Now you have created a copy of the program/combi in the previously empty location. You can edit and "ruin" this new program/combi to your heart's content without fear of destroying the original.

[Randelph]

Yeah, video tutorials on You Tube are really helpful. Korg has a number of them that give you a lot of the basics.

[billbaker]

xus75: "The thing is that music technology is so complicated: people talk about filters, oscillators, MFX, TFX, etc that it’s taking me a really long time to learn this stuff. Many times it’s all Greek to me when I read some of the posts in the forum. To be honest I don’t know how you guys know so much (unless you have all gone to some kind of music school)"

The problem is really that the knowledge is cumulative. Those of us (speaking for myself, here) that started playing in the pre-synth era have seen the technology grow at a very slow pace. We've seen how analog synths work, perhaps used several different architectures (analog, fm, rompler, etc.) and stored all that [in our vast gigantic and all-knowing brains... <cue> Aah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... SCIENCE!!].

But, really...

For you, just starting, trying to grasp that is daunting -- you're starting at the upper end of the learning curve, where it looks much more like you have to climb a wall than take a gradual ascent.

I'd advise tackling this with a bit of method in mind. Korg has provided you with a (fairly) logical architecture -- it's divided into menus, usually not more than a couple of pages deep, where things are labled (admittedly in greek at first) and learnable. Digging in at that page level will help your understanding of what can be done to the sound and more importantly why those parameters are grouped together.

Sometimes the reason is historical - the amp envelopes and the values you input really represent a type of synthesis that is based on Moog, ARP and other analog synths. The ability to modulate the amp and filter section using things like key velocity, aftertouch, and variable LFO's is based , at least in part, on synths like the Oberheim matrix. The rompler architecture is based solidly on the pioneering work of Korg's own M-1.

If you'd owned an M-1 and learned to build a voice using it, you'd probably be pretty comfortable doing the same on a synth 4 generations and 30 years down the road. And if you didn't... well the rest of us would seem like rocket scientists.

But you can learn to speak Synth-Geek with practice. And you have a community of teachers willing to help here.

Keep climbing.


BB

[_joe_]

I believe that the best way to learn is to have a "situation" or a "problem".
Digging out the solution will take you through new stuff and will eventually make you get used to the keyboard's features and workflows.

My advice is to pick a "situation", let's say: i want a combi that has 5 layers, where i have this effect on this one, a master effect affecting all the other layers, i also want to add a drum track with a certain drum pattern, and i want a certain keyboard sound to play by itself using karma.

Work your way towards creating that specific combi, read the manual for its specifics, ask around, test, make mistakes, and once this combi is done, i can assure you you'll feel more confident with your instrument and you'll be able to reproduce the same combi twice as fast the next time.

That's how i do it, the only times i really learned was when i actually had problems that i need to "answer" to fulfill some situations i had with my band.

Enjoy learning!

[gurn]

For some time now I have played the keyboard, and just over 2 years ago I decided I needed to take full advantage of what these new advanced technologies had to offer. Also, now I was able to afford it .

Since I live in Bolivia I had to “virtually” listen and test my options on the Internet before traveling to the USA to buy my new keyboard.

I had my eyes set on a Kurzweil PC3, but at the Sam Ash shop in Miami I realized that the Kurweils were so complicated that I would end up totally frustrated. So the guys showed me some gear and I settled for an M3 – mainly because of its ease of use (vs. comparable machines).

A while back I posted here in the forum a little song I sequenced and the feedback I got was that the M3 is capable of so much more – I listen to some of the stuff other guys do on their M3s that is truly great.

The thing is that music technology is so complicated: people talk about filters, oscillators, MFX, TFX, etc that it’s taking me a really long time to learn this stuff. Many times it’s all Greek to me when I read some of the posts in the forum. To be honest I don’t know how you guys know so much (unless you have all gone to some kind of music school)

I love this machine immensely – I realistically know that my playing abilities have vastly improved over these 2 years – just because I spend countless hours enjoying this machine (the sounds, the keyboard feel, etc). But I am left with a feeling that I will never be able to take advantage of what the M3 offers.

I learnt the M3s basics through the Sudosonic DVD´s – but that’s it, just the basics.

Anyway, I wanted to get this out of my system.

Don't worry about understanding it. Just make your music with it.
That's what I do. I don't know the difference between an LFO and a UFO.
And an 'oscillator' sounds like a swamp animal to me.

[Muji]

Don't worry about understanding it. Just make your music with it. That's what I do. I don't know the difference between an LFO and a UFO. And an 'oscillator' sounds like a swamp animal to me.

Brian Eno and David Bowie have mentioned in interviews the importance of throwing away the synth manual in order to get spontaneous and vital sounds out of them.

[_joe_]

Don't worry about understanding it. Just make your music with it. That's what I do. I don't know the difference between an LFO and a UFO. And an 'oscillator' sounds like a swamp animal to me.

Brian Eno and David Bowie have mentioned in interviews the importance of throwing away the synth manual in order to get spontaneous and vital sounds out of them.

Exactly, but when you have something specific in mind, u'd kill for that manual page that can point you out towards achieving what you want.

So the best thing is to learn your instrument (just like learning how your car behaves, the dashboard and stuff) and drive it the way you like.

[Muji]

Don't worry about understanding it. Just make your music with it. That's what I do. I don't know the difference between an LFO and a UFO. And an 'oscillator' sounds like a swamp animal to me.

Brian Eno and David Bowie have mentioned in interviews the importance of throwing away the synth manual in order to get spontaneous and vital sounds out of them.

Exactly, but when you have something specific in mind, u'd kill for that manual page that can point you out towards achieving what you want.

So the best thing is to learn your instrument (just like learning how your car behaves, the dashboard and stuff) and drive it the way you like.

RTFM!