Upgrade from M50?

[dimitra]

Hi guys,
I have been using a Korg M50 since 2012, and I thought it's time to upgrade. I am a complete home hobbyist, and I loved the M50 over these years. I loved the power and customization possible on this synth. The infinite ways (in Combi mode) of splitting the keyboard zones, velocity layers, effects, and even drum sample tuning.

Things which I wish were better though:-

1. Piano & Ethnic programs not too great - it's a matter of preference, but I felt my earlier (cheap) Roland had better pianos and ethic instrument patches.

2. Drum track variations - I know it's not an arranger, but I would love to have some way to trigger a variation in the drum track patterns, similar to Intro-Var-1-Fill-in-Var-2.

3. Export of audio "stems" from sequencer - not a big deal, as I am not a pro musician, but this would be a nice-to-have.

I actually thought of a Roland FA06, until I tried one at my local Guitar center. I was surprised at how bad the keybed on a $1000+ workstation could be! The FA06 keys seem to be like a kid's toy piano, so I am definitely not buying that! So now, I turned my attention to Krome. The plus points would be that I am already familiar with Korg's workstation architecture, and know what to expect. But what are the minus'es, if any? Is there anything the M50 had, which the Krome lacks? Also, what are the main improvements?

[leonh]

I had M50 great keyboard Krome obviously more pcm memory 4 gb mind you 3 gb goes to piano sound .

[Koekepan]

The Krome doesn't do drum track variations. Its basic sounds are pretty good. It does no audio stem export.

It sounds as if what you want is a performance sequencer, plus a quality sound source.

The only workstation-like keyboard series of which I'm aware that has that kind of performance sequencer, is from Casio: the XW-P1/XW-G1 and their more recent MZ-X300 and MZ-X500.

The Casio sounds are powerful, but aren't as lush as, say, a Kronos. On the other hand the performance sequencer in it is almost like having an arranger with roll-your-own styles. It's that good. You can even liveloop with it, if you know what you're doing.

But for what you describe, you'd be better off with something along the lines of the Synthstrom Deluge, or combining a synth such as the Waldorf Blofeld or the Roland Integra-7 with a serious sequencer such as the Cirklon or Social Entropy Engine.

Have you considered the new standalone MPCs, perhaps with a quality Studiologic keyboard as a controller?

[dimitra]

I had M50 great keyboard Krome obviously more pcm memory 4 gb mind you 3 gb goes to piano sound .

Hmm, so I assume this means dramatically improved piano sounds. That partly addressed some of the M50 shortcomings.
Is there anything missing in the Krome, that is on the M50?

[Scott]

I actually thought of a Roland FA06, until I tried one at my local Guitar center. I was surprised at how bad the keybed on a $1000+ workstation could be! The FA06 keys seem to be like a kid's toy piano, so I am definitely not buying that! So now, I turned my attention to Krome.

Especially since you didn't like the FA06 action, I wouldn't assume that you would like the Krome action. Also, if the only thing you didn't like about the FA06 was the action, you might consider the FA07 which has an action people generally like better.

The only workstation-like keyboard series of which I'm aware that has that kind of performance sequencer, is from Casio: the XW-P1/XW-G1 and their more recent MZ-X300 and MZ-X500.

The Casio sounds are powerful, but aren't as lush as, say, a Kronos. On the other hand the performance sequencer in it is almost like having an arranger with roll-your-own styles. It's that good.

The MZ models actually are full-blown arrangers as well, and have better instrument sounds than the XW models. The MZ-X500 is particularly flexible with its hexlayers, providing some richer sounds, and also adding a lot more split/layer capability.

[yank]

It's time to say there are 3rd party libraries they keep this platform alive, not the Korg itself.If not the major update including system,combis, patches and samples are not comming in near future i will recommend another synth from another company to anyone.

[leonh]

Krome is overdue for upgrade I think it may be replaced with Kronos lite same as Yamaha did with Montage and Modx .

[Scott]

Krome is overdue for upgrade I think it may be replaced with Kronos lite same as Yamaha did with Montage and Modx .

That would be nice, but I'm not sure the Kronos tech "scales down" to a much lower cost, it would be interesting to see how much they could retain. Actually, to some extent, they have already scaled the Kronos tech down to the Vox Continental and Korg Grandstage. Though those aren't such low priced boards, either.

[Mighty Motif Max]

I think it is being replaced. Sweetwater lists the 61 as no longer available ("We've left this page up for reference only") and they have marked down the other two models a lot. They had the 61 marked down to USD $850 or so earlier today. I wonder what's coming...