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I got to think I could live with 'transpose' not being the primary button function on the new i3 which i see they have dedicated to 'octave' as primary for some odd reason ( transpose being the shift option )

But last night watched a J.See Youtube tutorial vid. Which was a real turning point in my buying decision

I really liked the idea it has dedicated chord buttons which are individually programmed but discovered these are NOT programmable by user ???
Korg have pre programmed it with IMHO some very odd chord choices .....just out of the blue !!!

Whats the thinking here? anybody have any ideas?? Unless these maybe become a programmable option after an update ..... i think this board will be off my buying list .

Pity really .... it has a lot going for it in other ways... I suppose like all boards, you can never have everything just how you would like.

Keith

My i3 was delivered today and I spent many hours with it. It is a nice keyboard, especially considering the price vs. features.

It has octave buttons but no Transpose buttons.

It sounds good and I made about 15 different Sets with it because I am going to use it (hopefully) Saturday night as the bottom keyboard of my rig (which right now is the Korg PA700, Korg M50 and maybe my Ensoniq VFX). I am going to do a MIDI test with it tomorrow.

Thus far, I am happy with the keyboard. The sounds are good, although the piano sounds like the older pianos in the Triton series, and the Microstation/PS60/P50. It is a little thin around the C5 notes, but full everywhere else.

I like the idea of the 3 Upper/1 Lower option from the PA series, but with 64 voices of polyphony, it will drop notes. I would think that 2 Upper sounds is about the limit - at least for me.

The EFX are nice too, but with only 2 stereo EFX for the main sounds and 2 stereo EFX for the backing track sounds, there is a bit of a limitation when trying to make believable lead guitar sounds. An external EFX box in an AUX send on a mixer will help with this.

I will likely not use the Lower split sounds, and I intend to use this as a full keyboard and really not an arranger (although I am considering using it as a backup for the PA700 if it ever breaks).

The unit is LIGHT. VERY LIGHT. Easily held with one hand. THat back-saving feature is pleasing

I am not sure about the coating for the keyboard though. That soft touch coating has a habit of getting sticky when it ages. I know this because the volume knob on my trusty Alesis M1 Active 320USB monitors had the same coating and I had to scrub that stuff off after about 10 years of ownership. I am hoping it does not happen with the i3.

I am the type of guy who keeps keyboards/synths for years. Evidence of this is my Ensoniq VFX-SD (made in 1989) and my Roland E-09 (that I got in 2006).

My overall impression of the i3? Considering what it is, it is a versatile keyboard. It works well, the action is typical for a lightweight board like this . It is battery powered, but I doubt that I would use that feature. The screen is bright, clear and provides what you need to see what is going on (mostly). The user interface, considering the LCD screen, is nice, especially when you learn the functions with hitting buttons and turning knobs...

With regard to the sequencer, I have not used it and so I cannot comment on it too much. The same applies with the Audio recorder and MIDI file player.

For my use as a bottom keyboard that triggers other MIDI devices in addition to its own internal sounds, it is a good board.

Maybe the price could be a bit cheaper, but I think that it is better than the EK series 'even though the EK has speakers) and for me, it provides a 5-pin MIDI output allowing for legacy MIDI hookups without a computer.

Grace,
Harry

Hi Harry - thanks for you feedback.....interesting stuff!!

I see we now have a dedicated section for i3 so will copy my original post to that

Regards - Keith

Backpool wrote:Hi Harry - thanks for you feedback.....interesting stuff!!

I see we now have a dedicated section for i3 so will copy my original post to that

Regards - Keith

Yeah - I asked them yesterday because I did not want any confusion between the original from the 90's and this new one. It looks like they heard me and it is appreciated.

Grace,
Harry