KORG STUDIO or EXTREME?

[cjp_24]

Hi, I am new to KORG. So new in-fact that I have not yet brought my keyboard yet. I have at my avail 2 keyboards, the KORG STUDIO and the KORG EXTREME. I understand that the EXTREME is the better one to go for but is £300 more. So, with that in mind I need to ask a few questions.

1) Programs, Combinations: I'm confused, I understand that Programs are the individual sounds/instruments etc and that Combi's are collection of programs, am I right?

2) Drum Kits: I understand to be a range of drum samples loaded with a theme of whatever drum kit is loaded. I am not a very good rhythm program as a rule, does the STUDIO have a lot of preloaded rhythm patterns and can your buy/get hold of many more to add to the keyboard?

3) Sounds: Are the standard sounds on the STUDIO the same as on the EXTREME? But the only difference being that the EXTREME has more of them. And can you add more sounds/samples to the keyboard?

4) What are the MAIN differences between the STUDIO and the EXTREME?

Please if someone could help with these questions then at least I will have a better understanding of which to buy.

Thanks

CJ

[pagey]

1) Yes you're right. You can have upto 8 different sounds playing in a combi compared to 1 in a program or upto 16 in sequencer mode.

2) Yes you're right, I think the extreme has more drum samples than studio and yes the world is your oyster as far as more drum samples go.

3) The extreme has far more sounds than the studio and sounds you can get even by adding all of the exb chips in the studio. Basically the extreme has all the best sounds from all the exb chips that were made built in so no need to buy all the expansions + more. 160mb of sounds which is way more than the studio. Yes you can add more sounds by writing to the spare banks (E, N)

4) check out Korg.com for spec comparisons. My opinion would be get the extreme unless you can get a studio with all the exb expansions for less money. It will cost far more than the £300 price difference to get all the sounds otherwise.
Both are great pieces of kit but my opinion would be get the extreme.

Best of luck!

[kmar]

Extreme is handy because you don`t need to buy different modules with samples but it`s also a weak thing because in the Studio you have a choice. If something does not fit to you expectations - you just change boards with samples. Extreme will never have any more hardware samples...

kmar

[keego]

The Extreme has 160Mb of ROM the Studio has I think 48MB but can be expanded to 160 with the EXB boards. The Studio also has a built in hard drive and on V2 models CDRW the earlier models the CDRW is an option.

SO it all depends on what you want the synth for.
I myself opted for the STUDIO as it was the better option for me as no external media was necessary to load new samples and the like.

Good Luck!

[AnthonyB]

The differences have been mentioned above, But when the Extreme came out, I NEVER thought "oh must be time to upgrade", because although there were "more" sounds + ROM on the EXTREME, I just Loved my Triton Studio more. With the Hard Drive (20GIG) CD-Writer (I like loading AKAI samples in) Recording to disk, All without having to leave the Studio environment.

Yes it had more ROM, but like I said with the AKAI samples, you can easily load more different sounds in, and it doesn't take that long either (I know sounds aren't retained once you turn the STUDIO off, but you can save the samples to the 20 GIG Disk [20 gigs on newer models, 5 GIGS on older ones])

If it’s more immediate sounds you’re after, Extreme is for you (also better for Gigging). If it’s a studio type of board your after (hence Triton STUDIO), then this could be more suited. Both are good, but as for Extreme being £300 more? well it WAS the other way round once if I remember correctly, but the Triton Studio has been discontinued - in UK at least.

PS: As for WAV ROM, even the newer TR Series have more than the TritonStudio, but fall back on many differnt areas (Only 1 insert EFX for example on the TR series, which would definilty hold me back!)

AnthonyB