I am the proud new owner of an R3. This is basically my 'I just joined the forum' post. I guess forum members usually jump in and ask questions, I just wanted to drop in and say hi
So why did I buy it?
Since I sold my Casio HT3000 in the mid 90's to move into more 'serious' synth territory, I followed an approach of MIDI Controller Keyboards for all input, and rackmount synths for all sound. This approach makes for a very flexible rig, but I missed out on the ability to 'turn knobs' to tweak the sound.
I then realized that my synths can be grouped/categorized by the decade that they were made in:
70's
I have no synths made in the 70's. This is definately something that I need to change, because something that is blatantly missing from my rig is a GENUINE analog synth. So, I am still saving for this one.
80's
Arguably, my Yamaha TX-802 (which for those that don't know is basically a rackmount version of the ubiquitous DX-7 with a slightly friendlier UI) is definately a 'signature sound' of the 80's. I also uploaded a bunch of the 'classic' DX7 patches to some of the user banks, so the the sound of this synth always puts a smile on my face.
90's
I sold my Casio HT-3000 when I purchased a Roland A-33 controller, and the Roland JV-1080 rackmount synth. This was a hugely popular synth in the 90's (for those that don't know, basically a ROMpler with awesome effects that result in a truly fat sound). I am in the process of 'fully loading' mine - I have filled 2 of the 4 expansion bays with the 'Orchestra' and 'Vintage Synth' expansion boards.
2000's
Well this was the next gap that I wanted to fill. I started looking at the various 'Micro Synths' that are very popular right now due to their low price point (eg: Korg MicroKorg/XL, Alesis Micron etc) but then I stumbled onto the R3, and I immediately knew that this was the one that I want. Here were my reasons:
- Great Look: I don't know why, but I am really fond of the 'pseudo-retro' styling and the very-dark-brown case.
- Great UI: A lot of folks seem not to like the UI, but I think the 4 controls each with a seperate UI is awesome.
- Full Size Keys: This weighed in very heavily in the decision. I left the 'MicroKeys' world when I sold my Casio MT800 for a Casio HT3000 back in 1986, and have never used MicroKeys since (and don't want to).
So I have only had mine since saturday morning, but I am extremely happy with it. The serial number on the box is 0000525, so I assume that this is a fairly early model. I still need to check out whether it has the 'tempo drift' issue or not.
At this point in time I am still messing with the presets to 'discover' what 'famous sounds' are available in the presets, and messing around with the Vocoder (which turns out to be a lot more fun, and a lot more powerful than I was expecting).