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I am wanting to set up a small home sudio, I was looking at the M50 or M3 until Korg brought out the new Kronos so now I am hanging on for it. God knows when I will finally get one!!! But I also want another Synth to accompany it and have been looking at the Roland Gaia. I am new in this game so was hoping to get some advise on this or should I look at something else other than the Gaia. any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks

Bobby

Short answer:

Don't get the Gaia; just stick with the Kronos.


Long answer:

The Gaia is a very basic synthesizer, and its functionality is almost perfectly represented within the Kronos. It would be almost completely redundant. (Unless you'll somehow perish without having access to a D-Beam emitter as part of your keyboard rig, in which case, God help you.)

I don't know what your overall experience with keyboards and synths is, but there's some argument that the Gaia makes for a nice "beginner's" synth -- this is because Roland distributed the front-panel knobs and sliders into groups that represent the stages of the synthesis process. However, Korg take the same approach; they use a tabbed interface for their touch-screen workstations (including the Kronos), in which each stage of the synthesis process gets its own tab.

If this is your reason for wanting a Gaia, you'd be better off taking a fraction of the $700 USD you would've spent on one, and putting it towards the purchase of a couple good textbook primers on audio synthesis. I can recommend titles, if you're interested.

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In a broader sense, it's worth stopping to ask *why*, exactly, you want a second synth right from square one. If it's for sonic versatility, it's worth keeping in mind that while some of us might disagree on the relative merits of the Kronos' nine synthesis engines, we can all agree that combined, they make for the single most versatile keyboard on the market today.

The Kronos' engines address virtually all the major synthesis types. And it provides a single, unified user interface for all of them that streamlines the learning process: when learning a new type of synthesis, you don't have to simultaneously master a new UI. You'd be better off spending a year or two with just the Kronos, getting to know its various engines in detail. You can find out which ones work best for you, and that knowledge will help guide your purchasing decision if you then decide that you still want a second board.

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If you want a second keyboard so that you can have a different keybed option (semi-weighted, versus the fully-weighted hammer-action keys in the Kronos 73, for example), then you'd be better off with a basic controller keyboard of some sort. You'd save some money, and you could wind up with some cool controller features (physical drum pads, for example), which are not present on the Kronos, or on most hardware synths.

(Also, just as an aside: why the 73? Usually, 73-key weighted keyboards are preferred by gigging musicians, because they get a proper hammer action in a package that's smaller and lighter than a full-size 88-key jobber. Studio musicians generally tend to prefer either 61-key (cheaper, take up less space) or 88-key synths (hammer action plus instant access to the full note range of a grand piano).)

Citizen Klaus wrote:...
you'd be better off taking a fraction of the $700 USD you would've spent on one, and putting it towards the purchase of a couple good textbook primers on audio synthesis
...

He could even save that money and read the EXCELLENT Sound on Sound 'Synth school' and 'Synth secrets' articles.

+1 above - the GAIA, whilst I nice little synth (for what it is), wouldn't be used with the Kronos imho.

If you DO want a 2nd synth to accompany the Kronos, look at something that will contrast with the Korg.
I'm a firm believer in creating your signature sound using different manufacturers - don't want all of your music sounding like a Korg demo eh?!!!

Look at some of the Roland rompler stuff (racks) or Nord? DSI? Even Yamaha...

Depends on your budget...... maybe even some soft synths on the computer?

My planned rig is going to be rather varied:

Kurzweil PC3K8 (master)
Korg Kronos 61 (slave )
Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard (another slave )
SM Pro Audio V-Machine (yet another slave )

I'm probably gonna sample the keymaps from my Korg X5D that are missing in Kronos and use them in either Kurzweil or Kronos. Or I might stretch for an N1R, so I could keep that AI2 sound.

Bobbyrobert: the relevant question is: what you are after?
- What kind of music do you do, and what kind of sounds would like to have for that?
- Is it only for home studio use, or do you want to use your instruments live as well?

The Gaia is a very mediocre entry level synth. It is better than previous ones, but not adding anything breathtaking to a synth sound spectrum.

I agree with the others that a Gaia would not make a good choice, since you'd probably want more sonic variety in a second keyboard (and really, I'd be pretty surprised if there is ANYTHING the Gaia can do that the Kronos can't do better).

So how to get that sonic variety? Well, at the risk of becoming "that guy" (since I find myself suggesting this frequently on this board), what you want is an analog synthesizer. Even the most inexpensive, entry-level analog monosynth will give you a basic sound that no digital synthesizer can fully replicate (it goes without saying that digital synths can do about 5 million things that analogs can't). If I were you, I'd look into a Moog Little Phatty or a Dave Smith Instruments Mopho keyboard. Both will deliver basses and leads that the Kronos -- as incredible as it is -- just can't do.

My $.02.

I completely agree with EXer abput SOS Synth Secrets and Synth School articles.

Shakil wrote:I completely agree with CfNorENa abput getting an analog.

There, fixed it for you.

CfNorENa wrote:

Shakil wrote:I completely agree with CfNorENa abput getting an analog.

There, fixed it for you.

You evil guy.

But I agree with you. To me, the sound of Gaia's filters are kind of nasty. I have a Roland JP-8000 which sounds better, but I've found that the filters on even my M3 sound even better still, let alone my Radias or Virus.

On that vein, let me recommend a few more alternatives.

Waldorf Blofeld. An interesting wavetable synth with okay effects and nice filters. Wavetables offer changing harmonic complexity that nothing else will.

KORG Radias. I love it, smokes the Gaia six ways to sunday, and has nice effects on board as well as a great panel. While it has its own sound, it is another KORG sound, so if you want variety, how about...

Access Virus. I bought a used KC on ebay, and love the sound, though you lose out on warranty protection that way.

Arturia Origin. It can be had for $2000 so it isn't exactly cheap, but it is a programmable polyphonic modular synth with modules from several vintage synths you can combine in countless ways, and it sounds surprisingly analog. You don't just make patches, you build instruments! I adore mine, and use it a lot.

synthguy wrote:KORG Radias. I love it, smokes the Gaia six ways to sunday, and has nice effects on board as well as a great panel.

Since X-Trade showed me what the RADIAS is capable of, I can't imagine not having one. It's such an under rated synth...

bobbyrobert wrote:I am wanting to set up a small home sudio, I was looking at the M50 or M3 until Korg brought out the new Kronos so now I am hanging on for it. God knows when I will finally get one!!! But I also want another Synth to accompany it and have been looking at the Roland Gaia. I am new in this game so was hoping to get some advise on this or should I look at something else other than the Gaia. any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks

Bobby

Of course you need a Motif XF or XS to be an excellent company of your new Kronos, all the Pro Muscisians and Producers are using Yamaha Synths, for example, Alan Parsons (Pink Floyd, etc) & David Paich (Toto, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones,etc)

I'm starting to suspect that F&TP is on Yamaha's payroll. If so, they may want to switch to a less abrasive online "spokesman".