MicroKORG XL Sound bank for the R3? MKXL Vs R3?

[mrsonic996]

I don't know what to choose between the MK, MKXL, or R3.

I've seen a soundbank containing MK Sounds for MKXL and R3.

-Does the R3 Have the same sounds that the MKXL has?
-Can the R3 Make stuff similar if not identical to the MKXL?
-Could I replicate this ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcgmoKr8Uq4 ) on the R3?
-And last question, Can I for example plug a midi cable into the Midi Out of another Synthesizer and then plug the cable into the Midi in of a MK/MKXL/R3, and play with the keys on the first synth, and hear the sounds of the MK/MKXL/R3? I'm really wondering. I want to use a Roland Juno Di for this after I get one.

Is there ANY Reason why to get the R3 instead of MKXL? It's 120 euros more expensive than the MKXL here..
I found the original MK for 200 euros, the MKXL for 280 and the R3 for 400 euros..

I actually never had a Keyboard / Synthesizer yet. I'm going to learn.
I want to buy a Juno Di with 6 octaves and a MicroKorg XL Or Korg R3 For some awesome synthesis and retro music. I still haven't decided wich one to pick...

[xmlguy]

-Does the R3 Have the same sounds that the MKXL has?
-Can the R3 Make stuff similar if not identical to the MKXL?
-Could I replicate this ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcgmoKr8Uq4 ) on the R3?
-And last question, Can I for example plug a midi cable into the Midi Out of another Synthesizer and then plug the cable into the Midi in of a MK/MKXL/R3, and play with the keys on the first synth, and hear the sounds of the MK/MKXL/R3? I'm really wondering. I want to use a Roland Juno Di for this after I get one.

Is there ANY Reason why to get the R3 instead of MKXL? It's 120 euros more expensive than the MKXL here..
I found the original MK for 200 euros, the MKXL for 280 and the R3 for 400 euros..

I actually never had a Keyboard / Synthesizer yet. I'm going to learn.
I want to buy a Juno Di with 6 octaves and a MicroKorg XL Or Korg R3 For some awesome synthesis and retro music. I still haven't decided wich one to pick...

First of all, don't buy the Juno Di. There's a better option that gives you the features of the Juno Di and the R3, MKXL, Microkorg. It's the Casio XW-P1.

Here's my answers to your questions.
The R3 is better than the MKXL.
The MKXL is better than the Microkorg.
Is the difference in price worth it? That depends more on you.
Synths are sound creating tools, not just sound playing engines.
Most sounds on the MKXL can be done on the R3. There's a few differences in the waves used to make the sounds.
There's a lot more sounds that can be made on the R3 that can't be done on the MKXL. For example, the R3 has about twice the number of effects.
The vocoder is more powerful on the R3.
Both of them can play up to 8 notes at a time.
The Microkorg is a lot less powerful and can only do 4 notes at a time.
Sure, you can hook the midi out of any keyboard to control any of them.
But you won't get as much out of any of them until you learn synthesis.

The new Casio is kind of a mix between the R3 and the Juno Di.
It has a ton of waves like the Di, but it's also a full synth with 64 polyphony.
It doesn't have a vocoder though, and the video you saw uses vocoder sounds (actually it's a formant sound, but you probably don't know what that means.)
It also has a step sequencer, which make it like an Electribe EMX, too.

[mrsonic996]

-Does the R3 Have the same sounds that the MKXL has?
-Can the R3 Make stuff similar if not identical to the MKXL?
-Could I replicate this ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcgmoKr8Uq4 ) on the R3?
-And last question, Can I for example plug a midi cable into the Midi Out of another Synthesizer and then plug the cable into the Midi in of a MK/MKXL/R3, and play with the keys on the first synth, and hear the sounds of the MK/MKXL/R3? I'm really wondering. I want to use a Roland Juno Di for this after I get one.

Is there ANY Reason why to get the R3 instead of MKXL? It's 120 euros more expensive than the MKXL here..
I found the original MK for 200 euros, the MKXL for 280 and the R3 for 400 euros..

I actually never had a Keyboard / Synthesizer yet. I'm going to learn.
I want to buy a Juno Di with 6 octaves and a MicroKorg XL Or Korg R3 For some awesome synthesis and retro music. I still haven't decided wich one to pick...

First of all, don't buy the Juno Di. There's a better option that gives you the features of the Juno Di and the R3, MKXL, Microkorg. It's the Casio XW-P1.

Here's my answers to your questions.
The R3 is better than the MKXL.
The MKXL is better than the Microkorg.
Is the difference in price worth it? That depends more on you.
Synths are sound creating tools, not just sound playing engines.
Most sounds on the MKXL can be done on the R3. There's a few differences in the waves used to make the sounds.
There's a lot more sounds that can be made on the R3 that can't be done on the MKXL. For example, the R3 has about twice the number of effects.
The vocoder is more powerful on the R3.
Both of them can play up to 8 notes at a time.
The Microkorg is a lot less powerful and can only do 4 notes at a time.
Sure, you can hook the midi out of any keyboard to control any of them.
But you won't get as much out of any of them until you learn synthesis.

The new Casio is kind of a mix between the R3 and the Juno Di.
It has a ton of waves like the Di, but it's also a full synth with 64 polyphony.
It doesn't have a vocoder though, and the video you saw uses vocoder sounds (actually it's a formant sound, but you probably don't know what that means.)
It also has a step sequencer, which make it like an Electribe EMX, too.

Well, the Casio XW-P1 is Impossible to find here nor in Austria. I live in Romania, It's impossible for me to buy it off ebay or something. And I don't even like it that much. Many thanks for the tips. I guess i'll opt for the Korg R3

[xmlguy]

The Casio was just released. It takes some time. Be patient.

Buying a Juno Di and an R3 now, just because they're easily available, could seem rather foolish in a month or two when you could've waited for the Casio to be available.

You can start learning synthesis for free by downloading the Synth1 VST and some free VST host. I've owned the Juno-G and I've had my R3 for more than 5 years. The Casio is not a toy. It's a seriously powerful synth at a very good price. It's actually more powerful than the Radias in many regards.

[Re-Member]

I thought I remember reading that the VA synth section in the Casio was only monophonic? If it's 64 voice polyphony, that sounds pretty awesome.

[xmlguy]

I thought I remember reading that the VA synth section in the Casio was only monophonic? If it's 64 voice polyphony, that sounds pretty awesome.

The Casio VA parts are stereo, but in a different manner than the R3/Radias. They are mono within the engine only up to a certain point within a part, but the part itself has a stereo pan, there are 3 versions of most OSC waves, they can be stacked with PCM and external input, and 4 parts can be stacked. So it's a stereo design when you see that each side of the stereo image can be handled as mono, by starting with a "left" wave sent panned left and a "right" wave that's panned the other way, before the effects chain, which are stereo. It's an interesting design.

The envelopes are much more powerful than the Radias/R3. The EG can be viewed as an invertable IAADSRRRR, with 9 values controlling the initial level, attack time & level, decay time, sustain level, and two release times and levels. All of the levels can range from -64 to +63, while the times range from 0 to +127. Combined, these can result in envelope shapes that the simple ADSR in the Radias/R3 can't do. But the Casio only has one filter per part instead of two. It's an interesting design with different strengths and weaknesses. It would be wrong to say that either is more powerful or better in general/overall than the other without getting into the detailed specifics.

[Re-Member]

I thought I remember reading that the VA synth section in the Casio was only monophonic? If it's 64 voice polyphony, that sounds pretty awesome.

The Casio VA parts are stereo, but in a different manner than the R3/Radias. They are mono within the engine only up to a certain point within a part, but the part itself has a stereo pan, there are 3 versions of most OSC waves, they can be stacked with PCM and external input, and 4 parts can be stacked. So it's a stereo design when you see that each side of the stereo image can be handled as mono, by starting with a "left" wave sent panned left and a "right" wave that's panned the other way, before the effects chain, which are stereo. It's an interesting design.

The envelopes are much more powerful than the Radias/R3. The EG can be viewed as an invertable IAADSRRRR, with 9 values controlling the initial level, attack time & level, decay time, sustain level, and two release times and levels. All of the levels can range from -64 to +63, while the times range from 0 to +127. Combined, these can result in envelope shapes that the simple ADSR in the Radias/R3 can't do. But the Casio only has one filter per part instead of two. It's an interesting design with different strengths and weaknesses. It would be wrong to say that either is more powerful or better in general/overall than the other without getting into the detailed specifics.

I didn't mean mono sound wise, but monophonic as in the total number of notes playable at once. That was the one thing I remember reading which I found could be a total drawback compared to the Korg's he mentioned. The microKORG, at the very least, can play four notes at once.

[xmlguy]

I didn't mean mono sound wise, but monophonic as in the total number of notes playable at once. That was the one thing I remember reading which I found could be a total drawback compared to the Korg's he mentioned. The microKORG, at the very least, can play four notes at once.

Sorry, I should've mentioned that the Casio is more of a hybrid, like an X50 and a (mono) R3 merged together. The VA synth in a solo tone is one note at a time, but with 6 sound blocks mixed together, 2 oscillator blocks, 2 pcm blocks, an external sound source block, and a noise block. Hex layer tones are 64 polyphonic using layers of pcm sound blocks (like the X50), with a ton of pcm waves in ROM (3,000 I think). It's an interesting mix of VA and sample synthesis. It's hard to compare it directly to a VA or sample synth, because it shares attributes of both. The sample synth side looks good enough to be a good substitute to buy instead of the Juno Di ROMpler. An XW-P1 and a used Radias Rack would be a much better combinaion than a Juno Di and an R3, at probably around the same price.

[Scott]

So far, everyone has said to choose the R3 over the MKXL, but there's another perspective at

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=70388

and there are a good number of people who prefer the sound of the MK over either of them, even though the MK has fewer features.

As for the XW-P1, it has a very capable mono synth section, but also has a lot of poly synth capability. As a synth, I suspect it is more capable than any of the Korgs mentioned. Though I think its rompler section is probably inferior to the Juno Di.

So... if you were only going to get one board for both your synth and rompler functions, the Casio can do it. But if you're going to get two boards regardless, I think the Casio might be the best synth choice, but you might find a better rompler in the Juno, or a Korg PS60 or Microstation.