A costly mistake :(

[stephenuk]

I feel i have made a terrible mistake. I just bought a brand new M3 i find it quite limiting. I think i have realised its more of a live performance keyboard more than a full blown music creation tool. Dont get me wrong ive made some really good full produced mastered tracks on it i have always had a way with pushing keyboards to their full potential from my old roland w30 to casio home keyboards. After watching a lot of youtube videos of the Kronos it does appear much more of a production tool with all the synth engines and the amount of insert effects. I have just squandered so much money recently on synths. I bought my m3 a few weeks back brand new for £999 and there is a kronos in my local music shop brand new for £1999 including an official korg keyboard case. I am so tempted to buy and just cut my losses with the m3 and try to sell it for a good price on ebay because as we speak i have the exb radias board on its way which i paid £230 for on ebay, grrr i have just gone about this all the wrong way. suggestions would be appreciated, im a very confused korg owner at the moment Sad

ps tho i do love the pads on the m3 you can make some serious power chords on them

[billbaker]

I wouldn't take buyer's remorse too much to heart.

I've been in the same place, and I can honestly say that there will ALWAYS be something better, newer, cheaper that seems to come around the next day.

You say it's a recent purchase and you've yet to add the expansions you have on order. I'd wait and see what you can truly do with it before jumping on to the Kronos bargain. You've got 1 or 2 quite capable synth engines to master. The fact that nine is quantitatively more doesn't negate the qualitative exploration you can do with the M3/Radias.

Having a robust live synth doesn't hurt you -- you might want to explore the possibilities of rack/module or software slaves if you feel the need to expand your studio palate, and you can add the best of other makers; Yamaha motif rather than DX style FM for example, Waldorf wavetables, dozens of virtual analogs, or even a software suite such as Komplete that would give you as many new synth engines as a Kronos at half (or less the price).

BB

[stephenuk]

i feel its not much different to my triton le exept it has a bigger screen more controls and a few more insert effects and im not really fussed about karma cuz i can be inspired without it and the styles dont really suit my genre. I even found the sounds on my triton more usable i mean how many grand pianos, hammond organs, clarinets and trombones do you need lol. I am more orientated towards house music and electro and it just sounds a bit too clean and sterile. The triton was clearly aimed more at that too especially with the electronic drumkits. I just watched a lot of vids of the kronos and it has a much better balance of having yes 200 grand pianos sampled from every angle and velocity but also has a plethora of more contempory real synths. I know peope say just use a daw like cubase and reason and yes i do use them but i realised how back in the 90s making music on my trusty tascam 4 track roland mc303 roland w30 hooked up to an amiga, how much fun and enjoyabel music making was, im a musician so i dont actually enjoy software daws to make music so with the kronos it has a huge amount under the hood for total hands on music creation where a mouse click is not needed anywhere, so in away im wanting to go back to roots and only use daws for mastering and post production. maybe i shoud set a do i buy yes or no poll on here or admit im a gear aquisition syndrome sufferer and get help lol.

[HardSync]

In the Kronos forum here, there are countless topics and posts moaning about the Kronos's sequencer. The M3's sequencer is arguably better according to what I've read. I mention this because if you're looking for an all-in-one keyboard (setting aside the plethora of synth engines in the Kronos and the ability to record audio tracks and all of the other awesome things the Kronos can do), the Kronos's sequencer may also be an issue for you -- so you might consider reading up on that before making any decision.

I agree with Bill's post entirely. Install the Radias card and see how it goes. You might change your mind. I have spent weeks and weeks playing with only the Radias expansion. I love it.

I've had my M3-88 for almost three years now. Personally, I don't find it all limiting, and I'm always surprised at how much it can do. Also, I wouldn't discount KARMA just yet -- I've never been a fan of the full-blown KARMA combis that practically play themselves, but there is so much that KARMA can be used for and can do that I feel it's definitely worth spending a little time with.

[stephenuk]

In the Kronos forum here, there are countless topics and posts moaning about the Kronos's sequencer. The M3's sequencer is arguably better according to what I've read. I mention this because if you're looking for an all-in-one keyboard (setting aside the plethora of synth engines in the Kronos and the ability to record audio tracks and all of the other awesome things the Kronos can do), the Kronos's sequencer may also be an issue for you

yeah i know what you mean because the kronos has no piano roll editor and no velocity meters which made me question what on earth where korg thinking, maybe a future update will fix that just like the m3 with v2, but i think overall it has more for my needs like real audio tracks not just in track sampling, ive always wanted that in a workstation and even looked at the fantom g6 but i know the os is all eye candy to make it look like a software daw to impress people when in fact its very limited. Ive done it now i got a good deal at the store for £1800 brand new, now i just need to sell me m3 and radias and stop buyin gear lol.

[SanderXpander]

I don't think the Korg sequencers (M3 or Kronos) are very well suited to pattern based music creation such as is often desirable in modern electronic music. The Yamaha or Roland alternatives seem to have some really good workflow options for this. I would personally always use a DAW, perhaps in your case Ableton Live or FruityLoops since they are relatively simple and suit your style well.

That said, if you insist on a hardware workstation the Kronos has the clear lead over all competitors when it comes to versatility in sound, especially in the synth section. With AL1, PolySix, MS20, MOD7 and STR1 you can do some traditional, some modern and some way out there sounds that are not possible on any other workstation. Perhaps that is worth some niggles with the sequencer.

The Radias should greatly improve your M3 in the synth department too.

[stephenuk]

well here she is now in all her glory i have to say i am impressed the system is overwhelming but thats the way i like it the newer os is a breeze to use because you can have more on screen.