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Good morning

What brought me to the M3 forum?

I'm currently considering a Kronos 73 or 88. I am still fairly new to piano playing (bass player by trade) but not new to synths and their technology. My goals are composition at home and any live playing is with my bass, would never be with the keyboard.

I will be using Logic Prox for recording/sequencing. I'm primarily looking for the bread and butter sounds for pop and worship music composition. My chops are nothing to write home about so I will be learning and using arpeggiators and karma quite a bit.

The folks over on the Kronos forum helped me realize I want to go the hardware solution over soft-synths (their feedback was pretty objective) but doing research I have found the M3 88 still available at some retail outlets and it's quite a bit less expensive than the Kronos (obviously)

My thinking is since I most likely could not tell the difference in tonal quality, at this point, between a piano on the m3 and one on the Kronos (assuming their is one) and because it might be some time before I get into sound design, and finally the fact I am using a DAW for recording.....I'm now thinking the M3 might be a better investment.

So, is the on-board Karma module the same version as shipped with Kronos? Any objective or even subjective opinions on workflow differences and how it might be important to a somewhat newbie? I am continuing with lessons... so any differences in keybeds? Finally, I realize the M3 falls short compared to the Kronos in synth engines....but I am assuming it can certainly hold it's own when compared to other workstations in its class? I see it compared to the Motif XF/XS a lot.

Thanks for any input!

Doug

ItsDouglas61 wrote:doing research I have found the M3 88 still available at some retail outlets and it's quite a bit less expensive than the Kronos (obviously)

Keep in mind the M3 was discontinued awhile ago, so any units still in retail stores are likely demos or returns. I'd be extremely cautious.

The quality of the piano on the Kronos is much better than the M3. But as you already said, will you really notice the difference that much? The M3 has good pianos and that will probably be fine for your needs.

The workflow is pretty much the same. All Korg workstations share a similar architecture. You could jump between Kronos and M3 with no problem with the exception of the additional synth engines.

Karma is the same on both. The keybeds are similar, very good action. And finally, I would rather have an M3 than a Motif XF if I had to pick only one. The Korg architecture in general is more flexible in my opinion.

Bald Eagle wrote:I would rather have an M3 than a Motif XF if I had to pick only one. The Korg architecture in general is more flexible in my opinion.

I agree 100%. Yamaha's operating system and user interface are NOT very user friendly.

Thanks for the replies. Star Sound Audio has the M3 61 expanded for sale on ebay...they say it's NIB, factory sealed. But I agree, it's been awhile since this board was discontinued...is it still possible for brand new units to be available? Regardless I think I'm leaning toward the Kronos X.
Thanks!

ItsDouglas61 wrote: Star Sound Audio has the M3 61 expanded for sale on ebay...they say it's NIB, factory sealed. But I agree, it's been awhile since this board was discontinued...is it still possible for brand new units to be available?

Possible but not very likely. You might end up with a demo that's been re-boxed, so beware.

If money is no object the Kronos may be your best option. However, considering what you plan to do, I think you can also get great results with something like Korg Krome or the new Yamaha MOXF.

If you want bread and butter sounds, I think the new Yamaha MOXF is a much better option for you because its expandable and really Yamaha has got some great acoustic sounds.

Also, you want to record your performance to Logic. For this, M3 may be better if and only if you get the EX-FW expansion (Firewire) and I think you will have hard time doing so because right now you don't find easily such expansion boards. Also Motif XF is way better than the rest considering the integration with DAW if and only if you get the FW16E (Firewire) expansion.

For your questions, the keybed of the Korg M3 and Korg Kronos is the same and it's great. The keybed for Yamaha is also very nice.

Both M3 and Kronos have the very same version of KARMA inside.

BTW I've owned the M3, Motif XF and Kronos.

I think I'm in a similar position. I want to learn guitar more seriously and for doing so I needed to get a nice guitar which will be with me some good years to come. I don't want a crap of a guitar which just for a start it's actually more difficult to play and that has little or no possibilities regarding tone and so on… Maybe a "Custom" guitar is the very best I can get and afford but right now the guitar really isn't my favorite instrument and I don't really know if I will come to love playing guitar and to really appreciate such expensive guitar. So I got a Gibson LPJ which I think has got the basic and important components a Gibson Les Paul is made of, there are great reviews about it and it also has a great price. Right now, I'm not that knowledgeable to discern tone differences between both guitars I'm talking about and you must know those are on the opposite sides from each other.

Therefore, the options I'm giving to you are not crap at all. Indeed those are great options and you won't outgrow them anytime soon.

MarPabl wrote:Also, you want to record your performance to Logic. For this, M3 may be better if and only if you get the EX-FW expansion (Firewire) and I think you will have hard time doing so because right now you don't find easily such expansion boards. Also Motif XF is way better than the rest considering the integration with DAW if and only if you get the FW16E (Firewire) expansion.

I don't have any experience with the M3 firewire board but I heard that there were driver problems with it. Maybe they finally sorted it all out.

MarPabl wrote:I think I'm in a similar position. I want to learn guitar more seriously and for doing so I needed to get a nice guitar which will be with me some good years to come. I don't want a crap of a guitar which just for a start it's actually more difficult to play and that has little or no possibilities regarding tone and so on… Maybe a "Custom" guitar is the very best I can get and afford but right now the guitar really isn't my favorite instrument and I don't really know if I will come to love playing guitar and to really appreciate such expensive guitar. So I got a Gibson LPJ which I think has got the basic and important components a Gibson Les Paul is made of, there are great reviews about it and it also has a great price. Right now, I'm not that knowledgeable to discern tone differences between both guitars I'm talking about and you must know those are on the opposite sides from each other.

I also wanted to learn the guitar more seriously and I got tired of trying to get good guitar patches out of a synth so I also bought a guitar. I got a PRS SE Orianthi. It's a decent guitar but I think what is just as important if not more so is to get a decent effects processor to go along with it. I got a Line 6 POD Pro X. It also works great with synths too.

Thanks once more for the great feedback! Star Sound Audio never replied to my simple questions regarding the actual condition of the M3 so I guess business must be really good for them to disregard!

Anyway, such as that is, I think I am going to go for the Kronos X61 and a decent 88 key controller...that way I have both keybeds at my disposal.

I figured having 35 years behind me playing the bass that the piano "couldn't be that hard". LOL! Short of the music theory I can see it's going to be a slow but hopefully rewarding journey.

Happy New Year all!

Doug