Should i buy korg r3

I know there are a bunch of them. Im confused. The MS is not an MS20 alternative. The voocoder was nice but thats about the only good thing i can come up with. I say; today I dont se any reason at all to get a hardware virtual analog synth unless you want to use it live or if you just want hands on control. If you want analog type sounds and work in a daw there are way better software alternatives than a VA.

The only VA i have, is a Nordlead. Its has a really nice character wich the Ms lacks and most other VA's. I also had a Virus B once. Cool and comlpex sounds but if youre into analog type sounds i still think software is a better choice today. Last edited by Franc; 10th December at PM.. Reason: Add more. I've owned both the MS and Korg R3. The screen is tiny and all your patch editing and routing will require plenty of menu scrolling.

This totally killed my workflow. I picked up a second hand MS for next to nothing and thought it might be a nice hardware alternative to my soft synths. I find the sound to be thin and ultimately uninspiring. The waveforms, filters and fx sound really weak imo. I haven't tried the Virus Snow but the sound and editing capabilities seem to outmatch either of these choices tenfold.

The driver acts as a convenient MIDI interface for your PC or Mac, and once this and the Editor are installed, all worries about the R3's interface could dissipate forever. The Editor may be rendered in a rather drab shade of brown but at least it lays out all the R3's entrails before your eager eyes. Using it, you will quickly gain a deeper understanding of what lurks inside; within minutes you should be hurtling around, tweaking wildly or performing minor surgery on your formant data.

Incidentally, if thoughts of mice make you want to stand on a chair and scream, the R3's comprehensive MIDI spec offers the opportunity to draft in an external knob or slider box, giving direct hardware access to every important parameter. Vocoding is clearly an important role for the R3, so it's good to be able to report that this band implementation is both clear and articulate.

Whether for robotic voice effects or more off-the-wall, experimental choirscapes, the vocoder is just as willing to work with your voice or external samples. Your source may even be derived from 'Formant Motion' — a function transported intact from the Radias. Using this you can store 16 'formants' the results of the vocoder's input analysis , each of up to 7.

These formants can then be used, with no further audio input, to drive the vocoder. Having used formant motion in my Radias for the last year, I find it slightly limiting that you can't alter the tempo of formants post-capture. Also, I'd love to be able to step through the transients by playing notes, V-Synth-style. As it is, you can either loop your formants or you can retrigger them from the start, on each note.

That said, it's a worthwhile feature to have, as demonstrated by several factory patches. We've seen that each timbre has EQ plus two insert effects, and that their combined output is processed via a single master effect.

In a sense, this works better on the R3 than on the Radias, because on the Radias it's much less likely you'll find a master effect suitable for all four timbres at once.

Remember that the master effect works like a blanket; it lacks individual send levels for each part. On a solo synth this is not such an issue — in fact it's jolly useful to have a global reverb or delay that is controllable by a single knob. There are 30 different effects on offer ranging from cabinet simulators, limiters and gates to Korg's marvellous grain shifter — and more. With a decent enough reverb and a generous assortment of delays, Korg have once again turned up trumps in the effects department.

My only gripe is the inability to control effects parameters using either the virtual patching system or the modulation sequencer. The R3's arpeggiator is able to drive either timbre individually, or both at once. So, for example, you can generate a bass loop with one hand while playing chords with the other timbre. An arpeggio may be up to eight steps in length compared with 32 on the Radias and during editing the patch-select buttons are employed to toggle activation of each step, thus enabling the creation of more varied, broken-up patterns.

The R3's rear panel houses all of the synth's connections apart from an XLR socket for the vocoder's microphone, which is situated on the front panel. The usual directions up, down, random and so on are provided, along with a swing option, which progressively shifts the even-numbered beats for further groove variation. Admittedly, there aren't a gazillion different modes or options, but I'm personally content with the R3 in this area — especially when you add modulation sequences to the rhythmic equation.

Seen on earlier Korg synths and the Electribe series, modulation sequences are a means to specify knob widdles to be played back automatically, just like an old-style analogue sequencer. Each timbre has one modulation sequence the Radias has three of up to 16 steps and is designed to control an individual R3 parameter or one of the performance knobs you've assigned. Actually, some parameters are frustratingly out of bounds; for example, any that are effects-related.

You only learn which parameters cannot be modulation sequenced when you try to record them and find that nothing happens. The easiest way to create a modulation sequence is to activate the Mod Sequence function, then hit the adjacent Record button. Then, while holding down notes on the keyboard, turn the knob of your choice. That's it! The ring of 16 LEDs that indicates the category in play mode is used to good effect here: during recording, a light chases around this ring to indicate the Mod Sequence's progression.

For greater precision, you can edit each step's value by turning a knob acting as 'step number', while a second knob is used to adjust the value. The resulting modulation sequence can be smoothed or stepped and can run in a choice of directions and clock divisions.

Seasoned sequencer and arpeggiator users will feel duty-bound to add clock-sync'd gate, delay and LFO effects, before generating complex polyrhythms by combining arpeggios and modulation sequences of differing lengths. Warning: this can be dangerously addictive. The R3 is a portable plastic synth capable of some sweet, and even heavyweight, tones. Certainly there's ample choice for voice-based effects once you've spent time mastering it. Sticking my neck out, I'd say it's more versatile than my old Korg VC10 vocoder — and don't forget there's a cracking synth thrown in too!

Having just four knobs means the R3 is never going to be as fast and immediate as some of its competitors and, as you've probably gathered, I wasn't too impressed by those gloomy red displays.

However, anyone of a computery disposition will find that the supplied Editor software quickly eases any editing pains, while also being the perfect tool to assemble libraries of your favourite patches, ready to shunt around those precious memory slots. In a year of use, I have grown ever more fond of my Radias and can imagine the R3 appealing to any who desire those lush, juicy tones in a more affordable, compact and convenient form.

Capable of filling many different roles, the R3 is a little synth with a big heart. The R3 is a light, readily-transportable keyboard, loaded with classy sounds and more options than its impassive exterior might imply.

As a vocoder, solo synth or simply something to noodle with on a rainy day, the R3 should provide hours of pleasure. Bear in mind that the excellent Radias synth engine is supplying an endless flow of carrier waves, add the convenience of the built-in goose neck microphone and it all makes for a very useful bit of kit for stage, and a sonically excellent choice for the studio.

This allows the user to record or load via the editor a sound or voice into the R3, which is used as the modulator waveform for the vocoder. This works much like using a sample as one of the oscillators, so the sample re-starts each time a key is played.

Recording is a simple, one-touch process; up to 7. The editor also comes in handy for sending recordings back to the computer where they can be trimmed, cropped and generally mashed to perfection before transporting them back to the R3 for more mischief. The left-hand side has the pitch and modulation wheels, as well as the controls for adjusting the levels for the mic and the audio inputs on the rear. The larger dial in the centre is used for selecting the patch categories, while the back-lit buttons select individual patches.

The total number of presets clocks in at , which is frankly a bit skimpy for this century but at least the software editor can help. The five dials on the right are used for most of the programming jobs: one to scroll through the pages and four for editing the associated parameters.

If they were placed in the centre of the unit, it would make access a lot easier for left-handed users to tweak, instead of reaching over to the far right every time. The R3 is two-part multi-timbral. These can be used jointly in one patch or separately where each timbre can be addressed by its own MIDI channel. A timbre uses two oscillators to form the sound, and Korg have loaded it up with a feast of tasty algorithms to feed our gourmet appetites.

Starting off with the simple pleasures of subtractive synthesis, we get a full complement of essential analogue waveforms. Pulse-width modulation is available on the Square wave, but bizarrely this feature disappears when Unison mode is engaged. What are they saying with this? Following on, the Formant oscillator is an excellent choice for abstract vocal tones, and it can be modulated between three selectable vowel positions for Delay Lama-style singing.

The DWGS mode contains 48 sampled waveforms which cover the digital spectrum.