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otto
Platinum Member
2301 Posts |
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jjohnson
Member
USA
50 Posts |
 Posted - 01/19/2012 : 11:56:14 AM
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| Cool Otto! Have been trying to decide what syth i want to purchase as there are a few out there and many things to consider. I don't currently have one but have many virtual synth sounds to use. Not sure if i should just get a midi controler keyboard. If you were to sugest one for a newb venturing in to the world of keyboard what would it be? |
Jason |
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otto
Platinum Member
2301 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2012 : 1:55:12 PM
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| 8th Street Music has 15% off on everything till the 20th. Musican's Friend has 15% off one single item till I think the 22nd. You'd have to confirm that. MF has the Fantom G6 as a package for around $2,300 before the 15%. So you can get the Fantom for under $2000. I'd go with that as it has a very nice interface to the computer and an editor/librarian - and they are up to 1.5 on the OS - so 5 revisions of the OS. The Korg Kronos is more expensive, and a powerhouse, but I don't think it is a well-suit to be a starter keyboard. If you play with the Fantom G - you'll understand. I'm expanding my with a 1 gig of larger memory - so I can use the multi-track recording. The Korg has better audio recording, you can load in Sound Font samples - which for me is a big deal as a have a lot of those. The Korg has multi-track recording - and internal solid state hard drive, lots of different synthesis engines. It may be way better than the Roland - but I haven't tried it out yet. It's a deeper synth, but there is no computer editor out yet - and it may never show up. |
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Skyline
Member
United Kingdom
97 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2012 : 04:51:13 AM
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| Otto, could you give us some points of comparison with the Roland Fantom G? Are the sounds better, i.e. for me that means 'more realistic'? |
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otto
Platinum Member
2301 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2012 : 05:09:35 AM
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| I haven't gotten around to playing with the Kronos 61 yet - and comparing the Kronos to the Fantom G - that's even more involved. I don't much care about realism when it comes to the Kronos, but it may surprise me. Long ago, I never much cared for the Korg real instrument emulations. I always thought Roland did a better job with those, but a lot of advances have gone on since I've compared the brands. From the specs, the Korg should be pretty incredible - owing to larger sample sizes. |
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otto
Platinum Member
2301 Posts |
Posted - 02/25/2012 : 5:28:38 PM
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| This afternoon - finally plugged it in and tried it out. It is not as nice a physical device as the Roland Fantom G. The touchscreen - now that is very nice. The bank buttons - too small and not particularly easy to use - especially live. The display though - terrific. The synth feel - the Kronos 61 is more like the M-Audio Axiom 49 keys. Not as synth action as the Fantom 61. Not sure which I like better yet. I guess it depends on the patch. I guess I'd say the fidelity of the Korg is better. The filters sound richer - considerably. the Roland though has really nice patches right off. I've never much liked the Korg patch programmers. I liked the Roland piano - the best one - better than the Korg so far - but maybe I haven't found the Korg's best yet. What I can say right off - they are very different synths. So not bad to have both of them. The Clav patch on the Korg - fantastic and way better than the Fantom G. The Fantom G has a better sounding Rhodes electric set though. It's way early to say on any of this though. |
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garrigus
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otto
Platinum Member
2301 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2012 : 3:59:00 PM
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| I don't know yet Scott. So far, I just have used it to select combi's listed. I'm starting to like this thing more and more. The semi-weighted keys have a nice feel to them - not like a synth, but more like a piano - though not heavy like a piano in resistance. I haven't decided yet what I think of the piano - but I'm starting to like it more and more. It's a thrill to be playing with these synths - and the Kronos has a lot of explore - way more than the Fantom. I'm just at the surface of trying this thing out. The Korg samples are quite different I think than the Roland's. I can't explain it, but I've felt that way for years now. The Korg's never strike me as being as realistic as the Roland's - but the filters on the Korg are way way better it seems to me. One nice thing about the display on the Korg is that - when you pull up a program - it shows you on the display a feel graphic of everything about it. If you pull up an MS-20 program - it even shows you the patch cords used for the sound. I love that. I don't know if you can go in and edit the patch cords - but if you can - that would be quite incredible. I know you can do it with the Korg software for these synths. |
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otto
Platinum Member
2301 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2012 : 02:07:43 AM
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| I'm still exploring the patches on this thing - and the more I go into it - the more I'm loving this thing. What a freak'in joy this synth is - and the display is terrific to have - what an improvement over the old displays. I still like the Fantom G sounds that linger in the back of my head as I explore the Kronos sounds - both synths are terrific. The Nord still sits in the box unopened - as does the Sonar control surface. There's only so much time. |
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otto
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2301 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2012 : 07:36:57 AM
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| One thing I do not like about the Kronos though is the very noisy fan. It is really a major problem, and you have to replace the fan with a special one that is made to be quiet. They screwed that up, and I certainly hope they fix it in later models. The 73 and 88 note versions have a keybed and software problem that requires a keybed replacement and a software upgrade to match it - so they had production bugs right off. That was the risk of buying the first ones. The fan noise is serious enough that you can't record anything with a mic - as it will pick that noise up in any recording. I haven't tried it out - but I can't see how it can be avoided in being a problem while recording. It's loud - that loud. |
Edited by - otto on 03/15/2012 07:38:45 AM |
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garrigus
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otto
Platinum Member
2301 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2012 : 1:17:53 PM
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| Except that the boot-up on the Kronos is very slow - and the idea of turning it on and off often is not appealing at all. I'll probably upgrade to the quiet fan at some point. |
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