Ableton Forum

KORG R3
Pretty mixed reviews that I can find online.

What do you think of it?

Thanks

R3 is awesome! Used it last night at my jam session. Loads of great sounds and plays awesome. The only downfalls i would say is that the Vocoder is hard to use in a loud area, and the synth isn't setup as well as others for on the fly sound editing. But if you take your time and develop your own sounds and patch the initial 4 controls to whatever parameters your going to want to edit, then its a hugely powerful synth.

+1 on the R3. Quite a flexible and fun little piece of gear. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing, though, whether it be the R3, Microkorg, Micron, etc. They get lots of hate because of how few knobs they contain, so people often mistake them for toys.

- Nick

i played around a few times with a R3 and really liked the sounds... it can be pretty 'fat'

I've heard lots of great things about the R3 and keep considering it for my "get the fuck away from the computer" synth.

I'm also considering the Korg X-50 for more standard sounds in the "get the fuck away from the computer" arsenal.

I think it's great that Korg offers synths for a reasonable price that focus on just sounds and aren't bloated with workstation features that nobody really needs or wants to pay for anymore.

Any opinions of the MicroKorg XL? Seems to be halfway between an R3 and a MicroKorg.

Thanks for all the replys. Food for thought. I see them now and then on my local buy+sell sites.

how would you classify the r3 compared to the microkorg?

can you trigger softsynths with the arp on the r3?

looking through youtube, so damn tired of vocoder clips
no one really showing the r3

Gargoyle wrote:can you trigger softsynths with the arp on the r3?

looking through youtube, so damn tired of vocoder clips
no one really showing the r3

which further reinforces the idea that it's a useless toy rather than a really useful device. I feel your pain. Luckily, the Micron had at least some people doing interesting sound design things with it on Youtube.

Here begins my novel comparing the R3 to the Micron, both of which I have owned. The upshot is: get the R3 if you want, but the Micron sounds better. Keep reading if you want the gorey details....


I had an R3 for a year before selling it on eBay and sticking with my Micron. (I also had a Roland SH-201 for that same year, but it was the first to go. The Micron killed it first, and then the R3, even though the Micron looks far more dorky, and is a lot harder, frankly, to use.)

What I liked about the R3 was the real-time flexibility that my Micron painfully lacks. You can split the R3's keyboard and run two timbre's side by side, tweaking each as much as you want. Yeah, you do wind up menu-diving to get inside a sound and open it up, but you've got 5 menu's to choose from, so it's not all that bad. Also, the 8 step arpeggiator buttons go a long way towards keeping patterns interesting. Again, with the Micron you just don't have that luxury, and as a result I feel more stuck inside the box. And the effects on the R3 are many and very good overall. The Micron's effects are pretty lame by comparison....just enough to get by on, maybe.

However....

The sound chip driving my Micron has got so much more meat in it that there is just no comparison when it comes to sound quality, imho. After a year of playing these two side by side, the Micron won out. I was sorry to see the R3 go, actually, but my Micron spoiled me, in the end -- so much so that I literally couldn't take the plastic sound of the R3 any more.

No quite wanting to let it go, I tried routing the audio from the Micron through it, but it all just felt too cluttered, even though that gave me use of the R3's control's and effects.

I can see how the R3 would be fine for the right musician. Yeah, in the end it sounds digital, and it can be a bit of a pain navigating all the menu's and such. I imagine the R3 would be good for someone who really doesn't care about having an analog sounding synth, but just wants a small, portable Korg machine with tons of effects and 3 octaves worth of keys. (I wouldn't buy the R3 if you are hoping to use it as a portable controller for soft-synths, as its size is just a bit too awkward for that.)

Keep in mind that with the R3, you cannot route audio through the USB interface, and in all honesty, I don't know if you can even route midi through that thing either. I tried, but I never had any luck. Also, the software patch editor that comes with the R3 is okay, but it has a bunch of annoying sub-screens, and it's a little too dark for my taste.

You can probably find a used R3 for $300 or less these days. That would give you a synth in a box you can play without your computer. If that's all you want, you could do a lot worse. But if you want a golden-sounding VA, I'd say go for a Micron, even with the second-rate effects; even though the Micron is a constant exercise in menu-diving with only one screen; and even though the Micron is honestly a pain in the ass to get the hang of out of the box. In the end, for me, sound-wise, there is no comparison.

FWIW, I had an Alesis Ion for a while, pretty much the same engine as the Micron. The sound didn't do much for me.

I just read that the USB on the R3 is MIDI only - and not an audio interface. That sucks a bit considering the cheaper Xio and SH201 synths have this feature.

Still very tempted by this synth as a sort of "good all rounder"

Why don't you head over to X-Music and try one out? They had one last time I was there.

I had a Microkorg for ages, and I think if you've used one you'll appreciate all of the improvements. I think for some reason there's a fundamental difference between the way I approach sound design and the way these synths would have me do it. Maybe it's to do with the menus/layout - I don't know... they're cheap enough that it's worth owning one to see for yourself though!

condra wrote:That sucks a bit considering the cheaper Xio and SH201 synths have this feature.

I have had both synths and "that feature" sucks ass, IMHO. I remember someone last week complaining about the 201, saying it really takes a usb cable, 2 audio leads and MIDI in and out cables to get that functionality to work. With the Xio, I never fucking figured it out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I gave up looking for a synth that would be my audio/midi interface as well.

Cheers for the replys.

Roz yeah I did try one out already but not very extensively. To be honest, the first thing I thought when i was playing with it was "why don't you hear more about these things?". I'm still kinda wondering that same thing.
They're not cheap, but they sound great IMO.

I've been doing a bit more reading and looking at demos on YouTube etc. The more I learn about it the more impressed I am. Just tipping over the edge right now LOL.