Members Fluttershy Posted April 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 5, 2011 Any love for the Microkorg XL out of interest? Someone told me to go for the R3 over the Ultranova, and the XL is basically the R3... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poster Nutbag Posted April 6, 2011 Members Share Posted April 6, 2011 I don't know if it will help your decision at all, but I was recently looking at the same class of synths. In my case, I've been groovin with the microsampler and how I can spend more time making loops and less fiddling with midi tracks and such on the XP80. So I was after a small synth that could do decent VA and modern patches, for making quick arpeggiated patterns to grab on the microsampler. So multitimbrality wasn't a big factor for me in this case. I looked at these: Gaia - sounds good and easy to navigate. But I already have Rolands and the GAIA still sounded like a Roland. Plus still a bit large compared to others. MKXL - While I am loving the Microsampler, never really grooved with the Microkorgs navigation, go figure. The XL left me feeling similar. R3 - Gave this some serious look, sounded decent, full size keys. Navigation was ok, but just not as "to the point" as I wanted. Miniak - Felt ok, but again, navigation.. never figured out how to change arp patterns. Same goes for the Micron. Dave Smith Mopho Keyboard - good tone, lots of knobs to fiddle. The push buttons felt a little cheap. But pretty easy to dive in and tweak. Also the most expensive.. I'd definitely snag one used though. UltraNova - Easiest to use by far for me. Within 5 minutes I had it pretty much figured out, very flat navigation structure. And sounds great too, I liked a lot of the presets. It sucked me in for more than an hour in the store.. that says something. So as you may guess the Ultranova won out.. well partly due to being able to get $100 knocked off the price since it was a floor model and Touch#1 wouldn't detect anymore. The rotary function still works though. Either way, not a huge deal for me, since there's still 7 left. But those touch controls sure can be fun. So reliability-wise for gigging I'm on the fence with the Ultranova.. It does have some great realtime controls and a great feeling keybed, so you can really flog this thing live. But something about touch sensitive rotary encoders doesn't instill confidence. I will say though, that if one were to bug out on stage, it's really easy to switch the assignments. The arp is good and straightforward, though it would be nice to have a basic pattern sequencer or editable arp pattern. The preset sounds are for the most part good to great. Much more that I usually find in factory presets. And some of the patches are pretty fat, and you can quickly set a unison mode for more fat. Of course this eats polyphony, but it works really well on some mono patches. Also, there is a faint background noise occasionally on some of the patches through the headphones only. Again, not thru the main outs, but the headphones only.. has to do with the headphone amp circuit apparently. It's not objectionable, but it's still there sometimes. So consider if your primary use will be with the mains to a mixer/monitor, or headphones direct. So overall, I like the Ultranova as a quick and to the point VA, but I don't know if it's worth the full $699 MSRP. Then again, I don't know if any of the above are worth full retail, they all feel overpriced these days. Maybe I'm a scrooge - I haven't been able to make myself pay full retail for a synth since the '90s! And no synth is perfect, but in my case I was looking for ease of use, tone and tweakability so as not to get in my way with the Microsampler, so I feel very satisfied with the Ultranova, shortcomings and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members liliththekitten Posted April 6, 2011 Members Share Posted April 6, 2011 I like the MKXL: better keys than the original, more polyphony, better vocoder and the M1 "house piano" sound is fun. Build quality seems cheaper (MK was pretty bad to me) and programming is worse and more menu-y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fluttershy Posted April 6, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 6, 2011 It has USB editing though, doesn't it? I find the lack of USB editing on the original a bit argh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJ RAZZ Posted April 6, 2011 Members Share Posted April 6, 2011 The MKXL has no reverb. That is important to me. The R3 simply sounds better for synth stuff, full size keys yet very small box, build quality not great but better than the MKXL, more synthesis options, better effects, reverb, and I like the interface better then the MKXL. For $200US or less difference. The Utranova looks cool, is very cool, sounds good, and has some unique features. It is a true VA with a tendency toward dance type music, but not limited to that sound. It is also an audio interface but very limited in that way. It has a cool editor but so does the R3. With all that being said, I still prefer the R3 it is simply more versatile and polished if you like the KORG sound. The only sound I have not heard it come close in doing is an acoustic piano. It simply does not have the sample for it like the MKXL. Get the R3 first. This is the best advise I can give you if you are not a player but a programmer/performer. The Microkorg has a different synth engine and will provide a diiferent style of sounds for your palette. The Ultranova just came out and is not going anywhere get it later... Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fluttershy Posted April 6, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 6, 2011 Couldn't you fake a decent reverb with some of the delays though? I know it won't be perfect but it can be a cool effect in of itself. The problem with the MK was lack of control over the delay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members liliththekitten Posted April 6, 2011 Members Share Posted April 6, 2011 It does have an editor with midi over USB. The original MicroKorg editor was pretty good, one of my knobs broke so I had to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fluttershy Posted April 7, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 Hey guys - I just noticed there's a module version of the Nova, and it's not expensive. I could sell the Microkorg for a controller with Minikeys, like the Microkontrol. I'd have to buy it second hand though or else I'd be screwing myself. Or I could go for a Microkey, save money, and just use the knobs on the module. The module looks a bit big though. But going Module + Controller could be an idea. The Microkorg isn't a bad controller in of itself, it just lacks stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChristianRock Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 There's actually two Novation modules that you could get. One is the Nova, as you said. The other is the KS Rack. If you can find one, I think the interface is superior. But either one would do fine. Both are fun and I think they sound very good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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