Members wheresgrant3 Posted December 3, 2010 Members Share Posted December 3, 2010 Man am I in a pickle. I'm sure that you are all getting sick of my posts on this subject. So if you've been following my trials and tribulations I returned to my band this summer after being out for nearly a year due to health issues. We have two keyboard players now in the band covering lots of modern dance and frankly there isn't a whole lot of space at shows where I can set up a second stand and seperate synth rig. So I invested in a Roland AXSynth as a controller which I run wireless midi using my Triton Extreme as a sound source (which when space is challenged I usually keep in a corner). We have a wonderful collaboration (the other keys player and I) and we are really helping to create a 'wall of sound' for perfomring songs like BEP, Gaga, David Guetta, Katy Perry without alot fo sequencing. After trying numerous synth configs I am wholly dependent on my Triton Extreme for cutting through most of the dance material. Unfortunately my TE has been flaking as of late. Some numerical buttons aren't triggering and the Volume slider is nearly non-functional. I literally have to hook up an expression pedal and change Global settings for the pedal to control volume. My goal is to replace my TE with an M3M... it offers all of the functionality for me to be able to edit, transport, use as a module, plus sampling, Karma, touchscreen editing... etc. I could be a one man wrecking crew with that unit. I even had one on loan for a few weeks unfortunately I had to return it, and I'm back to the TE which now the volume slider is in operable and ultimately ungiggable. (are you following this? LOL). I'm more than a few months away from getting an M3 ($2K), upgrading to Radius... etc however I have access in a gear trade to a MicroX controller. I owned one briefly in the past and I wasn't impressed. Basically a Triton LE in a small footprint with no sampling. Although I'm pretty versed in Triton's editing, I'm thinking I could replicate a fair number of patches. The Pros: It's light, a small footprint and I don't have to worry about taking up that much real estate. The Cons: There are no available user banks (making patch and combi arrangement hard), display sucks, and it's built out of cray paper. One fall that thing could easily be demolished. I would prefer something racked. A friend is selling a Triton Rack for $350. I already have a 6 space rack with room to transport to shows. Sounds like a no brainer. My only concern is the original Triton ROM being able to keep up with the new material we do. I've become quite dependent on the TE's synth patches (particularly Lead and Fast synth categories). The other keyboard player in our band handles alot of the bread and butter sounds... my position is to add more dynamics to the mix. It doesn't pay for me to get a Triton rack, and then buy the Dance Extreme, and other cards etc.... when all that money could be going to the purchase of a new M3. So my choice is either the Micro X as a module or a Triton rack... again this is a temporary situation. Just trying to get over the hump for the next few months. I use approximately 20-25 custom combis (splits, layers) and another 10-12 patches in patch mode. Since I couldn't port .PCM data over to each synth I'd probably have to painstakingly recreate each combi in either unit. Why not just repair the TE and be done with it. Well repair services around here take 6-8 week turn around on synth gear. I have 5 gigs in that time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted December 3, 2010 Members Share Posted December 3, 2010 Hmm, I'm not sure exactly what to tell you. However, I used to own a Triton Rack which I sold to help finance my M3 module (which is absolutely awesome!). I also own a Micro X, which I love for it's portability and great sounds in such a small package. I often trigger it from a midi guitar. I've got about 20 combi's which I use most of the time and I've arranged them together for quick access. What I've done is to find combi's I'll never use and overwrite them with combi's from the first 20 slots which I want to keep but don't need quick access to. Then I move the combi's I use the most to the beginning of bank A where they are all together. Make sense? Like you said, the Micro X is not the most sturdy of synths, but I'm pretty careful and easy on my gear, so I don't worry about it. I'm a huge fan of the Micro X and it works great in my rig for the kind of ambient music I play. I wish I could give you a more definitive answer for your situation, but just thought I'd share my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted December 4, 2010 Members Share Posted December 4, 2010 My M3m "Xpanded" cost me $1099 on EBay - new (factory 2nd). (No Radius, no 256 meg card). I see EBay has them from $999 & up today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted December 4, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 4, 2010 Ideally I'd like to get a new Korg M3 and then seperate the module and leave the controller at home. It will make it much easier to edit in between shows. I've seen some sparingly M3M's around a grand. The one I borrowed was $1050 on eBay and the original owner wasn't too kind to it. It was missing a control knobs and two trigger pads were flaking. If I'm going to spend $1100 for a M3M I might as well buy an M3 for $1600 new (local shop pricing). The AxSynth, QSC K10 for monitoring, and some video equipment put me in hock for a couple $$$$. So I'm just trying to par down my credit cards before I make the investment.... sometimes in March/April. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted December 4, 2010 Members Share Posted December 4, 2010 I bought my M3M (used in perfect condition) on Craig's List for $995 about a year ago. More recently I picked up a used Radias exb on Craig's List as well. I don't remember exactly what I paid for that - I think it was around $200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Conbrio Posted December 5, 2010 Members Share Posted December 5, 2010 My M3m "Xpanded" cost me $1099 on EBay - new (factory 2nd). (No Radius, no 256 meg card). I see EBay has them from $999 & up today. Is that from a legitimate seller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted December 7, 2010 Members Share Posted December 7, 2010 If this is going to be temporary, I'd decide based on which one can be resold faster once you have the M3 in hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChristianRock Posted December 7, 2010 Members Share Posted December 7, 2010 They're both easy to sell on Ebay X50 could be had for not much more than Micro-X and if you use piano, it would probably be a better all-arounder (and pretty light to carry around). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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