KORG M3 WORKSTATION/SAMPLER

[Anderton]

I've mentioned that I like the touch display, but it's not just about the touch; it also is good at conveying information you want to know.

For example, check out the first image. This shows a typical program screen, and note the section that's outlined in red: You can see that pushing on SW1 sends the sound an octave down, while SW2 locks the joystick and ribbon controller. JS-Y means that it locks the value when you pull the joystick toward you; had it said +Y, it would lock the value when you push the joystick away from you, and JS Y means that it locks whatever is selected on the Y axis.

The switches also allow for momentary or toggled changes, such as adding modulation. This varies from program to program.

C.S. tells what the control surface with the faders controls. In this case, the screen shows how the sliders vary KARMA parameters, but there's more to the story...we'll get into the details later. It probably goes without saying that if you alter any preset assignment, any changes show up in the display, and are saved with the program if you save it.

The second image shows the screen that indicates what the control surface faders do. For the faders, this is "read-only" - you can't vary the faders from the display. Then again, why would you want to, when you have real faders you can adjust...

[Anderton]

The controller feature is a good thing, but there are actually five "pages" for the controllers so there are more real-time control options than it might appear at first. Looking at the first image, you can choose whether the controllers affect the Mixer, do RealTime Control (what's currently selected), send data to External gear, cover Tone Adjust, or edit KARMA parameters. So you could, for example, hit the KARMA button and do real-time KARMA manipulation, then hit the RealTime control button and do things like mess with filter cutoff, resonance, and the like.

Let's talk about that External option for a second. If you select the Setup option, there are 101 templates for a bunch of common soft synths and programs - the second image shows the template for Reason's mixer. There are of course templates for other Korg gear and their Legacy Collection soft synths, but you'll also find templates for instruments from Arturia, Applied Acoustics, BFD, Garageband, MachFive, Digital Performer, Cubase, PlugSound Pro, various Steinberg instruments, etc. etc. A PDF is included on the M3 distribution CD that shows the parameter values for all the presets.

External presets 102-127 let you program (and save) your own controller setups. For example, the third image shows External Set 127 being set up so that the sliders generate controller #007 ("licensed to change levels") on channels 1-8.

I found that the external signals are always transmitted through MIDI regardless of which page you have selected on the M3. The External switch is basically for selection and programming.

[Anderton]

A Pro Review is a bit of a balancing act, because I don't want to just drown you with facts and specs, or just observations, or just audio examples; it needs balance. So let me inject some opinions in here.

The sound is just gorgeous. It's detailed and clean, without being clinical. I don't know what Korg has done from a technical standpoint but OASYS notwithstanding, this is the best Korg product I've ever heard; the quality is stunning by any standards.

It's unfortunate that an MP3 can't really convey this, whether you're listening to what I'm posting here or what's on the Korg site. There's a subtlety that is obvious when listening to non-compressed files, so if you're curious about this keyboard, you might want to hit your local store, strap on some headphones, and listen to what I'm talking about.

Also, I know I've mentioned the touch screen before, but I'll say it again: It rocks. Learning any synth as sophisticated and complex as the M3 is not easy, but the touch screen sure makes it easier.

Finally, the look of the M3 is really quite appealing. Anyone who comes into the studio and sees it does a double-take; the lines are clean and functional. I realize that looks don't affect performance, but I can't help but have the looks influence how I relate to the M3. It's an inviting keyboard to look at as well as play.

So far, I'm really, really impressed. Hopefully I'll find something to complain about soon to keep this interesting

[MuzikB]

So, it not so many words.....

 

The M3 is the BOMB!

 

That is all.

[Son of HuHefner]

I have been an M3M owner since May 2007 and i think its a superb instrument by Korg

 

You are doing a great job going thru it

[EJ2]

Thanks, Craig. That was a very comprehensive and well balanced review. No doubt prospective buyers of new gear would be wise to add your reports to their reading lists before or after checking out the M3. In fact, I think a few M3 newbies would find your reviews quite informative. I'll pass the link along to some of the other groups I participate in.

[Anderton]

MuzikB, Son of HuHefner, and EJ2 - thanks for the feedback! Obviously, there's a lot more to cover...

It would be kind of fun if the three of you would list your top 10 favorite M3 features. I'm curious to see if they'd cover the same territory, or be completely different. It would also help me decide what to cover next.

EJ2, thanks very much for passing along the links - the more, the merrier!

[MuzikB]

MuzikB, Son of HuHefner, and EJ2 - thanks for the feedback! Obviously, there's a lot more to cover... It would be kind of fun if the three of you would list your top 10 favorite M3 features. I'm curious to see if they'd cover the same territory, or be completely different. It would also help me decide what to cover next. EJ2, thanks very much for passing along the links - the more, the merrier!

 

 

1. Improved sequencer over Triton Series

 

2. Drum Pads

 

3. More Realtime control over Triton Series

 

4. Built in Kaoss Pad

 

5. Radias Synth expansion

 

6. Radias Step Sequencer

 

7. Radias Vocoder

 

8. KARMA advanced arpeggiator

 

9. Computer connectivity

 

10. Component modular design of the keyboard. Gigging musicians tend to tear up the chassis of keyboards. Now you can replace the chassis and keep your synth. No need to buy a whole new synth.

[EJ2]

1. KARMA 2 technology on board. What else can I say about the myriad possibilities for crafting patterns, motifs, mini compositions that can be controlled, modified, enhanced, augmented, altered in real time. This is leagues beyond arranger workstations.
2. Intuitive ergonomic layout of realtime controls for changing, modifying riffs (KARMA Generated Effects) on the fly.
3. Drum Track - a very cool enhancement over predecesors Karma and OASYS. Integrated (with KARMA ON or OFF), programmable and switchable, this is a very handy tool for driving your grooves.
4. While the touch screen has been reduced in size from its big brother's (OASYS) size, it has a couple of tricks up its sleeve - Vectoring with X/Y Mode, Hold (lock) response, Motion start/stop. I prefer this over the OASYS Vector Joystick.
5. I love working with 8 assignable and touch sensitive pad/triggers in conjunction with playing the keyboard. The ability to easily assign massive or simple chords individually to each pad adds another dimension to playing a progession (in any order or pattern you choose).
6. Did I mention the RealTime Controls handling multiple duties, especially the ones connected with KARMA 2? As far as I can determine, there is nothing comparable on the market. As an example, imagine, with the flick of a switch or moving a slider, a simple snare hit can be turned into a rapid fire drum roll that punctuates a moving four module groove.
7. Of course, one of the biggest draws for me, in any consideration for a piece of equipment, is the sound. The quality of timbres/programs Korg has loaded into the M3, is amazing, especially with the infusion of the extra 512 recently delivered. The ability to employ up to 16 of these within a combination or sequence presents a great potential for creativity, most expressively within a "fully KARMA-fied" combi with all 4 KARMA Modules running.
8. The input/output configurations on the rear are very generous - two different USB ports (one for loading or storing and one for computer connectivity), 2 Audio Inputs with line or mic options, In/out S/PDIF, etc. etc.
9. Innovative Keyboard - Module/component technology, with special mention of Korg's new keybeds. I have to agree with you about nudging Korg. Hey you guys, listen up. Can you give us a KKC "Korg Keyboard Controller"? These keybeds are awesome.
10. Korg and 3rd party support is truly very helpful. I can get online answers, contributions, suggestions, information, tutorials etc. right from the head honchos (those who played a major part in bringing the M3 to life) themselves. Jerry Kovarsky (Korg USA), Stephen Kay (Karma Lab), various sound designers/programmers et al are present and participate on karma Lab Forums (http://www.karma-lab.com/forum/index.php?s=) and Korg Forums (http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/index.php). So are a host of knowledgeable veteran Korg users. These forums constitute two of the best online musicians' communities I know of.

Of course there is so much more to report on, for example EXB RADIAS, but that's enough from me for now.

[akliner]

Your review makes it so tempting...but when I upgrade my Triton Extreme, I think it will be to the OASYS.

Maybe.

[Anderton]

As another issue of the Harmony Central Confidential newsletter is put to bed (you do subscribe, don't you?), that means I get to play with the M3 some more...uh, I mean, work on Pro Reviews.

 

Anyway, let's look at Combi mode. Mulitimbral devices came into existence fairly early in MIDI's lifetime, but if I recall correctly, it was the Korg M1 that really put the "combi" concept - where the synth straddled the line between mixer and instrument - on the map. I was curious what the M3 adds to that original concept.

 

But first, there's my usual M3 Pro Review ritual:

 

1. Start with good intentions to write something.

2. Call up a preset.

3. Get totally sucked into playing for a while, then figure I should probably record the results to give y'all another idea of what the machine can do...

 

Which I did. The audio example was just me messing around with the Combi preset "Cogs in the Machine." I played the little bass riff with my left hand, and the block chords with my right, and let the M3 do the rest. Then I hit the control surface's KARMA button, and messed with two sliders: One changed the density of the drum part, while the other controlled something related to note duration. The results were very musical to my ears...

 

But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's look at the Combi thing.

[Anderton]

Your review makes it so tempting...but when I upgrade my Triton Extreme, I think it will be to the OASYS. Maybe.

Well, let me tell you, this is a pretty tempting keyboard. It seems that no matter what button I press, something cool happens...

From what I understand, there's a lot of the OASYS under the hood with the M3. If that accounts for the clarity of sound, I wouldn't be surprised. However, and maybe Jerry Kovarsky can chime in on this, I think the OASYS is designed to be more upgradable as there have already been several updates with additional forms of synthesis. Admittedly, the M3 has gone from V1.0 to V1.2, but I think this is more about making additions to what's already there than adding entirely new synthesis engines. However, as to future plans for the M3, that's not something to which I'm privy.

[Anderton]

Think of a Combi as a 16-channel mixer, where you can assign a different program to each channel (or think of this as a "track") and adjust the level, panning, keyboard range (this is how you do splits), and response to MIDI input (the mechanism for doing layering). Adding this "metadata" to a program creates what Korg calls a "timbre." So far, that's pretty standard for any multi-timbral synth.

 

There are several ways to call up a Combi, including hitting front panel switches, using MIDI program change commands, or even using a footswitch - handy if you're playing live. There are 384 (3 banks x 127 programs) of factory presets, and another 1,408 user programs. As with programs, you can rummage through categories to find specific types of Combis although also as with programs, there are no deep search functions like using keywords or other tags.

 

As you go through the various factory Combis, you'll note that they have drum tracks and KARMA functions. The KARMA options are on a separate page, but again, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

 

The first image shows the Program Selection page for programs 1-8. There's a second page for programs 9-16 which is essentially identical. From these pages, you can select a program for each channel by touching the Category or Bank/Program parameter for that channel. You'll also see a row of Play buttons, which if you touch them, turn into Mute buttons. These are paralleled by the eight buttons above the real time control faders so if you're controlling parameters with the faders, your fingers don't have far to travel to select play or mute. They're also significant because another button lets you choose whether these buttons control channels 1-8 or 9-16, so you can leave (for example) the screen showing channels 1-8 but have the buttons controlling the mute/play function for channels 9-16.

 

The row below has Solo buttons if you want to listen to individual channels. The Solo buttons are additive, in the sense that you can solo multiple channels at once.

 

The second image shows the mixer page for channels 1-8, and again, there's another almost identical page for channels 9-16. Here the main features are pan and volume faders. If the control surface Mixer page for the corresponding page of channels is selected, then the control surface works the faders. Although the faders themselves aren't touch-sensitive with respect to level, you can touch one and control it with the Value fader, data wheel, or typing in a value with the numeric keypad. So, if the control surface isn't controlling the faders, you can still do "spot adjustments" for individual levels.

 

I couldn't find a way for the mixer control surface page to control pans; you touch the pan control and use the value fader, data wheel, or numeric keypad.

 

Note the "Hold Balance" on-screen button: It's basically a grouping function (in fact, why didn't they just call it "Group"?) where moving one fader moves all the others ratiometrically (not linearly, which is a good thing). In other words, if you move one fader down to half its values, all the other faders will go to half their volume as well. There's a bit of a "memory" function as well: If you bring all the faders down to zero, then bring them up again, their relationship at the time you clicked on the Hold Balance will be preserved.

[Jerrythek]

From what I understand, there's a lot of the OASYS under the hood with the M3. If that accounts for the clarity of sound, I wouldn't be surprised. However, and maybe Jerry Kovarsky can chime in on this, I think the OASYS is designed to be more upgradable as there have already been several updates with additional forms of synthesis. Admittedly, the M3 has gone from V1.0 to V1.2, but I think this is more about making additions to what's already there than adding entirely new synthesis engines. However, as to future plans for the M3, that's not something to which I'm privy.

 

 

There is a "connection" between the M3 and the OASYS - it starts with the fact that we developed the chip for the EDS system at the same time that we decided to test the waters with making the STG (software-based tone generator) approach at the heart of the OASYS. So we developed the main PCM synthesis architectures to be very similar. This means you can look at the M3 synthesis as being very close to the HD-1 engine of the OASYS.

 

Of course the OASYS does add it's own special power to that, with even higher fidelity, wave-sequencing and the ultimate envelope/LFO speed and resolution in our product offerings. But overall they are very related designs.

 

We did work hard on both platforms to improve the interpolation/aliasing all too common in PCM playback synthesis, and that is part of what you are hearing.

 

As for expandability you are correct. The software basis of the OASYS allows us to do much more in adding new forms of synthesis technology as compared to any chip-based system. That's why we have been able to start with three main forms of synthesis in the OASYS, and then have added four more since its release.

 

On the M3 we add new synthesis through hardware, not software. In time you'll be getting into exploring the EXB-RADIAS so I won't do a commercial for it now. But that's the approach.

 

And we can add additional PCM libraries through USB PCM expansions, which are upcoming. Keep the review alive for a while and who knows, we might just be able to include one...

 

:-)

 

And of course we can upgrade aspects of the operating system and functionality as we have been proud to do for many of our products over the last ten years.

 

OK - I'll go back to lurking - I'm here when you need me.

 

Regards,

 

Jerry

[Anderton]

I find it ironic that many software samplers can't sample: They can only import files you've already recorded. There are some exceptions (e.g,, E-mu X2) but they're the exception.

 

So while pureplay hardware samplers have faded into the background over the years, now we have keyboards like the M3 picking up the slack, and incorporating traditional hardware sampling options within a workstation context.

 

The M3 can record through the two unbalanced analog inputs (see attached image), via SPDIF digital, or thorough FireWire (if the FireWire expansion board is installed), as well as "rip" from CDs playing back in an external USB CD-ROM drive. (The M3 doesn't have a CD drive, which doesn't bother me given the option to add any kind of CD drive you want via USB.) Sampling rate is 48kHz/16-bit.

 

The main limitation in the sampling audio input section is that the input impedance is fairly low, which means you can't sample electro-mechanical instruments like guitar and bass directly. Well, that's not quite true. You can, but the highs and level will take a serious hit. Bottom line: If you're not using a mic or line level signal, you'll need some kind of impedance converter (buffer, stomp box compressor, etc.).

 

A secondary limitation is that the mic input doesn't have a balanced XLR jack but an unbalanced 1/4" jack, and doesn't offer +48V for mics requiring phantom power. Then again, I think that if someone is really a purist about this, they'd likely use their mic preamp of choice, and treat it as a line input.

 

So, what do you sample to? There are several choices. The internal memory that comes stock with the M3 is 64MB, which is enough for almost six minutes of stereo sampling (11 minutes, 40 seconds of mono sampling). You can add another 256MB with the optional EXB-M256 memory expansion, which adds another 23 minutes of stereo sampling. However, this is a separate block of memory. You can't, for example, spread a single sample across both blocks of memory.

 

If you need more time, you can sample to an external USB device. I'm going to try doing this with a memory stick instead of a hard drive, just to see if I can. It shouldn't be a problem; granted it takes longer to write to a USB stick than read from it, but asking it to record two tracks doesn't seem too onerous.

 

Oddly, the maximum file duration you can save to a USB device is about 80 minutes (mono or stereo). I don't think this matters; I somehow can't picture people taking an M3 around to do remote recordings of a two-hour concert. And if you want to capture the full decay of a piano note, if 80 minutes doesn't do it for you, nothing will. Besides, that's more than enough to record a full-length CD.

 

As to the total number of samples you can stuff into memory at one, that's spec'ed as 4,000 individual samples or 1,000 multisamples. Somehow I don't think that's going to disappoint anyone.

 

You can also import samples, as opposed to record them. Supported formats are AIFF, WAV, Akai S1000/S3000, SoundFont 2.0, and Korg's own proprietary format. Hey - no Ensoniq format import! Oh well.

 

Another element of sampling is what Korg calls "In-Track Sampling." They don't call it "hard disk recording" because with a stock M3, it isn't; it's "RAM recording." But the end result is the same: If you sample something like a vocal part while listening back to a sequence, the M3 will create a trigger to play back this sample at the same point in the sequence each time. So yes, you CAN overdub acoustic guitar parts or vocals.

 

Finally, before turning from theory to practice, it's worth noting that you can sample straight into the M3, or through effects. You can also resample sounds you've created in the M3 - for example, resample something with KARMA effects added. Whatever you sample, it can then play back through the M3.

[Anderton]

It's not difficult. First of all, there's a dedicated Sampling button among the various Mode buttons. So if you want to do sampling, you...hit Sampling.

 

Once you do that, you'll enter sampling world, which has a variety of pages (first image)- the ones of interest to us right now are Recording, Sample Edit, and Loop Edit.

 

The Recording page (second image) is where you'll start off. I went up to the Menu and selected the Auto Sampling Setup page (third image). This shows that recording is being set up through the audio input (as opposed to resampling through effects), the source is Audio instead of S/PDIF and it's listening to the left input only to create a mono sample. The audio will be saved to MEDIA, which in this case, is a USB stick although you can also save to RAM (which is the default).

 

I decided to record a guitar string. It took me a while to figure out how to record by setting a threshold, as shown in the second image; I think there may be an error in the manual on page 113 - step 1 under Record should say "Press the SAMPLING REC switch and then the START/STOP switch." At that point, when I wanted to sample, I just played and when the signal exceeded the threshold, it got recorded. Hitting the Start/Stop switch again terminated sampling. At least that's what worked for me.

 

If you just do traditional, non-threshold-based sampling, it's obvious: Hit Start/Stop, play note, hit Start/Stop - simple. Note that no matter what way you decide to sample, the M3 is always sampling, so you can set a "pre-sample" time to make sure you don't miss a crucial attack transient. This is a wonderful feature.

 

Another useful feature is that the display will show you when the A/D converter is being overloaded, even if you aren't in Record mode. This lets you set the level control on the back so the signal level is "in the ballpark." You can also monitor through the headphones, and if you hear distortion, you'll know to turn the control down; apparently monitoring occurs after conversion, which is a VERY good thing. After all, you want to know what's happening after the signal hits the input stage, not what's happening before it goes into the M3.

 

Creating additional samples is easy: You just flip back to the main Recording page and create a new "index" (basically, a container for a sample. Another cool feature is that after recording, you can just hit trigger pad 1 to hear the sample play back - you don't have to futz with finding the right key.

[Anderton]

Yup, you can do it. When I first plugged in a USB stick, it wasn't recognized. I thought maybe it needed to be formatted, so I did, but I think as long as your stick is FAT16 or FAT32 you're probably okay. What seemed to make the difference was turning on the M3 with the USB stick inserted. Once I did that, it was recognized.

There may be some more efficient way to get the M3 to recognize the USB stick other than powering-up with the stick inserted; I hit the Media button to see if there was anything there, like "click here to recognize newly inserted media," but didn't find anything like that. Calling Mr. Jerry K: If you have any advice about this, let me know in case I'm missing something obvious.

BTW samples saved to stick are WAV files, so you can also just remove the stick and put it in a computer-based digital audio editor, then put it back into the M3, which will think it's the original sample. Cool!

[Anderton]

Well I've already gone over my allotted time for today, so I'll get into the details of sample editing later. But I couldn't resist seeing how far I could get with editing just by poking around, and the answer is: Pretty far.

 

I had recorded one sample without using the threshold option, and wanted to cut some "air" off the beginning. I figured the "Sample Edit" page was the place to go, and it was (first image). I just touched the Edit Range Start parameter, and spun the data wheel so that the area of the sample I wanted was within the sample range (the blue overlay in the picture). Then I hit the zoom buttons so I could make sure I was at the exact place I wanted to trim the sample.

 

Hmm, what's next...right! Check the Menu options. Sure enough, there was an option called Truncate, and invoking that removed anything that wasn't in the designated region - the air was gone.

 

Flushed with success, I called up the Loop Edit page (second image) and zoomed in. This shows a guitar string sample, and if you've ever tried to loop a cycle at the end of the decay, you know it's a hit or miss proposition. I first tried loop points in between the two big cycle waveforms, but couldn't get a good loop - there was a little bit of buzzing. When I switched to the loop points shown in the image, perfect! The loop was smooth, on-pitch, and ready to rock.

 

More to come...but suffice it to say, the sampling is really pretty easy, and the editing options and ability to zoom mean you can do your editing right in the M3.

[Rabid]

I would like to mention something I really appreciate about the M3 line, the M3M. Lighter than a keyboard, more usable than a rack. A true tabletop workstation. It is a great way to refresh an old keyboard. I have a Fantom76 at my parents' house that is worth more as a controller than the current market value of an outdated workstation. When I visit for the weekends I take my M3M and connect it to the Fantom. From bedroom studio to back deck to parents' house to sitting in with friends. I can take the M3M and connect it to what ever keyboard is available. That gives me consistent sounds, splits and interface without having to carry a bulky keyboard. Not to mention the ability to work on a song at any of those locations or in a hotel room and keep the same familiar unit.

Robert

[Anderton]

Yes, I agree 100% - the M3M is a great box, very versatile and a good way to bring the M3 mojo into an existing setup. But I also need to add that the M3 keyboard has a fantastic feel and the aftertouch is nothing short of amazing, as shown early on in this review...so if you need to upgrade your controller as well as your sounds, the M3 has a lot to offer.

[Anderton]

After specifying a particular edit range, you can do a lot with the digital audio editing - including Truncate (as we discussed previously), Cut, Clear, Copy, Insert, Mix, Paste, Insert Zero (basically, insert silence), Normalize/Level Adjust, Volume Ramp (what the rest of the world calls "fade"), Sample Rate Convert, and Reverse.

For example, I sampled a guitar's high E open string and wanted to normalize it, because it was at a super-low level (okay, so I wasn't that careful when I set levels) - see the first image. No problem; the second image shows the Normalize screen. Range shows the range being normalized; note that you can set a normalization level, you're not just limited to normalizing to 0. You can save to a new sample, or overwrite the existing one.

Then I wanted to add a fade at the end. The third image shows how the edit range has been shifted to the end (note that the waveform has now been normalized), and the fourth image shows the Volume Ramp screen. Simple: Choose fade in or out, with a linear or power (log) curve.

One small, but very cool feature, is that you can audition just the range to be edited by hitting the Sample Start button.

Of course, you can also do sample management like copy, delete, rename, convert stereo/mono, and the like. It's also easy to create multisamples, but I thought hey, I have this sample...let's see if I can turn it into a program - preferably without looking at the manual, just to see whether the process is transparent or not. Here's what I found.

[Anderton]

Problem #1: I couldn't extend the sample's range downward. But that's because the M3 thought some of my attempts at sampling were actually intended to be samples. I simply deleted the Index located below the low note of my existing sample, and I could then extend the range of the single sample across the entire keyboard.

While I was at it, I thought I'd see how well the M3 handled aliasing on the high end of the keyboard. The answer? Extremely well, which I think might account for why the sound is so clean. There was no problem taking that high E guitar string and having it cover the entire range of the keyboard - and sound very musical, as well. I was very pleasantly surprised.

After assigning the sample to an oscillator in the program, I figured I'd better save it. Like all naming functions, when you hit a little T (text) button on the screen, a pseudo-typewriter keyboard appears in the display. The first image shows the little T you touch to bring up the keyboard, but I couldn't get a picture of the keyboard itself. (But hey, it looks like a keyboard mapped on a touch screen.) As someone who's wasted far too many hours hitting arrow buttons to go to the next character and then spinning a data wheel to find the right character, this is a godsend. Program names can have up to 24 characters, so you have the luxury of giving Real Names instead of something like "GTR-E-01."

Next, it seemed like a good idea to copy the sample to another oscillator to thicken the sound. I tried the copy function - no dice. So I went back to the basic oscillator page, and sure enough, you could specify single oscillator, dual oscillator, or drum mode. I enabled dual oscillator, and then was able to create a copy. I offset the first sample by -0.3Hz, and the second by +0.3Hz, and got that nice chorusing kind of sound which I figured would sound even nicer once I added chorusing effects.

Then it was Amp time, because I wanted some enveloping (to soften the attack a bit) and add velocity. I also noticed an EQ option, as shown in the second image, which allowed beefing up the low end while taking a bit of the high end to make the sound less bright.

By this time I was really getting used to how you do page selecting in the M3, making it easy to jump back and forth among pages. After setting envelope and velocity I went back to the pitch page and added vibrato - triggered by that exceptionally expressive aftertouch, of course. The third image shows the OSC Pitch screen; the highlighted parameter is modulation intensity, and as you can see, Aftertouch is the parameter directly above this field.

Before long I was tweaking filter settings, tying filter frequency to velocity, adjusting envelopes, and acting as if I'd been using the M3 all my life. Well, that's probably an exaggeration, because I'm sure I was missing out on a lot of options. But in the course of an hour or so, I'd gone from sampled sound to actually useful keyboard program, and even saved it.

Feeling like I had the thing licked, I thought I'd add some reverb and chorus. So I went to the IFX page, and...my head exploded! I figured it would be way too complicated to figure out, and it was time to call it a day.

Wrong. Within two minutes, I had my reverb and chorus (the fourth image shows the available parameters for the chorus effect - not too shabby, eh?). If you want to hear the results of my amateurish patch creation, check out the audio example. The reason why I say "amateurish" is because I'm taking advantage of about 0.01% of what the M3 can do, but even within that constraint, it's kind of cool I was able to create something musically useful without looking at the manual.

[Anderton]

Let's take stock for a second. This is a very deep keyboard, and we're doing a Pro Review. A Pro Review doesn't mean just describing features, although that's an important part; the "review" part is where the rubber hits the road. You're following this review not just to find out what the M3 does, but how well it does it - and frankly, also to see how someone who's been working with synthesizers for several decades sees this instrument in the context of today's market.

 

Instruments like the M3, Yamaha's Motif series, and even soft synths (like Cakewalk's Rapture) have a degree of functionality that was only dreamed of in the past. But with deep functionality comes the responsibility not just to pile features on an existing base (e.g., Microsoft Word!), but to continually re-invent the concept of a user interface so that these deep functions are accessible. Sure, it might take you a year to figure out all the functions: But that should be a year of playing with the instrument, not nine months of reading the manual and three months of playing.

 

The M3 is daunting. Or is it? Its feature set is indeed daunting; it seems that this is a keyboard that can do just about anything. But if you isolate any individual aspect of the keyboard, it makes sense. As the above showed, when I wanted to sample a sound and create a program - without reading the manual - I could. This doesn't mean I now know anything about the sequencer, or KARMA, or using the M3 with a computer because I was able to sample and put together a program. What it means is that if you take the M3 a function at a time, the individual components make sense. (We'll see what happens when I hit KARMA, though, which is a whole other way of thinking about music.)

 

The key to this is a hierarchical operating system with not a lot of levels. The top level is the buttons on the instrument itself. There aren't a lot of them, but they are the gatekeepers to subsections like Programs, Combis, KARMA, controller assigns, and the like.

 

Once you're within a sub-section, there are three powerful aides to get you on your way: The Page Select buttons (these take you to logically-grouped pages of particular functions), the Touch Screen display, and within the Touch Screen display, the Menu options. This hierarchy is the way you basically do anything on the M3 - it's an operating system "rosetta stone" where once you've learned how to navigate around, say, creating a program, you know the navigation process for creating a signal or adding signal processors. Don't minimize the value of the touch screen: It's a very direct way to interact with an instrument. Instead of having to parse what button controls what function, you simply touch the function and adjust the desired parameter.

 

The bottom line is it doesn't matter how many functions a device has if they're a pain to access. The engineers at Korg must have put a whole lot of thought into how to interact with this instrument, because the OS is a thing of beauty.

 

It's unfortunate that this is the type of feature you appreciate only after working with an instrument for an extended period of time; it's not something that will reveal itself by playing with the M3 at a Guitar Center for five minutes. But that's why Pro Reviews exist - so I can spend a huge amount of time with something and distill the results for you.

 

Keep reading...

[Jerrythek]

I'm here - sorry, I was in Japan all last week with limited access to the Internet.

You can easily get the M3 to 're-scan' the USB ports - in the Media Mode, select the Media Info Tab and from the Upper RH Menu (we call those the Page Menu Commands) there is a command to "Scan USB Device" and any media currently attached will then show up.

Here's another cool trick with the TouchView Menus - you can direct-dial any of the Page Menu Commands by holding ENTER and typing a number. So in this instance there is only one command on this page, so hold ENTER+0 and it'll bring up the command directly without having to touch that arrow on the upper RH of the screen. Much quicker.

So on the Media Load tab for instance, hold ENTER+4 to "Load Selected".

In Program Mode, ENTER+0 will always bring you to the Write Program" command.

In Sampling Mode (since you're currently working there), ENTER+3 will always bring you to "Copy Sample". And so on.

Regards,

Jerry the K

Yup, you can do it. When I first plugged in a USB stick, it wasn't recognized. I thought maybe it needed to be formatted, so I did, but I think as long as your stick is FAT16 or FAT32 you're probably okay. What seemed to make the difference was turning on the M3 with the USB stick inserted. Once I did that, it was recognized. There may be some more efficient way to get the M3 to recognize the USB stick other than powering-up with the stick inserted; I hit the Media button to see if there was anything there, like "click here to recognize newly inserted media," but didn't find anything like that. Calling Mr. Jerry K: If you have any advice about this, let me know in case I'm missing something obvious. BTW samples saved to stick are WAV files, so you can also just remove the stick and put it in a computer-based digital audio editor, then put it back into the M3, which will think it's the original sample. Cool!

 

[Anderton]

Before we get into the Sequencer and KARMA (I suspect that once I start working with KARMA, no one will see me for months!), let's look at how effects are handled.

I'm not sure Korg always gets the credit it deserves for effects, but that just might be a personal thing because I've always been more into the keyboard/synth/tone module aspects. But two things got me more into Korg effects: The effects included with the Legacy Collection soft synths, which I often use on tracks regardless of whether I'm using any soft synths, and the PX5D (the subject of another Pro Review, by Jon Chappell) which sure is packed with features, especially given the cost. And it makes some really good sounds.

The M3 has three different places where you can "park" effects: Insert, Master, and "Total." You can insert up to five insert effects for a given program, a given track in a sequence, or a given element in a Combi. The Master effect is more like an aux effect, as it has send/return for connections and sequencer track. The "Total" effect can be thought of as the final effect before the whole thing hits the real world. This is the effect for when the producer says "I like the sound of your keyboard, but can you make the whole thing a little bit brighter so it cuts better in the mix?" Also, note that these effects are in addition to the "built-in" EQ for programs and tracks.

First, let's take a look at effects in programs. The first image shows the main screen for a program. You won't see any effects here, but I included this so you could see the three-band EQ (fixed frequency low and high boost/cut controls, and sweepable mid with boost/cut but no Q). This EQ, circled in red for clarity, is really for tone-shaping on a general level; if you want serious EQ, then you can use a sophisticated parametric or graphic EQ as an insert/master/total effect.

Hit the page select button, and you get the helpful "here are your options for the various pages" screen. Page 8 is for insert effects, page 9 for master and total effects. The second image shows Page 8, and the important thing here are the tabs: Routing, Internal FX setup (where you choose effects and effects chains), tabs for individual effects parameters, and finally, a tab for the common FX LFO.

Anyway, as the second image shows the Routing page, let's investigate further.

The M3 uses a bus structure, where you can send the oscillator outs to various buses or in this case, particular effects. For example, if you're sending an oscillator to the internal effects, it can feed into the input of any of the five available insert effects. Or it can go to the main audio output, bypassing the Total effect, or sent without processing to individual outputs (for example, if you want to add your own processing). Another option, the FX Control bus, lets an effect's audio input be controlled by a different sound - more on this later. There's also a conventional aux bus option. All of these are shown schematically in a mixer shown on-screen. (By the way, effects can also be part of sampling and re-sampling.)

But note these are not necessarily mutually-exclusive options; you could send the oscillator signals to an insert effect that appears at the main outs, but also send the dry signal to an individual out. Example? Sure! Treat the dry as the subwoofer out from a bass sound, while feeding the bass through internal effects to get a big stereo image.