Why the Korg hate?

[kanthos]

I've seen a few posts from people who dislike Korg, and I'm curious to know why. I'm in the market for a keyboard with a wide variety of sounds and good layering options to complement my Nord Stage, so I've done a ton of reading through specs and skimming owner's manuals over the last couple weeks before I even hit the stores. Based on what I've read, my impression is that the Korg M3 or M50 would be the right choice for me. I'm allowing for a change of opinion when I actually make it to a music store, but in the meantime, I'm very interested in getting more in-depth opinions from those who have tried and rejected Korgs recently.

What don't you like about Korgs (in general or a particular model) compared to your keyboard of choice? What would it have taken for you to have wanted to buy a Korg instead of something else?

 

[Skipp]

Hmm... don't know where you got that impression from. Every keyboard is good IF you know what you need.

Pads, strings, analog sounds, even hammonds are Korg's main weapon. But mostly pads and strings. On the other hand Yamaha has great acoustic sounds, especially pianos.

So if you need pianos for most of your playing time i will always suggest not to go Korg

 

[kanthos]

Hmm, impression about Korg vs. other brands: You seemed to be one of the big anti-Korg voices (as well as one of the more established and knowledgeable posters here), so thanks for the input! I did remember seeing other negative opinions about Korgs, and given the impression I always had of the Triton as being the keyboard of choice a while back, it just seemed odd. Of course, I have seen people recommend Korgs here too; it just seemed to me that more people recommended other brands and that there were a number of specific "don't use a Korg"-style posts. Then again, when i signed up, I'd already done an in-depth comparison of the features and audio demos online of all the major current-gen keyboards with a reasonable price tag (no OASYS or Fantom-G series for me).

Impression about the M3 or M50 being the choice for me: my other keyboard is a Nord Stage, so B3 sounds are a non-essential on a new keyboard, and I'm happy with the piano and electric piano sounds, so while any improvements would be welcome (particularly getting piano sounds besides the clavinet, wurlitzer, and rhodes models that are on the Nord Stage), I'm not really going to evaluate a new keyboard based on those. Strings, pads, analog sounds and maybe brass are the kinds of things I'm looking for, so it seems like Korg may be the best choice sound-wise. I haven't been convinced by the audio from Roland's various demos; the brass and strings are quite weak, in my opinion. Brass-wise, I lean more towards orchestral brass than pop brass, something the M3 orchestral expansions do really well, I think.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback

 

[Skipp]

In your case, you'd be crazy not to go for Korg

Nord stage has great pianos, and other acoustic sounds, and to be honest, the new M3 really did a good job on pianos (compared to previous korgs).

Don't get me wrong... You CAN get decent pianos out of tritons/TRs/LEs but you have to sit down, and reprogram the whole thing or get some samples.

Everything i say here is my opinion only, and what i want in a keyboard is to sit down, turn it on and just play... I love to tweak the sounds a bit but not reprogram them from the bottom up

That's the main reason i got the CP33. Great key-action, brilliant piano sounds, and that's basically what i need for now... BUT if/when i'll buy another keyboard it will definitely be a Korg... just to widhen my sound range.

Hope this clears it out a bit for you

 

[bsr2002]

Hmm, impression about Korg vs. other brands: You seemed to be one of the big anti-Korg voices (as well as one of the more established and knowledgeable posters here), so thanks for the input! I did remember seeing other negative opinions about Korgs, and given the impression I always had of the Triton as being the keyboard of choice a while back, it just seemed odd. Of course, I have seen people recommend Korgs here too; it just seemed to me that more people recommended other brands and that there were a number of specific "don't use a Korg"-style posts. Then again, when i signed up, I'd already done an in-depth comparison of the features and audio demos online of all the major current-gen keyboards with a reasonable price tag (no OASYS or Fantom-G series for me).

Impression about the M3 or M50 being the choice for me: my other keyboard is a Nord Stage, so B3 sounds are a non-essential on a new keyboard, and I'm happy with the piano and electric piano sounds, so while any improvements would be welcome (particularly getting piano sounds besides the clavinet, wurlitzer, and rhodes models that are on the Nord Stage), I'm not really going to evaluate a new keyboard based on those. Strings, pads, analog sounds and maybe brass are the kinds of things I'm looking for, so it seems like Korg may be the best choice sound-wise. I haven't been convinced by the audio from Roland's various demos; the brass and strings are quite weak, in my opinion. Brass-wise, I lean more towards orchestral brass than pop brass, something the M3 orchestral expansions do really well, I think.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback

I havent' been on this forum long enough to read up on alot of posts but from "other forums" that I have been in the main gripe comes from people that want all thier sounds to come out perfect out of the box!

I'm an old school synth player and my first synth was an ARP solis and you know what kind of manual I got? NONE! Instead I got 50 sheets of paper with my synth diagram on it and when I figured out a tone or sound I had to mark it with my pen or memorise the settings on it...lolz

My point is NO keyboard is going to have all the sounds you want at 100% you're going to have to do some minor to major tweeking or get multiple and different boards to have all the sounds you want.

KORGS are all good except for thier weak pianos, I use my korgs for synth sounds. I love the user friendly onboard sequencers, "In my opinion out of the top 3 brands the most easy to use And I own all three

I love the BRASS from Korgs after I tweek them

Anyways, it's late and I'm rambling..haha

 

[Chumley]

My big problem with Korgs is the lack of live tweakage. The M3 goes to lengths to correct that, and it remains one of my favorite synths, but I'd still much rather have an Andromeda and an MO6, but that's just me. It also strongly depends on the type of music you're playing.

 

[Keys]

People dislike Korgs because sometimes there's just no reason.

I personally love them.

 

[evergreenthompson]

Welcome to the forums, Chumley and Keys.

I agree with Keys. I wonder why.... Actually, I'd love to have a keyboard from each manufacturer, but who has the time and money for that?

 

[analog_guy]

I very much love Korg Stuff when it comes to analog modelling as i own 3 modelling synths of korg,however when it comes to dance then roland is next up for me no doubt in my mind as there the leaders in this field ,as for yamaha sure they might make good pianos but i dont like there key responce with aftertouch as it feels like banging my head against a brickwall lol ..sorry to any yammie fans but its true .