Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    There have been many postings on the USENET about what a wonderful
    machine this is.  There has also been a Keyboard review.  Frankly, I'm
    not all that impressed with it.

    Sure, it can reload waveform memory (which, IMO, if the SQ-80 or ESQ-1
    could, would blow the Korg away), and it has some built-in effects and
    a (cheezy) sequencer, but it still doesn't have it all together yet. 

    It seems there are lots of people hopping on the bandwagon for machines
    with "preset fundamentals".  For example, Ensoniq and Korg with
    pre-determined waveforms, Roland's D series with pre-determined
    "partials" (ie, waveform components); and, at the extreme end of the
    spectrum, sample players.  Really nothing different that the older
    square/sawtooth/triangle units with a few more bells, whistles, and
    more flexible modulation routing (except in the case of players, which
    don't do anything but playback). 

    I'd like to see a sampler with the signal mod & routing capabilities of
    an Xpander with the U/I of the Ensoniq gear and on-board FX equivalent
    to the soon-to-be-seen quadraverb, with 10 or so knobs or sliders to
    provide the real-time control I currently have with my OB-Xa. Until
    then, it's hard to get real excited about much of the new gear that's
    coming out.  I have to jump thru too many hoops to get the sounds that
    I really want. 

-b the_relocated_moderator

    There was some talk on this in a previous note.
    
    I think the underlying sentiments were; Too little, too late, too
    much...
    
    Edd

	When the M1 was new I noticed a number of these keyboards
	appearing  on  stage  on  TV  shows.   That seems to have
	lasted  about  a month, now the D50's and DX7 etc etc are
	back.

		BArry

    
    	Thanks for all the replies so far. This is what I was hoping
    to learn! At the present time I am on the edge of buying an Ensoniq
    EPS. I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't overlooked a better
    deal in the Korg M1. Sound like the answer is no.
    
    	Mark
    

  I poked some buttons and heard 100 of the X preset patches at Daddy's the 
  other day.  None of the sounds were fantastic.  I wouldn't rate any as better
  than a D50 or D10.  Some were in one class, some in the other (D50 and D10).

  I didn't play with anything else.  None of the 'killer' sounds killed me
  though.

  The S50 might also fit the bill in this "Workstation" war.  With the
  sequencing software it might be an option for the all in one folks.
  Just a thought.

Chad

    I tried the UI on an M1.
    
    I did NOT like it.
    
    End of story.
    
    	-Bill

    EPS & M1 are two different beasties.  M1 is basically a wavetable
    synth, with loadable waveforms, built-in FX (yawn) and a cheezy
    sequencer.  The EPS is a very nice sampler with a very powerful
    sequencer, but with no on-board FX per se. 

    Given the $$$, I'd get the EPS. 

-b

    There is a comparative review of the D20, M1, and SQ-80 in the current
    (NOV88) issue of _Electronic_Musician_ magazine.  Worth reading.
    
    Rodney M.

     In answer to one of my own questions in .0
    
    There are two topics that discuss the M1 in this conference already:
    
    	1370 and 1566
    
    		regards,
    		Mark
    
    PS to Brad, wanna write lock this? Any chance of fixing the keywords
    so DIR/KEYWORD=whatever is working again? (Just a friendly request
    I appreciate what you've done so far!)
    

    Mark - will be out of town for at least this week, not to mention most
    of the next 2 mos.  When I get a chance, I'll change titles.  Keywords
    are a long way out. You may want to try doing a DIR/TITLE=whatever in
    the meantime.  Right now, I'm simply out of CPU cycles. 

    No sense in write-locking it now.

-b

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Note 2134.0                      older but wiser                         1 reply
TLE::GRIEB                                           38 lines   2-OCT-1989 20:57
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 Since I seem to be on a roll tonight (3rd note) I thought I'd add
on more story that might interest someone.

    'long time ago.... far, far, away.... (not that far actually)
at a place called Daddy's (see! I told ya it wasn't that far !!)
I listened to and decided I wanted an Korg/M1. So I bought it. I
was very, very happy and took it home and played it for many hours
through a spare stereo system we had around the house. (I couldn't
take the "real" stereo system 'cause that was reserved for "real"
music :-) :-) ) Well anyway, I listened and played on my M1 for quite
awhile until I finally decided that it was time to spend some more money.
So I went out and bought a set of SONY MDR-V6 headphones (aprox $100.00
as opposed to the $25 ones I had been using). I went home saying to
myself "now I'm REALLY gonna hear some great sounds!!". Well, I did !!
BUT, I also heard some BAD sounds !!!! It seems that the new headphones
are responsive enough on the high end to reproduce all kinds of
things on certain patches that the Korg sound engineers had failed to
remove !!! The "pipe organ" patch, for instance, that was mentioned
in a previous note as "being one to die for" has some high end
noise when you get below middle C. The noises only show up on some
patches and then usually only in some keyboard ranges. I guess after I
thought about it for awhile I wasn't too surprised to discover that
all the patches weren't perfect (and the good ones certainly DO sound
lots better!!!).

Moral of story:

When you go to listen to a new instrument, either take your own or borrow
a "quality" set of headphones to do you listening with. (I know I will....)

						Tg


P.S. This note is by no means intended to slur the quality of sounds on the
M1. A little VDF in many cases cleaned the sounds right up and I understand
that for the T1, etc. some of the sounds have been cleaned/relooped anyway...

    re .11  < "A little VDF...">
    
    TG:
    	Is this as opposed to getting the disease from toilet seats?
    
    Confused,
    Bill 8^0