Keyboard Presents Korg Product Spotlight - (Page 2) M3 ARTICLE TITLE THE THIRD SUBTITLE GENERATION WORKSTATION Click here for product info Korg has been developing and evolving the concept of the workstation for almost 20 years now, and the new M3 Music Workstation/Sampler is the latest in this long legacy, However, since so many choices and computers with software abound, it’s good to start with the most basic question – Why a workstation? Let’s explore some of the whys and hows of the workstation experience, as seen through the M3. For many users, the choice comes down to the concept of high-quality hardware that’s completely integrated with the synthesis engine(s), along with performance features and song-writing tools. When one company is in charge of all these elements, they can create what can truly be called an instrument, instead of merely a configuration of numerous widgets, that while nice by themselves, don’t come together easily into a satisfying single entity. Many workstation owners talk about the immediacy of working on one product with one interface when they want to get ideas flowing quickly, or when an idea pops into their head and they want to run into their studio and “strike while the iron’s hot.” Of course, no matter what music workstation you use, the most important components are its sound and what it does overall to inspire you during the creative process. Korg has been a leader in warm, fat, expressive sounds for many years now, but we can’t really write about sound, can we? So we suggest you check out the demos at www.korg.com/m3 and www.karma-lab.com/m3, and be sure to visit your local Korg dealer to try them for yourself. Read on to get some ideas of other things to explore when checking out our latest instrument. Sound Expression When you feel like playing, it’s great to be able to turn on a single instrument with sounds that have been well-shaped and married to hardware, meaning that the expert who created those sounds brought out the most expressive parts to dedicated controllers, not some disparate, generic rows of knobs and sliders that might just as easily break the sound as enhance it. On the M3, for example, when you call up a Program or Combination, you’ll find that the X/Y joystick, eight sliders, ribbon, two switches, aftertouch etc. have had their range of control optimized, or “sweetspotted” to produce the most musically expressive results .Often, multiple parameters have been tied into that control to produce the right results – you don’t need to know how or why – you can just enjoy playing the results. This is different than the one controller/one parameter relationship that’s offered by simply assigning a generic MIDI controller’s knobs/sliders to CC#’s. As great as software instruments are (we’re certainly fans of them!), few – if any – offer this same marriage of sound and controls to the degree that dedicated hardware/ synthesis can offer. Get Your Groove On When playing a great sound, I often want to get a groove going to jam along with. Hardware synths/workstations achieve this in a variety of ways, such as arpeggiators and simple phrase players. The M3 adds another a cool feature that’s inspiring to use and easy to personalize – the Drum Track. 2 http://www.korg.com/m3 http://www.korg.com/m3 http://www.karma-lab.com/m3
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.