Johannes wrote:Hi Gustavo,
nice idea to hook the stage to one of the new Korgs. I didn't knew the M3 had a rack version, sounds really interesting in particular for the "lacking" bread and butter sounds. but for me mainly for Drums, Sampling and Sequencing. I first thought of getting an MPC-500 for excactly these purposes, but the display is not kinda fun for more advanced sample editing or arranging. Do you know if the M3-M is suitable e.g. to arrange a complete song etc.??
Although the pricetag is indeed a bit high but you get the KARMA engine, can't be bad. And for the keyboard, I would probably be more interested in saving some space as I played the keyboard of the new Korgs and IMHO they are nothing comparably to the Stage Compact (which I own) , while the NS88 is a different league anyhow.
Hmm, now gassing for a new jewel called M3-M...damnit!!
Well, for the moment Im not what you could call a musician, but some while ago I was about to join a metal-tribute band and since I already had the Stage, I was planning on getting the M3-M, since 88 keys are enough and I am confident that I could program both to work together as I really want. But proyect got cancelled and I got into a hard part of school (can only practice once a week).
I personally think the M3-M is better than the Motif (only thing better on Motif for me is pianos and stuff... but got the Stage), and the only thing better on the fantom G for me is the patch hold. Plus the M3 has a better interface in my opinion.
About your question, I believe the M3-M is really capable of composing full songs. The Triton could, so why not its successor? The M3-M has got some great drums and its got some sequences already in it, plus with Karma, it could be very fun just to put a karma track and play to it. I have tried it out several times in stores, and I gotta tell that is an impressive sound engine. Many of the bread and butter sounds are quite great in presets, imagine what you could program ;).
My suggestion: go and try it out. It is definitely one of the best things that compliments the Nord Stage, what the NS lacks, the M3-M has, and vice versa (including keybed lol). It could be specially useful to a solo artist, since it would provide you with the necesary support to play like a full band live, but perhaps just turn those guitar solos into cool organ or synth solos ;)
Another sugestion I believe is quite good is that if you do not seek sequencing nor drum tracks, but some of the bread and butter sounds, a Waldorf Blofeld is a great companion too. And it is quite cheap new.
Of course all of the before mentioned is when talking of current gen stuff that you can get brand new. Still, I have looked into many posible configurations for the ultimate 2 "keyboard" set up and this is the one I like the most so far: a two tier stand, in the lower stand, the NS88 (at the most comfortable height, the height it would be at in a single tier stand), in the higher stand, about 10 cm above the NS and titled forward, the M3-M (chose this in great deal because of the interface it has, simply one of the best). Since the M3M supports sampling, if you ever have a sound you cant recreate either in the NS or the M3, you could always sample it ;).
My setup would also include the NS sending note information to the M3, but also having the M3 tell the stage when to change programs (I believe in teh M3 you can change programs with a footstep switch). Talking about foot stuff, I´d also keep it simple: connected to the NS: an organ swell pedal, a sustain and a control pedal (both´s data is sent to the M3-m through midi.) and to the M3 only the footswitch for changing programs is used. Another thing in which the M3 helps is effects: the M3 has two inputs, so you can always have in the Nord Stage a stereo pair that is processed by the M3, this may also help avoid needing a mixer just for your keyoboards. Because if you only use one stereo out on the Nord Stage and want everything or nothing to be processed by the M3, then only the M3´s out signals woud go into the main mixer. But to use the set up in full advantage, I would have the first stereo pair of outs, to always be what I want un processed, and outs 3 and 4 to be porcessed by the M3, and in each out can be a different mono sound. And if I am right, since eachout would be a mono sound, each one could be processed independently of the other.
If any one around here is interested in more M3 reviews, check this one out
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/for ... ?t=1961837 I also recommend looking for reviews in the Keyboard Magazine or such. Also dont miss the sound on sound review.
Gustavo
PS: if you dont need karma and dont mind not having sampling, the M50 is a great budget option, although it only comes in keyboard versions, but the M50 61 is roughly 1k US dollars. It still does the sampling, but has a limited interface.
Posted: May 13th, 2009, 1:44 pm
