comparing Korg Ms2000 vs Korg R3

[gridsleep]

knobs knobs knobs knobs knobs knobs knobs knobs knobs

MS2000B, Virus C, Microwave XT, Nova, Q, JD800, JP8000, Ion, FIZMO!

Not analog, but all that control! That's where the fun is!

If it ain't fun, it ain't worth a funk.

[haggisbasheruk]

just bought a korg MS200 last week , updated the firmware and dumped the stock patches, added a load of good ones from ms2000 yahoo user group.Started messing with my own patches,man this is one great synthesiser and the mod sequencer is awesome, so easy to program.If you have the chance,get one while they are still around, you wont regret it

[velliosant]

can anyone please tell me if the arpeggio/sequencer midi synching problem has been solved at the ms 2000 b? A friend of mine gave me an ms 2000 r to test it before buing it, but when i synch it with external midi the arpeggio and sequencer start to delay in a few meters! Can anyone please help me. thanks

[103959770979]

Both are ok, ok for some effect or entry level keyboards. Personally I have the R3 but if you connect one Alesis A6 on same mixer with same speakers you wanna burn the Korg's, Is ok the Andromeda is a pure analog synth and the difference is huge, But !

Both in this video are Vsynts, no analog ones but if you connect a Roland V-Synth in same mixer with same speakers you also wanna put the korg's in the trash.

[DennisBastian]

@103959770979 And when you drive a Zonda you'll want to burn your Mustang aswell i guess.

[MrKnnknn]

@103959770979 Actually I prefer the MS2000 by far compared with the Vsynth. The MS2000 sounds a lot more analog than the Vsynth. Roland stopped making good synths since the JP-8000 or JD-800, after that they are all junk. Korg on the other hand are innovators, have you looked at their latest products?

[Obsidi0n]

Are you kidding me? obviously the MS 2000b.

[kezstone1]

The difference is clear.

The MS2000 is Iggy Pop while the R3 is Lionel Richie!

I know which I'd rather have :-D

Thanks for the comparison, very useful.

[DennisBastian]

@kezstone1 Well said. Thats exactly why I sold the R3.

[DJSaintBrendan]

Korg MS2000 came out in 1999. Queens of the Stone Age use one, so does BT, so does Moby. It has a nice greasy crunchy sound that can't be beat, it's part of a well-balanced breakfast. I like them so much I have two.

[JoeyRec]

Dude this is RETARDED your using a high pass on one and a lowpass on another.. anyone that doesnt know anything is going to think one is way thinner.

No fair to the R3

[DennisBastian]

@JoeyRec Ehm... no. Maybe you should get your ears checked. Or buy some decent speakers.

[coverupify]

The R3 is certainly a more flexible synth, it just happens to have a very plain starting tone that is then able to be customized with waveshaping and effects. This isn't appealing to those who want a great init tone, but actually allows to you more accurately emulate a wider variety of analog sounds. One of the big keys to the sound is how the filter distorts the sound as it drops in and releases, and the R3 gives much more control over this (multiband dist effect w resonance!) than the MS2K.

[got2hurt]

I have an R3 but the MS just looks the biz! Yes, looks do matter, even for synths. My R3 feels cheap, nasty and plastic, but it sounds great. Also, designing patches is not as intuitive, you have to keep scrolling back and forth between settings with the radial button. KORG, are you listning to this!!

[Alterstateresearcher]

The R3 resonance is very nice and liquidy, definatly high quality dsp tech. However, I definatly perfer that dirty nasty gurth of the MS2000 dsp sound engine. The difference was very clear to me during the square wave PMW comparison, the MS2000/microkorg will continue to be an artist's workhorse because of that.

[TheRealCritique]

I own Korg Ms2000, Yamaha CS10, and Roland Juno106, jx3P. Ms2000 is the least warm of all of them, but it is also the most featured and very versatile. Just don't expect any fat bass sounds out of it. It is very digital. It's weird. It really does best with some chorus etc on the channel. On its own, it can be quite gross. Just letting people know so they aren't led atray. It is NOT a warm vintage synth, but it is also not a useless modern digital one either.

[jpmartineau]

@TheRealCritique Lol, we have similar gear. I have a cs15, a Juno-6 and a MS2000. I've had a JX8P in the past. Agreed on the lack of warmness, but that's fine. It's gritty, dirty, squelchy and abrasive, and that, IMO, makes up for any lack of warmth.

I've read somewhere that Ladytron uses like 4 of them on tour, which in itself is a statement.

[Sharkwhisperer]

I got an offer for 200 euro for a ms2000 without keys. Does it have as much options as a full synthesizer would have (including attack for instance) ?

and are there also preset cool sounds?

[FnFUMusic]

Thanks for the demo, that was enjoyable. The filters on the MS2000 are more to my taste...some of the the R3's filters just don't seem to have quite the dynamic range and can sound a little anemic. Get into the WS/Drive on that R3 and crank up the treble eq, though! The R3 can get as nasty as you want to be!

[VisceralVoids]

There is no way I would get an R3, when an MS2000b is the same price, maybe less. The MS engine was one of Korg's best. The overall tone was much "wilder" and untamed, compared to the newer Radias engine.

[hiian123]

hi im new to the synth world. Which synth is better? Roland D, Korg X50, Korg R3, or the microkorg xl?

[novanine9]

Which one, in your opinion, has more of the retro spacey ambient sounds of bands like:

Air

Stereolab

m83

I can only get one and I'm so conflicted.

I've got plenty of synths that will sound clean and fm sythesis like the 80's but I am looking for something more ambient spacey retro.

what do you think?

[Gulielmi87]

@novanine9

I'm also looking to do more ambient type of sound.. Did you find a synth for this?

[novanine9]

@Gulielmi87 - I went with the microkorg. It's pretty awesome...you can run any type of audio feed through and tweek the sweep filters and such.

It's so retro sounding due to the ms2000 sound engine, which was used extensively on the Air's groundbreaking album - Moon Safari

the only snag is it only has 4 note polyphony while the xl has 8, but it has the radias sound engine

other than that, I found a whole bunch of super cool vsti plugins memoryman i love

it's whole universe with plugins vsti

[Gulielmi87]

@novanine9

I know about vsti's. Thing is I'm kind of lazy and prefer something "hands-on".

I'm thinking hardware synth is where I want to start, then add more synths, and perhaps use vsti's at the last stage or so.

There are loads of potential synths for being my first..so hard to choose lol :D

Microkorg/xl, Microstation, Korg x50, Waldorf Blofeld, Roland Gaia, Roland Di, Novation ultranova, novation xiosynth...

[novanine9]

@Gulielmi87 - I hear ya...

my thoughts on it would be like this:

If you, already, have a good rhodes or Wurly or some type of hard synth that makes those sounds and/ or you've got the vsti electric pianos like lounge lizard or natives instruments scarbee...

than I would go for the microkorg original, since you will get all of those spacey ambient sounds that AIr got on their album Moon Safari....exact same sound engine, different format only. \

if not then get the XL

[jpmartineau]

@novanine9 Air most certainly did not use an MS2000 on Moon Safari. Moon Safari came out in 1998. The MS2000 was first produced in 2000 and the MicroKorg in 2002.

They did use an MS-20 on it though, but that's a different beast.

[novanine9]

@jpmartineau - You are right. My mistake...I bought the CD all the way back when it came out, and read the cd sleeve in which they thanked THE KORG MS-20.

The Ms2000 was intended to bring the sounds of the Ms-20 BACK INTO THE MARKET, but improvements and updates.

My point is that the Radias and Microkorg Xl is a completely different sound engine.

It's the why's IN LIFE...ya brainless sheep!

[novanine9]

@Gulielmi87 - i'd look at different vsti plugins, as well.... it's endless...just playing with the presets. ultra analog by applied acoustics is awesome orca memorymoon arturia moog ems synthi plugin z3ta the pads on some these are, simply, beautiful... there is a preset called luminize on the memorymoon vsti that is out of this world great bang for the buck if you know of any that you like...let me know

[Metal758]

r3 is better u can put the ms2000 presets on it:)

[Alterstateresearcher]

@Metal758 But you cannot switch out the radias sound engine for the classic MS sound engine.

[PompousFlea]

Since I cannot decide whether to buy an R3 or an MS2000B, I will put them both to the ultimate litmus of electronic music awesomeness: Which one is more Daft Punk?

[PompousFlea]

I'm so torn between these two!

[drakeishfyre]

the R3 is shit compared to the ms2k or even the mk, I wish I hadn't gotten it... they have so much more DEPTH! what you're calling nastiness, call it warmth, whatever, the radias engine is pale compared the the ms2k!

I know it doesn't help that I'm recording in mono til I get a new soundcard, but I'm really not liking my R3's sounds too much... when u hear it, u say, thats definitely digital... I could easily confuse the ms2k as analog

[kain38]

had a r3 and traded it for a ms2000r and love the ms way more. the r3 is like narki said its too clean... and the filters are sloppy i found. but the biggest thing is the lack of control for sure. ms2k for the win to me :) but everyone has diff taste so each there own... just have fun with your synths

[Rbrownsword]

I think you be missing the point, the MS2000 was meant to be a new version of an analogue synth and that means its has lots of knobs and sliders so whilst performing live you can instantly change anythng you want. It also icludes a model of an analogue sequencer quite a different thing to a digitl one. The roland sounds great and maybe nicer but its not got the same interface.

[DJJ3M]

r3 is better :)

[omarandre]

Word!

[SynthGirl1977]

Cool. I like my MS2000b, but wouldn't say I had any preference, they're both great boards. I've had several synths, and I've usually been pleased with the Korgs I've had.

@levy3poop: I use a Juno-106(analog), along with the MS2000, and they make a great team, I've never used a newer Juno, but I have liked what I've heard.

[Ringmaster7777777666]

@SynthGirl1977

The juno-d series is ok, but it's not really a true synth, just rompler stuff that you can edit parts of (filter, effects, etc.). More of a nice keyboard than a synth.

[weaponEX]

Is the Electribe EA mk2 closer to an MS2000 or a Radias? That was one of my first synths and I always remember it sounding brilliant.

[levy3poop]

i'm thinking of getting an MS2000 in addition to my Roland Juno Di

i just want to have sounds more accurate to Horse The Band, since they're my whole inspiration for even getting my Di

plus, analogs are just SO fun to mess around on :DD

[DennisBastian]

These two are not analog though...

[levy3poop]

well, i meant how the MS2000 is a virtual analog

right?

[andivax]

r3 suxx

[narki86]

I think its a matter of taste, the R3 has a more polished, polite sound to it, while the MS2K is grittier, dirtier and has a sharper edge to it's sound. I really like my MS2K and if I wouldn't trade it for an R3 if I had the offer, in fact I wouldn't trade it for anything, it's just such a lovable little weirdo of a synth :) Wouldn't mind an R3 on the side though..

[trunks2861]

nice vid

[mutepg58]

MS2000, a classic for the ages.. one of the few older V/A's you can say that about. The newer MMT synths (Radius, R3, Microkorg XL) all sound nice and have a ton of features, but they are not replacements for the MS2000. If you are more interested in the synthesis side of things than an all-in-one box, the MS2000 will satisify you in major ways..

[Eclipsepoland]

yeah like the assault rifle is not replacement for Longbow...?

[djcondra]

I would take the R3 any day (not just based on this video). The MS2000 looks great and sounds pretty good, but the R3 is a more modern, versitile and better sounding synth.

[spacezoid88]

would either of these be good for producing hip hop beats?

[smackdee]

Alot of hip-hop cats have been using this for yrs....Battlecat,Dilla and Hi tek just to name a few...

[VacTrooper]

I have an R3, and I've noticed that the MS2000 synth goes for about $500 on eBay... My question is... is it worth having in a MIDI synth system. I'm going for a classic analog tone... What's better? The R3 or the MS2000? I can get the MS2000 sounds on my R3 thru KORG forums, but I dunno....

[DennisBastian]

Its real simple, if you want analogue tone get yourself something analogue. You should look for something like a Waldorf Pulse for instance, great analogue tone with midi and costs less then an ms2000.

[VacTrooper]

hmm.... Ingenious.

[DennisBastian]

The thing is that a lot of people tend to confuse terms like 'warm' with analogue and 'thin' with digital, which are completely different things. Although the ms2000 sounds quite warm, it also sounds very, very digital.

[VacTrooper]

Yup, yup, totally agree with you there. I've seen digital synths out there that could easily create as warm or warmer sounds than analog synths. Yup, I've seen that.

[mindphlux]

if you want analogue for cheap then get a dave smith mopho. it's one voice from the prophet '08 and it's got the same filter.

[jpmartineau]

@VacTrooper I've owned both. The R3 is more advanced. It has more synthesis options. The thing is, I found that it sounds metallic and hollow. It's very subjective. Anyways, I've sold it and since have bought a MS2000. It's much harsher, edgier and more interesting to play with given that it has a ton of knobs.

[whammybarfreak]

awesome

[enthusia492]

too dark. cant even see the ms2000

[DennisBastian]

so what

[whammybarfreak]

lol

[elquintobeatle00]

i just got my MS, and i have been intrigued between these 2 cause now i have both!

Great video, very helpful!!

[isynthesizer]

Great ! ms better than r3

[DennisBastian]

well... r3 has more voices, mod capabilities, effects etc. but the ms sounds much better imo

[Lumhiere]

but f0r me if y0u'd c0mpare r3 t0 micr0k0rg , micr0k0rg wins wulelelele

[itwasallgoodinthe70s]

Great demo ... thanks Bro.

[o0sambo0o81]

I like it nasty as well, brother.

[DennisBastian]

Who doesnt, right? ;)