This review is from: Korg X50 61-Key SynthesizerI've owned the x50 for a couple of years now and use it in my home studio. First of all is sound quality. The top of the line Korg series is the Triton keyboards, which cost thousands of dollars (depending on the model). This keyboard uses the same engine, so the sounds are quite similar to the top of the line model. In other words, incredible sounds.So why is it less than a thousand bucks? First of all, it's not as customizable. Make no mistake, you can still tweak every sound, but it's not as easy or as in depth as the Triton series.Second are the physical stats: 61 VELOCITY SENSITIVE, but NOT weighted keys. This means that you can still play with dynamic control, but there isn't the feedback one might be used to from a piano. The keyboard itself is very well constructed but mainly plastic. It will surprise you in it's lack of heft, but don't confuse that with cheapness. It's solid.So why use this? The voices are amazing. I use it in my home studio to backup my guitar. For one song I wrote in a flute solo and then brought in a flautist to learn the song so she could play with me live. She commented on how good the flautist was who recorded for me. She didn't even know it was a keyboard.The strings, piano and organ sections are particularly strong.It's great for my studio since I'm not a pianist. It's exceedingly portable so it would be great for gigs too. It's really a great deal since you get thousands of dollars worth of voices for less than a thousand....
This review is from: Korg X50 61-Key SynthesizerI bought an X-50 via craigslist as an inexpensive alternate keyboard to play when I feel lazy and not wanting to lift/transport my Yamaha Motif ES-6, a decisively heavier and superior keyboard/workstation. At about 9 lbs., it's nearly 30 lbs. lighter than my Motif with its 2 additional program cards, built-in sequencer and sampler. But, I also wanted the great sounds of a Korg Triton, so voila! The X-50. I really love the programs and combis in this synth. Some are HUGE and incredibly FULL sounding, particularly the combis of course. The key bed is on the cheap side, but incredibly you have a lot of range in dynamics when playing the keys slowly <-> fast, much better than any other keyboard I've experienced with this quality of key bed. And, as a former owner of a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, believe me when I say that the X-50's key action ain't half-bad in comparison. In fact, if you like to "rip," the X-50's key action facilitates very fast runs. In terms of my favorite programs, there are a lot of great pianos, electric pianos, and clavs in the keyboard category, some very impressive strings programs that sound very realistic (esp. if you are familiar with how to voice them on a keyboard), acoustic and electric/distorted guitars on which you can rip rock solos, and some great sound effects and arpeggiated combis. The 4 very user-friend knobs are very convenient and the std programming provides you the most common adjustments you'll need for a live performance; you can also program other effects per your own preferences. These continue to sell at $699, but here at amazon.com the $599 price tag makes this an even sweater deal; I bought mine used for $400. All in all, a wonderful little synth. I would've given it the highest rating IF the key bed provided a little better action and feel. But, again, you still get great dynamic range using these keys, so this isn't really a big deal unless you're very picky about the feel of your keys. Again, they are a huge improvement over some of the analog synths I used in the 1980's. If you want the next model up, that would likely be the Korg M50 which I tried out. The key bed provides superior action to the X-50, but just be a little; some may consider it enough improvement, however, to seal the deal. The M50's sound generator is from their M3, which is pretty killer, and the M50 has many more features, including a great touch screen, 16-track sequencer, etc.; but, its starting price is anywhere between $900 and $1,100. Compare and shop and be sure you get what you want AND need....
This review is from: Korg X50 61-Key SynthesizerThis is a nice little keyboard. It has a lot of sounds in it that you can use for almost anything. It is also very light and easy to carry. We have used this keyboard at our church in a addition to a weighted 88 key yamaha. This works well....
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