Korg Triton

[Craig Raymond]

Looking to purchase a workhorse keyboard for my new home studio. Always been partial to Roland, but have heard a ton of good things about the Triton. Can anyone using this piece let me know their thoughts on it, or anyone that has compared similar keyboards?

[brzilian]

Triton's are highly overused and overrated. Lots of cool sounds that I find pretty much musically useless. The Yamaha Motif is a better buy in my opinion.

I think the Roland Fantom is junk! I own/owned older Roland gear (D-50, XP30) and played with the Fantom at my local GC. I want good sounds that are usable in a composition. I think the Fantom is a glorified Yamaha DJX Keyboard...

[Craig Raymond]

So is hat what you are using right now? obviousley you feel it is versitale, what are you using it for?

[Shazukura]

I have to second the opinion to research a Yamaha Motif.

The Motif is a synth/sampler/workstation on steroids, but at a very competitive price. Be forewarned, that it shares an atribute with the well loved AW2816 and that is that it's not exactly easy to learn to use but that's largely the result of the fact that you can do So Much with a Motif.

The support from Yamaha has been amazing as well. The board has been on the street for a year and they've already released 640 FREE new voices for it! The official site for Motif is http://www.motifator.com -- there is some good info there, as well as a forum where you can talk to other people who own or are considering a Motif. Personally, I think the recording I made of a few of the Motif demo's are better than what they have at their site, so I also encourage you to check out the demos at my site (they are linked near the bottom of the page.) http://www.pobox.com/~whichcraft

-Shaz

[AlinMV]

I third the MOTIF. It is an excellent board and sounds great. The Triton does not compare... Do yourself a favor. Go to the music store and play the piano patch on both the motif and the triton and then decide which is the better sounding board. Also, play the EP patches, the organ patches, you name it... There's no comparison imo.

Good luck on you search.

Albert

[TexRoadkill]

What type of sounds is the Motif best for? I loved the M/O/X series from Korg but havent been too impressed with the Karma and Triton.

[Shazukura]

What type of sounds is the Motif best for? I loved the M/O/X series from Korg but havent been too impressed with the Karma and Triton.

Yikes! That is a loaded question! Once you are in the upper echelon of synths, it get's pretty subjective as to what sound is better because everyone has a personal opinion/preference.

I've had people tell me they can't belive the piano is a synth. The Motif has some really nice drum kits. Did I mention you get 1280 voices out the door? and that you can customize them or make your own from scratch? even using your own samples?

Seriously though, if you haven't gone to a music store to hear some of these synths side by side yet, go to my website and check under November 17th, I think (the section is headed, "Get MOTIFated!") and listen to some of the Motif demos. (My personal recordings that are up right now are all from the Motif also.)

Finally, if you have specific sounds you like to hear from the otif, I'd be glad to record and post / email them to ya!

-Shaz

[Mastermindzz]

And also, if money is an issue the Motif is about $600 less than the triton

[Trak]

Looks like the Motif is about to become the next "overused and overrated" workstation. Those Yamaha bastards better make a rack version soon, I like the sounds in the Motif but not enough to want the whole keyboard.

[Chriss]

Originally posted by Trak
Looks like the Motif is about to become the next "overused and overrated" workstation. Those Yamaha bastards better make a rack version soon, I like the sounds in the Motif but not enough to want the whole keyboard.

then go for the rs7000 .. same deal just with more knobs...

[Craig Raymond]

Thanks for the feedback so far. Looks like I may have to see whose carrying the Motif and check it out today. I'll let ya guys know.

[Trak]

Nah, thanks but no thanks Chriss I'll wait and see if they make a rack. If not then well hey I never used Yamaha synths before anyway, it's not that serious.

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Chris:

I see you live in Michigan. If I were going to buy a new synth or board, I'd want to play it and listen to the sounds and get some input from a "knowledgeable" salesperson or rep.

Grand Rapids has a couple of music stores but what they carry is limited. Detroit might have a bigger store. The phone will help you know what is available.

If all of the above fails, you can RENT the board you are interested in for 90 days, maybe even less, and see what you've got.

I like Yamaha products although their manuals are TERRIBLE. No fricking logical organization as I pour through my DAW 2816's manual each day.

Finally, I have the Yam DX7 synth and I love it. But, it took several books from Yamaha, some cassette tapes from Yamaha, and a Dummies book I bought, like two of them, before I finally got to understand that all I was dealing with was a computer with black and white keys and color coded push buttons.

Before you drop the loot, check out the gear as much as possible.
Green Hornet

[Jeroleen]

Not too many people touting the Korg Karma but it does mostly what the Triton does and it has this really cool KARMA function thing. As I go along I experiment with it, I am learning various uses for it and, the thing is, it is not only a good workstation with good sounds but it is an inspirational tool as well. Now, I have heard the Motif. It surely is nice too! Nothing wrong with any of these instruments. Anyone of them will do more than you will likely ever be able to do. To exhaust the capabilities of either a Triton, Karma, Motif or any other advanced workstation keyboard is a major undertaking. Very, very few users ever get that deep into these instruments. The Korg Karma and Triton keyboards have expansion cards. They come out with new ones from time to time so the sound are updated. The bottom line is - as I always say - WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT FOR. Let the type of music dictate which keyboard is best for you. For instance, when I record an R&B or Pop ballad, the sounds in the KARMA work wonderfully. BTW, Karma and Triton have the same "sound engine". They sound the same for the most part. Anyway, when I do more electronic style dance music, I find I like the Waldorf and the Access Virus b. In the meantime, I have a sampler that works in any style and I am just getting more into this particlar device. I am excited about the possibilties of sampling. I am new to the genre. I spent many years out of the music field. When I left, the DX7 was still sort of happening. The last rig I had was a DX7, a Roland Super Jupiter, a Moog Source. Prior to that I played a Rhodes ( I had one of the originals with thei silver top), a C3, and Arp Odyssey and a Clavinet. And, here's a funny one, my first electronic keyboard was a Farfisa Fast 4 organ. The point is this, times change, styles change. But certain sounds have remained constant. Throughout the entire time, Piano, Organ, basic Analogue Moog type sounds, digital bell like sounds, smooth warm pads etc. In the end, the insturment did not make Mozart sound beautiful, Mozart made the instrument sound beautiful.
So much of this "what is the best" kayboard stuff is pure fodder. Empty boasting. Kind of like 'my bike is better than yours". Shit, really, is there any decent keyboard player than cannot make great tracks using a Triton, Karma or Motif. I doubt it. And, when was the last time you heard a piece of music, loved the song, or piece or whatever, but decided you would not listen to it anymore becuase you detected that possibly the keyboard player did not use what you now consider to be the "best" keyboard. As others have pointed out, this is a highly subjective area.

Anyway, good luck with your purchases. I hope as much care goes into making the music as goes into choosing the instrument. By the way, anyone with money can own what someone somewhere thinks is the best keyboard. It takes hard work to create great music (or even good musci for that matter). But the point is, it takes hard work and from the hard work, the best sounds will come becuase he music will be good and you will have worked the poper sound into the texture of your composition.

SOOOO...Get the keyboard you like and work hard on your music. Then, your music will be great and by extension, your keyboard as well.

[Lambo]

Jeroleen - Extremely well put!

[laj35]

I have the Triton and it suits me just fine. I strongly agree with Jeroleen's comments. The Karma, Triton and Motif are all very, very nice pieces of equipement with limitless possibilities. I don't reall know if the Motif is expandable but as Jeroleen mentioned the Korg's are. I just got the Piano extension for my Triton and now I've got a whole plethera (been wanting to use that word for a while now, why I don't know) of sounds and arp. to tinker with. I'm sure others find reasons for preferring a board but I love the Korg's cause they aren't extremely finite, ya know. Anyways let us know what your choice is and what you think, good luck!

Laj

[Shazukura]

To clarify, yes - the Motif is "expandable"....

640 FREE voices released in Jan-2002

3 expansion-card ports for anything from vocal harmony board, to analog modeling board

128 voice "user" bank that is 100% customizeable

Built-in sampling

External storage options (SCSI or SmartMedia)

You can make user arpegios, user patterns, user songs, user scenes, plus "performances" and "master" modes.

I'm not saying the Motif is the end-all be-all but it absolutely competes with the other new blood of synths on the street....

[Chriss]

Originally posted by Trak
Nah, thanks but no thanks Chriss I'll wait and see if they make a rack. If not then well hey I never used Yamaha synths before anyway, it's not that serious.

yo.. what fun is a workstation in rack version?...

[CyanJaguar]

when I was in L.A I had the opportunity to demo the Triton at guitar center.

I was very unimpressed. It sounded rubbery to me. Then I tried the Yamaha s80 and it was like AHA! . The s80 sounded crisp and nice.

I can imagine the motif will be even better than the s80. I heard the drums that sjoko2 laid and they were sweet. I also listened to shazukura's mp3 and they sounded really good.

I believe that the motif has digital out so if you have digital capabilites on your soundcard you can bypass two conversions for even better sound. Hey Shaz, have you tried that?

Hey, shaz, how much sampling memory can you put in the yamaha? Can it sample from spdif?

[Trak]

Originally posted by Chriss


yo.. what fun is a workstation in rack version?...

I don't want the workstation, I just want the sounds. And I tried the rs 7000 again, I thought maybe I was too quick to judge it the last time.... but... no it still doesn't impress me.

[Shazukura]

I believe that the motif has digital out so if you have digital capabilites on your soundcard you can bypass two conversions for even better sound. Hey Shaz, have you tried that?

Yep. The Motif has TOSlink optical out (20 or 24 bit) which I can input to either my soundcard or my HD recorder after converting to S/PDIF with a Midiman CO2 (Just heard back from Bruce on word length too, ans he says it passes the whole 24 bit words). I didn't think I would notice a difference because I was using 500-series monster cables before that, but the signal is in fact brighter and more detailed via digital.

Hey, shaz, how much sampling memory can you put in the yamaha? Can it sample from spdif?

You can put two 32MB simms in for 64MB of sampling memory. No, the Motif doesn't have S/PDIF ins (actually I think you can get an mLAN card that has that feature) but you can always import .WAV files via USB, SCSI, or SmartMedia.....

-Shaz

[wes480]

how is the Motif going to become "overused and overrated" becuase it doesn't have a rack thingy? That doesn't make any sense at all. It just won't be used in a rack....

I think separating it from the keyboard is kind of sinful anyways. Yamaha has by far the most realistic piano feel/weighting of any of the high end synths. I bought an S80 about 2 years ago..becuase i wanted something that i could really play piano on. It feels the best...better than Roland...and WAY better than Korg, to my fingers.

I'd love a Motif8. but, I am happy with the S80, certainly.