Late to the party, sorry!
I just wanted to chime in on this one. I don't often get to talk about the KARMA and it's, perhaps, the least understood and most poorly marketed synthesizer on the market.
Unfortunately, I have never seen anyone in a music store that has even the slightest idea of what the KARMA is capable of. Sadly, one of the most incredible pieces of musical innovation sits largely ignored usually in a poorly lit, seldom travelled, corner of the keyboard room.
I've owned a KARMA for several years and, without a doubt, it is the deepest, most powerful, richest environment for creating a range of musical styles and taking you places you would never think to explore, nor be able to play physically.
The sounds are the Triton sounds. Certainly a highly successful, much used, though dated, soundset. It's hard to be overly critical since the Triton has become another industry standard for
Korg. But the KARMA is SOOOOO much more!
I don't know what kind of music you're producing, the KARMA certainly isn't going to be for everyone. I think the user that will get the most out of the KARMA is going to be someone who has a lot of patience, loves to experiment and is interested in seeing where something will lead them. You can create evolving, ethereal walls of sound, beats, arpeggios the likes of which you could never imagine, industrial trash and most any kind of rhythmic mayhem you can think of. And you will have control over the most important parameters in real time. With the number of possible combinations (and it's staggering), you will NEVER exhaust the limits of sound creation of this machine!
If you are looking for a box to play back samples, please don't waste your money on the KARMA. That's not what it's meant for, though it can do that.
Also, if you DO get the KARMA, I strongly urge you to spend the extra money and purchase the KARMA MW software. This effectively doubles the KARMA function (when connected to your computer and sequencer) and also gives you KARMA's Vitrual Midi Driver which allows you to output the KARMA data to any MIDI device on your system.
If you're a Triton user, it's worth looking at the KARMA Triton software as well which essentially turns your Triton into a KARMA!
Check it out
HERE
Stephen Kay is truly a genius (not a term I throw around) and this is ground-breaking technology and, what's even more amazing is that he's a great guy and you can talk to him directly through the forum. He's quick to respond and knows as much about the Triton as anyone around and MORE about the KARMA than anyone on the planet! (He should since he invented it!!)
The only negatives are that I wish it was more expandable- you can add
2 voice cards and the MOSS analog synth board- and it has a very poor keyboard although mine has held up and I play pretty hard.
I hope this helps BSR2002. There are few pieces of gear I get excited about, most of the gear I own I like and would recommend, but the KARMA is a unique instrument. And that's the real key- It's an INSTRUMENT! This is a synth you can constantly learn more about and improve your skills on.
And yes, it DOES have portamento!
Ted