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iS50 At a Glance
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TJ writes:

First up, this keyboard has begun what I suspect may be a life long love affair with Korg. It looks amazing, a curvy silver beast, and- shallow guy that I am- it felt like my first professional keyboard because it had KORG in big black letters on the back panel. Sweet. As a keyboard rather than a synth player (then) it was a fun way to get into programming, although it's not always clear what you're actually doing- at least it wasn't to me! It isn't a proper synthesiser, as you have to use the inbuilt samples rather than the raw sound, but there is still a lot of scope. It has a sample for Square Waves, Saw Waves and PWM. The sounds are pretty good for an all rounder, but it does have a few flaws. The interface, with page after page of adjustments, is difficult to work with, although I can't really compare it with other similar keyboards because I don't have any. It's also a bit annoying when changing the drum pattern automatically changes the keyboard settings, so you have to split the keyboard/change the effects/select the sounds from scratch. Apart from that though. it's wicked, and as a guy with a mall budget, and a very very basic studio it's brilliant for getting ideas down, but not always for the finished product. There are some bargains to be had out there- I got mine brand new with a music stand, foot pedal and dust cover for under £500, and some places were selling an ex-demo for £600. For the price I paid it's immaculate, and even at £600 I don't think there's anything better. It's either a very high end home keyboard or a low budget studio keyboard, and I use it as both. As a synth it seems pretty good to me, but I'm only starting to learn about synthesisers, so best not ask me. Either way, it's terrific.

Comments About the Sounds:
Pretty good- some are awful, but put them through an outboard effects unit and they all become valuable. Also a lot of fun to muck around with in the programming mode- you can get some truly original sounds, although anything which sounds professional needs a lot of work and a few more effects. My advice is forget the built in effects and put the dry sound through another unit.

(Thanks to TJ for this info.)

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