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Great machine. This was my first "real" synthesizer, and I have never regretted buying this thing. I've had it for about five years now, and I've used it to create many backing tracks in the comfort of my bedroom as well as to take it up on the stage. It hasn't let me down once. (I got an SKB hardcase for it, which surely had a big role in keeping my X3 reliable) Sounds are quite good, although they do lack that "edge." For general-purpose and pop arrangements, X3 is more than capable. 32-note polyphony isn't that big by today's standards, but they are certainly good enough for many sequences. The effect section is great also, and the internal mixer is versatile enough, and with the capable internal sequencer, you can really make some happenin' sequences with it. You gotta check out the demo songs that came on the disk. TOP-NOTCH!! It goes to show what the machine is capable of in the hands of a capable programmer.
Positives. Good sequencer, 16-tracks and 30000+ notes. Decent sounds. Some of the layered pad sounds are really funky. General MIDI (well, maybe that's a negative, depending on your perspective). 47 internal effects which sound pretty darn good. 32-note polyphony doesn't hurt, and internal disk drive (which reads MS-DOS formatted disks) is a big, BIG plus. I love the keyboard action, and I really dig that Korg joystick controller. It definitely has its advantages over regular wheel pitch bend and modulation controls. And as far as I can tell, it's really sturdy. Very reliable.
Negatives? Well, there are a few. The sounds are, as I mentioned above, not that sharp. If you want some sharper-than-razor-blade techno/industrial sound, look elsewhere. The sounds really lean toward general purpose pop. If you have your musical sights solely locked on techno/dance/industrial/etc, this isn't the machine for you. But if you're like me and would like to try many different musical genres, this is a great place to start.
Another negative: there are only 2 internal effects. While there are many choices for effects, being able to use only two at once really hurts. You can't change your effects in the middle of a song either. You COULD have two songs with different effect settings (the internal sequencer lets you "link" ten different songs together) play after one another, but during the song transition, the effects go off-line for about a second. This results in reverb tails abruptly getting cut off, etc. This limitation hurts the versatility of effects section. For many of my sequences, I ended up using just a reverb and a chorus (or delay). I wished on more than one occasion that I could use one more effects so that I can bring in the flanger or phaser, etc. Having only two audio outs didn't help either.
Lastly, the sounds are a pain to program. The manual doesn't help much either. This was the first synthesizer that I tried any sound programming, and the manual and the sound programming structure was of no help for me to learn the intricacies of the art. I seriously recommend using a computer editor for sound programming.
So..., in conclusion, I think this is a fine first-keyboard for music students. I know there are a more capable machines out there now, but for an all-in-one workstation, I can't imagine a much better machine. I have no idea how much an X3 goes for in a used market, but I doubt they'll be very expensive. (I bought mine for $1500 in 1993) Unless you are firmly decided on techno/dance genre, this is one heck of a machine, especially as the first keyboard in a growing MIDI setup.
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