Why is the Korg X5D still in stores??

[telemaco5]

Hello, First of all I´m not saying it is a bad keyboard, I had one and I loved it, but that was like 4 years ago.
The XD5 is like a die hard fellow. I know it has good sounds, but I think that it can´t compete any longer with some of the newer synths of its categoty. For instance, the Alesis QS6.2 it is at the same price and has a lot more of sounds, many of them are way better. Then the Emus have like 4 synths and even cheaper, I haven´t heard those, but they must be nice at least.
The X5D only has 100 sounds and 128 GM sounds. It's not enought in the today market. I wouldn't buy one today, I prefer an Alesis or the yamaha S03. But what makes this keyboard keep on the fight??? I know many that were retired very early and were nor bad at all, like the XP30 or the N5.

[Spacehog]

There's really not much competition there, the E-MU's blow the rest out of the water in terms of sample quality and synthesis power. The programming engine is way more advanced than any of the other boards listed, which are simple romplers. I have two of them (The Vintage Keys and the PK-6) stacked up with ROMs and I will be buying at least one more when I move into my new studio. BTW, there are not four, there are five, the XK-6 X-treme Keys is the one you missed off the list :) If it's numbers of sounds you want, my fully stuffed PK-6 has 2816 patches on it! :)

The X5D's presence is something of a mystery... I guess for many it's a first step into Korg, which they see all their favourite keyboardists using... but it looks like a board from the early 90's, with its square edges and general ugliness! The XP-10 has long been unavailable in the UK (if it ever was)... the XP-30 was a very nice board though!

Personally, wouldn't touch the Alesis with a barge-pole... 8 years ago, it would have been a good synth... the problem is that, cosmetic differences aside, it's still the same synth as the original QS6! Some of the sounds are alright, but it's not at all flexible, and expansion is vastly overpriced and very limited. As for the Yamaha, it's a nice basic board, it looks elegant in the way that only Yamaha's do... nice if rather boring soundset, a safe choice rather than an exciting one.

Martin

[merijn]

I'd go for Alesis! For a kurz, save some more money for a better board. Here, Alesis is the best choice.

[Kirby]

It's the most portable Synth i ever saw (take some VAs aside).
It's a matter of taste. It was the first synth i bought, and i tested also Alesis and Roland. I took the X5 because it has some really interesting sound which you don't find in other synths. I think it's worth the about 400$ which are akes for it.

[Tigerfolly]

EMU PK-6: Great little board, and they were just blowing them out at $400 a pop. I was even impressed by the action, as I was expecting crap on a cheaper board, but it has really nice action, some really good sounds (although the choices of sounds on the PK-6 seems kind of strange sometimes.. a lot of sounds that I expected to be there weren't there, and a lot that I don't see any use for are there instead), and it's a great board for gigging; not too heavy, but still durable.. and reliable.

[Drusillus]

I used to have an XP-10... honestly they're garbage. It's basically a Sound Canvas with a keyboard attached. With a bit of haggling the Roland RS-50 would probably come in around $600 and it's a great rompler.

I picked the Alesis, just because personally I'd like to try something a little different instead of one of the "big three"... Jerry Sahlin from A.C.T uses one and he gets some nice sounds out of it.

[Shreddy]

This category of synths is really for people looking to get their first synth. All the boards listed have their good points and bad points. It comes down to you get what you pay for.

I voted for the Yamaha, I find their tones to be well rounded covering all bases and it would be a good first synth.

Being a Roland phreak myself I dont know why they still produce the XP-10, they should can that thing and replace it with a new entry level synth. They can take an XV-5050 and attach a keyboard and call it XV-50.

I own an X5 and its got potential if you can get past the lightweight of it and poor keyboard feel. There are some good lead tones on it and nice pads, strings, EPs, and organs.

Ed

[telemaco5]

Maybe many people would see these keyboard category as a begginer keyboard, but sometimes that is no so accurate.
In my country an X5D is like the standard keyboard, many keyboard professionals use them because they can't afford a Triton, plus in here there aren't many brands, just the big 3 and very few models. I was thinking of bringging some Alesis Qs6.1 to sell them here and make some money. But first I want to know what is so espectacular about the X5D, I had one and it was nice, but I found myself limited because of the lack of sounds it can store. I wouldn't pay $500 (about $600-650 here), for that model if I had the Alesis Option at about the same price. But in here, they didn't care much for the RS-5, but I understand that is was becuase to play latin music you need to mix a lot of sounds that couldn't be done in the RS serie. That is why the 2 classics here are the X5D and the Xp10 in that category and in the workstation category everybody has the N264-N364 series, now the triton Le is comming into the market stronly, but since there aren't any match up for the X5D it still rules its category.

So I ask you people of this forum, forget about the other brands, would you pick a QS6.2 or a X5D???? (consider that they are for selling into a market of latin music and pop rock).