Korg 03R/W

This may be an old synth, but it's still a valuable addition to your arsenal when you cannot spend big money on the latest boats. As for the ease of use...compared to other synths, programming this one is not so hard at all.

This synth can only hold up to 100 sounds (apart from the MIDI sounds. It's GM compatible). You will keep this synth because it might have a few sounds you like so much.

Bottom line is that you'll program this synth for a while, come up with a few good sounds and keep using those.

Once again, this is an old synth. Polyphony is low but there are enough features on this machine. Just as long as you don't expect too much from it. Use it as a nice MIDI playback device. Or as a really nice sound generator for that one particular special sound (on midi channel 14 in a big setup or so).

You can put cards in it, although I do not know if they still exist. No sequencer, no S/PDIF, etc. It has midi in, out and thru.

Most sounds hold up quite well compared to modern "lower budget" synths. To my ears, this unit has something special. Something like the Wavestation. Not that much though, but something like it. Some sounds just wake something inside. They get the inpiration running, so to say.

It's 13 years old now. Still working fine.

Dunno.

This machine just sits in my rack. When I'm lost, I start playing it. Browsing through the presets, there's always some fun to be had and some inspiration to grow. And there's always a sound from this synth I can use in a composition anyway.

Don't pay big money for it, unless it really becomes a rare item. Also, don't buy it if you are a tech-freak. You need to be some kind of artistically weird to appreciate this synth.

Well, a rack is always at a losing end of this since the most important is to save space. The buttons are not exactly big. Not the most easy to use but still, it works like any Korg synth. PROGs, COMBIs & GLOBAL. Sounds use the same AI2 synthsis as the 01W so it is basically the same sound engine. Does have some online support ( http://sayersweb.com/korg03rw/index.html ) but I'm not sure about the availabilty of software editor.

Polyphony is 32 and 4 simultaneous effects. 16 part multi-timbre. The unit has two expansion card slots, PCM Data & PROG Data.

Check out the reviews of the 01W and you will know what kind of sounds can be found. As usual, some are great, some are good, some are so-so, some are tolerable and a few are plain awful! But with some editing, really fantastic sounds can be gotten out of this box.

Built like a tank. Solid metal casing, No wal-warts.

???

Quite a useable synth. Gives you the sounds of the 01W without the keys and sequencer. Great if you gig much or prefer to use the software sequencer anyway.

It's not so easy to make new sounds from scratch, for the LCD display is only 16x2. It's quite easy, on the other side, to bring out very pretty sounding programs from pre-esisting ones.
Furthermore, it's difficult to completely understand the routing of the audio signal onto the DSP bus.

32 note polyphony, 16 multitimbral parts in multi mode (GM), 4 different audio outs. The oscillator dynamic allocation is very well made, so it's very difficult to hear notes cutted away for the polyphony limit has been reached.

It's sensible to afttch, bending, expression, velocity.
I like it for strings, pads, basses, digital strange sounds. It has a superb Wurlitzer patch, very impressive for VCA and VCF envelopes!
The DSP effector is very good. Even in combi mode, different loop effects can be assigned to different timbres.
In multi (GM) mode, it sounds so and so. Don't buy it if you are looking for a GM machine. Do buy it, if you want a wonderful sounding module at a low cost!

Never let me down. I own an 03R/W unit since 1992.

I still cannot sell it, for I like its strange synth sounds. The wavetable is very well programmed, and the filter works fine. Every song I've ever recorded has the sign of my 03R/W.

While this synth is programmable, it's hardly easy to program. The absence of Korg's big data window takes some wind out of the O3R/W's user friendliness. And the buttons are probably the hardest on the fingers you'll find; like pushing sharp pebbles (when pushing them HARD actually gets anything to happen)! Fortunately, the RE1 programmer (the same one you bought for your M3R module, right?) can be pressed into service, making life easier. It doesn't make life cheaper, however, as the RE1 is pricey. If you have a Mac or PC, opt for a software editor/librarian. The manual is as bad as anything you'll find from Korg (or Roland). Why do they bother?

Connections: n/Out/Thru, stereo (or mono 1, 2) & mono (3, 4)

The 03R/W's sound quality is superior to many of the GM boxes available, past and present, in terms of presence, samples, effects, and the ability to fit into a mix. And in the additional sound bank (the better sounds, of course) there are few patches you'll want to get rid ofEunheard of for factory patches). Even the slightly dull piano sounds fine as part of a sequence. As you might expect of a Korg box, the effects are truly wonderful though they fall by the wayside used in multi-timbral setups (you can call in the combinations for that). The unit responds to all the usual MIDI commands, though you'll want to keep the pitch bend to a minimum; zipper city. As with other Korg synths, samples vary greatly in volume, (the natural brass patches are too quiet). There's a pathetic, tinny flute where the lowest octave has an awkwardly different attack. Another gripe: it's still annoying that you can't switch patches without cutting off the previous sound (something you've been able to do on other machines for years, at least until the Alesis QS series), though this may be a necessity to avoid effects glitches when jumping from patch to patch.
I bought Korg's Orchestral cards (about $185) and virtually all my complaints about the sounds disappeared (e.g., gooood flutes, etc.). If you plan to buy an 03R/W to compliment your 01/W boxes, keep in mind that Korg stupidly made them non-interchangeable. Korg claims that this was because the 03R/W doesn't have wave shaping (which adds a level of expressiveness to the bigger 01/Ws). Considering the expensive of data cards and how many musicians already have them for O1/Ws, this wasn't acceptable. Surely there was a way to design the O3R/W so it could ignore an O1/W card's wave shaping and still load the rest of the patch (I mean if PageMaker can load Quark filesE). I asked Korg about this when the unit debuted. They could care less.
While the complaints are many on this unit, the sounds are what make it a keeper. Many synths have come and gone since I got the 03R/W, but it remains.
You can find 03R/Ws used for around $350-$400 (usually NOT with any extra cards). If you can find a card set for around $150, then you have a unit that's selling for approximately what used M1Rs are going for now, but this is twice the machine. Do be careful with those buttons, though.

Aside from my fear that the pebble-hard buttons (Korg fixed, then nixed these buttons on later synths) might one day ignore my pressures, the unit works fine.

Korg customer service reps "tend" to be helpful of the snooty variety. When I asked why one couldn't use internal and card sounds at the same time in a sequence I was told (no kidding) "That's just the way Korg does it and no one's complained. Yikes!

In terms of sound, the unit is a 9, but the short comings (including Korg's the-customer-is-always-wrong attitude) bring the rating down.