Korg Triton

The software I am using is v2.1.1. The Triton looks pretty complicated when you first turn it on, but you'll adjust to it extremely quickly. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think the manual really is as awful as it is made out to be, but to be honest I hardly used the manual - I found exploration the best way to learn about its capabilities. It's very easy to create sounds using the HI synthesis at a basic level.

I'm sure you'll probably know the specs for the Triton. The keyboard is VERY nice to use, in my opinion, though admittedly I haven't had a huge amount of experience. The onboard sequencer isn't the best sequencer I've ever used, but I can still use it confidently to make professional sounding tracks - it does the job. The build in effects are nice, and pretty easy to use, and the fact that the Triton is expandable is excellent for those who would like to "choose their style", based on the original excellence of it.

Sounds should really be the most important factor about a synth, and the Triton excels in this area. Simply put, the sounds are beautiful. The best sounds are probably the pads, and the organs - the combination opportunities for pads are endless, really, and you can come out with some amazing sounds in a short time. The pianos have been criticised, though I think they are largely very realistic, and the bass sounds are also really good.

The Triton would probably work best for any type of electronic music. Personally, I use it for trance, and I've found it an indispensable piece of equipment, as it is so easy to find decent electronic sounds, and compositions. Due to the quality of the pads, and effects, I think it would work well for ambience.

The reaction to my playing is amazing - the keys respond so well, and the aftertouch is very accurate.

I haven't used it for a gig as of yet, though it has been up and down the stairs a lot, for recording. I'd strongly recommend getting a bag for it, or if you're travelling further, a hard case.

I haven't needed to call on the customer support much, so I won't grade it - though I must say I was unimpressed at having to sign up three times for the latest Korg magazine, and then getting my hands on it three months after its release.

If it were lost, I'd cry and wish I'd taken out insurance. If it were stolen I'd take up a worldwide search to find it, and imprison and torture the person that stole it. I'd start by-- okay, enough of that. I haven't been playing for that many years, but it has definitely helped me improve musically, and I've found a whole range of new and advanced compositions while using it. The best thing about it is simply how everything is compiled together in a nice way. Sure, there are probably better options in the sampling area, the sequencing area, etc. if you want specific equipment. But nothing, NOTHING beats the Triton on value-for-money. It's my most prized posession.

There is nothing so damn easy in the world! It's the best keyboard for rookies, period. And it has everything in it, really everything. Maybe not everything is excellent - but as all in one board it's just perfect. Presets are very good, though you may like to have some pretty basic sounds, like straight pads etc... The only thing I don't like is that screen lies in spme kind of pit. So you really have to LOOK inside of it. Trinity is much more comfortable - the screen is a bit bigger and more easy to read from far. But that's not a problem, just get use to...

Sounds are massive. There is no other way to describe it. It's so massive that it makes really hard to put something else in the arrangement. It easily absorbs other sounds. You will really need to mix carefully, if you want to put some, say, Roland sounds in. I don't like el.guitars, but everything else is really good (even a piano - I'm into New Age, I like that kind of pianos). Pads are state of the art. Really rolling and punchy el. basses. Check this: www.ampcast.com/georgeicefield - you'll hear lots of Triton sounds in there...

As I've said earlier, this is the board for those rookies who look for a quick find to learn programming technique. If you have a wish - it won't impede you to perfect your skills. If it had a nice filters (like Trinity)... Oh well, you never get anything perfect...

A good user interface with the touch screen. It is sometimes more practical to use the touchview interface instead of the SoundDiver editor.

Ok polyphony, quite nice built-in effects considering the Roland JV/XP line. But Roland XV5080 has much cooler and pro-quality effects. No sys-ex on sequencer mode!

This is the point I really like to write about... Triton is good for R&B, hiphop or such kind of styles that require solid sounds. And I think it is very unsuitable for genres who seek for warm, soft, edgy, organic or experimental stuff.

The synthetic resources are very weak considering Roland synths. The filter is very tricky. It offers only a lowpass filter with resonance. No resonance with highpass filter and no band or notch filters! The character of the filter seem to sound good to me in the shop on reso-bass kind of sounds though when I experimented with it at home its sounded very artifical. Almost sounds the same on any waveform as if the resonance sound is not real but an additional sine oscilator does the trick.

The is no exciting sound-manipulating resources it offers. No cross-modulation, no real ring modulation, the filter section is very inflexible and how Korg still goes with only two partials for a program amazes me! The sounds are always thin because of this!

Especially when you turn off the onboard effects, the sounds are really very thin, very unexciting and rough!

I should note that the standart acoustic stuff sounds good on this synth, like the brasses and guitars, as well as the drums and epianos. But Korg seem to offer good sounds only for standard pop stuff. Roland JV series were not pretty good on solid sounds but they feel much more like a real synthesizer with sound manipulation possibilities they offer.

I guess Korg sounded better than JV/XPs only because of its flexible internal effects and having a larger internal waveform memory. But XV series Rolands definitly sounds much cooler than Triton in every aspect.

MOSS board is the only option for Triton to offer some real synthesis. And it sounds really cool but the polyphony (only 6) and its inflexible EFX routings make it not so valuable.

Good built, I think.

I won't buy it definitely and go for a Roland XV5080 which feels much more like a real synth!

Using Software Version 2.0.1
Presets sound great! Even better with minor tweaking from the knobs.
Editing patches is pretty simple but getting used to the Sequencer took awhile, but getting used to anything new is a given.
The Basic Manual is pretty easy to follow but the more advanced manual is something that has to be read about 5 times before it clicks.

Keyboard action on this board feels good. I like the after touch effects on some of the programs/combi's.
The built in effects are excellent. Plenty of knobs for adjusting both the keyboard sound and arpeggiator sounds. The joystick and ribbon and a nice touch for special effects.
The Triton has plenty of expansion capabilites: it has like 6 or 7 pcm boards and the AWESOME MOSS board also.
This workstation is FULL of excellent features.

I use my workstation for goth/industrial type music and all of the sounds and features work well for this style of music. I could also see that any musicians that would use it for Techno/Dance music would find great use out of this workstation as well.

This workstation is pretty solid (Just pick it up and you will see). I have hauled it between my home and my recording/rehearsal area several times and it hasn't taken a scratch. The O/S seems stable and has never crashed on me either. This board is the most reliable that I own.

Never had to use this yet. But Korg is a good name in synths and workstations and I wouldn't think they would destroy their name by having horrible customer support.

I have just one word for the Triton. EXCELLENT!

Version: 2.0.1
I've had this synth for more than 6 months now...think I know it enough to come up with a balanced review. This was my first real synth...and need I say the first few days I was in a state of trance!
Triton is very powerful..and the user interface makes everything so simple. From editing patches to routing the effects and to just purely capture the burst of inspiration, Triton is H-E-A-V-EN.
I've been making music lately....just trying to put into reality
my musical thoughts..and I think no other workstation would
have done it all for me. Remember that I just started off and dont have a lot of $$$ to invest. You can find my songs at: http://www.mp3.com/jkz
Its what I came up with during the past 6 months that I had the synth.
Everything done on Triton..coz thats my "Studio".
Manual is a lil bit too technical if you are new to all the LFO's and Filters. But eventually you'll appreciate it. The basics are explained clear enough...although I think it could be improved. But once you get the hang of it everything becomes easy.

When the effects and the sequencing come together you can really create some magic with this board. The effect routing is very well implemented. If you are going in for a Triton make sure you get a MOSS expansion...Its awesome. It adds the Z1 based tone generator.
The sequencer is very easy to learn and use...and also powerful enough to do a whole song. There's one thing that bugs me on this...There is only one level of "Undo" in the sequencer. You gotta be very careful!

No limit for expressiveness on this board! I got used to the ribbon controller
so much that I cannot imagine playing a board without it.
There are 4 real time knobs that you can program to change
any parameter of the sound you're playing.
The sounds I love the most on this are Strings and Pads.
The preset Pads are very useable. There's a huge selection of
drum patches on board. There has been a lot of buss about Triton being a dance intrument..but It also has a lot of real world intruments that sounds "real".

Cant comment on this area much...I dont do much gigging.

If I loose it and I win a lottery for $2500...I'd run to the nearest
GC and get one! Triton has given me a good start into the world on electronic music..It has helped me put my ideas into reality.
Jay

http://www.mp3.com/jkz

I am using software version 2.0.1. Patches are easy to edit once you get the hang of the touch-screen. In just two days, I edited the piano that everyone hates; tweaked to a much more acceptable piano sound.
The manual is only suitable for engineers. I think the basic guide do help a little(very) but the parameter guide must be written in some martian language.

I LOVE THE KEYBOARD ACTION! I'm not a classical pianist and I love the "bounce" of the keys. It's fast and suitable for killer lead solos.
Effects are good. Adding the effects to the clean guitar sound I sampled made it sound as if played by a real guitarist. Pity there's no distortion though(or did I miss it?)Sampling with distorted guitar proves very difficult.
Sampler is easy to use. Just record and edit. This is the reason why I bought the Triton and it is money well-worth. Now I can have nice guitar strumming patterns instead of using the original guitar patch.
The sequencer is easy to use too. I've been using Cakewalk all my life but i think this sequencer will replace that in no time. Haven't really went into the minor details such as quantize or step-recording. But real-time recording seems good.

As with every synth, some sounds are good, some are bad. The GM sounds are pretty standard but it's the synth sounds that are very good. Some COMBI sounds are pretty well done too. No need for patch editing.
This is a synth suitable for techno, trance and house. If you are a rock or pop musician, you might find the no. of sounds more limited since the Triton is dominated by futuristic sounds. That's where the sampler comes in....
Nice joystick. Programmable to almost any situation that will be encountered when playing live. Ribbon is useful too but I haven't really find out how to program it.

I just have it for a week and everything is still going well. Looks sturdy enough for me for gigs.

Dont' know.... Never dealt with them

I think I will buy it again. It's hard to find a workstation that provides everything. Sequencer, sampler. I love the touchscreen-makes everything so easy. The sounds are generally solid and the fact that it is in eye-catching silver!!! I won't recommend it if you are playing single-tier for gigs though. Sound change is slow and the sound cuts off when changing sounds. Disk load or save takes ages too. No distortion effect-that means I can't get my clean sampled guitar distorted(If I did miss this out, can someone please tell me where I can find it? E-mail me at vibes@freeze.com
I play in a disco and I use it together with a Yamaha S-80, Roland XP-80 and Korg N5-EX. At home, it is hooked up to my PC, a Yamaha PSR540 and a Yamaha DJX-II.
There's also something unique about the bluish glow of the screen. Together with some dim lighting, it makes your creative juices flow.

I am using verson 2.0.1. You don't need a patch editor because it is easy to edit patches right on the Triton. There is also a compare button to compare the preset with the sound that you like. When you first open the manual, you may need a rocket scientist to help you understand it. The manual was deep! It took me months to just feel the format of the manual. Really...the manual is no joke! The touch screen makes it very, very easy to use, but initially, the features of this board was a little complicate. Now, everything is like a piece of cake.

There are too many features on this board. It even comes with a sampler! The polyphony is 64. The board action is not like the Pro X model; I guest you get what you pay. This board has too many effects: all kind of effects with thousands of parameters. It does have expansion possibilities. I think Korg has near 8 expansion boards with a Z1 Moss board as well. The Moss is phat! The midi capabilities are endless and the Triton does come with a built-in sequencer. Everything about the sequencer can be edited. This board is loaded with features!

There are some good and some bad about every piece of equipment we buy.
GOOD: The sounds from Triton are very full indeed and I think this is what people like about the Triton. The sounds are not weak or thin. Pads, strings, S.E.,drums and regular synth sound are very good. Also the bells sound ok. As for as a keyboard is concern, the effects are very good.
Bad: Without the effects, all sounds are dry/dull. Using the built-in effects are a must for the Triton. To me, if you want perfection, nothing can be recorded without the Triton built-in effects. If you are a professional piano player, you will not find a real piano sound on the Triton. I have been on stage with professional mucisian since the 70's and I am here to tell you that there are no real brass sounds from the Triton. There are no real woodwind sounds from this board. sax, clarinet and etc. The guitar sounds doesn't come close to a real guitar.

This board is very reliable and I would use it on a gig without a backup.

As for as music equipment is concern, tech support from korg is the worst that I had ever experienced. I feel that they are trying to improve on their tech support. On their website, I could not even find an e-mail address; it may be there now, but I don't think so. Let me see...no it is not there!

If this board was lost, I will not buy it again because I only can use it for pads, S.E. and strings: basic sounds. I can not use 70% of this board for the music I write: techno, electronic, trance and etc. The sound that I need come from Nord Leads, Access Virus, Waldorf and the like. I like aggressive type of keyboards and this is only personal for what I like to do. If you have a good effect processor like the Lexicon or the TC electronic processors, why should you pay extra for effects incorporated inside of a keyboard. The sample is good on the Triton, but nothing is better than a dedicated sample like the MPC2000. I should had known better, but I purchased this board because of the hype and the money was there for me. The Triton does what it is design to do. It may be awesome to someone else, but most of the Triton is just not for me.

Software 2.1.0

The present sounds varied. I find all Korgs sounds really warm (in comparison to Roland, oberhiem) The only other keyboard i have heard be so warm is the Alesis Quadrasynth6.1.

Stripping the effects off the programs & combos are awsome. They are very well done. The one thing if you are considering this synth is realistic sounds are far and few between (aka oboes, pianos, brass). But when it comes to organs it is by far the best emulation of what i own.

The Present out-of-the-box present combo and programs are ok. They do range from organs, strings, brass, effects, dance, drums, ect. . so good range of stuff.

The editing of the combi is really simple to use. If you have owned any other Korg Products (aka O1/W) you will find this instrument very easy to use. the interface comes with touch sensitivity so it is pretty easy to move around in.

The manual was very easy for me to read and understand. Again i have several other instruments and is very easy a read compared to others like Rolands.

The Brass and Pianos have something to be lacked if you are looking for professional sounding grand piano sounds but, that haave great dance and balland synth pianos.

It has 62 voice polyphony.

Built in effects are AMAZING. Very warm and manipulating. you have 5 insert effects per program and 2 master effects. (69 that i could scroll through in the combi selection section. remember this just the basic Korg Triton). In combi mode you can use either insert or master not both per channel. in other words if you use inserts on a channel you can't also use master on that channel and vice versa. You can link effects and route the inserts to master effects also! amazing layout.

You have a built in arpegiator that is amazing. I own the Roland jp-8000 and this arpeggiator is much better and more features. right on the front panel you have the ability to change the arp settings by nobs (tempo, gate, velocity). in combo mode you can use 2 arps at the same time! Amazing. (note: Roland Jv-2080) you can change a quite a few presets (231! 31 of which you can make your own sets).

other then that the same ol touch sensitiviy (standard Korg lightweight keys O1/R keyboard touch)

I didn't check out the sequencer because i use Emagic Logic Audio.

I didn't review the Sampler due to my use of the EMU 6400. but it is tempting to use it. although i would suggest buying the addaption for a SCSI interface if you do. Floppys is the only way to save your RAM samples otherwise :) (Triton doesn' come with SCSI . sold sep)

oh yeah present sounds are on floppy and can be restored from there. you can also save your sounds to floppy to take to other tritons if you go to a studio with one!

Realistic for those sounds trying to be so, are 5 of 10. Brass was one of the worst i have heard. Sounds is what brings this instrument down in this catagory but read on. very Dance uless that is what you want to hear. very 90's brass. The Organs are by far the best i have heard. and i own a lot of synths (listed below).

Sytles i think it woudl work for range. Pop, Dance, Rock, Hip Hop, urban all kinds of styles EXCEPT Orchestral (if you seek real sounds see JV-1080, 2080 orcestral II)

the reactions to my playing are wonderful. you have the ability to assign all your effects or modulations and such (aka wah, pass filters ect) to your x and y joy or ribbon controller.

Velocity and After touch are well done. i did have a bit of a prob with the ribbon controller reacting without heavy pressure. (Note:Rolands JP-8000's ribbon very ncie and sensitive.)

I believe i can depend on this Synth ALMOST completely. I don't do gigs live since it is a rec studio it is in. It has a touch sensitive screen which is the only thing i dont' like because it worries me it might go bad. (aka people hitting it too hard) but if i know Korg i feel safe enough to buy it dispite. so i would say so far it has been fine but i have only had it for 2 days.

use at a gig without back. . . hmm. . .well it isn't bust proof. the touch screen worries me. but dont' know.

NA never used it.

If this instrument werwe stolen or broke i woudl fix it or replace it of course! it fits like a glove in ths studio with the rest of the gear i use. It is worth what i paid. i would say i would have paid up to 2500 for it. but unless it is your homebase for all sounds i wouldn't pay anymore.

I love the fact it is very synth feeling. REalistic is NOT what i bought this synth for. I love the effects (roterty speaker, amp emulations, distortions, ovd) the distortions are very realistic unlike the past synths (o1/w or rolands JV2080) they don't sound like stomp boxes. they sound like warm tube distortions.

and the organs. man they rock!

I own these other pieces of gear and it fits in like a glove (Roland Jv-2080, JP-8000, Roland D-70, TD-10 v drums, Korg O1/RW, Alesis D5 & D4,Oberhiem M1000 and much more gear but that is all the synths i have currently own. What i have used and once owned: Roland D-20.)

I got the newest vershun out there. Foorgive my typing...The hooked on phonics i used as a kid had a mispwint....The manual is so so...not too shabby...

Lots of features as everyone knows...but takes a while to get to know them..you know? Know what i mean Vern??

ok, this is where da Rock was really disappointed... I believed the hype and bought one of these...But the sounds werent all that. The standard presets are crummy for the most part, you have to really tweak the sounds...The final word...The Rock lays the smack down on the Korg!!

didnt have it long enough, just like that last case of herpes...Whew! The Rock is happy to get rid of it!

no customer support..no need for it..The Rock needs nuffin!

I hate i didnt like it...big disaapointment,,,The bottom line is the Triton is waaaaaaaay over-rated. Shop awound a bit before you buy...you homos...!!

When buying a new keyboard I have learned from past experience that you have to really think of what music your playing?, can you afford the synth?, will you regret it?, and will it sound good in a live atmosphere?. For my experience with the Triton since 12/29/2000 I can say yes to most of these questions. I was tentative at first but traded a TR-Rack in because it was to cumbersome to use in a live atmosphere. I have a four keyboard rig a play with every week an modules just don't cut it in a live situation where you need sounds at a moments notice.In the reggae band I play with I use an Roland XP-50, Korg-M1, Yamaha S80 and the Triton. The manual is pretty well written and you have to really just fool around with the touch screen when you have the time. Unless you are really adept it will take more than one sitting just to go through everything. Factory presets could even take a day.

The Triton's action is very general but feels good even if you come from classical trainig. I love working with the sequencer. It is pretty easy to get around even for someone not that adept with technology. As far as I know Korg has not released all of the expansion boards yet so it is expandable. I have not really dove into the effects portion of it yet.

If you are a live player your always concerned with sound, sound, sound. I don't trust much editing because if the patch is not good in the first place chances are it does not get much better. The Brasses are great. I have always been impressed with Korg's Brasses. The piano sounds you can be thrown out the window. The s80in opinion has the best pianos because they produce acoustic models anyway. I don't mean to sound harsh but that is an important thing in a synth. People need good piano patches. The combi patches are great, lot of fun. I also like the patterns that Korg gives you. Some of the Reggae templets are not bad. Generally a lot of cultural music is not well represented or "white washed". They did a decent job. The Combi A43 Brass is good. I like the Program A55 organ as well.

I have this funny feeling that this keyboard is a little fragile with it's plastic ends and what not. It is cold here in New York so I am careful about leaving in the truck for too long. My M1 is in great shape and a real workhorse. Korgs products are always requested on any rider from major reggae artists from Jamaica. The M1, O1W/FD,Triton and Trinity' are always requested. Korgs products are always road worthy so I hope the Triton can live up to that reputation.

Never had to deal with Cs.

Well this is a great synth. Very nice to use and gig with. It can perform in a variety of environments effectively. I hear it being compared to old gear all the time but it has it's place. I am really convinced that if you are after realistic sounds from one synth you will not find it. I use boards from 3 manufactuers on stage at a time. The Triton is expensive but with the sampler on board it makes sense. I bought it wondering what the hype was about and really likedthe combi settings when I first heard them. Take your time and try it out.

Keyboard is quite easy to navigate through. I was very happy with the factory preset sounds, but you can tweak them as needed from the programming menu's. I haven't used the patch editing much at this point because the factory sounds were completely ample for my needs in the studio. The manual is what you might come to expect from a heavy duty pro equipment piece. Pack a lunch, it takes a while to get throught them (more than one manual). But, they made it very easy to look up things as needed. Which was a welcomed blessing from the past.

Although I am not a keyboardist in the professional sense, I am a semi pro musician and count on pro gear to put out. So, having spent the money on the Triton, I have found the features to be very exciting and absolutely mind blowing at times, what you can do with a standard signal input. It may come in clean, but you basically can run it through processors, filtering, etc and that mid tone bass guitar just got HUGE. I was very pleased with the features. Polyphony has been tested in some larger track compositions. I haven't ran into any problems with polyphony. The standard action of the keyboard feels standard, and comfortable. The onboard processors and filtering was pretty simple to navigate through if you browse your manual(s) first. All in all it deserves a thumbs up.

I found the sweeps, pads, trigger responses, etc to be quite versatile and very realistic. The drum sounds were very nice full sets. I only wish there were more sets to view. But, I can purchase additional kits on disc. Aftertouch assignments and programability will most likely require you to take a gander back at your manual(s).

Reliability of my Triton 61 is rated at 100% reliability. I've had it out and about also inside a recording facility. It has never given me problems from less than 20 degrees all the way up to about 90 degrees. I have a second backup keyboard, but I don't ever bother taking it out (the 76 Roland model) because the reliability on the Triton 61 is great.

I have never had to work with customer support. Which could identify this as a quality piece, not needing support. Everything I questioned I found either in the manual(s) or on the net. I have sent an email to their support desk once and after 3 days I was responded to. I believe that is about the norm for customer support. Granted, same day or better yet, same hour, is always preferred for their response especially when you're paying studio rates by the hour. But, go in with everything planned out. I give them a thumbs up for support. Email 3 day response time is in the norm.

If it were stolen, yes I would replace it with my insurance money. Was it worth the money spent, yes it was very much worth the price. Other gear owned is a Roland JV-1000 76 note, Mac G4 Pro Tools, IBM PC Steinberg VST, Yamaha AW4416, Neumann u87ai mic, Demeter mic preamp, Hamer, Ovation, Roland TD-7 Turbo drum kit, Event Tria studio monitor system, blah blah blah, etc. Does it help me make music? I would say that it could help you make music but I go into writing with the ideas already scoped out. Is there anything else i'd like to share? Yes, if you are going to spend this much money on a

Large screen makes live-performance editing very accessable.

Welcome back knobs and ribbon controllers.

Much of the brass and sax sounds don't hold a candle to my Korg O1-R or M-1. The acoustic piano sounds are horrible. Hammond organs are great. Apply Trinity technology and cut the bull!!!

Nine months on the road with no problems. Typically Korg.

This is a very versitile, user friendly keyboard with lots of features superior to anything else out there for the money. But Korg was well aware what they were doing when they deprived the Triton some of the quality sounds of their previous lines. Specifically the sax, bigband brass, trumpet and piano sounds are definitly inferior to the Trinity, O1-R and the M-1 respectively.

The strings, bass, and leads are ok. I was really disapointed in the drum kits, they just suck. They should not even put the brass section on the triton because they sound horrible.

The triton is an excellent tool for any studio. you work with it and it works with you. It could improve on the timbre and put a wav editor some where.

Great resources. The manual is easy and complete.

62 + 6 polyphony (MOSS option) make this keyboard a monster. There are amazing effects, easy to use, very versatile. The expansion capabilities is another great feature. MIDI and sequencer work so fine.

The sounds are amazing (even the piano with some new settings).

This keyboard is a powerful machine. Best when use a expansion board.

Great support in any situation (here in Brazil)

In this range, Triton is the best musical instrument. I would buy it again.

Using the latest (as of Feb 2, 01) I beleive is 2.02.
The presets are great. I'm new to keyboards. My last synth was a DX-7 from 12 years ago! But I do like the presets. You can learn from them. Editing the patches is easy, even for me. I think the manual could be a little more user friendly. Pretty intense.

The keyboard action is very good, for a non-weighted keyboard.
The effects are also high quality. Haven't done any heavy editing yet. I have not purchased any expansion cards, although I would like to soon. Even with my limited synth knowledge, I feel the sequencer could be more powerful, but for the money of the whole shabang...not bad. So far I'm struggling with sequencing in the Combination Mode.

Sounds good. This is my only synth other than my DX-7.
I can't be to subjective. But I think it kicks ass.

I had to return my first Triton, loose key. They just gave me another one. This one is fine.

Haven't tried it.

I would buy it again if stolen, If I had the money!!!
I am mainly a guitar player, so check back! I'm going to give this keyboard thing a whirl and I'll know this Triton much better in 6 months. I love the popularity of this synth. Tons of user support!
Yes, with the help of my VS-1680 and Marshalls and POD I will expand my musical content and creativity.

OS 2.02
The presets are pretty good; they cover a wide range of instruments. Editing the built-in patches (or creating new ones) is not difficult at all; the interface is very intuitive. The manuals are great - well organized, clear, concise, informative. Just as a manual should be.

62 voice polyphony, the EXB-Moss expansion board adds 6 more. Great selection of built in effects, from delays to chorus/flanger/phaser (a few of each) to reverbs to rotary speaker FX to pitch shifters, etc. However, you WILL run out of effects if you do anything complex - 5 insert FX and 2 Master FX sounds like a lot, but it's easy to use those slots up quickly. There are a variety of expansion options, from cards that give you more patches to use or sample RAM upgrades. Good controller options: joystick, ribbon, 4 assignable knobs, a slider, 2 assignable button switches, pressure sensitive, polyphonic after touch, you can plug in a damper and expression pedal and another switch(both of those last 2 are assignable). Built in sequencer with some very useful features (create control change data, pattern editing). Didn't take me long to learn to use the Seq. This is my first synth.

There is a world of sound inside this little silver box. I'd feel comfortable using it to produce almost any Genre of music, except perhaps classical, unless I were to get an expansion board with better piano sounds. There onboard effects are good; lots of options, lots of control. A lot of the effects can be synced to a MIDI clock. Very responsive machine. You have 5 velocity and aftertouch curves to choose from, allowing you to get the right feel for your style of playing.

No operational problems yet....

Definitely worth the price. I'd replace it immediately if it were lost or stolen (assuming, of course, that I had the $$$). I learned piano in middle school. The only other music gear I own is my Peavey Foundation 4 string bass and a ceramic doumbek made by a friend. I love the FX selection, the controllers, and the touchscreen. I hate the fact that you can NOT sample any internally generated sounds (which the Yamaha EX5 CAN do....). I spent many hours in Mars music playing with the Triton, the Trinity, the Roland JP-8000, the Yamaha EX5, the Yamaha CS6x, and the AN1x. I chose this machine because of the huge variety of sounds one can create with it and because of the freedom for sound creation that comes with having an integrated sampler. I really enjoy creating with this machine.

Software ver. 2.0. A very easy board to get around on once you get it.
I struggled the first hour, but once I understood the navigation on the
sequencer, everything else became easy.
The presents are better than what I expected (from reading recent reviews, but not the greatest
I've heard. They are a good starting point, but if you're heavy into pianos
you're going to have to tweak or maybe try to piano PCM card.
I have not been able to dive deep into the editing, so I won't comment.
The manual has plenty of detail, but is written horribly. They forgot
about being user friendly. I'm an engineer that reads many manuals and I k
know that I would get repremanded for creating a manual this user-unfriendly.

The polyphony is fine being it is not my only sound generator. I've gotten so use to my
MR-76's weighted keys, it's hard to get use to the plastic keys. I still use the MR as my
main keyboard, so that doesn't bother me.
The effects are great and very easy to use.
The expansion capabilities are dissappointing. Even my MR-76 has four expansion card slots
and I they don't eat up my preset sounds either.
MIDI looks fine and easy to set up for my situation.
Having a built in sampler is great.
The sequencer is pretty good for my use. If I'm doing hip-hop loops it's great. If
I'm writting a jazz or R&B piece, then I will start on the Triton, then go to
Cakewalk to create the song. I wish it could groove quantize.

The presets on this board seem to be geared towards new music (hip-hop,
dance, trance, etc.) The electronic basses are good the synth strings are
great. Some of the guitars are good (I didn't say realistic). I've read
all the reviews hear before buying the Triton, so I knew not to expect
a great piano. I will confirm the the pianos preset aren't that good. My
MR-76 has better piano presets. I haven't had the board long enough to
evaluate how well you can tweak the sounds.

It reacts well to my playing and I love the ribbon board. The thing that I
find sounds is that most synths today have good sounds, but they almost never
"realistic". A keyboard at this price point will never fool someone
expecting it to sound like the New York Philharmonic.
For me, this board will another great tool in my arsenal.

I've only had it for a week. I bought the X5DR when they firs came out
(1994-1995) and have never had a problem.

I've only had it for a week. I've never had to call Korg on my X5DR.

I really read the reviews and spent a lot of time at the music store
evaluating this piece and others. For me I would replace it if stolen.
I've been playing for 16 years. I own: Moog, Casio CZ1000, Sequential TOM, Kawaii K1,
Akai s2800, Ensoniq MR-76, Korg X5DR, Alesis SR16.
I love the fact that it is truely a workstation. From one board you can compose
your ideas and with the sampler, can create good pieces of work from one board.
I don't like the pianos.
I looked at getting a XV-5080 sound module, but decided that I need a more
portable workstation than my MR-76. I will still buy the XV, but at a later
date.
I wish: it had digital I/O, it had better piano preset, factory hard drive option,
the expansion cards were accessed from extra memory banks.

I think this is the best workstation for the price point ($2000). Sure, it may
not compete with stand-a-lone synths, samplers, sequencer. But pound for pound
there is not another workstation that does as much for the price. If I had
$5000 to spend right now, I would look hard at the Kurzweil 2600 series. But
that's $3000 more.......

Using version 2.0.1.

This is perfection

No one does it better

Trust it more than my dad

Never had to deal with them, because the machine is perfect

The greatest most nourishing thing, after food that is. Very experienced in the studio so I should know.

I'm using V-2.0 and I like it ok. Being a live player at 4-7 times a week I like the ability to scroll through the sounds or punch them in. I made myself a little card that has about 50 of my favorite sounds and patches that I use a quick reference. The only fault I feel coming from someone who's played any other keyboard but KORG, is the lack in the piano department. The electric pianos are pretty killer, and the "Rhodes" sounds are pretty kick butt, but the grand and acoustic sounds are weak. I have a lot of fun just sitting around playing with the different sounds on the thing. There tends to be a little to much in the arena of techno and not enough in piano and guitar sounds. Not that its a problem, because you can just sample them, but it would be nice to have better factory sounds in that arena. (Hint...hint...KORG)
The best way to describe this keyboard (as far as sounds go) that I've come up with yet is: A very user friendly keyboard that takes hours of sitting in a chair playing with to figure out.
The manual is good if you know KORG language. If not, then your looking at alot of studying to figure out what they're talking about. However, it is comprehensive. This is not the keyboard you wanna buy if your just trying to look cool, because you'll kill yourself first IF your not a real musician.

62-64... There is a little trick to this. The action is normal as far a keyboard action goes... I don't think you can get to many different feels from non-weighted keys, unless your playing with a piece of garbage. The responsiveness is killer; I love the after-touch. If you don't know what that is, press a key down to get a sound and then press harder while still holding it down. (I didn't see anyone else mention it.) The FX are killer. It is the entire board. Of course FX are the entire music industry right now. I almost feel like the industry is saying, "We can't think of any new instruments to come up with sooooo, we'll just tweak the HECK out of the ones we do have". This is pretty much what KORG did on this keyboard. Alot of the same sounds, just tweaked in different directions. I mean, come on!... How many ways can you tweak a "saw" wave guys!??
I don't use MIDI, I think MIDI sucks and it doesn't respond fast enough. Just SCSI everything, or sequence on the board itself and save to hard disk.
The sequencer is very powerful, but I hate the fact that it's so volatile. KORG should have put more room to save data right on the machine. For $2000-$3000 you should get a killer keyboard plus a laptop right onboard. I do like the way the sequencer is so huge though. I just sold a keyboard that only had a 9,000 note capacity. (But the sequencer was the best I've ever seen). It's nice to jump to over 200,000 notes. I've expanded the keyboard with the SCSI drive, and soon the MOSS board. I like the fact that I can sample up to 11 minutes with RAM expansions. It's pretty self contained. With a couple of good digital recording devices, you'd be set.

Great Drums (Of course...KORG...) Great synths and pads. No scratch sounds for the guitars that I found yet which kind of sucks. The ribbon controller is very cool for doing electric guitar lead rifs. I think the key is the FX. Once you get good in this department, you can tweak any sound you want. The problem with this is obviously using it in a sequence that requires other effects that conflict with the one your using on the patch. The FX themselves are very BOSS... man, they kick! Arpeggiator is something that I've been drooling over for a while now. But it's basically a dance keyboard. You do have the ability of changing the meter timings from measure to measure which is kind of cool if your a classical pianist. I could walk into the best dance clubs in my town here, (I won't say where) and take over with the Triton! Just one touch from the right set up of combinations and BOOM, the rest would be history.

It's been a great keyboard. I use it all the time during gigs without backup. I know it won't crap on me... I do suggest covering the buttons with plastic though if your going to play in a place where your likely to get "wet"... or have something get spilled on it.(Thanks Mike). Just don't play the keys to hard, or the restraints might snap off. I've had two Tritons and this is the problem I have with most keyboards.

Only sometimes, and they're pretty cool. Little to much run around, but I have to say that they're great. Go KORG!

The price I paid was because I knew someone. So don't get mad. I just heard that KORG is raising the price of the keyboard even higher because of the demand; they cannot keep them on the shelf. So find someone you know and get one through them.
I've been a musician for over 25 years, and I've played everything. I started as a professional drummer, and then moved to KEYS. I've only been at it for about 6 years now, but I love it, and can't wait till I really learn how to use my Triton.
I'd like to see the sequencer be a little more friendly, and less of a pain in the rear to get it to do what I want. Single note pitch bending in a chord would be useful as well.(Go Ensoniq) And a feature called "voice muting" would be great on this keyboard. I hate the fact that I cant transpose keys live without it cutting the voice off. Or just switching between sounds, or from Combo & Program to Global, etc... If someone knows how to do this, please write it in an article for me.
The more I use it, the more I like it. I think people just don't want to learn new things, that's why they don't like it. People that do like it, are learners and they expand their thinking to find solutions to their problems instead of complaining about the gear itself. If you want my personal opinion about what keyboard you should get live... get a Triton ProX, a Roland and a Yamaha for the piano sounds. But if you just want one keyboard, sell everything you have and get the Triton!

Actually I'm not using Triton at all. I write this submission just
because I _was_ a Korg fun a while ago.
Ease of use:
I don't think any keyboard
could be difficult- once you love yours, it is always fun and easy :)

Tech. spc.:
polyphony- 62; key action below good; it has a nice multy-FX-unit;
several expansion boards- memory, samples, MOSS, etc; pressure-after-t.
sensitive; versatile and pretty convenient onboard sequencer.

I give "9": sample memory should be expandable to at least
128MB for "10".

Well. Why "1", not even "5"?
Guys, why you buy a synth? Very likely, because of its sounds.
(at least some of you :)
Toch schreen... Imagine buying a nicely looking big-screen
TV for $2399, bringing it to home, plugging it in and discovering, that
that it is a radio made look like a big screen TV. Hah?
Korg had a nice start: M1, O1W (this is a killer). They also
developed X, N, T, i series. They were much worse in terms
of sound. N264/364 is a joke.
Than Trinity appeared. This is a better sounding
keyboard, than previous were.
But again, 32 voices poly make it a low-grade stuff.
Trinity has a terrible piano, what makes sence: check sound
engine.

Now Triton. IMHO It's a fake. As in the previous review of Triton,
I'd like to mention, that the sounds sound Casio-like without
the FX-unit. Don't let to full you by the FX-treated sounds:
if the original sound is cheap, no FX can truly fix it! It'll seem
like FXs make a nice sounds out of Triton's samples, but whole
composition falls apart! Guess why?
Again, check out built-in piano patch or the piano on piano card:
they are far from reality. Sound engine issue again.

I was going to buy a Triton and I didn't! I'm so happy,
you simply cannot imagine. I bought a XXXXXX instead.
(No advertising here :) And it is a treasure. For similar
price you get 128MB sample memory, _64_ voice poly (yeah, 64,
not 24 or 48 :) , rack-grade
FX.
The sound kills you. I often skip using FX.
(On Triton you'll by high and DRY :) if your FX board is dead.
Keyboard action- the best in the world. A 0.5Mb sample can
sound full and caress your ears on this unit. Even without FX.

In comparison with sounds XXXXXX, Triton's best is "1".

I'm no longer a Korg fun. Bye-bye, Korgy. You lost your valuable
customer :)

I owned N364 keys. And I know people owning various Korg stuff:
no way to destroy it :) Triton has the same reputation.

Never ever dealt.

Probably, I don't like this keboard because I expeced from it
much more than it actually gives.

Anyway, every time I have a chance to play or listen to the
Triton,
I bless myself for being so close and not buying this keyboard.
I feel that I would sell it if I had one.

PS. This was my oppinion. Remember, that for you this keyboard
could be truly the best choice. You decide, what sound
you'd like to hear in your music. Not me :)

Editing patches seems easy enough. Available filters are rather pathetic for a $2.3k machine, though.
The manual is well-written and of appropriate technical complexity, despite what others here seem to complain.
I wonder why you ask how presets sound in an "Ease of Use" section.

The keyboard action is above-average for a synth keyboard. Korg's "weighted" keyboards have never impressed me, so I only considered the 61-key Triton.
The built-in effects are quite good, and as you come to learn, are at the hear of what makes the Triton sound good, when it does happen to sound good.
Again, a unit of this price should have SCSI standard. Otherwise, expansion options are decent and well-priced.
The onboard sequencer seems to be quite powerful, although I use Logic where there is no comparison.
Again, filters are laughable and they have an odd sound to them. Does anyone agree?

There are a few interesting presets, but the most important thing to realize is that this machine is quite dull without its effects processing.
I encourage all to carefully examine the sounds dry; this machine is a wholly average synthesizer masquerading as something 'revolutionary' and unique.
If you are looking for something to generate rare, intriguing sounds, continue past the Triton.
I get so much more satisfaction with what I hear out of my CS6x/S80/EX5. The Triton
is perhaps equivalent to my JV-1080s.

If this will be your only keyboard in a kit and you do not intend to use your computer, perhaps the Triton is a smart choice.
But that's what I think is so telling - the Triton, perhaps speaking with only slight hyperbole, is a glorified consumer-grade synthesizer for the all-in-one crowd.

I just don't think it should be taken seriously in sound design. Your Trinity is not worth giving up.

Seems to be built fairly well. Nothing beats Yamaha gear for durability and quality of manufacture.

No experience.

I would not purchase again. Money better spent on an additional CS6r or an EX5.
This machine wins for Korg because the hype was successful in sustaining +$2200 price point - a number so disproportionate to quality in this instrument's case.

It was an impulse buy for me, and in the context of my entire kit, the Triton is somewhat of a distraction that is not too useful.

I use v2.0.2. I still confuse about editing patches on Trinity, but now I can on Triton. The manual is so complete but it's little hard to understand (because of its technical term)

It's 62 polyphony. I wonder why it's not 64 polyphony like X5D, N364 or else? However, the difference of 2 polyphony doesn't matter at all. The effects it so vary and easy to use. The sequencer is great, but not as great as Cakewalk (of course!).

The instruments is very realistic. Its multisamples are much better than Trinity's. I think it's the contrary of what Joe Kaye has write about Triton pro.

It's so good keyboard. It's the best keyboard which I ever have. The quality (sounds, seqs) is much above Trinity. Actually I don't like Trinity, it's because the multisamples is so bad and I'd prefer O1/W rather than Trinity. But when I saw Triton, I found that this keyboard is much better than Trinity. This is one of the keyboards I like beside O1/W and T3 and X5D. I only miss the internal harddisk and the sampling which not remains if the power shuts down. I also wonder why the specification rack version of Triton is different and better than Triton. If it were lost or stolen, I think I would buy the rack version of Triton.

v 2.2

62 is fine i'm not complaining. I like the keyboard action it feels nice.
Great effects and love the extenal input for processing through the effects
but not through filters. Wish it had more expansion slots (2 is bit of a
rip off if you ask me). Tons of midi capabilities yet getting it to
respond takes some trial and error. I like sequencer..NOW. I didn't at first. Individual looping
of tracks is superb and 200,000 notes is beautiful. To be honest I didn't like the board for about 3 months. It just
sat around collecting dust. Then I decided to delve into it and now
after a couple of months I'm starting to find the sweet spots. It just
wasn't funky enough at first. The sampling is where this board shines
cause it can be any synth you want, obviously. There are pre-programmed
arp patterns and you can also program your own...excellent! Knobs, slider,
ribbon controller can be assigned to control anything...great! You can overwrite the
presets in any bank, a most excellent feature. All-in-all a really cool
board.

Um, I personally don't like the factory sounds too much. Tweaking is the
key to finding your sweet spot on this board. The sampling is where
this board comes to life. The filter section takes some getting use to.
You sort of make adjustments for lowpass, highpass filters instead of choosing
different filters. The effects are great; with certain samples you can
actually distort the output with the effects(EXCELLENT!). The key to getting
the sound you need is in the filter scaling of the sound. Piano, eh!!
Electric piano, eh!!! CS2X and Yamaha S80 have best elect. pianos. String
sounds are some of the best I'v ever heard from factory presets. With
the sampling this board is capable of chameleon like behavior. If you
want your demos to sound professional this is the ax to get.

Yeah, for right now. Not the sturdiest board ever built. I would use
it on a gig sans backup.

Never dealt with Korg.

Yeah, I would buy it again. I wouldn't own 2 but I would buy it again.
I've been playing for about 15 years and I still don't sound like
Beethoven or Herbie Hancock or Joe Zawinul or Chopin or....
I hated the cold sound of Korg products and this board. Take away the
effects and you got something to work with in this particular machine.
I've compared it to other products concerning sound and features and take my word
for it: "This is THE PHATTEST SOUNDING INSTRUMENT OUT THERE!!" I've
played with them all (Novas, Waldorfs, Rolands, Yamaha, Kurzweil etc.) nothing
comes close. Get this and learn it, sample your analog gear and emphasize
the velocity and filter scaling and it just puts the rest of those
virtual cashalogs to shame. The only exception is the CS2X. The filters
are more intense than anything else out there.
Fine.

Building on the groundbreaking Touchscreen of the Trinity (how much easier can it be than to touch the thing?!) Korg has significantly improved the interface in small areas which make a big difference. For example in Sequencer mode the channels now have labels for those of us who can't count to 16. Oh, and make sure you check out the new FX section - it simply is unrivelled in anything I've seen for intuitiveness!

The features on the Triton are, of course, enormous. However there is always room for improvement and I hope that future OS upgrades will deliver. The onboard sequencer, while light years ahead of any other synths I've used, doesn't quite deliver as much flexibility as computerised sequencers. That said, I'd much rather use the onboard sequencer any day as it is extremely well integrated into the OS, and Korg are to be commended for the amount of power they're squeezed into every aspect of this little silver beast!!!

The sounds are - in typical Korg style -refreshing, groundbreaking and realistic. I recently used the Trumpet patch at a Carols by Candlelight gig and people can up to see who the new trumpeter was! The accoustic guitars are about as close as I think they'll ever get (come back to me on that one in a few years time though!) and the synths and mind-blowing!!! What types of music does it work well for? You name it, with 11 banks, MOSS, add ins etc etc there are at least a hundred of everything you could dream for! The response of some of the instruments too will simply blow you away.

Solid. Reliable. Definately not delicate. The only thing that has gone wrong with it on a gig has been the local power station blowing up - I'll let you make your mind up on that one. (for the record, the Triton only consumes 26 watts)

Musiclink (who distribute these things here in Australia) are great to deal with. They don't muck you about.

If it were stolen I would cry - simply this is the best Keyboard around. I'm still paying for it now, and believe me they're not cheap. But it is well worth it. I've compared it to everything and it seems as though Roland, Yamaha, Alesis, Kawa...etc, etc have just given up trying to match this kind of power in the workstation market.

I am using the 61 keys version of the Triton V2.0 for about a month now, ans I have to say that it is a very intuitive instrument considering its enormous possibilities. As an Electronic/Dance/Hip Hop producer who works only on hardware (no computer!) I really use all the sections of this instrument (synth, sampler, sequencer), and being used to menu based editing/working I did not have too many problems with the triton. But it may be a little harder for someone less experienced because the manual is not very easy to understand and so i did not use it very often and tried to get around the instrument by myself. The big touch screen display helped me very much and after some time I found myself trying to touch some elements on the display of a Yamaha QY700 sequencer! I really don't need a software editor for the Triton.

For rather minimalistic electronic music the polyphony of the Triton is more than enough. Being not a trained live keyboarder I don't need the keyboard action of the ProX models. The built in effects are excellent and the routing is both easy and flexible. The ability to expand the sound ROM, synthesis (MOSS) and the RAM (Sampler) makes this a very flexible production tool for a long time. The groove features of the sequencer (arpeggiators, pattern play, loop play) makes this one of the best on board sequencers.

The synthesizer sounds of this keaboard are excellent! The midi clock synced LFOs make them best suited for modern dance music. Some of the nature instruments are not very realistic (e.g. the guitars) but in my opinion it is always better to record a real guitar or trumpet (or to use sapled phrases) than using cheesy keaboard immitations. I never heard a keaboard with realistic guitar sounds! The Triton works very well for dance music and with the ability to expand its ROM and RAM it can work for many music styles. The quality of the onboard effects is very good, I think you can compare them with the Roland COSM effects. The real time controllers (knobs, joystick, ribbon controller) are heavily used for the preset sounds and give you instant possibilities to tweak and modulate the sounds.

I never had a problem with the Triton V2.0 and therefore I think it is a very stable and reliable instrument!

Fortunately I never had to contact the customer support and therefore the only thing I can talk about are updates. Version 2 was a big thing especially for the sampler (time slice for drum loops) and one of the main reasons for me to buy this instrument! I hope they go on like this.

I definitely would buy this instrument again. I sold a hardware sequencer, a sampler and a sound module to be able to buy the Triton and it was worth it. I am able to work on only one instrument and to save all song/sound/sample data in one file! I don't need to back up files of many instruments/samplers. With its great (and expandable) sounds and the helpful sequencer (packed with groove features) it will be my main instrument for quite a time!