The M3 is a monster. Loving mine, though on some of the bread and butter acoustic sounds, even with V2, it isn't quite up to snuff vs my Yamahas ( T2 and Motif ES... and I realize how subjective that can be). For synths, soundscapes, drums, and traditional keyboard stuff... especially the 4 way Grand Piano, I really like it. The Karma funtion is quite powerful, and when you add the Karma MW software, the possibilities seem unlimited.

I think of the Cakewalk instrument files as being part of an almost obsolete technolgy, much in the way the soundfont format is a dinosaur in the sampling world. Instead, with the M3, I can open the entire control. surface up as a Vst in any VST compatible host, including Sonar, and can control every function that can be controlled from the keyboard itself, in addition to other functions that cannot be controlled from within the hardware.

In effect, my M3 has become a module, mainly because my Motif sits below the laptop that I use my software DAWs on, and acts as my midi controller for it. That of course changes only when I feel the need to use the M3's sliders in real time.


AJ