From the look of it, KARMA seems far more a way to get sounds and textures you weren't really expecting. From having messed with it in the stores, it seems that, once you actually DO anything other than play the keyboard, it's results are very difficult to replicate. Turn a knob JUST so, move a fader JUST this amount, play the joystick JUST this amount, and what comes out is magic. Now try to do it again...

There is a definite need for a certain degree of randomness in music, but how much rather depends on the type of music, and the type of player. Let's face it, most KARMA keyboards are in the hands of people that probably wouldn't be able to create anything like it by themselves (as, in all fairness, so most arrangers are also ), and something different every time is great if all you crave is novelty.

But, as I have said before, there's a HUGE difference between the TYPE of randomness that KARMA induces, and the randomness that a real PLAYER introduces. If you are looking to produce synth bleeps and modern loop style DJ music, you are in business. But if you are looking for a way to bring a player's variety to non-DJ music, I don't find this as effective.

There are a wide variety of tools out there in the computer world to help loopers get creative with loops. But little exists in any form to bring a more realistic performance from a machine. KARMA MIGHT be able to do this is some meaningful way, but it appears its' developer isn't really thinking along those lines.

And, at the end of the road, is still the question of CONTENT... There is a huge difference between the looper, who takes KARMA for a spin, happy to let the machine dictate where it is going, and the arranger user, who usually has a specific destination in mind. When we buy an arranger, we usually get 300-400 usable, different styles that cover a large percentage of our gigging and home playing needs. From playing KARMA equipped keyboards (an original Korg Karma, and M3's), there is nowhere NEAR this diversity, and selection. Some spoke of jazz? A tiny handful of jazz GE's come with your M3. Certainly not enough to entertain a crowd for an evening. But a BOTL arranger will come with enough to gig with, OOTB.

I'm afraid that, just like you COULD completely change an arranger by creating new styles for it that you COULD do a DJ type gig, you COULD create GE's for KARMA and make it gigable. But how many of us actually HAVE this skill? The large percentage (anybody want to argue 95%+?) of arranger users don't create styles from scratch, and GE's seem a LOT harder to create. Until the GE's are created that emulate REAL music as well as techno music, I don't honestly see much demand for KARMA from arranger users. At least, not at the price that it will add to their arranger.

As we've said for quite a while, IF arrangers had more modern styles and sounds, they would be a formidable alternative to a WS loopstation. And IF things like the M3 and M50 had sufficient GE's, and MoXS's and FantomG's had sufficient arps for traditional music, they would be formidable alternatives to the arranger.

But without the CONTENT, neither is. And it appears all too obvious that neither side is the slightest bit interested in the other's demographic. And no-one is interested in creating the content to enable this while copy protection is non-existent for their hard work. Looks like a stalemate to me... KARMA has been out for YEARS. And it is STILL of little use for traditional musics. Content HAS to accompany capability...