Great to see the feedback on Karma.
I was messing with the Karma today at my store ( Guitar Center ). The Karma sounds a little crisper than the Triton . Same sound generator as Triton , but more lively .
Has anyone else noticed this while comparing both ?
How about the 4 white buttons ? They seem to be multi pads . Is that accurate ? They seem to interact with the combi mode . I was having fun with it.
Roland's JX305 was kinda of similar to the triton . The JX305 did not recognize chord changes however. So, I'll get back to you more . Thank you for the cool write up .
Dan O oneils4@home.com
or guitarcenterdan@home.com

First of all, let me issue a warning. There seems to be some unwanted noise in the Karma that three of us who have bought them have detected. All three bought with 30-day guarantees, so we are protected. Trevor noted that program A49 R&B Piano is noisy. We will keep you posted for developments.

Dan. The white buttons are simply one-finger chords. They trigger GEs just like the keys do. In some ways they are like multipads. However, the pattern is in the multipad for the Yamahas, while the pattern is in the Generated Effect in the Karma.

Scott. There are many reasons the Karma is better than other arrangers for jazz. Basically, it can improvise rather than plays repeating patterns. Also, the variety of patterns it can produce far exceeds any conventional arranger. For example, if you play a CMaj at the C-2 position, the accompaniment is different than if you play it at the C-1 position. Also, CEGC sounds different than CEG.

While I no longer think the chord recognition table of the Karma is programmable, the Karma does understand about open voicings. Also, chord recognition is on a per module basis. So using a "combi" you can have a bass pattern based on Dm and a piano pattern based on Fmaj7 going at the same time. I am wondering what you think of this as a pseudo rootless voicing?

My opinion today is that the Karma can do everything an arranger can do (except special features like vocal harmony). The main difference is that a conventional arranger is easier to master and harder to sound bad on. However, the Karma can do much more. For example, Program 001 is Piano AT. It plays like a piano but when you apply aftertouch, it adds an elaborate arpeggio.

I do not think the Karma is ideal for a gigging musician. It has an external power supply and flimsy keys. I think many of the styles you would expect in an arranger are not there yet. Also, the styles are not set up with intro and ending as such. However, with programming I do think it would be more entertaining than a conventional arranger--just because it is less monotonous.

I guess this a just a note to myself, but the Karma supports polyphonic aftertouch from an external controller. I have not hooked up my A-50 to it yet, but I will.

Regarding the "unwanted" noise mentioned in the warning above: one user reports for a different combi that the noise is an intentional low-fi effect that can be turned off at will. I will have to check the program structure for A49 R&B piano to see if it applies there too.

i know there are patches with intentional noise
for example
the is a "SD with crackle" in the drum kits
but the A49 noise is extreme

trevor

The noise on Program A49 R&B Piano appears to be intentional. It can be switched off using button SW1 above the joystick.

oops
just hand me a big helping of humble pie
the "noise" is intentional
just color me outdated

trevor

Trevor,
Dont feel bad about it man. I thought the same thing was wrong with my Yamaha EX-7 when I first bought it, of course I felt like an idiot when I realized the actual name of the sound had (LoFi)as the first 4 letters. It's a great effect too... Gives you that nice jazz sound of the early days, but the one on the Yamaha goes a step further. It uses split mode and velocity switching. The upper hand is a really mellow sounding grand (typical of the recording technics from the day) and in the lower hand there is a upright bass layered with a single upper cymbal hit. The velocity switching comes in when you're doing a nice walking bass line with your left hand and if you hit it a little harder rather than get the single upper cymbal hit you get a crash cymbal.. If anyone can get there hands on an EX-7 try it out.. It's a great sound..

Squeak

I know this is coming really late but I received my first shippment of KARMA keyboards today.
At first I didn't think much of the Pad effects until I realized that I hadn't turned on the karma mode button. When I did I was really impressed with the sound enhancements these 4 little buttons provide. My question is this to those of you using this board. If you only have four pads, how can you manage to change enough chords like you would on an arranger keyboard? I don't think many songs only use 4 chord changes, and although you can change the chord voicings, you'd have to get into editing to do this and it wouldn't be useful while playing a song. Am I missing something here? Remember all you players, I'm a music store owner and not a piano player. I love technology, but it sometimes takes a long time to get things through to me!
George Kaye

Hi George

The four white buttons on the Karma are "merely" chord trigger buttons. They themselves have nothing to do with the autoaccompaniment and other effects produced by the Karma.

Normally, you would enter chords as on any other arranger, i.e., using the black and white keys. However, what effects are triggered and which keys trigger them changes from program to program and combi to combi. (It is as though the split point changes every time you select a new style. A good way to see what is going on it to push the "note" tab on the display (actually the function button below the note tab.

Since, effectively, the section of the keyboard required to trigger an effect changes from program to program, it would be hard to audition the programs and combis from the black and white keys. By pre-assigning chords to the white buttons, Korg has provided a way to audition each program and combi. Think of the white buttons as four program/combi audition buttons. They are not needed to play the Karma.

However, since they are programmable, you can program them with chords of your choice. So if there is a chord that you have trouble fingering, you can assign it to a white button to make life easier.

I hope this helps.

Clif

P.S. The Karma comes with 384 combis (in banks A, B, and E) already programs. Most of these do not act like arrangers at all. An example of an arranger combi is "E087 Caroly".

[This message has been edited by Clif Anderson (edited 03-31-2001).]

Cliff,
Playing your example of E087 helped alot. What I could see was that the B module of Karma was assigned to the upper part of the keyboard and A,C and D modules were on the left and are triggering "patterns" so the overall effect is exactly like a arranger on the left and a melody on the right. Now, if I could understand the technology (need a Korg Rep to come to the store) maybe I could see how hard this would be to make some of these up with different style types. I wonder if you can find Bossa Novas, etc.......probably not. I'm thinking to much like my arranger kind of guy I am. I'm driving the guys in my store crazy right now......they want to know why I would even want to make Karma into an arranger...........they think I have too many arranger now!..............Never too many arrangers for me!
George Kaye