Korg 61-Key Keyboards & Pianos I3MS

This was purchased for a graduation present for my grandson. We had someone with keyboard knowledge set it up (5 mins) and check it out. Perfect!!!! Tone is wonderful. Grandson was thrilled and has been playing it constantly since receiving it. I know, I live next door!!!! It is great for beginners but has many features he will learn in the near future. The smile on his face when discovering this was worth every penny!

The sound quality of this keyboard is amazing at this price point, never thought that I could own a pretty decent workstation without having to break the bank, I recommend this to anyone that wants to have stock sounds that’s as good as a plug-in without all the latency

La cosa più scadente sono forse le istruzioni, io ho preferito tradurle dallo spagnolo, l’italiano non c’è. È un punto di arrivo, non un termine di passaggio, sia per il principiante che per il musicista esperto, uno strumento per lavorare con la musica. Una volta imparata la logica dell’uso e delle diverse regolazioni, è pratica e versatile. Una bellissima e costruttiva applicazione dell’elettronica digitale ad un costo molto accessibile….

After owning this for a week, I would agree with some of the other reviewers on this site and out there on the internet that its sounds, while very good on their own, are not exactly on the level of some of the other instruments that are considered professional grade. It’s a good deal easier to use than my Juno DS, but it also doesn’t sound as good. But it doesn’t cost $300 more like Juno DS does, either. Perhaps, a Korg Kross or a Korg Krome EX would be potentially better for those who are into higher quality sound patches, but those don’t have the arranger functionality in them.

HOWEVER, with that out of the way, this instrument is ultra portable and incredibly intuitive to use. It reminds me of my old Yamaha PSR-510 in that regard, but the polyphony, the sound quality and the styles are much better. The portability alone along with the presence of a 5-pin MIDI out port makes this an excellent backup board for the gigging musicians, and it also sounds very good layered (with 2 or 3 layered voices), and could easily be used for the studio recordings. The ability to make very quick audio recordings to a flash drive makes it very handy for those of us with plenty of musical ideas who don’t want to go through the motions of getting our DAW/audio interface/Zoom portable recorder running every time we have an idea we want to record. The ability to turn on/off different voices using the independent buttons for each accompaniment track is also so much nicer in practice and much more preferable to menu diving on so many other instruments. There are also plenty of registration banks (from A-J) to record all your performance settings, and each bank has 5 slots, which makes up for 50 registration slots, total. The way how all sounds are organized in terms of styles and sound sets, and how easy they are to navigate through makes it a joy for those of us who want to play more and not get sidetracked into endlessly changing parameters and options, which I am so guilty of doing in general. Two big gripes I have is that there is no 5-pin MIDI In port and no arpeggiator on this keyboard. Also, the live control knobs that control much more than the EQ would have been nice, but I can live without it. Finally, the clincher in the decision to buy this was that Korg has included the entire software suite with it. Just the Reason lite edition along with the 3 Applied Acoustic Systems VST plugins (the strum studio, ultra analog and their electric piano VST) make the whole deal so much more inviting, but there is also other software included as a part of the bundle, including the software VST plugin for Korg’s legendary M1 synth. Overall, this is probably more of a higher end semi-pro unit geared towards serious keyboard students and weekend warriors. But, unlike some critical voices out there, I can easily see it in the professional recording studio just the same. I just wouldn’t use it all on its own, but that’s sort of my preference. It does make for a great songwriting tool if used all on its own, however.

Amazing value when Korg offers the $100 rebate. Use the i3 as a MIDI controller or a VERY capable lightweight gigging keyboard. NOT a synth, but a blast to sketch out track ideas on. Don’t sleep on the on-board sound set…extremely usable!

It is ok but pricey for its price,but wish for more sound selections.