Just wanted to say, I was reading something about KORG midi modules and then stumbled on this 4 year old thread via a Google search. I just listened to all three of those and I have to say, the songs and the recordings are awesome! I can't believe no one else commented on these! Would love to hear how they sound on a Roland synth as a comparison.

Thank you for posting this in 2016! 😀

I've been looking at a Korg Ns5R listing (it's in Melb, Aus) and have decided not to succumb to the temptation. My use is gaming so there's little point spending money on more GM if you already have a Sound Canvas. Interesting units though, with an internal wavetable header!

LGR stacks it up against a Yamaha and a pair of Rolands in his "MIDI Mountain" video, and it sounds very nice (even if it's only demo'd using canyon.mid).

Pierre32 wrote on 2020-05-26, 04:01:

I've been looking at a Korg Ns5R listing (it's in Melb, Aus) and have decided not to succumb to the temptation. My use is gaming so there's little point spending money on more GM if you already have a Sound Canvas. Interesting units though, with an internal wavetable header!

LGR stacks it up against a Yamaha and a pair of Rolands in his "MIDI Mountain" video, and it sounds very nice (even if it's only demo'd using canyon.mid).

Well they sound quite different from SC. Is it worth it? Is any of this worth it? I find being able to switch between midi modules adds quite a lot of enjoyment to gaming. But it is not a cheap thrill.

kolderman wrote on 2020-05-26, 04:06:

Well they sound quite different from SC. Is it worth it? Is any of this worth it? I find being able to switch between midi modules adds quite a lot of enjoyment to gaming. But it is not a cheap thrill.

I do hear you. I just took delivery of a Yamaha FB-01, which with the help of SoftIMFC will be good for all of a dozen games. A poor return on investment if you look at it purely in those terms - but it's about more than that of course. It's just fun to play with old gear.

kolderman wrote on 2020-05-26, 04:06:

Pierre32 wrote on 2020-05-26, 04:01:

I've been looking at a Korg Ns5R listing (it's in Melb, Aus) and have decided not to succumb to the temptation. My use is gaming so there's little point spending money on more GM if you already have a Sound Canvas. Interesting units though, with an internal wavetable header!

LGR stacks it up against a Yamaha and a pair of Rolands in his "MIDI Mountain" video, and it sounds very nice (even if it's only demo'd using canyon.mid).

Well they sound quite different from SC. Is it worth it? Is any of this worth it? I find being able to switch between midi modules adds quite a lot of enjoyment to gaming. But it is not a cheap thrill.

Well, it requires an up-front investment, but upkeep cost is minimal. If you endlessly keep on buying more of them , it's a different story . MIDI-wise, I've only bought an SC-D70 in the last 2 or three years. I might yet splurge on a DreamBlaster X2, though . Korg expanders I could actually buy start at 350 Canadian dollars for a NS5R , including shipping . That's close to twice what I paid for the SC-D70 .

darry wrote on 2020-05-26, 04:18:

kolderman wrote on 2020-05-26, 04:06:

Well they sound quite different from SC. Is it worth it? Is any of this worth it? I find being able to switch between midi modules adds quite a lot of enjoyment to gaming. But it is not a cheap thrill.

Well, it requires an up-front investment, but upkeep cost is minimal. If you endlessly keep on buying more of them , it's a different story . MIDI-wise, I've only bought an SC-D70 in the last 2 or three years. I might yet splurge on a DreamBlaster X2, though . Korg expanders I could actually buy start at 350 Canadian dollars for a NS5R , including shipping . That's close to twice what I paid for the SC-D70 .

Any halfrack GM units from Japanese manufacturers tend to be overpriced, IMHO, unless you go via Y! Auctions Japan and get them directly from there.

Yeah...I started originally back in the early 90s when I bought a Maui for my PC and then quickly upgraded that to my SCB -55 that I stuck onto my SB-16's wavetable header. Then about a decade later, I found an LAPC-I in the local thrift store for $10 bucks. So that replaced out the SC-55 in my old DOS gaming PC. It still resides there. But I found about 3 yeas ago, wanting to get another device for use with my modern computer and old gaming through DOSBOX. That is when I stumbled onto the Techmoan video showcasing the MT-80. That lead me to find a cheap MT-200 in fully working condition upon which a month later I bought a second MT-200 to have as backup just in case 🤣!. Well, that second one eventually was sold for 2x what I paid for it. Not long after that I picked up an actual MT-32 old style for an excellent price and so it sits as the primary devices with the MT-200 daisy chained off it. Then about a year ago I picked up both an MT-90 to put in my workbench area as a midi player to just have laying around and also picked up the SD-20.

I have to say, if it weren't the fact that the SD-20 is missing some of the sounds from the older GS banks that my MT-200 has, it would have replaced the MT-200 since the SD-20 sounds really good for a rompler. So my current Midi tower as it were is the MT-32 with the MT-200 on top of it, and then the SD-20 at the top. I use an old realistic speaker switcher to switch between the modules on the fly.

One thing I was suprised about is that while the MT-90 is a GM/GS/ and GM2 device, many of the samples on it do NOT sound as good as even the samples on my MT-200 does and that disappoints me a bit. It also has issues with some instruments/sounds missing from its GS bank as well. The only limitation I really have with the older MT-200 is the fact that it is only 24voice poly so some MIDs will have noticable missing instruments in playback, and the fact that it is limited to a tempo speed no greater than 250bpm. I do have a few midi files that exceed that tempo and so they end up playing too slowly through the MT-200.

I have looked at possibly getting a KORG module but they do not come up often locally like the other modules I've gotten have.

There's been a Korg Trinity VST released earlier this year. How long until that gets adapted for gaming MIDI device use? 😀