Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Great synth engine |
| Disadvantages: |
Non - weighted keys |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I bought an X3 back in January '95. At the time it was touted as the best pro keyboard you could buy and this was borne out by the £1200 price tag.
Considering the pacea of technological development, the fact that only in the past 12 months has it become seriously underpowered is testament to the quality of the instrument.
I played in a number of bands using this keyboard exclusively, 250+ gigs in all, and despite all the knocks and bumps to the exterior (including broken keys from over-zealous playing) the actual electronics have stood up superbly.
The onboard sounds are well crafted, with the exception of the saxes and guitars (but no
keyboard I've heard has good ones), and the synthesis is relatively intuitive. The on board sequencer can hold a few full length songs in memory and is useful as a pseudo-notepad for ideas, while obviously not of the same level as a PC based or dedicated sequencer.
I would say the main drawback is the unweighted keys; while they are touch sensitive and have aftertouch etc., they are to light to stand up to the kind of long term work a gigging keyboard player will put them through - as has proved in my case.
That said, whle I am looking around for a new 'board, someone will do very well that anything will outstrip Korg.
While it cannot be considered with the current crop of top level keyboards, if you need something relatively simple (by today's standards) and can pick up a decent one second hand, you could do a lot worse....
