Korg M50 Review

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Maral Mende

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Aug 5, 2024, 2:22:52 PM8/5/24

to tirurito

Sowhen I first heard about the Korg Liano and checked out the specs and some of the initial reviews online, I have to admit this keyboard looked pretty promising! I saw one for rent in my local music store, so I jumped at the opportunity to rent the Liano and check it out!

The Liano only has 8 sounds, but . . . they are bread and butter sounds, and MOST of them are quite good. The sounds are easily selectable with a labelled knob on the front panel. And, the Liano has an impressive 128 notes of polyphony which is quite a bit at this price point, and it also has reverb and chorus for effects. There are 2 pianos, 2 electric pianos, a harpsichord, pipe organ, jazz organ and strings.

In my opinion, the best voices (and the ones that I would use exclusively if I owned this) would be: the main piano sound, which is a really well sampled Italian grand inherited from the Korg Nautilus, the Rhodes electric piano, and the jazz organ. Here is a quick demo of all the voices on the Korg Liano:

Another app to mention is the Skoove piano learning app; this is a cool app for learning how to play piano, and you get a free 3 month subscription with your Liano purchase, so definitely worth checking out.

It's been some time since I saw someone post something about this amazing new product! It's probably the first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) MIDI keyboard controller since the CME XKey's not launched yet? It has mini keys like the Microkey Air before it, and believe I was one of the first to buy it from Amazon.

Latency of this little wonder is negligible over BLE, and freeing up the lightning port is great! The keys have a good feel to them (i was using iRig Keys before this and tested the XKey too and this was the best out of the three). I've been teaching with the 49 keys version coupled with Ivory on Korg Module with the iPad's sound coming out of a Bose Soundlink Mini II. My students can't believe how it's even possible to have a setup with no wires triggering a sampled Steinway piano all packed neatly inside a baritone ukulele bag!

Thanks for the thumbs up, been waiting for some feedback on these. Does the BLE connect seamlessly to all apps? Is it 100% reliable with no dropouts?

Thanks again!

About to order 37 key version

Thanks from me too, I've been waiting for some real user feedback on this, I have an AKAI LPK but want something with pitch bend and modulation, so have been looking at this for that reason, but was reluctant to take the plunge due to worries about latency.

The BLE connects seamlessly and quickly to all apps that has support for Bluetooth MIDI devices - most good apps do. It has been 100% reliable with no dropouts, and the latency is technically there, but almost entirely not noticeable at all, especially compared to the other BLE device that I own - the Jamstik+. And as a professional, I think it's perfectly usable in any live performance context.

There IS indeed latency though, and it's the first thing you notice when you press a key for the very first time. Not sure of the exact amount, but it's nowhere near as bad as an Android music app, for example...

Was over guitar center over the weekend and checked out the older wired Korg microkey 37 and the keys felt so good, even better tham other big controllers. No sustain switch or pedal input on that one though.

MicroKey looks like a really nice keyboard (if you're okay with the smaller keys, which I mostly am). I almost bought one but opted for an Xkey 37 instead because of the 5-pin DIN MIDI connection option. The Bluetooth thing concerns me a bit, though, because latency would bother me. Even if most of it is just a "placebo effect".

I've had a Bose SoundLink Mini, and there's noticeable latency especially if you play drums or fast sequences.

Also, I've returned it because it had a very small but annoying latency on cable also, which is unacceptable for a Bose product of that price

I would just like to reiterate that I have no latency issues on my side at all, and hence my wholehearted recommendation. I'm running Microkey Air 49 on Bluetooth to Korg Module on iPad Air Gen 1 out through an Aux-ed output Soundlink Mini II with updated firmware on all devices. I have also tried using bs-16i and other synths and they all function as they would as if connected by wire. Used it live on all occasions

@necrome said:

Ha, i think you're right.... it was some time before

I read that somewhere but it was meant to be the first MPE midi device with BLE.

But indeed, are there more than those 3 out there?

I still prefer usb cable because bluetooth is sometimes unstable and loose connection (on my iPhone and my mac.... but seldom).

Nothing i would use in a live performance.

There is def. a little latency but for a beginner in playing keyboard like me it's o.k.!

Agreed 100%. The only Bluetooth anything I use with music is the H9 control app, and that's by force (don't think it's possible to run the H9 to the iDevice via-USB and have the iDevice recognize the H9). Bluetooth connections are so tenuous, the latency is awful.

With all that said, the bluetooth thing Korg's releasing with the faders and knobs is very very tempting. Hoping I can get a chance to try one of those and see if the latency is tolerable (I have my doubts...).

I had to to personally to the music store. I tried the older wired microkey 37 and the feel is extremely confortable for push down on the keys. Nit that tight springy cheapy feel of so many controllers.

I could see that - it's definitely not for everyone. I actually gave it a 4-star Amazon review for both some of the playability issues but also some potential durability issues with the proprietary cable jacks. I think the further removed you are from playing on other pianos synths (in my case, about 20 years since I had any "formal" training), it may be less of an issue for you. Also, if you had larger, wider fingers, the XKey37 might actually appeal to you.

I'm personally a huge fan of my XKey 25. The keyboard action is like a computer keyboard, so if you can type fast, your playing can reflect that (it won't turn you into Rachmaninoff, but you can play fast!)

What's interesting is that I found the latency to be lower in KORG Module than in Gadget. Module's fastest setting is listed as 64 (can't remember if it's samples or ms), Gadgets fastest setting does not indicate a number but my guess is that it's at least 128.

The cool thing is that we could get better latency in Gadget if the hardware allows it, but unfortunately its up to KORG to implement this by allowing a smaller buffersize (which they may not do at the moment since the hit on multitrack performance may be too high).

That said, the Microkey is perfectly usable and of course you still have the option of using USB if you like, but comparing it side to side with my Keystation 32 connected via USB makes it quite clear that you do sacrifice some accuracy for the convenience of going cordless.

I am thinking to get a Korg Microkey 37 (or 49) to practice everywhere piano/keyboard skills...mainly with Module, but also with other apps.

I have heard that the keys are quite small for proper practice...better go with the iRig Pro...since I should order via internet, no possibility to try .... can somebody help me on it...with reference to chords, scales, etc...

This FX box is the smaller brother of the KAOSS series of pro effects units. Similar to their siblings, these have 100 different effects, broken down into several categories such as loopers, flangers and delays. You use an XY pad to control the behaviour of the sound coming out.

We set the mini KAOSS Pad 2 up feeding directly out of our test controller (Reloop Terminal Mix 4) and into a rack amp and speakers. Something quite surprising about this unit is just how flimsy the ins/outs are. A pair of 3.5mm sockets sit at the top of the case, one for input from mic or playback device and one for audio out. If you go for the pro-level 300 KP3, you can have some decent connectors along with MIDI clock.

While running music from the DJ gear through this, we found the BPM detection to be way ahead of Traktor and Serato. Apart from very complex tracks, the thing was spot on. This meant the looper and beat slicing effects were top notch.