On paper, this things ticks almost boxes. It is literally everything I need in a keyboard, minus the aftertouch, so I got one as soon they were released back in 2018.

Now, nearly five years later, my initial enthusiasm hasn’t held up. While it does nearly everything I need it to do, I just never connected with it. I’m not sure how much of this is down to the mediocre GHS action on the 88-key version. Maybe I would have felt different if I had gotten the 61 or 76 semi-weighted version. I have owned various incarnations of the GHS action, and did not like any of them. And I feel that an instrument in the $2K price range should have better.

The MODX does sound good, and at the time of its introduction it sounded current and up to date. But even though the acoustic piano sounds are as good as any other digital facsimile, I never got comfortable with them, never figured out how to play naturally on it. Disclaimer, this is actually true for just about every digital piano/keyboard I have ever owned, typically I get along better with the Rhodes/EP sounds.

On the MODX, however, I feel the EP’s are actually kind of weak, they are better than what is found in its predecessors, but the Korg Krome I also have is much more satisfying.

The aux stuff sounds great, though, a bit bright, but not objectionably so. Again, maybe I would have gotten on better with the semi-weighted 6 or 7. The only thing I miss on the MODX is a bit of warmth, its tonal character is more bright and crisp.

Operationally, it is great. I had to grab the manual like maybe twice to figure something out, otherwise everything is where you expect it to be, unlike the Yamaha synths of yore! I’ve always been more of a Roland guy, historically, but finding my way on the MODX was quick and easy.

So yeah, the MODX is a great synth, but somehow we never connected. Maybe it’s time to let it go and try something new. 

I never got the Genelec haterade, so having said that you already know this is gonna be a positive review.
I’ve noticed guitar guys (as in people who play or mix guitar-centric music) tend to not love Genelecs, but that’s not me.

I’ll say I’m hard-pressed to find another active 5″ monitor of this quality in this price range. I owned a pair of HEDD Type 05 (Mk1) for four years, and I’d say the Genelecs are more accurate over all, particularly in the bottom end, but the HEDD’s have a more open top end. The latter do have narrower vertical dispersion, although that is by design (so I was told by their designer Klaus Heinz).

I remember people used to say Genelecs flatter the sound, but that’s not what I hear. These things reveal minor unpleasantness in recordings I always thought sounded great, particularly older ones. The bass repro is very good for a 5″ woofer, and in my small room it suffices, but it does not defy the laws of physics.
The sweet spot is fairly large and the sound is surprisingly consistent anywhere in the room. However, I will say that they do need to be pushed a bit, at very low volumes their performance isn’t quite as good. But build quality is literally second to none, nothing else feels this solid.

Of lesser importance, but something to consider, is that I really like Genelec as a company, they do things the right way, like their efforts to make their products and manufacturing process more sustainable. Their stuff is still made in Finland, whereas key competitors (Focal, Dynaudio, ADAM) have started to manufacture certain product lines in China. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I do admire Genelec for not succumbing to the spreadsheet warriors and keeping everything in-house.

So over the last ten years I’ve had the following 5″ two-way nearfields: KRK RP5G2, Equator Audio D5, HEDD Audio Type 05 (first-gen) and now these Genelecs. I have reviews for all of them right here on this blog. I suppose it’s fair to question whether or not the Genelecs ($1500/pair) are worth five times more than the KRK’s ($300/pair).

That is hard to quantify, because how do you put a price on sound quality? Powered nearfields have come a long way, and it’s amazing what you can buy under $500 these days.

The 8030’s are not perfect and certainly pricy, but worth the money, if you ask me. Even if I were to move to a bigger room with different monitor needs, I doubt I’d get rid of these. They feel like things you just keep in the family for generations to come.

Sometimes less is more, and sometimes you can get a lot more instrument for a lot less money. That is absolutely the case with the MX88.

I bought it last year after I sold my Nord Piano. While the Nord was a great keyboard in its own right, I simply needed more flexibility, so I decided to let it go as the MX would do that for not a lot of money.

At $999, the MX is an absolute steal, and if you are in the market for a versatile gigging keyboard with 88 weighted keys, you should put it on your shortlist.

First of all, the acoustic piano sounds and plays better than its more expensive sibling the MOXF. Seriously, I had them side by side, and the MX felt and sounded more natural and dynamic!
The rest of the sounds are the familiar Motif XS stuff, although the MX does not sound as crisp as its progenitor, and some of the voices are a little stale and dated. Still, it covers a wide variety of sounds, and combined with its low weight makes this one convenient gigging machine.

To add even more value, Yamaha also includes a bunch of software, but I never bothered to download and install those, so they are outside the scope of this review.

In the year or so that I gigged the MX88, I really came to appreciate it; it wasn’t the best at anything, but it was good for almost everything. My main gripes with it are the low output level (the Krome that sits on the second tier is a LOT louder), and the external power adapter (which is common for keyboards in this price class). I also don’t love the GHS action, but in the end it is just so usable and practical that those complaints hardly matter.

It’s really great what $999 will buy you these days. If you don’t care much about programming your own, this board gives you the sounds of the old Motif XS at a fraction of the price, and that is going to be enough for a lot of people.

I bought these speakers in March this year, after hearing them at NAMM. I have lived with them for a while now and wanted to share my impressions, as there aren’t a lot of reviews of this model yet.

Frankly, for a while I wasn’t convinced these were right for me, as I felt they were fatiguing and disorienting. I almost returned them. But boy, now I’m glad I didn’t!

They sound very musical, they groove nicely and have plenty of vibe. It’s a modern sound, with surprising bass extension for a modest 5” woofer. It feels like they were tuned for contemporary music production, and they do that very well.

Initially I was a little taken aback by the deep bottom end, and tended to mix bass-shy as a result, but I got used to it quickly and now I don’t worry about it. I have found it is reliable and translates well.

I also love the green LED, which reminds me of the good old Genelec 1031A, a speaker I have fond memories of. And I really appreciate the fact that the signal path is all analog. I have nothing against DSP, but there is something to be said for this approach.

They have enough detail, there’s not much you’re missing on these. Dialing in EQ is effortless, with subtle changes readily revealed, and most importantly there are no surprises in translation. I can just get the vibe right and be confident it’s gonna sound pretty similar elsewhere.

If you want to know if they sound like the ADAM A5X, I’d have to say no. I was never fond of those, and always felt they were top-heavy and bottom-lean. The Type 05’s are better balanced to my ears.

Then there is the HEDD Linearizer plugin; you can instantiate it in any compatible host and it will noticeably tighten and “dry” up the sound. But it introduces a lot of latency, so I typically only use it when “mastering” (creating mp3’s or wav’s of the final mix).

Not everything is perfect, of course. They are pricey for 5” speakers, and the somewhat recessed midrange takes getting used to. People who love their NS10’s are not going to hit the ground running with these. And in my room the vertical sweet spot is somewhat narrow: my speakers are positioned so that the tweeters are at ear height when I’m sitting at my desk. When I stand up, the sound changes noticeably.

But in the end, it’s all good. I haven’t tried every speaker in this segment, but I feel the Type 05’s deliver the goods for their size and price. The best compliment I can give them is that I don’t worry about it anymore. I just get on with the job and trust that if things sound right here, they’ll sound right anywhere.

And isn’t that what a studio monitor should do?

After more than 10 years of (mostly) faithful service, my venerable Roland Fantom X7 was starting to show signs of old age; stubborn buttons requiring multiple presses before engaging, crackling knobs, and this would happen during gigs at times.
I wanted to buy a Yamaha Montage 7, but they were in short supply, and I had to buy a new fridge at the same time, so I ended up buying this Korg Krome 73 instead. The rationale was that it should be enough to hold me over until I’d have enough for a Montage or a laptop-based setup.
The Krome is cheap, and it shows. It is made of flimsy-feeling plastic, but the upside is that it weighs next to nothing. You can lift and maneuver it with one hand.
There are no upsides to the flimsy keyboard action, however. It feels like something from the Fisher Price bargain bin, and it is without a doubt the Krome’s biggest shortcoming. It makes dynamic playing a challenge, as the velocity response does not feel intuitive, and often softer touches are not detected.
Also, while it is nice to have 6 octaves, I think it would have made more sense to have an E-E layout, rather than the C-C. that way, middle C would still have been close to the middle of the keyboard. Inexplicably, Korg does do this on the Kronos 73, so why they changed this for the Krome is beyond me.
Another pet peeve is the external power supply. Now I understand that is a factor in keeping the cost down, but the thin and bendy wire is simply unsuitable for road use. In fact, an acquainted keyboardist is already on his third power supply, and keeps a spare just in case.

But, of course, there is good stuff too. The Krome is cheap, but packed with value. First of all, it has a killer Rhodes sound that is great to play, even on that crappy action. The acoustic piano sounds very good, but it is let down by the action’s velocity response. I suspect that the Krome 88’s weighted action would work great with it. Organs and clavs do the job, and all in all the Krome delivers in the meat-and-potatoes keyboard department.
Synth sounds are good, too, but coming from a Roland Fantom I miss the warmth of the pads, and some of the softer stuff. The Krome does bright and punchy, but smooth and mellow is not what this things is all about.
Brass sounds are good, too. It doesn’t excel here, but it can definitely hang with the competition here.

Despite its shortcomings, I’ve come to like the Krome; as a second-tier board it makes a lot of sense, and it’s great value for money. I do wish Korg would have included USB-audio functionality, as its direct competitors (Yamaha MOX, Roland FA) do offer that. A regrettable omission, but that doesn’t stop me from recommending it to anybody who’s looking for an affordable but great-sounding all-round keyboard.