EK-50 and i3 Comparison: Two takes on easy arranging!

Join Luciano Minetti as we take a look at two of KORG's portable arrangers; similarities, differences, demos and more!

[michaelalberson]

Excellent video and demonstration of both and very nice having someone who actually knows how to play instead of an amateur very much appreciated to many wannabes trying to do demonstrations.

[jeffeason]

These are very similar keyboards in sounds and styles. Here are a few DIFFERENCES I’ve found…

#1. i3 has no internal speakers while EK50 has speakers. (and the EK50L has nice LOUD speakers)

#2. i3 has multiple (up to four) STS preprogrammed per style while EK50 only has one STS per style.

#3. i3 has 50 set lists (or saved settings) - 10 banks of 5 buttons. EK50 has 40 set lists - 10 banks of 4 buttons.

#4. i3 has Chord Mode (preprogrammed chords for the style). EK50 does not have this feature at all. (Actually I don’t think any other Korg arranger has this feature at all.)

#5. To mute or unmute parts on i3 you must hold down the SHIFT key and press that part’s button. In the EK50 you only have to press the button by itself to mute and unmute parts.

[sherylbranca]

Absolutely the best presentation of the i3 that I have ever seen! I finally got the answers I needed! Thank you!🙂

[robertn]

Great demo of the i3, this is a fantastic arranger with so much sound variety and manipulation.

[michaelalberson]

Thank you for this great information as I am shortly going to purchase an arranger keyboard 🎹.
I am a KORG fan as I own an older X-2 music workstation.
I have been looking at Yamaha also however I am now at a crossroad and will have to decide.

[Keyzkiller]

Hello.. Is there mono / legatone function for the synth tones ?

[michaelalberson]

Thanks so very much for sharing this I have a older Korg X-2 however I am in purchasing a Korg arranger keyboard 🎹

[ILoveMYOOZIK]

Thanks for the comparison. Just what I was searching for.

[oceanwatchesclaudejolly]

I will like to know if you used accompagnent can you use the upper I mean the voices it will play full scale orit will be silence at the split

[clementasamoah]

My problem with I3 is how do you add sustain, reverb, attack

[New_Zealand_Music]

And also I'm an instant gratification kind of musician. I like designing patches. But honestly ID rather be playing music and writing a song. Spending 3 hours designing a sound on my analogue keyboards. So I just bought Presets I like, now it's far more musical. Thank you very much for your review. My local music shop let me borrow one for two weeks. So yeah I really enjoyed it while I had it. And in my country the ek50l isn't much more than the standard model. They say the speakers can be loud enough to play in a cafe. That would be fun. But ultimately I guess it comes down to what you're doing with it. Sometimes use Sonuus. To control since that don't have midi. If what you're playing isn't too complicated it works quite well

[alanbramwell]

The video to add bonus styles is not Goog. Can Korg make the instructions easier to install. Thanks. Alan

[brendahildebrandt]

I can't get any sounds from my korg i3 what do I need to turn on

[rafadrod]

Hello, I have a question. Are the sounds of piano from the Ek-50 the same as the i3? I mean, if you hear them both will you noticed the difference?

[PianoTone]

Does the EK-50 have full keyboard chord detection?

[mrthomasheder]

The korg i3 has no midi clock output!! What about the EK-50?

[just_curius]

is the fill in in those keyboards not smooth? i hear weird sound if not pressed in right timing.

[marciojardim]

Hi, both keyboard are great… the only question is about playing MIDI… which keyboard as the best sound, I’m saying this because there’s some keyboard that has better quality than others… I do my own arrangements stray simple Drums bass and organ and in some tunes Brass Ensemble…
I wonder if I Could sent you one of my MIDI Could you play it in both keyboard and see which was a better sound…

Best regards from Funchal

[paulyllow]

Why you need to two keys to mute a sound in i3? Why not use the same approach as EK50? Also there needs to be easy way to reprogram the styles and all sound settings and save them as a different style with customised sound set.

[New_Zealand_Music]

Love the EK-50, best value keyboard for bread and butter sounds, do they both basically have the same engines please? Perfect replacement for my crappy old Roland e86. That's ok once you figure it out. But as usual than operating system can be a bit weird. The way you find all the sounds. The EK, I so wish it had an input. It is perfect for busking.