MusicRadar

The gooseneck mic is included as standard.

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• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

The virtual patch chords system does a good job for stock modulations but it’s not overly extensive, mainly because of the limited amount of destinations available. It’s perfectly fine for all the obvious stuff such as routing the LFO to the filter cut-off or the envelope-topitch duties, but it doesn’t want to oblige certain things like FX parameters or waveform selection.

As an alternative to the patch chords, we have the instant fun of the motion sequencer. This feature first appeared with the Electribe series, and scores points for being easy to use with powerful results. It’s as simple as choosing a parameter (for example, the filter cutoff), hitting record and giving the dial a twist. This will record 16 steps of motion and the step length can be defined for shorter or longer sequences as well as many other factors, including glide between the steps and playback direction and looping. It also animates the lighting around the preset selector dial in forward and backward motion when the sequence plays.

The quick and dirty approach to hands-on modulating is balanced with the ability to program the steps in manually and enter specific values for each one. This is great for taking raw ideas and developing them into perfect sequences. If you like effects, you’ll love these. If you're a sucker for the Kaoss Pad, you couldn't be happier with seeing many of your favourites ready to twist up in the R3. From the expected verbs and echoes, to the warped grain shifter, there’s enough to transform any mundane noise or voice into a killer sound. Best of all, they’re BPM-sync’d and can be brought to life with the modulation sequencer too.

Beginners

When you step back and take stock of the whole deal, it’s easy to see who could be attracted to picking up the R3. On one side of the equation, this will put a smile on the face of anyone who thought the MicroKorg was undersized and underpowered. It certainly brings a lot more fire-power to any live set. At the other end, there are those who just can’t justify stumping up the big bucks for the Radias keyboard. If you don’t need the big bro’s multitimbral power, you can now enjoy the glorious sound here.

The R3 is much more than a flexible synth, with the added bonus of the superb integrated vocoder. The street price levels out in line with the Radias, making the R3 a tempting proposition as a first synth or as a healthy fix for your next attack of Gear Acquisition Syndrome.