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So ive been after a hardware synth for a while and Ive narrowed it down to either the roland gaia or a microkorg. Ive read pretty mixed reviews about both so Im asking you lot. Which would you go for?

Ps. Pretty sure that someone will recommend something else but the choice is between these two. Im taking advantage of an arts fund that provides a 0% financing thing for the ages 18-25 on instruments. Its in collaboration with a music shop near me so im limited to synths they stock. Cheers

totally depends on what you need. if you feel like fiddling with knobs and creating new sounds, gaia's the one. otherwise, microkorg. simples.

^^what are you on about komander the mikrokorg is as tweakable as any other synth. even more so with the software editor for it.


the korg has a bit of a strange 'matrix' but if youve got a half tidy idea about synthesis its pretty damn cool. sounds very big for the £££

get the korg


also the korg has inputs, so you can use the filters, arpegg, vocoder etc on external audio. dont think the gaia does

Cheers for the replies guys. Im sort of leaning towards the gaia just for the fact that its all laid out in front of you. Nice point about the aux in, though ive still not fully explored my zoom fx rack so an aux in isnt that vital. Any more thoughts anyone?

lightshapers wrote:^^what are you on about komander the mikrokorg is as tweakable as any other synth. even more so with the software editor for it.

i agree, but gaia is way more easy to tweak. trust me, i got a micron - it's a great sounding VA synth and it can make all sorts of different sounds. but having to go through all those menus all the time when creating news sounds really isn't much fun (software editors can help, but it's still not the same like having proper knobs in front of you).

reagarding OP's options, here's how i see it:

gaia vs microkorg

portability - more or less equal (you can't fit gaia in a backpack but it's still quite portable, runs on batteries and has large keys)
sound quality - probably close to equal
sound variety - similar(ish)
tweakability - much easier on gaia, no need to fiddle with menus and editors
plug and play - probably microkorg (i believe it comes with better presets, but... not sure)

the best option though would be to go to the shop and test the two synths for a while - you'll probably figure out which one's for you.

I'm selling a Microkorg, brand new condition.

Will sell for around £180 odd if you're on this forum, give me a message if you're interested.

Had a play with both and tbh i much prefer the gaia. the microkorg had cheap feeling keys too imo

the gaia was quite easy to use and having never owned a hardware synth it still felt quite familiar to some plug ins the way it was set out and stuff.

but as i say im no expert, i have never owned either, just had a play about with both in a shop. it was a dawsons actually so if you have one of them near you go and try them both out!

I really felt the gaia was lacking in the sound department. Yeah its got knobs, but the way they alter the sound, it is fake. The korg does have a sound to it, but is unplayable unless you got girl fingers. I think you might consider an analog monosynth around the price of the Roland Gaia.

i have a Gaia and im realy happy with it. its a versatile synth and sound as good as anny VA synth i have tryed. but i think the big thing with the Gaia is that it´s soo easy to create patches and find inspiration from. My friend had a Micro Korg and it´s nice and all but you may as well get a Korg sample pack imo since it´s not that easy to create your own sound. dont know about the software tough.

but as with annything it depends on what your looking for.

So i tried them both out but wasnt feeling the korg. It sounded nice but the menu system really turned me off. The gaia was much more intuitive, love the layout. I preferred the presets on the korg but Im not buying a synth for presets. Ended up picking up the gaia very impressed so far. Cheers for replies again.

Looks like a neat piece of kit, might get it sometime.

Have you looked into the venom at all? I have one and I love it. To make a patch from scratch you have to use the venom software, but other than that you can pretty much tweak everything except the oscillaters and the mod matrix from the synth itself. Its about the same as a microkorg and it has 49 keys(why I didn't get the microkorg). If I had the cash thoguh, I would have gotten a gaia, so if you can afford it, go for that.