I have a Trinity and am looking at getting an xp-50 as a back-up board. Does anyone know if that model has the grunge-defect like the other models. I think I heard once that this one doesn't have it. Any opinions (or facts) would be nice. Other than the xp's, I don't know of any other synths that I really would like to have as back up.

I've had a '50 for a few years and havn't found any such faults - the only criticism I have is the lack of outputs, but if you're using it as a secondry then this'll probably not bother you! Apart from that they really are an excellent sound source especially if you push the sound parameters to the limits
happy hunting!

My XP-50 is 4 years old and it sounds great. I agree with sentinel about the lack of outputs, the sequencer is a little bit difficult to handle because of the small LCD and it only has two faders for tweaking the sounds. If I could go back in time, perhaps I would buy the JV-1080 module and a MIDI keyboard instead, but I love my XP-50, it was my first synth and I would not change it for anything.

This may sound like MY own "pet peeve" but the keyboard feel on the XP-50 is weak compared to the newer models. The spring action is much lighter, and the sequencer is about 1/2 the size of the ones in the XP-80 & 60. The sound engine is the same, if I recall - but the key action ......yuck!

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Uncle Dave

I have an XP-60, and I must say that the decay grunge-defect is not very audible. I have to turn up the volume of my amplifier to max as the sound decays to hear it at all. Besides, it is related to the D/A-converters and not to the synth engine itself. It only appears when the total signal-level from the synth drops below a certain level; it does not appear at the end of every instrument decay while playing. Besides this defect, the sound quality is excellent. Many people say the 30/60/80/2080 have better overall sound-quality than the 50/1080.

I would suggest anyone interested in the XPs to go and listen to a 60 or 80, and decide if they can live with the defect. If you can, then the 60 and 80 are great synths. I don't think this defect is a big problem.

Stig
Proud XP-60 owner..

I've had my XP50 for about 3 years now. I like it, but I must admit the 2 line screen sucks. You'll have a hard time adjusting to it after using the large touch screen on your Korg for so long!