Just curious, why does the KORG N364 sell for such high prices on eBay while the bigger N5 (which as far as I know has all of the N364's sounds plus many more) is so much cheaper? Did I miss something here?

Perhaps, like the Roland XP30, its a good all round 90's rompler that people enjoy using?

I dunno

Doesn't this description fit both the N364 and N5? Or am I missing something. The N364 has a floppy drive, maybe it can also be used to load your own samples?

I haven't used the N364, but i owned the X3 that was a very playable synth (small LCD aside). It was similar design and build quality.

I would imagine the N5 didn't have the same quality keybed amoungst other things. I personally favour the 01/WFD over any of the newer Korg romplers. It just exudes quality and sounds better to me.

It's quite cheap over here in Croatia... Can get it for around $300...

You cannot load samples into the N364. They have a fixed set of waveforms.

I've been trying to get a cheap X5D due to nostalgia (it was my first synth), but they're crazy expensive here, costing as much as they did 15 years ago (around $500). I've seen cheaper N5's, which are much more advanced. At those prices, I would rather get a Kross but I don't want a rompler so bad.

Thanks for all your replies. I own an X5DR right now, and wanted to upgrade it to a N-series rompler, as they have all the X5DR has plus more. I haven't had a listen to all of them in comparison, that's why I figured I'd ask around a bit before choosing one of them. I found that the N1R would probably the best solution for me, as I definitely want the N364 sounds and then some. Another option would be the N5 keyboard (I only have space for one 61 keyboard right now) and the N1 keyboard is way too large for my limited space right now. Are there any differences sound-wise? I personally think the N364 looks really cool and much better than the N1 or N5, but I doubt this is the reason why it's so much more expensive

How expensive is expensive?

I find it odd some of these old boxes still go for a lot of money when you can buy a Triton Classic for £200
Saying that I did sample a triton at £200 and I didn't like it but I'm not really a rompler guy although I thought my old M1 I had many years ago was "nicer"

Expensive = 2-3 times more expensive than a N5, which should outclass the N364 by far, sound-wise, unless I'm missing something here. I know there are sometimes more subtle differences between romplers, for example the RolandED SC-8850 and SC-8820 have almost the same "number" of sounds, but most of the 8820 sound plain worse and inferior to the 8850. Because I don't want to buy a "bad" version of a sound set and am looking for the most hi-fi experience for my music, I'm a bit cautious before buying stuff I can't compare by ear, and have to resort to asking others with hands-on experience. It has been mentioned that the 01/WFD is the better solution for this. Does it also have all of the N364 sounds and is even better than the N1R? Thanks for clearing this up!

I pulled my n364 out of it case, after sitting for over 10 years, and it works flawlessly. I probably need to change the battery soon, though. I bought it brand new. Jus moved on to analog, since then.

I just downloaded the manuals for the N364 and the N1R, and will go through their patch lists to see what overlaps and what is unique to each of them.

My situation is as following: I have the M1 and I love it. I also have a X5DR, which to me doesn't sound quite as good as the M1, maybe it's the filters or something else, something just feels a bit "off" to me.

I really like what I heard from the N364, but since I already have a lot of keyboard synths (check my "studio" on my profile link), and the N364 is way more expensive than the N5, despite having less sounds, I think N1R would be a good way to go. Now my question would be, are there any downsides of the N1R compared to N364? I have enough good keys here to control it, so I don't really need the keys the N5/N1 has to offer over the N1R.

Also, as someone earlier said, the 01/WFD is also comparable sound-wise, or is it different? I heard the newer ones (Trinity, Triton) sound very different, and I listened to them and wasn't very convinced with their type of sound, I liked the N364's sound a lot more.

I've seen the n264 which has more keys, sale for less than the n364, I don't understand that, either.

N364: 200 user combis, 200 user programs, 200 factory combis, 200 factory programs. 8 MB ROM. Cannot do portamento, no resonant filter.

N1R: 100 user combis, 100 user programs, 302 factory combis, 1169 factory programs. 18 MB ROM. Can do portamento and has resonant filter as an insert effect.


That said, Trinity and Triton are newer iterations. Trinity sounds really cool I must say (I own the rack version of it, TR-Rack). Check out Paolo's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TyUmBUUS1w

He has a few more. The sound is more direct and pure, more hi-fi than any AI2 synth (whole different samples and updated engine). Effects are also better, too.

here in Southern California it commands a high price with Mexican American bands. The Korg X2-3 too. It's just popular in that niche. I apologize to mis hermanos I don't know what this genre of music is called.
I noticed one of the Ebay ads for it in the footer on this page was in Spanish so there you go.
I believe it has something to do with the accordion presets if you can believe it.
but they probably can't understand why anyone would pay $1500 for an SH101 right?

I don't know about there, but here in Portugal there is an advert for the Korg N5 calling it a "vintage synthesiser"...
Maybe the Korg N364 is more "vintage" and therefore more valuable :P

All the M1 derived Korgs are popular in Mexican/American music today. Someone (no idea who) started using the M1 a few years ago. Once it was heard on hit records, everybody wanted one.

Strange but true.

EvilDragon, thanks for the additional information. So it seems like they improved their technology, but also changed their overall sound by using more "realistic" samples in the Trinity and Triton. But I don't think it can be said that a synth with newer technology always "sounds" better than the old ones. Of course you can do more realistic piano sounds on a Motif than on a D-50, but the D-50 has other areas where it shines, even if it doesn't have the same amount of effects and features as the Motif.

Thing is, I definitely do not want these synths for their acoustic instrument emulations, but rather for their unique digital sounds like DynaPiano, FirstLight, glassy pads and late 80s/early 90s stuff like that. And if the Trinity doesn't have the same "family" of sounds, it's a totally different "sound" than I am looking for, even if it sounds cleaner. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Korg dramatically changed their sound set when they released the Trinity, and went for more realism and acoustic emulations instead of unique 80s or more synth-like sounds.
If I wanted a realistic trumpet for example, I'd use an advanced sampler or sample modeling technology on my computer instead of a 90s synth

Oh, and paugui, by that logic a DX7 should be worth $5000 or more, as it is even more "vintage", but that doesn't really make sense, don't you think?

Just check out the video of the TR Rack I linked to. It has some sweeeeet sounds! And yes it does have 80s and digitalish sounds too. Check out Paolo's TR Rack Motion Sounds videos (there's two), too. It's a cool machine for sure.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. I watched the video you attached, but it didn't sound really pure as it would come from the synth, it had some heavy compression going on and generally sounded a bit "clippy", which I doubt comes from the synth itself. I'll definitely check out the other videos tomorrow, but from what I heard so far, it sounds more "modern" like the Motif series, and less like the sounds I'm looking for. Do you by any change know if the sounds overlap with the N series at all, or are they all completely new?

Sound on sound reviews of both synths. The reviewer isn't too keen on the n364 keybed.

Korg N364

Korg N5

Interesting to compare the original asking prices for synths that were released 2 years apart.

Well, they're different engines. Samples are completely different (although the M1 piano is still there, IIRC, but not 100% sure). Some samples like VS waves are still there. But other than that, they're different. And it's good they are. Both have merits, and TR-Rack can be had for so cheap you can just snag it (I got mine for <$300) and enjoy it and let it surprise you. It sure did surprise me (and I'm a former X5D owner, so I know full well how an AI2 synth can sound).

N364 keybed is better than N5 keybed.

Yes, the TR-Rack can be found for as little as $150, maybe I'll get one of these as well, but it's not my top priority right now. It seems the N1R is pretty rare, I couldn't find a single one of these anywhere for sale. I will try again in a few weeks and see if anything changed by then. Thanks for all your help!

In the meantime, I studied the N364's program list and compared it to the N1R's list, and it seems both have their unique sounds, so the N1R is not a "bigger N364" but has its own unique set of sounds (which largely overlap with the N364's though). Quality-wise, there is no way to compare those two, so anyone who played them both might be able help with that.

N1R indeed IS a bigger N364, all multisamples from N364 are in N1R, and all patches from N364 can indeed be made on N1R as well.

other than the N364 being metal with plastic end caps, 16 track sequencer (which the other N series don't have, IIRC), there's the RPPR feature where you can assign a pattern (up to 100) to a key.

here in Texas it's called Tejano.

I didn't think they were but the n364 was my first workstation and I loved it . . thing was really easy to write whole albums on...

I'm still looking for a N1R in good condition (European 230V version, as the power supply seems to be pretty rare) - maybe I'll find one if I look around often enough on the net.

The 01/W is still the forgotten machine from this time, it had the best hardware and and a great keyboard, and a great display if you have had it replaced, and it is so programmable and so lovely to work with, the waveshaper chip in it is not easy to tweak but it does do what it says. I do have one so I may be biased.

Hello everybody i have your answer of why the N364 is so high priced. like mentioned before it has to do ALOT with the latin community. the reason it is so expensive is because there is a style of music called "cumbia sonidera" and " El Hueso" which many mexican bands love use this keyboard for their style of music. the great thing about this keyboard is the multisounds that is has. its far more greater than the M1,T3,X5D and other older ones, not to mention the after touch feature. with this keyboard if you know your way around it you can edit the sounds to create sounds from the keyboards mentioned above that are not normally on the N364. you can also mimic sounds (almost identical) to those of the Roland D50, xp80 and also the yamaha dx7 just to mention a few. So why is the N364 more expensive than the N264. the hispanic bands do not want to carry a bigger keyboard. these two are identical only one is 61 keys and the other 76. i hope i shined a light at your guys questions and hit me up if you have other questions. and the last reason why they want that keyboard. because the famous bands have them and so do they.

good luck fellas.

OK so help me out here.

I have owned an N364 for about 18 years. Still gigging regularly with it.

Since then, I've acquired the following keyboards:

Yamaha MO6
Korg M50
Kurzweil PC3LE6
Korg Kronos (original)
Roland FA-06

Now it may be that I'm so set in my ways (I'm 57) that I just can't get on with newer technology. But I didn't get on with any of these keyboards. With some I found it tricky to access sounds live (WHY ON EARTH DID KORG DISCARD THE 10'S HOLD FEATURE - sorry for shouting), and with others I just didn't like the sounds. I didn't even rate the Kronos pianos!

I've currently got the FA-06, and took it to a band rehearsal last night. To me nothing sounded as good as my N364 (8 MB ROM). There's a Rock Piano combo that surpasses any piano patch I've had on any subsequent keyboard. Same with organs (and of course there's aftertouch for leslie simulation - could never get it to work on the Kronos, and it's not in the FA-06 at all). Ditto strings. Don't like the FA EPs. Brass is much better on FA. Not too concerned about synth sounds.

I assumed it was just me, but the rest of the band agreed. Are they just so used to my N364 (we've been together for about 17 years, and doing just fine) that none of us can hear the increased quality of modern keyboards? The sad closing remark from the guitarist (lovely guy) was "Well, it LOOKS good".

What's going on here?