just wondering if anyone has an opinion on one versus the other

Mopho - fatass analog mono.
Microkorg - super portable battery power, polyphonic
Microkorg XL - can run 2 synth layers, polyphonic.

depends what you want

I don't know about the mopho, but I went with the MicroKorg xl and couldn't be happier. The xl blows doors on the original micro IMO, and personally I prefer the 70's inspired look.

i also got a microkorg xl 3 weeks ago, and I'm really happy with it.
It's overwhelming at first (I haven't programmed a synth before) but love the sounds i can make once i get over that sense of inertia, not knowing where to start, or how to get a particular outcome, and so on...
in combination with an sp, it's really ill... use the korg for sounds, run em through the sp's fx... or take a sample, run a line in through the vocoder or through the microkorg effects (it can process external sound)... endless possibilities.

i don't have any other synths to compare, but i love this thing.

The only downside i can imagine is that it doesn't have many dedicated knobs to freak, but all the knobs and dials, pitch/mod wheel are all assignable per program. Also, you need to toggle one knob to access every parameter (i would have preferred a button in front of every row or something, that would speed things up a little, also because the dial is kind hard to read), and I don't think the knobs are super durable.

About the presets, they're dope but more like a starting point, I think a lot of them have a funny nasal sound to them that I don't particularly like, but they're just a starting point.

i just recently copped a Microkorg over the XL, just based on the fact that programming was easier for me, and i find making my own sounds much more simple, XL definatly sound thick but the original is the shit!!!

First I would take the xl out of the equation. Then you have to ask yourself if you need polyphony(mk). Also the Mk sounds kind of like a digital moog, as where the mopho has that brassy dave smith sound. The dave smith will have a more distinctive timbre.

i'd personally suggest the microkorg...they're cheap, effective, and sound awesome. Its a worthwhile bit of kit if ever there was one.

do the MK can do this also? i don't remember...
once i tried both in a shop, and i felt better the MK XL's sound over the MK's, but i remember that the MK gave more in therms of "interface" (tweak tweak tweak);
other thing:
do the MK XL got a usb connection?

yes, it has usb, so you can hook it up with the visual editor software, it's nice as an alternative so you can see what your settings are (for lack of knobs and sliders)

and yeah you can process external sound, but it takes a little messing with it - you have to set audio in as the wave source for the first oscillator, turn the arpeggiator on latch (gate time 100%), and then the external audio is being fed through and you can apply fx or the filter to it. (there's a little flutter coming from the arpeggiator if you do it this way, the alternative is holding a key down)

here's the youtube that explains it for the classic mk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adVu639pjN4

http://forum.producersedgemagazine.com/ ... 9-7-1.aspx

thanx for the reply dishwater
the youtube tutorial was very interesting not only for the fact that the guy show the MK in but also the way he filters external sounds also with arpeggiator !!! that's cool....

yep great fun... actually i found the flutter that i mentioned (and which you can hear in his video) is a result of having the EG release not set to max... once you initialize a program for this, there is none. And i found the MK XL already has a program set up for audio in - B88
It's quite sweet, you can use it for gating samples, with envelopes and/or filters, trigger the sp via midi, and feed the audio back into the microkorg. I should exploit this more.