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Korg in general
by JJJJ
Hailing from Japan, Korg are one of the world's leading manufacturers of keyboards and synthesizers - they also sell a range of other musical accessories including tuners, effects pedals, and guitars (under the 'Vox' name). I've owned a number of Korg products over the years, but today i'm primarily focussing on their excellent range of ... keyboards.
A History of Quality Products
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My outright favourite Korg keyboard has to be the '01w/fd' - an awesome synthesiser which was first released in 1991. Not only did the 01w/fd allow you to tinker with a superb array of sampled sounds (more on those in a bit), but it also included a powerful sixteen track sequencer and a floppy disk drive to store you experiments on (hence the 'fd' in the product's title). The sequencer allowed you to create entire tracks including drum loops, and had the feel of an all-in-one porta-studio. On the downside, the 01w's keys weren't anything special (they were a little bit plasticky and not especially well weighted), but the keyboard as whole was a masterpiece. The variety of sounds that the unit could produce was stunning - rich sweeping, all-encompassing samples that anything less than a full orchestra had no right to concoct. It blew old-skool synths like the Yamaha DX7 (which I also owned) out of the water. Such was the appeal of the 01w, that it has been used over the years by Peter Gabriel, Dave Stewart, Moby, Genesis, Vangelis, and a number of other well know musicians / bands. One of the most impressive things about the keyboard was its build-quality (apart from the keys that is!) - and where many of its contemporaries had a plastic case, the 01w/fd was constructed with a tough metal surround which felt like it could have withstood enemy tank fire.
A Korg a day keeps the doctor away...
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In terms of their value for money, I generally feel that Korg products offer a lot for the price paid. No, they aren't the cheapest musical items out there, but they're always well built, generally easy to use, and packed with features. At the top end of the scale you've got tasty items like the PA2X (Professional Arranger) Keyboard which weighs in at just under £3,000 - but not all of Korg's keyboards are that costly - the cool and tiny Korg Monotron for example sells for £46 - sure, it doesn't have many features, but it's an analogue synth which is a lot of fun to use. Speaking of fun, if you fancied splashing a little more cash, then the MicroKORG Synthesiser with Vocoder can be picked up for a couple of hundred quid - Duran Duran often mess around with the MicroKORG, an i've fancied getting hold of one myself for quite some time. The microKORG's full specifications can be found here - http://tinyurl.com/ypkn7 - and the page also features a selection of samples to show what the keyboard is capable of.
A good way to get into Korg products for the first time is via eBay, and due to the fact that Korg items are so well made, you'll frequently come across ten / fifteen year old synths which are still in great condition. I actually sold my beloved Korg on eBay a few years ago and got over £300 for it even though it pretty ancient - this goes to show that anything Korg produces holds its value especially well, and can actually make for a worthy investment. Just looking at eBay now, i'm noticing 1970's Korgs selling for just under the £1000 mark - if you're lucky enough to have a VC-10 for example, you're certain to make a tidy amount. If you don't want a Korg with an inbuilt sound creation system, then you can buy a Korg 'Controller Keyboard' relatively cheaply (again, i've found that eBay is a good place to buy) - the MicroKEY for example simply plugs into your computer's USB port and allows you to directly input to your PC or Mac's music software.
Final Word
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I've probably owned four or five Korg products over the years, all of which i've found to be fantastic devices which have delivered the goods in terms of performance and variety of features. To be completely honest, if I was buying another keyboard or synth today, I would immediately seek out a Korg. I've tried, tested, and owned a number of other brands over the years (Roland, Yamaha, and Casio), but i've always found that Korg have the X-Factor in terms of the quality of onboard instrument samples, and general reliability - (very) highly recommended.
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Korg MicroKorg
by reedap01
Features
*37 note, velocity sensitive keyboard
*Dual oscillator DSP synthesis engine
*Wide selection of waveforms
*Four filter modes, all with optional resonance
*Two ADSR envelope generators
*MIDI syncable LFO's
*8 band vocoder
*3 different types of modulation
*3 delay effects
*Two-band ... equalizer
*Arpeggiator
*6 types of arpeggio pattern
*Control over arp tempo
*Control over arp gate-time
*Control over arp swing
*Arp step sequencer
*4 Octave range
*128 amazing preset sounds
*Ability to customise and save your own sounds (note: must be saved over existing patch)
*16 vocoder programs
*Pitch Bend wheel
*Modulation wheel
*Five other knobs provide control over filter cutoff, attack, release and many other parameters
*Two audio input jacks
*Batteries not needed, but battery power is an option for portable playing (6 AA batteries)
*All parameters located on front panel for easy access
*Large main dial and LED screen, plus LED illuminated buttons
*Wooden side panels
*Headphone jack
*MIDI In and Out jacks
The MicroKORG is approximately 20.5 inches x 9 inches, a relatively small synth, easily to transport and store. Lightweight, so it's easy to cary for a long period of time. (Don't know why you'd need to but hey ho...)
The 128 sounds are divided into 8 groups
*Trance
*Techno/House
*Electronica
*D'n'B/Breaks
*Hip hop/Vintage
*Retro
*Special Effects/Hit
Vocoder
Bands that use the KORG MicroKORG
Just so you get a feel of what can be achieved with a MicroKORG, here are some of the many bands that use the synth:
*Hadouken!
*Enter Shikari
*The Killers
*AttackAttack!
Personal Experience
I've had my little KORG for a year now, I've managed to make some massive sounds from this monster synth. But play around with it for two hours and it starts to get boring, I's recommend buying this if you already have other synths, or plan on using it as a MIDI keyboard. I wouldn't buy it to use on it's own, like I did, unless you're in a band and plan on incooperating it into your live shows. I've produced a few demo tracks using it with Propellorhead's Reason 4 and an Electric guitar, and I found this really fun and challenging.
I really like the vocoder, it's a fun piece of tech that I love to use to play songs like Daft Punk's stuff. I also like how retro it is, the design, feel and basic idea of it is great, and the wooden side plates add to the retro effect.
One thing that really annoys me is the size of the keys and the weight of them when you press them down, I hate semi-weighted keys! Especially challengingly small ones that your fingers can only just play without pressing down adjacent keys. I wish I was a smurf, it'd be the ideal synth! But sadly I'm not, and I doubt you're one either, so no, it's not the perfect synth, but it's a great deal.
Other MicroKORG Models
The MicroKORG can be bought with reverse colour keys, meaning white keys are black and visa versa on this model. The MicroKORG was redesigned, and the new model was renamed the MicroKORG XL, available in Black and Red. I haven't tried this product so I can't compare it to my MicroKORG, but I thought i'd mention it incase you're wanting to buy a synth.
In Conclusion...
I'd say a MicroKORG is good for anyone who's in a band and wants to expand their capabilities, or for anyone who wants to expand their studio set up. However if you want a synthesizer to use on it's own and mess around on, then this isn't the one. But you could explore additional purchases along with a MicroKORG, like the Kaossilator, that could turn out quite fun and experimental.
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Korg MicroKorg
by FirstLight4
If you're looking for a fairly easy to use out of the box, affordable starting synth then the microkorg is the keyboard for you.
The microkorg has several editable parameters, countless pre-made patches that are grouped into different genres (Electronica, Trance, Techno / House, S.e. / Hit, Retro and Hiphop / Vintage) which ... can all be played around with. A cool feature is the arpeggiator which can also be edited and manipluated to suit your needs. The synth has two octaves up and down from the 'central' position so you can use it from C0 - G2 and these are easily used since colour coordinated lights tell you which octave you're currently using. Another good feature is that the product is battery powered and light weight and so can be carried around and set up easily for live performances if that's what you want.
One thin i must stress is that the microkorg is, to most intents and purposes, an instrument just like a guitar or a bass etc. so don't expect to be using it as a drum machine or a sequencer or something.
Finally, the microkorg also features an awesome vocoder with a condenser mic provided for all your voice editing fun!
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