MicroKORG

had three motion sequences), lack of an XLR microphone input, and in a smaller case with fewer real-time control knobs.

The microKORG has been a popular success, being used by a diverse range of musicians such as Devo, who currently have one as part of their live setup, Jean Michel Jarre, The Killers, Chromeo, Crystal Castles, Digitalism, Enter Shikari, Editors, Kings of Leon, Soulwax, LCD Soundsystem, Goose (band), Mates of State, The Neptunes, Future Islands, The Mae Shi, Polysics and Royksopp among many others. Liam Howlett of The Prodigy used a microKORG extensively on the band's 2004 album "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned". In an interview for Korg's official website in late 2004, [ [http://www.korg.co.uk/news_list/news.asp?newsId=33] Interview at Korg.co.uk, 29 November 2004] Howlett said that "The microKORG is wicked. You've only got to put it on big speakers to hear the depth it's got. It's got so much power for a little keyboard." From the same source, in January 2004, [ [http://www.korg.co.uk/news_list/news.asp?newsId=10] Interview at Korg.co.uk, 12 January 2004] ] Torbjorn Brundtland of Royksopp stated that "of course we use the microKorg, which is a really powerful instrument. It has the same quality of abstract effects that the MS20 has."

The microKORG was released in 2002, and is still in production as of 2008. In September 2007 Korg released a limited edition of the microKORG with reverse-color keys, [http://www.korg.co.uk/news_list/news.asp?newsId=65&productCode=] although the functionality was otherwise unchanged.

Synthesis

The microKORG uses DSP technology to emulate the sounds of an analog synthesizer using firmware. The fundamental unit of sound is, in Korg's terminology, a "timbre". This is generated with a pair of multi-function oscillators. Two timbres can be combined to create a four-oscillator "layer". This can be used to create more complex sounds, although it halves the polyphony, from four notes to two. A single timbre can be played in four-voice (8 detuned oscillators) unison mode, which is monophonic, and furthermore the synthesizer can be set to a non-detuned, non-unison mono mode, which is used by some performers when playing monophonic lead lines.

The two oscillators generate a range of sounds. Oscillator one (OSC1) produces saw, square, triangle, and sine waves, which are fundamental synthesiser waveforms. In addition OSC1 can produce a vox wave (for simulating human vocal cords), white noise, and one of 64 different digital waveforms that were created by harmonic additive synthesis. Some of these 64 waveforms were originally featured in the Korg DW-8000 digital synthesizer of the late 1980s. The second oscillator (OSC2) is limited to saw, square, and triangle waveforms.

Each waveform on OSC1 has a unique modulation feature, including wave morphing, Pulse-width modulation, and FM. OSC2 can be detuned, synchronized, and/or ring-modulated with OSC1 in order to create more complex sounds. OSC1 can also be replaced with the signal from one of the line-level inputs on the back of the unit, allowing external signals to be processed with the effects and filters of the microKORG, or potentially ring-modulated by the OSC2.

The microKORG also uses effects such as flange, ensemble, phaser, and digital delay, which can also be applied to external signals. The unit also features two independent LFOs, with six different waveforms, which can be used to create more complex modulations.

When playing a single timbre the keyboard has four-voice polyphony. In layer mode it generally has two-voice polyphony, although one combination of polyphonic/mono layers allows for three-voice polyphony of the second timbre.

The keyboard groups its 128 factory preset sound patches into 8 groups:
*Trance
*Techno/House
*Electronic
*D'n'B/Breaks
*Hiphop/Vintage
*Retro
*S.E./Hit
*VocoderA large gold knob changes the selected sound group. Each group has 16 different patches (2 banks of 8), selected by the 8 lighted buttons on the front with a side A/B button to toggle between sets of 8. All patches are user editable, and don't necessarily have to follow the groupings listed on the face plate.

Samples of microKORG sound:

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Ring_X-Mod.ogg Ring X-Mod]

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Star_Sky.ogg Star Sky]

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Alien_World.ogg Alien World]

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Crystal.ogg Crystal]

[http://www.korgmusic.ru//news/sound/66259_d7.mp3 Trance (microKORG internal demo song)]

Creating/editing sounds

The microKORG uses two selector knobs to select between settings and five control knobs to modify the values of those settings. Information is presented on a 3-digit red LED panel on the front of the keyboard, which attempts to display letters using only the 7 segments. These characters can be difficult to understand at first, but become easier to recognise through use. Through MIDI and [http://www.korg.co.uk/download_list/download_list.asp?productCode=pk_microkorg software from Korg] , all of the settings can be edited on a computer as well.

When not in the "Edit" mode (which is automatically set by turning any of the two selector knobs or by holding the "Shift" key while pressing the "Side" button), the five control knobs control respectively the cutoff frequency, the resonance, the enveloppe attack, the enveloppe release and the main tempo. When moved clockwise or anti-clockwise when not in the "Edit" mode, those knobs won't make the LED panel display anything new (so it isn't possible to fix a specific cut-off amount; the user must proceed approximately instead). In the "Edit" mode, however, every knob makes the LED panel display the current value associated with the knob position. To change the current value of a given parameter, the user must pass through the original value before being able to modify anything. When one that original value, the "Original Value" LED will light on, and the value displayed on the LED panel will stop flashing. This avoids the user from passing from a small to a high value immediately, so there's no big margin in the change of the parameters (useful function for live performances).

Features

-Modeled after old analogue synthesisers, including wood side panels and large knobs on the face, giving it a fashionable retro look and accessible editing interface.
-Sold at $400 at many shops and websites that sell instruments
-Can run on six AA batteries.
-Eight-band vocoder is part of the keyboard along with a gooseneck microphone, allowing vocoder functionality right out of the box. Each patch can be used as a vocoder sound, and the vocoder is just as programmable as the synthesizer (with the notable exception of the virtual patch functions, which are replaced with individual panpots and gain controls for each vocoder channel).
-Small and Compact (20 1/2 inch by 9 inch). These measurements are not exact, just rounded to the nearest half.

ee also

The MicroKORG released during the same period as several similar, competing products:
* Alesis Micron
* Novation KS Series / Novation Xio-Synth
* Dave Smith Evolver

The microKORG shared several features with the earlier, discontinued Quasimidi Sirius - in particular a built-in vocoder - although the Sirius used distinctively unique analog modeling-sample playback hybrid synthesis.

External links

* [http://www.korg.co.uk/products/pro_keyboard/microkorg/pk_microkorg.asp microKORG at Korg's website]
* [http://www.gearwire.com/micro-korg.html Video Review of Korg microKorg on Gearwire.com]
* [http://www.vintagesynth.com/korg/microkorg.shtml microKORG entry at Vintage Synth Explorer]

Notes