MicroKorg 2 has some huge sneakers to fill. The unique MicroKorg was certainly one of, if not the best-selling synthesizer of all time. It’s also in all probability the longest repeatedly produced synthesizer, having been launched available on the market in 2002. In fact, know-how has come a good distance prior to now 22 years, and it is time for an replace to arguably the primary basic synthesizer of the twenty first century.
The brand new model, introduced by Korg forward of NAMM 2024, largely retains the unique design. It is small however has a stable construct. The mini keys could trouble these with sausage fingers, however I don’t have a lot of an issue with barely smaller than common palms. I do sometimes fumble barely, however that has to do with my poor keyboarding expertise and compact keyboards. The keyboard itself is okay. Nothing to jot down house about, that is for positive. But it surely’s not value going to struggle. I’ve performed lots worse video games.
Even on this prototype, the knobs and buttons really feel stable. The big knobs give the MicroKorg a visible identification when altering the kind of tone you select, and it has a really satisfying brake. Though there was an enormous signal on the Korg sales space indicating that the MicroKorg 2 was nonetheless a prototype, the {hardware} already felt fairly refined.
Even the interface seems to be at the very least nearly full. The display screen itself is vivid and colourful, with good viewing angles. It does fade a bit at excessive angles beneath the lights of the Anaheim Conference Heart, however that is unlikely to trigger an issue in common use.
The consumer interface already seems to be fairly good, with some trendy animations once you change parameters. Altering parameters is far simpler than on the unique MicroKorg, which had two edit choice knobs and a desk the place you must discover what the highest 5 knobs management. On the MicroKorg 2, issues are a lot quicker. For instance, urgent the button under the second knob cycles by settings for oscillator one, two, three and the noise supply. The display screen will inform you which parameters are assigned to those knobs, relying on the web page you choose.
There are nearly no knobs for each perform, but it surely could possibly be worse.
It is clear that one space of the MicroKorg 2 that is nonetheless within the prototype stage is the presets. Solely eight of the models I attempted got here preprogrammed. The NAMM showroom will not be an excellent setting for in-depth sound design.
I did mess around with it a bit, although, and was shortly capable of cobble collectively some patches that sounded good. The handful of presets Korg has ready are very vivid and stuffed with character. They’re clearly digital, however they do not really feel scientific. Sadly, convention halls are much less conducive to testing vocoder and harmonizer capabilities. With all of the cacophony of sounds round me, it was unimaginable to get a transparent sufficient sign.
Typically talking, the eight-voice (or four-voice in dual-timbral mode), three-oscillator synth engine seems to be a big improve from the unique. It not solely has commonplace digital analog waves, but in addition a spread of single-cycle waveforms and even samples that may be mixed to create comparatively advanced sound patches.
The unique’s solely benefit over its successors was worth. You possibly can nonetheless purchase the MicroKorg from most music retailers for $430, and the MicroKorg 2 will value $699 when it goes on sale later this yr.
This text was initially printed on Engadget: https://www.engadget.com/the-microkorg-2-hands-on-a-stylish-update-to-an-iconic-digital-synthesizer-173034308.html?src=rss
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