Old KORG Analogues

UNOFFICIAL OLD KORGS from FULL BUCKET

Björn Arlt loves his Korg synthesisers such that he not only emulates those he owns but those long lost to the mists of time (and large wads of money) – the PS-3000 series. Of course he has never heard them (there were maybe only 20 PS-3300 ever made) but then again, neither have you. From circuit diagrams and repair manuals and recordings he first approached the reality, but after a while began making it. As far as I am concerned these are now the actual devices that he is kind enough to share with you.

You might complain that a print is not the painting itself, but most paintings are known through prints. The ‘real’ version is locked away in a rich man’s vault, We’re supposed to be impressed that  ‘Aphex Twin’ owns three – really? Now you can have fifty, if quantity is so important!

Given that the software version of the MS20 is polyphonic, the advantages of the PS series is not great – they are not easy to use and not astoundingly capable. I have loaded them up for fun, but am more likely to use an official Korg instrument for music.

OFFICIAL OLD KORGS

In the past I owned a farm of MS series, a MonoPoly for a short while, and had a PolySix on extended loan. These days I have just the MS20 kit and the Korg Collection 2 with no particular regret. Notably the recent version has enlarged the GUI past the postage stamp original.

MS20 I’m unsure whether the virtual MS20 sounds exactly like the hardware, not through any fault of the programming but in my use. You tend to use a monophonic synthesiser in a certain way, while the polyphonic software suggests a different tactic – at very least a massive pile of detuned voices. Knowing the extra ability is there you reach for it, and going back to the hardware becomes a compositional choice.

So the two have not been the same in (my) practice. I guess if I no longer had the hardware I’d have to investigate this – but the hardware is common and cheap these days. Hell, just have both.

PolySix There’s a particular sound I used in that old Dead Eyes Opened song which was made with the hardware – a very slow attack resonant filter sweep with an unfortunate clunk as the envelope closed. In the recent remakes of that track I’ve made exactly the same sound with the software. Story over, except you get a hell of lot more voices.

But here’s the important thing, I can get close to that sound with many other analogue synthesisers. The PolySix was a very simple beast with only 6 oscillators, most noted for a  distinctive ensemble effect.  There’s nothing here that really demands excellence and you already own many other software instruments that would work just as well.

MonoPoly I owned this for only a short while because it was a bulky heavy thing and the whole business with the 4 oscillators just didn’t do it for me – at a time when I had to start selling gear to eat. I tried the poly part of it and that was pretty ordinary. The mono part was better but not very versatile. So the software version is an important advance where you get the best of both. I think it actually completes the design I was hoping for.

A polyphonic version lets you go hog wild with the cross modulation, similar to the way you can with an MKS80. Having an MKS80 already I admit I still don’t use this very much in music but I still make horrible noises with it.

M1 Why would you?