91 thoughts on “What Korg’s Got Coming?”

    1. That’s weird…

      Minilogue is a Swedish Progressive House/Techno music group consisting of Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson. The name is a blend of minimal and dialogue, which refers to music as a form of communication. Wikipedia

      Pretty sure I remember a video of those guys that was posted right here on Synthtopia. They were jamming in a nice little wooden hut, in the woods; it was an Ableton promotion if I remember correctly.

  4. hmm… can’t say I’d be that excited about a Mellotron. Another re-issue from ARP – that would excite me. But a Mellotron??? Frankly don’t see the point of them, when you can use modern synthesizers to produce realistic acoustic sounds today. Still – the Penny Lane thing does suggest that that is exactly what it will be. 🙁

    2. funny that it should suggest that since there are no Mellotron tracks on the song… 😉

      there are a variety of great horn tracks though. Perhaps a new horn synth? The old Z1’s horns are fantastic.
      Only other instrument on the song that would be relevant to Korg would be a kind of chorus-y piano ro electric piano.

      still I’d love a lil mellotron perhaps ha.

  5. Don’t forget, their last tease, a few weeks ago, said #EDMLife or something completely unMellotron like.
    So, either multiple products, or they are just messing with people’s heads.

  9. Korg and the Beatles. Let’s think here.

    The Mellotron flute sound was used on Strawberry Fields Forever, which was Penny Lane’s B-side.

    Korg put the Mellotron flute sound on the MicroKorg XL+ years ago.

    Korg also owns Vox, and the Beatles famously used Vox amps. They also played a Vox Continental combo organ in the mid-60s, but it’s not on Penny Lane nor Strawberry Fields.

    As far as Penny Lane is concerned, the instruments are:
    Upright Piano
    Electric Bass
    Acoustic Drums and Bongos
    Real Flute
    Electric Piano (or Guitar?) with Slow Temolo
    Brass Section/Sax/Trumpet
    Bell

    A mysterious teaser indeed.

    1. you just beat me to it. they pushed some effects and instruments through a Vox guitar amp. maybe it has something to do with that?

      1. Hmm. Maybe it’s not an instrument.

        Abbey Road – Penny Lane…

        A 2-in, 2-out + USB audio/MIDI interface but with analog VU meters and those 60’s-style levers instead of sliders or knobs?

        A single channel DSP hardware emulation of the Abbey Road console?

        This might be different than that 3000-unit limited edition “EDM LIFE” thing they teased a while back.

      1. ooh ooh ooh! ding ding! this guy might get a prize. some kind of nutube version of the console and gear used on the song or record hmmm. could be awesome. i forgot completely about that announcement from before…

        1. Oooh a neve console style thing what does Apple studios have desk wise?

          Korg said what they were doing was limited edition though….

  10. uh, there was no mellotron in Penny Lane, iirc. a piccolo trumpet and the arrangement is a bit baroque. they did a couple of things with a Vox amp…

    1. My thoughts as well. Thinking of the instruments actually present in the song, nothing strikes me as particularly KORG-y or interesting, also I’m reminded of things like the Yamaha TG100…

      I think a four track mixer/recorder, possibly with some effects, would round off the whole Volca approach nicely, a bit like the mock Volca mixer image that’s been floating around.

      Whatever it is, Korg hasn’t put out anything recently that wasn’t interesting in one way or another, which is no small feat. Just ask Yamaha.

      1. dude they have pretty much single-handedly brought the analog resurgence to the masses. lots of people never PLAYED a vco before monotrons. Then the volca keys and bass, the first EVER affordable vco synths. ‘nothing interesting’ yeaaa…

        1. > i read that again; “hasn’t put out anything recently that wasn’t interesting” means they unfailingly *have* produced interesting instruments…

  17. I love, love, love the mellotron, but would not be very interested in a digital emulation. If it’s Korg, however, I will definitely be paying attention. Their recent products have really impressed me.

    1. Hey, AuxOct, I can somewhat relate to your not wanting to play a Mellotron emulator, but having played a real ‘tron and then using M-Tron Pro for about a year now, I’d suggest re-thinking that. I’m sure you don’t need a repeat of the maintenance hassles a real one can entail, so let’s get to the core issue of the sound. I’ve played a few freebie samples so lo-fi, they were grungy even by Mellotron standards. There’s a bit of artistry in getting that library to sound right. It loses charm if its too gritty. On top of that, playing a real ‘tron requires technique and sweat similar to playing a Hammond. You have to wrestle both in a certain way to make ’em speak up. Its nowhere near as simple as just tweedling a familiar MIDI controller. Although I often use an XKey for basic things these days, I *remember* the grinding mechanisms and muscle tensions of the real things, so I understand the angles of approach.
      If a real Mellotron ($5-6k+) or even the snazzy Marcus Resch recreation ($2k+) are out of reach and you really feel drawn to the ‘tron, I can vouch for M-Tron ($149). It sports the full basic library, with many nice things you rarely hear openly, like a 2nd Flute that’s way cleaner than the “Strawberry Fields” version. It offers you solid synth controls for trimming things, which makes it all a breeze. Put grainy ‘tron strings over an iffy synth string patch and watch the Hulk bust out of his shirt, no lie. If you pan the classic Black Sabbath sound left and right, you can almost smell Ozzy. G-Media instruments have proven their stability over some years now and the tech help was great when I had a minor install issue. I’m happy with it, because it goes way beyond the old string/choir/brass triad. Just FYI, if you get the Mellotron Bug.

  19. Brass. Penny Lane, right? Brass.

    Must’ve been one ot them unidentified flying cupcakes. Liverpool can be a lonely place of a Saturday night an’ this is only Thursday mornink. Fer tuppence I’d go jump in the Mersey only it looks like rain. –Ringo

  21. Everyone knows Penny Lane was a response to Strawberry Fields Forever. And ‘Strawberry’ being a LSD trip that the Beatles grow fond of around this time – a drug still sold on the corner of Penny Lane today by Mick The Nose. With the song Penny Lane also being famous for the use of the Piccolo Trumpet, and Piccolo Trumpet being a nickname given to Paul McCartney whilst growing up in Walton. His body to be later found, piccolo trumpet in hand, sodden in LSD.

    So we put all this together, and it seems Korg are bringing out a Psychedelic Piccolo Trumpet, the Korg PPT-1 is both a midi wind controller and LSD dispenser all in one sleek body form – a fine and fitting tribute to the late Paul McCartney.

  24. The right of the mellotro are reserved and there is already instruments, wich hare allowed to reproduce the sounds of the Mellotron. A Korg Mellotron would not make much sense.

  25. As Penny Lane was recorded to tape maybe a 4 track mixer and tape recorder with tube’s? Connect up some volcas and you got a setup to record and play live. Probably not, but who knows with Korg?

  27. There’s no cheap Mellotron-like keyboard out there, currently, but I don’t think Korg would market something like this. What about a new CX3?

  33. I was in Penny Lane today , they might be fetching out some tins of paint? or a bench for the tourists or
    some rose tinted glasses?
    Greetings from the north of England.

  34. Please let it be something besides more 3/4-sized nostalgia or more EDM crapola. How about something that DOESN’T have a step sequencer bolted on, or feature 12 variations on a one-finger minor 7th chord? (Disclaimer: my opinion is docked 30% due to a loose anti-rave bias.) Less cowbell, less drubstep, more wild-assed piano, organ and polysynth solos that prove you know WTF you’re doing. Play like that over the beats and more people will demand that a stamp be made of you so they can lick it.

  37. Judging by the continual re-releases … the vintage image…

    I would say the new release will be small and have absolutely no imagination other than being an exercise in how to re-manufacture and miniaturise a previous product 🙁

  38. I just played Penny Lane backwards and i heard John sing “Paul is dead. He got electrocuted by another MS-20 remake”

  40. It’s not a Mellotron – A sample pack for Volca Sample would be the easy way and Korg is not having the same approach as Yamaha Reface.
    Why not a Volca 8 ch mixer inspired by the EMI REDD mixer somehow?!

  43. I’m sick and tired with all those over-hyped teasers that in the end just don’t bring any interesting product. Just another tiny-key little neo-retro gadget I don’t care and don’t need…

    I won’t really be interested by anything Korg could release, unless they release a new Kronos with larger multi-touch screen, motorized faders and pads, with ability to use VST/AU plugins and Kontakt sample libraries with new high-end CPU (Quad i7 class or higher), with 64GB of RAM and four 2.5″ drive slots for storage (such Drobo Mini with support of 16TB SSD per slot)… for the price of the current Kronos (or cheaper)…

    But coming from Korg, I guess we’ll have to wait at least another 10 to 15 years for that kind of keyboard.

      1. I know and that’s already what I’m currently using… I haven’t wait on Korg to get what I wanted.
        It would be great to have it on a “all-in-one” keyboard (to go from studio to studio, or on stage), but they won’t bring this kind of solution anytime soon. So I’ll stick with my solution based on a computer.

        Note: yeah, I should have write: Pads and Motorized faders… but who knows, maybe 20 years from now, when Korg will be ready to release this kind of keyboard, we might see some kind of “motorized pads” by then, LOL…

  44. “Liverpool” is the title of FGTH´s second (and last) album. Just like Grace Jones´ “Slave to the Rhythm” the record was entirely produced on the Synclavier by tech mastermind und guitarist Stephen Lipson, my all-time favorite pop producer. My guess and hope is that Korg is going to relaunch NED´s Synclavier w/ mini keys. I would purchase one in a second.

    1. The Synclavier’s antique red display characters are pure @$$. I prefer my synth displays in blue. 😛 They will all crap out over time, even the crispy OLEDs, but a sharp 2-line alphanumeric display still beats that vacuum-tube look by several parsecs. That’s part of why its easy to love the heck out of softsynths: no display restrictions, unless the programmer’s skills are also pure @$$. Red or blue characters over a black background should equal a medium beating for the designer.

  45. I sincerely hope whatever it is being teased will be something exciting and useful. Likely it will be neither: the Beatles catalog remastered for AudioGate 3.

  48. Not sure about the Penny Lane reference, but I’d love Korg to do more ARP re-issues; A 2600 and a Quadra for starters. Then do a matching MS-50 for the MS-20 Mini.

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