Korg Intros Liverpool Arranger Mini-Keyboard, Inspired By The Beatles

korg-liverpool-arranger-the-beatles

Korg today introduced the Liverpool Professional Arranger – a Beatles-inspired arranger mini-keyboard that they say ‘pays tribute to the legendary duo’ of Lennon & McCartney.

The new keyboard is based on the Korg microArranger, but is updated with 64 Lennon & McCartney Styles.

korg-liverpool-arranger-front

Here’s what Korg has to say about the new Liverpool Professional Arranger keyboard:

From Day Tripper to Let It Be, all you need to do is play chords with your left hand, and the Liverpool automatically provides an accompaniment that matches the feel of the original song. Use your right hand to play the melody, and those classic songs are reborn.

Alternatively, add your own chords and melodies to use the accompaniments as inspirations to create your own musical works. It’s totally up to you.

Here’s the official intro video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBA5NHDoOh0

Here are the official audio demos:

https://soundcloud.com/korg/sets/liverpool-demo-songs

The Liverpool will be available November 2015 for a street price of $599.99. See the Korg site for details.

90 thoughts on “Korg Intros Liverpool Arranger Mini-Keyboard, Inspired By The Beatles”

    3. This is truly a collectors item….I bet you 1,000 pounds…that this thing will be sold for very rude amounts in ebay 10 years from now =)

  10. It’s gonna sell really well….the Beatles songs are timeless classics..hooked up to a keyboard that has them inside is a smart move…gonna be a massive seller.

    not a keyboard i’d personally want but in the yamaha/casio home keyboard area this will knock ’em dead.

    just watch this thing sell out.

  15. Uhhh god when will people realize the beatles were overrated af. Also, beatles fans are the only people who completely lose their collective s*** when anyone questions whether or not they are considered ‘good music’. Tell any other fanbase ‘I don’t get the appeal’ and they will try and convince you otherwise. Beatles fans just respond with “OMG THEYRE THE BEST GROUP IN ALL OF MUSIC YOU ARE A F****** IDIOT PAUL MACARTNEY CHANGED MUSIC FOREVER”

  17. Well I’ll step into the viper pit and say that I kinda like this, although the front panel is too busy with all the MicroArranger controls pasted over a Union Jack motif. And being that I own a MicroArranger anyway (hence I won’t be buying a Liverpool) I will inevitably get the Liverpool’s Lennon/McCartney midi files and patterns to play with, so I consider that an update! The Liverpool is cute and I think Korg is nuts for putting the effort into making it.

  19. It’s extremely ugly and the target market must be beginner keyboardists over 50. May god have mercy on the ears of any nearby beatles fans.

  20. In my whirl it’s a Boo Radleys themed keyboard complete with Ed Ball’s trade mark Boo elements and Creation era artwork in the style of their LP’s and singles. BOO Forever!

  22. If they did this for Pink Floyd sounds, and raised the price (and the quality — this thing sounds TERRIBLE), this could truly be a great idea. Floyd sounds are complex, both live and in the studio, and no keyboards I’ve ever owned nailed them. But The Beatles? What keyboardist do you know goes through life thinking, “God, if I could just nail the sound of The Beatles…”

    I mean I get stuff like the Abbey Road Collection, but what market does this cater to?

    Korg never disappoints. Well, I guess never say never.

  24. this is “””NEW KORG””
    like NEW COKE
    where they try to compete with CASIO
    and after lots of public outcry
    “”KORG CLASSIC”” will be back

  26. LOL. This new corporate fad with all these mysterious teasers released in advance seems to backfire every time.

    If Yamaha and Korg get some sense in their marketing department, they could at least look at what people are guessing and realize those are products that might have some interest.

    1. Good idea, but most of the suggestions that people make are completely unrealistic (mini keyboards should cost the same as a monotron) or too niche (they need to make an 76-key version, they should have made a Euro version).

      Meanwhile, the microKorg is the best-selling synth of the last decade. So, it’s no wonder that everybody and their mother is trying to come up with a microKorg-killer.

      I’m hoping that Korg will replace the microKorg with a new version that has the same basic features, but is a true analog, instead of a virtual analog. It seems like this should be possible if they keep it at 4 voices.

  27. Korg will laugh all the way to the bank on this.

    This keyboard will get covered in places like Gizmodo and TechCrunch and in mainstream publications.

    This isn’t for the beard-stroking ‘muso’ audience – this is a product designed to reach a broader mainstream audience, that doesn’t know who or what Korg is, and to turn them into Korg users.

    This is exactly the type of thing that companies like Korg should be doing, because these inexpensive mini keyboards are what pay the bills so that they can make the uber-keyboards that we all lust after.

  31. As much as I don’t like they keyboard myself I can see there being a market for it. The problem I see is is that it was hyped up with a teaser trailer aimed at synth heads (I presume) but clearly the keyboard is aimed at occasional home users and people looking for something simple maybe as a Christmas present for a child etc. If it gets people interested in playing/learning/performing music then all well and good. Imagine giving a DS prophet to a kid to learn to play keyboard on, I think that might be a bit daunting huh? If you don’t like something sometimes you just gotta let it go or consider who might benefit from it. I’m not saying you can’t express you’re opinion but sometimes you have to look at things form someone else’s perspective rather than just your own. As a community of musicians we should be trying to encourage each other not just criticizing all the time. Unfortunately it seems to happen far too often. Come on guys lets all just lighten up a bit, we are supposed to be having fun with our art.
    (P.S. I am in no way connected to Korg but I do own a MicroKorg and love it)
    Sorry for the long post guys.

  33. i tend to agree with the folks who are looking at this thing going “WTF?” — look, yeah, there’s a market – the same narket Casio used to sell to with its tune-playin keyboards. But trying to sell that market on a $600 professional level synth? What is KORG smoking? And I’ll second whoever said that the arrangements sound like a crappy pub band, or worse like a crappy lounge lizard singing to bad GM arrangements. And even if it has a decent Mellotron flute, so does Kontakt, at a more reasonable price, and without the ugly.. Best thing for the looks of this one is to set it on fire a bit, cigarette burn it a bit, and then play it in a retro British punk cover band!

  37. Maybe no one is aware of Christmas marketing. This is perfectly timed to have something under the tree, whether its for dad the hobbyist (or fanatical Beatles completest) or the kids. This should do pretty well. And it isn’t like Korg hasn’t been doing amazing things the past several years in ALL categories of synthesis and at all price points. Everybody should just lighten up…so this isn’t for the hardcore keyboardist or synthisist. This is a product targeted squarely for the family at Christmas.

  40. This is a good one for the “It’s not the gear, its the musician”. One of those people needs to take this and PROVE to the rest of us how it’s not about the gear.

  42. After the brilliance of the re-release of the ARP Odyssey, why, why….why??? What is Korg thinking here? There might be a few burned out ‘tribute bands’ that might look at this thing, but surely Korg’s main market is to the serious musician. If Korg had been listening to its market there are many other better things it could have done with its money – more re-issues of classic vintage synths – and its a no brainer that Korg should-re-issue more ARP gear; better new synths that can compete with the best that Moog, Dave Smith Instruments, Roland, and others can throw at them. The sad thing is that Korg have spent probably quite a bit of money putting this together that could have been better spent on more serious instruments. When Korg make something as brilliant as the Kronos workstation, why bother with tacky arranger keyboards like this? Not on my shopping list – that’s for sure.

  45. Seriously!? Was this conceived from a drunk night out in Liverpool? What the hell were Korg thinking? Is there really a user base for this? Was any market research even conducted? Goodness me! I absolutely respect Korg for their amazing products, the MS-20, Arp Odyssey and even their iPad apps, but THIS is an abomination!

  46. It does have two related special features though – demonstrated in the video.

    Apparently, if you take it outside and balance it one one foot, it automatically transports you to a music venue and transmutes your threads into something marginally better than you started off the day with.

    😀

    1. Sounds and looks like a $50 Casio keyboard at Walmart, but this begging to be sold at the Guitar Center for $399 is wishful thinking. I just came to this site to check out the demo songs.
      KORG has really done damage to its own reputation. If it takes batteries and if the price were to drop by 90 percent, I might buy it for a little kid in the family.

  58. Where are the rest of the “75 thoughts” on this article? Did a Korg/Beatles fan boy/girl from synthtopia get irritated by all the negative comments and delete them?

      1. No broken code or site changes today – sometimes the site gets hammered by traffic, though, which can cause some of the database queries that are used to built a page to time out.

        Pages on busy sites like Synthtopia get cached, to speed page loads. So, if you this comment issue occur, it should go away after a few minutes when the page is next regenerated.

        We have not seen this occur frequently enough to justify investing in more powerful servers.

        1. this site is going down fast. i get that you’re trying to keep people up to date on music tech, but when the majority of your fanbase is not an amateur and or “i” musician and all the commenters keep asking to stop talking about crap products like this…well then maybe you should listen. but hey it’s only 2015….who doesn’t need or want a solid GM sound bank?!?! more like sh*ttopia

  60. yaiks.. no, no no no no no… please Korg.. stop!! continue with the fun stuff (but got rid of the minikeys), but not these cheesy things

  61. I love this idea. The Beatles got me started on guitar, harmony singing, playing keyboards, writing songs.
    I have a home recording studio with higher tech stuff, but I can’t program the whole damn thing to play 100 Beatle songs or to have 64 Beatles styles. I see this as pure fun, reliving the best time of my life, creating quasi Beatle songs, mixing the older stuff that I loved with my newer tech gear. What’s with these crotchety giddy duddies bitching about everything? So don’t get it. It’s low cost enough that millions of people can just plain have fun with this keyboard. It’s not meant to replace Korg or Yamaha high end work stations. It ain’t
    Prog rock. It’s meant for people who love the Beatles and can one-man- band most of their repertoire. Alone, in their room, they feel great, nobody needs listen. Call it musical masturbation. Everyone does it, no one needs to know, and it feels great! I ordered mine today, and can’t wait till it arrives. Just they way I felt about looking forward to a new Beatle album to be released. Let’s face it; how many of us look forward to new albums like we did if we were there, at that time of sex, drugs, and rock and roll? Are you waiting with baited breath for the next robotic machine made electronic dance “music?” It’s only rock and roll. I like it. It’s the Beatles. I love it.

  62. The Beatles just started streaming this last month. There was something like 250 millions plays in the first week. The whole Beatles Style Keyboard is decades overdue. This version of the Korg microARRANGER is General Midi 2 compliant, which is a whole additional 128 voices over the old GM format. The mini keys are here to stay just like streaming tunes, so get over it. Korg gets it and is the leader in small apps for synths. There simply is no other body of work that is so enduring as the Beatles catalog. It will be studied for centuries just as the Classical composers are. What the Korg Liverpool does for all of us is lay down the basic structures, chord progressions, harmonies, percussions, whether they are from drum beats or instruments, in a format we can explore, play with and use for our own creations and enjoyment. There seriously is NOTHING available whether it is software or hardware that does this. I’ve played with musicians for years that can NOT get the Mersy Groove right. If I can push a button and go with the Liverpool, I’m all in. Face it. One College course will cost more than this keyboard and not get you inside the music like this thing will. I hope KORG continues in this vein. I haven’t bought a NEW synthesizer for years and bought this one the DAY I found it existed. To me it’s priceless and I will keep it with my VOX AC-30, Rickenbacker 325, Hofner Bass and enjoy exploring the Beatles genius as never before. I also praise the Korg mimiSAMPLER which recreates and of the Beatlesque sounds easily and accurately with very nice versatility. I choose hardware over software because you don’t have to run everything through the same processor and it’s much easier to not have to deal with upgrades and compatibility issues. If you use the authentic equipment great music was played on, you don’t have to chase a sound, it’s there and always will be. The KORG Liverpool has tons of capability beyond the Beatles Styles so there really is no way to lose.

  64. That’s gotta be theee worse piece of gear ever put out by Korg. At least it seems it was a total flop are there’s a store here in New Zealand selling for half the release price and it seems they have more than one… If at least they had put actual keys on it, or marketed for children…

  66. Try buying new now ….. Not a chance and prices seem to be going crazy if you can find one !!! …..great board to use in tandem with other arrangers…as these styles are not exportable/editable. and ideal as a ‘holiday’ board to take a way, as this is the very time I get chance to play.
    Ok it’s not a looker – but for a ‘plug and play’ board its amazing

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