Here’s a roundup of early reviews and demos for the new Korg multi/poly synthesizer, a new synthesizer in their opsix/wavestate format that offers 60-voice polyphony, three types of oscillators, Kaoss Physics, Motion Sequencing 2.0 and more.
In his loopop video, above, synth guru Ziv Eliraz reviews the Korg multi/poly, offering an in-depth look at the new synth, audio demos, and his take on the instrument’s pros and cons. “It sounds great,” notes Eliraz, praising the synth’s synthesis capabilities and sound. On the cons side, he cites the smallish screen, the size of the keyboard and its lack of aftertouch.
The BoBeats doesn’t go quite as deep, but has an extended section demonstrating how to create sounds from scratch on the multi/poly. He recommends the multi/poly for people that really like to dig deep into sound design, but recommends that people that want a more immediate synth look elsewhere.
In the last video, sound designer John “Skippy” Lehmkuhl (PlugInGuru) shares his take on the Korg multi/poly, with an emphasis on sound design:
Lehmkuhl is one of the sound designers that created patches for the multi/poly, so his video showcases some of his work, and is probably the best video of the bunch for showcasing the synth’s sound.
He calls the multi/poly ‘a monster’, and praises its sound and capabilities.
Check out the video, and share your thoughts on the new Korg multi/poly in the comments!
People keep hollering for “new” when frankly, every method human ears can perceive is pretty much available. These days, its more about refinement and polishing GUIs for easier handling.
Every synth is a monster inside now. Editors are common and should be. A Multi/Poly is so synth-complete, you could do almost anything with just this and a couple of plug-ins for orchestral things or real piano. Of course, only you know how many mega-synths you need.
Its a big plus to have Lehmkuhl on the voicing team. He’s one of the wizards who have given classic Korg synths such power over the years. I should know. My name is Dave and I’m a Korgaholic.
looks like a serious contender to me.. im wondering why there is no hype?
seems odd
Yay, all advertisement in one place.
Even though is a real improvement over the last Korg r/pi based synths, it still lacks a little bit of refinement:
– No aftertouch
– Cheesy and unusable FX
– It should have 49 keys
– It should have another screen, just like the one it already has, to show persistent information. Or just doubling the width of the current one.
– More advanced arpeggiator and phrasing-sequencing
– The UI (synth layout) is really crowded, and some parameters have to be tweaked by navigating through messy page full of other parameters. If it had 49 keys, there would be more real estate to take those parameters out of page-diving hell.
– As powerful and complete that it seems, control for both filters A and B should be independent and not having to use macro knobs, assignments or using LFOs to avoid tweaking them manually. I don’t want full automation to take control of my filters, I like to play with them at my will.
The refined models are going to be backported to wavestate and modwave users? Or are we going to be again
Korg should learn from Arturia and from Elektron. You can buy anything from these guys knowing that you will get every single function they think about, without having to pay again. It’s 2024 and
Korg would be insane to build a box that can do it all. Companies need to sell to exist… So products need specs spread across the field, otherwise people would buy one thing and be done with. Moog, Sequential, Arturia, Elektron, or anyone else that’s been around for a while, does this. From a business perspective, it’s suicide.
Korg has built synths that do everything in the past, and people just aren’t buying those expensive all-in-one keyboard workstations anymore.
Workstations are inherently much more complex than this, because they do so much, and they have to compete with DAWs, which let you do things in a much more graphical way.
You see that with Elektron’s boxes, which are universally recognized for being challenging to learn.
Korg’s series of compact synths is excellent across the board, and the whole point is that you can buy only the hardware that you want or need. They introduce the mid-range compact version, then they add a software version, a desktop module and a premium version.
It’s a fantastic approach. I’ve got an OG Wavestate, and it’s one of the most powerful and great-sounding synths I have, and the fact that it can be used standalone or in your DAW is fantastic, and even better that you only have to pay for the capabilities that you want.
Because of price and not being a keyboard player, I never considered workstations, but now I would and may trade with the exception of my Minifreak all of my six keyboards for a workstation.
Back in the late 80s a 5-octave keyboard with aftertouch was considered standard for any synth. Even Roland’s entry-level “Alpha Juno 2”.
Nowadays, rather than having a useless 3 octave keyboard, I’d rather have a module that I can play over MIDI. And that would reduce KORG’s costs whilst making the product more useful.
Yeah, it’s an annoying practice, but at least Korg usually offers the synth as a desktop/rack module a few months down the line, so at least people like us who see no use for 3 octave keyboards* can get what we want, we just need to be patient. I’m sure if Yamaha had done something like that with the Reface DX a few years ago, they could have sold a lot more units. Maybe add a bit more control over the synth engine on the module version.
*They can sort of make sense on a monosynth (i still prefer 49 or 61 keys), but in a poly with 60 voices of polyphony, it feels about as sensible as releasing a supercar with a V12 engine as a unicycle.
Virtual analog. What a joke
Fetishizing 50 year-old technology is what’s a joke.
This thing is a beast and sounds great. Would you be happier if it was four-voice paraphonic?
so many jokes out there
A Mono/Poly with wavetables? Don’t they already have the Wavestation?