Korg Pa4X Review Manual And Enveloped

Nonetheless, AL1 is a powerful synthesizer capable of imitating many revered vintage synths, as well as creating huge ranges of sounds unavailable in the heyday of analogue synthesis.

However, while its EDS (Enhanced Definition Synthesis) sound generator was based upon the core HD1 (High Definition) synthesizer engine in the flagship OASYS, it offered a smaller ROM, less processing power, less sample RAM, fewer effects slots, and lower polyphony.

Whats more, it didnt support the OASYSs EXis (expansion instruments), so six of the OASYS sound generators were missing.

I concluded that the M3 was more a step up from Korgs Triton than a step down from their OASYS, and was not a replacement for the companys previous flagship.

And, although its sombre styling is more reminiscent of an M1 or a Wavestation, its control panel also looks suspiciously like that of an OASYS.

So is this the instrument to take Korg forward into the next decade.

Despite being very simple to use, the results can be outstanding.

In the OASYS, HD1 drew upon 1505 multisamples and 1388 drum samples, plus two expansion libraries: EXs1, which included 229 multisamples and 1483 drum samples, and EXs2, which offered 10 concert grand piano multisamples, all of which resided on its 40GB internal hard drive.

Later, an optional upgrade (EXs3) added a further 700MB of brass and woodwind samples, although this could only be used if you expanded the OASYS to its maximum 2GB of RAM.

But in addition to this, it also includes, as standard, no fewer than six further expansion libraries, EXs4 to EXs9, comprising Vintage Keyboards, a second ROM expansion, two new piano libraries, and two new drum libraries.

Korg Pa4X Review Manual And Enveloped

Then theres the Vector Synthesis that lies at the heart of every Program, allowing manual and enveloped control over dozens of voicing parameters, and Drum Tracks (see below) that are integrated within each, to say nothing of the KARMA algorithmic composition technology, which can be used for anything from building simple arpeggios to complete tracks.

It can sound fantastic and, if Im honest, I dont think that anyone will ever exhaust the possibilities of HD1, especially with the new EXs libraries on board.

SGX1, which is one of eight expansion instruments in the Kronos, offers eight velocity layers per note, with the natural piano noises damper thunk, case noises and so on separated out for independent control.

No longer does a realistic attack turn into a featureless loop when a key is held, and each note now decays smoothly for as long as 30 seconds from its beginning to its end.

The sampling is firstrate for both, and the noise layers add considerably to the illusion, both for the player and the listener.

However, rather than offer just two pianos based upon these, the two sample families have been moulded into 32 preset instruments that you can further customise using a dozen or so parameters, and theres also an option to choose one of two soundfields: that which you would hear facing the keyboard as the player, and that which you would hear in the audience with the piano sideon.

I prefer the latter, which has excellent ambience and is more appropriate to anybody but the player anyway.

In this, parameters are derived from the preanalysis of samples, and sounds are then rebuilt from these in real time when you play.

There are just three tabs of controls: the Basic page, where you select which of six pianos (three Fender Rhodes and three flavours of Wurlitzer) will form the basis of the sound; the Oscillator page, where you adjust parameters such as the attack and release noise, the hammer width, and so on; and the PanelIFXAmp page, which offers controls almost identical to those of the original instruments, as well as a selection of stompbox effects bearing names such as Small Phase (recalls the Electro Harmonix Small Stone), Orange Phase (inspired by the MXR Phase 90) and Vintage Chorus (provides a Roland CE1 Chorus feel).

My only criticism of EP1 is the absence of Hohner Pianet and Clavinet models, so I called Korg and asked the question.

The response I received boiled down to, youve got to start somewhere, which suggests that there could be updates in the future.

Overflowing with morphing oscillators, multimode filters with 22 filter profiles, EGs with selectable slope profiles, LFOs with nearly 200 waveform variations, multiple AMS Mixers, and much more, it was never going to reveal its secrets quickly or easily.

Whats more, while Korg have done everything possible to lay these facilities out clearly, its still a long way from a knobtwiddlers preconceptions of how an analogue synth should be programmed and controlled.