Crazy idea: a mega-MicroKorg

Synthaholic · Post by **Synthaholic** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:38 pm

OT, sort of: I got this idea. Tell me if I've completely flipped my lid.

The idea is to buy up a few busted Microkorgs (busted meaning cosmetically or keys/knobs broken but still plays). Maybe 4 of them, or even 6 or 8 if you're ambitious. Open them up, take the motherboards out, and put them in a rack module along with a MIDI splitter and a power supply. Then you have a MegaMicroKorg with 16 voice polyphony, 4 layers or 4 parts multitimberal, 4 arpeggiators, 4 sets of I/O, 4 vocoders etc. You could use the PC editor or another Microkorg or a MS2K to edit the patches on each of the modules in the rack.

It would be to the Microkorg that the TX816 is to the DX7. Imagine the powerful sounds you could create.

Crazy? Or genius?

i_watch_stars · Post by **i_watch_stars** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:50 pm

I found a pic of one..

Shleed · Post by **Shleed** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:31 pm

For once, I agree with i_watch_stars.

stephen · Post by **stephen** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:35 am

i_watch_stars wrote:I found a pic of one..

That's exactly what my response was going to be

At the moment I'm looking at downsizing some of my kit and I'm thinking a radias rack could replace my microkorg, nova and electribe (EM-1) in one go. I think it would sit well with my an1x.

alfadawg01 · Post by **alfadawg01** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:35 am

Synthaholic wrote:Crazy? Or genius?

Ask the cat who chews on one....

differentbydesign · Post by **differentbydesign** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:38 am

i_watch_stars wrote:I found a pic of one..

I see you have a Radius I am saving for one and wondered if you have anything to say about them ? Do you like it ? etc Pros Cons ?

Ross

Post by **meatballfulton** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:06 pm

differentbydesign wrote:Do you like it ? etc

Yes

Pros Cons ?

Pros:

always multitimbral, no need to switch modes
turning knobs automatically pulls up relevant menus
all presets can be erased and replaced with your own sounds
can be used as MIDI interface for your computer
you can sample audio ("formant motion") for use with vocoder
some uncommon modulation destinations
morphable filter
panning across assignable outputs
lots of sequencing power

Cons:

OSC2 is pretty limited compared to OSC1
rack version has jacks and power switch in a bad location if you actually rack it
some programming options reduce polyphony but manual is unclear which ones and by how much
external power supply
filter morphing is LPF -> HPF -> BPF rather than LPF -> BPF -> HPF

stephen · Post by **stephen** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:51 pm

I've heard the radias sounds more digital than many VAs... How does it compare to the likes of the nova, MS2000 or nord lead?

i_watch_stars · Post by **i_watch_stars** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:52 am

stephen wrote:I've heard the radias sounds more digital than many VAs... How does it compare to the likes of the nova, MS2000 or nord lead?

I see you have a Radius I am saving for one and wondered if you have anything to say about them ? Do you like it ? etc Pros Cons ?

Ross

Ok, I'll tell you guys exactly what I think - and I know there is another thread about the R3, but I think the RADIAS/R3 needs more attention so I really don't care

The RADIAS is basically a type of synth that takes the quanitity of features approach, vs the quality of raw sound. It is the anti-minimoog.

For example, it has unique waveforms, lots of options/modulations (but not to the modular level), lots of effects, EQ, TWO different and STACKABLE types of unison modes, etc, etc.

However, the "raw" sound isn't that great, as in, "phat". It is one of the most digital sounding VA I've played besides the Nord. The filter sounds somewhat "cybernetic". It doesn't matter in the end, because when you work with a feature laden synth such as the RADIAS, you achieve digi-fatness by all of the bells and whistles, and you can achieve more than fatness and go into completely unknown land, which can't always be said for a "phat" analog monosynth I am contrasting the RADIAS with.

Furthermore, it has an outstanding vocoder and comes with some drumkits to sweeten the pot. People slam the presets as per VSE custom, but the truth is the RADIAS's presets are freaking awesome and many of which are really quite original, at the same time showing you what is possible with the synth.

About the Nova, Nord, MS2000 comparison;

The RADIAS is better than the Nova, but not the SuperNova II, supercedes the MS2000, and well....I'm debating to myself why I haven't sold my Nord because it really is a useless peice of c**p compared to every other VA it is supposedly competing with. It has all the digital harsh tinny sound of a Nord, with none of the cool features that the RADIAS has to compensate. And no effects. And its overpriced to h**l. It is red though....

Post by **synth3tik** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:18 am

Arrgh, the Radius is so damn ugly, yuk

thestreets · Post by **thestreets** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:45 am

i_watch_stars wrote:I found a pic of one..

Hahahahahaha. Good one.

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:57 am

i_watch_stars wrote:
stephen wrote:I've heard the radias sounds more digital than many VAs... How does it compare to the likes of the nova, MS2000 or nord lead?

I see you have a Radius I am saving for one and wondered if you have anything to say about them ? Do you like it ? etc Pros Cons ?

Ross
Ok, I'll tell you guys exactly what I think - and I know there is another thread about the R3, but I think the RADIAS/R3 needs more attention so I really don't care

The RADIAS is basically a type of synth that takes the quanitity of features approach, vs the quality of raw sound. It is the anti-minimoog.

For example, it has unique waveforms, lots of options/modulations (but not to the modular level), lots of effects, EQ, TWO different and STACKABLE types of unison modes, etc, etc.

However, the "raw" sound isn't that great, as in, "phat". It is one of the most digital sounding VA I've played besides the Nord. The filter sounds somewhat "cybernetic". It doesn't matter in the end, because when you work with a feature laden synth such as the RADIAS, you achieve digi-fatness by all of the bells and whistles, and you can achieve more than fatness and go into completely unknown land, which can't always be said for a "phat" analog monosynth I am contrasting the RADIAS with.

Furthermore, it has an outstanding vocoder and comes with some drumkits to sweeten the pot. People slam the presets as per VSE custom, but the truth is the RADIAS's presets are freaking awesome and many of which are really quite original, at the same time showing you what is possible with the synth.

About the Nova, Nord, MS2000 comparison;

The RADIAS is better than the Nova, but not the SuperNova II, supercedes the MS2000, and well....I'm debating to myself why I haven't sold my Nord because it really is a useless peice of c**p compared to every other VA it is supposedly competing with. It has all the digital harsh tinny sound of a Nord, with none of the cool features that the RADIAS has to compensate. And no effects. And its overpriced to h**l. It is red though....

everyone's entitled to their opinion... personally I prefer the sound of my Nord Lead 3 over the Radias, even dry without any outboard processing. and that's one thing I have noticed about the Radias, it doesn't work as well with additional effects compared to the Lead 3, Waldorf Bloefeld or my recently sold Access Virus, though it does sound pretty good with the Roland RE-20 Space Echo pedal. could be due to the fact that quite a few of the sounds I edit on the Radias make use of all the onboard effect options available per patch. not to take anything away from the Radias, I agree that it excels at weird and unusual, and with very little effort, which suits me perfectly. it's definitely not the synth to get if you're looking for something to emulate "classic" analog-styled basses, leads and pads.

metrosonus · Post by **metrosonus** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:15 pm

how much of a difference in sound is there between the ms2000 and radias? everyone tells me none, it's an upgraded ms2000, but every time I hear/play a microkorg or ms2000 I cant hep but feel there's a huge difference in the sound.

i_watch_stars · Post by **i_watch_stars** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:06 am

kvnvk wrote:
everyone's entitled to their opinion... personally I prefer the sound of my Nord Lead 3 over the Radias, even dry without any outboard processing. and that's one thing I have noticed about the Radias, it doesn't work as well with additional effects compared to the Lead 3, Waldorf Bloefeld or my recently sold Access Virus, though it does sound pretty good with the Roland RE-20 Space Echo pedal. could be due to the fact that quite a few of the sounds I edit on the Radias make use of all the onboard effect options available per patch. not to take anything away from the Radias, I agree that it excels at weird and unusual, and with very little effort, which suits me perfectly. it's definitely not the synth to get if you're looking for something to emulate "classic" analog-styled basses, leads and pads.

Well, the effects on the RADIAS do suck...I'll admit that. The "reverb" is almost unusable unless you want your sound to be inside a huge tin can.

To be fair, I've never heard the Nord 3, so I can't really comment. Only have heard the 1 and 2.

xpander · Post by **xpander** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:57 am

i_watch_stars wrote:The RADIAS is basically a type of synth that takes the quanitity of features approach, vs the quality of raw sound. It is the anti-minimoog.

totally disagree. fantastic sounding synthesizer.

Crazy idea: a mega-MicroKorg

Crazy idea: a mega-MicroKorg

Re: Crazy idea: a mega-MicroKorg