Mini-Korg 700s and K-2 two different synths?

drummy · Post by **drummy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:31 am

Hey guys. I just won a K-2 off of eBay. I thought it was the same as the Mini-Korg 700s but apparently they have some differences. Check this out:

This is the picture of the 700s:

http://www.sequencer.de/pix/korg/minikorg.jpg

And then check this out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

But I also see this:

http://www.cykong.com/Synths/Korg%20700S/Korg700S.htm

Looks exactly the same as the one I bought, but it says Mini Korg 700S on it.

You can see that the labels are different on the panel. The Univox one that I won says Mini-Korg 2 (and K-2), the other one says Synthesizer mini Korg 700s. You can also see some differences in the panel, the panel on the 700s has silver knobs and sliders on the top panel, the Mini Korg 2 has black sliders and knobs, and the bottom three switches are black, and the 700s has white switches. The Mini Korg 2 has three sliders on top, the 700s has two (interesting). Anyone know if these differences are purely cosmetic, or did I not get a 700s or what? Anyone know if these things sound the same? Thanks for any help.

Man, I'm look at that last URL, and it seems like, there's a trillion different versions of this thing...

Post by **nathanscribe** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:20 am

There's an article on the Korg versions here you might find interesting. There were two models, the 700 and 700S. The S had extra features, which is apparently what you've got.

drummy · Post by **drummy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:26 am

nathanscribe wrote:There's an article on the Korg versions here you might find interesting. There were two models, the 700 and 700S. The S had extra features, which is apparently what you've got.

Oh yeah, I know that, but I mean, there seems to be a lot of different versions of the S model, which is what I am trying to say.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:55 am

Here's some info on Univox, Keio (Korg) and the different versions of the 700S that I copied and pasted from an earlier post of mine

UNICORD owned the Univox brand and for many years was the US importer of Korg (Keio Electronic) and Crumar/Crucianelli products. Unicord kept marketing Univox equipment until 1978 or so but stopped rebadging Korg products in 1975 or 1976 because they decided the Korg name had more value than the Univox name.

In 1985 UNICORD was bought up by Keio. In that same year Keio changed their corporate name to Korg Inc.

It's quite interesting to note that *Korg* was just a brandname until 1985.

mini-KORG 700 = Univox MINI-KORG (K-1)
mini-Korg 700S = Univox MINI-KORG 2 (K-2)

There were two slightly different versions of the Mini-Korg 700S (and the identical Univox Mini-Korg 2 (K-2). Afaik, only the second version** had a fine-tune slider in the "effects" section.

Moreover, they use different types of switches for 'effect', 'sustain long' and 'travel vibrato'; the first version has white plastic switches, whereas the second version has the same type as found on the Maxi-Korg 800DV Synthe-bass, 900PS and other Korg synths from that era.

** I'm not sure when this update took place but Korg adverts from 1976 still show the older model.

Hope this helps

Micke

OMNI26 · Post by **OMNI26** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:03 am

I LOVE the MiniKorg (K1 or K2)....but holy c**p - $600 for one!?! Wow! I don't think I've ever seen one sell for so much. Oh well!

Anyway, I think the Minikorg K1 (which is the only version I ever owned) is one of the best single-oscillator monosynths ever made. If you really want to hear what one sounds like, check out anything on The Cars' first two albums.....all of Greg Hawkes' synth solos were the MiniKorg (i.e., Just What I Needed, Bye Bye Love, etc.).

In fact, I sold Greg Hawkes my MiniKorg a couple of years ago. He needed a backup for his tour with The New Cars, but amazingly he was still using the SAME MiniKorg that he had recorded all those albums with and had used on every Cars tour through the years, from 1977 until now....and it still worked, despite all that use! Talk about reliability!

drummy · Post by **drummy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:14 am

Wow Micke, thanks a lot, that was REALLY helpful!

From the looks of it, it looks like I have the second version of the Univox versions, although I don't see why they would use the white switches later on for the Kord versions. And yes, $600 is a lot for one, I was only plannign to spend about $500 max, but I loved the sound of it so much I decided to spend a little more! I am excited to get it.

drummy · Post by **drummy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:38 am

Does anyone know if there are any sound differences?

insky · Post by **insky** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:03 am

Wow these are really going up in price. That's what I paid for my Maxi-Korg. A year ago you could have gotten one of these for under $300. The Maxi-Korgs are even more rediculous in price now...although it's hard to tell what the going rate of one is since you hardly see them sell.

drummy · Post by **drummy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:08 am

insky wrote:Wow these are really going up in price. That's what I paid for my Maxi-Korg. A year ago you could have gotten one of these for under $300. The Maxi-Korgs are even more rediculous in price now...although it's hard to tell what the going rate of one is since you hardly see them sell.

heh, I just HAD to get it. I would have bid up to $1,000. That's how badly I wanted it.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:50 pm

OMNI26 wrote:
Anyway, I think the Minikorg K1 (which is the only version I ever owned) is one of the best single-oscillator monosynths ever made. If you really want to hear what one sounds like, check out anything on The Cars' first two albums.....all of Greg Hawkes' synth solos were the MiniKorg (i.e., Just What I Needed, Bye Bye Love, etc.).

Most but not all synth solos on The Cars' first two albums were played on the Mini-Korg 700. Some exceptions that come to mind are the oscillator sync lead sound on "Let's Go" (Candy-O), and the melody on "Dangerous type" both of which were played on the Prophet 5 rev 1.

Moreover, all the keyboard parts on "Moving in stereo" were done on the Arp Omni I.

Greg Hawkes' keyboard rig, circa late 1979.

Micke

Post by **Solderman** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:32 pm

drummy wrote:Does anyone know if there are any sound differences?

I heard a rumor that they can vary greatly in sound from model to model. I can verify this to the extent that demoes on the web of the 700s sound somewhat different than mine, but of course dual filters and the lack of fine tune on earlier ones make some of them hard to recreate just from listening.

Also a few common settings, prominently resonance amount, are only available as internal trimpots. If this setting varies from model to model, all the sounds with Bright switch engaged will certainly be different.
One of the coolest mods you could do to the 700/700s is move the 5k pots for resonance from the internal trimpots to ones on the outside for tweaking.

drummy · Post by **drummy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:24 pm

Solderman wrote:
drummy wrote:Does anyone know if there are any sound differences?
I heard a rumor that they can vary greatly in sound from model to model. I can verify this to the extent that demoes on the web of the 700s sound somewhat different than mine, but of course dual filters and the lack of fine tune on earlier ones make some of them hard to recreate just from listening.

Also a few common settings, prominently resonance amount, are only available as internal trimpots. If this setting varies from model to model, all the sounds with Bright switch engaged will certainly be different.
One of the coolest mods you could do to the 700/700s is move the 5k pots for resonance from the internal trimpots to ones on the outside for tweaking.

Thanks for the reply. I have a manual here for the 700s, and it has some patches, I will try them out on the Univox and see if they sound like what the patches say they're supposed to sound like.

OMNI26 · Post by **OMNI26** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:24 pm

Micke wrote:
OMNI26 wrote:
Anyway, I think the Minikorg K1 (which is the only version I ever owned) is one of the best single-oscillator monosynths ever made. If you really want to hear what one sounds like, check out anything on The Cars' first two albums.....all of Greg Hawkes' synth solos were the MiniKorg (i.e., Just What I Needed, Bye Bye Love, etc.).

Most but not all synth solos on The Cars' first two albums were played on the Mini-Korg 700. Some exceptions that come to mind are the oscillator sync lead sound on "Let's Go" (Candy-O), and the melody on "Dangerous type" both of which were played on the Prophet 5 rev 1.

Moreover, all the keyboard parts on "Moving in stereo" were done on the Arp Omni I.

Micke

Technically, you are correct.....Greg Hawkes used the Prophet on Candy-O, and singlehandedly made the Prophet's "sync sound" famous. But the first album's synths were nothing but the MiniKorg and the ARP Omni. He didn't use the Prophet at all on the first album (since it came out before the Prophet was even on the market!).

Speaking of the Omni, yes it was featured prominently on Moving In Stereo, but there IS some MiniKorg in there, too (the little square-wave blips here and arpeggiations here and there). I confirmed this with Greg personally in conversations I have had with him. Yes, I read that 1979 Keyboard magazine article too which says that the song was all Omni, but apparently that wasn't really true.

OMNI26 · Post by **OMNI26** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:30 pm

insky wrote:Wow these are really going up in price. That's what I paid for my Maxi-Korg. A year ago you could have gotten one of these for under $300. The Maxi-Korgs are even more rediculous in price now...although it's hard to tell what the going rate of one is since you hardly see them sell.

I am simply amazed at what Maxi-Korg's are selling for. I clearly recall seeing those in music stores in the mid-80's during the "analog decline" when nobody wanted anything without MIDI, and ESPECIALLY anything that was not polyphonic. They were really "bottom of the barrel" analogs that could be picked up for next to nothing by then, even at a time when about any analog synth was considered close to worthless, after the introduction of the amazing DX7. MIDI was considered absolutely essential. I mean, if you were going to waste your money at that time on an obsolete keyboard, at least get a Minimoog or an ARP Odyssey! Seriously, that was the attitude.....and I clearly remember passing over several MaxiKorg's in 1984-85 or so as a result.

drummy · Post by **drummy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:31 pm

OMNI26 wrote:
insky wrote:Wow these are really going up in price. That's what I paid for my Maxi-Korg. A year ago you could have gotten one of these for under $300. The Maxi-Korgs are even more rediculous in price now...although it's hard to tell what the going rate of one is since you hardly see them sell.
I am simply amazed at what Maxi-Korg's are selling for. I clearly recall seeing those in music stores in the mid-80's during the "analog decline" when nobody wanted anything without MIDI, and ESPECIALLY anything that was not polyphonic. They were really "bottom of the barrel" analogs that could be picked up for next to nothing by then, even at a time when about any analog synth was considered close to worthless, after the introduction of the amazing DX7. MIDI was considered absolutely essential. I mean, if you were going to waste your money at that time on an obsolete keyboard, at least get a Minimoog or an ARP Odyssey! Seriously, that was the attitude.....and I clearly remember passing over several MaxiKorg's in 1984-85 or so as a result.

Yeah, I was born in 1986, and I didn't even get interested in analogs until like, two years ago, and I got my first analog in December! I'm a bit of a late bloomer. I do wish I got into analogs in the 90s though when everything was infinitely cheaper.