MicroKorg

[Mooncat]

Welcome - I too am a member of the 'drummer that buys too much non drummy gear for his own good' fraternity.
As you say, drums and cymbals make several noises, but guitars and keyboard make soooo many more (although combining the two with something like the Roland SPD-S is quite rewarding!!!!)

[El_Mayonnaise]

Indeed brother. I find myself, most likely as with many of you here, fascinated by sounds/noises/audible sugar and drums are such a basic instrument, in terms of sound generation, that they just don't always satisfy.

I agree running drums through different filters is a bit of a laugh.

Oooh and soundscapes.

Although the retro prog synth sounds that sometimes emanate from Judess or Jodfrey are pretty good, I'll never be reaching that level.

[boswell]

It seems I've arrived a little late to be of service, unless you do plum for one in the end.

I've had my Korg for about 2 years now. It's just your bog standard MicroKorg but it does have nice inverted colour harpsichord keys.

The presets are fairly limited, in that they have set banks of 16. These banks are labelled "Hip Hop" "RnB" "DnB" "Techno" etc. etc. etc .etc.. Lamentably no Prog section. I was thinking of scratching off the Hip Hop bank and overwriting the presets.

As for sounds, there are some nice sounds in there, and if you can be bothered to tweak (I'd recommend the free PC program that syncs via midi cable) you can get some pretty deep sounding griggly noises. It's a great first step into programming synths.

The vocoder is fun but not really usable. Perhaps it's just my paltry voice, but I can't get it to sound nice and big like a vocoder should. It just sounds washed out.

There is however one preset, which I use in one song and one song only, that I like so much that it warrants taking the whole bloody machine to shows as well as my big keyboard. It gets used once and then sits there, marginally improving my appearance as a keyboardist with lots of important gear.

There you go, my first review. This time next year I'll be editor of SoS  :lol:

[El_Mayonnaise]

:lol: What's the sound Boswell?

The presets I find myself using by default are the Wheel Ld, Organ and the splendidly named Bad Girl  

[boswell]

Well it sounds like you've got the XL (macrokorg?)

I don't know how there Banks are organised, but the MIcroKorg just has banks and numbers.

The sound in question is (from the top of my head) I think Bank A - patch 5 in Drum and Bass.

I've modified it a bit but it's a nice LFO'd bandpass square lead sound that sort of evolves a bit with legato playing.

Not quite distinguishable on it's own to be a lead, but I play it in conjunction with my favourite custom Fantom lead in a sort of tri-octave pattern before doing a bit of soloing. I don't know if "Throw Away your Television" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers means anything to you, but it's similar to the synth at the end of that.

Now....how to translate that so a drummer can understand......It sounds awesome!

[El_Mayonnaise]

So a drummer can understand?  :shock:

I may be a drummer but I'm learning, just give me time  
I remember that being one reason why I went for the XL, the fact that the patches were just guesswork. Not a great starting place for a starter to start. Plaice.

P.s.

Could very well be the Bad Girl patch

[boswell]

Sorry we musicians can be a touch condescending at times  :lol:

I jest. I actually have a kit but I haven't the foggiest how to use it. I've only just discovered that you get a better sound out of it by using the long wooden pencil things on the flat circle boxes rather than the metal poles. The big metal dinner plate things still confuse me, so I've been using them as ashtrays and I can only barely pick out a tune on the neckless banjo. I still haven't worked out what the padded leather drum is for...

[El_Mayonnaise]

That's alright old biscuit. Just out of curioisity, what baand is it you play with. Or if you're solo what moniker do you go by?

[boswell]

Oh we're not famous or anything. No where near. We just play local gigs. We're called Perceived as Equals, and we're a mishmash of all kinds of genre's:

Perceived As Equals are a North East based, five piece alternative rock band. Taking influences ranging from Metallica, Miles Davis and Massive Attack, PAE fuse a unique sound based around driving guitars and keyboards that always lead to an exciting, energetic live show.

That's from Washington Arts Centre website http://www.artscentrewashington.co.uk/e ... vent3.html
Frankly I think they did well to put that into words. PAE is...how would you say...eccentric... :?

I'm hoping to do some solo stuff under the name of Jeff Grant, but that's a long way off. A mix of electronic, prog, rock and classical...and jazz...and "vokaliz"......looong way off.

Sorry rereading my last post I realised the sarcasm in referring to myself as a musician might not be immediately obvious.  

What about El Mayonaise? Who do you drum for?

[El_Mayonnaise]

Well nothing so far but I am in the making of a band with 2 university friends. Slow at the moment as we only formed a few weeks prior to easter and now we're all back at our homes for the break.

If we get something done it'll get posted somewhere on this forum  

[boswell]

I look forward to seeing you in Friends of Frost  

I'd post some of our stuff but all we have are badly produced demos of songs which wouldn't really fit here.

[El_Mayonnaise]

It's gone! It's sold! I got bored of it!  :lol:


Seriously, I lost all interest in the write protected synth patches 12 seconds after figuring they were write protected. In agreement with Boswell, there was only one distorted bass lead that was any good.

After I got bored of those I only ever really used the piano and Wurlitzer PCM and really, why would I need a synthesiser for that?

So where now guys? £250 ready to spend on my hearts desires. I'm thinking a Korg Micro-x and a 49 key midi controller at least. I realise that might be stretching the budget but ho hum, a man can dream.




Mini keys? What was up with that? :roll:

[boswell]

Was that the MikroKorg XL?

The Mikrokorg (standard) actually isn't write protected, in fact you can (and I have) completely overwri(t)te(n) the entire patch catalogue. Plus if you've got a Midi interface on your Police Constable, then you can back up and edit the patches onto that. Then all it takes is a factory reset to get them back.

I'm actually taking a more serious look at my MK since hooking it up with a proper dynamic mic, and discovering the vocoder ISN'T the pile of fail I thought it was. Sadly it shall be getting sold in the near future.


Midi Controllers are a staple. With the right Plugins you've got the synth of your dreams anyway, especially if you're willing to pay for some Pro Vsti's. Of course you're limited to the studio then, but you can invest in some rack synths, which are obscenely versatile.

Invest in a decent one though. Stay away from Emu Xboard. From personal experience I have to keep reinstalling the bastard machine after every time I unplug the USB lead, or even shut down. Basically at the start of every session. Support is useless.  :roll:

[Jem]

I love this bit of the forum. We're as free as young lambs to descend into the most obscenely technical gabber about kit. Hurrah!

[johninblack]

I love this bit of the forum. We're as free as young lambs to descend into the most obscenely technical gabber about kit. Hurrah!

Or not if you're a gear simpleton like me. :lol: