Korg Z1 Synth Issue 1

E Q Z1 U Korg I P M E Gordon Reid tests the latest keyboard synth from Korg. N t’s got no sequencer, so it’s not a workstation. It’s got The Plucked String model simulates guitars, basses, T I no PCMs, so it’s not an all-singing, all-dancing and harpsichords, but the real surprise is the incredible samploid synth. Maybe the simplest way to approach authenticity with which it recreates Hohner Clavinets. the Z1 is to think of it as a 12-voice polyphonic and six Finally, the Bowed String model emulates instruments to four parameters from a list of 439, with independent Unison, plus highest-, lowest- and last-note priorities, the T part multitimbral Prophecy. It’s an analogy that survives such as violins and cellos, allowing you to define the range and response curves for each. You can also assign Z1 will emulate the playing of any monosynth on the E initial inspection, but it tells far from the whole story… bowing action, the friction between bow and string, the any two parameters to the touch-sensitive XY pad, planet. With its five octave keyboard the polyphonic Z1 string width, and ‘fingering’. There is also an EQ that creating dynamic effects by moving your finger over the is, perversely, the most playable monosynth ever. S Physical models attempts to emulate various body cavities and sizes. pad, and morphing from one sound to another. T Like the Prophecy, the Z1 uses a pair of physically Editing modelled MOSS (Multi-Oscillator Synthesis System) Programs Multis Korg has chosen not to give each parameter its own oscillators as its primary sound sources. However, and in The Z1 mixes four sound sources in a Program. Two of You can combine up to six Programs in a ‘MultiSet’, physical control, and the Trinity’s superb screen has contrast to the Prophecy, the Z1 offers 13 models instead these are the modelled oscillators, and you may allocate although only one Program can respond to the Z1’s per - been replaced by a much smaller 240 x 64 pixel LCD, of nine, the additions being the Resonance Oscillator, any MOSS model to either of them, unless you use the formance controls and editors at any given time. but if you want to make simple edits, fourteen Organ, Electric Piano, and Bowed String models. reed, brass, plucked or bowed models (which require all Miserably, the MultiSet effects buss is identical to a dedicated knobs make Minimoog-esque twiddling The Standard Oscillator model is the one that most the available DSP power for a single oscillator). The third Program’s – in other words, it’s a stereo buss onto which simple and immediate. To get serious, you burrow into closely mimics the analogue synths of yesteryear. It and fourth sources are a sub-oscillator and a noise two Insert effects, a Master effect, and an EQ are hung. Korg’s new software interface which, while not up to the offers all the basic waveforms, plus a ‘wave shaper’ that generator, respectively. The mixed signal from these passes Furthermore, a Z1 will hold just 32 MultiSets and, Trinity's standards, is significantly superior to the increases the harmonic complexity for more interesting through two multi-mode filters, each of which can assume although the largest PCMCIA card expands this to 288, Prophecy’s. A range of graphics guide you and, in many sounds. This is complemented by the Comb Filter five characteristics: low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, band- the basic memory will be inadequate for many users. cases, these show exactly what’s happening whenever Oscillator and Resonance Oscillator models, which reject, and dual band-pass (emulates the formants and res - Another criticism is the lack of outputs. A stereo pair you make an edit. produce a wide range of tonal and atonal sounds, with onances of the human voice or hollow bodies). You can is simply not adequate for a six-part multitimbral synth. The Z1’s real-time software editor/librarian runs on haunting ‘glassy’ and spectral effects a speciality. route the signal through the filters in three ways before it And, contrary to expectations, the optional ADAT PowerMacs and 680X0 systems, and the Z1 is mercifully The next three models take the output from a variety passes to an Amplifier that boasts a dedicated five-stage interface is no antidote for this: it only accesses four free of the zipper noises and glitches that accompany of sources and use them to modulate a carrier generated envelope. An EG Section contributes four more assignable ADAT channels, with two channels tapped after the some other computer-edited instruments. The Program within the model. The Ring Modulator Oscillator model envelopes, and the LFO Section contributes four LFOs, effects, and two before them. This means that you have editor has 23 pages, the MultiSet editor has 13, and the multiplies the modulator and carrier signals to generate each of which can assume 17 different waveforms. no more control over your sounds’ destinations than if ‘Global & Midi’ editor offers a further eight. But it’s the ring-modulation effects. The Cross Modulation Oscillator The Effects Section offers 15 processes, but whereas you used the analogue outputs. Ouch! Arpeggio page that I like best, as it displays every model cross-modulates the modulator and the carrier, the Prophecy provides six ‘size one’ effects simultaneous - parameter associated with an arpeggio. and is particularly suited to aggressive timbres, while the ly, the total ‘size’ of the Z1’s Insert Effects is just two. So, Arpeggios sounds generated by the Sync Modulation Oscillator for example, you can’t program an overdrive followed by The Z1’s polyphonic arpeggiator is significantly superior Conclusion model are exactly what you would expect from oscillator a twin-channel Leslie simulation. Furthermore, you can’t to its competitors’ monophonic efforts. There are 20 The Z1 has its faults, but so have the Minimoog, Mellotron sync. Somewhat different from all the above, VPM is synchronise the modulators within the Insert Effects to patterns available at any time, of which five are preset and Prophet 5 - instruments that we cherish not because Korg’s implementation of FM, with a ‘wave-shaped’ the main LFOs. Otherwise, the effects are adequate, with (up, down, alternating and random patterns, from one to they are perfect, but because they inspire us. So it is with carrier and one modulator per oscillator. This generates a Master reverb and delay, plus a two-band Master EQ. four octaves) and 15 are programmable. The programma - the Z1. Its analogue models justify much of its price, but classic DX7 pianos, bells and basses. You can allocate each Program to one of eighteen ble patterns allow you to specify the number of notes you could stick a 76-note keyboard on the front and call it The Electric Piano model impersonates the actions Categories and sixteen User Groups, and save it to any of simultaneously interpreted (to a maximum of 10), the the world’s best electric piano. Its Clavinet imitations are of hammer, tine, and pickup with superb results; the the 256 memories. You can add extra memory by pitch offset, the Midi velocity, the gate time for each note, superb, and its brass and string Programs are everything Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer emulations alone justify inserting a PCMCIA Flash ROM, and I can’t imagine and whether notes are sorted or arpeggiated in the order you would expect from a polyphonic Prophecy. If the much of the Z1’s price. The Organ model offers three anybody with a 4Mb card (2,304 Program memories) you played them. A flam parameter allows you to ‘strum’ Prophecy was the modelling world’s Minimoog, and the virtual drawbars per oscillator, each with percussion, and needing any other form of storage. But beware: the Z1 is chords if desired, with positive/negative values selecting Nordlead and JP8000 are equivalent to the Prophet 5 and there are sufficient parameters to emulate most slow to change Programs; if you need to switch sounds between ‘up’ and ‘down’ motions. With a good guitar Jupiter 8, the Z1 is the Korg M1 or, more precisely, the Hammond registrations. live, you’ll need a couple of seconds in which to do so. patch, the results can be magic. Finally, you can set the WaveStation of its generation. Despite a few hiccups, the The six Brass and 17 Reed models represent various speed relative to the internal or an external clock, and the Z1 is a superb instrument and deserves every success. AT shapes and lengths of bore, with additional parameters Controllers arpeggiator will also function as a Midi master clock. for the player’s lip position and tension. Both families are The Z1’s keyboard offers eight modes of aftertouch-sen - Distributed by augmented by a noise generator, an EQ that adds sitivity, and 13 modes of velocity sensitivity. Furthermore, The Z1 as a monosynth • Distributed by Music Link overtones, and by dual pitchbend characteristics - you can freely assign the wheels, switches and pedals You can play the Z1 monophonically by setting the key- Phone: +61 (0)3 9429 9299; Fax: +61 (0)3 9427 0740 smooth changes as obtained from a trombone, or abrupt, (volume, damper and two assignable). On the control mode to monophonic, or by allocating just one voice to a Price as heard from an instrument of fixed length. panel, five Performance Editor knobs can each control up Program in a MultiSet. With single- and multi-triggering, • RRP: $4,499 126 127.

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