Korg microKORG Crystal Vocoder/Synthesizer

General

It's already been twenty years since Korg first released the microKORG back in 2003 and changed the world forever, and this charming chunk of hardware is still as sought-after as it was then - which is not something you can say about every synthesizer. To celebrate its birthday, Korg presents the very special Crystal edition, which is exactly the same synth you know and love, just wrapped in a sweet metallic and transparent housing. And, since this birthday treat is just as easy to carry around as the original, it also comes including a matching transparent bag

The Korg MicroKORG Crystal

The colour scheme of the original model took its cues from the old Korg Poly-800 that came out in the eighties, and that influence also extended to the sound-design layout which, like the Poly-800, presents a huge list of parameters that can be selected and then modified and played around with. This virtual analogue model also grants access to mass of synthesis-based potential, which at it's core lies the now-classic microKORG vocoder, an effect that's already quite a few decades old, so immediately has some properly retro flair. Basically, it monitors the loudness of specific frequencies in a source sound via an envelope follower before adding those specific frequencies and loudnesses back into the target sound using bandpass filters. If your source-sound is a human voice, then the vocoder spits out a sort of talking effect: the same effect that's become synonymous with the imagined sound of a talking robot.

Other Extras

To register your vocals, a gooseneck microphone comes included, but a line-signal can also be hooked up to serve as the 'voice' for the vocoder. Input synthetic strings with a drum loop, for example, and you'll get some really interesting results. While this edition of the microKORG still isn't USB-MIDI capable, it does come fitted with a MIDI port, and since most slightly larger audio interfaces will have MIDI ports anyway, and you can pick up a MIDI interface for next-to-nothing these days, this shouldn't be an issue for modern artists and producers. All in all, you're getting a neat and comfortably portable synth that still packs as much appeal as it did twenty years ago; still manages to combine masses of options with impressive sound; and still does it all for an attainable price.