General
Since the dawn of the ever-popular DX7, FM synthesis has had a polarising effect. You have the devoted fans, who know exactly what to do when faced with a control panel teeming with hundreds of parameters - whether they use them all or not. Then you have users who love the sound but in the end, give up and turn to a more straightforward form of synthesis. When Korg first dropped the Opsix a few years back, they made a pretty solid attempt at taming all of those FM parameters to result in a more user-friendly machine. But the original Opsix had a 37-note keyboard, so while the controls were easier to work with, some users might have had bigger ambitions. Enter the Opsix SE: the same synthesizer, just with a bigger 61-note keyboard.
The Korg Opsix SE Synthesizer
Alongside the expanded note range, this model more than doubles the polyphony from 32 to 80, but just like the first-gen Opsix, this synth also features a multi-mode filter, which is a massive bonus because, while FM-synthesis gives you masses of control over the timbre, the filtering is usually far less convincing. From there, Korg have added on an LFO with a full stack of waveforms and thirty effects to result in an incredibly complete synthesizer that just can't be compared to any traditional sample bin, since those samples couldn't be warped and changed. With the Opsix, you're free to extensively mould and shape the fundamentals, pushing the number of potential sounds through the roof.
Who is the Opsix SE Built For?
Of course, this synthesizer is a genuine sound-designing tool, but the layout supplies a lot more breathing space thanks to that wider keyboard. As well as studio work, this is also a comfy stage instrument - especially since it comes including a flight case. Who is the Opsix SE built for? Well, while Korg has made every effort to simplify the interface, this is still FM-synthesis, so you need to know a little bit about it before really getting stuck in. This isn't an instrument where you can simply sit down, select a piano sound and start playing - if you want that, then there are plenty of other models to choose from. Basically, if you want to be able to squeeze every last drop out of the FM-synth concept (and way more is possible than you might think) then this model is your golden ticket.
