According to the manual, yes
ugh I am such an idiot I meant the OG MickroKorg is one I have. This new one looks like a massive improvement!
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Deleting my post then. Whew.
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My humble little opinion is that Korg released a ton of new gear - revamped and originals.
But their pricing is not realistic in some cases (the new Kaoss Replay, for instance), their design is somewhat not practical at times (their take on the SPDX is really weird), their target audience is sometimes a bit too niche (the electronic accordion, for instance), etc.
They are all over the place and trying to impose a premium because of the name. But Korg isnāt Apple at any rate.
So yeah.
Prices are really weird. Offerings are kinda weird.
But still. Interesting.
I, for one, am really curious about it but still exploring other options.
Itās due to arrive sometime in early November, so weāll see whatās whatā¦if I donāt set my mind on something a bit more serious.
V1 was not the greatest synth, and yet, we all know the numbers.
So Iād say Iām not expecting nothing out of the V2 but a solid easy option.
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The other difficult challenges are:
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Many of us started our synthesis journey with the microkorg 1 and now we have moved on. I was about to press the buy button this morning but realized that I could buy a used synth around the same price range and it enjoy it more.
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Back then VST VA technology wasnāt as good in 2002. Now there are so many good VA VSTs that once you hear unpleasant aliasing on the mark 2 you may want to get rid of it.
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There wasnāt hydra synth or mini freak back then. If you go to a synth store with all three present who would win your comparison ?
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I think only synth novices will appreciate it the most, but again theyāve got choices now that we didnāt have 20 years ago.
I wish Korg the best regardless.
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All valid points.
I can only speak for myself, but since Iām mostly an ITB kind of guy, I wanted something with USB-C, that could be a MIDI Keyboard, with an easy to use interface, some vocal processing and a small footprint on a busy desk. And, bonus, some option to use in a live setting.
If I didnāt already had such a big VST collection, I guess I would have gone with a more serious option.
I have the Microfreak - which is small, fun but not the best sounding. And yet, I use it as a quick composing tool and revamp its audio later on.
I already tried way too many big synths and their real estate is way too big for me.
And, more so, my clients and my audience (mostly for thematic shows) donāt hear the difference between real synth and VST once itās mixed down.
But Iām a weird demographic by any means.
Anyhoo. Iām curious about it.
Doesnāt sound crazy to me - a bit muddy if you ask me. And aliasing af.
Still. Iām hoping itās gonna fill my very peculiar needs.
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Big agree on all of this. The Microkorg 1 is one of my most beloved synths. Learning it helped me learn synthesis in general. I owned a Juno 60 and Triton LE for about six month before getting the MK. I had no idea how to use them. The MK gave me the basics I needed. I was so excited for the MK 2 but as time has gone on since the announcement, Iām recalling I donāt think I have a need or use for it. Itās the nostalgia talking.
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I think this could really be a great first synth. Easy to understand UI, nice helpful screen, classic VA engine without overwhelming options but still flexible/not crippled, effects and cool added features to keep it interesting, like looper and easy to use vocal processor. Bi-timbrality is added bonus. Could be fun battery powered setup with SP-404 MKII (dual loopers, anyone?)
Top surface does look like a real fingerprint magnet though 
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It does not look to be bad, but quite pricey I feel.
For the money, I would really be more tempted by a hydrasynth explorer.
But really like the idea of having a looper and the line-in. I find thatās a really good idea to put that !
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The Bad Gear episode about this one is probably gonna be both epic and violent, tho. Florian is gonna have a field day.
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Iāve only watched the Loopop video so far but man, those reverbs areā¦ā¦sure something. Very questionable sounding at best. And I thought the vocoder sounded pretty crap too. Like not even in the same stratosphere as the one on Rolandās SP-404mk2
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I like the reverbs in a āthis sounds kind of goofy, I could see myself using it in a quirky little breakdownā way. The Vocoder sounds pretty questionable at best, yeah. I still think it sounds decent overall Iām hoping itāll be a fun experience to use.
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Official Korg account. (Short video though) i guess shorts links are not workingā¦
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This may be my only (but main) issue with it. Its overall sound.
Was not expecting something crazy. And itās still early demos, no firmware, etc.
But I was expecting a little bit more.
The only thing keeping my order alive is the fact that the OG was not exactly the most perfect sounding unit either.
Weird little box from Korg.
Iām in the middle of pre-production for two shows (a family one and a kid friendly one), and I really canāt wait to see if the mK2 can act as a serious tool.
But as of now, price/sound quality is on the low side of these ratios.
I know better than to judge before handling it.
But itās quite a ride to wait for it. Donāt have enough fingers to get count the times I almost cancelled.
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As usual with such videos, the vocoder is poorly presented. I donāt understand why they donāt prepare a short text or simply use a spoken voice sample for the demonstration.
In my opinion, the vocoder is an essential part of the Microkorg 2 and should be presented more professionally and in more detail.
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I second that. Iām still looking for a review showcasing the vocal facilities in-depth. Wellā¦ Ā« in-depth Ā»ā¦at least to some useful extent.
Ok, I have been using the microKORG 2 for a few days now and these are my impressions.
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The build is very good, it feels like a quality device, knobs have good resistance and the genre select dial has a nice hefty click. Keys are similar to the Microkey controllers if you have ever used one. Not amazing, but not terrible either, the extra width helps.
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The portability is excellent, I have been using off battery power (6 X AA) on my lap and it is very comfortable, great for couch sessions or even as a portable midi controller.
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The synth engine is quite good, though not incredible - it sounds like a semi decent VA, generic though not without character. It can take you to a lot of territory with 3 oscillators, multimode filter and all sorts of modulation routing. Versatile, though not hi-fi.
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The effects are not amazing, particularly the reverbs (spring is not bad though). They are still good to have and there are a lot of them, so still very useful and a lot of the other non-reverb effects are actually quite useable.
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The workflow is excellent, perhaps the fastest workflow I have used on a feature rich VA, it is really quick to create patches and the interface graphics are wonderful. They did a really good job in keeping everything simple, there are no shift combos, hidden menus etc. Even just the simplicity of initialising or saving a patch is really refreshing, so many other synths make these things so complicated.
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The looper is a bit of fun, once again nice and simple, just press the record button and start playing. There is an undo feature that lets you delete the previous take. Nice to build up ambient loops that you could offload to a sampler.
All in all, I think itās a great synth and worthy successor. I kind of agree with Bobeats that if you already have a lot of synths this is not going to take you somewhere new, though the versatility, portability and speed/joy of programming make it hard not to recommend.
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When you say speed of programming can you elaborate? I can dial in a patch on the Moog Model D very quickly. Are you talking Modulation menus?
Have you had a chance to use it as a midi controller in the DAW? Do the knobs and buttons send cc? Easy to assign them in the DAW? My Keystep crapped out on me a while back so Iām without a good controller. Iād prefer something like this that I could also use as a couch synth, maybe make up some loops to sample in the SP404mkii or P6. I need to check the dimensions versus the old MicroKorg, is it much bigger? Can it draw power from the USB?
Sorry for so many questions and no problem if you donāt know.
Edit: Dimensions are very close to the original MicroKorg, thatās good for me, as I need something compact.
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Thatās one heck of an useful review.
And here goes another question : how do the vocal options hold up? Are they any good?
@DimensionsTomorrow already asked one of my top questions : the MIDI controller side of things. Iām looking for a MIDI controller desktop-sized keyboard that could double-up as a small, easy-to-use keyboard. And although the mK2 appears to qualify as such, Iām curious to get feedback on these two matters.
Again, thanks for the detailed reviews. Helps a lot!
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