Korg microKORG 2

The Lounge Other Gear
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No mention of USB power in the manual, which isn’t a surprise, but I’m trying to decide if that would bother me if this would be my main midi controller for the DAW.

The other thing I couldn’t tell from the videos I watched is whether effects can be used with the vocal processing. Not sure I’d really use vocal processing, but it might be cool for doing voice overs for a beat tape or dub type stuff if you can use it with the tape echo.

Edit: Saw in the manual that aux and vocal go through the effects processor. That’s good.

In the pre-release video, I thought I saw some kind of tape lofi effect (wow/flutter, wobbly pitch, etc), but didn’t see anything in the recent demos.

Edit: Saw the lofi effect in the manual, so will be interested to hear how it sounds.

Microkorg was my first synth 20 years ago or so, so I’m sure my views are being colored by a bit of nostalgia, but I thought it seemed better than the synthfluencers seem to think. The OP-1 style animations is a huge draw for me, as I typically don’t enjoy sound design. I could see myself potentially getting into a workflow like this, and having something FUN to use is enormous in terms of value. Plus, it might spark ideas for stuff I can try on my Take 5.

While that hall reverb didn’t sound good, the other effects actually seemed pretty decent to me in the videos (spring, tape echo, etc).

While not being able to store loops is a bummer, I do see the looper as potentially good for a person like me that works a lot with samplers. It could also be fun for making a bass line to jam over on the synth itself. I guess this is Korg going for the OP-1 tape feature (not sure I haven’t had an OP-1).

Definitely pros and cons to this one, so I need to think about it a bit and maybe try one in a shop. I would definitely go for the cheaper regular model than one of the more expensive limited edition colors, quite a jump in price for those here in Japan.

Edit: The vocoder allows you to mess with all 16 bands. They sort of missed an opportunity by not having aux in go through the vocal processor and not having those bands able to be modulated. I was thinking it would be cool to be able to use it as a spectral processor like the recent Moog box, which sounds really cool for running drums through it.

Other thing. I can’t tell how many user slots there are, 64 maybe?

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I’d like to see a review from Cuckoo or someone else that was a fan of the OG MicroKorg. I’ve always thought the MK/MS-2000 engine sounded quite good, even by today’s standards. But I can’t tell from the demos if I like this new one as much.

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There seems to be 64 user slots indeed. From what I read in the manual and the first review videos.

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I think I’ll need to try this one in person. Only four hours of battery life, so will need to connect to power if doing sessions in the DAW, and my gut tells me that I really just want one USB cable to the computer for a midi controller if possible. I could overlook that if I really like it in person, but there seem to be a lot of red flags with this one that will require a hands on demo.

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Went to my local music shop and they had them, but the shop said they don’t have a demo unit so they couldn’t take them out of the box. :face_with_monocle:

I told them I couldn’t buy it unless I hear it, but they said “Sorry”. Sometimes Japan is gonna Japan.

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I’m gonna sound like the entitled European I am, but couldn’t you purchase it, try it, and ask for a refund if it didn’t work out for you?

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This is gonna shock the Western world, but there are no returns in Japan, which makes it all the more infuriating that they wouldn’t let me demo it.

So, long story short. I went and had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner after that and went back to the shop and kind of gave the manager an ear full for the stupid policy.

And…

IMG_2696
IMG_26963024×4032 2.15 MB

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I’m definitely not the person to listen to for synth recommendations as I just am generally not a synth person, but man I agree with the statement above 100%. I suck at creating patches and even I could get something really nice from scratch in no time. It’s so easy to use. The UI is top notch.

Sound wise it isn’t really breaking new ground, so I think it’s mostly going to be for people that want a quick/easy workflow. The opposite of the original MicroKorg in that respect.

I’ll look into the midi controller stuff when I get a chance, but it’s getting late here.

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Thanks for sharing.

On the customer front, it’s infuriating for sure. And yet, I ordered way too many new gear that were already used and returned in a 30 days period. My new GoKeys3, for instance.

Can’t wait to hear what you get out of it on the MIDI controller side of things - I hear the MIDI is clunky at the moment.

Thanks for sharing the whole thing. I’ll admit, I was nothing but joy when I saw you purchased it in the end!

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And I think you and I are the same target.

I, for one, been fiddling with a heck lot of synths through the years but always preferred the ITB workflow. Lately, I got tired fo waiting for a great MIDI controller so I started looking for one or two solid options.

And this one, as Florian would say, is ticking all the revamped VA boxes.

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I use my Minilogue XD mostly as a midi controller nowadays. I may get this one instead for a change… I like its look and basic functionality.

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Thumbnail cringe synfluencerwave. :laughing:

Actually looks and sounds pretty good, I’d take this over a used MS2000 any day, that crappy filter with the fake resonance was utter shite.

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I got lost in it for another hour. Really, really fun.

The arp is better than on any of my other synths and the looper is actually kind of fun. I think Elektron users would probably have hated whatever mediocre sequencer Korg would have come up with, so it might be better that they put an audio looper on instead.

I need to actually read the manual from top to bottom tomorrow so I don’t miss out on anything.

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I’m curious about the manual. I remember the OG had drawings of a hand turning a knob with a description of what would happen when one turned said knob. As silly as it might sound to those of us who have an understanding of synthesis now, it genuinely taught me the ropes.

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So, I tried out the MK2 in Logic.

The good news is no drivers to worry about, it just works. Also, I was able to assign parameters to the knobs without any problems once I realized that you have to be on the Home screen for it to transmit CC. So if you are on another menu page like Arp or something it doesn’t appear to work, so I wasted a lot of time.

Strangely I wasn’t able to find a way to get the arpeggiator to work. Could be user error. Hopefully someone can tell me what I’m doing wrong if it does in fact work.

It’s basically only going to function as a barebones midi controller though, so not for anyone that needs anything special. The MK2 doesn’t have aftertouch and is not USB powered so those are a couple of big strikes against it. Plus it only has five knobs to assign to things. The keyboard is also not going to win any awards, but I don’t think it’s bad as far as mini keys go.

The MK2 is a bit beefier than the old MicroKorg. I kind of wish it was just a tad more compact, but I do appreciate the full-sized midi ports and the nice screen so I won’t nitpick.

All in all, I’m strangely not picky with midi controllers. If you have a good supply of rechargeable batteries, it is just one USB C cable to deal with. There are a variety of velocity curves for the keyboard and I found it pretty responsive for Addictive Drums 2.

I think it will do the trick for me, as I never used any advanced features on my old Keystep, so it’s better for me to do double duties with something like this I think.

Gotta get back to playing with the actual synth. I actually woke up today excited to play with it, so that’s a good sign. :slight_smile:

It’s just a basic manual. Better than their other one-page manuals, but nothing fantastic. There were a few handy examples. It looks like one of the modulators is called analog, which adds analog drift. I might have missed that if they didn’t point out trying it out assigned to pitch for example.

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What sounds beefier ? The bass patches ? The leads ? Inquiring minds want to know brother.

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Amp sim + reverse delay + reverb gets into shoegaze really quickly for people into wall-of-sound stuff. I’m not familiar with a lot of the synths on the market, so maybe there are others that do that, but that struck me as pretty cool.

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It all sounds pretty good to me, but take that with a grain of salt because I’m not super opinionated with synths. The presets need some tweaking for my tastes, but that’s pretty much all presets on synths for me. Many presets I would never use as well. Just not my taste.

The only other virtual analog synth I have is the Reface CS and I don’t think it’s miles away from that in terms of sound quality, and it has way more things you can do with it. It seems like the market is flooded with lower-end synths these days and I haven’t tried any of them, so I have no basis by which to compare it to what’s out there, but I think this is a pretty good match for me, as it’s just so fast and easy to program. I’m very smitten by the interface, but retro-future vibes are my thing.

It’s easier than any hardware or software synth I’ve ever used other than maybe the Reface CS. For people that struggle to make their own patches, I think this is a really good choice. I’ve never been able to make good sounding stuff this quickly before. For advanced synth programmers, I have no idea if you will like it, probably not unless it’s hiding something I don’t know about.

The effects are good, aside from no huge reverb if that’s people’s thing. In particular, if you like making warbly sounds a la Gen Loss or RC-20, you are pretty well covered for that general vibe, with the exception of tape or vinyl noise, but you can probably fake that with regular noise if you wanted. I like the lofi reverb called Rust (although they could have come up with a better name).

Some of the presets are kind of interesting. I think it’s neat that they included a bunch of video game patches, targeting people into NES and Genesis sounds it seems. Not sure why dubstep is still around. Is dubstep still around?

While you can’t add your own waveforms, I like what they have included. It sets it apart from what I can make on my analog synths.

The stutter effect thing is terrible. They definitely wanted to go for an SP vibe, but failed. Hopefully they will do some kind of an update to give us a better options for manipulating the loop (I’d rather a cassette or vinyl sim or tape delay, personally). I think the negative opinions online scared them away from doing anything with the trophy award system. It’s basically banished to a menu you never have to see.

So basically to sum it all up, it feels a lot more like playing to me than programming. Maybe that makes it a toy, but if that’s the vibe you want, perhaps you will enjoy it.

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where’s Dorian Concept at?

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Thanks for these detailed posts.
I really needed a more user-oriented review. And tou delivered.
Thanks a lot.

I’m in the category as you. Heavy Logic user for the past 15 years.
And I’ve had my fair share of MIDI keyboards. Cheap options, complete bundles, etc. But end-up using the bare bones functionality.
So purchasing the microKorg2 is really about that. An easy to use synth with MIDI facilities. Simple as that.
The bonus points were the vocal processors, the interface and the USB-C port.
I’m gonna put my Minilab3 (which I really don’t like at all) to my 1 yo baby so she can tweak and turn buttons (still gotta glue the caps for safety) and replace it with the microKorg2.

Thanks again.
You made my wait a bit easier!

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