my friend the microkorg

this is my first synth. if you dont count that little casio with that built-in sampler back in the early 90s. i describe the microkorg as super fun...which is a bit vague. i like to build sounds with it. i also do enjoy using some random preset and 'jamming out' for a bit (there are a few presets i find myself using over and over....the other ones will be overwritten as i make my own programs). the vocodor is excellent for working out vocals (if youre not very confident in your singing abilities). you can also apply the vocodor to any input..such as a tape recording or whatnot. there really are alot of possibilities with this synth, especially with the inputs and arpeggiator. and it really synchs nicely with my electribe (i can use the microkorg to control the synth parts on the drum machine, and the drummachine can access the microkorg's sounds for parts). the ability to control so many aspects of the sound allows me to find sounds im looking for. i mean, the cutoff, resonance, attack, and release are immediately available. and other stuff like decay and delay and portamento are just a knobtwist away. you can set up patches too, like setting up the velocity to control the amplitude. or cutoff. or the mod wheel to control whatever you want. i make music because i enjoy it..im not a professional musician. i have read how many pros do like this synth. it does have some limitations that ive seen: polyphony is limited to 4.(though you can keep layin down tracks in a recording program like audacity or cubase) the velocity sensitivity is not super great. the keys are small, and there's not all that many (37 in all..22 of the white and 15 of the black (halfnotes)). the octave shift buttons are very easy to use to expand the keyboard. however, the small size is very nice for a small studio space. and its very portable (can be powered by 6 AA batteries). as i mentioned, it can also function as a midi controller as well, and does a good job at this. as you will read in other reviews, it is a very powerful synth for its size and price. and its super fun.

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