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- Title: Welcome.html
-
-
- KORG i series
-
- i1, i2, i3, i4s, i5s, i5m
-
- This page is under construction!
-
- I hope this site will be a location for styles,programs, softwares, docs, for
- Korg i series keyboards and modules. I personnally have a Korg i5s and a
- WaveStation EX, and I use CakeWalk. You can help me by sending yours ideas,
- softwares, patterns, tips and hints, ....on my Email: jcorreno@serveur.dtr.fr
-
- Click here to send me a Email message
-
- -Styles
-
- -Programs
-
-
- -Features Articles
-
- -Others Sites
-
-
- Styles
-
- Korg i-series Styles
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-
- 16 Beat 16 Beat USA 16 Beat Funk 16 Beat 80's
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- 486Trip 6/8 Jazz Shuffle Rock 3/4 Pop
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- 8Beat UK Rock Heavy Metal TwinRock
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- America Rave Latin Pop Funky Jam
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- Brazil Samba Baccarra Gigolo PartyPolka
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- Country Country 3/4 Achy Break Shuffle LongCool
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- Demo Waltzer Folk Ballad Paso Doble Slow 94
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- Disco2 Disco2 James " B "
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- Europe WienWaltz Mazurka Polka2
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- Funk Band Funk 70's Funk 80's
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- GermanDance1 Wien Valtz Polka
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- GermanDance2 Laendler Polka3 Polka Beat Polka Swing
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- Germany Wiener Waltz Party Polka Med BigBand 6/8 Dance
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- HouseRave Housing UK Formulate Boom Chikie Respect
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- Italy i4 Waltzer i4 Mazurka i4 Ploka Tarentella
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- Japan Japan Rock Japan Pop PopsEnka
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- Jarre Jazzy1 Jarre
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- Jazz BeBop Hard Bop Funky Jazz
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- JazzSet1 JazzWaltz Take 5/4 Swing Shuffle Hard Bop
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- JazzSet2 Dorian BigBand SwingLois JazzWaltz
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- Latin1 Mozambique Merengue Latin Afro
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- Latin2 Rio Samba3 Bahia
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- Latin3 Mambo2 Mambo3 ChaChaCha2 Bolero
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- Latin4 BossaNova2 BossaNova3 PopSamba2 FusionSamba
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- Latin5 Argentine1 Argentine2 Continent1 Continent2
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- Latin6 Calypso Beguine2 Lambada Zouk
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- ModernDance KempFrt MG Flp2 6/8 MG Folk Gipsy King
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- Musette1 Musette1 Musette1 Paso Doble Musette2
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- Musette2 Valtzer MT Mazurka Polka MT
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- New Motow2 James Pars
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- Parade Funky Jazz Musette2 Tango
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- Rea Jazz 94 Paso Doble Rea Mix
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- Reggae BritishReggae Reggae Roots Reggae Doble
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- Rock1 Pure Bonjour Rox Scorp's
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- Salon94 Parade Funky Jazz Barry White Funk Maison
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- Spain Merengue Sevillan Paso Doble
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- SPK House Housing Out Formulator Band Funk Reggae Dob
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- Sweden Dansk Wals Dansk Viking Dansk Swing
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- TradiDance WiennerWaltz MGJ Last MG DiscoFx MG Flippers1
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- Turkish1 Dans Dueyek Arab 5/8
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- Turkish2 9/8 SarkiSyanava Vals 7/8
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- UK Dorian Big Band 2 Swing Lois Jazz Waltz
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- Wedding Rhumba GP Wiener Waltz Paso Doble GP Jive GP
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- World Afro Pop Gipsy pop Rai
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-
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- Technics KN2000 Styles
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- 16 BtPop3 8Bt Ballad 8Bt St2 8 Bt Bald5
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- 8 Bt Ballad 8Bt Std 8 Bt Soft 8 Bt Rock2
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- Brt Rock 8 Bt SoftRock 8 Bt Sft Rock2 8 Bt Rock1
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- Folk Rock2 Folk Rock Country Rock Bright Rock
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- Jazz Funk3 Jazz funk 1 Jazz rock3 Jazz Funk2
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- Latin Fusion Jazz Rock4 Jazz Rock2 Jazz Rock1
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- Soul Rock1 Soul Rock Soul Ballad Slow Soul Ballad
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- Soul Rock4 Soul Rock3 Disco2 Disco1
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- EuroBeat2 EuroBeat1 DiscoPop Disco 70
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- Rap2 Rap 1 House2 House1
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- DancePop1 CountryWaltz UsPop Spanish Disco
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- March2/4 German March 6/8 German March 2/4 German Waltz
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- Sweet Waltz Simple Waltz Screen Waltz Orchestral Waltz
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- USMarch 6/8 2USMarch 2/4 1USMarch 2/4 SwWaltz
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- Charleston Caraibean Rock2 ViennaWaltz1 ViennaWaltz
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- Jazz4 Funk4 ElectroPop3 Dixie Slow
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- JazzCombo1 JazzBallad3 JazzBallad2▓ JazzBallad1
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- MiddleJazzFast1 MiddleJazzFast2 MiddleJazz JazzCombo
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- BigBandFast BigBandBallad SimpleCombo MiddleJazz2
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- BigBandSlow BigBandMiddle1 BigBandMiddle3 BigBandMiddle2
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- Orchestral Swing JazzWaltzFast JazzWaltzSlow JazzWaltzMedium
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- Bequine Std Swing2 StdSwing1 SoulBallad
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- Cha Cha 2 Cha Cha1 Bolero 4/4 Bolero 3/4
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- Paso Doble1 Mambo Lambada Fast Mambo
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- BleuGrass Rhumba Reggae1 Reggae2
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- Country Ballad Country Folk Country 8 Beat Bluegrass2
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- Gospel Shuffle Gospel Ballade Country Swing Country Pop
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- R&B Ballade R&B 8 Beat Hawaii1 Hawaii2
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- 16 Beat Ballade Hawaii3 Gospel 16 Beat Modern Country
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- 16 Beat Std 16 BeatPop4 16 BeatPop2 16BeatPop1
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- Roland E series Styles
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- 8 Beat1 8 Beat2 8 Beat3 8 Beat4
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- Bossa1 Bossa2 Bossa 3 Bossa4
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- Swing1 Swing2 SlSwing1 Blues1
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- 16 Beat 1 Bolero March Ragtime
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- Blues2 Charleston SW Waltz Cha Cha
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- House Rhumba PasoDoble LimbRock
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- Shuffle Cajun Country Musette
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- Funk2 Dance Foxtrot PopRock
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- Most of these styles can be downloaded from the others sites linked above.
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-
-
- Programs
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- 1. 01W-Pro (1to 3)
- 2. Best-Mt
- 3. PianoKeys
- 4. Housse1
- 5. Combis1
- 6. PopPerf
- 7. X3Organ (1 to 3)
- 8. Xsd (11 to 15)
- 9. Dance
- 10. Rock
- 11. Pipe1
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- Backing Sequences
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- Softwares
-
-
- Features Articles
-
- Korg i5M Interactive Music Module
-
- Korg has taken all of the power and sounds from its acclaimed i-Series to
- create the new compact i5M Interactive Music Module.
-
- The i5M's sounds are generated by Korg's patented AI2 synthesis system, the
- same engine found in Korg's popular X, i and 0-Series. With 192 pre-recorded
- arrangements, including Pop, Rock, Jazz, Latin, House and Reggae, the i5M
- provides professional accompaniment to any MIDI instrument. The built-in
- effects processor has 47 digital effects including Reverb and Chorus. Also
- included are 16 drum programs, along with 384 sound programs.
-
- Arrangements can be called up simply by pressing a color-coded button,
- organized by specific functions. Editing of an arrangement's drum or sound
- programs is accomplished instantaneously. Two recording methods are
- available: Backing Sequence allows for recording in real time, while the Step
- Recording function records notes individually. The i5M's Interactive
- Composition mode accompanies any melody played with the appropriate chord.
-
- Equipped with two MIDI IN ports (providing control from two different sources
- at once), the i5M can also store accompaniment and performance data in the
- Standard MIDI file format. The Song Play mode utilizes General MIDI,
- providing a wide range of GM Standard MIDI files.
-
- The i5M is fully compatible with Korg's ih Interactive Vocal Harmony
- Processor, as well as optional disks from Korg's Sound and Program Library
- (each giving an additional 64 sound programs and 2 drum programs). With
- Korg's XIP Performance Data Disks, additional sounds can also be downloaded.
-
- I5S
-
- Korg's phenomenally successful M1 synth is still in use by bands worldwide.
- Their O1/W series continues to grace many a recording; the Wavestation too.
- The company's latest X5 range is aimed at small studios and synth beginners;
- however, the Korg name has been noticeably absent from keyboard enthusiasts'
- living rooms. The more recent i series has edged that way... now, with the
- i5S, has it finally arrived?
-
- Overview
-
- The overall appearance of the i5S is more traditional than that of the
- previous i-series keyboards, with style and program names printed on the case
- for the first time and small pictures of drums above the keys, too. The
- keyboard itself is a touch-sensitive, slightly stiff, 61-key model, and to
- its left is the usual pitch-bend wheel plus a single button that replaces the
- usual modulation wheel - holding this down applies a fixed amount of vibrato
- to the current melody sound, and this can be changed between styles. Although
- not as flexible as a full mod wheel would be, this illustrates the design
- concept of the i5S perfectly: once it's set up to your liking, subsequent
- performances require the minimum of effort.
-
- Moving up the unit, there's a set of dedicated function buttons, rows of
- number keys for selecting instruments and styles, and a small LCD. Sadly,
- instead of proper volume sliders you have to make do with individual Volume
- Up and Volume Down buttons for the melody, accompaniment, bass, percussion
- and so on.
-
- This makes fiddling with the exact balance trickier, especially as you can't
- immediately see the current volume of each part - once again, the approach is
- that you do a minimal amount of work to set the style up, and forget about it
- from then on. But the small LCD is more of a problem. In contrast with the
- latest big-screen Yamaha and Technics offerings, the i5S has a 20-column,
- two-row character display, with only a few general controls (cursor movement,
- value up/down) for changing values. You'll find yourself pressing the Next
- Page and Previous Page buttons until they wear out as you customise the
- styles to your liking, thumbing through the manual all the time: what does
- 'BSequenc MID PD' mean, anyway?
-
- However, there's also much to commend in the panel design of the i5S.
- Pressing the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons for a particular part together
- mutes the part in question - very handy. There's a convenient Tap Tempo
- button, which sets the rhythm to play at whatever speed you beat; separate
- octave and note transposition controls; and a few dedicated function buttons
- such as the Sustain button, a boon to anyone playing the i5S without a
- footpedal. Best of all, there are separate rows of number keys for selecting
- styles and instruments, with a 10 Lock button which lets you select a set of
- eight styles (for example, all the waltzes), and hop from one to another with
- one key-press. The current style is usually shown on the LCD, with the
- instrument name flashing up as you type in a new number.
- Look carefully under the keyboard, and you'll find a discreetly camouflaged
- disk drive. It's almost as if, in an attempt to design a welcoming home
- keyboard, Korg hope that you won't notice it. It's a useful feature, however,
- because not only does it let you play Standard MIDI Files with the i5S, you
- can also load extra styles: American, European and Japanese disks are
- supplied with the machine, and it's 100% compatible with its predecessor, the
- i4S - for which there are over 25 disks available.
-
- How it plays
-
- Enough of the controls; it's time to put the i5S to work. The keyboard boots
- up with the 8-Beat 1 style selected, a sturdy workhorse of a rhythm - all you
- need to do is press Start, and spin out a piano melody with your right hand,
- the left hand playing the chords you want to hear in the accompaniment. No
- matter how eccentric your chord sequence, the Korg can cope with it; its
- intelligence in determining what chord you've played is little short of
- miraculous, as the LCD informs you that the five random notes you just played
- together were, in fact, the diminished chord of P minor with a raised ninth
- and a side order of fries. If you've never played a home keyboard before,
- you'll need to get used to playing each chord slightly ahead of the beat, so
- that the accompaniment can pick up on it in time (the i5S may be exceedingly
- clever, but it's not psychic - although, come the i6S...). This skill is
- easily learnt - it's just a shame that a couple of styles, notably Country1,
- are more sensitive to your timing than others, with any great variation from
- a strict rhythm producing an unholy mess in the accompaniment.
-
- That said, the i5S possesses a lot of useful features to improve the sound of
- your performance: an automatic harmonisation feature, for example, adds
- chords to your right-hand part based on what you're playing with the left
- hand.
-
- You can even tell it whereabouts on the keyboard you'll be playing chords:
- either the lower or upper half, defined by the one user-chosen split point,
- or over the entire keyboard. This feature can be a boon when you're playing
- pieces intended for the piano, but it's a shame that there's no way of
- combining the best parts of this and the normal sensing methods, with the
- left hand taking priority if two chords are played at once.
-
- Alternatively, you can recover the whole keyboard for your chosen melody
- instrument, and select chords using the numeric buttons usually dedicated to
- calling up styles and sounds. If your performance doesn't require any
- mid-song changes in rhythm, this feature, although tricky to get the hang of,
- can prove exceptionally useful - but for those who think that reaching across
- this far is all too much effort, there's a backing sequence mode for
- recording a set of chord changes to be replayed on demand. It would be
- misleading to compare this with the fully-blown sequencers found on
- workstations at this price, but the feature set is surprisingly
- comprehensive. Despite rudimentary editing features, made all the more
- difficult by the cramped display, there are quantise, bounce-down, and 'save
- as Standard MIDI File' features in here; the save option enabling you to
- build up a library of chord sequences without having to reprogram the
- keyboard every time. Chords can be recorded as you play or entered in step
- time, and the 10 backing sequences can be chained in any order you like -
- perfect for a verse-chorus-verse structure.
-
- How it sounds
-
- You could easily keep an audience satisfied for half an hour with a virtuoso
- performance based on the i5S's 8-Beat rhythm, but there are 127 other presets
- to explore - plus the 64 in the user bank. In fact, there are four variations
- for each style, making 768 in total. Add to this a couple of fill buttons
- plus an intro and ending for each style (often the most imaginative parts of
- the arrangement), and there should be an accompaniment for most purposes even
- without recourse to the many available style disks. Unsurprisingly, you can't
- edit the styles or program new ones - as we've seen, Korg's intended market
- for the i5S consists of people who want to do as little setting up and
- editing with their keyboard as possible.
-
- The 128 preset styles begin with a comprehensive selection of 8-beat and
- 16-beat rhythms, with some rather schmaltzy rock and pop ballad styles. Waltz
- aficionados are also well catered for, with the jazz variant particularly
- good: the faster waltzes tend to be slightly over-orchestrated, but a little
- twiddling with the volume of each part can lessen this effect. One
- occasionally bizarre aspect of the presets is the default instrument assigned
- to each style; in the main, they're eminently sensible, but a harpsichord
- with a chugging 8-beat rhythm? Again, scrolling through a few LCD pages can
- fix this problem. Traditional home keyboard styles such as bossa novas and
- sambas are supplied in abundance. There's a great Latin rhythm, a couple of
- practical 'party polkas', and a Slow Swing which could have come straight out
- of your local Pizza Express. It's worth straying a little from the norm,
- though, as some of the best styles are slightly more leftfield than these:
- PasoDoble1 (whatever that means) is exceptionally well done, with the East
- European Gipsy1 also deserving to be singled out.
-
-
-
-
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- o Contemporary styles are usually more of a minefield for the style
- programmer, and the i5S might be considered brave in providing such a
- wide range of them - from blues to techno. Several, to be honest, are
- complete bunk: I can't see Snoop Doggy Dogg shouting along to the i5S's
- rap style, and, despite the programming effort that's obviously gone
- into them, moshing to the (very American) Rock and HardRock
- auto-accompaniments probably won't catch on either. Bourbon Street and
- Dixieland, meanwhile, are amusing but perhaps too OTT to be of much use.
- Surprisingly, though, the rest are pretty good. The Disco style is
- suitably cheesy, with strings everywhere, the PopShuffle could have come
- straight off any number of records, and the Twist will no doubt cause a
- huge number of ankle injuries; while, getting back to roots, Blues2 and
- R&B stand out admirably. Difficult styles such as Reggae and Techno are
- even more impressively programmed - I swear that I recognise the last
- one from a real dance track.
- If you, too, have a strange sense of deja vu after listening to the
- styles in the first two banks, just wait until you see what's loaded
- into the user bank as a default. 'Unchain Me' - hmmm, I wonder which
- recently resurrected classic that could be? Which seminal '60s track
- does P Harlum imitate? And repeat after me - Simon says she's convinced
- she's heard Carl Vain somewhere before... For the semi-professional
- performer or amateur out to entertain family and friends, these styles
- could make an evening.
-
- As a company better known for their sounds than their pre-programmed rhythms,
- then, Korg have done extremely well with the i5S's styles. There are 320 of
- the former, so with a pedigree dating back to the classic X3 synth, we should
- be in for a real treat with the tones, right? Well, yes and no...
-
- o General MIDI sounds reside in banks A and B, with a numbering scheme
- from 11 to 88 which suits the i5S perfectly but could prove confusing
- for some users. The first presets in bank A, the pianos and organs, are
- decent lead sounds, with the basic piano and BX3 Organ being
- particularly appealing. Elsewhere, the standard 128 GM sounds are more
- of a mixed bag. The classical guitar is unconvincing, while the
- steel-stringed acoustic is nicely done; there's a good distortion-effect
- guitar, but most of the other electrics aren't worth using. Similarly,
- the brass presets and solo strings sound very obviously synthesised;
- however, the string ensembles are a touch above most comparable sounds,
- and woodwind tones such as Clarinet would make lovely lead instruments.
- The pattern continues as we move towards the esoteric high end of the GM
- set - lousy birdsong and bagpipes, great stadium applause.
- It's in the remaining four banks (C, D, E, and a user bank) where Korg's
- sound designers, unrestrained by the General MIDI specification, have
- located the most rewarding sounds. In general, these pick up on the
- strong points of the GM set and offer further, more imaginative,
- variations to add to your set of lead sounds. Thus there's a wide
- selection of piano and organ sounds, with a few accordions thrown in for
- good measure, and some flashier synth pads than the GM specification
- allows. Even the guitars manage to salvage some glory with a rather fun
- Powerchord patch and some livelier acoustic sounds. Surprisingly, two of
- the best patches, ARP Lead and PietString (the latter one of many
- excellent string sections outside banks A and B), are to be found in the
- user set, which bodes well for any i5S sound disks that Korg release.
- Again, there's no facility for programming new sounds although, once
- you've navigated through the LCD pages to select a second instrument, a
- Mode Select button allows you to layer two sounds easily. There's also
- Korg's standard set of effects - 47 in all, ranging from a set of
- reverbs, through some tremendous distortion, to the trendy rotary
- speaker sound, with two effects able to be used simultaneously. It's
- worth shuffling through the LCD pages to set these up for each style, as
- they can really add some life to the sound and make the less realistic
- GM presets more palatable. Unlike those on some keyboards, the speakers
- on the i5S actually do justice to the work that's gone into the
- electronics - the bass response is excellent, and stereo can be used to
- full effect if you pan different sounds between the two.
- o Verdict
- o Korg have finally managed it. After several attempts such as the i3 and
- the i4S, which seemed to say "We'd quite like to make a home keyboard,
- but we're a synth company really", the new i5S is taking the market
- square-on with a range of features ideal for the home player.
- Once it's set up, obtaining impressive results with the i5S is child's
- play. The ability to load in backing sequences and call up a style with
- your choice of effects, lead instrument and volume balance will appeal
- to semi-professional pub and club players as much to those who like to
- keep their home keyboard in the home - high praise indeed. And those
- styles... cover bands across Britain are no doubt rubbing their hands
- with glee at the thought of gaining access to star sounds so easily,
- while those with a more original bent will be overjoyed at the huge
- number of variations on standard styles and the imagination that has
- gone into the contemporary rhythms.
-
- Do be aware, though, that although it's possible just to sit down and play
- along to the preset styles, it will initially take a fair bit of
- head-scratching before you can get the best out of the i5S. The editing
- system isn't obtuse enough that it should put anyone off the machine -
- especially when the rest of the keyboard is so inviting - but it's a bit of a
- chore deciphering all the abbreviations on the sparsely annotated pages of
- LCD info.
-
- o Any criticisms of the i5S are bound to seem churlish in view of the
- price - ú1,099. The only competitor with anywhere near the range of
- instruments and styles is the Technics KN1200, a better choice if you
- want to be able to edit sounds, but given the i5S's much larger range of
- instruments, styles, and effects, Korg have at last made a convincing
- claim for a place in the market for the keyboard player who just wants
- to sit down and play. It's about time.
-
- Product name: Korg i5S
- Product function: Home keyboard
- Country of origin: Japan
- Keyboard: 61 keys, velocity-sensitive
- Sounds: 384, including 128 GM sounds
- Styles: 192
- Effects: 2 processors, 47 effects
- Polyphony: 32 notes
- Multitimbrality: Up to 16 (for disk playback)
- Sequencer: 10 backing sequences. Plays Standard MIDI Files.
- Display: 2 x 20 character LCD
- Connections: L/Mono and R audio outputs; L/Mono and R audio inputs; stereo
- headphones; MIDI In, Out, Thru; direct PC/Mac interface; EC5 board, damper
- pedal, assignable pedal/switch
- Disk drive: 3.5", DD or HD
- Price (inc VAT): ú1,099
- Further information: Korg UK, 9 Newmarket Court, Kingston, Milton Keynes,
- MK10 0AU Tel: 01908 857100 Fax: 01908 857199 What we like...
-
- o Superb range of styles
- o Intelligent chord sensing
- o Good lead instruments
- What we don't...
- o Tricky to set up
- o Some sounds could be better
- Bottom line...
- o An easy way to sound like the pros with the minimum of effort
-
-
-
-
-
- Others Sites
-
- The Peter Inhat's site
-
- The Art Morrison's site
-
-
-