Labels:text | screenshot OCR: AM/FM NEWS FROM KORG - AUTUMN 1991 Exclusively for AM/FM by Beranek Korg 01/W and 01/W-FD together with the Wavestation A/D module and the enhanced Wavestation keyboard, are among the major news from Korg Inc. The Wavestation was introduced last year, but it didn't really follow the success of Korg's M- and T-series synthesizers. The reason for this is to be found within the rather J'atht complex (and syntethic) concepts of the machine. A (more than) wide range of samples, waveforms and transients that could be combined in several ways like vector synthesis and wavesequencing, cou] couldn't overrule the lack of 'workstation-sounds' like piano, drums, basses, pads, strings etc. traditional This fact has lead Korg to launch the Wavestation EX and an expansion kit for those who want to upgrade their 'old' Wavestation. The EX-version of the Wavestation has an expanded PCM ROM which doubles the size of the ROM from the The new old version. ROM houses brass, strings, voices, accordion, piano, saxes, woodwinds and drums in addition to more waves. Korg has also added some new effects for the multi-effect processors including compression/gate and vocoder effects. The new effects comes with the upgrade of the system software and is of course included with the new PCM ROMS. The Wavestation is also available in a rack-version this fall. Wavestation A/D 101 K is the name of this 2u synthesizer module, but it differs more from the Wavestation (EX) than the missing keyboard! Wavestation A/D is equipped with an extra RAM-bank for storage of patches and performances (programs). Without any peripherals you have instant access to 200 performances while the keyboard version gives 150 performances at your fingertips. In addition to this enhancement, the Wavestation A/D is equipped with two independant analog inputs(!), both balanced and unbalanced. The inputs can be configured for many internes interresting tasks; You might want to use the Wavestation A/D as 2-channel analog MIDI-mixer. Each input can be assigned to different MIDI channel for individual control. The fert inputs feed the changing the Wavestation A/D to a great multi-effector with lots of external control capabilities. The vocoders in the effects-section really come to life when you start singing into the Wavestation A/D. You also can select the this won WAN inputs as a sound-source to the oscillators. a sound so In this way You can process any external exter and through the Wavestation A/D's filters, amps enven envelopes. You might even want to have a tape-loop included as part of a wavesequence? These concepts really opens for exiting new possibilities. great PCM ROM including waves, transients and 'workstation-samples', vector synthesis, wavesequencing, powerful effect processors and analog inputs all make the Wavestation A/D a very special and most attractive rack-mount synthesizer. Chang wor filtans sound-source A Korg also announces the release of a new workstation series called 01-series. The new series has a lot of conceptual relationship with both the M- and T-series workstations from Korg, but the 01/W-series sure is a few steps further. The basics of the new keyboards are: * 32 voices * 48 Mbits PCM ROM * Waveshaping to change PCM characteristics * Full digital processing through enhanced filters Two digital multi-effect systems (both can be dynamically controlled) * 200 programs 200 combinations (multitimbral mode) * 16 track sequencer The 01/W-series in common; includes two workstation keyboards with most of their features the 01/W and the 01/W-FD. The -FD version of the 01/W has an onboard 3.5' 2DD floppy disk drive, and a larger sequencer than the 01/W. While the 01/W (without disk) has a 7.000 step sequencer, the 01/W-FD sports a 48.000 step sequencer. In other words: The 01/W would be the choice for the computer-musician. (You are running Music-X, Bars & Pipes or KCS anyway, aren't you?) The capacity of the sequencer and the disk-drive are the only differences between these keyboards, so I'll be referring to both by saying 01/ hereafter. The PCM ROM in 01/W is really big. Korg has been busy recording new samples for this new series, and they have done an exellent job. All samples are of high quality, and they have a lot of split-points (multisamples) in addition to being looong. The editing of programs (and combinations) is very similar to the M- and T-series, but 01/W has some new exciting features. Each oscillator within a single program now can be panned to any side of the effects. This implies that panning in Combination Mode and Sequencer Mode gives you the opportunity to pan a timbre (program) and thus overriding the program-setting or use the program's setting. Furthermore there is an entire new page in Edit Program Mode: Waveshaping. age is First, let me sort out a few facts. Traditionally, most sampleplayers and synthesizers use so-called subtractive synthesis. This means that the original wave or sample is unchanged when it comes to the characteristics of the original sound. All filtering and envelope editing only subtract elements of the sound, leaving us with a one-way approach to sound shaping. In the old days, when Voltage Control was as hot as Digital is today, we could add resonance and ring modulation to obtain new harmonics in a sound, but these ww effects disappeared when Digital enetered the stage. With Waveshaping, Korg in a PCM sample. introduces another way of changing the harmonics and overtones In the heart of the Waveshaping concept lies 60 different waveshapes. What you do is feed the PCM sample from ROM through one of the 60 waveshapes. The effect you select is added to the oscillator output by a Wave Shaping Envelope Generator which adjusts the waveform's modulation rate and adds harmonics that were not present in the original multisound. The amount of waveshaping applied to a sound can be adjusted according to velocity. In this way you can add distinctive and delicate nuances to existing multisounds - or even transform them into completely different sounds. in When you're done with waveshaping (if you can get out of that page), the rest of the 01/W program editing is rather easy. You'll meet old friends like filter, filter envelope, amp, amp envelope and modulation. The filters are much better than those of theM and T-series fiters, and working with these parts is really nice. Then there are a great deal of effects to work with. selection of reverbs, delays, choruses, overdrives, rotary-speaker, Korg's effect-section is a serious phasers, flangers, tremolos, delay/reverb, delay/chorus etc. All effects have their own parameters and are fully editable. The 01/W's effects can also be controlled from different controllers. Apply more reverb from aftertouch, accelerate the rotary-speaker from a pedal, sweep the equalizer using the joystick etc. etc. the effects can give an amazing lot of different sound-images program. Playing with from the same The multitimbral mode of the 01/W is called Combination Mode. In this mode you cant select up to 8 programs (or timbres) that can be assigned to it's own midi-channel, keyboard zone (split points), velocity splits, midi-filters, volume and panning. The effects used in a single program (in Program Mode) is no longer present since the 01/W donesn't have 16 different stereo effectors. You may, however copy the effect settings from whatever program, combination or song and apply this to the entire combination. At first this might seem to be a big limitation, but with a little experimenting you'11 soon find the effects an easy and strong part of the combination mode as well. The onboard sequencer of the 01/W has gone through a lot of development since the M- and T-series sequencers. The 01/W sequencer has 16 tracks and supports both pattern recording and track recording. Each track can have it's own midi-channel, program, volume, panning, split points (keyboard zones), and velocity splits (velocity zones). In addition to the 16 tracks there is a separate tempo track. You can record any controller data onto a track as well as program change, volume and panning (being controllers 7 and 10). The different recording modes of the tracks include realtime, step time, overwrite (erases previous data on entire track), overdub (adds new data onto an existing track), auto punch in (erases previous data within a specified range while track hit the recording new material), manual punch in (while in play you hit the record button to punch in, and again to punch out) and finally loop playback/recording (loops a specified range and overdubs new data if in record). The loop mode is also handy for practicing a difficult part of a song in play mode. Other editing features include Event Edit, Add Controllers, Transpose, Velocity Scaling, Quantize (with offset and percent accuracy), insert, delete and erase HOWA measures. now mous capture a A nice feature when setting up a new song is the 01/W's ability to combination and move it to either tracks 1-8 or 1-16. In this way you might as well use a combination as a program and still have 8 tracks free for other sounds. There is lots of more to say about the 01/W, but since I can't show you how it really sounds I think I'll leave you with a small personal conclusion. The 01/W is great a workstation. It is far better equipped than the T-series, and the sounds are bigger and more distinct. The effects section brings real dynamic control to the keyboard, and the number of parameters in each effect gives you real flexibility. The waveshaping feature is a very interresting function that expands both the dynamic feel as well as the sonic quality of the instrument. You really should find time to check out the 01/W at your local dealer right away! Espen Beranek AM/FM
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