Korg has announced that the MicroKorg XL+ is now available in stores in the U.S.
The new MicroKorg XL+ has an updated soundset that features Korg’s SGProX piano, M1 and VOX organs, and classic Mellotron sounds. On top of the 128 onboard sounds, Korg has included another 640 sounds that can be loaded for free through the dedicated Editor Librarian software for Mac and PC.
Key Features:
- More vintage sounds, including the KORG SGproX piano, M1 and VOX organs and well-known ?Tape? instruments
- 128 onboard sounds, plus 640 additional sounds included with the Editor/Librarian for Mac and PC.
- Black panel “new vintage” design
- Featuring MMT – the distillation of Korg’s analog modeling technology
- Vocoder with included gooseneck microphone
- Kaoss effects engine
- Korg’s Natural Touch mini-keyboard, designed with an emphasis on playability
- Battery powered operation is supported for increased portability
Here’s a demo of the MicroKorg XL+ in action:
The Korg MicroKorg XL+ is available for $499.99.
I own the original MKXL ,and have tried the MK several times and I’m very disappointed with this product. Nothing new. And I really like the MKXL, great virtual analog, totally possible to do very convincing analog synth sounds and a LOT more besides. The MKXL is definately worth the extra money compared to the original MK, the filter and routing options, the well done PCM waves and the usb editor/librarian add tons more functionality. The biggest complaint I have is that it has only 8 voices, and thats because of the great sounding unison. It also has great sounding effects, especially the drive (although you can’t use the sub osc with it) within the synth engine.
So unless you’re a very commercial dubstep producer who doesn’t know about plugins, this is not for you.
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Isn’t this basically just the new version of the XL?
Does anyone know if you can use the new sounds with the old XL?
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anyone…?
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try using 5 pin midi , thats what i do with a jundo thru micro korg and they communicate hope it works out
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I liked my MKXL, but I sold it and bought a Novation Impulse 25 and used the change to buy some nice plugins. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great little package, but I just wasn’t using it in the way I thought I would.
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What a disappointment, yet another repackaging/nothing new exercise from Korg…
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Korg, please, no more little keys!
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i love the little keys lets make a poly analog micro synth please
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Still the most meh synth out there
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I’ve always hated seeing korgs little synths(turds) but that demo wasn’t too bad
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I do like the sound of it a bit, but really. Korg NEEDS to get off their little keys kick.
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It’s not cute, it’s not cool. And how much more can full sized keys boost the price anyways? If anyone has some insite as to why they do this I’d love to hear.
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That’s not hard to calculate – it’s the cost of an R3 minus the cost of a micro XL, so about 100 bucks. If you like the synth but want bigger keys, well… that’s what the R3 is there for. I don’t understand, are you saying korg shouldn’t make this because you have a grudge against small keys? The micro is their best-selling synth.
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Admin: Personal attack deleted.
Please keep comments on topic and constructive.
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I was simply asking what is the point of so many slightly modified versions of the same keyboard? There’s already a dozen or so of the same product on the shelf already. As far as i’ve gathered from the video, there’s a “new panel color” and “new and exciting sounds”. I’m not against the mini keys, they just shouldn’t try to glean all the money they can from their customer base when a simple downloadable update for the MicroKorg xl would do just fine. I mean it’s not like korg is hurting for money, I’m sure they have plenty of overhead and they just keep releasing rehashed ideas. They almost have no middle ground, it’s either get a little toy like keyboard, or go all out and buy a giant workstation.
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The mini key synths are their best sellers, so it’s no wonder that they keep making them.
I’m glad they’ve updated the XL – the sound library is much more interesting now and they haven’t changed the price.
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“I was simply asking what is the point of so many slightly modified versions of the same keyboard? There’s already a dozen or so of the same product on the shelf already. ”
Huh? I think there’s one version of the MicroKorg XL and two color versions of the XL+.
If you’re lumping in the original MicroKorg – it has a different synth architecture.
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The disco sounds made me very happy, sounded great, especially the last recording! The dubstep attempt just made me sigh with a little annoyance and boredom.
That phaser sound s great but dubstep.sounds of.today seem more additive and fm related. Subtractive synth dubstep presets are always boring to.me.
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there we go. fuck ms-20 reissue, lets repackage the minikorg. that´s the korg i know.
is there anyone out there still interested in this VA…cmon.
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Anyone else think this is in reaction to Navation?
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undoubtedly
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I don’t understand the negativity surrounding this. Is it somehow seen as gauche to have one of these since its targeted at first-time synth buyers? Sure, its an incremental update, but its an extremely popular product, with a very robust synth engine. I know plenty of producers that have various versions of the micro and make awesome music with it.
If you’re serious about making music, you’ll look at whatever genre settings korg happen to have put on it at the time, have a chuckle, and get down to business. For a first-time synth you can’t do much better! You can toss it in a backpack, and beginner synth users will definitely appreciate the radias engine as they learn more.
There are plenty of examples of the wrong way to do an entry-level synth, but the mini isn’t one of them. It may not have every feature that every person wants (what synth does?), but I’m glad korg keeps working on this product.
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Brendan
I think there are several reason for the skepticism on this.
First up – people have been asking Korg and Roland for new analogs for a few years now. Every time either company teases a new synth, people end up being disappointed, because it’s not analog. Let’s hope the leaked info on the two new Korg analogs pans out.
Second – people seem to either love or hate the mini-keys. I wish they made full-size key versions of their mini-synths, too.
Finally – there are probably a lot of people that never go beyond the presets. The MicroKorgs are surprisingly deep synths and can sound great, but you have to get in and tweak them.
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lets make a poly analog micro synth please
there are enough digital synths out there
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the MK line are great for gigging musicians: cheap, light and get the job done. nuf said.
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I’m a bit surprised that so few seem to see this as a pretty robust polysynth MODULE sporting a courtesy keyboard. I wouldn’t use it as my main synth, but that’s one hell of a potent soundset, plus an editor for same, plus a vocoder. If you’d set up a Tetra or Blofeld in a stack, you could get a lot from the XL+ in a similar way. With an SG piano in there, you could plug a weighted controller into it and have a pretty stout instrument. I’m sure its not like using Ivory, of course, but this synth is far bigger on the inside than it looks from the case.
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