Korg today released a major firmware update for the microKorg 2 that adds a support for the ‘logue SDK – an open platform that lets you load custom oscillators and effects.
This means that you can customize the microKorg 2’s sonic capabilities far beyond the synth’s original design.
Here’s what’s new in microKorg 2 v2:
- Custom oscillators and FXs via logue SDK
- Flexible sound creation with new sub-oscillator
- New split function
- Enhanced loop recorder with slice and step recording
Korg shared an intro video, above, that demonstrates how to update the keyboard with the new firmware and how to use their sample oscillator, Waves.
Support for the ‘logue SDK is a huge new feature, because it means that you can load up your keyboard with new synthesis capabilities and effects and tailor the synth to your needs.
Unfortunately, though, Korg is continuing their tradition of terrible marketing for the ‘logue SDK platform. The platform naming is nerdy and meaningless to musicians. Their support for the platform has also always seemed half-hearted. Their sample oscillator debuted with the release of the Prologue, back in 2018, and they’ve done little else to demonstrate the potential of the platform, since then.
Fortunately, Sinevibes has announced support for the microKorg 2, and they already have a deep selection of oscillators and effects that demonstrate the potential of the platform:
microKorg 2 owners should check out the Sinevibes site to find out more about their Korg oscillators and effects.
If you want to know more about what’s new in microKorg 2 v2, loopop’s Ziv Eliraz has shared a comprehensive overview of the update and its capabilities:
It’s really a pretty massive update, and makes the microKorg 2 a much more powerful and interesting synth.
Check out the videos and share your thoughts on microKorg 2 v2 in the comments!
Proving that Microkorg 2 is a laptop computer with a music keyboard.
If you think of it, every single digital synthesizer is a “computer with a keyboard”, including the very earliest ones. Would you call Yamaha DX-7, Roland D-50, KORG M-1 just a “computer with a keyboard”? That’s what they technically are… yet they are way more than that. The microKORG2 is no exception and it’s an incredibly well-designed instrument.
There is a vast different between digital signal circuitry and software running in a digital computer. Every analog synthesizer is an analog computer that produces only sound. Every digital synthesizer is a digital computer likewise. The circuitry of a digital synthesizer cannot be rewritten. A D50 or DX7 is a computer per se but it only runs one program that is hard wired to the circuit board. It is unique in its function. If software can be loaded in to change the program, it is not a synthesizer, but a computer that runs synthesizer software. At that point, why not just get a computer? Why buy into having a studio filled with a bunch of computers each one that could do the exact job of any of the others? Just get a computer that can run the software. Yamaha was not very successful at selling music computers so they quit that experiment. But the public laps up computers that make music as long as they look like a piano. It’s just another way of staying in business in an age of ever declining innovation. And, by the way, humans are computers and language is software. That is also an arguable point.
The Sinevibes stuff is nice,
I am pretty sure that people who bought the plugins are more than happy to be able to get the same software in their other little hardwarebox from Korg.
Your point was?
Respectfully, what is the point you’re trying to make?
Damn, its not just a powerful mini-synth now; its also a useful looper. The courtesy keys seem more sensible with that in place. Sinevibes makes it a much bigger instrument. Added props for the more-useful-than-usual display.
My first hardware synth was the original mk…. the idea of using this as an fx processor with upgradable algorithms greatly improves the value. Love the new screen.