KORG Prologue

[Paul Dither]

I concur with regard to the overall sound. It has a thinner, sometimes even nasal quality (I don't mean the beautiful quality of BP filters by that), basically like the Minilogue, which of course shouldn't come as a surprise. Although I've heard some nice analog pads as well, the Rev2, Prophet-6, and OB-6 sound way more high-end. For a lack of a better expression, I find the Prologue to sound smaller and somewhat cheaper (as in: less luxurious) than DSI's poly synths.

And at this point, nothing else matters to me.  A thousand fancy features cannot compensate for a mediocre base sound.  If you can't strip down a synthesizer to a sawtooth or pulse width with a bit of reverb, then you've got an instrument that needs to apologize each time it's heard.

Indeed.

[LoboLives]

When Korg said "Mindblowing" I was sort of expecting to have my mind blown. You know...actual multitimbrality or MPE....I mean god if this thing had MPE or was multitimbral I wouldn't even care about anything else.  That alone would be unique.

[Sacred Synthesis]

This video offers the best sense of the instrument so far.  At about 7:30, they start running through the wave forms without effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlaGeJs4LSs

[Sacred Synthesis]

When Korg said "Mindblowing" I was sort of expecting to have my mind blown. You know...actual multitimbrality or MPE....I mean god if this thing had MPE or was multitimbral I wouldn't even care about anything else.  That alone would be unique.

But the Prologue does have multi-timbrality, LoboLives.  It's just that Korg uses the term for bi-timbrality.

I think we can all see through that one!

[musicmaker]

Apart from sound, just comparing features based on price (which are the same as the REV 2's)
- 1 LFO
- No MIDI Implementation in the spec (Sysex) :-(
- No aftertouch
- 8 voice not upgradable
- Very limited modulation routings
- Sequencer seems more limited
Probably priced a bit too high.
If there will be a desktop version that can be 19" racked under 1K$ then might be interesting because yeah it sounds different. SDK  is interesting. Hope the tools will be OS platform agnostic. Wonder how stable it is over time and temperature variations ? P.S:I had those kind of switches on a mixer once, they collected dust inside those gaps and broke after a while.

[Paul Dither]

When Korg said "Mindblowing" I was sort of expecting to have my mind blown. You know...actual multitimbrality or MPE....I mean god if this thing had MPE or was multitimbral I wouldn't even care about anything else.  That alone would be unique.

MPE is still fairly niche, at least not yet fully compatible to the relative mass market korg is shooting for. And MIDI and multi-timbrality have become demographically displaced in the sense that I always get the impression that no one below 35 or 40 is still interested in that. Many younger musicians perceive multi-timbrality as obsolete these days due to DAWs. It's either that or CV-only gear, as the latter is currently perceived to be cooler.

[DavidDever]

https://youtu.be/Iw8MoNndmX8 <- so far, one of the closest to a reasonable demo without kitschy beats or cheesy house piano comps.

[Paul Dither]

https://youtu.be/Iw8MoNndmX8 <- so far, one of the closest to a reasonable demo without kitschy beats or cheesy house piano comps.

But if it can do house piano comps it can do samples. 

[Sleep of Reason]

Apart from sound, just comparing features based on price (which are the same as the REV 2's)
- 1 LFO
- No MIDI Implementation in the spec (Sysex) :-(
- No aftertouch
- 8 voice not upgradable
- Very limited modulation routings
- Sequencer seems more limited
Probably priced a bit too high.
If there will be a desktop version that can be 19" racked under 1K$ then might be interesting.

It has an arpeggiator but not a sequencer, so no port for a sequencer pedal. No B output, auxiliary envelope, & no option for 4 pole. Eight voice has less keys as well. Though it has a 3rd digital osc and an analog compressor.

'Tis a mere pipe dream to expect there's going to be a rack version near the price you want.

[DavidDever]

https://youtu.be/Iw8MoNndmX8 <- so far, one of the closest to a reasonable demo without kitschy beats or cheesy house piano comps.

But if it can do house piano comps it can do samples. 

Yeah, not sure whether those were coming from the device itself or elsewhere (as with the drums).

[Sacred Synthesis]

https://youtu.be/Iw8MoNndmX8 <- so far, one of the closest to a reasonable demo without kitschy beats or cheesy house piano comps.

What synthesizer doesn't sound decent making reverb-drenched filter sweeps of parallel sixths, and with pretty little chirps in the background?  I think that video better demonstrates the quality of the onboard reverb than the actual character of the synthesizer.  This is what I mean by, "It's the Deepmind 12 all over again."

[LoboLives]

When Korg said "Mindblowing" I was sort of expecting to have my mind blown. You know...actual multitimbrality or MPE....I mean god if this thing had MPE or was multitimbral I wouldn't even care about anything else.  That alone would be unique.

MPE is still fairly niche, at least not yet fully compatible to the relative mass market korg is shooting for. And MIDI and multi-timbrality have become demographically displaced in the sense that I always get the impression that no one below 35 or 40 is still interested in that. Many younger musicians perceive multi-timbrality as obsolete these days due to DAWs. It's either that or CV-only gear, as the latter is currently perceived to be cooler.

Better to stand out than to fit in. Why not offer something fresh. In either case I hope DSI offer at least one of these on their next synth.

[Paul Dither]

When Korg said "Mindblowing" I was sort of expecting to have my mind blown. You know...actual multitimbrality or MPE....I mean god if this thing had MPE or was multitimbral I wouldn't even care about anything else.  That alone would be unique.

MPE is still fairly niche, at least not yet fully compatible to the relative mass market korg is shooting for. And MIDI and multi-timbrality have become demographically displaced in the sense that I always get the impression that no one below 35 or 40 is still interested in that. Many younger musicians perceive multi-timbrality as obsolete these days due to DAWs. It's either that or CV-only gear, as the latter is currently perceived to be cooler.

Better to stand out than to fit in. Why not offer something fresh. In either case I hope DSI offer at least one of these on their next synth.

I'm not defending what I wrote above, it's not my view of things. It's just based on observations of tendencies that I think shape the current market expectations. And sure it's better to stand out than to fit in. But don't forget that a huge part of the current analog revival is based on factors like familiarity and simplicity. To some degree, those desires mark the opposite of anything fresh. More experimental or out-of-the-box stuff has always had a harder time, which also defines potential risks for manufacturers. But I'm always for encouragement and ideas in that direction.

[eXode]

After hearing some examples I quite like it. I was sceptical about 2-pole only but I think diversifies it a little from other offerings. There are other 4-pole polyphonic synths out there, but I can see people who considered this as their one and only analogue polyphonic synth might be disappointed for some reason.

If anything, the lack of aftertouch might actually be the biggest deal breaker for me personally.

[eXode]

I think the open API of OSC3 and FX could be interesting.

"The prologue offers an SDK (Software Development Kit) that allows developers to program, customize and extend the capabilities of the multi-engine and digital effects and is expected to be available for download in the spring of 2018. The prologue provides 16 user oscillator slots and 16 user effect slots, and users can use the prologue Librarian software (also expected to be available for download in the spring of 2018) to load into their prologue new oscillators and effect programs created by developers with the prologue SDK (Software Development Kit).

What types of sound will you create by combining the expanded digital oscillators with analog synthesis? You can create original programs and share code to participate in the user community. Start with sample code provided by KORG. The prologue belongs to you."

Does this mean you can load samples into it?

It doesn't imply sample loading, it implies that people with the know how can program their own oscillator and FX, that is what I understand from reading that statement.

[LoboLives]

After hearing some examples I quite like it. I was sceptical about 2-pole only but I think diversifies it a little from other offerings. There are other 4-pole polyphonic synths out there, but I can see people who considered this as their one and only analogue polyphonic synth might be disappointed for some reason.

If anything, the lack of aftertouch might actually be the biggest deal breaker for me personally.

For me it's the lack of identity.
Also a lot of 4 pole synths do have a 2 pole option I believe.

[eXode]

After hearing some examples I quite like it. I was sceptical about 2-pole only but I think diversifies it a little from other offerings. There are other 4-pole polyphonic synths out there, but I can see people who considered this as their one and only analogue polyphonic synth might be disappointed for some reason.

If anything, the lack of aftertouch might actually be the biggest deal breaker for me personally.

For me it's the lack of identity.
Also a lot of 4 pole synths do have a 2 pole option I believe.

Well, agree to disagree on that. I think it has it's own identity for sure, definitely different enough from DSI or Behringer. If you like it or not is highly subjective of course.

[LoboLives]

After hearing some examples I quite like it. I was sceptical about 2-pole only but I think diversifies it a little from other offerings. There are other 4-pole polyphonic synths out there, but I can see people who considered this as their one and only analogue polyphonic synth might be disappointed for some reason.

If anything, the lack of aftertouch might actually be the biggest deal breaker for me personally.

For me it's the lack of identity.
Also a lot of 4 pole synths do have a 2 pole option I believe.

Well, agree to disagree on that. I think it has it's own identity for sure, definitely different enough from DSI or Behringer. If you like it or not is highly subjective of course.

Yeah I'd have to play one in person but I'm just saying for the price point and for what it is I'm not seeing exactly what's unique about it other than the User Osc3.

[Shaw]

I think the open API of OSC3 and FX could be interesting.

"The prologue offers an SDK (Software Development Kit) that allows developers to program, customize and extend the capabilities of the multi-engine and digital effects and is expected to be available for download in the spring of 2018. The prologue provides 16 user oscillator slots and 16 user effect slots, and users can use the prologue Librarian software (also expected to be available for download in the spring of 2018) to load into their prologue new oscillators and effect programs created by developers with the prologue SDK (Software Development Kit).

What types of sound will you create by combining the expanded digital oscillators with analog synthesis? You can create original programs and share code to participate in the user community. Start with sample code provided by KORG. The prologue belongs to you."

Does this mean you can load samples into it?

I doubt it is loading samples.  If it were able to do so, Sample Memory would have been among the specs released.

[John01W]

After hearing some examples I quite like it. I was sceptical about 2-pole only but I think diversifies it a little from other offerings. There are other 4-pole polyphonic synths out there, but I can see people who considered this as their one and only analogue polyphonic synth might be disappointed for some reason.

If anything, the lack of aftertouch might actually be the biggest deal breaker for me personally.

For me it's the lack of identity.
Also a lot of 4 pole synths do have a 2 pole option I believe.

Well, agree to disagree on that. I think it has it's own identity for sure, definitely different enough from DSI or Behringer. If you like it or not is highly subjective of course.

Yeah I'd have to play one in person but I'm just saying for the price point and for what it is I'm not seeing exactly what's unique about it other than the User Osc3.

Is there currently another discrete vco synth out there with 16 voices badass effects and an analog compressor that bi-timbral?...the osc 3 is awesome looking so far.....at this price point I don't see anyone out there doing this....


and another thing, Korg is awesome with software updates/upgrades.....you'll get no lectures for asking for them either.


BTW, I'm not hearing "mediocre sound" either...it sounds amazing so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=791&v=KlaGeJs4LSs