Korg

How are there no reviews for this already? This is one of the best VSTi money can buy. Does it sound exactly like a real Odyssey? Probably, certainly more than close enough to make your own Odyssey-like sounds or to use in place of the hardware in a mix. What's more important is that it sounds great. It has both the grit and presence that made the hardware such a stand-out in the late 70s and early 80s. I don't think Billy Currie could have done what he did with any other synth of the era. His synth solos are the stuff of legend, made possible by the unique way the Odyssey works.

This is not an easy synth to get to grips with. Where every other manufacturer was laying out their controls to reflect the signal path, ARP had the idea of putting things together that a player might need to tweak on stage. So the layout is, quite frankly, weird and it takes a lot of getting used to. But once you get your head around it, even a little, you can do some amazing things. Two oscillators with a distinctive hard sync sound that is easy to dial in, a low-pass filter that doesn't disappoint (although neither is it a standout), two envelopes (1xADSR and 1x AR), an LFO and a Sample & Hold modulation source give it remarkable flexibility. It does great basslines, beautiful pads and great leads. The hardware came with three different filters over it's life and you can choose any of them in the VSTi.

Korg offers a range of extras, including polyphony with unison (the original was duophonic), a sequencer and a range of built-in effects. Accessing the effects and sequencer is a bit unusual, you have to use your mouse's scroll wheel to scroll up to reveal them, or use the different UI sizes, which reveal more or less of the UI, rather than the expected bigger or smaller interface. The effects are useful, if not outstanding. You can also choose which of the hardware's three generations your VSTi looks like, that choice is saved with your patch. When it came out in 2017 it had a reputation as a bit of a CPU hog but these days, on modern computers, it's not bad at all.

Ultimately, you buy this for the amazing sound quality. It is a synth you can use almost anywhere, for almost anything, and it will always give you what you need. You put up with the unintuitive layout and the non-resizable GUI because when you hear it, none of that matters any more. I also have Oddity (2 & 3), which are also great but there is just something about this one that really works for me. It's a very special instrument.

It's one of best iOS DAW, very loved by users for easy and fast workflow. You can buy additional synths and extend this products. All KORG software can run inside this DAW. There is limited support for controlling 3rd party plugins.

Sound is very good, especially if you do not go wild with channel count. It's must have iPad application.

Very good MS 20 replica. This synth can make lot of different sounds and it's fun to work with because it have cables.

it fits into any electronic music genre. Usually used for basses but it is capable of distorted leads if you play with cables. I don't use it for basses, leads are much better. It's famous filters are often emulated in synths but original in this VST sound much better.

It's must have synth because it's sound is distinct.

Collection is very good and you will get lot of good sounding synths for your daily work.

There is just problem with it's price is starting to approach Omnisphere level and only hard core KORG lover will choose it over Omnisphere. You need to wait for discount before buying and KORG is not doing 50% discounts too often, 30% are more common.

In upcoming Collection version 4 there will be 3 more digital synths added and price will most likely increase, making it even more difficult for KORG to sell. If collection would cost the same as Omni sphere I would go for Omni sphere. It's 15k sounds are hard to beat.

In collection you will get most famous KORG synths : MS 20, mini KORG, Poly six, M1 and Triton and ARP Odyssey. You will get other synths as well (mono/poly, prophecy, wave station) but these are the main and best ones. You will also get about 23 effects ported from Triton to separate VST and second effect unit made from MS 20.

Which synths you actually need? For today music where we need unique aggressive sounds mini KORG and MS 20 will do. Both are harsh sounding and very unique. mini KORG does not get much love on YouTube showing its hard side, people just playing soft tunes on it, but MS 20 is demonstrated more appropriate. mini KORG is very good for live playing, its pretty harsh and expressive for leads and solos. On other way You can put MS 20 on MIDI grid with mouse and it will do well there, no need to live play it. Don't buy Prophecy VST if you plan to MIDI grid it.

For 70s and very early 80s music ARP Odyssey is good. I am really impressed by it and playing with it on iPad while I rest. I haven't used it on the track it doesn't fit my style.

Poly six is very loved for its sound and used often. Sound is not unique like MS 20 and mini KORG - you can do similar sounds in most soft synths but still it sounds very good and you will actually use it because it's very fast to make sound with Poly six.

On other way mono/poly can be easily replaced by something else (Diva) and making sounds on it is not that fast like on Poly six. I do not use it in real work.

M1 is legend. It's must buy for any genre. Very strong sounding.

Wave station sounds good, it is designed for moving pads and sound scapes but it's GUI is very difficult to work with. If you like it buy it on iPad, it's much easier to use there. I do not use it in real work, GUI is too big pain to make something fast. I use Hyperion and Abyss for these kind of sounds. Both are fast to work with and have huge preset library.

Prophecy is synth for live playing. Original version got actually used in 90s by several famous bands. It has KORG VPM and lot of other stuff looking good only on paper. It's very difficult to design sound on it, it has lot of knobs and knobs do not change sound much. It's not very flexible synth, it can do certain limited style of sounds. I don't like it, but you can find lot of YouTube demos and check yourself.

Then we have two times Triton. They generated lot of excitement, especially extreme version with more sounds. Extreme version sounds softer then Studio version. I see use of extreme version for beat makers because it have huge library of mostly soft sound fitting into genre well. For use in more active music styles get Studio version or more punching M1.
Triton is more like sound library then synth with own character like rest of collection. It's quite similar to today KORG KRONOS. Designing sounds on Triton is way slower then on M1, do not expect to make a lot of own sounds. UI is similar to M1, but unlike original there is no sampler. Sampler would be useful, we can play sounds through its vintage sound engine because Triton have a lot of DSP effects. Playing audio through Triton is not supposed either, you have about 23 effects in separate MDE VST and most interesting effects from Triton are not there.

M1 is godly. It's digital synth that ruled 90s music the same way like DX7 ruled 80s. Other synths were used just because they were cheaper.

You will get M1 and all its cards and T1 disks. T1-3 and M1 (EX/R) are using the same legendary AI sounding engine.

Synth is very Punchy and it will get noticed very well in the mix. Next KORG generation 01/W has the same style of sounds, but Korg Trinity and later are on the soft synth side, Trinity sounds similar to today Yamaha synths and Triton is even softer, especially its Extreme edition. If you want Triton buy Triton studio (or VST). Triton Extreme has more sounds and most people buy it because of this but I prefer quality over quantity. Why bother with soft extreme edition while you can get Kronos.

From leaked information KORG works on 01/W VST. we will get more pad sounds which is known for, another batch of sharp M1 like sounds and first introduced wave shaping feature in its AI2 engine and more realistic but still very Punchy new detailed (4MB) piano set. Sadly from Trinity to nowadays Pianos are kinda soft. You can buy Key scape from Omnisphere and Ivory 2. While these Pianos might be realistic, they simply too soft. No developer has courage to make Pianos like used in first two KORG generations anymore.

M1 Sounds are good for pop, dance, house and few are good for Trance, there is an expansion card for it. Korg Triton has Trance expansion card as well but if you compare them M1 sounds much more aggressive. Why everybody likes soft sounds? I like the way M1 sounds - this is way how synth should sound, you can always make sound softer using compression and filters. KORG Triton and its following models like M3 and Kronos needs exciter insert on each sound to wake them somewhat. Yamaha took different approach - their sounds have more highs to sound bright but they are pretty careful with strong attack. Roland sounds are good for soft background playing in mix, don't worry nobody notices your bad playing, they don't hear you anyway.

There are lot of famous sounds. Most famous is the M1 piano, followed by Organ 2. From pads it's universe, choir and Lore.

Because you have all sound cards you have alternative M1EX Piano 2 samples, sometimes called T1 piano because it is also in second bank on T1-3. There are several presets utilizing Piano 1 multi sample, most used is Piano 16 because it's very hard metalic. T1 added new multi sample Piano 3, which is harder then kinda soft Piano 2 but it's not much used because there is no default preset for it. I never used Piano 2 multi sample in track. There is also 4th piano sound from M1 expansion card MSC 05. This one is fat and its called Piano 2 but it's not M1EX Piano 2. This one never appeared again in M1 T1 product lanes. I have not noticed it in the 90s songs either.

So you will get 4 famous piano multi samples from 90s and about 15 presets using these samples. Because M1 VST can do multi combo, you can split keys range in 3 parts and fine tune filter cut and amp envelope for each part and get 4 very well finished Pianos and then make second version with chorus on.

There are several synth and real Hammond organs samples, most loved in house music are versions with clicking. There are several pipe organs sounds, some are made from digital waves - these ones are uninteresting. Then we have few soft pipes for use in combination and last and best ones are pretty sharp pipe sets. These style of sampling pipe organs sets is not used since Trinity. Triton has pretty soft pipe organs but M1 pipe organs pipe sets cuts through mix amazingly well. do not overuse them in track, in intro or bridge they are good.

M1 is simply must buy for any producer because sounds like this are unique, hard sounding, legendary, magical not made anymore. M1 is not the best selling synth in the history for no reason.

Collection of 21 effects and over 100 presets for them from famous KORG Triton workstation. They are not all effects KORG Triton has. List of effects its not on KORG web site, you need to get demo.

Effects are very good smooth sounding for a very good price.

Included are 4 Band EQ, P6 Ensemble, Tape delay with 4 configurable heads and standard digital delay. It has usable mastering limiter, better then stock one in most DAWs. Multiband limiter is there as well. Compressor is quite basic but has side chain with filter and will do the job. Feedback reverb is there but no gated reverb. Phaser is self resonating and can do interesting effects. Exciter is good, it is used in Triton presets a lot. Included is basic guitar Amp sim with 3 way EQ.

I recommend this to buy as your first cheap effect package if you like smooth sounding effects. Its $25 dollars for 21 effects.

High quality and useful effect types. Korg MDE-X possesses the full capability to make any sound better.

If you're a fan of early 90s house and old school jungle/hardcore, this is an absolute must have. I've spent a shit load of money on VSTs and sample libraries over the last two years, and the $50 I paid for the M1 are easily among the most well spent. I'm just having so much fun with it. I don't necessarily use it for final productions, but it's quickly become my go to synths for sketching ideas. Sure, the sounds are absolutely cheesy and overused, but I find them very inspirational. Everything sounds familiar and all you need is right there in one place. You've got you're cheesy string and synth pads, cheesy bass and lead synths, all kinds of other cheese, and, of course, the famous cheesy pianos. Just add some drums, mess around a bit, and you've got yourself a track.

I'm not a big synth nerd, so I can't really tell you much about how the M1 stands up to modern synth technology. But I openly admit that I only got the M1 for the presets and the nostalgic feel. And for that purpose it's just perfect. So I'm giving 10/10 for the fun factor, the ease of use, and the very affordable price.