Musik Indonesia

More details of the various formats of Metallica’s Death Magnetic have emerged on the band’s Mission:Metallica website. The cheapest option, with a $24.99 price tag, is the simple Digital Death Magnetic package, which gives its buyer the digital album at midnight of street date, plus the option to download two Metallica summer concerts, ringtones and the access to the Platinum areas of the Mission:Metallica site. The next step up takes that package and adds a physical CD to the mix (with free shipping!). Then, there’s the behemoth Limited Edition Collectible. For $124.99, you can get the digital, physical and 5LP versions of Death Magnetic, plus a lithograph. All three packages enter you into exclusive contests to win a chance to meet the band at select festivals. And the best part: They all come with $10 off merch or Fan Club membership at Metallica.com. You can peruse which package is right for you here. Death Magnetic is due out in September.

The Big News: After a two week vacation, Lil Wayne reclaimed the top spot as Tha Carter IIIColdplay’s Viva La Vida. There was a consolation for Chris Martin, however, as his band’s fourth album went platinum in its third week. The Camp Rock soundtrack held onto the number three spot for the third consecutive week. A pair of debuts, G Unit’s T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight) and John Mayer’s Where the Light Is, rounded out the top five. sold 156,000 copies to swap places with

Debuts: It was a pretty tepid week for debuts, with only two other new albums — Tech N9ne’s Killer at 12 and Alkaline Trio’s Agony and Irony at 13 — sneaking into the top 20. My Chemical Romance’s live The Black Parade is Dead! came in at 22 and only 22,000 High School MusicalVanessa Hudgens‘ sophomore album Identified. fans bought

Last Week’s Heroes: While the top three stayed the same, the rest of the top ten got all shook up, with last week’s number four, Mötley Crüe’s Saints of Los Angeles, dropping to sixteen after a 69% sales decrease and Three 6 Mafia’s Last 2 Walk dropped from five to 11. Meanwhile, Kid Rock’s Rock & Roll Jesus is enjoying a bit of a resurgence, jumping from twelve to seven after 39 weeks on the charts.

Post-modern hardcore hybrids reigned supreme at the inaugural installment of the Rockstar Mayhem Festival, but not without a nod or two to ye olde metal. For their encore, headliners Slipknot thrashed through “(sic)” while drummer Joey Jordison’s colossal kit rose up 20 feet above the stage and tilted at a gravity-flouting angle. Tommy Lee should be seeking royalties.

The nine-member masked militia churned through much of their back catalog and dropped in two numbers from their upcoming All Hope Is Gone. “Psychosocial,” the leaked lead single with an uncharacteristically melodic chorus, drew the only lukewarm response of the set.

For all the complexity of their stage production, Slipknot seemed off the cuff compared to Disturbed. Every move of singer David Draiman was made with rigid, theatrical exaggeration. He led the rabid audience through a chant of “USA!” before going into “Inside the Fire” from the recently released Indestructible, the band’s third chart-topping album. All guttural growls and f-bombs, Disturbed’s songs hammered the crowd with an indiscriminate but vehement aggression.

The kings of theatrical exaggeration, however, were undoubtedly DragonForce. Sporting ass-length hair, leather pants and dueling guitar solos, the U.K. gamer-metal warriors were clearly having the most fun of any of Mayhem’s main stage performers. They saved “Through the Fire and Flames” — the power anthem that has inspired many a guitar hero — for last.

These bands were flashier, angrier, and faster than Mastodon, but none matched the Georgia quintet’s smoldering intensity. They kicked off the first main stage set by pummeling early arrivals with the double-kick-drum thunder of “Colony of Birchmen.” By the second song, overeager crowd surfers were being plucked from the pit by security.

Outside the main stage action, snowcapped Mt. Rainer was framed by the Jagermeister and the Hot Topic stages. Motocross riders launched across the festival grounds, as buoyant as Jordison’s drum set would seem at the close of the festival.

Behringer is an amazing company and their new EUROLIVE B212A and B215A active speakers are two of the reasons. They are highly portable and powerful live sound speakers with a full slate of pro features and prices so low they boggle the mind, or at least make you do a double-take.

Low prices are are always attractive—who doesn’t like a great deal—but they also raise the question of quality—is it toy time or the real deal? People who have ordered the B212A or B215A—and there are lots of them—have found them to be the real deal. They find them not just good speakers for the price, but good speakers regardless of price. Most user reviews on musiciansfriend.com give these EUROLIVEs a solid four stars out of five rating which is a strong vote of approval compared with other speakers in this price range.

I too wondered how good they could be with such low prices but was made a believer when I got the chance to try them out. The EUROLIVE B212A and B215A appear well-made. They have all the features you could hope for and they sound fantastic—very clear and clean, even at high levels. I was especially impressed by the strong bottom-end such compact speakers could pump out. They both have serious punch, especially the 15" version that goes 10Hz lower in frequency range.

Power and portability

The main reason the B212A and B215A can crank out the high SPLs is that each houses an efficient 400-watt power amp, so with two in use as mains you actually are putting 800 watts behind your sound. A trapezoidal cab reinforces the sound output. The driver is a long-throw 12" or 15" woofer that adroitly handles the deepest bass tones and high SPLs.

The tweeter is a 1-1/4" aluminum-diaphragm compression driver that delivers clear room-filling highs through an ultrawide dispersion molded horn that gives the sound maximum spread. The B215A cab is capable of SPLs up to 126dB which is about as loud as a speaker should get. Any more and you risk lawsuits.

With all this power and output, the B212A and B215A are extremely portable cabs. The B212AB215A weighs just 43 lbs. and their molded handles make handling easy. weighs just 33 lbs. and the

Versatile design

These speakers are versatile in how they can be positioned. They can be polemounted using the built-in 35mm socket, or thanks to their trapezoidal cab design, placed on their sides as floor monitors or set upright. Because of the design of the horn, sound dispersion is the same whether they are placed upright or sideways.

The B212A and B215A can both be used as single-box, single-channel PA systems. Each has a mic/line input with a volume control, two-band EQ, and a clip LED, so you can plug in an individual microphone, or you can run a small mixer into the line input if you want to connect several sources. Both the audio input and the link output accept XLR connectors and are fully balanced to keep the system free of noise and interference.

Integrated sound processor

The entire system has an integrated sound processor that automatically handles protection functions, dynamic equalization, and an optical limiter so even under extreme use, you aren’t required to monitor the system closely. It runs on auto-pilot, freeing you to just play the music.

A pair of 12s and a pair of 15s give you a great monitor and main stage system for gigs for about a thousand smackers with power included. That’s a hard-to-beat price and when you consider the portability factor and the high user ratings these EUROLIVE speakers are chalking up, it’s easy to see why the B212A and B215A are such hot products these days. It’s that magic mix of quality, functionality, and low price that Behringer does so well.

Features & Specs

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• 2-way active PA speaker
• 400W
• 12" long-excursion woofer (B212A)
• 15" long-excursion woofer (B215A)
• 1-1/4" compression driver with horn
• Speaker protection
• Trapezoidal enclosure
• 35mm polemount socket
• Ergonomic handles
• Micro-processor controlled EQ and protection
• Optical limiter
• XLR mic input
• 1/4"/line input
• Level control
• 2-band EQ
• XLR out
• Frequency range: 65Hz-20kHz (B212A)
• Frequency range: 55Hz-20kHz (B215A)
• 14"W x 22"H x 11"D (B212A)
• 33 lbs. (B212A)
• 17"W x 27"H x 13"D (B215A)
• 43 lbs. (B215A)

Recently I had the pleasure of reviewing a new line of bass guitars from Laguna, and I found them to be impressive instruments with what I call “high-quality value”—a set of features and level of craftsmanship that far exceeded what you’d expect for their moderate prices. Now I see the same formula applied in the new LE series guitars just out from Laguna.

The LE Series consists of four models ranging in price from around $300 to $600, but they have the look, feel, and features of instruments costing twice as much. For guitarists who have outgrown their first or second axe, and are looking for something nicer, the Laguna LE is a big step up for a relatively small pile of cash.

Thoughtful design

Laguna LE guitars have eye-catching good looks. Their shape is immediately appealing, nicely sculpted for comfort and graceful lines. The curves of the body are echoed by the sculpted curve in the headstock.

They are love-at-first-sight instruments, and their appeal only grows with closer, longer inspection. For example, the body isn’t just sculpted at the edges. It is carved both front and back to give it an arched shape. Because it is thicker in the middle and thinner toward the edges, it has the resonance of a thicker body, reduced overall weight, and as you stroke downward, your pick stays clear of the body. This, in turn, does away with the need for a pickguard and allows the beauty of the wood to be emphasized.

The heel shape is another nice detail. It is shaved down allowing your hand to more comfortably reach the upper frets. When you look at the back of the Laguna LEs, you notice that the cover plates are recessed into the body so they are flush, which eliminates those edges that can snag your shirt. It takes just two Allen wrenches to adjust everything on them, from neck to bridge—another example of Laguna’s user-friendliness.

Great materials

The woods are first-rate: hard rock maple necks, solid wood bodies (kuari for the 222 and swamp ash on the other four). The 422 and 524 have an AAA flamed maple top over the swamp ash, and all but the 222 have transparent finishes. All models forego a pickguard, allowing the metallic finish or the beauty of the wood grain to show through. The rosewood used for the fretboard isn’t the washed-out-looking rosewood found in many moderately priced guitars. Laguna uses dark Indian rosewood—smooth and fast feeling to the fingers—and it is accented by abalone markers in the 322 and higher models (mother-of-pearl markers on the 222). When you add nickel satin hardware to beautiful woods and trans finishes, you have guitars that look terrific—the Laguna LEs have their visual show together.

Deluxe hardware and electronics

The hardware for the LE models also serves to elevate these guitars above the crowd. Three of the models have self-lubricating nuts (the exception is the 524, which has a locking nut). The 322524 have special-design locking tuners that lock automatically, making string changes faster. Even the strap posts reflect Laguna’s careful selection of hardware. They are designed for Dunlop-style strap locks (a set is included with each guitar), but aren’t recessed as these posts sometimes are, allowing you to use them the old-fashioned way if one of your locks goes south (it’s happened to me). and higher models have roller string tees, and all but the

The tremolo bridges on the 322 and 422 are Wilkinson two-point trems with a nylon bushing that allows easy adjustment and saddles that are locked in place, eliminating chatter and preventing movement when you go slack on the strings. The 524 features black hardware and the tremolo is a double-locking style.

The electronics on the Laguna LE models match their looks and playability. All except the 524222 have alnico magnet pickups. Those on the 222 are ceramic magnet pickups and have a somewhat brighter sound. All the pickups are custom wound and double paraffin-dipped to eliminate any microphonics. They sound great and the single volume and tone knobs make the dialing simple. have a passive H-S-S configuration with five-way switching and a coil-splitting pullout knob. This gives you a traditional three single-coil sound and the added beefiness of a bridge humbucker. All models except the

The shredder version

Besides being the top of the LE line, the 524 is a different bird than the other three models. It has been bred to shred. The neck has 24 frets rather than the 22 of the other models. Instead of the H-S-S pickup configuration, it has a pair of humbuckers and three-way switching. Also different are the locking nut and double-locking-style tremolo. These appointments make the 524 a perfect instrument for walking on the wild side, yet it still has the coil-splitting switch just in case the shredder in you needs a more traditional clear, ringing tone. Like, you know, for the obligatory power ballad.

To sum them up, the Laguna LE Series models are very desirable guitars with features that should appeal to both traditional rockers and the more shred-oriented contingent. They have showtime looks; excellent appointments; and detailed, careful design. For their prices, they have to rate among the best deals out there.

Features & Specs

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• Solid bodies (kuari on 222, swamp ash on 322, 422, and 524)
• AAA flamed maple top on 422 and 524
• Rock maple, 25-1/2"-scale, bolt-on neck
• Dark Indian rosewood fretboard with abalone inlays (mother-of-pearl on 222)
• 22 frets (24 frets on 524)
• Lubricating nut on 222, 322, and 422
• Double-locking trem system on 524
• Roller string tees on 222, 322, and 422
• H-S-S pickup configuraton (H-H on 524)
• 5-way switching (3-way on 524)
• Alnico magnet pickups (ceramic on 222)
• Coil-splitting via pull-out tone knob
• Volume and tone controls
• Satin nickel hardware (black on 524)
• Automatic locking tuners on 322 and 422
• 2-point Wilkinson on 322 and 422
• Special-design lock-down saddles

"Lagu cinta melulu. Kita memang benar-benar melayu. Suka mendayu-dayu." Efek Rumah Kaca punya cara sendiri mengungkapkan kegelisahan hati mereka.

HILANG KERTAS, muncul ARMADA. Ini bukan lelucon, tapi kisah nyata band yang mencuat dari daerah, masuk Jakarta dan [kabarnya] 'tersungkur' di album pertama oleh label yang "menjahilinya". Yup, gara-gara album pertamanya dalam kondisi 'tidak jelas' band asal Palembang yang awalnya bernama KERTAS Band itu, akhirnya hengkang dari label lamanya dan mengganti nama menjadi ARMADA Band. Apakah itu bagian ritual buang sial?

Diambil dari : okezone.com

diambil dari : http://bluemeda.wordpress.com/

Mungkin agak telat bicarain nih cewek, tp rasa penasaran temen-temen membuat q ingin googling aja tuk cari siapa sebenarnya si gaby ini. Akhirnya gue nemuin beberapa versi cerita yg aq rangkum semuanya disini. Mohon koreksi jika ada yg salah.. he
Versi PertamA
Ada yang bilang cewe ini bernama Ega. Ega adalah seorang vokalis Band Caramel, dia frustasi karena ditinggal Boyfriendnya, pacarnya meninggal dalam sebuah tawuran. Karena frustasi Ega mencoba bunuh diri, dia ditemukan oleh temanya dalam keadaan sekarat, dan langsung dilarikan ke rumah sakit. Saat ajal mau menjelang Ega menyanyikan lagu ini dengan iringan gitar yang dimainkan sendiri, dan direkam oleh temannya. Setelah menyanyikan lagu ini Ega pun meninggal.

Cerita yang ini sedikit tidak masuk akal, karena di backsound lagu ini ada suara orang tepuk tangan, (orang lagi sekarat ko di beri applous), dan namanya orang sempat sekarat pastinya di tangannya ada jarum infus, dan mungkin diberi oksigen, jadi mana mungkin Ega bisa main gitar sendiri, dan juga suster-suster disana pasti melarang karena bisa mengganggu pasien lain.

Versi Kedua

Namanya Gaby, Dia anak SMU Blora di Madiun (katanya, tapi temen-temen aku bilang dia ank sidoarjo), dia juga anak Band khususnya vokal, sewaktu itu dia kelas 3 SMA mau menempuh ujian pastinya. Dia punya pacar anak pembalap, suka balapan motor. Nah, pada waktu masa-masa ujian itu mereka jarang komunikasi karena sibuk belajar. Tanpa diketahui Gaby, ternyata pacarnya meninggal gara-gara kecelakaan. Orang tua pacarnya maupun temen-temennya nggak mau kasih tau Gaby, takut mengganggu konsen belajarnya. Akhirnya setelah selesai ujian Gaby ke rumah pacarnya bermaksud buat ketemu, kan kangen tuh, n mau marah-marah juga cz knp setelah ujian pacarnya nggak kasih kabar. Truz pas di rumah pacarnya, Gaby kaget kok rame-rame, banyak orang baca yasin. Ibu pacarnya akhirnya kasih tau ke Gaby kalo pacarnya uda nggak ada, meninggaL! Gaby shock banget pastinya, dia stress berat! Temen dan keluarganya kasih support dia untuk bangkit. Sampai akhirnya dia berhasil menciptakan lagu itu, lagu tentang perasaan dia. Niatnya Lagu itu akan dipentaskan pas perpisahan sekolah. Tapi sayangnya .. Gaby memilih ketemu sama pacarnya, dia dikabarkan gantung diri! Itu terjadi di Tahun 2007 kemaren. Nah .. setelah itu menyebarlah Lagu-lagunya .. Dan banyak yang bilang setelah ngedengerin lagu itu banyak yg didatangi cewek cantik alias Hantunya Gaby. Katanya juga banyak kejadian-kejadian gitu sekitar bulan desember yaitu pas bulan kelahiran Gaby.

Versi Ketiga

dy tu aslinya ank bali. dy bkin lirik tu sndri. karena dy ditinggal olh kekasihnya yg meniggal dlu. pertama ceritanya, geby tu mahasiswa universitas di jogja. kejadian itu terjadi di bali kmpung halmannya. kejadian ini berlangsung tanggal 11 januari 2008 pada malam hari, waktu itu geby ma teman ne naik mobil kijang panter dy lg m jalan2 gtu dech

ternyata waktu perjalanan dy melihat sang kekasih lagi sama cewek lain lalu dy manggil kekasihnya tu, sehabis melihat kekasihnya lagi selingkuh dy ngebut pulang kerumah tmen td tanpa disdri pacar geby td ngikutin geby tp dy kehilangan dy terus dy cari sesampai dijalan yang spi dy ngebut karena dy liat mobil geby ternyata disana ada simpang jalan dsitu pacar geby mninggal kecelakaan. 2 hari kmudian geby diberitahu bahwa pacarnya telah meninggal karena kecelakaan. setelah mendengar kabar itu geby g prnah keluar dari kamar dy ngurung dri dsna. sambil nangis dy bikin lagu yang kni telah menyebar. stelah itu malam harinya dy dibujuk untuk keluar kmar olh temannya ternyata dy mw, dy diajak ke sebuah cafe dibali. distu dy cbo untuk nyanyi kan lgu buatannya td. tpi sebelum nyanyi dy minum obat yang punya dosis tinggi, dy minum semua obat tadi tanpa sepengetahuan temannya. setelah minum cy nik keta panggung. lalu dya nyanyi waktu dy tengah2 tangan geby bercucuran keringat. kan dilgunya terdengar suara senar gitar putus itu geby mulai merasa sakit didada setelah suara senar tdi lagunya selesai hanya sampai di pernah ada. lalu lagunya habis sebetulnya lagunya itu masih panjang. dan disitu terdengar suara teriakan seorng cewek itu temen geby. yang tw bahwa dya minum obat dosis tinggi. stelah itu geby jatuh dari bangku yg didudukinnya lalu dy sekarat dalam keadaan memegang gitar, dy dilarikan kerumah skit ternyta dy meninggal di jlan. jadi dy g jd dibawah kerumah sakit
Versi Keempat

Lagu ini dibuat oleh seorang vokalis dari band Caramel (Stikom Bali) yang bernama EGA. Dia ditinggalkan oleh pacarnya dan dia tidak kuat menahannya sehingga putus asa dan menyanyikan lagu ini di depan teman-temannya sebelum dia bunuh diri ke esokan harinya. Di lagu versi ini ternyata terdapat pesan khusus.. Yaitu dua kalimat :
Hayati dan Renungkan. Mungkin anda akan tersentuh dan terharu setelah mendengarkan lagu ini.

G D Em Bm

Pernah ada rasa cinta

C G Am D
Antara kita kini tinggal kenangan

G D
Ingin kulupakan

Em Bm

Semua tentang dirimu

C G Am D G

Namun tak lagi kan seperti dirimu oh bintangku
Reff :

G d Em Bm

Jauh kau pergi meninggalkan diriku

C G Am D

Disini aku merindukan dirimu

G D Em Bm

Kini ku coba mencari penggantimu

C G Am D G

Namun tak lagi kan seperti dirimu oh kekasih
Secret Words :
ku ingin memiliki nafasmu jikalau aku mati

Bisakah Aku memiliki nafasmu jikalau aku mati

Info tambahan…

Setelah beberapa lama tulisan ini di terbitkan, ternyata banyak juga para pembaca yang posting comment..
Saia liat liat, eh ternyata ada salah satu orang yang posting comment dan ngaku temen sekelas Geby.. bener nggak nih?? Saia sih nggak tau yah… dia posting mengenai cerita Geby yang sebenernya.. begini postingannya

The Micro's keyboard is a 37-key C-C type, incorporating velocity response, but lacking aftertouch sensitivity, and it's composed of mini-keys, which is a little strange to my way of thinking. Serious players will be dismayed by it, and yet it's not quite aimed at non-players either, as they would surely have been quite happy with even fewer notes?

Korg Microkorg £399 pros Powerful, convincing analogue synthesis. Compact design. Simple, effective real-time editing controls. Flexible vocoder with external audio inputs. Dedicated microphone included. Optional battery operation. Good MIDI controller capabilities. cons Limited polyphony. Mini-keyboard not suited to 'serious' playing. Involved editing can be a pain. Small, sometimes cryptic LED display. External power supply. summary The Microkorg sounds great, and may suit some live applications, but others are going to find fault with the mini-keyboard, four-note polyphony and fiddly in-depth editing regime. It's good as a MIDI controller, though, and the battery operation allows you to use it on the move. Whether you like it will therefore depend on your particular needs, but it's definitely worth an audition.

There are 128 program memories, any of which are available for overwriting with your own creations, though the factory presets can be recalled at any time in future if required. The programs are arranged in two 'sides' of eight banks of eight programs. The two 'sides' are selected by a dedicated button, and you access the eight banks via a large knob which clicks around a questionable series of genre titles, such as Trance, Electro and Hip-Hop/Vintage. I'm not convinced as to how useful these titles are, to be honest — it all smacks a bit of home-keyboard territory, and anyway, once you've edited a few of the programs, the chances are the descriptions will no longer be valid. Maybe simply numbering the banks from one to eight might have been preferable; this is, after all, how the Microkorg's simple three-digit LED denotes the bank and program numbers... Programs within the current side/bank are accessed by eight numbered buttons just below, and using these buttons in conjunction with the Shift key allows you to access various housekeeping functions. Most of the Microkorg's buttons are illuminated, which is useful, though I doubt the panel legending would be visible on a darkened stage.

I was concerned on first looking at the Microkorg that I was in for hard time programming the machine, given its relative paucity of controls (see the 'User Interface' box towards the end of this article). To a great extent, I'm afraid my fears were realised. If you are heavily into sound programming, I'd strongly suggest you find a suitable computer editor, or get used to 'ship-in-a-bottle'-style twiddling. Also, thanks to the absence of any other form of screen, Korg have had to resort to cryptic LED messages to display some of the parameter values, and it will take time to become familiar with these.

The Microkorg's basic synthesis architecture is fairly normal for anyone familiar with analogue synthesis, and is very similar to that of Korg's MS2000. The smallest building-block of sound is referred to as a 'Timbre', this being the result of a pair of oscillators (plus a noise generator), a multi-mode filter, amp, envelope generators, LFOs and virtual patching blocks (of which more later). Either of the two possible Timbres may be solo'ed during editing and Timbres can be swapped and copied to aid programming. The Timbres are then presented to the input of the effects, which consist of a single modulation effect, a delay and an EQ processor, before the result arrives at the stereo output. Although the Microkorg is bi-timbral in the sense of being capable of producing two synth sounds at once, it is not possible to address the timbres separately over two different MIDI channels — so you couldn't have a sequence and bass line playing different notes at the same time.

At best, the Microkorg is four-voice polyphonic, and the voices are allocated depending on the voice assignment set for each of the two Timbres. If both Timbres are layered together in Poly mode, the synth will become two-note polyphonic. Mono mode is provided to emulate a true monophonic synth, whilst Unison mode layers all four Voices together with a variable degree of Unison Detune to create a richer, fatter sound.

Oscillator pitch is variable over a range of four octaves, with fine-tuning to one-cent steps. The range of effect of the bend lever from -12 to +12 semitones is adjustable, as is the vibrato depth imparted by the mod wheel. Portamento is available, and portamento time is adjustable, but unfortunately there is no option to specify a fixed portamento rate, making longer portamento times sluggish over short key spans, and rendering old Minimoog portamento lead sounds a tad difficult to emulate convincingly.

Of the two oscillators, Osc1 has the lion's share of the waveforms, with a complement of saw, square, triangle, sine, vox, DWGS (of which more in a moment) and noise types. Alternatively, Osc1 can be replaced altogether by the signal arriving at either of the two audio inputs. Oscillator sync and ring modulation are also available and both may be utilised simultaneously. A pair of controllers assigned to Osc1 allow for a range of basic sound-shaping features to be applied to the raw waveform — these vary with the selected waveform, but include pulse-width, cross-modulation (with Osc2), and the introduction of higher harmonics into the waveform. These are sophisticated wave-bending features and very welcome in such an unassuming synth.

The 64 DWGS (Digital Waveform Generator System) waves hark back to the days of the DW8000. These waveforms are the result of additive harmonic synthesis, and usually sound glassy, hard-edged and 'digital'. They allow the creation of all kinds of metallic, bell and electric piano sounds which are normally outside the scope of a purely analogue synth.

Osc2 is an rather simpler affair, capable of generating only saw, square and triangle waveforms. Independent tuning is available to generate detuning or musical intervals in semitone steps. Once both oscillators reach the mixer they are joined by a noise generator, independent of Osc1. Finally, each of the three signals may be individually attenuated before passing to the filter.

The Microkorg is supplied with its own mic for vocoding purposes, and although it's a little physically flimsy, it makes a fine job of it.

The filter is again surprisingly advanced, with options for a full-blooded 24dB-per-octave low-pass filter, in addition to 12dB-per-octave low-, high- and band-pass variants. In addition to its basic cutoff and resonance controls, the filter has its own dedicated ADSR envelope generator and key-tracking, both with variable positive or negative depth controls, and it will happily go into self-oscillation when the resonance control is turned up sufficiently high. Both the filter and amp envelope generators are of the ADSR type, with the option to force the envelope to reset to zero amplitude each time a new note is played, or to pick up from the release level of the previously played note.

In the amplifier section, there's a simple level control to determine the overall patch level, although this acts as a balance between Timbre 1 and 2 when a layered patch is created. A pan pot determines left/right balance and variable key-tracking will increase or decrease volume level across the keyboard. The amp section also offers a useful distortion processor, a simple on/off control which relies on the levels set in the mixer to determine just how much distortion is applied.

The Microkorg's two LFOs are near-identical, with the exception that LFO2 offers an triangle wave rather than LFO1's sine wave, and also contains an unusual 'positive-only' square wave in place of LFO1's more usual positive/negative square wave. A positive-only wave can be useful, for example, where you might want a pitch warble to flip between the played pitch and a higher interval, whereas the more usual positive and negative wave would warble the pitch at above and below the played pitch. There's no positive-only equivalent for the sine or triangle wave, though, which could have been useful in simulating guitar vibrato. Key sync of the LFO is possible, as is tempo sync, so modulation can be synchronised to either the internal arpeggiator tempo, or an external MIDI Clock source at a variety of cycle values, from four beats per one cycle to one beat per two cycles.

As mentioned earlier, four so-called virtual patch routings are available, and it is here where much of the Microkorg's strength lies. Each Patch allows the selection of a modulation source and its application to a modulation destination, with a variable positive/negative intensity. Modulation sources include both LFOs, both envelope generators, velocity, keyboard tracking, and the mod and pitch wheels. Destinations include pitch, Osc2 tuning, noise level, filter cutoff, amplitude, pan and LFO2 frequency. As you might well imagine, this gives you scope for a whole world of modulatory mayhem, and some of the factory presets show what can be achieved with a little thought and application.

Technical Info