Korg Z1 Demo Part 1

[@madness8556]

There are 3 instruments I've regretted selling over the last 25 years.... Korg DW8000, Korg Wavestation AD, and my 18 voice polyphonic Z1EX. The Z1 is a beautiful synth in terms of sound, synthesis power, reel time control and great looks. It's however very sluggish when it comes to MIDI timing and it's processor couldn't keep up, especially when changing sounds. It's FX architecture was also very limiting. It's 13 MOSS algorithms were very flexible giving the Z1 multiple synthesis types that were unavailable in its contemporaries such as the Roland JP8000 and Yamaha AN1X. I sold mine because it was being way under utilised, but I wish that I held on to it! Fantastic video by the way!

[@aussiejuju]

I own the Wavestation A/D, and Z1 myself. I understand completely and will never let them go. And I also have the AN1X too 😃 Just beautiful gear 👊

[@madness8556]

@@aussiejuju you're a very lucky man! Enjoy those beautiful instruments!

[@aussiejuju]

@@madness8556 Thanks mate, I do feel lucky to still have them. It’s nice to see the appreciation for this older gear is still out there too 🙂

[@AndyFerguson]

I sold one too. I just felt it wasn’t that intuitive to program and the XY Pad I never got on with. Wonderfully ahead of its time I guess. But I found software to be the answer.

[@hermeslord]

my heart really aches to know that this one is lost forever.. i attended a demo clinic in the late 90s and i was enchanted, back then it was a lot of money and i could only dream of it.. but little did i know that this was a one time brilliance by Korg thanks to the TI japan provided chip.. It truly was a space traveller.. came and went in a flash

[@halcyo]

Damn these performances are stellar, as well as the patches. You're composing legit film score level pieces here. I'm quite impressed. I would have otherwise given little thought to this board.

[@plade5433]

It's the synthesizer I dreamed of at the end of the 90s.

[@craigsg01]

Beautiful. I have a Z1 and Prophecy - must dust them off again and play them!

[@jamesmacleod671]

Exactly, it is still a capable synthesizer that can come up with unique sounds.

[@garyhendrie4001]

Had a prophecy, sold it boohoo, have a z1 and Yamaha EX5 which is a beauty too but neither see much action these days. Prophecy was one of only two keyboards I regret selling, the other was my first synth a Yamaha sy85.

[@EdgyNumber1]

Always lusted after a Z1 back in the day.

[@SolidtraxNL]

Ok I will choose one word for this: Excellent!

[@aristotlekumpis7095]

Nice demo. I had the Z1 and the Prophecy about 20 years ago. I did like the Z1, as it was different.

[@TronDawg]

Thank you. A solid tactile digital poly synth can build worlds that we’ve only begun to explore. And yet they’re still affordable. Why I’ll hold off on going fully modular for now. A synth of each of the the major food groups, and you’re set. Many thanks✨🤙✨

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

So good musically and programming-wise! Physical modeling on Z1 might not be the best, but in good hands can do wonders.

[@annother3350]

it doesnt have to be realistic - there are so many parameters and modulations you can do

[@serhiymarchenko8361]

@@annother3350 True that. I was referring to Yamaha VL - it is much more complex, but that means it’s very hard to use (and it is monophonic).

[@yashnu]

@@serhiymarchenko8361 VL1 and VL1-m are duophonic.

[@michaelalberson126]

You are awesome and the different soundscapes are stellar. Used to have a Roland JX-3P the programmer module. I so wish I had kept it however that was a mistake as it would do those kinds of sounds actually it was limitless.

[@dfreeman120]

This synth is a total beast

[@mackie32x4]

Exactly the setup I have. The Prophecy atop the Z-1 with a JD 800 on the bottom!!

[@ulfisaksson299]

what wounderful synt 1 Korg did it again .I missed this synt when it came out.

[@cube206]

Amazing :) thank You

[@varoennauraa]

Wow! So beautiful sounds man!!! And the music’s right up my alley as well!

[@TheCbone1979]

My Z1 is something I've never been able to part with. I've had it around 18 years. Such a great masterpiece with lush, proud digital textures.

[@johnnybegood2693]

beautiful character & good note choices 👍

[@johnb2044]

have this baby in my collection along with lots of other 90's-2000 VA keys and rack's

[@georgejennings9959]

14:40 beautiful majestic. I bet the Prophecy above with the right tweaking /shortening of envelopes can also do really great arps like the Z1.

[@man0music]

Thanks for this!!! I recently acquired a Z1, but I felt relatively uninspired by the factory patches. This has encouraged me to look at it again in a different light. This Demo alone was truly inspiring, again... THANK YOU!

[@ingoodmusic]

Wise move to use external FXs instead of the internal))

[@silverlight2004db]

Sounds great! Thank you

[@tigersgedanken1246]

wow sounds like the whole bladerunner soundtrack was made with this :O

[@perge_music]

Had 2 of these. Still hope Korg make a virtual one.

[@maccagrabme]

I dont know why they take so long about it, the Z1, Trinity, DW8000, MS2000, 01W, Poly 61 Poly 800, that would be fantastic package and instant buy. The demand is there.

[@perge_music]

@@maccagrabme Can only presume it's to do with licensing of the original sounds. It's like when Roland made that virtual D50 and JD800 they had to license the sounds back from Spectrasonics. Don't think there's a technical reason why it's not been done. Would love for Yamaha to make virtual copies of all their digital machines from the 80s/90s also. An SY77/99 would be in considerable demand.

[@notsure1135]

The question is, does this run on that Motorola chip that the Nord, Virus and Waldorf because if it does, this can be emulated.

[@lancegfoin9117]

I never appreciated the Z1. Now I see and hear an absolute beast of a synth, but when it came out I pretty much dismissed it - my bad!

[@e.d.e.neldondeeurekanatur]

🎶🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🌌🌠🌌🎶🙏🥰

[@brunodadivore9606]

Splendid. I see in advices on it that the factory presets sounds are not great. And I read here you are using only them. Mind blown! what sounds could be when customised ?

[@Njkolya]

🙏👍👍👍🙂

[@Moon-kr1pw]

👍👍👍👍

[@charthers8903]

Can you point to any new synthesizer that sounds as good as this ?

[@annother3350]

The Korg Prophecy VST sounds thus good and is polyphonic - so basically a Z1

[@djkanyon]

Legendary Prophecy descendant... poly synth based on MOSS that never was a hit... probably coz Prophecy was looking sharp, egy and modern, almost steam punk. Z1 was... you know, regular synth for piano players. At least it was my opinion back in a day. I still wonder if Z-1 was capable to do that hard VA squelches that Prophecy was famous for. But it seems like the people who bought many octaves poly synth , never cared about that!

[@tedstahl3794]

Some of us cared about it! ;) I bought mine from Mars Music in 2000. It was the floor demo. I loved the combination of virtual analog with the physical modeling. I also love the keybed on it. Very similar to my M1. I still have them both and they bring me great joy along with the rest of my sonic arsenal! Interesting side note: Since I used the Z1 as my controller keyboard for almost 20 years, I discovered a couple of interesting things. 1) The filter and envelope controls on the Z1 transmitted the correct MIDI cc data so I could also use them to control those elements of my Roland JV-2080. 2) You can easily reassign many of the controllers if you wish. I changed the modulation wheel to send aftertouch. I have a pair of Oberheim Matrix-1000s and the filter cutoff frequency can only be assigned to aftertouch for realtime control. By transmitting aftertouch via the modulation wheel, I was able to control the filter on the Matrix-1000 very naturally. Also, for those of you who know how confused the Matrix-1000 can get when flooding it with realtime MIDI data, I updated both of mine to the Tauntek v1.20 firmware so they respond fluidly to those control messages. The joys of our instruments! Peace.

[@djkanyon]

@@tedstahl3794 thanks a lot! nice insights! big fan of old Korg nd Roland synthesizers and grooveboxes, nice to see people still caring about oldies but goldies!

[@TheSnowLeopard]

This is so very 90s.

[@hypnocodes]

Make a demo on Korg Radias!

[@SPL-6]

He already has

[@hypnocodes]

@@SPL-6 OK!

[@atomictraveller]

why? no JOSIII

[@AnalogFlava]

How “easy” is this to program? And comparing it to an1x and wavestation?

[@PanuMSavolainen]

It’s complex synth and there is lots of parameters but interface is pretty good. I had AN1x about 20 years and Wavestation EX in the 90’s. I ”grew up” with AN1x and felt it was pretty easy to navigate the parameters. WS was lacking knobs so it needed more menu work and building wavesequences were slow. Quite different machines.

[@AnalogFlava]

@@PanuMSavolainen thanks mate! which one do you like the most? I eould love a wavestation at some point but also an1x or z1 is sn option! Cheers

[@PanuMSavolainen]

@@AnalogFlava I have to say Z1. There isn’t nothing like it (hardware) and they are resonable priced nowadays.

[@AnalogFlava]

@@PanuMSavolainen interesting, will check it more, thanks 🙏

[@XenaphobeJoe-n1j]

35 years of playing studio and live music. Always hated Korg.

[@MegaCipmunk]

Why Man??

[@trevorwoodley3897]

Why? Your answer (while it may be subjective) should be interesting.