Korg ARP 2600 FS Hands-On Demo

At the 2020 NAMM Show, we talked with product specialist Nick Kwas about the new Korg ARP 2600 FS.
The Korg ARP 2600 FS is a very close recreation of the original, with full-size synth & keyboard, lids and road case.
It sounds massive, too, and everything is immediately available on the front panel for you to grab and tweak.
Check it out and let us know what you think of it!
From Synthtopia's 2020 NAMM Show coverage:
www.synthtopia.com/content/ta...

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

this and the Prophet defined soundtracks and early 80s electronic music besides Moog of course!

[@EarthnikNews]

You could say that Korg decided to not make enough so that people who want one can buy one. Korg obviously doesn’t care what the consumer wants. So I don’t understand why dealers and “influencers” aren’t all up in Kong’s face! We need to demand some long production runs of this synth.

[@JanPBtest]

I'm pretty sure they'll go through as many runs as needed to cover the demand. They probably didn't expect the first run would sell out so quickly. Schmidt went through the same process, and even at $20,000 per synth they are now going through Nth production run (N = 5?).

[@Genshi]

The ARP 2600 has always been number one on my dream synth wishlist since first playing one decades ago, but I could never justify shelling out $16,000 on a fully restored vintage one from ToneTweakers, so this beautifully done Korg reissue of the ARP 2600 is my dream come true! First to pre-order in the U.S., I will be doing plenty of videos of it once it arrives!

[@tonetweakers]

Hey Genshi, thanks for the mention. Most of our real vintage ARP 2600s are priced well under the price you listed. The one you're referring to was in pristine condition and, as usual, was fully refurbished and future-proofed over many hours to be better than the rest. The Korg 2600 is a new synth made from new components and, while it is an approximation of the original 2600, it sounds...like a new synth made from new components. Since the 2600 is one of our favorites (we have 4 of them in our collection), we bought one of the new ones for our studio as we felt the demos sounded significantly different than our refurbished vintage ones - much cleaner and more precise. We ordered a bunch from Korg and are awaiting their arrival. Even though they don't sound vintage to me, they should still be a really cool synth.

[@Genshi]

Yes, the one I was specifically mentioning was the pristine one that you had (the only way I would want to buy it!) and I'm actually a huge fan of you guys... I have a plan, working on getting more income coming in, plus upcoming royalties due from ASCAP in a few months, so I've got my eye on a couple of other synths from you (specifically an EMS VCS3 or Synthi AKS and a PPG Wave.)

[@tonetweakers]

@@Genshi great, please let us know if and when and we will be happy to help if we can!

[@ArthurStone]

Great overview; thanks.

[@topofthemornintoya]

Nicely done nick.

[@modularsynthspostpunk9354]

❤️💣

[@yeppy013]

Is this a polyphonic synth? how many voices? or is it a monophonic?

[@shookstylez]

Too bad they did not include vellocity 😓

[@Genshi]

Velocity for what? What would you tie it to? Adding velocity would have required completely redesigning the circuits of the 2600, and then it wouldn't be true to the original. The few minor upgrades they did add didn't require that sort of redesign.

[@amillionorangedolphins9663]

Hey I've got an Idea. In stead of making 10000 pcs. of this "most anticipated release of the decade" and sell them to an affrordable prize to a world full of fans - lets make just 3 of them and sell them for a small fortune. The rest can use the clone from "that other brand" or wait for Korgs smurf sized release later on.

[@Genshi]

Korg never specified a number (it was some of the retailers that mentioned only 400 units worldwide) but the reason this is being done as a "one-time limited production run" is, unlike their other synths like the Korg Wavestate, which is being manufactured in their factory in Vietnam where they can make 10,000 units, the ARP 2600 is being hand-built in Japan using "mostly" through-hole components (instead of all SMD), which is harder to do and more expensive, hence the limited edition (though the Tolex case is being made in their Vietnam factory where they also make their Vox Amplifier cabinets; since they have experience in that sort of thing.)

[@st0rmchild]

Nobody says A.R.P.