KORG Lambda (ES-50) String Synthesizer Demo Song

[@christopherscapelliti9187]

Ten years later, this is still the best video of this synth on KZbin.

[@Johnnysynth]

I actually found one of these two years ago at a yard sale. Price: US $10 !! Fully working, a few wood scuffs. Good stuff.

[@stephenteller]

Great demo. I've had a Lambda since 1979 or so when I bought it new. You've captured some of the best sounds it's capable of.

[@MusicEasel]

one of the best synth demo songs I've ever heard

[@spartaprague417]

Lambda Strings are 3 oscillator heaven. Add the ensemble effect and without doubt the best string synth ever made.

[@CholokMauser]

Heck me, I was almost in tears! Best synthesizer demo I've ever heard :D Thank You very much for that!

[@devicefactor2290]

Magnus Cholok Mauser yea I'm starting to chase the korg myself. other than a Jupiter 4. the filters of these right here register in the brain in such a phenomenonal way. this "sound" blows away any liking of their later Synths like the dw6000 and 80 00. the filters , man.

[@romansidler]

Graet demo! I just had this morning the possibility to play around with an ES-50 in a museum. Very nice instrument!

[@raczbela3414]

Ich hab noch nie einen Synthesizer gehört, der so schön klingt!

[@nicolastherrien]

Great demo, great song. I've never been so convinced with the Lambda piano sound alone, but wow, you really made it sound good in that mix: sounds like a real piano. Thanks!

[@r5t6y12]

Pepe, Are you trying to get me to believe that every note heard on this video was produced by just 1 Lambda? That's cool. I used to have a Korg Polysix (1988-2007) but I never really did ANYTHING with it. I made a home made tape with it at my church once (worthless to anyone but me), but never put down enough to record a whole album. I now watch a few videos of synths and see that even small things had great potential.

[@SiliconBassist]

It's a deceptively nice instrument. Nice piece too!

[@ambulance_boy3834]

Beautiful song and instrument!

[@wallace_in_the_sky]

Wow, as a proud owner of one of this I,m impresed about what you,ve done in this song. Owesome sound, I love the fat sound you can bring with this machine. Contrats man

[@mmrva]

Beautiful composition!

[@JohnLRice]

Wow, great piece of music you have done here!

[@autotunepop]

Sounds and looks beautiful!

[@this_connor_guy]

I clicked on this and when it started my eyes immediately widened, now I want this synth!

[@PepeMusic]

@myrmur Hi! Yes, you're right, it's the same here! But if you only use the Choir preset and turn the master volume very high the sound becomes dirty and distorted. If KORG had adjusted the Choir volume to a higher rate it could have caused permanently distorted sound in combination with Strings, etc. It may be worth a try adjusting the volume using the service manual. But it wouldn't surprise me if the sound becomes worse after this procedure.

[@pianist007]

Bravo Pepe ! Very musical and enjoyable demo, thanks.

[@sztakicsisti]

That's an electro-symphonic movement! I want to hear more .... Good work!

[@jossedobben]

Impressive! I wish every synth had a demo of this quality... Would make choosing a synth a lot easier. :P

[@silverseraph8233]

So beautiful :)

[@PepeMusic]

@LupusMike The Lambda has standard 6,3mm jack plugs for each the "Percussive" and the "Ensemble" channel and a stereo headphones Output. There's also a possibility to use a sustain or an expression pedal.

[@GENERALSEQUENCE]

What a beautyful harmonic track. I love these sounds.... Greetz Cmd.KeyJay (GENERAL SEQUENCE & JUPITER BASE PROJECT)

[@r5t6y12]

If I had enough money to really try and collect some of those old vintage instruments that might still be out there somewhere, I'd try to make an album of nothing but 1 or 2 instruments. You know the kind of album where you could claim that every note heard on the album came from only a Korg MS-10 and an Oberheim OB-1. Or maybe an Arp Odyssey and a Moog Micromoog. Or a Sequential Circuits Pro-One and a Roland SH-02.

[@Tjoppy]

Beautiful sounds!

[@Sjobeck7]

My Lambda is serial # 233492 and it has the same switches as does Pepes. One would conclude then that yours is an earliar model Johnny. Same sound and everything, only a slight cosmetic difference! I also have a PE 2000. (grandfather of the Lambda) They made three different "cosmetic" versions of those as well.... Different knobs... Same sound and same box! True!! My Trident and Polysix also share the same exact switches as the Lambda (later version)... :)

[@eide97]

Vsti can emulate this, and sound similar, but NEVER the same... Great!! Estupendo, felicidades y saludos.

[@sauermusicDE]

A wonderful demo track. Thumbs up! Are there any major differences between the Trident MkI/MkII, PE-1000/2000, Lambda and Delta? Or do they all have the same basis (chip design etc.)? Does anyone know?

[@waggon321]

Beautiful

[@PepeMusic]

@r5t6y12 Hi! Yes, I used only the Lambda and the few effects pedals, like I used the MS-10 only in my other demo! More demos will follow someday. If I had no other more urgent things to do, I immediatley tried to make a demo song of my KORG 800dv and the Trident. But this has to wait... Good luck on buying some of these beauties! :o)

[@DavidMusikVideo]

This demo is really good. I own it and I can't get that piano or piziccato sounds, can you show us how you program these sounds? Thanks

[@chipsandadrink1]

way to show off this great keyboards potential!

[@Sonikbytes]

this sound gives me goosebumps :)

[@soepil]

Klasse !! Einfach Klasse !!

[@coloursofmelancholia]

beautiful!

[@PepeMusic]

Mine had the serial number 234187. The buttons have also been used in later models like the Trident, Polysix, Mono/Poly and the organs CX-3/BX-3.

[@XYtoTheDoubleG]

Dude... Awesome!

[@karmafarm]

very enjoyable!

[@PepeMusic]

@LupusMike You can use this output to send signals to other units, like the old MS-Synthesizers or a sequencer or whatever. I haven't tried it out. But you'll for sure find a user's manual in the web if you try Google.

[@PepeMusic]

¡Qué suerte! Congratulations! I hope yours is in good shape, If not, have a look at my other KORG Lambda video to see how you can clean it. Have fun with it!

[@adognamedshinji]

Masterful

[@harlemnightsmusic]

Very good song!!!

[@PepeMusic]

@TwistedBeats615 Have a look at 3:48 min! Just two true stereo effects pedals, nothing more! I wanted to do this quite puristic, because I didn't want to alter the original synthesizer sound too much.

[@myrmur]

Great!!!!! What kind of effects did you apply to the lambda's sound? Thanks!

[@dandare301]

Just wow !

[@PepeMusic]

@maracas I'm about to do another Lambda video. I'll play single and unaltered voices then. :o)

[@PepeMusic]

@LupusMike Exactly! The Lambda belongs to the string synthesizer family, just like the famous ARP (Solina) String Ensemble. Some users say that the Lambda is better - if not the best! But I stick to my KORG Trident which has a similar string sound and other synthesizer features. I keep it although it's a huge and heavy beast!

[@Johnnysynth]

Thanks for the info :)

[@PepeMusic]

@myrmur I listed the used equipment at the end of the video. It's really just a stereo Delay and a stereo Reverb from BOSS - nothing else! In my other Lambda video you can hear the pure and unaltered sound of this synthesizer! It is FAT!

[@PepeMusic]

@LupusMike It has no velocity or pressure sensitive keyboard. None of the Pre-80's KORG synths had velocity. Only the funny 900PS ("KORG Preset") had a strange touch bar to control Repeat, Forte, Pitch, Vibrato or Portamento (source: VintageSynth[dot]com).

[@maracas8692]

you could add a video of chorus(choir) preset only?

[@LupusMike]

@wwwPepeMusicDE OK, thanks so much again ! And ... a last question ... I saw one of these things on a music store. It will go on sale in September for around € 350. Is it a good price for this ?

[@LupusMike]

@wwwPepeMusicDE I got it ! But I don't understand what is the "Kbd trig out" output ?

[@Ellende]

Summer, sea and string synths

[@Johnnysynth]

UPDATE: After actually watching the video, as opposed the dreamily listening, I notice that my "Chorus Phase" buttons (2:11-2:16) are square shaped with the LED above the button...my serial is '232633'. Would be interested to know the number of the featured keyboard.

[@LupusMike]

@wwwPepeMusicDE Ok thanks ! Another question : what is exactly a "String Synth" ? Is it a synth witch specializes into strings sounds ?

[@LupusMike]

@wwwPepeMusicDE It seems to have a decent piano sound ... Is it a touch-sensitive keyboard ? (sorry, a lot of questions)

[@PepeMusic]

@Saibot216 I hope you will find one in good shape soon! :o)

[@myrmur]

Hi! I've just bought a Lambda and I've noticed that the volume of the choir preset it's always much lower than the other presets. It's the same on yours? Thanks!

[@simonburns1055]

Imagine soldering all those resistors

[@LupusMike]

What are the outputs on this synth ?

[@this_connor_guy]

@wwwPepeMusicDE After Christmas I saw one for $150 in good shape, little did I know this instruments potential and just wrote it off. Now I'll probably have to settle for a Yamaha CS-20... not that those are bad, just not entirely what I want. Don't have the cash for a Trident either.

[@PepeMusic]

@LupusMike This is a good price! I sold mine last year for EUR 480,00.

[@MrArpSolina]

Moby inspired song... for the first part at least.

[@PepeMusic]

MrArpSolina No, not at all. "Why does my heart feel so bad" is the only Moby song that I know. If the first part has been inspired, then the inspiration was the original Kraftwerk song "Tour de France". At least the chord changes have a similar vibe.

[@MrArpSolina]

Great, but listen to "Porcelain" from Moby. And don't get me wrong, I think this demo is awesome, and to be compared to Moby is a real compliment from me :-)

[@jossedobben]

And here I thought the first part was a tribute to Vangelis. :D

[@RicardoPlazaMidimania]

ME HE COMPRADO UNO POR 40 EUROS