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I just got my Z1 the other day and I have to say this is one powerful and versatile synth. Of course I haven't had the time to really dig into the programming, but I've read up on it in advance of my purchase and have a good idea of its capabilities. Mine already has the 18-note-polyphony DSPB-Z1 board installed.
The analog modeling sounds are what I plan on using the most, and many of the presets in this area are quite good, although some could use some tweaking. The X/Y pad is great for going wild with realtime modulation, pitch bending, filter sweeps, and so on. The pads are phatt and very punchy, especially the oberheim and prophet style brass pads. The Minimoog square lead is awesome. Fantastic basses. Great presets also for trance, acid, techno, et al with their built-in rhythmic elements using sample & hold or arpeggiations.
Aside from the great analog sounds, there are fantastic glassy "digital" type pads (D50, M1, SY77, etc.) that are actually synthesized and not based on PCM samples. There are no samples inside this machine. These pads have great realtime control and don't sound static or looped like on PCM based synths.
14 knobs on the left upper area of the synth are dedicated to the most commonly used parameters for live performace, and five more under the LCD menu screen can be programmed to alter other ones (and there are a LOT to choose from!) Using these programmable knobs, you can assign up to 4 parameters to a knob (by pushing down it).
Of course one of the great things about this synth is the arpeggiator. Some patches are saved with the arpeggiator in "On" mode, and besides the usual up, down, up/down, and random settings, you can create several of your own custom arpeggiations based on note order. Oh yes, the arpeggiator is polyphonic!
This thing can emulate all of the best of the best vintage analog synths right up to a Matrix 12 because of its complex modulation routings. It has sample & hold, pulse width modulation, FM synthesis (called VPM by Korg), comb filtering, ring modulation, hard sync, and much more. Also this thing can emulate the best Rhodes piano and Wurlitzer piano I've ever heard from any synth or PCM based keyboard that I've played. It does not have a realistic sounding piano, but it has just about everything else. The horns, plucked instruments, and strings are awesomely modeled and you get very realistic timbre variations by using the X/Y pad or through key velocity (like the spitting sound of a trumpet when played hard); you can't get this on a PCM based synth!
Add to all of this a great effects section, and you have one of the most powerful synths to come out of the last 10 (or more) years, in my opinion. It is built like a tank, has a great keyboard action, accepts PCMCIA cards for memory expansion, and is an all around sexy looking synth. The knobs feel great, they have rubberized surfaces and have great resistance. It just oozes quality and professionalism, none of this cheap plasticky JP8000 or MS2000 retro looking stuff. It's built like a modern professional synth but has all of the capability and much more than those and other analog modelling synths.
This synth was Korg's answer to both the Clavia Nord Lead and Yamaha VL1, and they did a fantastic job of combining both acoustic and analog modelling in one unit. What a great silver dream machine. I can only imagine these will be going up in value and becoming collectors items in the coming 10-20 years. Korg stopped making them and went back to PCM with the Triton, although the Triton does support an expansion board for Z1 type modelling.
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