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Shown at some kind of trade show in Japan. Only info is in Japanese so far, but there is some video on youTube already. Most interesting new feature: USB port.

http://shop.plaza.rakuten.co.jp/dj/diar ... 810280000/

http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/1484shibuya/ ... 810270000/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijJ9JiWoq-o

Should be interesting to see how this ends up priced compared to the current MK and the R3.

it looks interesting

if korg was smart theyd sell the new one at normal price and drop the price of the old one 150-200$, considering the micron from alesis kicks the microkorgs ass in a lot of ways and is the same price..

it appears on the website now (at least it is on korg UK). seems its more or less the same as the R3 with less knobs... same engine as radias.

Looks more vintage than mK, but there are still 2 oscillators (Minimoog had three, ARP Odyssey had two), but 8 arp buttons are gone. I'm not a fan of sacrificing knobs for a menu. 'Split' - if I right, it means that keyboard can be split between two programs? If so, it would be useful. Storing of sounds on PC via USB is nice addition, but everything else looks almost as recent introduction of DSi by Nintendo, if you know what I mean.

http://www.korg.co.uk/products/pro_keyb ... cation.asp

And how different MMT (Radias/R3) sounds compared to mK's Analog Modeling Synthesis System?

the R3 is more like the old MK than the XL is.. the XL doesn't even have motion recording/sequencing. i think it's got formant hold, but it doesn't have formant motion, which the R3 actually has.

if you look closer @ the R3, MK, and XL.. they actually have the same # of knobs, but one has been relocated and one of the param knobs on the XL was dropped, but an additional selector was made.

it's a shame they're using the MMT engine too.. imo it loses some of the character/charm because of it, i wrote this bit on another forum:

speaking of which, i havent seen anyone bring that up. the MK and MS2000 didn't use MMT, it used a no-named dsp engine intended to be an analogue modelling of the MS-10/MS-20's sound. MMT is noticably different and not as knarly imo (and many others have said this since the Radias came out). not saying its better or worse, but there's a difference. i would've thought this new release was cooler if they intentionally kept more of the identity of the MK intact by using an enhanced version of the old modelling engine.

with all that info, and the fact that right now, specially on ebay (new even), you can get a R3 cheaper than a XL.. I'd go with the R3, but i'll concede the XL looks cooler .. plus it has the funny genre knob with the ridiculous genre names.

plosive wrote:plus it has the funny genre knob with the ridiculous genre names.

I wonder how disco/house presets sound like.

I just hoped that they had made the MK with full-size keys (I thought this way when I first read the MK XL topic )

seriously, if you ever feel limited by the MK... try the radias, the R3, or the microkorg XL...

its just like an expanded MK/MS2K engine... okay it sounds a bit cleaner... but the structure is just what you've been dreaming of - choice of a number of different mods for osc1 (waveform, cross mod not just on sine, etc), TWO filters, three EGs, six modulation slots (i always found four just slightly too few)...
and, the drive/distortion is variable, not just on/off...
with a drive of about 64 it is similar to MK's distortion ON.... it can sound fat if you want it to, but you can also squeeze out more softer sounds...
oh and the other big plus: more polyphony. a must if you're into complex chords or layering sounds that just aren't possible with only four notes..

having said that, the MK has the nice side panels... and those mini keys are great if you want to stretch out your chords, play a bit more like a guitarist.

Does anyone have this yet?

travisthered wrote:Does anyone have this yet?

As far as I know it's not available yet(not in the US anyways andif it is give me a price!).

It's good to see Korg added it to their U.S. site so it's definitely alive and well. I'd like to see an actual price at an online dealer such as AMS or Sweetwater. Might be time to sell the original micro

Judging from the Guitar Center Website it becomes available February 2nd. I love my current MicroKorg, but I REALLY wish I had some extra cash right now to buy this!

This is the 1st time I'm seeing a price on it. Priced right between the original and the R3 as expected. I may have to pick it up when available.

Nice video here...

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2009/01/ ... g-xl-demo/

This new Microkorg is a complete non starter (what kind of idiots are getting paid to present this as the new micro?). It sounds great but thats where it ends for me unfortunately.

As a user of mucho korg gear it saddens me to see "at last an easier type Micro to program without the pc editor"...hooray! LOSING "the best feature the original Micro has in its very jammable 8 Panel Button Step ARP mutes"...boo! >(

Okay, so the Microkorg XL still has this feature hidden away inside the LCD menu BUT it is a simply shittier version of it, as you are restricted when it comes to truly breaking down then building up an arp sequence due to having to use 2 knobs to 'select' then 'turn off/on ONLY 1 step at a time' on the display screen

(try doing this in a hectic live show in a dark club and not only will it sound pathetic compared to the original Microkorgs Step Arp Mutes but you will also probably end up messing your performance up, as it is well time intesive not to mention pretty fidgity)

instead of having the availability of the 8 colourful bright buttons as on the original Microkorg, which allowed you to mute more than 1 step at a time and were FAR quicker and much more creative and effective.

I think even the R3 has the onboard 8 Panel Buttons Arp Step facility?