Korg 01/W - Combi B57

zzzxtreme · Post by **zzzxtreme** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:22 am

hey guys, Combi B57 - SilkString, I cry every time I play this combi.

one reason I'm not upgrading yet

any die-hard fans of 01/w here?

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 10:28 pm

Definitively a 01W fan here. I never heard any synth having such a strong, fat sound overall. It has put to shame everything in it's era soundwise, and still has that unique sounding flavor that get's me anytime I hear it.

The shame is, Korg never upgraded 01W to a synth with more features (knobs, polyphony) or waveforms, specially in it's synth waveform area; all it's relatives from X and N series had compressed waveforms.

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:28 am

Stargazer wrote:Definitively a 01W fan here. I never heard any synth having such a strong, fat sound overall. It has put to shame everything in it's era soundwise, and still has that unique sounding flavor that get's me anytime I hear it.

The shame is, Korg never upgraded 01W to a synth with more features (knobs, polyphony) or waveforms, specially in it's synth waveform area; all it's relatives from X and N series had compressed waveforms.

The wavesequence is back in the Kronos (if I understand wavesequencing well enough).

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:18 am

Nice to hear about it Michel, but among 9 different sound generators, Kronos does not have AI2 generator/mode. Pity

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 7:45 am

michelkeijzers wrote:
Stargazer wrote:Definitively a 01W fan here. I never heard any synth having such a strong, fat sound overall. It has put to shame everything in it's era soundwise, and still has that unique sounding flavor that get's me anytime I hear it.

The shame is, Korg never upgraded 01W to a synth with more features (knobs, polyphony) or waveforms, specially in it's synth waveform area; all it's relatives from X and N series had compressed waveforms.
The wavesequence is back in the Kronos (if I understand wavesequencing well enough).

Wavesequencing was a Wavestation feature..

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:54 pm

Maybe he mixed it up with waveshaping

Mellontikos · Post by **Mellontikos** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:27 pm

At one point I had 4 01/W's, 2 01R/W's and 2 03R/W's.

Sold most now due to lack of space (my basement looked like a music store

)

Most of my favorite 01/W sounds now live in samples in my Tyros 4 and in my Reason 6.5.

I still kept one 01/W for nostalgic value

I will check out Combi B:57 when I get home.

If you're a fan of FM style EP's, you cannot beat Combi B:81: DynoPiano. Add a little more detuning to the chorus effect and a little more bass, and you have what in my opinion, is the most kickass Electric Piano sound on the planet.

I actually edited it on the Tyros to have a tad more resonance, and now it sounds kick ass! I should post youtube vids of it.

The waveshaping feature was amazing! I got some very awesome Virtual Analogue sounding Trance sounds with it before (I remember one patch I made with a Saw Wave Multisample, and a Piano Multisample, you could swear it was something out of a Nord Lead

)

The choir sample is the best spacey sounding choir sound I've ever heard in a Korg synth.

Only recent synths (Like the Ommisphere VST) have surpassed its quality.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 10:51 pm

At the time when I had 01W/FD at m disposal, I never laid my hands on waveshaping for real. The sounds got easily spoiled and distorted and I gave up. Is it capable of doing some smooth silky lush tuning to the sound, or it inevitably end up somewhat distorted?

Mellontikos · Post by **Mellontikos** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:14 pm

Stargazer wrote:At the time when I had 01W/FD at m disposal, I never laid my hands on waveshaping for real. The sounds got easily spoiled and distorted and I gave up. Is it capable of doing some smooth silky lush tuning to the sound, or it inevitably end up somewhat distorted?

The feature is great at adding random harmonics to stock multisamples. It's like an additive synthesizer, except you don't have control over harmonics, but rather templates of preset ones you can use.

It works best with samples that are already very simple harmonically, like Sine Waves, or Square Waves.

With some inspiration, you can use it to create some edgy Virtual Analog sounding stuff, like really grungy sounding Trance Pads.

Back then it was a great feature that got ignored due to people's confusion on what to actually do with it.

Now practically every VA is capable of that harsher pad sound, so it's not really a feature that's as useful now as it could have been in the past.

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:16 am

"Animotion" and "Ephemerals" Combis are my favourite sounds from the 01W.

The 01W used to be my main gigging instrument for many years(I had a pro and a Rack unit which were gigged with for the best part of 6 years)until they were superceded by a Trinity,then a Triton.

01w's are rock solid for the vigours of Gigging due to the robust casing,I know a few keyboard players who still use them and because they have some really great Organ sounds.

Sold my Rack last year as it got used less and less,but I do miss some of the pads on them,have yet to hear such lush pads and atmospheres that come close to the warmth of the 01w,even with the synths I have now,nothing seems to have that lushness in the pads department,the Jupiter 80 comes close in some ways.

I wish I could bottle up all the favourite sounds of every synth I've owned and compile them into the ultimate keyboard,there would be many sounds from the 01W in there for sure.

Don't know why Korg haven't released a software 01w version,like the M1,would be a great addition to the legacy series!

Mauricio Montekio · Post by **Mauricio Montekio** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:45 pm

All 01/W fans know why it can be possible for a 19 year old keyboard to be incredibly productive.

I bought my 01/W pro new in Miami and since it has been a studio instrument never on the road. Never to be sold.
It is working in perfect condition. Only a fuse once and battery about 4 years ago.

I take a lot of care on it because I know any day it wont wake up again and forever maybe.

I play it through MIDI from a Yamaha Clavinova. Is ok except for the after touch that is lost like this.

Great strings, brass, and Pianos (worked a lot on this mixing waves and filters I have many great sounding pianos).

Even I programmed great electric distorted solo guitars !!!

Requiered months of work but there are great sounding patches there.

I will send .syx files of my programs on request for free to any one that writes me an email. mauriciomontekio@hotmail.com

I am in Mexico City. congratulations to every 01/W owner in the world.

Cheers.

Mellontikos · Post by **Mellontikos** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:23 pm

I wish I could bottle up all the favourite sounds of every synth I've owned and compile them into the ultimate keyboard,there would be many sounds from the 01W in there for sure.

I've actually sort of done this myself. I have my favorite sounds from all my favorite synths in the sampler of my Tyros.

I've been doing this since I got the original Triton with the SCSI Zip Drive.

I take a lot of care on it because I know any day it wont wake up again and forever maybe.

If you can find a good electronic technician, I would recommend that you refresh all the capacitors on board the unit, replacing them all with the same spec capacitors but new.

A successful capacitor swap will have your 01/W working great for another 15 years.

jorgemncardoso · Post by **jorgemncardoso** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:56 pm

Another 01/W user/lover here. I actualy have two of them, bought used a few years ago, and i will never part with them. I love the keyboard itself as much as love some sounds (pads, strings, etc.)
This things are built like tanks, and the keybed is my all time favourite. I wish they still put the yamaha fs keybed on newer synths. Kronos keybed is a joke IMO.
I've striped mine completely, cleaned every part head to toe. Relube the key guides, and they work like new now.
The olny problem is the display light, but i can read it as it is so i don't realy care about that

Great to see so many 01/W users still here

jorgemncardoso · Post by **jorgemncardoso** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:10 pm

Oh well... since i'm at it, i thought on posting some of my gear from my little home studio here, hope it's ok to do so on the forum. Keyboards and modules (i know they are not new top of the line synths but they are my babies, and i'm proud of them

)

Perhaps you could post some of your 01/W's too

xp50player · Post by **xp50player** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:56 pm

I had 01/Wfd until XP50 came out. There were some good sounds on it, but I was frustrated by how lo-fi many of the multisamples/drums were and the lack of filter resonance. The waveshaper made up for it sometimes. It was also made better IMHO by the Dance PCM card which I am glad to see included in the KLDE Wavestation. The sequencer was capable, but the quality of the sounds/effects were not quite advanced enough to sequence a complete arrangement convincingly, though I did seq a ton on it. I would like to try a Trinity sometime, because I read they are more pristine than the Triton and still very well regarded.

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Korg 01/W - Combi B57

Korg 01/W - Combi B57

Still my main keyboard after 19 years !!! Incredible !!!