Product Review - Korg SV1 : October 2009
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information Korg SV1 73-note version £1724; 88-note version £1839. Prices include VAT.Korg Brochure Line +44 (0)1908 857150. Korg SV1 73-note version $2700; 88-note version $3000.Korg USA +1 631 390-8737. December 2009
Other recent issues: | Product Review - Korg SV1Article Preview :: ‘Stage Vintage’ KeyboardPublished in SOS October 2009 Reviews : Keyboard The brand new Korg SV1 rejoices in a collection of retro keyboard sounds and lovingly sampled acoustic pianos. Read all about it in our world exclusive review!
Combining pianos, electric pianos and a small selection of other instruments chosen for the non-synthesist who requires a range of mainstream sounds, the Korg SV1 ‘Stage Vintage’ is the latest contender in the now-congested field of stage pianos. With its smart black and burgundy livery (88-note version) or burgundy and black livery (73-note version), it has no screen, no menus, and few hidden functions, but instead boasts a control panel that would grace a vintage keyboard, with knobs and buttons that — on the whole — perform single functions. Two of these are selectors for the six banks of six sounds (yes... just 36 in total), while eight large buttons store and recall favourite setups. The rest of the knobs and switches control the integrated effects units, and the only hint of anything deeper lies in four buttons marked Transpose, Local Off, Touch and Function. The last of these provides access to the tuning curves (equal temperament, five types of stretched tuning, and two user-defined curves that you can create in the supplied PC/Mac editor), the MIDI channel, and the level of the RX Noise layer (see the ‘RX Noise’ box). At the back, things remain straightforward, with balanced and unbalanced stereo outputs, MIDI In and Out (no Thru), plus stereo inputs so that you can play along with your favourite something-or-other. There are also three pedal inputs. One is for the supplied damper pedal, the second accepts a footswitch, and the third accepts either a footswitch or an expression pedal. (Good news: you can configure these as a damper with half-pedalling, sostenuto and soft pedals of a real piano.) The only other hole is for a USB cable that also carries MIDI data and provides the means for connecting a Mac or PC running the bundled editor software There’s also a headphone socket but, sensibly, this is located at the front of the instrument. The draft manual strongly implies that each of the 36 sound slots permanently houses a specific multisample. So, for example, it seems that Sound 1 in Bank 1 is always based upon the first of the Rhodes multisamples. But when exploring the editor, I dropped an EP200 sound from Bank 2 into Slot 1 in Bank 1... and the SV1 accepted it without a wibble! This has at least two consequences: one good, one bad. The good one is that the SV1 is more flexible than you might think, allowing you to create all manner of variations of favourite instruments and discarding instruments that are of less interest. The bad news is that, once you have discarded the only factory sound based upon a particular multisample, there’s no way of creating another one without hooking up the editor or by performing a factory reset (which destroys all the on-board sounds you’ve created). Acoustic Pianos
Although the greater part of the SV1 is dedicated to electro-mechanical and electronic pianos, it is to the three acoustic pianos that many players will turn first. The first is a Japanese grand piano, and it’s safe to assume that this is a Yamaha of some description. For the most part, the sampling is first-rate. There are no horrendous multisampling points across the keyboard, and the velocity zones are discrete at either end of the keyboard, although a bit more noticeable in the mid-range. The impression of the soundboard and sympathetic resonance is superb, and the velocity-sensitive RX Noise layer recreates the depression and release ‘thunk’ of the sustain pedal itself. This is excellent. Next comes a German grand, most likely a Steinway. More ambient than the Yamaha, its multisampling is slightly more evident, but nonetheless I prefer this to the Japanese piano. The multisample underneath the Mono Grand sound is described as a monophonic version of the German grand, but I’ve yet to discover the piano that changes its tone and character when you remove a microphone from its vicinity. It’s not bad, but I don’t think I would find myself using it. The Upright multisample is based upon another German piano, and I’ll admit that I’m pleasantly surprised by it. Far too often, manufacturers of digital pianos seem to think that uprights have no depth or character, but Korg’s sound conforms exactly to a description I have used many times — it’s like a grand piano, but a little less so. It has less ambience, and the soundfield it creates is more compact, but the tone is more than pleasing, and I suspect that this is the best digital emulation of an upright piano I’ve yet heard. ...
Published in SOS October 2009 
| Wednesday 25th November 2009 December 2009
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