Korg Z1

[Paolo Valladolid <pvallado@waynesworld.ucsd.edu>]

The recent discussion about arpeggiators made me think it might not
be a bad idea to post a little review of the Z1 that I wrote up.  I
tinker on Chapman Stick more than any other instrument but I've always
enjoyed keeping up with the latest synth developments because of the
synthesizer's potential to do things that would be physically impossible
on acoustic instruments.  Here's the review:

After reading about the new Korg Z1 physical modeling synth, I got to
check it out a bit at a music store.  I must preface this by saying I'm
no synth expert by any means and my comments only apply to the presets
that come with the synth.  I'm mainly interested in a keyboard that can
be used for looping with something like an Oberheim Echoplex or Lexicon
Jam Man in live performance.  Here are various comments:

Sound - I wasn't blown away by any particular sound; at least not like
the first time I heard a demo of the Yamaha VL1 (another physical
modeling synth).  Many of the presets were pad-like sounds that to me had
potential as sound sources for making loops/soundscapes a la David Torn
or Robert Fripp.  They generally had a lot of interesting sonic movement
instead of what you'd get from merely playing back a sample of an analog
synth pad.  I liked the electric piano preset(s); it responded more like
a real Fender Rhodes than your typical sample-playback synth.  In
general, the presents seemed to be more oriented towards electronic
sounds rather than acoustic instrument emulations.

Playability -  I don't consider myself a keyboard player, but the keys
felt ok.  I was more impressed with the X-Y pad.  I could not determine
if it was sensitive to velocity or pressure.  Most of the presets that
used the X-Y pad had the pad apparently controlling filters.  Having lots
of knobs was very nice.  One preset was a horn-section type sound which
allowed me to use the X-Y pad to radically alter the tone and pitch of
the sound in weird ways.  It was kind of like scratching a record, except
you could "scratch" in two dimensions instead of just back-and-forth; if
that makes any sense. I have a feeling the possibilities of the X-Y pad,
the controlling knobs, and the arpeggiator (below) were not fully
exploited in the presets.

Arpeggiator - I am somewhat ignorant of the arpeggiators of various
keyboards, but the one on the Z1 was fun to play with.  As I understand
it, this one is polyphonic, which offers some interesting possibilities. 
Again, most of my fooling with the arpeggiator was restricted to what was
programmed into a particular preset.  Some presets let me change the
behavior of the arpeggiator in interesting, yet musical ways.  Messing
with the arpeggiator using the pitch-bend and mod wheels and the speed
knob was naturally amusing.  According to Korg's website 
(http://www.korg.com)
the arpeggiator transmits over MIDI and can sync to an external MIDI
source.

Price - I was surprised to see the Z1 selling in Musician's Friend and
Guitar Center for around $2000.   Considering the Yamaha VL1, a 2-voice
polyphonic physical modeling synth, once sold for $6000 retail, $2000 for
this 12-voice polyphonic physical modeling synth seems like a bargain.

One caveat though - some of the presets took a second or longer to load
when switching between presets.

Overall, I found the Korg Z1 to be an intriguing instrument for anyone who
wants to have an original sound yet doesn't want to drag a computer around
for live gigs.  I kind of wish it had a breath controller input, but that
X-Y pad makes up for it.

Just my take,
Paolo