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KORG phase8 – Acoustic Synthesizer

https://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/phase8/
46•bpierre•3h ago

Comments

bsaul•1h ago
Is there a demo ? i couldn't find it on the page
rwmj•1h ago
Loopop did a very thorough review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHlYvj0Ge7I

artimaeis•1h ago
Demos are on the feature page: https://phase8.korg.com
whilenot-dev•1h ago
Or on the page of the prototyping stage: https://korg.berlin/products/phase8
rolivercoffee•21m ago
Red Means Recording made a nice video with it: https://youtu.be/mpMxHfxuNco
yetkin•1h ago
Looks really neat. I wish I had one, I am curious but it just sounds like an FM to me. In the demos I hear very decayed percussive FM sounds or mellow bell like FM sounds.
embedding-shape•1h ago
If I understand correctly, it is doing frequency modulation somewhere, but the main point is that you can physically interact with the resonators, and influence the sound that way.
jimmyjazz14•32m ago
Yeah as far as I can tell the bars are just producing sine waves and everything else is done within the electronics, interesting concept but honestly not all that exciting to me.
fauria•1h ago
$1149.99, in case you are wondering: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1946617-REG/korg_phas...
embedding-shape•1h ago
Not too bad, considering the space it sits in.

Another "physical modeling synthesizer" which I've been looking at for the last few weeks (https://www.ericasynths.lv/steampipe-3153/) goes for €990, which is more or less the same as the phase8, when you consider the currency difference.

Edit: Actually, seems phase8 will be slightly cheaper, my local (Spain) shops seems to sell it for around €950.

ChipopLeMoral•1h ago
Coming next year: A Behringer knockoff that's just as good for $250.
byproxy•1h ago
I keep telling myself to stop lusting over gear and just start making music, but…

EDIT: Saw that it’s pretty much a fixed-key device, which makes it much less appealing. Still pretty damn cool, though.

Tangurena2•1h ago
GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome = buying stuff you don't really need is a serious problem in the synth/eurorack community.
rjh29•1h ago
Or any community that involves conspicuous consumption. There's always what feels like a majority of people who collect/buy/show off more than they use things
wdfx•59m ago
and that's fine in some sense if you're honest about what you're doing.

I have at least one guitar that I rarely play but I keep because I consider it a work of art and a collectible. But, I have others which are workhorses and I play daily.

It gets awkward when collecting is presented as a way to be a better musician, which is clearly false.

Scene_Cast2•51m ago
It also percolates into reviews, too. When a nontrivial fraction of the community is buying dreams and is about collecting as opposed to using whatever it is, some reviewers style their content towards that crowd and overlook issues or benefits that pop up when actually using the gear.

I don't have a problem with collecting, but I'd love for the distinction to be more upfront.

racl101•57m ago
Doesn't every musician with money have this problem? Every rockstar owns like 50 guitars. And they don' like to admit they're just collecting. They always got some story about why they need to buy the nth guitar that's missing from all the other tens of guitars they already own.

Almost all of them own instruments and gear they'll touch once and never do anything meaningful with ever again. Then it becomes a fixture on their walls or den.

It all seems wasteful.

But still, by rich people standards, it seems cheaper than other things like buying a huge boat.

embedding-shape•48m ago
Yeah I mean many people with disposable income seems to be doing this, it's just that the music community has a name for it, GAS, and it's a bit of a meme in the community.

I have a friend who seemingly collects mechanical keyboards. He keeps saying he needs them for various purposes, but always seems to be using the latest one, then the old ones go up on a shelf and sit there.

Another friend is obsessed with football, so he has a bunch of shoes, also "depending on the grass/ground" yet keeps using 1 or 2 the most, the others seems to in some cases be "collectors items" and never gets used.

Another friend is a avid golfer, literally has a wall in the garage with clubs, but seems to mostly stick with the clubs they have in their go-to bag.

I'm sure I could come up with more examples, it just seems pervasive among all people who can spend money on their hobbies.

ChipopLeMoral•48m ago
This goes to 11!
wdfx•1h ago
Could mount a guitar pickup under the tines of a kalimba and get much the same effects.
shams93•17m ago
Actually you can change the keys up so much you can do microtonal scales on it, but at the end of the day its a metallaphone so not likely to ever be the only piece of gear you'd want to use, you'd want to mix this with other gear to make a full sound.
jihadjihad•1h ago
I guess I am left wondering why the person in the photo is playing it with a pencil and a truffle.
lewispollard•1h ago
Says right underneath:

> Beyond adjusting parameters, phase8 invites physical interaction. Sculpt sound by touching, plucking, strumming, or tapping the resonators – or experiment by adding found objects for new textures.

Like prepared piano.

ChipopLeMoral•1h ago
Pretty sick demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFNQoekyGAs

at 6:20 he's showing how placing different objects on the resonators changes their tone.

I want this so bad.

embedding-shape•1h ago
> he's showing how placing different objects on the resonators changes their tone

"Have you ever thought re-patching your modular synth was too easy? Here, now your drum machine can be even harder to recreate the sound you liked last week!"

A joke, but was immediately what jumped out as scary. Not gonna lie, looks like a fun machine, but for that money, I tend to buy stuff I can use and recall old patches with. Although except for the modular obviously :/

ChipopLeMoral•1h ago
You can change the actual resonator shape (it says it comes with 3 different shapes) to affect their sound. Like actually unscrew them and screw different ones on. Since this is just a piece of metal I see endless hacking opportunities here.
embedding-shape•59m ago
Looks really interesting, no doubt. But I also see that you can change the sound by just placing objects on top of the resonators, so I'm guessing if I was jamming with that, I'd try placing my hand, foot, head and a bunch of other stuff on top of the resonators. Probably find some neat sounds.

Then next week I'm gonna have zero ideas about how to recreate it again :P Already suffering with this with the modular synth, and those are just cables in specific holes.

afandian•1h ago
They have visible pickups, which presumably have a permanent magnet core.

But how are the resonators getting 'plucked'? Is it the same electromagnet as the pickup or a separate one? I can't imagine those two modes would work well. (i.e. dumping current across the coil would make the magnet want to escape)

Perhaps there's a field coil instead of a permanent magnet?

jimmyjazz14•34m ago
My guess is that it uses magnetic fields to resonate the bars (kinda like an ebow). Any plucking types sounds are probably done with filter/envelopes within the electronics.
racl101•1h ago
If Kraftwerk were still doing their thing this would be right up their alley. But they probably got their own special gear.
glimshe•33m ago
Physical hardware is fun, sounds better (when analog or acoustic) but I can't go back after a long time with a streamlined VST-based workflow. For playing without a computer, I simply use romplers for the convenience. So, while I have a gut desire for this gear, I won't ever actually buy it...
jimmyjazz14•29m ago
Seems like the bars are just there to produce the (almost) sine wave oscillation part of the synth which is neat I guess but it just seems like a gimmick if I am being totally honest. I still respect them trying new ideas though.
asdhtjkujh•22m ago
Glad to see this has finally been released after years of R&D :) can't wait to see what Takahashi-san and team cook up next.

In principle, Korg Berlin looks like a great model for satellite incubator within an established organization. Would absolutely love to work there.

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