Korg Collection 3 premieres with three new hardware Synthesizer emulations: miniKORG 700S, Prophecy & Triton Extreme workstation.
Synthesizer emulations are very popular among developers. Marketing is easy because the originals are still popular today and a very good emulation can put the brakes on the desire for the original a little. The range of emulations is huge. In addition to Arturia, U-he, or Roland, Korg is also one of those developers who make very high-quality emulations of vintage synthesizers.
Like Roland, Korg has focused on emulating its own legacy products. The Japanese started early, more precisely in 2004. Then it remained quiet for a long time until 2017 when they published a reworked bundle called Korg Collection. First, a software Arp Odyssey, then a Triton emulation. Today the Korg Collection goes in round 3 with three exciting new emulations.
Korg Collection 3
The Korg Collection 3 celebrates its premiere today. So far, the bundle included emulations of the ARP Odyssey, MS-20, M1, MonoPoly, Polysix, Wavestation, MDE-X, and recently added Triton. In version 3 there are three new emulations.
Starting with the miniKORG 700S which is a faithful recreation of the original miniKORG 700S, one of the first analog synthesizers from Korg. Unlike the hardware, the emulation is polyphonic, has a patch matrix, and comes with five different stompbox-style effects. Thus, it’s more just an emulation.
Then, it includes a full emulation of the original Korg Prophecy that used the multi-oscillator synthesis system. I’m particularly happy about this emulation, as the Prophecy is one of my favorite Korg synthesizers. In his day it was different, had a special engine and could produce sounds that no other synthesizer knew. To this day, the Prophecy synth is innovative and unique.
The sound engine used multiple oscillator models and was able to design sounds similar to physical modeling. All this synthesis fun is now available as a plugin.
In the Korg Collection 2, Korg introduced an emulation of the Triton workstation. In version 3, they expand it with the Triton Extreme version that was the vacuum tube-powered peak of the Triton line. Great, users who already have the plugins from the Korg Collection series can update to version 2 for free. This means, you get the Extreme version as a free update.
More Than Emulations
Like Arturia, the Korg developers do not stop at a simple emulation. Each plugin has been expanded with numerous new features that bring the sound of the original into the modern. Mono instruments become polyphonic synthesizers, added high-quality effects, easy-to-use GUIs, and more.
First Impression
I am pleased to see that Korg is expanding its collection, especially with the Prophecy, a very special Synthesizer. A bit of a shame Korg does not provide any information on whether the plugins offer already native M1 or not. I hope that the iOS apps from Korg will soon receive such updates. Many are waiting impatiently for AUv3 support, a standard for iOS music apps.
Korg Collection 3 is available now for macOS and Windows for an introductory price of $299 USD (reg. $399 USD) until August 12th, 2021. You can upgrade from KC2 for $99.99 USD and users of Korg M1 LE (Korg MIDI controllers) for $199 USD. The three new instruments are also available individually:
- miniKORG 700S – $99.99 USD (reg. $149)
- Prophecy – $99.99 USD (reg. $149)
- Triton Extreme – $199.99 USD (reg. $249)
More information here: Korg
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