Korg • Lambda ES50
The Lambda ES50 is a vintage poly-ensemble type synthesizer with slightly editable preset orchestral sounds. It is divided into two sections: The Percussion set includes pianos, clavis and harmonics; The Ensemble section has Brass, Strings, Organ and Choruses. Filter and envelope controls affect the different instruments individually. The Lambda has 96 discrete envelopes and VCAs - two for each key - a very unusual design. There are also vibrato and chorus effects. The String sounds are the nicest sounds this synth can create. With three oscillators you can vary and detune them enough to get a nice layered analog string. Piano and Brass sounds are pretty cheesy. The Lambda is cased in a great big wooden case that gives it that authentically vintage status. It's nice to have around, but a good sample of it is all you'll really need these days.
Nice machine, no doubt! I got one in good shape (but very dirty!) last week, one day before christmas.
I expected great new sounds, but I was a bit disappointed. The sounds cannot be modified in the way of a typical substractive synthesizer and the whole thing has the look of a 70's home organ - Korg must have had those organ players in mind as their target group.
There are some really good sounds! The strings and the mellow and muffled choir for example, especially combined with the nice chorus effect. The pianos are indeed pretty cheesy just like the organ in its new wave style. But clavi, harmonics and brass are quite useable! The full polyphony is not as good as I imagined it. The more keys you press the thinner the whole sound gets.
Altogether this string machine is a piece that will not stay too long in my gear setup. It has no real benefit for me, since I have a Korg Trident! And that machine can produce the sound of the Lambda in very similar ways and so much more! I have not yet compared the string sounds of the Lambda with the Trident's, but I think that they are quite the same - that would be no wonder since the production of the Trident began only one year after the Lambda, Sigma and Delta.
The Lambda is a nice machine for those who don't possess a Trident!
Try out this combination, the moogerfooger cp251 out to the Lambda pedal in (5v), and you can tweak the strings and piano's. I still use this machine between al analogs, va's, fm-based and so on.
Death to the mutant!