Korg Z1
The Z1 is like a polyphonic Prophecy in a workstation! It does all the analog sounds and more. This is a great analog modeling synth with 12-voice polyphony, thirteen waveforms, four LFOs, two resonant filters, two effects units and more. The ability to create unique sounds is endless. The factory patches could use some help, but overall the sound is very nice! It has a fully polyphonic arpeggiator that blows all others away. It has five preset arpeggio patterns and fifteen user patterns. Unfortunately there is no on-board sequencer. There is incredible real-time control available with knobs to control the two resonant filters, and a touch controlled 'XY' pad for tweaking patches in real-time. The Z1 is used by KMFDM, Gary Numan, LTJ Bukem and Orbital.
- Specifications
- Polyphony - 12 voices (expandable to 18)
- Oscillators - 2 osc (13 types including pulse, saw, tri, sine, organ, electric piano, piano, brass, reeds, strings, more) 1sub-osc, noise
- LFO - 4 LFOs; 18 waveforms including sine, tri, saw, square, sample/hold, stepped
- Filter - Resonant low, hi, dual band pass
- Effects - 2 effect units with 15 effects including Reverb, Parametric EQ, chorus, phaser, flanger, rotating speaker, overdrive, auto-wah, talkbox, decimator, compressor
- Keyboard - 61 keys with velocity and aftertouch
- Memory - 256 patches, 32 multis
- Control - MIDI (6 parts)
- Date Produced - 1997
- Websites of Interest
- Resources & Credits
Images from Perfect Circuit Audio.
Thanks to Jason Clubb and Scott Denison for providing information.
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I originally purchased a Z1 based reviewson the net (newby and inexperienced), I didn't enjoy it, so soldand got a Nord Lead. Wow, what an amazing learning curve.
Now that I had a understanding, I decided to purchase another Z1. I will be selling this thing again. Why would you bother, it's just not right and sounds metallic (in a [beep] way).
One visitor started to force his arguments that he saw "world class musician who has Clavia and he knew what he wants to achieve" - it's no argument for me.
I will never sell my Z1 and I'll never buy Clavia.
More to say - today's synths - who can do things that Z1 can - cost much over twice than Z1 and there are just few - maybe Virus TI...