One of the main things that attracted me to the microKORG was that it wasn't as intimidating as the giant keyboard workstations with more functions than I have time or patience to learn. For I am by no means a keyboardist... I just want to get the coolest sounds with as little effort as possible. Is that really too much to ask? Well according to Korg, no.

Opening the box, I literally felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I had the microKORG plugged in and powered up before even noticing that an operator's manual was in the box too. No matter, I would just see how far I could get on turning knobs and pushing buttons aimlessly. The microKORG made me sound like a pro... well maybe not a pro, but it fooled me into thinking I actually knew what I was doing. Much of the functionality of the microKORG really is self-explanatory. There is a giant knob that controls the genre of sound you are accessing, eight patches of different sounds per bank, and two banks per genre. So right off the bat without any real work you have access to sixteen different sounds per genre, of which there are seven. Additional to the genres, there is an option for the built-in vocoder. A condenser microphone is included, but you can also plug your own dynamic or condenser microphone in. The other obvious knobs are across the top, and are for your cut-off frequency, resonance, attack, decay, and tempo control. Use these in any way you want to sculpt your sound however you prefer. An arpeggiator kicks in when you - get this - press the arpeggiator button. There are also controls for changing octave, three up and three down, and the essential pitch and mod wheels. After playing around for a while, I wanted to really dig into what the microKORG had to offer. But how much power can a 37-key mini-synth pack? As it turns out, a lot more than I thought.

After reading into the manual for a mere thirty minutes, I came to realize just how much customization is available for each sound. Whether you plug another instrument into the microKORG, or use the preset sounds, every waveform is customizable. The best part is, whether you want to surf through the six different arpeggiator settings, change the settings of the two oscillators, add noise, sweep filters, add delay, mod FX, flanger, whatever... it's all done by the twist of a couple of knobs. No difficult menus and screens to navigate, just cool sounds that make it easy to start making music. Edit the patches to your content, so next time they are just the way you like them. It became evident that the microKORG would make it every easy to build synth tracks in my DAW of choice, and something like this can really get the creative juices flowing.

Beginners and pros alike would both have good reason to want this little synth. It has MIDI in, out, and thru and could easily work in a studio or live rig for todays retro-pop, electronica, or even hip-hop artists. A good amount of today's pop music is synth-driven, and that makes the microKORG very relevant. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone with the slightest bit of interest in synthesizers. It's user-friendly, light and portable, and it sounds really cool. The microKORG has absolutely won my heart, and a place in my home studio. Korg must have read my mind, because this is how I picture making music. The coolest sounds with as little effort as possible... the microKORG is exactly what I was looking for.

I have to admit that I was a little intimidated by Korg's MicroKORG unit. Being a drummer I haven't had much opportunity to sit down with a synthesizer so I really didn't know what to expect

Opening the box, I felt a little better: this pint sized powerhouse features a clean layout, easy to read and understand controls, a 37 mini-key velocity sensitive keyboard, the familiar pitch bend and mod wheels and even a flexible gooseneck condenser microphone for use with the 8 band vocoder.

I plugged the unit in and patched it into the line inputs on my MOTU audio interface and began going through the 128 preset sounds. Monitoring was provided by my Event Studio Precision 8s. The presets are divided up by genre into 8 groups: Trance, Techno/House, Electronica, Drum n' Bass, Hip Hop/Vintage, Retro, Sound Effects/Hits, and Vocoder. Each group has 16 programs. Without any tweaking at all this unit is amazing. Just running through the presets I found some huge basses, cutting lead sounds, pads, vintage synthesized strings and even some amazing rhythmic patterns featuring the programmable arpeggiator. Using the large selector knob and oversized, lit program keys it was a breeze to switch quickly between programs. Many of the sounds have that classic analog grit and biting tone that could prove useful in a myriad of situations.

After spending a good long time playing the presets, I wanted to get my hands dirty doing some actual sound creation. Opening the manual I quickly figured out how to both edit preset patches and start brand new patches from scratch. The MicroKorg offers 2 sound generating oscillators each with 64 waveforms to choose from, so the sound creation capabilities are vast. Of course each waveform can be edited and tweaked with complete independence greatly expanding the range of tones available, and if that wasn't enough: each waveform can have it's own programmed arpeggiator sequence. I should also mention Korg's "Virtual Patch Matrix" which allows you to control different modulation parameters such as filter cutoff, pulse width, panning etc. from the mod wheel or an LFO.

So what does this all add up to? Incredible sounds and limitless possibilities Being able to edit so many parameters independently means that you can have a program where moving the mod wheel changes the cutoff frequency on one waveform and modulates the pitch on the other at the same time. With the programmable arpeggiator you can choose up to six patterns with control over tempo, gate, time, swing and up to a 4 octave range. Even cooler is the fact that each waveform can have an arpeggiator pattern that's totally different.

If this was all the MicroKorg offered it would be an amazing unit, but Korg has thrown in a bunch more cool features: a classic 8-band vocoder ready to use out of the box with the included condenser microphone, two external audio input jacks to process other instruments through the MicroKorg's filters and a built-in effects processor offering flanging, chorus, phasing, delay, and EQ.

This is a unit that could prove indispensable for gigging keyboard players, composers, sound designers, and studio owners. All of the preprogrammed sounds are top shelf, and you can make pretty much any sound you can imagine, whether it's a recreation of an analog classic or a brand new creation. With MIDI I/O and the ability to run on battery power, the MicroKorg could also be the perfect companion to the mobile studio. Chalk up another hit from Korg!