New Vox Continental. Some thoughts.
This is a an unusual instrument. While Korg/Vox markets this as a Vox Continental, that is misleading. True, it does have an excellent Vox Continental sound, but that is a small part of what it does. This is a multi dimensional stage keyboard that is focused on a very specific target market. I don't think that is is going to appeal to the mainstream market, but to rather to a certain narrow group.
First, the build quality. Excellent. It is solid and well constructed. The knobs and switches have a good feel, with no wobble. I personally don't like hard plastic knobs so I replaced mine with Chroma Cap knobs (as I have done with dozen of my synths). I also removed the chrome "Vox" logo and the "British" logo. I think they put these on to add to the retro look, which is not quite my cup of tea. Other than that the aesthetics are something that I like very much. By the way the color is red, with some orange in it. It is not the orange color that it appears to be under the lighting of some of the videos and photos.
There are four main sound sections, two of which can be layered or split. Organ, Piano, Electric Piano and Key/Layer. There are four buttons that are used to turn these on and off. Very simple and very clear.
Each of the four main sound sections has a selection of instruments. For example, the organ sound section has three instruments - Vox (of course), CX3 (B3 family) and Compact (Farfisa). For each instrument you can select any of several variations. This is done by simply pushing a button to select the main sound section, another button to select the instrument and turning a dial to select the variation of the instrument. It is very easy and fast to use.
Layering requires nothing more than pushing the two main sound section buttons that you want. Selecting a split is done by pushing a button. Simple. Each of the four main sound sections has a separate volume knob so you can adjust the relative balance between sections.
There is also an effects section that is easy to use. There are insert effects and master effects. The layout is thoughtful and clear. There is also a 9 band equalizer.
Instead of drawbars there is a section of led touch sensors. These control the organ section instruments, as you would expect. They can also be used to control the nine band EQ and the Key/Layer sound parameters. I had never used led touch sensors before. They are quite easy to use and they do have the advantage of always showing the position of what is actually being played. Of course, they don't have the tactile feel of drawbars.
There is also a Leslie simulation, which Is good but not a Vent. There is no need for a half moon switch because the Leslie simulation is controlled by a bend lever (which also controls tremelo and pitch).
The sounds across the spectrum are clean and rich. These are Korg sounds, so you know if you like them or not. In fact the basic innerds are from the Korg Grandstage.
There is also a drive which uses a Nutube vacuum tube. Nicer than a digital drive.
I will add some more specific comments on specific issues. Overall I really like it but it is only going to appeal, I think, to a specific group of players. It does not have the deep adjustments that other clones have. In fact it does not have a screen - Just some led readouts to show the selection numbers for the instrument variations. No menu diving here.