Korg SV-1 Stage Vintage Piano - Official Product Intro Video

[Marillo]

I downloaded the 'Sound on Sound' review of this the other day. It basically says the acoustic and electric piano sounds are excellent, but the non-piano sounds ie organ, strings and polysynth 'confuse the issue' and aren't of the same standard.

 

Other bits:

*It has the best upright piano emulation the reviewer has ever heard.

*There's a feature called RX noise which allows control of an additional layer of extraneous noises such as keyoff, damper pedal 'thunk' etc.

*Lack of ability to control volume of strings in the piano/string layer is a problem

*The organs have that distinctive Korg 'percussion', but all are very useable...there's just no tweaking, obviously

*One organ is based on something called a 'Lowrey' (sorry, never heard of it) but is excellent apparnetly

*There's a few audible transitions between velocity layers

*Don't compare it to the Stage, the reviewer says!

*RH3 keyboard is a 'joy' to play

 

Hope this helps!

[mate stubb]

*One organ is based on something called a 'Lowrey' (sorry, never heard of it) but is excellent apparnetly

 

Lowrey was a popular American organ brand in competition with Hammond for the home market.

 

In the company's latter days, they churned out a lot of transistor junk, but some of their earlier tube models were prized by iconoclastic souls who bucked the Hammond trend.

 

The particular tube Lowrey sampled for this instrument is the most famous one in all of rock and roll - it belongs to Garth Hudson of the Band, and was used on many of their recordings.

 

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/GarthWails75_tag.jpg

[Dana.]

Interesting comments in the SOS review, especially about the upright. I wonder if he's heard Ivory's uprights. The inclusion of the Lowrey organ makes sense given there's reference in the manual to the sound being made famous by Garth Hudson.

[burningbusch]

Gordon Reid, with SOS, is general pretty tough but also fair as a reviewer.

 

His conclusion:

 

The SV1 provides the best emulations of acoustic pianos, electro-mechanical pianos and electronic pianos that I have yet heard on a single instrument. It also offers a range of additional sounds such as organs and strings, but its hard to decide whether these are a bonus or a distraction. If youre in the market for a stage piano, you mustnt buy anything until you have tried this.

 

Busch.

[bhodaway10]

I downloaded the 'Sound on Sound' review of this the other day. It basically says the acoustic and electric piano sounds are excellent, but the non-piano sounds ie organ, strings and polysynth 'confuse the issue' and aren't of the same standard.

 

Other bits:

*It has the best upright piano emulation the reviewer has ever heard.

*There's a feature called RX noise which allows control of an additional layer of extraneous noises such as keyoff, damper pedal 'thunk' etc.

*Lack of ability to control volume of strings in the piano/string layer is a problem

*The organs have that distinctive Korg 'percussion', but all are very useable...there's just no tweaking, obviously

*One organ is based on something called a 'Lowrey' (sorry, never heard of it) but is excellent apparnetly

*There's a few audible transitions between velocity layers

*Don't compare it to the Stage, the reviewer says!

*RH3 keyboard is a 'joy' to play

 

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks Marillion. I can't wait to read the article too.

 

I always felt that Nord should have released a non-organ stage.

 

I think this instrument fits my bill : need excellent acoustic, electric piano, clav sounds, portable, easy to use, a good keybed, and heck, it's endorsed by two of my favorite players : Eldar and Neal Evans.

 

Can't wait to play one live.

[burningbusch]

Also, from the article:

 

If I had been Korgs design team, I would have ditched the extra sounds and used the freed memory to include a greater range of Clavinets and Pianets, as well as the rest of the RMIs registrations. I would then have called it the SVP1 Stage Vintage Piano rather than the SV1, and marketed it as the best acoustic and electric piano emulator on the planet. Which, in all likelihood, it already is.

Busch.

[burningbusch]

And, there are four Rhodes and two Wurlitzer soundsets to choose from.

 

Busch.

[kanker.]

And, there are four Rhodes and two Wurlitzer soundsets to choose from.

 

Busch.

Now, are those 4 and 2 discreet sets of samples, or just 4 and 2 programs derived from the same set of respective samples?

[The Real MC]

What, no Nord Lead samples?

 

*ducks*

[kanker.]

What, no Nord Lead samples?

 

*ducks*

Nope, no Nord Lead samples, but yes, there are duck samples.

[burningbusch]

And, there are four Rhodes and two Wurlitzer soundsets to choose from.

 

Busch.

Now, are those 4 and 2 discreet sets of samples, or just 4 and 2 programs derived from the same set of respective samples?

 

According to the article:

 

The four Fender Rhodes multisamples are of high quality, and I was particularly impressed with the clunky bottom end of the brightest of these.

 

Jerry could tell us for sure.

 

Busch.

 

[jerrythek]

I can't spend too much time right now, here's some quick clarifications.

 

Seems like Gordon did us proud - he's a good guy, with the best knowledge of classic instruments and Korg's history that I have ever known/met/seen.

 

But... he did get this issue confused. Each location does not imply a different multisample, or set of multisamples. So for the "tine" EP we have a set of 7-way velocity switched samples from a given instrument. And then we have some other files from our large library. We can mix them/use them in different ways to product variations. If I recall correctly one of the four uses less than 7-way switching. And the fourth is emulating a Dyno version so it has some other elements creatively used. It's the result that counts, and it's nice IMHO.

 

The Wurly is two versions using the same PCM with different shaping and effects.

 

Clavs have different PCM per location to cover variations.

 

Each organ IS different PCM.

 

Get the picture?

 

Speaking of pictures - Mate - I have always loved that picture of Garth, but that is not the organ we sampled. He started to use that model very late in the life of the group - for the original album with Chest Fever it was the Festival model - a bit smaller. But a wonderful sound.

 

Gotta run for now.

 

Regards,

 

Jerry

 

Korg Guy

 

 

 

 

[jerrythek]

I downloaded the 'Sound on Sound' review of this the other day. It basically says the acoustic and electric piano sounds are excellent, but the non-piano sounds ie organ, strings and polysynth 'confuse the issue' and aren't of the same standard.

 

Other bits:

 

*The organs have that distinctive Korg 'percussion', but all are very useable...there's just no tweaking, obviously

 

For the first/main organ which "is" a click organ, the control you have over the RX noises can increase/decrease the click. So that sound can be turned into a completely click-less version if desired. Maybe that wasn't pointed out to Gordon...

 

Regards,

 

Jerry

 

Korg Guy

 

[MikeT156]

That was an very honest answer Jerry, thanks for the clarification. No smoke and mirrors. This is good.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Mike T.

[Dana.]

Sweetwater has a demo of the SV-1:

 

click

[RedKey]

So, at 6:25 he mentions that the external inputs can be feed through the SV-1's effects. Manual says nothing about that. Not sure I'd want that. Certainly should be defeatable.

 

Jerry,

Undocumented feature or minor error in description?

[Mark Schmieder]

Man, the Garth Hudson organ -- I've never quite gotten that sound, and I've covered a number of songs by The Band at various times, so it DOES matter to me. :-)

 

I guess I thought Lowery was famous, not obscure, but maybe it's a generational thing, as they probably don't have much presence these days. Or maybe Garth Hudson just brought them temporary name recognition. At any rate, my wild guess of Gibson was without taking the time to actually listen to anything that I knew to have been recorded on the Kalamazoo, such as The Doors.

 

Korg made some smart choices on this SV-1 keyboard that can make it many people's primary keyboard and an excellent second keyboard for almost everyone else. :-)

[richwhite9]

 

Lowrey was a popular American organ brand in competition with Hammond for the home market.

 

In the company's latter days, they churned out a lot of transistor junk, but some of their earlier tube models were prized by iconoclastic souls who bucked the Hammond trend.

 

Lowery is still big. They sell more organs than anyone else in the US. The client is the retiree market that loves the $10,000 to $35,000 arrangers complete w/with GM sounds and dealer that offer lifetime EZ-play lessons. Yes they still have a distinctive sound that Brian Wilson, Peter Townsend, and John Lennon would appreciate.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowrey_organ

 

http://www.lowrey.com/OrganExpand.aspx?organ=19

[Dana.]

OK, this thing defines "fun machine." And the model is called Sensation SU430.

 

http://www.lowrey.com/images/organs/430_Oak_Full.jpg

[burningbusch]

I really like that Rhodes tone at the very beginning of the Sweetwater video. Great tone, not hyped.

 

Busch.

[RichF]

So, at 6:25 he mentions that the external inputs can be feed through the SV-1's effects. Manual says nothing about that. Not sure I'd want that. Certainly should be defeatable.

 

Jerry,

Undocumented feature or minor error in description?

 

Hi RedKey,

 

Thanks for pointing this out... It's an error in my description, and I apologize for misleading. The audio inputs do NOT hit any of the SV-1's effects or amplifier modeling.

 

-Rich

[RedKey]

The audio inputs do NOT hit any of the SV-1's effects or amplifier modeling. -Rich

 

Thanks for the follow up. No harm at all. You're demonstration is absolutely solid. Well done.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[kanker.]

So, at 6:25 he mentions that the external inputs can be feed through the SV-1's effects. Manual says nothing about that. Not sure I'd want that. Certainly should be defeatable.

 

Jerry,

Undocumented feature or minor error in description?

 

Hi RedKey,

 

Thanks for pointing this out... It's an error in my description, and I apologize for misleading. The audio inputs do NOT hit any of the SV-1's effects or amplifier modeling.

 

-Rich

So they feed straight into the output stage? That's cool, handy feature for multi keyboard setups

[EscapeRocks]

I'm having serious G.A.S.

 

 

[RichF]

Why thank you! It's a shame to come into the forum on a slightly negative note, but I appreciate the kind words.

 

Yes, kanker, the input signal does get fed to the outputs, so you can hook up a music source or additional keyboard.

[Mark Schmieder]

There is so much G.A.S. in the room right now, that I fear an explosion is imminent. :-)

[timwat]

I gotta believe the real litmus test will be the finger/sound connection with the acoustic pianos. If the playing experience is there and the sound's weight & timbre compete with what else is out there, gonna be a lot of musikeros sitting on Santa's lap. At least for me, the whole feature set is positive - just waiting to see what a half-hour sit-down with one in person reveals.

[zahush76]

OK, this thing defines "fun machine." And the model is called Sensation SU430.

 

http://www.lowrey.com/images/organs/430_Oak_Full.jpg

 

[Al Coda]

I downloaded the 'Sound on Sound' review of this the other day. It basically says the acoustic and electric piano sounds are excellent, but the non-piano sounds ie organ, strings and polysynth 'confuse the issue' and aren't of the same standard.

 

Interesting !

I also would like to see the SV-1 as a pure piano, electric pianos and clav instrument.

 

Other bits:

 

*Lack of ability to control volume of strings in the piano/string layer is a problem

 

Confirmed! This is a REAL prob if there isn´t a way to change this in a software update.

 

And for me, another question is coming up regarding in sample maps embedded layers:

Do these patches reduce polyphony or not ?

 

*There's a few audible transitions between velocity layers

 

That´s what I noticed already by watching the very 1st vids of the "ghost-keyboard" and it´s also noticable in the musicians friend vid.

As ever, these vids are made to make the instrument shine,- so there might be more surprises coming during other test if it´s available.

 

*RH3 keyboard is a 'joy' to play

 

I can imagine to be satisfied w/ this action,- to play acoustic pianos !

 

Assume, I´d buy the 88version for $2.200 because of the acoustic pianos/electric pianos and action,- I´d want to play the clavs w/ a 2nd keyboards over MIDI then,- simultaneously.

Is that possible ?

Does it offer dual-timbrality over MIDI in ????

I don´t ask for split/layer and/or zoning over midi,- just only 2 sounds at once,- one over midi and one w/ internal keyboard.

 

If not, it´s a dealbreaker for me, just only because I´d get a PC3 for the same price.

 

A.C.

 

 

[RedKey]

I've seen that the summing mono out is only on the 1/4" outputs. The XLR outs do not sum if one output is used.

 

A: Can both sets of outputs be used simultaneously?

B: Could I use the XLR's in stereo for monitors and still use the mono 1/4" out to a DI to the FOH?

C: Are the stereo inputs summed to mono when using the mono 1/4" output.

 

This would be a fantastic setup. 2nd board patched into the SV-1 in stereo. Both boards in stereo for monitors using the XLR outs. Choice of Stereo or Summed Mono to the FOH using the 1/4" outs depending on FOH being Mono or Stereo.