Leaked - new Korg controller with poly AT, MPE. MIDI 2.0 and audio interface

[jerrythek]

https://www.gearnews.com/leak-korg-keystage-midi-2-0-controller-with-polyat/

 

 

I'm surprised no one has already posted this. Looks very interesting, and I'm glad to see Korg stepping up to a more pro product in the category (assuming this is true).

 

On The Surface

The KORG Keystage is currently presented in a 49 or 61-key format with 8 rotary knobs. Each of these has its own OLED screen. There is also a main OLED display to their left. There are some basic button controls, including a set of transport controls. It’s a minimal layout and looks clean and tidy. The wood end cheeks set it off nicely. KORG’s designers have clearly been studying the competition. Some obvious nods to similar products from Arturia and Native Instruments are obvious.

 

Oh, and the keenly eyed amongst you might notice a small logo on the far right of the keyboard. Yes, that’s right. That’s a ‘Polytouch’ logo. And who does that logo belong to? Correct-o-mundo… ASM, makers of the Hydrasynth! In an episode of the Pro Synth Network Show a while back, Glen Darcey of ASM alluded to the fact that some major manufacturer had been in discussions about licensing the Polytouch technology. I guess we all know who that is now!

 

Highlights

Many will be happy to see MIDI 2.0 Property Exchange implemented here. This means that there is bi-directional communication between the Keystage and supported instruments. All parameters will be automatically mapped and labelled on the displays. Could this be another step towards universal controllers actually being more… well, universal?

 

Hot on the heels of NI’s new Kontrol range, Keystage features a semi-weighted, polyphonic aftertouch keybed with MPE capabilities. I truly believe we are now well and truly in the age of PolyAT. I mean, it’s only taken 40+ years! So well done KORG!

 

Under the hood, the KORG Keystage has some very impressive features too. First up, there is an integrated audio interface with direct stereo outputs. One less box to carry for gigging musicians is a good thing, right? At the time of going to press, there are no more specs on the audio interface. Other system features include an arpeggiator and chord modes for quick live performance or inspiration.

 

Working With Software

KORG claim that the Keystage is compatible with almost all DAWs, however Ableton Live integration is a headline feature here. The Keystage will detect the currently active instrument in Live and automap itself to it. Switching devices will prompt the Keystage to remap itself immediately. As Ableton Live is MPE-ready, Keystage fits right in. Live’s Drift synth immediately springs to mind here. And if you don’t have Live, Keystage comes bundled with Live 11 Lite, as well as a bundle of other great KORG products. These include Korg Gadget Producer Bundle and wavestate native LE.

 

Physical Characteristics

For the gigging musician, Keystage’s weight is great too. A mere 4.2kg/9.3lbs for the 49 key and 5kg/11lbs for the 61 key version.

Connectivity includes 5-pin MIDI in & out, USB-B, 1/4″ TRS audio outs and a pair of pedal inputs. Power is supplied by an external PSU or over USB. It also comes with a detachable music rest.

 

More Information

Price is listed as $599 for the Keystage 49 and $699 for the Keystage 61. No information is currently available on release dates.

[David Emm]

I was wondering when a controller like this would appear. Impressive and rationally priced, too. We'll eventually hear about how well it comes together, relative to the AT and keybed quality. I'll never stop pining away for a proper joystick that serves me as well as the 01W model did, but I won't call it a firm 'No' over just that. That may matter much less if the Poly AT is sweet enough in use.

[Mike Martin]

Nice product! The 49-key model is interesting to me. I have an original CME UF5 that sits to the left of my Privia that sometimes chooses not to work at all. Something smaller with better software integration and of course PolyAT is very appealing. I'll be interested to see how well it will integrate with Logic.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Interesting. And a real turnaround from the extraordinary BS of their small-format synthesizers of late, both in terms of price and features. Will be interesting to see  how this develops.

 

mike

 

[TommyRude]

If only they could’ve incorporated a joystick or paddle… dang!

[D. Gauss]

[zephonic]

Wheels…why?

 

Both Roland and Korg today, sad…

[ElmerJFudd]

Someone was just asking for an audio interface in a controller the other day. 
 

Really nice to see MIDI 2 features.  MPE is driving the inclusion of AT and it’s long over due.  It won’t take long for the software devs to get everything mapped up.  
 

How nice a semiweight action did they go with? 

[ProfD]

14 minutes ago, zephonic said:

Wheels…why?

 

Both Roland and Korg today, sad…

I doubt there's a special parts sale so between wheels on the latest offerings and Gaia 2 looking like a Minilogue maybe there's some keiretsu between Roland and Korg.😁😎

[Fleer]

So Medeli it is …

[AnotherScott]

12 hours ago, zephonic said:

Wheels…why?

 

Both Roland and Korg today, sad…

 

 

Wheels why? Because they're a whole lot better than Korg joysticks or Roland levers. 😉

Especially when you have aftertouch available, which IMO negates the advantage those other controllers can have, i.e. greater ease of doing pitch bend and mod at the same time. If you can do mod with aftertouch, even that benefit goes out the window, and now you're left only with the downsides of those others, like having to be careful NOT to bend pitch when all you want out of the joystick is modulation, or not wanting modulation to spring back to zero when you let go (without having to do the awkward korg button lock thing). And you can't really lean into those dainty joysticks. 😉

[ElmerJFudd]

I like a joystick for playing Pitfall on the Atari 2600.  It’s a miracle that thing didn’t give me early onset arthritis at 10 years of age. 
 

 

i think for music you might be able to pull off a quarter bend with it. Stiff as all hell. 

[Meta]

Poly AT, great!

Scribble strips, cool!

MPE and MIDI 2.0 features, bring it on!

Built-in audio interface, excellent!

No drawbars, bummer.

Wheels YES! But would have preferred above the keyboard rather than making the unit longer by having them on the side.

[ProfD]

35 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

I like a joystick for playing Pitfall on the Atari 2600.  It’s a miracle that thing didn’t give me early onset arthritis at 10 years of age. 
 

 

i think for music you might be able to pull off a quarter bend with it. Stiff as all hell. 

Yo...same here. 🤣

 

Spent many hours using that stiff azz joystick back in the day. Over time it would loosen up.😁

 

Later generation of gamers had it so easy....better controllers, games and graphics.

 

Kinda like KB players have better gear nowadays. 😎

[TommyRude]

2 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

Wheels why? Because they're a whole lot better than Korg joysticks or Roland levers.

 

[CyberGene]

Very nice! But why use potentiometers and not encoders above the OLED-s? Whenever you switch to another instrument/track/module those potentiometers will be out of place and you will have value jumps. That’s the huge NO for me. 

[Paul Woodward]

Popped up in my feed this morning, but you guys are quick. Looks interesting. 

[Paul Woodward]

This renewed interest in Poly AT is quite baffling. It was on (albeit massively expensive) synths in the 70's and disappeared. Even mono aftertouch has gone from all but the top end boards, Korg even tout it as a new 'feature' for their flagship workstation. You would think tech like this after 50 years would be standard on mid to top end boards. Will be great to have it as standard in more machines as long as it doesn't mean cheap nasty keybeds. 

[nursers]

4 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

 

 

Wheels why? Because they're a whole lot better than Korg joysticks or Roland levers. 😉

Especially when you have aftertouch available, which IMO negates what little advantage those other controllers can have, i.e. greater ease of doing pitch bend and mod at the same time. If you can do mod with aftertouch, even that benefit goes out the window, and now you're left only with the downsides of those others, like having to be careful NOT to bend pitch when out of the joystick is modulation, or not wanting modulation to spring back to zero when you let go (without having to do the awkward korg button lock thing). And you can't really lean into those dainty joysticks. 😉

Could not agree more - add me to #teamwheels - I actually hated the joystick thing on my Kronos...

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Sorry, I’d much rather have a Roland paddle or a Novation semijoystick than wheels. Your mileage may vary, but the only side-by-side controllers I have ever really liked were the reverse layout paddles on the Oberheims.  
 

mike

[Dr Mike Metlay]

32 minutes ago, Paul Woodward said:

This renewed interest in Poly AT is quite baffling. It was on (albeit massively expensive) synths in the 70's and disappeared. Even mono aftertouch has gone from all but the top end boards, Korg even tout it as a new 'feature' for their flagship workstation. You would think tech like this after 50 years would be standard on mid to top end boards. Will be great to have it as standard in more machines as long as it doesn't mean cheap nasty keybeds. 

Poly AT hasn’t been everywhere for the last 50 years because it’s been incredibly expensive to do well, and if players don’t have access to it, they don’t know what they’re missing. Aftertouch in general is something that was removed from keyboards because supposedly nobody wanted it - which is because nobody knew what it was or how to use it - because they couldn’t learn how useful it was - because the keyboards didn’t have it.
 

ASM demonstrated that nowadays poly AT could be done both affordably and with a good feel, and once people began to re-discover what it could do for them, it came back into demand and now everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon.

 

Until the Hydrasynth, polyphonic aftertouch was either cheap or good. Now it’s both. People are recognizing it, coming to love it, and the market is responding. I don’t see what’s baffling about that at all.
 

mike

[zephonic]

6 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Someone was just asking for an audio interface in a controller the other day. 

 

That was me, yeah. This is not exactly how I envisioned it, but it's a step in the right direction.

[stoken6]

https://synthanatomy.com/2023/09/leak-korg-keystage-new-polyphonic-aftertouch-midi-2-0-keyboard-controllers.html

 

Good: poly-aftertouch. Audio interface. Real 5-pin MIDI. MIDI 2.0. Expression pedal input. Music/tablet rest.

Bad: proprietary PSU and USB-B connector (why not use USB-C, and allow power that way?). No faders (that's 9 too few).

Strange: what's the second MIDI port - MIDI in? What does that do on a controller?

 

EDIT: I see our own @pjd has posted on this as well http://sandsoftwaresound.net/korg-keystage-midi-2-0/

 

Cheers, Mike.

[yannis D]

3 hours ago, stoken6 said:

 

Strange: what's the second MIDI port - MIDI in? What does that do on a controller?

 

 

Cheers, Mike.

I guess -since there will be no external sound card-, midi in would work to send a hardware keyboard to the DAW of your laptop/iPad 

[Tusker]

Really interesting controllers. The labels on the knobs suggest a software overlay, maybe with different states/modes available. Build quality looks good too.

 

Oh, if ASM would license that ribbon to Korg ...

[vonnor]

Can a Mod merge 186724 into this thread please? Since this one has the model name in it.

 

Thanks!

 

~ vonnor

[Tusker]

[OT] The whole ribbons versus wheels thing needs more data I think. The poor manufacturers are stuck between user constituencies. What to do? Build in more options and drive up materials cost? Release different versions and drive up complexity costs?

 

There are people who feel strongly about one or the other and then people who feel less strongly. I'd be really curious about the percentages of people for whom the absence of one or the other feature would be a complete deal-breaker (i.e. it would be an order losing sensitive criterion). I don't imagine that data is public but it would be very interesting.

 

[OT Off] This is the first set of controllers I have been excited about in a very long time. Props to Korg. 

[Stokely]

If none of the models have sliders, that's going to be a ding for a lot of people.   The audio interface (especially if it is class complaint and works with non-computer devices) is a big plus, flip side.

I may permanently be a one-keyboard live gigger the way things are going, but a poly AT controller for home use is interesting.  In which case ironically neither the controls nor the wheels/ribbons/joystick issue nor the audio interface matters....I tend to draw in controller info in my DAW and I have an interface.

[AnotherScott]

9 hours ago, ProfD said:

Spent many hours using that stiff azz joystick back in the day. Over time it would loosen up.😁

Yes, shortly before it would break. 😉

 

8 hours ago, CyberGene said:

Very nice! But why use potentiometers and not encoders above the OLED-s? 

Are we sure they're puts and not encoders? Maybe I missed something, but I only saw reference to "rotary knobs," which could be either.

[Reezekeys]

Since I use my controller to play mostly electromechanical and acoustic instrument sounds - not much in the way of synths - poly AT is something I've never felt like I needed (I barely use mono AT!). I do need sliders, pads and buttons - none of which I see on this controller (ok, there are a few buttons on the left which might be assignable; I mean buttons like the ones on my A800 which are aligned with the nine pots). Other than those buttons on the left it appears to have only eight potentiometers and one "master" knob of some kind. To me, a "controller" keyboard should give one a good amount of tools to do "controlling" with. Maybe this is the first in a line and there will be more feature-rich ones coming? Kind of pricey for entry-level models though, imo.