Korg PS 3200 - 1. Intro

Some personal notes re the Korg PS 3200.
This synth was used on the soundtrack for the movie Nighthawks.
It's a good example of it's sounds. The artist was Keith Emerson.

This was the last synth Korg produced in the PS range. The previous being the 3100 & 3300.
It has 48 keys. Each key has it's own IC synthesizer circuit.... thus it's 48 voice polyphony.
That's 96 VCOs 
But the biggest feature is the memory... 16 slots. ... Korg called this memory  the "tone colours".

 eACH of the 16 buttons is for a different "tone" or preset

To cancel a preset, just press the "cancel set " button.
To write a new set, press the write button, and one of the program selector buttons.

Make sure the memory protection switch is on most of the time, to prevent accidently erasing a preset.
Of course, to erase or add a new preset, the switch needs to be in the off position.

Memory is preserved when the synth is turned off.
There are two 1.5V AA  (AM-3) batteries. Change these if the battery indicator lamp glows red.

tHE  battery compartment is at the rear of the synth.

Just unscrew the panel. Make sure the synth is on, while changing the batteries, or you will loose your presets.

There are 32 knobs that can have their settings memorized.
This is quite a feat, when you consider the time .... 1978. The only other synth I can think of where you
can store the knob positions, is a Buchla 200e. ... and that's from 2005.
Not all the knobs positions can be memorized. Those that can  are concentrated in the top left and are marked with yellow writing.
You can quickly override the memory by just pulling out any of the 32 control knobs for temporary readjustment. 

To listen to the saved presets, make sure all the "32 programmable knobs" are pushed in.
Then, view each preset by pressing the 16 programming buttons.

To program a new preset:
1. program the sound with the 32 knobs pulled up.
2. When you are ready to save your preset flick the Memory Protect switch to off
     Don't push the knobs in. (When you push a knob back in, it changes back to
     the setting programmed into the memory).
3. Press the cancel set switch.
4. Press Write & one of the 16 tone buttons.
5. Flick memory protect back on.


The 3200 is made up of these components:
A. Signal Generators (SG)
B. Dynamic Lo-pass Filters (DLPF)
C. Envelope Modifier (EM)
D. Equalizer (EQ)
E. Total Signal Modifiers (TSM)
F. Modulation Balance / Modulation VCA
G. Sample & Hold (S/H)
H. Modulation Generator-1 (MG-1)
I. Modulation Generator-2 (MG-2)
J. General Envelope Generator (GEG)
K. Voltage Processors (VP)
L. Adding Amp
M. Volume outs (D vol,P vol,F vol).
N. Keyboard PS 3010