JonDent - Exploring Electronic Music: miniKORG700

Kitarō (喜多郎), born Masanori Takahashi (高橋正則) (February 4, 1953), is a Japanese musician noted for his electronic-instrumental music. He is really famous for using this instrument.

Among his many achievements, in 1980, he received a Galaxy Award for the score of the The Silk Road: The Rise And Fall Of Civilizations It was a documentary on how ancient Japan was influenced by the Silk Road trade route.

The music was composed mainly using a Minimoog, Minikorg 700, and Maxikorg DV800.

I'm so looking forward to this re-issue of a classic.

I've had my old miniKorg 700 since 2011 and today decided to re-explore it in preparation for

the re-issue coming out soon. My version doesn't have midi, or CV control. There isn't USB connectivity, a sequencer, memory, or even a second oscillator.

It was released in 1973, retailing for $500 USD. (I paid $500AUD for mine in 2011).

The 700 was Korg's first monosynth but was released under the UNIVOX brand in the USA.

It has 37 keys, a 2-speed phaser, and a variable pitch slide.

To put this in context, the early 1970's was an important period in the development of the synthesizer.

The ARP 2500 came out around 1970, as did the Moog MiniMoog & the Buchla 200 series.

1971 saw the ARP 2600, the EMS Synthi 100 & Synthi A.

1972 saw the Buchla Music Easel, the ARP Odyssey (Mark 1), the Moog Sonic Six, The EMS Synthi AKS & Synthi E.

1973 saw the Moog Satellite and modular 15/35/55.

The Korg company had been around since the 1960's. They mainly made drum machines.

+ Korg Drum Machine Timeline

As mentioned earlier, this was their first mass produced monosynth. They were probably trying to cash in on the craze for pre-patched performance instruments like the Minimoog and Odyssey.

It started Korg's journey to become one of the world's great synthesizer manufacturers.

The knobs and dials share a common style with the minipops 7 drum machine.

Thanks bdu808

The Korg700 was meant to sit on top of a larger keyboard (usually an organ). Thus most of the controls have been placed under the keyboard, not above as is usually the case.

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At first glance the 700 seems basic.

It has just one oscillator, a HP / LP filter, a simple EG.

But it delivers with style & has oodles of character. The filter (traveller) is fantastic.

Even with just one oscillator, it still can make some fat baselines.

The MiniKorg 700 was replaced a year later by the 700S.

This added a second oscillator and ring modulator.

Korg is remaking the 700S but calling it the 700FS.

FS = Full Size. ??? Does this imply there will be a MiniKorg 700mini in the future ??

The FS has a second oscillator.

It also has a ring modulator, a spring reverb, joystick controller, patch memory, aftertouch and an arpeggiator.

I'm seriously tempted to buy this.

Some interesting features of these synths are the Traveller filter, the Percussion/Singing envelope, and the function switches.

The Filter

The Traveler is the Filter.

It's typical of early Korg filters seen in the 700, 700s and dv800 Maxikorg.

Korg also used this design in their FK-1 effects pedal.

These early filters consisted of high pass and low pass stages in series.

The top section is the LPF.

The bottom is the HPF

(interestingly, the Korg MS20 also used two filters - high pass and low pass in series).

Korg used the Keio IC TS201012 for the VCF.

It's a custom sealed IC. There are 2 of these.

The "Traveler" filter was used in the Korg 900PS, 700, 700S and 800DV.

To aid the filter there are 2 switches --

expand & Bright.

These add resonance

The "bright" adds additional high-frequency harmonics.

The Oscillator

Scale of course is the Oscillator Pitch.

You can choose waveforms with the mode switch on the right. You get Triangle, Square, Saw and Chorus I & Chorus II waveforms.

The Chorus I sound is described in the manual as a "Slow rotating sound with duplicating effect".

The Chorus II sound is described in the manual as a "Fast rotating sound with intensified duplication effect".

I understand that this single oscillator uses the KEIO TS200011 IC.

This is a Korg custom VCO core integrated circuit. (look for a sealed black box).

Check out Colin Fraser's website:

http://www.colinfraser.com/

Colin Fraser in 2010 began reverse engineering these modules. Before this you had to "sacrifice" old Korg synthesizers to get spare parts.

The Envelope Generator

This is a basic AD envelope.

Attack on the left. (forms the beginning of the note)

Decay on the right. (Forms the end of the note).

The Decay range is from

Short (Percussion) to long (singing).

The envelope is triggered by the keyboard.

When a key is pressed the cycle is initiated.

The envelope is disengaged when the key is released.

To enable a show release when a key is released,

activate the the sustain switch.

The sustain level is fixed.

The Bender provides added slide to the beginning of each tone... such as Glissando and slur.

It glides into the current note, from a whole tone below.

The Portamento switch in comparison glides the previous note into the current note. (A bit like a slide).

Repeat - this repeatedly triggers a held note.

Vibrato - It modulates the pitch of your current note.

Delayed Vibrato - applies vibrato with a slight delay.

The amount of these last 3 effects (repeat, Vibrato, Portamento) are controlled

with the slide modifier group below. The green slider adjusts the portamento speed.

The two blue sliders control the speed & depth of vibrato.

The pitch slider on the far right on the above picture is the master tuning.

Just two audio outputs - High & Low.

There is no CV control or midi of course.

Also no external filter input.

Links

+ Facebook Minikoorg700 community

+ http://wutierson.com/en/news/115-keio-replacements

+ http://www.colinfraser.com/

+ Non Linear Circuits FK1T VCF - Korg FK-1 pedal in eurorack

+ https://www.cykong.com/Synths/Korg%20700S/Korg700S2.htm