Korg Radias review
by Pierre Boisvenue. Feb 12, 2008
Sound is simple yet complex. It is air displacement that reaches your hear at a certain speed or frequency. A sound wave can be monophonic meaning one sound source or polyphonic meaning multiple sources. Sound is universal and can be rhythmic. Sound can be pleasing or can be annoying. Sound intensity is measured in decibel and intense sound can lead to hearing loss. An acoustic instrument such as a Guitar or trumpet produces, via physical reflection, sound waves in a natural format while electronic instruments simulate these instruments in a very convincing manner. Electronic instruments such a synthesizer can also be used to create new sounds and simulate existing physical musical instruments. Sounds found in nature are mostly very pleasing and soothing. Also, sound does play on human emotions in a very effective manner and can set the tone for aggressiveness, happiness, sadness and spirituality. Sound coupled with pictures or videos conveys even more emotions.
So why do I feel the need to write about a Synthesizer? I guess to motivate myself in understanding the Korg Radias inside out. Now 24 voice of polyphony is pretty decent along with 4 timbres, a timbre is a unique sound in a program and a program contains up to four timbres. Some may consider 4 timbres to be limited and a work around are to buy more Radias or use a multi-track recorder. I’ve opted for the multi-track recorder since I also need to mix in vocals and a motif ES keyboard. Since the Radias act also as a Vocoder the multi-track is of help here as well. This diagram provides a decent overview of the Korg Radias internals.
Since the Korg Radias is computer friendly in the sense that it has a USB interface that allows the Korg Radias sound editor, a PC application,
to work and manage programs, timbres, etc. via USB. Also, MIDI control is done via a standard MIDI connection and via USB MIDI which is nice to have.
Here you will find an excel document, a
lookup chart to quickly call up a program via a MIDI Program change message. The complete
manual provides a good overview of the product. For a timbre overview click here
Korg, Radias, synthesizer
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