GForce's Dave Spiers takes a detailed look at the Korg 800DV or MaxiKorg. A Dual Voice and lovely synth from the early 1970s that was used by Vangelis, Soft Cell and Kitaro.
My first ever synth, bought in may 76. Used it extensively on all my records and professional recordings and shows. Still have it. It started my longtime love for Korg (and mainly the "traveler" family : 700s, 770, 900, 1000, VCF and pedal). I always considered it as a sort of duophonic "mini" CS80 not only because of its sound but because of the way it treated the signal flow (VCF, EG, LFO and bender).
It was also my very first synth, and looking back on it, it was an amazing instrument. The only thing that was glaringly missing was modulation controls and pitch bend wheels for it's 2 oscillators. This was a very "sweet" synthesizer. It had it's own character and you can't find it's sound anywhere else these days. Mine had the Badge on the back, announcing that it was a "MAXI KORG." The fact that it was duo-phonic (with 2 discrete oscillators) and able to play TWO notes at once made a huge difference (at least to me)!
Wow, I just found this video. The Maxi Korg was the first synth I bought in 1981 if I remember correctly. It was the perfect synth to learn the basis of synthesis and even if I have far superios keyboards now, I still miss this sweet machine sometimes. Simpler machine for simpler times.
I had one of these and had to let it go in 1978, as i moved across the country and it was too big for me to fit in my car. I haven't been the same since. I played this synth more than any other synth I've had since maybe. sigh.... anyway - Great Throwback video Dave. really loved the jam at the end, that's how I remember this thing. U did it right. Well done mate.
My heart is breaking! I bought a slightly used KORG 800-DV in beautiful condition back in 1980, still in my teen years. I traded a brand new drum kit I had just purchased for this amazing synth AND A BRAND NEW VOX JAGUAR ORGAN! I LOVED this MAXI-KORG! (That's what it said on the badge)! AND THEN - instead of staying the keyboardist, I played drums a hell of a lot better than the drummers we had when I was playing keyboards. So, this beautiful, clean and dirty, amazingly EXPRESSIVE SYNTHESIZER is somewhere out there, hopefully in someone's capable hands! Please take care of this beautiful analog, 2 oscillator synth! It's capable of monstrous sounds that you will likely need to sample, because this synth was designed MANY YEARS BEFORE midi, and there is NO SUCH THING as Onboard Memory! I loved this synth!!!!
If you guys at GForce have a Yamaha CS80 can you please review it? There isn't a really "proper" review out there and you guys are the best at awesome reviews!
The whole approach seems so alien from a modern perspective - and yet, it works so well! Very interesting... I had forgotten these things existed, I'm sad to say. Oh, and that catalogue! I remember clothes like that, haha!
Haha bloody hell Littlewoods. I think my mother still uses that catalogue. Anyway i think i rememmber watching a Vince Clarke interview where he mentions buying his first synth from a catalogue or was it Adrian Utley from Portishead ?. Great insight into a quite overlooked range of korg synths.
If you want to hear the 800dv at its best just listen to any HOT R.S track, Delta Queen or House of the rising sun featured the 800dv and poly ensemble together. Also that outro track is amazing
thank you SO much for properly demonstrating the use of this synth - it's really answered a lot of my questions regarding its sounds and functionality! bravo!!!
Great demo Dave and I can understand why you are fond of it, it has a lovely sound which I have not heard before. Fabulous demo piece at the end which really brings out its sweet musical tones. Peachy ;-)
Wooow, what a beast!! I wish i had the extra money to purchase one!! I have the Kawai 100f that reminds me of the Maxikorg. That tune at the end Rocksss Ass 🍻❤️
As ever, a wonderfully informative and entertaining overview. Edutainment at its finest! The only problem being, you will have just sent the second hand prices through the roof. ;)
I have had one of these for 27 years, and I have got to say, that is the BEST demo I have ever seen on it. Not only did you very simply explain a seriously complex synth (it looks are deceiving) but you really showed a nice range of it's sonic and control capabilities.
Stephen Cain ...and mine had the slider nubs on the Traveler snapped off when I bought it, while I don't recommend actually doing that, try taking them off and see what it does, it makes it just that more other worldly.
Stephen Cain One last note. The Electribe EA1 MKII analog modelling rhythm synth with a midi controller can be used to emulate the 800DV to a point when played side by side, it is nearly impossible to distinguish the two, it's really flippin' cool.
Stephen Cain You should really check out what can be done using the Effect inset lines on the back panel, each part can have a different effect inserted inline with the signal.
This one is an institution. And the filter / travel slider DOES have a very bold creamy but aggressive drive too! Two synths in one true duo phonic! Great soothing gate in your voice brother! Peace! Christo 🎶🎶🎶👏🏻👏🏻✌🏻🕺👽🐕🐕👍🏻🙏🛸
I'll never forget my first. . . .loved it and did a lot with it. Favorite trick: leave the vibrato on and use the sliders in real time to bring it in and out. Problem was the oscillator drift - it got so bad that I got rid of it and got a new Yamaha CS15. The music store had a similarly priced used Minimoog, but I went with the new Yamaha in hopes that the oscillators would be more stable. The Yamaha sound was closer to the Korg - didn't get in your face like a Moog, but very usable sounds. It served me well for years, and I regret letting the Yamaha go back when mono synths were not as useful as poly synths for 80's musicians on a budget.
I have recently had an adapter commissioned allowing a regular 1/4" TR or TRS cable expression pedal to be used in place of the nearly impossible to find, 5 pin DIN FK-4 expression pedal it originally used. Not only did it make finding controls to use actually affordable, but if you've ever tried to find even 1 FK-4, you'll know it can take several years to even find one for sale. An unintended consequence of this adapter is, I now have CV/Gate control over the Traveler VCF Filter, it can oscillate On/Off using Gate or run through a series of CutOff ranges using CV.
Hey, just passing through. Wanted to recommend a Japanese jazz/funk oriented album whose synthesizer part was entirely composed with this generation of Korg keyboard. The name of this album is Electro Keyboard Orchestra released in 75'. Really interesting sound ! Oh and killer outro by the way !!
That simple but exotic feature on the rightmost panel to be able to cut between different sounds really brings out some unique creativity. I'm thinking somewhat of the chiptune trend of alternating between different waveforms, either in a "trill" between different timbres, or flicking from one sound for an attack to another for the body. It's really cool and would be great to have in VST form. HINT HINT!
Wow Dave, your 800DV looks like it was unboxed 6 months ago when the truth is it's nearly half a century old! I wonder how many budget modern day equivalents will still be looking (and sounding) that good in 50 years? Great demonstration and really enjoyed the play-out theme.
Yours is in good shape. Mine had plenty of exposure on the road and in studios but I've kept it in pretty good shape. It's missing a colored top on one of the knobs. Another one I acquired for nothing from a friend who knew I would care for it has quit working on the upper oscillator, so it's now a Minikorg, but it otherwise works fine. Getting it fixed terrifies me though. Congrats on having one in such good condition.
Great video.. I want you to know your demo on the 8-voice inspired me to pick up a Vermona Perfourmer MKII and it just came in the mail today. I may forget to sleep.
I actually have in my possession, a fairly pristine Owner's Manual for this synth, with the 20 preset charts in the centrefold. It's missing the original 70s staples, but they would probably have rusted into oblivion by now.
I love pre-1983 Korg synths, and this is one of the best, one of those instruments that involuntarily brings a smile to your face when playing with it. Repeat Mode's D & E are great fun, if you have each synth panned left and right in your mixer, via the separate outputs, and each synth has an effects loop for external processing duties. I would love to have seen the experimental '6 Voice' Korg, with six 700 synths built in (picture on my Yahoo Groups site: groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/korgkornucopia/info or on my main site: www.korganalogue.net/) A keeper, definitely.
I paid mine a 100$ CDN 30 years ago. And I will never sell it. If you want inspiration that is the beats for you. This freakin synth can get you the sound of a Mellotron or a singing choir, etc, and it was the secret weapon of Vangelis and Kitaro on a lot of their albums. One day I will make a video of some of my preset, and seriously I have never heard something growling so deep than that synth. Even a B3 doesn't growl like that.
wicked synth! i love my old ms20's HP and LP knobs next to each other, with one hand you can play the shiz out of it. i'd probably cut those governors off! great demo and that sound around 17mins is bitchin. no wonder its the most played part of the vid.
Hi there! This might be a longshot, but I've had this beauty pass down to me very recently from my dad. It seems to still work, but me and the band could not figure it out yet and it is definitely not in the same shape as yours. Is there anyone out here that has good knowledge of repairmen/synthesizer enthousiasts I could take it to to get it back in good shape? Next to that, I would love to keep it in good shape and was wondering if there is any way to purchase a good case for this, or would it be necessary to make one? I'd love to hear from anyone who has more knowledge of this gorgeous instrument than I do! - Melody
I have one of those, but after a few minutes switched on, the 2nd voice plays the same note on each key. I was told it might be something to do with replacing capacitors. I've tried contacting multiple local synth repair places (London UK), but none got back in touch with me. So frustrating! I really would love it to work as it should.
Back in 1984 I found one used un a shop, very instrutive to use, but funnily, nonother synth have its knobs and voice acheteture layout. This synth easily do some thrick that are hard to do with other, and you could have hard time copying a sound because of some laps laking in the envellope switching mode (they dont completely overlap the range with three positions availaibles. Somewhere in 1999, i decide i will never sell it and modify it heavyly by adding cv and gate to vca, vcf and envellope trigger. Haaa stuff made in the 70’s....you open the cab....solder wire anywhere.....and it works.....
This seems like a really sophomoric effort on behalf of Korg to just jam two Mini Korg 700s into one machine. Why couldn't they have employed an option for switching both voices to go into the same filter, then run that into the second filter? Or combine the two voices into both filters in parallel for Stereo?
The repeat and glide sections make me wonder if this was used in Gorillaz' "Glitter Freeze". Some of the patches in here sound straight out of the song.
