The Korg Karma is the best-looking synth I've ever seen, and that makes a big psychological difference when you play it. Even though many of its patches are sounding dated, you can't help noticing how much you're smiling as you play it.
I got my hands on one of these from a friend who passed away, with all of his floppy disks and the manuals. Ive only used it as a midi keyboard, but this is making me want to plug in some big speakers! Edit he was a fantastic and prolific writer. Before he died, a few of us finished off his "last album" from the Karma, with a little studio polish and a range of vocalists (he wasnt a singer) and we had a little launch party in his hospital room. He died about three weeks later. It was sad, but he was surrounded by people who loved him. And he took great joy in handing out his instruments to his mates, myself obviously included. He also gave me his 303.
First introduced in 2001, I know, but does anyone know when they stopped manufacturing the Korg Karma? What was the cut-off year for getting a brand new one from the factory?
@@subwaygaragemusicmicro x basically the x50. 64 gigs of ram. TR, x50 and I’m guessing micro x share the same ram, which is 32 more of the original triton/triton le because that’s really what the TR and x50 are. Micro X got some LE characteristics such as the category search styles and audition buttons. TR and x50 operates just like Triton le.
From 1:15 ? reminded me of Jon Anderson, sort of 'Olias of Sunhillow' or with Vangelis added maybe. Some beautiful soundtrack ideas no doubt could be inspired from it. Not so sure if the dance side was thought out, the name Karma invokes a calmer, laid back feel and purpose.
I've had a couple of synths fall through my fingers, but the one that will stay is the red beast!!! awesome, and to make things worse, the piano sound was the first i recreated on the korg M3 and then the Korg Kronos...... yeah bit of a Korg fanboy apparently. Great video!!!
I think (and I could be wrong) that the only way is to download the original disk software from Korg. So you'll need a USB disk drive so you can port that data across to the Karma.
Check the karma mw software from karma labs. If you can access the factory sounds, then download them with the Software to the karma. No need for discs and has tons of features
Unfortunately the Karma is quite a rare find these days. Thanks to the extensive manual it's fairly easy to map controls of sounds and rhythm to sound similar.
Anyone have any idea how to pull up favorites when playing live? Just save everything to the C bank and hope you can find it? Idk. Not easy to find stuff in the middle of a session.
@@fairweatherfriends. You can add the EXB boards to get more sounds - easy enough - but updating the Karma and installing the software to run the boards is a confusing nightmare. Seems so over-complicated and of course working with the 3.5" disks makes it harder. But for those who rally love the Karma personality, it's worth it.
@@gearfacts I was fortunate when I got mine, mine is a Version 2 already loaded and came with all the necessary disks to re-install should there be an issue. I bought the Moss board and installed that underneath it and it’s the dogs doo dahs. I always felt the moss board never got the recognition it deserves and especially with Karma??? Maybe it’s just me I don’t know. Look forward to next vid my friend 😀👍
Your robotic personification of Karma in your narration is perfect! Karma has always been a bit of a strange bird to me. To delegate to algorithms what should be improvisation by the player just doesn't work for me. I find the results interesting but not particularly musical. But for anyone who likes the ROM sounds in this keyboard, it could be a good buy - the HI synthesis and effects of a Triton - plus Karma to boot.
