Very Nice video, TF - I was part of the original voicing team behind the Korg O1W series (I made/edited all of the drum samples, made all the drum patches and tons of Patches and Combinations) It was one of our favorite synths to voice (this synth was developed before the internet really blew up so we did multiple trips to Japan to meet in little rooms in Tokyo to vote and or at times fight between the 8 of us to get our patches in the machine - now there are no flights and it's all spreadsheet based voting which is not the same.) The Waveshaper as you show does cool things to synth sounds but it also does MAGICAL things to acoustic instrument samples. If you look at all the factory patches, we used waveshaping to add missing harmonics in the samples based on how hard you hit the keys - this is something samples alone can't generate and made acoustic instruments have added life in the O1W. It's surprising future synths/samplers have not incorporated these abilities in today's instruments. Anyway, keep making cool videos like this.
Always said one of the things these boxes and what came before them i.e. M1 which make them the classics they are is the voicing, even though it's old this thing is still making relevant music today and is so flexible by not being over processed or having too much of a baked in sound. Out of interest how were the samples created and edited? Did you use something like Jupiter Systems Infinity (Later Antares) for looping the waveforms or something similar?
C22 FreeFlight - I remember that sound like it was yesterday. Listened to it while I played the Korg in the store back then. That exact sound made me fall in love with synths. That's the one! Still catches my attention, 30 years or so later.
A lot of pads and atmospheric voices used in 90's jungle, it's incredible to see the synths it comes from. I've always wondered where they got them sounds from. Some are layered with fx. But I was intrigued to know where they came from and if they were original presets. Amazing time's it takes me back! 🫡
It's also crazy that it's 32 kHz, but sounds so crisp full warm and fat. And many of its patches like FreshAir, DynoPiano, Ampheralds, are still irreplaceable
Many synths of that era were like that. For example, many Ensoniq synths, except ASR10, MR, ZR, Fizmo and ASR-X (EPS16+ had switchable sample rate up to ~70KHz, but with very low polyphony), Roland JV line is another example.
@@aaronhendrickson2793 That is true, but this is digital sampling - in PCM you need at least twice of max frequency you want to be able to reproduce (Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem). So at 32KHz max frequency that is 16KHz. And usually untrained people loss 1KHz at the top every 10 years of life. So for average 40 years person 16KHz would be good enough 🙂. But there are so many variables (anti-aliasing used etc.)…
Funnily enough I always associate that sound with not a jungle dnb tune but , Krayzie Bones - Thug Mentality on the intro. The sound has that M1 Lore/ Universe status. I'm sure it's everrrrywhere.
@@Thought-Forms yes will be searching for the rackmount, although not available on Reverb rn. Might have to settle for a full size. Is there a big difference between the two?
I got a 61-key version (FD) about 5 years ago, I totally love some sounds it creates, including the first sound in this video, before the "sound demos" start ("C22 FreeFlight").
I had an 01/W at that time. It was deeply nostalgic to listen to the old patches and combis in your video. Some of those are purely magical. Now I want to locate a good VST of this classic synth!
C22 FreeFlight patch obsesses me since 1492 / 1992 !! I already have a 990 and search for a 01 now. They’re both as good, for different reasons : I think the 990 gives the bottom, « the earth », and the 01W gives the brighteness, « the air » ! I nearly found a 01/Wfd and a rack, but have to choose and hesitate ! Thx for the video
Agree with that statement! Both would sounds great layered up. Always found Roland's to be a bit more subdued / grounded in reality, where the Korg is much more whimsical / airy. Both are fantastic!!
I love my 01/w, I have two; an 01/wFD that I got "just to own it" and an 01R/W which helped me integrate it into my rack easier, both have gotten me that fantastic iconic 90s cheesy KORG sound, although I think it's a different kind of cheesy KORG sound compared to something like the M1, or WAVESTATION. Still, great synth, and great display of patches and combis here!
Great to look back on, i always wanted one of these back in the day but was way out of my price ranges. Love that free flight preset, heard it so many times on tracks, absolutely love it :-)
Nice demo and explanation of the 01/W T-F. I used to have the M1R and M3 and had/have the Wavestation keyboard and now just own the module. I never realized how good this sounded until seeing your video. FYI, if you look at Urs' Zerbralette and Zebra VSTs, he implemented something like this with more modulation abilities. Each osciillator can have up to two things termed Osc FX from a selection of 26, including using the same one twice, in series which can be modulated by any modulator the synths have.
I really wish Korg adds this to their Legacy Collection. I've had a few 01/W in my studio over the years, and it's one synth that I'm often missing when I've sold it.
I bought an NX5R back in the day, I was really wanting to by this. The NX5R can do some of this but it is buried so far that it took me a decade to finally find it. Nice rack by the way.
Blast from the past. Cool underrated synth. Kudos for showing Dark City, such a gem of a film. Watch the director's cut if you can, you'll thank me later ;)
0:19 that sounds familiar! Altered States sampled that! That's bad ass that it originally came from the Korg 01/w. I've been searching for some of the original sounds from Shadow Man for forever!
A fantastic synth. The wave shaper really is a hidden gem. I've used my O1/WFD as my main MIDI controller for awhile now. Great feeling key bed with aftertouch. I always prefer 80s / 90s era MIDI keyboards over the new stuff, it's all just so flimsy to play on.
I have a JD990…I think it may be very similar or at least somewhere around the same level judging by the presets and non presets here. It has the same soundshaping capabilities it seems. Probably cant go wrong with either 😅
Used extensively by Ron Wells aka Jack Smooth and Fast Floor on Basement Records, Sound Entity, Smooth Recordings and coupious other hits he made in Jungle Techno and his Jazzy early D&B. He is still using it in his most recent productions. Waveshaping on this unit is still quite unique to this day. Ron's trademark sounds are nearly all made on the Korg 01 using Waveshaping. His sounds inspired me so much I had to get one to learn how to do Waveshaping for those excellent harmonic distortions Tek Stab sounds! Here is my rack version making a Tek Stab in one of my Jungle Techno productions! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mcmcncYuftI.htmlsi=Bqcy3oeTGitoJhR7 Lovely video mate
I got to use one when they first came out. I was in awe at how realistic the sounds were, however the lack of a resonant filter was a serious buzz kill. I went with a Kawai K4 instead because i got a very good deal on it, but would have gone with a JV80/ JV1080 tbh had i the extra funds
Good perspective on the 01/W. I skipped out on this synth for some reason. I have experience with the M1, and Trinity but I never got into the 01/W. I liked the Trinity with the Z1 option. You could do 4 voices of physically modeled sounds. The actual Z1 was even better. I don't think there's a synth that sounds anything quite like the Z1 It's funny how a lot of early 90s synth were trying to do this waveshaping thing. It sounds neat. Great comparison to a tube amp. I'd go a little further and say maybe like a convolution reverb in how they can run an amp cab IR, only instead of using room or cab IRs, use whatever wave your snippet of any sound to effect the original sound. I do this a lot with REVerence in Cubase. I might have to explore an 01/w. Funny how upside down it's an M/10
Ensoniq was outstanding. VFX is a great sounding synth. Had a TS-10 for a little bit and was stunned by the quality (both build and sound...that effects engine...wow) The Arturia SQ-80 is pretty solid emulation of the Ensoniq hardware
I have been gigging with a ProX for decades. Smaller gigs I will bring my 76 key Pro. Also have an 01R/W in the studio. I have my original bought new ProX for parts.
Lazer Worshippers - Free Flight ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ac8GvgxtRfg.htmlsi=K33vBEyY-58CkIdJ you can hear Free Flight in this.. I always thought this bit was intricately pre-programmed...Had no idea this was a preset..lol. Great vid, thanks
I have one of these and began working with the 01/W-series (mainly on the 01/W Pro 76-key instrument) immediately upon their release (I worked in sales at a S.F. Bay Area dealer who carried just about every synth line). This series was the workhorse for music writing I was doing at the time… I still have this rack piece along with my (2) JD-990s, and Wavestation A/D from this era. I feel it necessary to say though I find it a little odd you positioning this piece as the follow-up to the M1… which it absolutely isn't. The Korg T-series instruments were the follow-up to the M1… I sold a good number of T-series. Personally the T-series is the generation I skipped and found the 01/W-series to be where it got interesting again. Like you I have a Triton Rack w/ MOSS & Vintage Archives boards installed… I also have the TR-Rack and OASYS 76 & Kronos 73 workstations.
Good Question. Everyone will have a strong opinion / point of view on this. Though I do think it's hilarious to me that its such a polarizing topic. From my perspective: 1) sonic quality - hardware tends to sound better 2) features. not all vst emulations of old gear have every feature integrated. example would be the Triton VST missing the ability to use custom samples in programs, something very important to me 3) when no VST equivalents exist. for example: there is no 01/W VST 4) kind of back to sonic quality...folks with outboard based setups (down to an analog mixer, fx units, etc...), you will achieve a sound not possible on computers
@@Thought-Forms Thanks for the answer! I wonder what makes the hardware sound better, since they are digital as well. Maybe some algorithms are trade secrets, so the best that plug-in programmers can do is estimate?
Sadly missing the point. Vital is free, sounds better in many ways that any synth currently available up to about £1000… maybe more. When this was released, it was unique. Spawned genres, spawned recognisable tracks and nostalgia for us older folk. Modern day synths actually struggle to sound anything like this due to the aliasing, low quality sound sources, yet lovely filters and unique workarounds from the developers. It may not be for you, probably isn’t based on your comment. Which is totally valid and correct.
@@ikarugamoo No i get it and there are tons of old synths still saught after dunno if this one of them i personaly rather have a emu emulator that makes simular sounds to this and more, but even for ambient sounds these wouldnt be much use today imo.
@@915BossI agree there’s not much use today without a track sounding very 90s. Almost a tribute to so many big names like Enigma, stacks of jungle / d&b, Global Comms etc. but there is something about the motion in the sounds if you move away from the obvious. Same with the Triton, that motion in lower quality oscillators & samples is so much more unique than what’s achievable on a Hydrasynth, Vital, Peak, Pigments etc. and I think has its place.
It makes sounds no VST I've heard can match, it's all in the waveshaping engine. Stock sounds yes, but dive into that waveshaping engine and it beats the hell out of plenty of current market leaders.
A friend of mine bought the Korg 01/W when it came out. We both had an Amiga and liked Vangelis and Jarre. That one patch Vangelis used still comes to mind. We visited several Jarre concerts as well. Unfortunately my friend died of cancer early June 2018, just short of turning 50 years old. He still had his 01/W but it was lost when his family cleaned up his house and belongings. At that time in 2018 I started buying synthesizers as well and have been enjoying the hobby since. My synthesizers are technically superior, but I still remember my friend often when playing and I remember his Korg 01/W with fondness. Cheers
Im sorry to here you lost your friend which mirrors my own experience. I lost my best friend a week before my 50th and several months before he would have celebrated his.
I've been begging them in email requests to add this/N1 and the Trinity/TR-Rack to their VST lineup. Those are my favorite synths and Korg won't have their legacy lineup complete without them. I REALLY hope it happens soon!
When Collection 5 announced the other day I was so hoping that this and Trinity would be included, but nope. Oh well, at least it has a Continental organ and an ARP 2600.
I've an interesting little story, though I've no proof. In the 90's I phoned a Cheshire UK music shop (pre internet) called Aaron sound after spotting a music mag ad for a Korg 01rw. The guy on the end of the phone said the last person who owned it was none other than Gary Barlow of Take That!
I love that the Korg 01/W was, like you said, an M1 on steroids, but that waveshaping basically makes it a Wavestation and M1 all in one which is spectacular. Korg has soft synths of the Wavestation and M1 yet nothing for the 01/W which is seriously a crime. Korg, PLEASE make this into a VST!
The wavetables don't exist in any other Korg synth but the O1W. The Wavesequencing of the Wavestation is altogether different (it's a sequence list of waveforms you can set up that cycles from one to the next while waveshaping is a form of distortion). I'd love to see Korg release a software version of the O1W but I'm not sure they can - the wavetables in the O1W were created in a special way that I don't think is transferable to software outside of the special hardware they used to do the wavetables. I really hope I'm wrong and that it does appear someday.
it's an awesome synth, such a great and diverse sound set and excellent sounding effects. i'm working on an editor for it right now, it should work with the rack version too.
01/W is cool, I have one! Well... Korg's definitely had a "JD-990" counterpart and it's called Wavestation A/D :) and that thing is DEEP! And let's throw Yamaha TG-77 in and we have the holy trinity (JD990, A/D, TG77). Another Korg gems: X5DR and N1-R. I bought most of them back in the mid 00's when they would set you back maybe a little more than the shipping itself, most expensive was 990 with Vintage card, 300 notes. Not that I don't like plugins, but these ROM-plers sounded spectacular per invested $$$, so I bought them all. Hey, I am a simple man.
Hey Don - thanks for the comment! Wavestation A/D is something else indeed....part of me regrets selling mine. That would be a solid trinity of synths to do some damage with. You got in a great time on that lot. X5DR is a beast in that little half rack. Out of all of those, I think the N1R gets talked about the least. I don't think many people know it event exists LOL. Almost a "best of AI2" box. Thanks again for the comment - hope to see some more JD-990 sound sets from you
Have to agree with you . I just need to add a wavestation to my arsenal. I love blending individual notes from these romplers to make a new unique pad,/sound , may be laborious but very worth it.
7:56 Thanks for the wonderful demo! I like mid 80s to early 90s digital synths! I have questions. 1. I wonder which you and others like better, Korg M1 or O1/W. Strictly sound-wise. Of course I understand it's subjective and it is not a which is better question. 2. Does the latter have those important patches that made M1 so successful? 3. Do these Korg workstations lack a 'pattern' based sequencer? If that's the case, does one have to record each 'whole' track in one go? 4. How do you guys feel about the lack of resonant filters? Do M1/O1W offer alternatives? 5. JD-990's sonic power is well known. What are the things O1W can do but JD cannot, vice versa? 6. O1W vs. TRINITY or Later Triton? Thanks in advance!
Thank you! 1- 01/W is my preference because it has waveshaping + a much better and bigger UI. Programming sounds on it is easier. It sounds very similar to the M1 which is a plus, so you get the M1 essence, and the expansion card "Best of M&T" adds M1 waveforms to the 01W 2- Pretty much all new patches in the 01/W (There may be a few overlaps, but not certain.) There is a PCM/Performance data expansion card for the 01/W called "Best of M&T" that adds 36 M1 waveforms to the 01/w 3- I've never used the sequencer on the 01R/w to be honest, but my understanding is that it can record midi patterns on a track by track basis. Can real-time record or step record 4- I dont mind the lack of resonance filters on the 01w. You can use waveshaping to simulate a similar sound, or just process the sound with a 3rd party filter. But if I'm going for heavy resonant sounds I typically use the Korg Trinity / Triton anyways LOL 5- I have a JD-990 but havent dove super deep into it. One big difference im aware of is JD-990s equivalent of a Korg program can layer up to 4 sounds, where as the 01w is just 2 sounds in a PROGRAM. Waveshaping in the 01w is another big difference. Not too sure what else 6- Trinity. It's a great mix between early Korg sound (M1/01W) and later Korg sound (Triton,Z1) - super crisp & spaced out sound. the filters are incredible
I used to have the 01Wfd back in 93, but back then i was 18 and didnt delve into the synths sound engine, i'd love to get another one, but will have to be the rack version as I don't have any more room in my studio for more key'd synths! So may have to scour the internet for the rack
One of my biggest regrets was selling my 01/Wfd. That thing was awesome, but I got the "grass is greener" mentality after a few years and thought it was outdated. What an idiot I was! Very good demo of some of the best sounds on the unit!
I always think that Roland is super overrated. They have good synths, it's a fact. But i think that Korg, Novation, Yamaha, Akai, Oberheim and another companies always delivered and contributed more in terms of pushing the boundaries of sound design. They push you like: don't be a preset user, making your own stuff and experiment with the powerful tools that we put on these products. Roland is like: “We have those amazing pre-owned sounds, just use it a lot to exhaustion.” Korg is more about: “Bro, we have those amazing stuff and a lot of cool elements, use those base sounds and have fun experimenting with them.”
Agree! Roland has great synths, that is no doubt. The JV-1080 is a classic, the JD-990 is of incredible high quality, the JP-8080 shaped a genre. Korg just did it better during this time - in my opinion. You can coax some incredible sounds out of all their synths. In a perfect world, having both on hand is a solid win. Cheers mate
Love your videos, man. Hope to see in depth Ex5 FSDp engine overview. It was one of my fav synth experiences ive had , many hours lost in the depths of it.
I had one of these back then. To this day I haven't had as much enjoyment doing multi track music with anything else. I even have a Kronos and it just isn't the sam even the sounds are better.
I also have the Wavestation A/D. My fav synth, I bought the original new way back when. Not sure how the 01/W compares - unlike M1, no VST, though some of these sounds are familiar. Makes sense, they came out in the same year.
Very glad I picked up mine for a reasonable price. Pads aside, we need another vid showing off the EXCELLENT rave stab/ punchy fx sounds you can get out of these things.
dan silk in the comments has some videos showing off those jungle techno stabs! the waveshaper really helps you get some bite on the attack. cheers mate!
About that sample frequency of 31.25kHz the ROM at 7:00, wasn't the big thing of the JD-990 the 44.1kHz sample frequency? So could korg warmth really be equal to shiny JD? Or is it the DACS of the JD that was superior on the JD over for example the JVs?
So what _is_ wave shaping and how _exactly_ does it work? Some samples here sound suspiciously like FM synthesis, and the diagram from the manual does not exactly explain it either.
I love when you go into the technical implementation details like here with unusual waveshaper. Or just like in the video showcasing the effect of random resonant filter on the Korg's ambient pad patches.
I purchased my 01W/FD back in 1992. Years later, as I was young and with no money, I sold it to buy some new gear. One of my biggest regrets. Just recently I purchased a 01W/R in top conditions (it’s basically new) for a very low price. Just replaced the internal battery and sent it to my trusted technician for replacing the original screen with a backlit one. Can’t wait to start working with it! ❤️
We've all been there! Rad to hear you got one again, and in mint condition at that. With the new battery, screen, and once over from the technician that thing is ready for many more years of sound creation. Enjoy!
Excellent video, and thank you for giving the 01R/W and 01/W series the love it deserves, i got mine in February, looking in absolute mint condition, a newly placed classic color LCD screen and 2 card sets for a real bargain price. I only had to drive back and forth to the north of the Netherlands and back to the south, but it was worth the trip! Thanks again!
That one is a custom prog I made. Double mode, 129: PWM on both oscillators, L=40 on both, Octave = 16 on both, 2nd Osc detuned -2. Filter Cutoff around 30 on both with no env, VDMG set to triangle with freq of 50 on both oscillators. FX1 22: XOver Chorus, FX2 38 Chorus-Delay
