I alas, no longer own any vintage synths and at the time was young and didn't appreciate them. After all, the digital gear I had could produce so many more voices and on multiple channels. I was young and hadn't developed taste.. When I recently began building out a studio, I remember plugging in my first new analogue synth (a behringer model d) and just being blown away at the presence it had... I know the older ones where less corners were cut and the boards weren't so simplified have even more character but as a pleb, I am more than happy there is new analogue gear produced with fairly decent midi support and not requiring constant servicing
Yessss! I cut my synthesizer teeth on this instrument back in the mid 80’s! It’s a beastly and heavy board to lug around in the back of a Chevy Chevette…
My dad used to gig with one of these. I would regularly lug a Trident, Rhodes 73 Suitcase and an ARP Axxe. Did my back in once moving the Trident on and off the Rhodes - was on painkillers (and my back) for a week afterwards. But, it was built like an absolute tank!
Oh studio tour, studio tour! Sorry, that song is stuck in my head. Great vid as always. Quite an interesting synth, until now I didn't know jack about them. It's odd how some synths go under that radar like that. I think the Summit might be one of those synths over time.
Wonderful. First demo I watch from someone who REALLY gets how to use the Trident. However the "bowing" effekt on the strings on your Trident is broken. It uses some bandpass:ish swept filtering to do a pretty cool paraphonic and very unrealistic bowing effect. I still use the first Trident imported to my country all over every song. Originally controlled from KPR-77/Ms-20 envelope 2 and S&H and later from DAW->Kenton Midi/CV boxes. "Ultravox-Triggering" but with some envelope from Ms-20.
Great Vid as always, but I always felt that your ability as a keyboard player and musician is what really sets you apart from other RU-vidrs rather than just the gear reviews themselves.
Nah there are plenty of great keyboard players and musicians in the YT (and the ilk) synth/electronic music ecosystem. What makes this channel apecial is he isn't trying to sell us cheap new kit he got for free, but rather, is actually using his mostly-old gear for fun and profit. Unlike 99% of YT gear reviewers and social media "influencers" he does this for the joy and lolz not the money. Because hes making a living doing what he loves not trying to slang us synth carbs.
1982. Hamburg. Steinway&Sons had their own store in the city, selling not only their pianos but all kinds of instruments. And they had a „Synthesizer Studio“ that opened at 14:00. It was like a church. And boy, did I go there to pray. They got a Trident, which I loved, and everything MS by Korg. But also a Jupiter 8, Yamaha CS-70m, Kawai and Teisco stuff. I never forgave my parents for not being rich.
@@kadiummusic When we did the PS-3300, we had the same reaction as Alex... "How would this ever be useful?!?," but we did replicate it exactly. :) And to answer your question, we had full access to the PS-3300 at EMEAPP in Philadelphia.
I had an opportunity to buy a Trident in the early 80s at a really reasonable price (for a poor teenage busboy). What did I do, you ask? What anyone in their right mind in the early 80s would have done. I bought a Fiat X19 convertible.
Trident! Get in! One synth I wish I’d kept! Your demos demonstrate just what a powerhouse these beasts were! I did my one and only album with an M1, mk1 Rhodes 88, ARP Axxe and a mk1 Trident - worked well.
It sounds so very 1980. It's Buck Rogers. It's mid-season CHiPs, it's Dr David Banner. It's Multi-coloured Swap Swap. It's Take Hart. It's Morph, It's Jim'll.........Okay you get the picture :)
Behringer needs to clone this. A trident with Eurorack compatible expression inputs and MID; n the standard Behringer desktop synth format, would be awesome.
The Trident is featured quite prominently on the KINKS 1983 album: State of Confusion. Especially on: Come Dancing. And on their next album: Word of Mouth(1984) Do it Again, & the Sopranos soundtrack song: Livin' on a Thin Line are also excellent examples of how good this synth is. All these songs are on RU-vid for your reference.🙂
@Robin - Yeah I couldn't believe it when Alex was saying this synth hadn't been very popular among well-known bands, as its sounds seem so familiar to me, reminding me of songs like 'Mr Roboto' by Styx 😀
I had owned a Trident MK 2 and it is one of these synths I'll miss for the rest of my life. Yet I was doing more soldering than playing and at one point I gave up on it.
Stunning video and super helpful, thanks for doing it. I had the opportunity to buy one of these or buy a Prophet 10. I went Prophet 10 and am happy I did. That Silence Note trigger select baffles me - I was hoping you could demo it to show how its useful. Also - I maintain that the Yamaha SK-30 is by far a more interesting. Guessing no one will agree with me - but the fact that it has a monosynth engine that you can bring in and out with aftertouch, it has a paraphonic synth section, a 'string section', and an organ section. It's equally beautiful, although no patches (I think the Trident allows you to save patches, but I think you cannot edit patches once they're saved?). The Trident does sound gorgeous, but as a pure synthesizer, I just think I'd get bored of it without having any modulation capacity (no FM, AM, Crossmod, etc). I love that you actually talk about this at around 11:00, hahahaha, I just got there. BUT - the Yamaha SK-30 ALSO has some of these same features too, albeit, I think it's only for the monosynth engine. Admittedly, I really like what you did with those modulations though. That's some great stuff you did towards the end. And to be clear, anything below the SK30 (SK15, SK20) lack the monosynth engine, and anything above (SK50) is too big. You CAN modify the SK30 and I think it allows some more things like what you're doing. Just, if we're talking the device with no rear-jack modulation... I think the SK30 is better. Sigh... I dunno. Maybe I'm just making myself feel better for getting one over the other. I once sat in front of a Trident and it kind of did nothing for me - but again, it's easy to talk oneself out of a synth. I don't think you touch on the topic of presets, but that is, I figure, awkward on this thing. I hope some day you can pick up an SK-30. I just posted a video the other day (Yamaha SK30 soundscape - Dead soul mourning) which shows how that monosynth can really add to a performance. Again, love your videos because they're really in-depth, funny, and interesting. Appreciate your stuff.
Using the Full Bucket Tricent plugin is probably as close I'll ever get to the Korg Trident, unless Behringer puts it on their list of clones. Come on Behringer! People want this!
This is the one synth I've been hoping Behringer would clone. I use the Full Bucket Tricent plugin but I really am hoping for a hardware clone! Come on Behringer!!!!!
That 'Silence Note' makes completely sense to me. I actually wonder why I haven't seen it on any other organ or performance/arranger keyboards. I could imagine a lot of situations where you play a melody with single notes and then suddenly you harmonise which makes a brass section join in.
The leaking battery issue affects the Trident Mk 1 as well, as it also has a Ni-Cad battery for preset memory. And it *will* leak all over the innards if not replaced. I have a Trident Mk1 that had the battery leak on the voice board. It was mostly fixed when I got the instrument, but there were still missing footages on some voices due to corroded tracks on the PCB.
Is it not placed in a less fatal place? I'll have to double check, but I was told that the Mark I can still obviously have a leak but just nowhere near as bad. Doesn't sound like it after your experience!
That it does - just managed to rescue mine - there used to be a synth tech (next door to Musical Exchanges in Brum for those who remember), who managed to change it for me in the nick of time.
My first synth when I was 14 in 1981 was a Korg 700S that I bought off a nice old guy on my paper round. Seeing it accompanying the Trident in the intro brought a tear to my eye. Really regret selling it in the late 80’s. Tempted to buy one now even at the astronomical prices today. I remember the Trident in E&MM a magazine at the time (Electronics and Music Maker)
They did some mad monos in the 70s. The 700S is such a quirky chap, especially when that top section is engaged. This one is modded with midi, which is neat.
I love the 700S. Imagine if they made a sequel of it, around the same time as the Trident. With polyphony and probably some odd and wonderful features. Korg were really interesting in that aspect. They tried a lot of things, -and the company survived it. (Even though the experimental time is unfortunately over.)
@@VarionJimmy It's so cool, isn't it? Never had one (as you'd expect, heh), but I love what I've seen/ heard. Those raw, buzzy, warm '70s (well, and early '80s, but ykwim) monosynths, man. Studio Electronics was going to put out a model of Boomstar with a filter based on the 700/s - not sure if they ever did. Unfortunately, I don't think so. Speaking of which, the Boomstars are such awesome modern monos. Never had one of them, either, but I've wanted one since around the time they came out, heh.
This instrument along with the Lamda, Delta, and MS series monophonic synths was what I sold new out of the NYC 48th street store I worked at back in the day. Though I was very good at interfacing instruments and programmings sounds, I just wasn’t a good enough player to be hired as a product specialist for Korg which I very much wanted. Only ended up selling one before the Poly6 came along and most sales went that direction. I did end up owning both a Delta and a Lamda for a short time before I sold everything to purchase a Jupiter 6 and a MSQ Midi sequencer.
The outro jam was like EBM John Carpenter, so sick. I’m a huge fan of stringers and this one is the best of both worlds (the other world being legit poly synths).
Yeah, the Omni was built for a purpose and with a market in mind, which it did perfectly, but it was basic. The Trident even outdoes the Quadra I think.
Brilliant! As ever, but possibly more so. Firstly, thankyou for transporting me yet again to my warm fuzzy rose-tinted happy place (early/mid 70s-early 80s). Secondly, and why this particular video leaps out at me, the section on figuring out/creatively exploiting what the designers implemented (the interfacing) was a huge eye (ear??) opener. I’ve never read a review (I’m old enough to remember “Keyfax”…) or seen a demo that illustrates this so effectively. I would have liked a quick blast of the (mythical?) piano presets though 😉 Entertaining, instructive, very funny (for us dorks), and better “new” music than I generally hear in any given day. More power to your elbow sir!❤
I played with a used MkII in a music store once. There was a PPG Wave 2.3 next to it. I was more interested in the MkII. This was before the sudden price jump of synths and I think they only wanted US$650-700 for it. I later got a Memorymoog Plus w/ hard case for US$750 across the street.
Some great music there, Alex, with good use/ integration of the other Korg instruments in the mix(es). I kept having flashes of early 80s public information films (I also did V.O. training many moons ago - whoppee, etc- so it came to mind) & the old BBC logos & Michael Wood et al presenting tomorrow's world type shows when I heard the sounds. I think it's those brassy stabs, dairlylea strings & the phased stuff. It's possible the Radiophonic Workshop might have had one too. I can also remember not buying one when they were dirt cheap. I suspect it's cause they were omnipresent at bric a brac & p/x sections of ye olde music shoppes, always looking very tired. The mk2 was definitely more common, IIRC. However, your section on the rear panel interfacing was an eye (and ear) opener. I don't think many people thought about that back then, other than any potential midi to c.v. connect/ useage.The resurgence of modular in all forms, shapes and sizes has literally opened our eyes an extra cm to 'have a go' interoperability. Once again, thank you for the 🎶
There's a guy who guys buy Full Bucket who does VSTs of a lot of the less common synths and string machines(mostly Korg) I really wanna check out how accurate it is, this sounds massive. Maybe it'll make me finally get a 61 key MIDI controller so I can try out that thing with the Brass EDIT: It's the MKII so I guess I'll have to pick up some Alex samples down the road for the MKI ;)
Alex! Loved this one! Great Jams and you made me LOL a few times. Might be my fav of the year! Thanks so much! I owned a Korg Delta that I would put through a Multimoog’s filter and envelopes. We did have one in the 48th store back in the day for quite sometime for the reasons you mentioned but you make it sing! Cheers!
Yo! Ah yes, the Delta. I'm told it's a turkey, but I've never played one. Was it ok, it was it naff? I tried the Lambda and didn't like it, but the Trident is a winner. Just need to try the PS synths now.
@@AlexBallMusic well for me working in a store back in the day, it was disappointing but we sold a lot, live players loved it for some reason lol. I also took home a Lamda and did some recordings with it and the multi Moog. That is what the Delta should have been but Trident came along is way more! A later we had a PS3200 poly synth, and then the Poly6 started coming in. Also owned a miniKorg in the 70’s loved seeing it! I can’t remember how much MS stuff we sold. Also, a lot!
Great video Alex! (again :) ) Korg released a cheaper alternative to the Trident : the Korg DL 50 known as the Delta. I own both, and I must admit I could not sell my Delta when I got the Trident. Has its own charm...definitely worth checking IMHO. Peace
I've got s MK2 (with battery replaced soon enough). A bit weird instrument. I use FcM inputs quite often, but I've never experimented external triggering . Nice trick, thanks Alex.
That 700 worked perfectly on top of our Hammond back in the days(bought around 76 I think), bought it 'cause it has the frontal "knobage"....Which was ideal for use on top of the organ...So we wouldn't have to reach over the keyboard to change settings...Got rid of the Hammond, still got the Mini
I've only played with Full Bucket's Tricent and previous emulations but I always thought the Trident architecture is magnificient, just quite difficult to mix. It's too easy to end up with a heavily layered sound that overpowers everything. Good if you need a soundtrack-in-a-box though.
Wow! Never heard of the Trident, but thanks so much for that. Brilliant presentation, and thank goodness you didn't kick a few keys off of this thing just for fun. Save that for the Mark 2, eh!
This synth had totally passed me by. As a former Jupiter 8 owner I have to say there are definitely a few similarities, I wonder if Roland took a few cues from the Trident? This would be a great synth for Cherry Music to emulate. 😎
Amazing - haven't heard one since I got to fiddle with the MK 1 we had at Uni some 25 years ago. That string section is just the dog's b*ll*cks - the singular reason I've tried finding a proper vintage and affordable analog string machine, and keep on coming up short, as nothing beats the Trident in my mind... 🥰 Thank you for sharing! 😃
I’m as sure as I can be that The Cure used a Trident on the song Cold from their Pornography LP. The onboard flanger sounds glorious on the string section. SAD1024, innit.
I have always been curious about the Korg Trident since I was in my mid-teens. At 12:08 into the film "Shaker Run" you see band on stage and the synth player has a Korg Trident MKII and a Korg Poly 800. Around the time I saw this my cousin gave me his Poly 800. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ghtnx8BEwi4.html
