My Korg Radias Story

Korg Radias with DIY wooden ends

My Korg Radias story

and about finding its place in my cellar

A reason for me to buy Radias on 2012 was to broaden the synth sound palette which was mainly based to my Origin. Origin is a great piece of art itself, but it has limits especially in producing modern sounds. For example, Origin has no supersaw oscillator and also its effects miss some qualities to make this kind of huge power synths which you hear in so many records nowadays. Just listen to David Guetta's songs, to see what I mean. In fact I had quite nice results when combining those two - Radias and Origin. They were nicely complementing each others weaknesses and I got quite powerful sounds when I layered those two together.

      Radias gives you many thing which you don't get from Origin. First, you can get a decent "supersaw" from it by using its unison mode(s). It has a lot of synth & drum PCM waveforms too. One of the best parts of Radias is its step sequencer and arpeggiator. With its good computer editor program it is easy to make drum beats and bass lines and those sync nicely together. In fact, I routed Radias' MIDI clock also into the Origin to make this whole system to sync together. This worked great. (iConnect MIDI did a great job here.) On the other hand, Radias is kind of a futuristic-digital-analog modelling-trance synth, which is criticized to lack some power or sounding thin. As a long time Origin user, I can confirm these claims to a certain extent. It seems to me that I cannot get same "analog" punch from Radias, which I get from Origin.

     This usage - combining Radias and Origin - changed on 2013 when I bought my Virus TI2. I must say that when it's about producing modern sounds Virus has so much more power and character. Suddenly my Radias seemed to be without use in my setup. I even started to sell it away. Now, in the beginning of 2014, I am so glad I could not find a buyer at that moment and I decided to keep it. Strangely this synth also had some special emotional value to me. On year 2013 I built my own wooden ends (check picture above) to make it look more like a desktop module. These wooden ends also made it more stable and put it to better angle for using it. At the moment it seems to me that Origin and Virus make the core of my synth sound. Is there still room for Radias? In fact there is: it has a great Vocoder! Now when I realized this I think I will never sell it away...

Check Radias Vocoder in action:




Radias vs. Microkorg XL ?

Radias and Microkorg have lot in common. In fact they basically share same synth engine; Microkorg XL is build upon Radias' architecture. Well, to be honest, compared to its big brother Microkorg can feel more like a toy. But it can be very useful too, because of its compact size. One good thing is its keyboard; it's surprisingly easy and fun to play. Soundwise it's quite similar to Radias, but it's much more limited. Here's a little comparison about main differences:

There was a time (2012) when I had them both and in fact I combined them as a special "Korg Hybrid" (Microkorg as a Radias controller):

My "KORG HYBRID" in action

Arturia Origin review

My Origin desktop unit

I've had this great synth module since January 2011. It has became an essential tool on my live gigs and in my home studio. This is my personal view about pros and cons of Origin, but many of them are shared with other users as well. I will update this list every time when something worth noting comes up.

Origin pros:

(+) Marvellous virtual analog sound. This is of course the best part of it. I like the TAE (True Analog Emulation) which is a trademark of Arturia. With this algorithm they have managed to bring out some analog warmth which is quite often lacking in many VAs. In Origin you can adjust the exact amount of TAE which feature they don't have in their software emulations (V-series), if I am right.

(+) The revolutionary idea of having change to put together different modules from different classical synths like Minimoog, JP8, CS-80, ARP 2600, Prophet 5 and VS.

(+) Huge amount of features; those who prefer real analog would have to carry tons of stuff to get the same. Everything is customizable.

(+) Enough power to run complex things. You can play up to four different synths at the same time (of course it depends on those sounds. You can run out the polyphony (32 voices) with one or two sounds if they are complex.

(+) Very well thought GUI (Graphical User Interface). It was surprisingly easy to learn to use Origin.

(+) Enough knobs to tweak. This is very important for analog type synths: you have to have those knobs. Ok, there're are users who would like to have more, but this would of course make it bigger. For me this is a great compromise. Joystic is a great addition too. You can control almost anything with it.

(+) Templates. They are really fascinating creatures. At the moment we have Minimoog and Jupiter-8, but next one is probably going to be CS-80.

Jupiter-8 Template

Minimoog Template

(+) It's evolving, not very fast but still evolving. Arturia team is giving updates and new sound banks. So you'll get a feeling that it is developing.













Origin cons:

(-) It's emulating analog type sounds well, but it's not very good for producing modern sounds. For example, it has been a challenge to get a decent powerful supersaw synth which is very common in modern world. (It's has been mentioned in the forum many times that users want to have supersaw oscillator. Let's see if we finaly get it)

(-) Its effects are not very good quality. This is probably because better ones would take more CPU power. Origin's effects are good enough for my live gigs but in studio they won't be useful for many. This is related to former issue: modern sounds like supersaw synth need high quality effects.

(-) Color LCD is nice but still too small to handle complex synths like Jupiter8. In my opinion it would be crucial to get a computer editor software to work in big screen and with mouse. I have asked this many times from Arturia; let's see if we'll get it some day. (Some other users have complained that this screen isn't touch screen. I think Origin was developed little too early when touch screens were not there yet)

(-) Computer integration has still problems. (Personally I haven't used it that much in my Logic but I've read about problems from other users)

Customized Origin

My Arturia Origin Desktop synth module

Here's my Origin unit. In fact I had to cut those wooden ends to make it fit into my case. Also, this is how I like it...

Origin Specs

Origin specs:

Main features

• Create your own synthesis patch by connecting independent modules. These modules are either innovative modules we introduced (such as Galaxy) or taken from the best synthesizers ever made (such as the Moog Modular, the Yamaha CS-80, the Roland Jupiter-8, the Minimoog, the ARP 2600, the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Prophet VS).
• Alternatively, use an existing synthesizer recreation: the Minimoog, the Jupiter-8, the ARP 2600*, or the CS-80*
• Superb audio quality with TAE® engine in a hardware chassis. 24 bits/44.1 kHz supported.
• High-Quality Real time Effects: Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Distortion, Parametric EQ*, Bit Crusher*.
• 500 presets created by a selection of international sound designers
• 16/32 step advanced sequencer allowing you to program three sub-sequences at a time and to perform live.
• Multi mode allowing you to play 4 instruments at a time, for example a Minimoog, a Jupiter-8*, a modular patch and an ARP 2600*.
• Creative Macros, advanced LFO’s, innovative modulation sources, different Joystick modes.
• Advanced Preset browser.
• Analog Audio Connectivity: 2 audio ins, 10 audio outs.
• Digital Audio: SPDIF out, USB 2.0
• Built-in expression pedal and footswitch control inputs
• MIDI : In, Out, Thru or USB 2
• Up to 32 voices of polyphony
• Also a MIDI controller offering 33 encoders, 21 potentiometers and 1 joystick
• Ergonomic hardware design and quality manufacturing in France and Germany.
• Origin lets you open dedicated software on your Mac and PC in the form of Origin Connection an ergonomic application allowing to archive preset, exchange data, upgrade firmware.
• 160 pages manual in English.

* To be delivered later on as a free upgrade

(from Arturia's website: http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/origin/specs21.html)

Arturia Origin

This is Arturia Origin desktop synthesizer. It has kept me busy few months now. Resently I updated its firmware to 1.3.50 version which seems to work fine. 

Origin is many ways a perfect tool for someone looking for a vintage synth with lot of power: it has 30 voices polyphony, 4-part multitimbrality, enormous amount of features, great GUI, lot of knobs to tweak it live.

...and above all, very nice analog character in its sound!