The

Korg , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, they ...

Z1 is a physical modelling sound synthesiser released in 1997. Touted as a

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

Prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...

, the Z1 implements 13 synthesis types, all derived from the original OASYS synthesizer.

Overview

The Korg Z1 uses the same Multi-Oscillator Synthesis System (MOSS)

tone generator A signal generator is one of a class of electronic devices that generates electrical signals with set properties of amplitude, frequency, and wave shape. These generated signals are used as a stimulus for electronic measurements, typically used i ...

found in the

Korg Prophecy The Korg Prophecy is considered one of the earliest (mid-nineties) virtual analog (a.k.a. VA) synthesizers, although its synthesis capabilities went beyond many of its VA contemporaries. Details Along with the Korg Z1, the Korg Prophecy is a d ...

. The MOSS tone generator is a direct descendant of the later abandoned

Korg OASYS The Korg OASYS is a workstation synthesizer released in early 2005, 1 year after the successful Korg Triton Extreme. Unlike the Triton series, the OASYS uses a custom Linux operating system that was designed to be arbitrarily expandable via softw ...

(

Open-Architecture Open architecture is a type of computer architecture or software architecture intended to make adding, upgrading, and swapping components with other computers easy. For example, the IBM PC, Amiga 500 and Apple IIe have an open architecture support ...

SYnthesis System) development platform. Later implementations of the MOSS tone generator were available as optional expansion boards for the

Korg Trinity The Korg Trinity is a synthesizer music workstation released by Korg in 1995. It was also the first workstation to offer modular expansion for not only sounds, but also studio-grade feature such as ADAT, various sound engine processors, audio r ...

and

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

workstations.

Options

*ADAT I/O An ADAT expansion available providing 48 kHz digital output, as well as word clock input. *DSPB-Z1 expansion board A DSP board that adds 6 voices of polyphony to the Z1, totaling in 18 voices of polyphony. *ZMC-01 card A blank RAM

PCMCIA card In computing, PC Card is a configuration for computer parallel communication peripheral interface, designed for laptop computers. Originally introduced as PCMCIA, the PC Card standard as well as its successors like CardBus were defined and develop ...

*ZSC-01 card A PCMCIA card containing 256 programs, 32 multisets and 15 arpeggio patterns.

Synthesis Algorithms

The MOSS system, as implemented on the Z1, offered 13 different synthesis algorithms in the form of programmable oscillators. The various synthesis algorithms employed various synthesis techniques such as

physical modeling synthesis Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally cons ...

, analog modeling synthesis, and Korg's own VPM synthesis. Some of the various synthesis algorithms can be combined to create a vast range of sound.

Standard Oscillator

A standard

virtual analog An analog modeling synthesizer is a synthesizer that generates the sounds of traditional analog synthesizers using DSP components and software algorithms. Analog modeling synthesizers simulate the behavior of the original electronic circuitry in o ...

oscillator, this oscillator generates the standard waveforms typically used by an analog synthesizer such as

sawtooth wave The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is so named based on its resemblance to the teeth of a plain-toothed saw with a zero rake angle. A single sawtooth, or an intermittently triggered sawtooth, is called a ...

forms,

pulse wave A pulse wave or pulse train is a type of non-sinusoidal waveform that includes square waves (duty cycle of 50%) and similarly periodic but asymmetrical waves (duty cycles other than 50%). It is a term used in synthesizer programming, and is ...

forms, and

triangle wave A triangular wave or triangle wave is a non-sinusoidal waveform named for its triangular shape. It is a periodic, piecewise linear, continuous real function. Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics. However, the ...

forms. Wave shaping is available to add various harmonic characteristics to the generated sound.

Comb Filter

This oscillator creates pitched sound from noise or an impulse. It can create a wide variety of sounds—not only noisy sounds, but also sounds ranging from synth-bass to strings.

VPM (Variable Phase Modulation)

Korg's own first version of

phase modulation Phase modulation (PM) is a modulation pattern for conditioning communication signals for transmission. It encodes a message signal as variations in the instantaneous phase of a carrier wave. Phase modulation is one of the two principal forms ...

synthesis, producing digital timbres similar to the phase modulation synthesis (marketed as

frequency modulation synthesis Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered "in accordance with the amplitude ...

) made famous by Yamaha's DX line, Synclavier, and their successors.

Ring Modulation

This oscillator simulates

ring modulation In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple ...

, a popular feature of analog synthesizers

Cross Modulation

Modeling frequency modulation (FM) between two analog oscillators. See also VPM above.

Oscillator Sync

This oscillator simulates hard oscillator sync, a popular feature of analog synthesizers.

Organ Model

A drawbar organ emulation with 3 stops per oscillator, yielding 6 stops using both oscillators.

Resonance

Noise is filtered through multiple

notch filter In signal processing, a band-stop filter or band-rejection filter is a filter that passes most frequencies unaltered, but attenuates those in a specific range to very low levels. It is the opposite of a band-pass filter. A notch filter is a ...

s to produce noisy organ-like timbres.

Electric Piano Model

This oscillator is a physical model of an

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

such as the Fender Rhodes piano. Programmable parameters for the hammer include hammer force, hammer width, and hammer noise. For the tone generator, programmable parameters include decay time, release time,

overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

level, overtone frequency, and overtone decay. For the

electronic pickup A pickup is a transducer that captures or senses mechanical vibrations produced by musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, and converts these to an electrical signal that is amplified using an instru ...

, programmable parameters include pickup position in relation to the tone generator (such as a tine).

Brass Model

This oscillator is a physical model of a lip-reed instrument such as a

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, or

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

. Programmable parameters include Inst, which selects a previously modeled instrument to specify the length and shape of an instrument, Pressure, which changes the force of air being blown into the instrument, Lip, which replicates the tonality changes caused by the shape and tension of the player's lips, and Bell, which modifies the shape of the instrument's bell and creates the relevant tonal changes.

Reed/Wind Model

The reed model is a physical model of a

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...

reed instrument Reed aerophones is one of the categories of musical instruments found in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. In order to produce sound with these Aerophones the player's breath is directed against a lamella or pair ...

. Programmable parameters include Inst Type (giving you the choice of various physically modeled instruments: HardSax 1, HardSax 2, HardSax 3, SoftSax 1, SoftSax 2, DoubleReed 1, DoubleReed2, Bassoon, Clarinet, Flute 1, Flute 2, PanFlute, Ocarina, Shakuhachi, Harmonica 1, Harmonica 2, and Reed Synth) and programmable reed characteristics.

Plucked String Model

This oscillator is a physical model of a plucked string instrument such as a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

being played

pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowed ...

or a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

. Programmable parameters include adjustable attack parameters, damping parameters, decay parameters, string parameters such as string position, string

dispersion Dispersion may refer to: Economics and finance * Dispersion (finance), a measure for the statistical distribution of portfolio returns * Price dispersion, a variation in prices across sellers of the same item *Wage dispersion, the amount of variat ...

, harmonics parameters, and various pickup parameters similar to those on the Electric Piano oscillator.

Bowed String Model

The bowed string model is a physical model of the scraping of a bow across a string on a

stringed instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

such as the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

. Programmable parameters include bow speed and bow pressure. The bowed string model emulates various elements of a bowed string sound, such as attack harmonics, providing a more detailed sound than a typical sample-based synthesizer would normally be capable of.

References

External links

Korg Website

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