Korg 707

Its easy enough to use, big buttons and sliders etc.. easy enough to edit...looks really cool too !!

keyboard action is fine. midi is basic, performance functions not bad,i like the timbre slider that makes things zip a bit.
wheel reverse is cool too for when you have the thing "slung on"
Talking of Sling on keyboards !! I wouldnt think of using this as a sling on controller, its far too deep and cumbersome, and would look really shit !

The presets are crap !! I use this only as a small size midi controller for my rack mount stuff, they ar elifeless, clean, climical, and very like the old dx21's...infact noooooo the dx21 could really turn nasty with a bit of tweaking. I have tried to find any sounds that stand oput with this, but to no avail.

still working, so no probs

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if it were lost or stolen, I'd go and buy one of the new tiny controllers by edirol or novation.

really, it's about as easy as you could get

49 full-size keys, 8 voice polyphony, 8 part multi-timbral, no f/x, takes RAM/ROM cards, this keyboard has AFTERTOUCH, can be strap-worn (without looking like some spaceship toy), and can be run on 6 "C" cells

it's FM, the last true synth made by Korg before the M1 revolution (when more real-sounding sample players became all the rage); very noisy circuitry results in alot of high frequency dirt, but this is most apparent with headphones and can be cleaned with the mixer EQ; pitch bend susceptible to zipper noise; real-time controls for timbre and both envelopes were truly unique features at the time and are still pretty rare on newer keyboards; PB wheel and Mod wheels can be reversed for backwards operation (very cool when on strap), and Mod wheel can reassigned to volume

I don't know why some here give the 707 a bad rap -- believe me, it is undeserved; I have used them as main (and only) kbd controller for YEARS (even dropped a few over the years) and have NEVER had a maintenance issue with the keyboard; twice keys were broken (from people dropping heavy stuff) and they were easy quick and cheap to replace; after years of banging the rubber sensing pad will eventually wear, causing occasional stuck notes or loss of velocity sensitivity (affected notes always play at 127 full volume), also easy to change

never been an issue

truly great keyboard; I've been through about 8 of 'em over the years and still have five in my collection (one white, one blue, one gray, one on loan, and one chopped into little bits and stuffed into a 1-space rack unit); anyone with a red or yellow model PLEASE let me know

This is an easy synth to experiment with. Its not going to imitate anything, it not meant to. Its just good at what it does. Editing is fairly intuitive, the edit buttons are intuitive.

8 note polyphony, 8 part multi-timbral. No effects, but the ones on the 707s big brother, the DS8 were fairly basic.
2 Oscillators per voice with cross modulation. Filters are not resonant. Envelopes for amp, osc and filter. One LFO, will not sync to midi.

Sadly the sliders dont output midi data; the 'timbre' one is extremely expressive.
Good for bells, oddball digital bass noises, digital madsounds. Very noisy, but who cares, 'clean' is not what this synth is about, and its not as noisy as a DX7.

Eerrr. I would say the 707 is not a gig tool, cirtainly not any more. Id keep it in the studio and sample it. Ive been in contact with two DS8's and one 707 and they have never gone wrong.

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Easier to program than the DX series. Eclipsed my all modern synths in every respect, but a fun studio tool and great for the odd inspirational sound. A syth-head's geek toy now. And I *love* it. I would cirtainly have one of these in my collection, if I had cash and space.
Grey ones most common, red and blue are harder to find and more expensive.

Since this synth was made in the 80s...all you have are a bunch of buttons to guide you along with the programming. Luckily...everything is logically laid out. And, one of the sliders when programming acts as an up and down slider so no need to increment 1 at a time with the up/down button.

Very easy to program sounds. Even though its an FM synth, its not as complicated as a Yamaha FM since there aren't as many parameters, but the parameters that KORG provides are enough to create all kinds of sounds.

The other cool thing is that you have 3 sliders that one can use in realtime to tweak the sound. Wonderful...good for live use. And, you can make the Mod and Pitch wheel control other functions which is sweet.

8 note polyphony with 8 part multi-timberal. Pretty good back then, but now its substandard. Its still possible to get 3 parts multi-timberal with enough polyphony with each part. I mean, if you have this synth, most likely its not your only one, so you can regulate it to do only certain sounds.

There is an expansion card slot for RAM/ROM cards. Those are rare to come by, but the 707 I bought came with two cards. There are no effects built in, so an external effects box is needed for this.

People keep ragging on the presets. Most of the presets are not bad at all. The EP are sweet (standard FM EPs), the synth leads are good, and the brass are excellent. If you layer the brass and run it through some reverb, you get really nice warm sounding FM brass. The rest of the presets are blah, but most of them are good and serviceable.

The NY Synthesis card that came with the 707 I bought, isnt bad either. Again, a lot of decent sounds to use, but of course some crap. Good starting points to tweak to create your own sound.

The thing is made of plastic. I bought it to use as a live controller, so I guess I can depend on it. Just gotta make sure that I do not drop it

I don't think KORG supports this anymore. I had to buy a manual off of ebay to learn more about it even though its dead easy to program

Excellent, little, cheap synth that'll compliment any setup and will work well as a midi controller. If this was stolen, broken or lost, I will most definitely buy a new one. Great synth for someone who wants to get into FM since its so easy to use and program.

The software is the original release from factory. The presets have some ok ones for a multi setup but a handful of them are excellent for using in atmospheric pads when using the three sliders to give the sound a bit of movement. Menu editing is a bit harder than on say an SY22. I didn't get a manual with it but have the Alfred publishing book for the ds8 so I am set.

8 note pollyphony. The aftertouch appears to come into play better than my DW8000's. Has a card slot but the cards are hard to come by. The midi specs are quite good for the time it was released. No sequencer. Editing it shows great potential for anything I would want to do when combined with the other synths in my rig.

For FM it has a very round sound to it unless you want to make brash filteresque type of fun stuff. I use it for experimental pads ans textures as well as for leads when layered with others. No onboard effects. It reacts very well to aftertouch, velocity is average, the sliders and wheels are really good. Would it keep up with a new synth? No, but is very versatile if you want odd sounds that can help you get YOUR sound. Would give it a ten for what it is but is a bit noisy.

As long as the batteries are fresh it is great. I rely on it for home studio work so I can't say. But I bought it used and the case shows signs of wear but the buttons, keys and sliders all operate as expected so I would guess that one could rely on it.

Not had any dealings with Korg.

Would buy again if stoled, in fact I want to get a DS8(same architecture) in the future to go with it so the layered 707 sounds will have 8 notes instead of 4. The ease of expressiveness it my favorite part, hate the fact the power chord jack on mine is dodgy.
Wish it was 16 note polyphonic but look how old it is. It was just what I needed to complement my other stuff: D-5, tx81z, vz10m, dw8000, sq80, tg55, sy22, prophet 600, s50.

The Korg 707 is exactly what it says a performance synth. If yu get it for anything other than that you will be in for a surprise. The preset sound are horrible you will have to basically make your own sounds. It is very difficult but with a little time you will get the hang of it. I didn't get a manual causen I brought it off of an auction so basically with me it is trial and error.

I think it is 8 polyphonic and the keyboard action is not bad. They have many built in effects and they are a must because again the preset sounds are basically non-existant. because I don't do live gigs this is not a very good keyboard for me.

The sounds are horrific they is nothing in the preset sounds that I like. I brought the wrong board I should have gotten the Wavestation for what I like to do

I can depend on it to be what it is. I would not recommend strapping it on because if you drop it Lord help you. It is not too durable.

When I got mine it was broken and i took it to a local (Prototypes in Kensington Maryland) and they got it back to me in 3 days. As far as Korg I would never go to them because they would probably suck.

It is were lost or stolen Oh well! that would give me a good excuse to get something else. I only paid 50 Bucks for it and got it fixed for 40 buck so I guess it was worth it. i will either take the time to get what I need out of it or I will give to my seven year old as he take his piano lessons. I guess it is not bad but I just have to take the time to get into it. I would recommend that this is the instrument that you need before you buy it because I thought it was a lot better than it actually is. Remember this is a Performance Synth and nothing more. Personall I like my old Casio CZ-101 better than this but I knew that like the back of my hand. It will just take me some time to learn this one.

This is a great synth but editing sounds can take a little while to get used to. If you like the strap up feature the pitchshifter and mod wheel anre in a very nice spot.

This is a strap up synth with full midi (so aside from being a great synth its also a great midi controller) it accepts cards as well. It has touch sensitive keys. and i like the manual graphic controls and the portamento button. There is a wheel reverse also. It can do a loyt of multi voicing.

This does not have many 'realistic' sounds but it makes a great keyboard or synth. I like the synth leads and basses alot, but my favorite is the tine piano (Its good for like funk shuffles and stuff) and there is nice velocity control and aftertouch although sometimes it can be a little loud.

This is a dependable keyboard but if you strap it up you should use 6 c batteries because the transformer cord is kinda short, and make sure you have a good strap it cant handle falling, but i used it all the time without a backup, but i would ofter link it with midi to play other voices from an m-1.

Well when i lost it it was in good condition and it never needed anything but an input repair which the company diddnt do.

I would love to buy another because it was the best keyboard i ever owned, but it was lost or stolen at this 24 hour concert with like 12 bands. I think everyone should have one but if you want to sell me one please email me.

Presets are fairly good and make good starting points for editing. Editing patches is not hard, however the buttons tend to wear out quickly. I've fixed one of mine with contact cleaner. The only patch editor I know of is the one I wrote to run as a Cakewalk StudioWare panel. This can be downloaded from http://www.audiogalaxy.com/bands/amyers/korg707.zip

8-note polyphony. Good keyboard action (49 keys). NO EFFECTS -- you'll need a reverb unit for sure. The MIDI mapping capabilities are suprizingly good and it has decent SYSEX for a synth of this era. No sequencer.

None of the instruments are very "realistic" -- this is not a sample-based synth. This synth makes incredible SYNTH sounds. It reacts extrremely well to playing and has a couple of realtime controls for the filter and amplitude envelopes. I have to rate this high just for the unique sounds you can get from it. The synth basses are highly impressive as well. I used this synth extensively on my "12 Little Treasures" album. You can hear sound clips at http://www.audiogalaxy.com/bands/amyers to see what I mean. Be warned, it is not a particularly "quiet" synth.

Like I said, I don't like the buttons. Also, it runs off a wall-wart which can be very easily damaged. I've never used it in concert, but it has strap handles and can run off of 6 C-Cell batteries.

I WILL NOT PART WITH THIS SYNTH. It's has a very unique sound and feel. I think it's highly underrated.

I haven't done any patches on my own so I will probably update this submission later. The manual seems to be fairly good.

8 voices and 8 parts. The keyboard is light, 4 octaves but aftertouch (pressure) sensetive. It has a RAM/ROM-card slot but no sequenser.

The only sounds that are good is the strange ones. FM-piano and some organs are useable but not more. BUT it has real time sliders for filter (Soft -> Hard) and envelope time (Slow -> Fast) these are fun. The filter can be set to digital kind of distortion if you like.

It's made with knobs for a shoulder strap but I don't thinknk that it will survive many drops ..

The Swedish importer (Englund Musik AB) was very nice and sent me the factory sounds when I needed them. The factory sounds can be downloaded from my homepage http://members.xoom.com/martinsson/index.htm

If I lose it I probably buy another if I could find one for the same amount of money (~ 110#) because I like small instruments. The value for money is very good.