Korg K-3 Maxi-Korg

I bought this Maxi-Korg new and still have it actually. This is quite possibly the same synth the Europeans call the 800DV, but was badged the Maxi-Korg, model K-3 here in the United States by it?s US distributors Univox. It is a one knob per function mono/duo analog synth from the mid-seventies. It's basically two Mini-Korgs strapped together with a few additional features, but with limited interaction between the two synths. This design accounts for many of it?s sonic strengths and limitations. There are a lot of three position rocker switches all over the front panel, which is why I bought it in the first place... it's very easy to make rapid changes in live performance. But you sacrifice fine adjustment.

If you like combination filters, that's its best feature. They are set up really well... two horizontal sliders (labeled "Travelers") vertically stacked so you can move them together. One adjusts lowpass cutoff, and the other adjusts highpass cutoff. By adjusting them both you can get a bandpass of any width with two resonance peaks if you want. When you line them up, you get a real wicked narrow bandwidth blast. On a Maxi-Korg, there are two (!) sets of these... one for each VCO. They are really, really cool, and are controlled unconventionally but conveniently on the far left where the sliders are easy to grab and just beg you to scoot them around in real time. Cutoff slope isn?t listed, but sounds 12db to me. If this whole setup sounds similar to the filters on the MS-20, it could be, but I?ve never had the chance to play one of them so I can?t compare first-hand.

On the downside: no pulse width control or mod, no sync. Korg put two LFOs on this board, but they have limited range and are vibrato only? one of many things that make you think ?why did they do it like that?? The two envelope generators are very strange affairs with two sliders and two three position rocker switches? and unfortunately each one is shared by a filter and VCA. You can?t set them up in the more standard configuration where one modulates the filters, and the other the amplifiers. The envelopes free-run as soon as you apply release, which allows for some neat quirky boing-boing type sounds.

Each VCO has a chorus waveform, whose speed and intensity is adjusted from the vibrato controls, as well as it's own sub osc with a 5 octave range. These VCO features can really beef things up. There's also ring-mod, and a curious "Repeat" feature, which fires off the envelopes with an adjustable clock in all kinds of weird ways. Altogether, this makes for a very odd synth... loaded with features in some areas but deficient in others. But in 1975, what we think of today as the standard model of a full-featured analog synth hadn?t been hammered out yet.

There are no pitch or mod wheels, or joystick. All pitch modulation must be done from the front panel, or with the automatic ?Bender? feature, complete with up-down, speed, and delay controls? too strange to even get into here. Noise sources? well, you?ve got both white and pink, and each is available independently with it?s own sets of filters and envelope. The design choices made on this synth are insane.

Overall sound is big, broad, and a little rough around the edges. Bigger than something like, say, a Pro One, but not quite in the Minimoog class. This is a great bass synth, which is what I used it for throughout the 1980?s.

Still going after 30 years. For a hand-wired analog synth that's a 10.

The main reason I?ve kept it around while most of my other 1970?s stuff was sold long ago is because until recently they were almost giveaways? nobody wanted ?em. They used to be a good deal used, but with the resurgence in the oddball vintage synth market their price keeps going up. I might just sell mine after all, but not quite yet. If your needs are a standard analog machine, this is probably not for you. But if you've got that already covered, and want something a little different...