Korg MS-2000

As far as ease of use.hmmm If your gonna use presets and plug in and adjust presets with knobs then its fine. But if your a person who likes to create your own sounds you might get lost with the whole concept of all the knobs and then stuff that doesnt have knobs. User manual you would have to work for korg to understand it. I wonder if they even understand whta they wrote. I've had one for about a year and a half and still dont completely understand the manual. When making your own sounds it gets frustrating. Youll have a good sound coming along from scratch and then youll turn one knob and loose control over the sound.

Okay heres where i bash ms2000. 4 note polyphony??!!! Are we in the stone age? I understand its analog but i mean couldnt it be a little higher? I mean you can make great sounds but sometimes you make a great sound and still have to use another board to add into it because you start loosing notes so you gotta take another board and try and match the sound which is why im buying a motif 6. Midi doesnt respond as fast as i would like it to. Due to the fact of barely any polyphony you cant do what lets say a motif or a kurzweil would be able to do. Where you can use the sequencer to use more then one voice and trigger it off with another sequencer. So you can use only one bank at a time. And when you do trigger it to switch a bank you get a lag. So for example you use an akai like i do and are slaving the ms2000. One beat your using bank H8 and then the next seqence uses bank H9 you would have the beat playing for like a measure and hten it would finally kick in. Thus the need for another board to work with the MS2000.

The presets sound great. Not to fond of the way the sequencer works as you can only do modulation with this seqencer you can actually user other presets or user presets together. Unless you put them in a dual mode but then again the polyphony program kicks in if there is too many voices. They really give you nothing to work with for polyphony. And i find alot of the time i come out with the same PWM wave sound alot of them time no matter what i move or adjust. So getting new sounds is hard unless you know analog synths very well. Which i dont. But if your gonna just adjust presets then youll have alot of new sounds. But building from scratch i have alot of trouble. But then again this is casue korg cant speak english in their manuals. Arpagiator is good. Distortion is either on or off doesnt give you different types to use and youll find yourself adding a pedal or effect rack to add more effects. Dual or split programs certain things work off each other. So if you change the chorus one on program and your using two programs together you just changed both chrouses. So as far as doing what a motif would do for effects,sequencing,and midi you might wanna buy a digital board and put a good analog exapansion on it.

Oh this is where the fun kicks in. I got a good sound going on im sequencing with the akai mpc2000. So i start using the akai to record my midi information on my knob modulations. And guess what the ms2000 wasnt the strongest piece of equpiment made. So the knobs are the cheapest flimsyiest pieces of shit youll find on the market. Almost all my knobs are loose from making modluations during sequence recording and i do not abuse my equipment. Go to a store and turn a ms2000 filter knob a few times and see how it wiggles. Then go to say a motif and turn those sturdy non cheap knobs. Keys are cheap and not even semi weighted. And another factor is the female connector in the back of the keyboard burns out. And you have to call korg and order one and wait like a week for it to come in if they have it in stock. But dont worry if you have access to one of those shit groove boxes that korg made you can rip that out open the board and solder it in and itll work again. Thats what i did. And be ready for either bench time or learn how to open this board and tighten all the knobs before they break youll be doing this at least once every 2 months depending on the abusing the knobs get. With this board not much takes the knobs to the limit.

Never called korg. Other then to ask a question on the karma and triton serious before i noticed the motif. And to order that plug which was a joke. Cause i live in NYC the warehouse that had it was in long island NY. A hour drive for me to get my board up and running asap. But im not allowed to go and pick it up myself or buy it direct from there. So i gotta wait two weeks to get a piece. So they gotta wait in chicago to get it from long island, then it goes to chicago then back to NY? What if i had a show hte next day? No help on that part. Thanks Korg

Okay right now it at $749 at GC. Affordable. Good sounding voices for certain styles and has the warm phat analog voice that alot of people love. Sequencer kinda sucks but if your using it wiht another digital synth its a decent combo. But i would suggest looking into a more european synth thats more expensive such as waldorf,moog if you want analog. But I think its better to buy digital with a good expansion analog board.

Most current software version as of 40-20-2003
Who uses the presets anyways but they sound great.
This thing is amazingly easy to play with... and lots of fun.

You can get the statistics from Korgs Website but if you want to hear what this thing sounds like click on the link under the expressiveness/sound field.

If you want to hear what it sounds like click the link below.

All of the synth sounds in all of the tracks were made with an MS2000.
http://www.mp3.com/Ultra86

its been very reliable for almost a year for me :)

I have dealt with customer support (due to my ignorance) and it was relatively fast and easy.

http://www.mp3.com/Ultra86
just listen... this is a pretty wicked synth for beginners and pros alike.

It's as easy as synths of this nature come. Very straightforward layout and the LCD helps with some paramaters that are not knob or button driven. I use the 1.05 software rev and heavnt had any problems.

There are plenty of feature on the MS2000. For one it has a great modulation sequencer that can modulate pitch amongst many many other things as well as a very usefull virtual patch section where you can virtually make routings between different components on the synth (ie LFO 1 to modulate pitch, cutoff, amplitude....) There is velocity for both amplitude and filter cutoff but through the virtual patch can also be set to modulate all kidns of other sections like pitch or LFO 2 frequency (very cool). Also the mod sequencer is a 3x16 (or fever steps) sequencer per timber. Also there is a vocoder.

Do not listen to the analogue elitists like JKM. This synth has its own sound. It is not as in your face as some synths can be but when I use it, it sounds wonderfull in my set up. The range of sounds is great. It CAN do basses. It CAN do pads. I find it's best at really strange fucked up monosynth sounds and percussive arpeggio/sequence lines. Also washes and digital sounds are wonderfull. Wether run through effects or not it sounds good. For the kind of music I do (which is minimal industrial very much in the vein of DAF or early Front 242) I can get some great sounds. Do not listen to the presets unless the words "phat" and "tight" are in your everyday vocabulary. In other words if you produce shit...excuse me generic trance music or some form of hip hop there aren't too many presets that will captivate. I found a couple that sounded good though. The Donna Summer "I feel love" sequence was cool as well as some of the Jean M. Jarre "Oxygen" sounding stuff was very cool. Finally, this is a digital synth. End of story. It has wonderfull sounds and it has its place. I would not limit myself to just VA or just RA. Program the synth and you will find out the kind of stuff it exels at and then begin to appreciate it. It's really good for basic synth sounds as well and can be used as an only synth if you are making very simple music.

Also the vocoder is superb. Great rich and warm but at the same time very recognizible tone.

Velocity went out on one of my keys. I actually went through three MS2000 units. First was floormodel to take home while I waited for my new MS2000 to get in. When I got the new model the middle D key went out and then got my third and final ms2000. The reliability is pretty good. This thing doesn't crash almost at all. Have had ONE incident when it crashed and hasnt happened since then. I would most definetly gig (and actually will soon) without a back up.

Heavn't had to deal with KORG quiet yet.

It is an integral part of my set up. I love the way it sounds with my Korg Polysix and love the sounds I get out of it. For all the strangeness and basic sounds as well as wonderfull washes I would most definetly pick up another one. I must say as an audio processor for vocals (which I use it a lot for as well) I would be hard pressed to find another synth which offered similar features with such user friendly control. Definetly a keeper.

O.S. 1.07 I am a new synth user and so this review is from the perspective of a relative newbie. The presets are hot and cold for me, but I honestly don't pay too much attention to them other than to learn more about the parameters used to make them. Editing the presets is a breeze, and can easily and quickly transform them into something altogether different. The manual is decent, but due to its sterile approach it is better used as a reference than a guide. The MS2000 is intuitive enough at any rate, even for a beginner.

While I would like more polyphony and more than 2 timbres per sound, for the price and other features, not to mention the sound quality of this synth, it is more than acceptable. The mod sequncer and virtual patches are the real standouts here, and together they can produce nearly anything you can dream up. The keyboard itself is a little weak, with toylike keys and a very plasticy feel overall, but they are servicable and velocity registers accurately. Add the vocoder, full MIDI capabilities, and simple but decent arpeggiator, and you have a fairly versatile package. It doesn't have everything, but what it DOES have is great.

Here is where the MS2000 shines. Very agressive and fat, it makes you work a bit to restrain it at times. Like most people say, the basses and leads are top-notch, but I also love the pads. Seriously, they might not be the biggest ever, but with a little virtual patch manipulation and maybe some ensemble effect, they CAN sound very nice. Speaking of virtual patches, they can summon forth shimmering sheets of harmonic overtones or twist basslines into hammering rhythms easily. The synchable, assignable LFOs can modulate various parameters for awesome effects. Very versatile. As for odd sounds, this thing is arguably more absurd than you will ever need it to be in that regard. A great synth for icing, though as some have said, you will want some cake to smear it on. (Another reminder to those seeking nice pads: utilize your virt. patches and don't forget the osc 2 semitone/ensemble double-whammy!) I DO wish there was a midrange EQ to compliment the high/low EQs, but I'll live.

So far every knob and button remains firm and true, though the power supply a cheapo external affair. That and the weak keys are my only real worries. The small plastic knobs are fine with me, and you gotta love a steel exterior :) I fear for it not a bit in live situations.

Haven't had to deal with customer support. My online warranty extension was responded to immediately, but that's all I have had to deal with since. The latest OS was already installed at the factory.

I would buy another, but only after I got my hands on something with a bit more multimbral muscle and polyphony. I bought mine new and it's worth every penny to me. I am a new synth player, and am using the MS2000 to learn synthesis, but I can already tell I will be keeping it around as my collection grows. My only other gear is guitar stuff, but I am eager to run my guitar through the korg filters :) I chose the MS2000 since it was the only thing in my price range that had the features and sound I wanted. It enhances my creative process a lot and generally does what I want it to thanks to an intuitive, hands on interface and flexible sound-generation. The only synth I've ever dug into, but not the only one I have heard, and I will say I would not trade my MS2000 for most of the latter :) (Ok I would trade it and my firstborn for a supernova II, but hey....). Bravo, Korg!

I have an ex demo product from Korg direct. Borrowed it initially for a tour last year and have since bought it from Korg. The presets were usable from the start, but tweaking produces best results, obviously. I did attempt to sit down with the manual a couple of times, but found that trial and error worked best. I like that you can return to the preset after tweaking if you want to start again.

As for polyphony, lately I have actually been saving alot of my patches as monosynths, so I didn't even notice lack of polyphony. get another keyboard/module/sampler for that. effects good and easy to use. have had fun with the arpeggiator. managed to create an omnichord effect, which I really like. alot! in fact, it's quite a weak sound (deliberately), so maybe that's turning a negative into a positive. haven't used much midi, as it is part of my live set up.

like is said above, i think some of the weaknesses of the sounds, when used in conjunction with other sounds, in the right context can become strengths. some of the nasty tinkly bell sounds are quite cool with stupid amounts of delay. i really use this alot of the time for "special effects". i.e. non-musical sounds. don't really like the keyboard. doesn't make me feel confident when playing fast lead lines. i have used the ms2000 live for various styles. 80's synthpop, 70's funk, 90's loop/improvisation. definitely wouldn't rely on it as a main keyboard. it is good as an addition to an existing set-up for extra colours.

have used it gigging/touring. no glitches so far (touch wood!). my only problem is having to dial in patches and bank numbers live. can anyone tell me a way of arranging all my live sounds into one bank without losing the original sounds on those patches? thanks!

i bought this direct from korg after they loaned it to me for a tour. agreed a price over the phone and gave them my credit card number. subsequently received an invoice/receipt for this transaction. BUT they had added an extra #125 to the agreed price and charged that to my credit card as well. when i phoned to find out why, they said that they would never have agreed to the original price, as it was below the list price. but they DID agree to the price when i gave them my credit card details. so technically, we had a verbal agreement and they reneged on it. not to mention, in my opinion, possible credit card fraud and theft. thier suggestion was to send back the keyboard, but i didn't want to have to reprogram another keyboard from scratch, and i was in the middle of a tour with it. i suggested they refund the money that they owed me. so far, nothing. that was four months ago. i still have the keyboard, and i still think it's a good product, but korg as a company have really p*ssed me off.

overall, this is a useful product. but only as an addition to what i already use. and yes, it's probably not as powerful or cutting as some other synths out there, but it does a lot of different things fairly well, so is good to have. for live work i also use a fender rhodes 73 mark I, an akai S6000 for strings, mellotron, and odd synths that the MS won't provide, a roland VK-7, and a Korg SP200. i'm thinking of getting a roland XP-30 or VK-88. looking more at roland now mainly because i feel sick when i look at korg stuff now. but i'm sure that will pass!

It has knobs, thus sounds can be expressed in real time. It took me quite awhile to imagine what I wanted and to go after it..The presets suck for the most part, but are a good starting point...At first, this synth is very confusing and to get sounds take alot of effort. But if your programming a synth and you get sounds immediately, where is the adventure?

4 note Polyphony(I used a Casio CZ, so I am used to this limitation)...Velocity can effect frequency, cut off, amp, noise, etc...No memory card..The sequencer is nice, I was programming some public television science sounds that you would hear in Reading Rainbow or a Richard Attenbourough special. While not as rich as analog, it shouldn't matter...
Now to the best part...The delay...Weird kosmische tracks can be made with the delay if you know how to use it..Split keyboard is great but requires alot of patience. But that my friends is an ancient secret shared only by those who seek it.

I love the sound....Though the leads are kinda weird...But I am a pad person(ambient/industrial person)..I made some neat bass lines and organic oceanscapes using the arpeggiator. Imagine Thora Birch as some kind of deep sea fish creature being enveloped by a swarm of transparent amphipods.
I've gotten alot of "asian" sounding stuff out of it, maybe because I listen to Kitaro's "Matsui" alot...I don't really know. But it can make some interesting "alone in the Himalayans during a snow storm flute" drones, gamelan percussion loops, moogy flutes, noise, metallic pads, angry bells...Last week I got very peculiar industrial sweeps that could easily cut through my ear drums like some mantis creature. I like this synth alot, but I am not going for a techno sound. The trance stuff it can do, sounds nice. Deep thick basses..It can do VCS3 stuff with no probelm.
Digital or analog? Who cares...It has lots of sound range.

I should also note it has a nice vocoder and the filter can be used to process samples. Since a large part of my music is based on sample modification, I found this perfect. I would like to check out an Korg ES-1 too.

I can depend on the synthesizer...I haven't spit Dr.Pepper over it yet...But its steel, so it should survive. I would like to have some CV equipment, but thats a pipe dream.

I got it used. Teeny knobs for my tiny girlish hands...

I would get another one...

i cant say i like the presets too much. there are some cool ones, but then ill put on a cd of bands using a jupiter 8 or ppg wave or some synth like that and those sounds are atleast 10 times cooler than this korg. editing sounds is not as easy as i would like it to be. ive been trying to make something like a harpsichord and a piano, i havent succeeded. the manual's helped a bit but not much. A lot of it is common sense that you don't need in the manual and the table of contents doesnt help!

the polyphony sucks! its that simple. Theres nothing good about 4 note polyphony, nothing! the delay is pretty good but the distortion is junk. i like the keyboard action, non-weighted. it is a beautiful keyboard, it's too bad it doesn't sound nearly as good as it looks! i haven't really figured out the step sequencer completely but im not very impressed with the presets with it. there's a lot of un-useable sounds on this. im selling it as soon as i can and getting a waldorf micro Q . its worth the extra money.

there are very few sounds on this thing that I'd use. many interesting sounds, but very cheap sounding. I'm a fan of bands like duran duran, kajagoogoo, howard jones, etc and this keyboard does not work for that! the lack of polyphony really messes this keyboard up i think. the sounds i make sound a lot better than the presets.

It's very light, which is nice but i would be very afraid if it dropped. i like the keys except the first ms 2000 i got had a broken E key after one day of playing it. It stopped making sound. I returned and got another one and it's worked fine. I'd use it without a backup, that is if i'd use it at all.

If it was lost or stolen, I'd be mad because I'd lose something with monetary value, not because i lost a good keyboard. I definitely wouldn't buy another one, or any Korg for that matter. I'd buy a Roland, or Waldorf.

you can basically jump right in this bad boy and start tweaking! Intuitive user interface very self-explanitory...no real need for manual...presets are ok, but why would you buy a synth for the presets anyways? Especially one as fun to program as the MS! Manual is written well if one needs a refrence...

Polyphony is (very) limited to 4 notes..very unfortunate, but the MS's sound is very raw and distinct-I just track one synth line at a time and the 4 notes I do use sound great, but still I would rather have paid a little more and got 4 outs and 16 note polphony-which would have helped the Ms battle the other modeling synths in this price range (nord lead, Waldorf Micro q, novation k-station, etc)

For my tastes-the MS is perfect...it can morph a 303 sounding bass line into some sonic white noise with the twist of a few knobs in a matter of seconds...the step sequencer is the real treat..you can adjust modulation properties for each step (cutoff, resonance, step lenght, etc.) to make some really unique sounds, and the patch function is great as well...route LFO 1 to modulate the cuttoff and Lfo 2 to pan, etc...lots of possibilities here...and take note, I read a review on this site that said the MS needed a step sequencer, it has one!!!! READ THE MANUAL!!!!!

I have had my ms for 2 years and it has not crashed one time...so yes I depend on it in the studio and on the road.

never used

I would and will replace my MS if ever the need arises..hopefully it won't...Bottomline: in comparison to other modeling synths at the time I purchased the MS (2000) -niether the A or K station were out-I went with the MS because I liked the sound and the ability to tweak knobs until it sounded like something I would store as a patch...

It's pretty easy to pick up the basics in one sitting. But to make specific sounds, you'll have to spend some time with the keyboard to learn it's ins and outs. I'm currently using the latest OS revision (1.07). The presets are OK. There are some much better sounds on the net, plus Korg released some more presets on a Promo CD recently. Manual is pretty good and can clear up most questions, but is no substitute for sitting down and hearing what all the knobs will do for you. I'm only giving it a six because it took me a long time to learn to take advantage of all the features this keyboard has.

4 note polyphony. You can buy a MS2000 rack and set it up so it doubles that. Keyboard action is alright. It's a non-weighted keyboard. I prefer a semi-weighted keyboard, but non-weighted seems to be pretty standard for this level of gear. The built in effects are great: delay, chorus/flanger, distortion. Onboard sequencer is pretty basic, but can add movement to static sounds. I prefer to lay down midi tracks on my computer and tweak them there.

The sounds are awesome. Anything analogue and beyond.. You can even get some FM sounds out of it using the cross mod or the dwgs waveforms. I've used a SH-101 pretty extensively to learn analogue synthesis on, but this thing blows it away in terms of features and tonal possibilities.

I don't know how reliable it is. For home or studio use, it would be fine. It feels pretty light and I would hate to drop it though.

I've only dealt with the online resources from Korg and they do provide some good info. They also have reps that reply to message boards which is pretty cool. Having the manual available online in .PDF format is fucking awesome (Unlike ROLAND/BOSS)

If it were lost or stolen I would definately buy it again (especially at the prices now). I've been playing with a SH-101 for four years or so. I've had the MS2000 for 1 and 1/2 years so far and I love it. I also own a Roland JV-1010 and a Korg ER-1. The only thing I dislike about the MS2000 is it's constuction, I've yet to break anything, but it doesn't inspire confidence. I played some other VA synths but they either lack in features or lack in sound quality. The only thing I wish this synth had was more polyphony, but for my playing it doesn't bother me that much. The sounds I make with it are very useful for my music and I have done an entire song using just this synth (drums too!).

I just want to say when I bought this synth, I was very disappointed in it. It sounds pretty good but.. Two patches/ two channels max for midi. That SUCKS! (After hearing the demos, I was expecting an analogue workstation.) A few months later, I stuck it back in the box and never unpacked it after I moved. For some reason I kept it, while I played with software synths on the computer instead. They were okay, interesting at first, but inevitably frustrating to use. I unpacked my MS2000 and started using it again. I was blown away at the sound quality and ease of getting "my sound". Now the two channel limit hardly phases me, I just lay down each track in audio like they did in the old days and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

(disclaimer) Softsynths can be useful and do have their place in audio production, but for playing/composing I don't feel they are a substitute for the real thing.

The Manual explains things fairly well

Needs an onboard step sequencer, can't be used standalone. Limited basically to simple synth lines, no big pads here.

Sounds are decent,

A3 key broke, seems faily tough otherwise

Customer Service is terrible. I broke a key easily on this synth. To get a replacement I can't go through Korg direct, but must use there sevice center. They won't sell a single key, only full octives. They want $40 plus shipping and service charges, which could be over $100. This is stupid, you should be able to replace their cheap breakable keys for less than that. I'm selling it as soon as its fixed. I doubt I will ever buy another Korg.

Im going to get a nice weighted midi controller and sell the MS on ebay. Don't get one unless you've used it before extensivly