NEWS
A true legend of synthesis completes its epic journey to your DAW
During the Noughties, a fresh epidemic of analogue hardware fever took hold of producers. With no known cure – and full-scale treatments being costly – Korg offered affordable relief in 2010 with the Monotron, a tape cassette-sized micro-synth for just 50 quid. Further analogue goodies followed, including a 2015 reissue of the classic Odyssey synth, originally released by ARP in 1972. Now, following on from last year’s Odyssei iOS app, Korg have released an official emulation in desktop plugin form.
So why is the Odyssey such a legend? Well, when it debuted, it was among the first instruments to put the power of synthesis into a practical, compact package – one that the average musician could afford, understand and transport single-handedly. And it sounded great, natch. The Odyssey was used on everything from Elton John’s Rocket Man to Herbie Hancock’s Chameleon, and by artists as wide-ranging as Abba, LTJ Bukem, 808 State, Vangelis, and Nine Inch Nails.
The Odyssey offers two oscillators playable in monophonic unison or duophonic (one oscillator per voice) mode; saw and pulse waveforms; hard sync; FM (frequency modulation); and PWM (pulsewidth modulation). There’s a noise generator, too.
On the filter front, you get simultaneously employable high- and low-pass filters. As synth history nuts know, ARP updated the low-pass filter in 1975, with a design inspired by that of the Minimoog – Moog took exception to this, and a third design was soon rolled out. Models of all three revisions are available in the plugin.
Modulation comprises two envelopes, an LFO, and a sample+hold generator. Modern enhancements include a polyphonic mode for chordal play, with up to eight-voice unison; a 16-step arpeggiator; X/Y modulation pads; and six effects.
Out now, it’s $100 on its own, or available as part of the $249 Korg Collection bundle with five more virtual Korg classics.
URL www.korg.com