Back in 1978, this semi-modular beast kicked off Korg's legendary MS series, packing dual VCOs and wild dual filters into a compact keyboard design that let players patch their way to snarling basses, screeching leads, and everything in between—perfect for the experimental spirit of that era.
At its core, it delivers monophonic subtractive synthesis with two voltage-controlled oscillators: VCO1 offering triangle, sawtooth, pulse, and noise waveforms across a wide range from 32' to 4', while VCO2 adds saw, dual pulses, and ring modulation from 16' to 2'. Sound routes through resonant high-pass and low-pass filters—both 12dB/octave with self-oscillation potential—controlled by two envelopes (one ADSR-style, one AR with delay) and a single LFO for triangle or pulse modulations. A 37-note full-size keyboard pairs with a patch panel for rerouting signals, including sample-and-hold, noise generator, portamento, a patchable VCA, and an External Signal Processor for tweaking guitars or other inputs via envelope follower and bandpass filter. I/O includes a mono 1/4" audio in/out, stereo headphone jack, and straightforward knobs everywhere on its sturdy metal chassis, weighing in around 6kg for that vintage road-ready feel.
Over the decades, players have cherished its raw, distorted edge and patching freedom—think William Orbit filtering samples through it—but some note the ESP's tracking can glitch on complex sources, adding to its quirky charm.
