Korg NS5R/NX5R with DreamBlaster S2
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2017
- Korg synthesizers with a secret which makes them a coveted collector item! Find out what it is!
Video is not sponsored.
Serdaco: www.serdashop.com
C Kersten (whose website appears in the video and who helped me conduct wavetable testing): members.home.nl/c.kersten/
LGR: / phreakindee
I love korg sounds especially the pads & soundscapes
I bought mine for the saxophone patch initially. That was enough to win me over. Then I discovered the rest of it was pretty goo too. Filters - unmatched in quality. I haven't used Roland or Yamaha boxes since I made the video. Only been playing Korg. I bought myself a Yucatan wavetable recently, which adds GS to Korg. I'd love to do a comparative review with S2, but I'm working 16 hour days. No time for anything. Not even to enjoy my MIDI collection, nevermind filming new things.
I'm glad I watched this video. I just ordered a NS5R from Japan and I had no idea about the step-down converter.
Well, technically, it's right on the line of tolerance. If you plugged it into 120, it likely wouldn't blow, but would heat up quickly, and you'd notice that. I examined the power coils in the transformer, and the way they did it, is they spit it into 100V and 120V. So for 220V regions, they combine the coils and for the rest they use 100V, even though all they'd have to do is hook up the 120V coil instead. I'd mod mine, but since non-invasive options are available, I go for that. With retro items, the less alteration - the better. By now the knob has gone unresponsive and I need to service or replace it. It's nothing special. Just friction and oxidation. Rubber membrane keys are still good. Since it's possible to feed all control commands though MIDI, I prefer doing it that way, so I don't touch the buttons, if I don't have to. I would love to get an NX5R as a backup, as this box has become my main workhorse, since I've done the review. I prefer this sound to all others, which is funny, because I grew up with Roland's. I have a dozen synths that I don't even touch anymore. Tastes change, I guess.
@@enilenis thanks for the detailed response. I just ordered a step-down converter simulator to the one you showed.
@@enilenis I, too, own the other three synth modules, so the Korg was the last piece I needed to complete my “LGR MIDI Mountain.”
@@ion-shivs Oh yes. I was glad that I bought all of my items before retro reviewers started informing public of all the hidden historical treasures. I got that MT-32 in there for $40, in mint condition. Roland MC-80 with internal hard drive and SC-88 onboard - $50. Never again will such prices exist. Everything that LGR covers, skyrockets in price. He has his own "Elon Musk Effect". Stuff that I ordered from Japan, like this Korg and MU-100 - the fees were horrendous. More than half the total price. I now buy local as much as possible. Just checking Craigslist regularly for all the major music brand names and see what's available. I already have everything I wanted, so don't need anything specifically. Just keeping an eye out. if something shows up on LGR, it's already too late to buy it.
@@enilenis Yeah, that’s totally true. Unfortunately I’ve been paying these new prices.
Hello enilenis, how can I make sound by the Yamaha DB50XG daughter board in my NS5R? Every bank makes soud only from Korg's own internal instrument set with or without any add in wavetable card. Thank you for answering.
Sorry for noticing the question so late. Comment notifications don't arrive sometimes. I have to check videos manually to see if there are any missed comments. For the wavetable I have a sped up piece at 6:40. By default wavetable is off. Channels are set to "A". Channel B are internal combination patches, and Channel C is wavetable board. It passes sound straight though, and the only control you have is the volume knob on the back. The rest of the synthesizer doesn't do anything when you're switching to wavetable. Bottom line is - if you slow down the video, you can see which menu I'm going into if you need to know where the setting is.
Great Video! I love wavetables. This is Awesome!
The only thing not awesome about them is the price. The best time to buy was 20 years ago and now even the crappiest ones with 4MB of samples rarely dip below $200. Since there wasn't a huge market for them, very few options remain in circulation.
Does this basically turn a NS5R in to a NX5R? I'm not sure if I'm understanding correctly. I'm wanting MIDI XG.
Internally both NS5R and NX5R are identical. NX5R is actually made with cheaper components and is slightly redesigned for cost-cutting, but function is exactly the same. If you want XG support, ideally you need a Yamaha wavetable. Serdaco board that I used is closer to SB AWE64 in terms of how it sounds. If you get a more expensive version, you can upload your own custom soundfonts and make it sound like any other wavetable, including XG. So it's up to you how you want to approach it. I'd go for XG myself, but it costs more than I'm willing to spend. Plus I already have a standalone Yamaha MU100 with full XG support. Getting a wavetable for Korg would be redundant.
@@enilenis Thank you very much for the info!
Can someone please tell me why I only get audio from the LEFT SPEAKER? Same combo, NS5R+Dreamblaster S2. Korg by itself, port A, sounds fine, tried, diff audio cable on Korg, formatting, reinstallation of S2, diff. Sound Card, optical and analog, all same result :( Am I doing something wrong or did I just get a faulty unit? Please help!
My bets are on there being something wrong with the Korg, and it's not configuration, but something electrical. Would have to follow traces that go from the wavetable to the output. Could even be that volume control pot on the back being loose. If it ever got bumped, it could've ripped a trace... look around that potentiometer to make sure the board looks proper. Pins 20 and 24 on the wavetable are line outputs. If you have a tester or an oscilloscope, you can check them to see if the sound comes out. If it does, then it's the Korg. If it doesn't, then it's the S2, which is highly unlikely, unless you installed it incorrectly. The thing about line output pins on the wavetable is that there is 12V right between them, so if you insert the wavetable off to either side, it'll will most definitely blow a channel, and likely take out the rest, so always have to be careful. Anyways, here's a link to wavetable pinout if you need it:
m.blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=spc9999&logNo=220933410242&proxyReferer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
If you don't have any test equipment, but perhaps just a soldering iron, you can hook up a speaker or a headphone manually to ground and then pin 20 and 24 to see if you can hear sound. I'm sure it's not the settings. It's something being broken inside the Korg.
You mention the Korg is noisy. Can you elaborate on that? I tried to google if anyone else had mentioned the noisiness of the Korg, but I didn't have much luck.
If I hook up oscilloscope to Korg, it'll show fluctuations, even when there is no MIDI coming in. Sometimes after it plays a sound, it will not completely fade out. Layering audio over itself will make the noise more apparent. Back when I was tracking down the source of noise I read on forums that it was likely due to the power supply filtering. If I had more Korg's to play with, I'd know for sure. If you don't have the issue, then you're in luck.
the NS5R is noisy, but if you record a bit before recording your music and highlight the noise, you can remove it with noise profile (its what i do)
Thanks
Папа я тебя люблю!😙
Is the patch list the same for both?
Yes. They are identical.
6:56 Wait, so none of the AWE64 cards have wavetable headers. But you could have external wavetable board connected to the joystick port. Right? Great video BTW!
Joystick port option is the way to go for most people, because that's what's going to be available. Sometimes sound is integrated onto the motherboard, and a joystick port extension is all there is. On my AWE64, that I had since it came out, there was a port, that I assumed was for a wavetable, and had no clue that the card had an integrated wavetable, and the section was for extra memory. First time I turned the wavetable on was 20 years after I bought it.
Ba ha ha - great editing! "Psssttt.... ALL modules do that!" rofl!
Thanks. I wanted to do more MIDI related content, but went busy with fulltime work, and now I only get time to edit at night. Hence I shifted to doing quieter things that don't wake up the neighbors though paper-thin walls. I'll get back into MIDI at some point, when I have a proper vacation, which I haven't seen in years.
@@enilenis Man that stinks! I hear what you are saying though - I enjoy being a teacher and getting a few weeks where I can just NOT do work stuff!
You're not 'wiredforservice' on Ebay are you?
No, I'm not. Is that a good or a bad thing? But one thing I do know is that one guy was impersonating me before and I had to deal with it.
Ha ha, no it's not a bad thing. I just happen to notice that the ES688 card that appeared briefly in your video appears to be the same model I am eyeing on Ebay. Is it any good, as opposed to the SP Pro 2? How does it compare to any later Es186X card, other than not being PnP?
I would definitely get ESS over an SP Pro due to compatibility with various games. I recently came across about 10 ESS cards. Haven't even catalogued them yet. At this point I have about 50 retro sound cards - enough to do an episode on, but the problem is I haven't tested even half of them. On my main rig I just keep SB AWE64 and Gravis Ultrasound Classic and I don't want to be swapping them out constantly, and messing with drivers. I've got the system fully stable and happy with it. It's a dual P3 1GHz. Monster machine with a long story. If I'm rested well enough, I'll do a short random episode on it tomorrow, because I haven't uploaded anything in months. Never have enough energy for it and weekends are too busy.
Anyways, ESS are a good bet always. Easy to work with. Plenty of drivers. No crazy config files. Pretty much a budget SB replacement with a wider range of software and a pretty good sound. Half the time I can't tell the difference. Been on ESS chips in the 90's and didn't bother me at all. I listen to all of the games I remember on SB64 and they sound the same to me. Not on GUS though. That one is for people who want to re-experience everything again for the first time... and the Transport Tycoon soundtrack sounds killer on that thing. It's one game that I always put on when testing new MIDI gear. The music there is so complex, that it really showcases ability of your equipment. I've got an absolute ton of MIDI gear since I made this episode. Tried shooting followups but the work is too massive. I need my spare time. I got a new SB-55 and SD-35. Did repairs on those, didn't even film it. Putting together a song right now on a mix of MC-80 and RM1X. That is progressing painfully slow. And in general, I just don't feel like doubling my work time just to film an episode. I'm more interested in actually working with MIDI for myself.
And the soundcard collection - I'm getting hardware quicker than I can find drivers for everything. Just recently found a Voodoo 3 at second hand for $4. Meanwhile some guy walked away with a MIDI sequencer just in front of me for $30. He had more luck, but at least he didn't notice the card. I walked away with my hands full of PCI and ISA goodness. I'd do thrifting episodes, but I don't want to copy LGR, even thought I find a ton of interesting computer stuff in my town. I've found about $10K worth of gear in the last 2 years and paid a total of maybe $200 for everything. It's much better deal than Craigslist or Ebay. On craigslist I get some good finds, but Ebay is typically a scam and a half.
It can't be WFS, the camera quality is too high. ;)
Instant like & sub just for the intro (although the content is awesome and would made me like&sub too) ♥
These days I mostly do video editing. Full-time work doesn't leave leave much room for hobbies. Electronics-wise, I have to things malfunction, in order to fix them. When nothing's broken, then there's nothing to modify and film. I did a car video once and people signed up, thinking it was going to be a car channel. But since then, my car hasn't had any issues, and I'm not about to break stuff, just for the sake of content.