Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed the end track and/or want to support me in making videos like this, please check it out here. alexball.bandcamp.com/track/korg-sigma-sun-stars Thank you!
@@retro-dademusic6403 ...I came here for the synth docs, but he really hooked me when he sang that song last year that reminded me so much of "money makes the world go 'round".
My mate played a Delta for years, He was renowned for employing both hands on the keyboard and moving the joystck with his Nose !! ... Forty odd years on and we still have a laugh about Nosing the Delta ... 👃
I used to use that trick, in at least two bands I was in! Great way to get a pitch bend with no hands free. If you buy a keyboard from a keyboard player, always wipe the pitch bend control with disinfectant. :D
@@AlexBallMusic - I am certain that I heard this thing in some of those early 80's new wave punk synth bands... love those old synths. Someone should map out the sounds so they can be run in the new Midi/USB boards generically available today. What a treasure.
its true, they are innovative, but, usually when ive gotten their gear, im dissapointed at the end of the day. But, ive only bought the oddball stuff, never a full size keyboard, bigger synth or something.... almost was going to get one of those new touch capacitance keyboards i think microkorg. because id like a synth that does synthesizer sounds of its own, that has CV output at the same time. since i own a modular. i thought that would be pretty cool. but i heard of some problems with the touch keys on that thing.
Nice, Alex. That ending was bizarrely fun :) Parts of it sounded like an old "In Search Of" intro theme music cassette tape that had been unwound a few times. Pretty sure I saw Bigfoot.
@@kgbinfo Hello there Kenneth! Hope that you are well? Yes, back in the days of my Moog Old School and you had a Voyager, if I'm not mistaken? Glad to see that you still love synths! Cool indeed!
Yet again another video proving that Mr. Alex Ball can make any instrument-no matter how obscure, rare, or oddball-sound freakin’ amazing! Great video!
I bought one of these off a couple of hippies for 40 quid in the 80s. it was mint. They claimed it had too many magical powers for them to cope with. Wish I still had it. Very strange obscure synth. So glad you are demoing these old Korgs.
Love, truly madly deeply, the quirky time signatures used in these tracks :) 7/4 really is a trip :) and the 8/8, 7/8 earlier had me wondering precisely where in the universe I was at that moment! Well played, in all the possible (overwhelmingly positive) ways that may be taken
After Rick Wakeman got sponsored by Korg, he left all his Minimoog's at home and used 2 of these for solos and melody lines in his live performances instead.
Guten Tag, tolles Video! The Sigma was my first analog monophonic synthesizer in 2005 and I used it very often as a performance synthesizer for the live gigs of my retro progressive rock band. His big advantages are this cool ring modulator and that you can combine all (!) of the presets. But the overall sound is rather metallic and thin compared to the Roland SH-2000 which has very similar performance features and presets plus a warmer, minimoog-like sound. Keep up your extraordinary videos!!
Yeah, quite a klanger this one! But it can be quite beefy at times. Hopefully I'll try the SH-2000 at some point. It has the Moog infringing filter in it, so that explains it!
Ah, once more my day is brightened by another of your fantastic videos. I always come away from your reviews feeling happy - duei n no small part to the amazing tracks you record with the synths. Salute!
"Rick Wakeman played one." Rick Wakeman played everything. What a fascinatingly weird little beast. I love the cutoff filter joystick. I bet it was used for effects and scoring in many 70s sci-fi movie soundtracks. Or maybe Turkish knockoff 70s sci-fi movie soundtracks. This is outstanding. Every time I think I've seen and heard and played 'em all, Alex, you pull another obscure machine out of retirement.
Yeah, Wakeman did a Reverb shop last year and he did have bloomin' everything. There was a Sigma in there. Goodness only knows what (if anything) the Sigma was used on. Quite possibly the Turkish sci-fi machine!
Wow! That was a nice journey back to my youth. I grew up in a small town with a small music gear shop. It offered a collection of the most requested instruments in such villages. In case of synths there were in fact just three of them: a Korg MS-20, something from Crumar which I don't remember exactly and - of course - one Korg Sigma. The owner of the shop had no clue of these instruments but he allowed me sometimes to explore them and the Sigma was truly my favourite. However I could'n afford it these days since I was young and still saving money for my bike. Great to see that the Sigma is not completely forgotten and that there's at least one still operational. By the way: on my Mac I have also the Fullbucket Stigma installed which is a (VST/AU) simulating the KORG Sigma. Thank you for the video.
In fact I don't think that synths in general had anything to do with the mainstream music in this town. This shop mainly sold acoustic guitars, brass instruments, entertainer organs and so on for tradional folky stuff. The owner surely just offered these synths to complete his portfolio and I assume he choose them just because of their pricing against brands like Moog, ARP etc. Another small anecdote: the MS-20 came accomplished by an SQ-10 but the shop owner was newer able to get it to work because "this thing was for professionals only". 😄
I played an Arp Pro Soloist in my 80's band in college. I kinda had a hard time using the key pressure for pitch bending - it definitely takes practice. This is an awesome video, by the way, and thank you for that! Best vintage keyboard channel on UA-cam. I get fired up any time you put out a new video. Wonderful stuff.
Yeah, if you're not used to it, it's too easy to accidentally engage it. Or it's too easy to not quite apply the right pressure. A bit like learning to bend strings on a guitar I guess.
Man, Alex.... watching your videos is either inspiring or demoralizing. On the one hand, I aspire to create as incredible material as you do, yet on the other hand, I don't see that ever happening lol. You do what I'd love to do - acquire vintage synths, make fantastic videos with them featuring the music you made on them. I don't know how you can afford them, or what your primary means of income is that allows you to do stuff like this, but that's also none of my business. Still, you make even the cheesiest divide-down Korgs sound fresh and modern without even the slightest hint of old. I always end up with very old, vintage style sounds, even when I'm trying for modernity. I always enjoy your videos!
Cheers Adam. You're very modest btw, my playing is pretty Mickey Mouse compared to yours. To answer your question, I don't own many of the synths that I feature. They're just passing through. That's a story unto itself and is possibly more annoying to hear than if I just had a massive pile of cash (which I don't). To that end, I've got some absolute stonkers lined up this year, fingers crossed. Trying to make hay whilst the sun shines.
@@AlexBallMusic I'm modest, but you're saying your playing is Mickey Mouse? It's more your compositional skills that I admire, I suppose. The melodies and rhythms are one thing, but your choice of sounds as well. Are you classically trained?
@@AdamBorseti Thanks Adam. I'm a guitarist really, I'm not a keyboard player, but I can work around my limits I guess. Yes, I have a degree in music composition. Was definitely worth doing way back when, helped immensely. Have you studied music formally?
I agree with Elsinore Bennet, you do make that crazy old things sound amazing. Alex you videos are like 3 for 1 they're enjoyable and they're about synths and there's a song in there somewhere. That was very enjoyable. Thank you...............
That Sigma was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I had to listen to the closing piece a few times for everything to sink in. Second hand values just soared because all of those sounds are relevant today.
I'd forgotten this thing ever existed. Thank you! Not actually heard it demonstrated before... of all the weird old synths I've seen on UA-cam, I think this has one of the most characteristic sounds. Amazing! And that ring mod does *sound* like cross mod to me, but I'm no engineer, so don't take my word for it. As a microtonal-curious student of the weird, the quarter tone thing really excited me at first. It's a shame it only works after you hold down an initial key though - but I think the brass trills were an excellent way to use it.
Quite the oddball isn't it! The "ring mod" is not quite a full ring mod, others have explained in the comments after looking at the schematic. I'll have to dig back for the explanation as I've already forgotten. Quarter tone - I wonder if it only works that way due to some trick in the keybed, like the ARP duophony thing. Does seem an odd way to implement it, so I wonder if they stumbled across it and made it a feature.
Absolutely brilliant. In 11 minutes of this 'synth demo', there's more creativity and good tunes than in the last 11 years of 'chart' music... and even most stuff played on Radio 6 at the moment, which tells you a lot...
Alright, but that opening jam. That was actually too cool. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go watch it about 37 more times. EDIT: After watching the entire video, I can confirm that you can make anything sound incredible. Ending song was absolutely wild.
I like your jam with this! I remember seeing something like this unit once at a radio shack as a kid, and was entranced by the oddness of the joysticks! I think it might have been a casio??? This tickles my Tron sfx loving glands in a huge way.
I own 4 Korg synths various types(X3, X5(rack), Triton Pro w/ MOSS, SP-250)... they're not vintage, but the X3 goes back to 1997... so getting there! LOL. But I love to see vintage equipment they just look so amazing... I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I think they're beautiful in their own way. And I like how you bring these to life with your demos!
Oh yes, the Sigma. Beautiful instrument! Never played one in real life though, but Full Bucket Music has made a free emulation of the Sigma, a swell as quite a lot of other Korg emulations. 😀
@@AlexBallMusic Bjorn there has done his version of the Delta, the Trident, PS-3100/3200/3300, Poly 800, VC-10 and Mono/Poly. Well worth checking out I think.
Came to the comments to see if anyone had mentioned Stigma. As with all of Bjorn's plug-ins, Stigma is a very faithful recreation of the original, with loads of bonus extras such as preset parameter tweaking and polyphony.
Late to the party as usual, but thanks for yet another cool demo Alex! I have a friend that consider this synth a must for his sound. To me, it's charming but not enough to make me want one, just like an old uncle of mine. He smells weird, and although he's friendly and inviting, I don't visit very often.... Cheers!
I had one thatI sold to a friend, so it's still in the family. The pressure keyboard combined with the ring mod makes it go from sweet to shreik in a most delightful way!
Wow this takes me back. This was my first synth which I had in my late teens, bought second hand from a colleague in the early 80s. I remember in that a couple of the rocker switches were physically damaged, still worked though, if you knew how to press them 🙂. Didn't realise at the time they were a limited edition. I wanted a poly synth so when funds allowed I let this one go and upgraded to a new Roland Juno 6. Which I still have.
Curious for more detail about the tone specific parameters Korg selected for the knobs above the tone switches, would love more detail on this. Great sounding keyboard, and as always great video!
Several are "A/R" which lengthens the attack and release time. Some are "Attack" and some "Decay", which just changes to attack and decay time. Some are "fc" which is the starting position of the filter cutoff. Some are "Tone" which is presumably an EQ. One is "PW" which is pulse width. The ring mod is "Synthe Pitch" which alters one of the axis of the ring mod.
@@AlexBallMusic Well, eight sliders with (MIDI-standard) 128 values each would give you a number of combinations with 16 zeros, so it's all a matter of perspective ;p
As always, nice synth demo :) I however really wanted to hear what it sounds like with all the sound switched activated simultaneously! No matter if its sounds awful or interresting.
Nicely done! How's chances on a Korg documentary in the future? They don't seem to get the love that Roland does, but I think they have been consistently killing it especially since the M1 was released.
I played one back in the early 80's in a music store. Never quite got my head around it and never seen one again until today. All weird synths will come to Alex sooner or later :)
Nice demonstation. The last track is....'very special' IMO. Just a bit too.......noisy/disharmonic. I wouldn't call it 'easy to listen to' but I guess it will expand my ear/brain if I listen to it over and over again. The part with the vocoder = LOVE. Oh and the 'Guten Tag' shocked me. Very good pronunciation!
I had the chance to get one in 1998 for around $ 75 and missed it. I didn't know too much about vintage equipment at that time, but I don't regret it. Right after I bought a Juno-106 that made a big difference in my learning to synthesizer programming. Anyway, the Sigma is a very unique machine, with very unique features and a very unique appearance.
3:50 Not even joking, That's so good. Sounds like it should be on the first QOTSA S/T album. That's a top 5 album, all other albums are judge against that album, and that riff would fit snuggly in it. Throw some of Homme's Ohhhh's and Aaaaahhhhh's on it and I'm in. I love it.
The Korg Zigma is very rare indeed, the Human League used a Delta in the Dare album and you can hear it in the song "I'm the Law". The only I got the chance to see and hear is the Lambda and I can tell you is my favorite string synthesizer followed by the VP-330. Once again another brilliant video by Alex Ball, I think is the only person who can make a toy piano sound amazing and make a terrific song with it.
Thanks Carlos. Good info on the Delta, I didn't know that. I knew they used some Korg monosynths. Still hoping to try a Lambda, I'm told by everyone who has played one that they're fantastic.
@@AlexBallMusic Yes, Human League used several Korg synths back then, they have others like the 770 and the MS-20. Mainly, Human League in their beginings used Japanese synths and sequencers, Korg, Roland, Yamaha and Casio, the only thing American was the Linn LM-1 in the Dare album. Cheers!
Rare and strange but makes a kind of sense when you look at what came later. Even my Novation Xiosynth has both a joystick and an xy pad for controlling parameters.
Hey another tech thing to explain! The 'ring mod' on the Sigma is not a true FQM (four quadrant multiplier), but to call it cross mod is also incomplete IMHO. It's an amplitude modulator that takes the two synth signals as carrier and modulator inputs, based on a single JFET which is used as an attenuator, and the output voltage Vout is proportional to Vcarr(Vmod) for Vmod > 0, and Vout = 0 when Vmod < 0. This is then summed with the original carrier signal, so that when the modulator voltage is low, the output is equal to the inverse of the carrier signal, or Vout ≈ -Vcarr, and when the modulator voltage is high, the output of the JFET is effectively cancelled out, so Vout ≈ Vcarr. We can see that this makes the output swing high when both signals are positive or negative (i.e. have the same polarity), and swings low when they are differing in polarity. Thus, we get Vout ≈ Vcarr(Vmod) across all four quadrants, so we have a FQM in theory. In practice, though, the solution gives clunky results that are very sensitive to changes in input amplitude and polarity, so it falls short of what I would call a true FQM. As to whether or not it's a cross mod, well I guess it is, but by that definition, ring mod is also a type of cross mod, so idk... Still, I've seen worse from Korg, and it's still an awesome circuit. I know this one was heavy, but there's no easy way to explain the electronics of ring modulators. Nevertheless, I hope it provides some clarity as to what you're hearing. If not, I'd be willing to make a video on ring mod in general to explain it in more detail. Thanks, and have a wonderful day!
Awesome - first time I've seen/heard what the Sigma is capable of. Brilliant with the odd-time signature tracks - too few of those around! 🙂 PS: More face reviews, please! 😃
Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed the end track and/or want to support me in making videos like this, please check it out here.
alexball.bandcamp.com/track/korg-sigma-sun-stars
Thank you!
Ow yes! I really like this track at the end :) Thanks!
Done and done. I hope you continue making bits like this after you are recruited into the cinema and theme writing industry!
@@Jerome_TV_01 Thanks!
@@flounderguts Much appreciated!
Years ago: came for the gear, still here for the music. This guy could make a fire alarm sound good.
Thanks for sticking around!
@@AlexBallMusic You too, My Friend.
@@retro-dademusic6403 ...I came here for the synth docs, but he really hooked me when he sang that song last year that reminded me so much of "money makes the world go 'round".
@@retro-dademusic6403 what happened to the instagram page?
@@sliccricc1654 became too overwhelming 😕
Guten Tag!!!
Ja servus
Guten Tag 😀
Gluten free?
@@graxjpg 😅
"I wanna know if it can deliver on this post-punk, electro-jive, prog-funk jam".
My mate played a Delta for years,
He was renowned for employing both hands on the keyboard and moving the joystck with his Nose !! ...
Forty odd years on and we still have a laugh about Nosing the Delta ... 👃
He nose what he's doing.
I used to use that trick, in at least two bands I was in! Great way to get a pitch bend with no hands free. If you buy a keyboard from a keyboard player, always wipe the pitch bend control with disinfectant. :D
The nose knows.
the Delta is a great string machine!
You sure he wasn't, err, sniffing up something? How's his nose? Needed reconstructive surgery?
You make that crazy old thing sound amazing and edgy and retro at the same time.
Thanks. Certainly some gnarly sounds in that thing, as well as some comical ones!
I played one of these in 1987 when they were really out of vogue. Great demo tunes but I really like that little 15/8 diddy in the middle. Cheers.
The Sigma began life out of vogue and then ran with it!
15/8 is a fitting time signature for such an oddball synth.
Cheers!
@@AlexBallMusic - I am certain that I heard this thing in some of those early 80's new wave punk synth bands... love those old synths. Someone should map out the sounds so they can be run in the new Midi/USB boards generically available today. What a treasure.
a piece of little known trivia, geert van schlanger used this on the music for the video "two schticks is better than one"
And it’s sequel “2 schticks in each Chick”
Somehow it felt like the quirkiest synth to date. And I loved it!
I think an arcade machine and an organ got freaky.
It's what I've loved about Korg, they've made some odd ball synths over the years but that's what makes them unique. Great demo as usual.
Yep, probably my favourite thing about Korg.
its true, they are innovative, but, usually when ive gotten their gear, im dissapointed at the end of the day. But, ive only bought the oddball stuff, never a full size keyboard, bigger synth or something.... almost was going to get one of those new touch capacitance keyboards i think microkorg. because id like a synth that does synthesizer sounds of its own, that has CV output at the same time. since i own a modular. i thought that would be pretty cool. but i heard of some problems with the touch keys on that thing.
Nice, Alex. That ending was bizarrely fun :)
Parts of it sounded like an old "In Search Of" intro theme music cassette tape that had been unwound a few times. Pretty sure I saw Bigfoot.
This has to be the most "Japanese sounding" synth that I've ever heard. Nice review! Thanks for sharing.
Quite like the MS-20 combined with something else. Quite weird.
But yeah, Japanese for sure!
Hey Alain! Been a long time. We chatted a bit back in the day on the Moog forums and collaborated a couple times. Cool bumping into you again!
@@kgbinfo
Hello there Kenneth! Hope that you are well? Yes, back in the days of my Moog Old School and you had a Voyager, if I'm not mistaken? Glad to see that you still love synths! Cool indeed!
3:50 it's like the music played in the evil guy's club in a cheezy 80s movie.
Got the popcorn. When does this movie start?
Yet again another video proving that Mr. Alex Ball can make any instrument-no matter how obscure, rare, or oddball-sound freakin’ amazing! Great video!
Cheers. I could try making music with a kazoo and a loan castanet, but I feel the synth helps. ;)
Alex, this is one of your greatest ever. the song at the end is so unbelievably awesome. you are a gem my friend.
I bought one of these off a couple of hippies for 40 quid in the 80s. it was mint. They claimed it had too many magical powers for them to cope with. Wish I still had it. Very strange obscure synth. So glad you are demoing these old Korgs.
Love, truly madly deeply, the quirky time signatures used in these tracks :) 7/4 really is a trip :) and the 8/8, 7/8 earlier had me wondering precisely where in the universe I was at that moment! Well played, in all the possible (overwhelmingly positive) ways that may be taken
This odd synth demands odd time.
After Rick Wakeman got sponsored by Korg, he left all his Minimoog's at home and used 2 of these for solos and melody lines in his live performances instead.
Guten Tag, tolles Video! The Sigma was my first analog monophonic synthesizer in 2005 and I used it very often as a performance synthesizer for the live gigs of my retro progressive rock band. His big advantages are this cool ring modulator and that you can combine all (!) of the presets. But the overall sound is rather metallic and thin compared to the Roland SH-2000 which has very similar performance features and presets plus a warmer, minimoog-like sound. Keep up your extraordinary videos!!
Yeah, quite a klanger this one! But it can be quite beefy at times.
Hopefully I'll try the SH-2000 at some point. It has the Moog infringing filter in it, so that explains it!
This has to be one of my favorite Korg Synths! I just love expressivity.
Yeah, designed for performance I guess.
Wasn't expecting that video sequence near the end. Lol. Great stuff!
Wheel out a bit of obscure Japanese TV to accompany the weird synth. :)
@@AlexBallMusic well played
Ah, once more my day is brightened by another of your fantastic videos. I always come away from your reviews feeling happy - duei n no small part to the amazing tracks you record with the synths. Salute!
Awesome demo and outro music yet again!
Thanks!
Ah, the 70, decade of prog and other kinds of madness. Love it! :D
Awesome compositions, Alex!
Gute Nacht!
Guess there is some prog hangover in this thing now you say it.
Alex always has the coolest original music in his videos. Thanks now I want one of these rare unobtainable synths.
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.
So you play guitars, keys, violin, double bass etc. Pretty impressive. I'll be checking out your music. Say hi to Geert!
Hi Mischter Arsetoni.
wish Korg would re-release crazy stuff like this. Awesome outro song btw!
I really love this format of yours. Short video on a half forgotten, yet interesting piece of gear and some music to go with it.
Thanks Jakob, I've been experimenting with it so that's good to hear.
"Rick Wakeman played one."
Rick Wakeman played everything.
What a fascinatingly weird little beast. I love the cutoff filter joystick. I bet it was used for effects and scoring in many 70s sci-fi movie soundtracks. Or maybe Turkish knockoff 70s sci-fi movie soundtracks.
This is outstanding. Every time I think I've seen and heard and played 'em all, Alex, you pull another obscure machine out of retirement.
Yeah, Wakeman did a Reverb shop last year and he did have bloomin' everything. There was a Sigma in there.
Goodness only knows what (if anything) the Sigma was used on. Quite possibly the Turkish sci-fi machine!
He had a Trident which I lusted over for many years. The price is way out of my league now. I think he was/ is sponsored by Kong
Wow! That was a nice journey back to my youth. I grew up in a small town with a small music gear shop. It offered a collection of the most requested instruments in such villages. In case of synths there were in fact just three of them: a Korg MS-20, something from Crumar which I don't remember exactly and - of course - one Korg Sigma. The owner of the shop had no clue of these instruments but he allowed me sometimes to explore them and the Sigma was truly my favourite. However I could'n afford it these days since I was young and still saving money for my bike. Great to see that the Sigma is not completely forgotten and that there's at least one still operational. By the way: on my Mac I have also the Fullbucket Stigma installed which is a (VST/AU) simulating the KORG Sigma. Thank you for the video.
The most requested instruments were the MS-20, Sigma and a Crumar! Well, well, well.
What was the most popular local music?
In fact I don't think that synths in general had anything to do with the mainstream music in this town. This shop mainly sold acoustic guitars, brass instruments, entertainer organs and so on for tradional folky stuff. The owner surely just offered these synths to complete his portfolio and I assume he choose them just because of their pricing against brands like Moog, ARP etc. Another small anecdote: the MS-20 came accomplished by an SQ-10 but the shop owner was newer able to get it to work because "this thing was for professionals only". 😄
Love the playing and preso, as always, dude!
Thanks John!
I played an Arp Pro Soloist in my 80's band in college. I kinda had a hard time using the key pressure for pitch bending - it definitely takes practice. This is an awesome video, by the way, and thank you for that! Best vintage keyboard channel on UA-cam. I get fired up any time you put out a new video. Wonderful stuff.
Yeah, if you're not used to it, it's too easy to accidentally engage it. Or it's too easy to not quite apply the right pressure.
A bit like learning to bend strings on a guitar I guess.
As always superb presentation Alex! Such a cool sounding synth! Loving it! Vintage Korg is just amazing!!!
Yeah nice grubby sound to their 70s stuff, in a good way. So much fun.
Joysticks are really cool. It so interesting to see them on older all in one synthesizers. Great video!
Appeals to the kid in us I guess. I went straight for the joysticks!
What a great sounding synth! All the music you made with it in this video was excellent. Kudos.
Thanks!
I'm always so happy to see a new post by you!
Thank you!
Man, Alex.... watching your videos is either inspiring or demoralizing. On the one hand, I aspire to create as incredible material as you do, yet on the other hand, I don't see that ever happening lol. You do what I'd love to do - acquire vintage synths, make fantastic videos with them featuring the music you made on them. I don't know how you can afford them, or what your primary means of income is that allows you to do stuff like this, but that's also none of my business. Still, you make even the cheesiest divide-down Korgs sound fresh and modern without even the slightest hint of old. I always end up with very old, vintage style sounds, even when I'm trying for modernity. I always enjoy your videos!
Cheers Adam. You're very modest btw, my playing is pretty Mickey Mouse compared to yours.
To answer your question, I don't own many of the synths that I feature. They're just passing through. That's a story unto itself and is possibly more annoying to hear than if I just had a massive pile of cash (which I don't).
To that end, I've got some absolute stonkers lined up this year, fingers crossed. Trying to make hay whilst the sun shines.
@@AlexBallMusic I'm modest, but you're saying your playing is Mickey Mouse? It's more your compositional skills that I admire, I suppose. The melodies and rhythms are one thing, but your choice of sounds as well. Are you classically trained?
@@AdamBorseti Thanks Adam. I'm a guitarist really, I'm not a keyboard player, but I can work around my limits I guess.
Yes, I have a degree in music composition. Was definitely worth doing way back when, helped immensely.
Have you studied music formally?
What an awesomely bonkers machine, and kind of unique sounding too. Great stuff :-)
Yep, quite to goofball!
The synth is pretty weird too.
I agree with Elsinore Bennet, you do make that crazy old things sound amazing. Alex you videos are like 3 for 1 they're enjoyable and they're about synths and there's a song in there somewhere. That was very enjoyable. Thank you...............
Thanks Tony, nice to hear!
Great vid, very interesting synth, thank you Mr Ball.
Full Bucket Music makes nice emulations of Korg vintage synths and I'm pretty sure this one is included as well.
It looks like a well used but well loved beauty. Great music Alex ☺️☺️
Cheers Dervish!
That was one of my favorite sounding synths I grew up with while learning to play and program as a youngster.
A peculiar one to learn on no doubt!
That last jam was lovely :). I love hearing time signatures that slam like that, amazing :).
A synth as weird as the Sigma is asking to be played in odd time.
That Sigma was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I had to listen to the closing piece a few times for everything to sink in. Second hand values just soared because all of those sounds are relevant today.
Glad you enjoyed it. There doesn't seem to be much of a second hand market as there's too few around.
Another amazing video!! The music you did for this one was off the rails cool!! Brilliant!!
Thank you Todd!
Your audio mixing sounds massive on all devices.
Good to know! Cheers.
@@AlexBallMusic As someone who is listening to this video on the most decrepit laptop speakers ever, i can attest to what this guy is saying.
Even on a mobile, Sounds super fat
Alex, hello!
Thank you, I wasn't familiar with this synthesizer until this day. It was laconic!
Special thanks for the finale.
Thanks Serge.
I love the track at the end very much, especially the dissonant parts. Nice! 🤩
Thanks. Always nice to add a bit of crunch.
that just blew my mind, and i'm an old analog guy! thanks so much for this killer demo of this amazing and unsung synth!
Thanks. Glad to have still surprised an experienced analog connoisseur!
I'd forgotten this thing ever existed. Thank you! Not actually heard it demonstrated before... of all the weird old synths I've seen on UA-cam, I think this has one of the most characteristic sounds. Amazing! And that ring mod does *sound* like cross mod to me, but I'm no engineer, so don't take my word for it.
As a microtonal-curious student of the weird, the quarter tone thing really excited me at first. It's a shame it only works after you hold down an initial key though - but I think the brass trills were an excellent way to use it.
Quite the oddball isn't it!
The "ring mod" is not quite a full ring mod, others have explained in the comments after looking at the schematic. I'll have to dig back for the explanation as I've already forgotten.
Quarter tone - I wonder if it only works that way due to some trick in the keybed, like the ARP duophony thing. Does seem an odd way to implement it, so I wonder if they stumbled across it and made it a feature.
@@AlexBallMusic Thanks - I'll check out the ring mod comments shortly.
Making features out of accidents is a tried and tested design approach :)
Absolutely brilliant. In 11 minutes of this 'synth demo', there's more creativity and good tunes than in the last 11 years of 'chart' music... and even most stuff played on Radio 6 at the moment, which tells you a lot...
Alright, but that opening jam. That was actually too cool. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go watch it about 37 more times.
EDIT: After watching the entire video, I can confirm that you can make anything sound incredible. Ending song was absolutely wild.
Doesn't sound like it looks! Quite the oddball synth.
Or should that be synthe?
sounds a lot like depeche mode. bet martin gore has one of these...
Your videos make me happy.
Thanks!
a lot of tremendous track ideas inside! :)
Brilliant as ever Alex. I can imagine back in the 70s, Geert making sexy music with two joysticks.
I like your jam with this!
I remember seeing something like this unit once at a radio shack as a kid, and was entranced by the oddness of the joysticks! I think it might have been a casio??? This tickles my Tron sfx loving glands in a huge way.
I own 4 Korg synths various types(X3, X5(rack), Triton Pro w/ MOSS, SP-250)... they're not vintage, but the X3 goes back to 1997... so getting there! LOL. But I love to see vintage equipment they just look so amazing... I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I think they're beautiful in their own way. And I like how you bring these to life with your demos!
I'll get round to 90s synths in about 2035. ;)
@@AlexBallMusic Well, I don't blame you, So many Synths... So little time... I'll mark my calendar 2035, By chance, will that be on a Tuesday? 😁
Always really enjoy your sound selections Alex good on ya
Thank you!
What a masterpiece of a synth! Oh, and that's 2432902008176640000 combinations :)
It is actually 1,048,576. That's not even a joke.
@@AlexBallMusic Correct, 1,048,576 is number of discrete combinations of the 20 switches, same as 20 bits of information in binary.
@@AlexBallMusic I would say that it is 1,048,575 - unless it also plays with them all turned off.
Oh yes, the Sigma. Beautiful instrument! Never played one in real life though, but Full Bucket Music has made a free emulation of the Sigma, a swell as quite a lot of other Korg emulations. 😀
Oh is there? I wondered if anybody had bothered doing that.
@@AlexBallMusic Bjorn there has done his version of the Delta, the Trident, PS-3100/3200/3300, Poly 800, VC-10 and Mono/Poly. Well worth checking out I think.
@@baward Thank you!
Yeah, the Full Bucket Audio recreations are awesome. Well worth checking out. 👍
Came to the comments to see if anyone had mentioned Stigma. As with all of Bjorn's plug-ins, Stigma is a very faithful recreation of the original, with loads of bonus extras such as preset parameter tweaking and polyphony.
Intro sounds got a SOLID face-scrunch review
I'm in love with "Your Host This Evening"
We need an accompanying game show for it.
@@AlexBallMusic Would it be cool if I recorded a jazzy cover of the tune?
The sounds are amazing.
Your demo parts are really inventive Alex, and transcend loads of styles 👍
Thank you!
Thanks alex. Pretty happy you are doing odd synths. There are a ton out there for you to do. Getting tired of jupiter demos et al.
Thanks Michael, glad to be able to supply the weirdess.
Although, a couple of Jupiters are actually lined up for videos. 😬
Late to the party as usual, but thanks for yet another cool demo Alex! I have a friend that consider this synth a must for his sound. To me, it's charming but not enough to make me want one, just like an old uncle of mine. He smells weird, and although he's friendly and inviting, I don't visit very often.... Cheers!
Hey Espen. Yep, quite the oddball. Some really cool sounds in there though, which is suprising considering that it looks like a bit of furniture.
My week just got better! Looking forward to a lambda or trident video!
Would love to do those if I can.
I had one thatI sold to a friend, so it's still in the family. The pressure keyboard combined with the ring mod makes it go from sweet to shreik in a most delightful way!
Yes! All about the ring mod.
Cool synth, totally overlooked the Sigma for over 40 years lol. Thanks for sharing your amazing demo skills :-)
Yeah, looks like an organ, doesn't sound like you'd expect!
Just plain brilliant!
Sounds awesome as always Alex!!
Thanks Peter. Yeah, it only had a brief moment of exposure before it was retired.
Jesus. Surprisingly deep performance synth. I bet you just put up the used prices with this. :) Interesting wee beastie.
Quite an eyebrow raiser, yeah.
There's so few for sale that the prices are difficult to put up I guess.
Wow this takes me back. This was my first synth which I had in my late teens, bought second hand from a colleague in the early 80s. I remember in that a couple of the rocker switches were physically damaged, still worked though, if you knew how to press them 🙂. Didn't realise at the time they were a limited edition. I wanted a poly synth so when funds allowed I let this one go and upgraded to a new Roland Juno 6. Which I still have.
You have mastered the scheme, Ball!
Curious for more detail about the tone specific parameters Korg selected for the knobs above the tone switches, would love more detail on this.
Great sounding keyboard, and as always great video!
Several are "A/R" which lengthens the attack and release time.
Some are "Attack" and some "Decay", which just changes to attack and decay time.
Some are "fc" which is the starting position of the filter cutoff.
Some are "Tone" which is presumably an EQ.
One is "PW" which is pulse width.
The ring mod is "Synthe Pitch" which alters one of the axis of the ring mod.
20 synthe and instrument switches (including the ring mod) means 2^20=1,048,576 combinations 🤓 Awesome video, loved "The Joy of Sticks"!
Yep! Mental.
@@AlexBallMusic Well, eight sliders with (MIDI-standard) 128 values each would give you a number of combinations with 16 zeros, so it's all a matter of perspective ;p
As always, nice synth demo :)
I however really wanted to hear what it sounds like with all the sound switched activated simultaneously! No matter if its sounds awful or interresting.
I'll have to do that and stick it on Instagram. Probably crap, like turning all the knobs to max on a pedal or amp.
@@AlexBallMusic YES, please do! :D
Wow! Really cool synth
These reviews are SO inspiring. I want to switch on my gear and do some music NOW! (too bad I'm in bed at the moment)
Nicely done! How's chances on a Korg documentary in the future? They don't seem to get the love that Roland does, but I think they have been consistently killing it especially since the M1 was released.
There is this: ua-cam.com/play/PLS-pN_Fz3OFcMKK7z16ART6aeeqGrIfq8.html
I'd love to if the stars aligned, but it would be a whopper.
fantastic sounds!
4:30 a synth jam in 15/8? Awesome!
I played one back in the early 80's in a music store. Never quite got my head around it and never seen one again until today. All weird synths will come to Alex sooner or later :)
Ditto!
Welcome back to the early 80s in that case! Still as weird as it was then.
Great video I love your channel ❤️
Always entertaining!
Thanks for tuning in.
Now here's a synth we're definitely not going to be seeing cloned by Behringer anytime soon 🤔
Haha. Yeah, not clone material.
Let's hope the SK30 does
Good job Alex. Well done.
Thanks Ian.
Nice demonstation. The last track is....'very special' IMO. Just a bit too.......noisy/disharmonic. I wouldn't call it 'easy to listen to' but I guess it will expand my ear/brain if I listen to it over and over again. The part with the vocoder = LOVE. Oh and the 'Guten Tag' shocked me. Very good pronunciation!
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't want the demo to be too nice, the synth is quite gnarly after all.
Great stuff!!
Cheers Clemens.
I had the chance to get one in 1998 for around $ 75 and missed it. I didn't know too much about vintage equipment at that time, but I don't regret it. Right after I bought a Juno-106 that made a big difference in my learning to synthesizer programming. Anyway, the Sigma is a very unique machine, with very unique features and a very unique appearance.
It's a great little weirdo, but a Juno-106 was the way to go!
strongly channeling apparat organ quartet for that outro track, very nice
Never heard of them, thanks for the tip!
3:50 Not even joking, That's so good. Sounds like it should be on the first QOTSA S/T album. That's a top 5 album, all other albums are judge against that album, and that riff would fit snuggly in it. Throw some of Homme's Ohhhh's and Aaaaahhhhh's on it and I'm in. I love it.
Wow this is such a unique sounding synth!
Or "synths". It's like a bunch of them in a box.
There's a decent VST emulation called 'Stigma' out there. Sounds great and is free.
What is this music genre? SynthBall's Music? Top notch, like the very best out there... Jesus....
I don't really know. Synth riffing?
The Korg Zigma is very rare indeed, the Human League used a Delta in the Dare album and you can hear it in the song "I'm the Law".
The only I got the chance to see and hear is the Lambda and I can tell you is my favorite string synthesizer followed by the VP-330.
Once again another brilliant video by Alex Ball, I think is the only person who can make a toy piano sound amazing and make a terrific song with it.
Thanks Carlos. Good info on the Delta, I didn't know that. I knew they used some Korg monosynths.
Still hoping to try a Lambda, I'm told by everyone who has played one that they're fantastic.
@@AlexBallMusic Yes, Human League used several Korg synths back then, they have others like the 770 and the MS-20.
Mainly, Human League in their beginings used Japanese synths and sequencers, Korg, Roland, Yamaha and Casio, the only thing American was the Linn LM-1 in the Dare album.
Cheers!
You make that weird amazing quirky synth sing
Rare and strange but makes a kind of sense when you look at what came later. Even my Novation Xiosynth has both a joystick and an xy pad for controlling parameters.
Hey another tech thing to explain! The 'ring mod' on the Sigma is not a true FQM (four quadrant multiplier), but to call it cross mod is also incomplete IMHO. It's an amplitude modulator that takes the two synth signals as carrier and modulator inputs, based on a single JFET which is used as an attenuator, and the output voltage Vout is proportional to Vcarr(Vmod) for Vmod > 0, and Vout = 0 when Vmod < 0. This is then summed with the original carrier signal, so that when the modulator voltage is low, the output is equal to the inverse of the carrier signal, or Vout ≈ -Vcarr, and when the modulator voltage is high, the output of the JFET is effectively cancelled out, so Vout ≈ Vcarr. We can see that this makes the output swing high when both signals are positive or negative (i.e. have the same polarity), and swings low when they are differing in polarity. Thus, we get Vout ≈ Vcarr(Vmod) across all four quadrants, so we have a FQM in theory. In practice, though, the solution gives clunky results that are very sensitive to changes in input amplitude and polarity, so it falls short of what I would call a true FQM. As to whether or not it's a cross mod, well I guess it is, but by that definition, ring mod is also a type of cross mod, so idk... Still, I've seen worse from Korg, and it's still an awesome circuit.
I know this one was heavy, but there's no easy way to explain the electronics of ring modulators. Nevertheless, I hope it provides some clarity as to what you're hearing. If not, I'd be willing to make a video on ring mod in general to explain it in more detail. Thanks, and have a wonderful day!
Thanks! That's awesome.
@@AlexBallMusic My pleasure!
how did I miss this insane video? that thing sound INSANE. I hope Behringer does a clone on this before I die, with tons of mods added to it.
Awesome - first time I've seen/heard what the Sigma is capable of. Brilliant with the odd-time signature tracks - too few of those around! 🙂
PS: More face reviews, please! 😃
Face review special if I get to 100k.
@@AlexBallMusic Brilliant 😃🤞👍
Actually never heard of the sigma before. Such a great surprise - and that tune at the end, I mean.. damn! 🤘
I guess it's largely forgotten and it doesn't look like a synth, so nobody talks about it.