GearJunkies has hit the rumor mill again with photos and specs on a new Korg keyboard called the TR. Apparently, it’s real — see the Japanese spec page. Built-in USB, pattern and groove sequencing, and basic sampling features with recording onto SD media could be cool. But here’s a back to the future moment for you: it has 64 MB of PCM ROM sounds. According to GearJunkie’s linked specs, that’s “64 MB PCM waveform memory is jammed with new sample data and programs, including new dynamic and spacious piano and acoustic instrument sounds.”
Ah, yes, there’s nothing like the spacious piano and acoustic sounds in 64 MB of ROM. (Kids, this is a joke. Ask your elders some time about what keyboards were like in the early 90s. Yes, before Reason and NI Kontakt.)
Korg has been coming up with some great hardware lately. I’ll go see if I can find out some non-rumor information on this, though sometimes it takes a while for info from Korg Japan to reach Korg USA, so they may know as little about this as we do. And maybe that “spacious” quote is just a translation error.
UPDATED: Don’t know why Gear Junkies didn’t notice this, but there’s English-language information on Korg’s website. No pricing there, but I’ll work on a full write-up with more soon. And it does look like the basic idea is going retro here, with some “classic” Korg sounds. -PK