The experimental electromechanical 8-voice instrument, after a long gestation period at KORG Berlin’s skunkworks R&D, is now going public. That means this unique set of sequenced steel resonators is making its way off the laboratory table and into the wild.
I have one of these, so you’ll be hearing some music from me soon. But it’s worth checking out how a company like KORG markets something so far afield of its usual product lines. (It is, inexplicably, categorized in the “DJ” line — okay, one of us should make that DJ set happen!)
The phase8 isn’t entirely unprecedented — it’s a little like what would happen in a thought experiment if you turned a Fender Rhodes inside-out and added a sequencer. (Answer: you would get something that wasn’t anything like a Fender Rhodes.)
But it’s been a long time since we saw this kind of research-driven instrument go beyond just a proof of concept at a big manufacturer. It took Tatsuya Takahashi far from Japan to a freshly-built Berlin office on the edge of Kreuzberg’s Görlitzer Park. In that self-contained research facility, waves of designers contributed to its evolution. (That, in turn, was fed by the no-rules process Tats had at Red Bull Music Academy — more like making an experimental airplane than a conventional musical instrument.)
And the resulting instrument has some points to make for its unusual design and focus on acoustic and electro-mechanical operation:
- 13 chromatically tuned resonators, 8 of which you can choose — and you can swap and tune these to your design (meaning you don’t have a single restricted scale)
- Envelope control, for percussive sounds, drawn-out sounds, and realms in between
- Polymetric rhythmic sequencer — with memories and step skip, so even that KORG volca DNA found its way in here
- Modulation, tremolo, and even a modulation type with harmonic quantization
- Trigger delay (with the shift knob)
- Parameter automation and sequencing
And then you can actually do physical stuff with the tines, as you would if you opened an electric or acoustic piano and messed around. You can even do preparations with objects. There’s an AIR slider to adjust the response as you do this, so that interaction is designed in.
They could have gone purist and left out conventional I/O, but you also get MIDI in and out, analog sync in and out, and USB MIDI and sync.
To reward early adopters, they also have limited edition resonators:
The phase8 presale exclusive package includes three selected limited-edition percussive resonators. Created through experimentation beyond the standard chromatic set, these resonators are designed for open-ended, tactile sound exploration—each offering its own distinctive percussive character.
More on the product:
https://www.korg.com/products/dj/phase8
And they’ve created a special minisite with more:
Available in presale from retailers:
Phase8 Acoustic Synthesizer (Launch Edition) – Perfect Circuit
Korg phase8 8-voice Acoustic Synthesizer – Launch Edition – Sweetwater
Korg Phase8 Limited Edition – Thomann