Korg released its fist mass-produced monophonic synthesizer in 1973, which was followed a year later by an improved version, and it's this latter model that's provided the inspiration for the limited run miniKorg 700FS.
The first thing you'll notice about the miniKorg 700FS is the array of controls under the 37-note keyboard. This placement is due to the original synths being created as sub keyboards, which would sit above a main stage piano or organ and be used to pump out additional leads or bass lines. So putting controls to the front rather than to the top at the back makes perfect sense.
The FS continues the two-oscillator design of the 700S (the original 700 model only had one oscillator), and carries over its ring modulator. The Traveler controller is also present and correct, for adjusting filter cutoffs using two sliders to produce wah-wah, muted sounds and more.
The controller on the original 700 had lips on the sliders to prevent overlaps, which could in theory result in no sound being produced, but some players would remove the protrusions to enable them to experiment with new sounds. The new FS is also protrusion-free.
New to the FS is a joystick for pitch bending and modulation control, and a spring reverb. Aftertouch – where an effect such as vibrato is triggered by applying pressure to a key after it's been struck – has been added too. And where legacy players may have had to write down the positions of controls on paper to recall different sounds, the FS includes a new memory program button instead.
The new 29.29 x 11.02 x 4.8-in (744 x 280 x 122-mm) miniKorg also gets an arpeggiator, a USB (Type B) port, MIDI in, and a CV/Gate jack. And players are given the option of mono or stereo output, or a headphone jack.
The miniKorg 700FS has been developed together with the miniKorg's original designer, Fumio Mieda, and comes with its own suitcase for between-gig transport, as well as a software bundle including Izotope, Skoove and Reason Lite.
What we don't know as of writing is the price, release date and exactly how limited this limited edition will be. The video below has more.
Product page: miniKorg 700FS