Korg Introduces Dual Manual BX-3 Combo Organ

(Click for a close-up of the keyboard and controls)

Following the successful re-birth of the legendary CX-3 Organ, Korg is now offering an enhanced dual manual version of this classic -- the new Korg BX-3 Combo Organ. The BX-3 captures all the characteristics and complexities of a classic tone wheel organ, and adds an extensive new feature set including a "waterfall" keybed, plus pitch bend and modulation wheels. A wooden cabinet with matching stand gives the new combo organ plenty of style.

Each manual has 61 keys, full polyphony, and "waterfall" keybeds, which provide the authentic look and feel of a classic organ. Korg's Tone Wheel Organ Modeling Generator accurately recreates this unique sound (including two different tone wheel sounds -- Vintage and Clean), can reproduce the mechanical noise generated by the tone wheels (Leakage), and can also control the tone wheel overtone levels. In addition, full keyclick control is available (both down and up) to simulate the much-desired dirty key contact sound of an older instrument.

Two sets of nine drawbars can be assigned to either manual, with careful attention paid to sonically emulating the proper foldback settings and individual harmonic distortion. A new Key Scaling feature selects a specific tone color for the overall drawbar sound. Classic vibrato and chorus settings of a true tone wheel organ are provided and can be assigned to each keyboard. In addition, fully programmable percussion offers control over volume, decay rate and selectable second and third harmonic settings.

Featuring 128 editable programs (64 regular/64 EX mode), the BX-3 covers a wide range of organ sounds, including pop, hard rock, jazz, gospel and rhythm & blues. The EX mode extends the drawbar and percussion possibilities by linking all 18 drawbars into a full range of 13 tonal harmonics and up to five variable percussion harmonics at the same time. While the EX mode occupies all of the physical drawbars, two software drawbars are still available for use with the lower manual.

The BX-3 also has advanced MIDI features that allow the motion of every drawbar, switch and control to be transmitted as MIDI data, for capturing complete performances by a sequencer. Key dynamics can be transmitted via MIDI to an external device that can be layered with the onboard organ sounds. Korg has taken the BX-3 one step further and added Pitch Bend and Modulation Wheels for improved MIDI control.

Korg's REMS* modeling technology is utilized for creating speaker, amp and reverb effects. Three amp simulators are provided to reproduce either a rotary speaker sound, a rotary speaker combined with a classic tube amp sound, or pre-amp only signal for use when connecting the BX-3 to a genuine rotary speaker. The amp simulator also features a unique, true, dynamic overdrive, with a clean sound that gets dirtier as the volume is increased. The user has full control over all rotor speeds and transition times, as well as a number of mic'ing characteristics. The Reverb effect is programmable per patch and provides four distinct types.

The BX-3 is housed in a faithfully styled natural wood cabinet, which is complemented by a rugged, matching wooden stand. Keeping true to classic tone wheel organ design, the BX-3's drawbars, vibrato/chorus, and percussion switches are placed in the same location as on the real instrument, for instant familiarity and playability. The BX-3 also adds a large multi-function LCD display for viewing settings/parameters in low-light situations.

The Korg BX-3 Combo Organ will be available April 2002, with the suggested list price to be announced shortly.

*Resonant structure and Electronic circuit Modeling System