hi everyone, this looks like a cool forum,and im here to ask some questions and hopefully help with experience along the way. anyways, i really wanna start playing music live again, i was once in a band working a laptop and a drum machine and now id like to play my own music ive done on the computer live, so i figured id get myself a good synth and use a laptop for samples and crap. well i started looking and found the microKORG. it really seems to be a good choice for me. i dont have a ton of money to spend and its aimed twords the EBM/electro crowd. but heres where you come in...
i have some questions about synths in general: (sorry if it is all dumb questions, but im used to using PC programs and learning from ear kinda stuff...i gotta learn somewhere)
-what does LFO mean/stand for/use of
-what is 4-voice polyphone
-what do people mean when they say 'patching' or 'virtual patching'
-what effect/use if there for an arpeggiator. is that meaning making a sound 'jump' around?

like i said, im used to trial and error kind of learning. sorry if they are dumb. also, do u guys think the MicroKORG is a good choice for a beginner like myself?

LFO stands for Low Frequency Oscillator. It is used to modulate certain parameters. If you applied it to pitch then the pitch would modulate. If you applied it to volume then the volume would pulse ie. tremelo. So depending on what you apply it to the parameter will cycle with the LFO. It add moevement to a patch as it continues to change over time.

4 voice polyphonc means on 4 notes can be played at a time. Play a 5th and the first will them disappear and so on.

Patching simply refers to how synth modules are linked together to program a sound. It refers to the old days when the only way to connect synth modules was to connect or patch a cable between them. Of course now that is done in memory but the resulting sounds are still referred to as patches.
And yes when you play a group of notes on the keyboard the arpeggiaotr simply plays through them based on arpeggiator tempo and type. Yes this does make the notes jump around and can sound very cool.

I really think the MicroKorg is fantastic value. I am thinking of grabbing one myself. It is a good quality analog modeling synth and also provdes the mini keyboard so it can be used without a MIDi controller.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 12-14-2005).]