SUPERBOOTH 2024: Korg Berlin - Acoustic Synthesis Phase 8 Electro-Acoustic Synth

At Superbooth 2024 we met up with Lukas from Korg Berlin who gave us a lovely outdoor look at a prototype synth, Acoustic Synthesis Phase 8, their latest attempt to create an instrument that sits between the worlds of acoustic and electronic instruments. 

At the heart of ASP-8 are several individual resonators that form the basis of the sound of the instrument, and these work with the capacitive pickup which works like a condenser microphone. Not only can you interact with the resonators physically, you can interact electronically through the synthesizer itself. There's an onboard 8-step sequencer that can trigger and change the settings of the resonators as you go.

There are two basic playing modes, hammer mode for short, plucky sounds, and each resonator gets independent tone and time controls, where time acts like a basic decay envelope. In wave mode, the time controls switch to affecting the attack time, which leads to more pad-like, slow soundscapes. Lukas explained this will probably be the last prototype before this instrument is released in its final form, which Korg Berlin hope will happen at Superbooth 2025.

https://korg.berlin/

• Superbooth 2023: Korg Berlin's New Acoustic Synthesizer Concept 15-May-23