You don’t always want your tone to be nice and clean sometimes, you want a little analog dirt.
It adds another layer of authenticity, especially for vintage sounds. It’s in older keyboards like the KingKorg synth, right through to new releases. Korg’s Valve Reactor circuit is something that you see in quite a few Korg instruments now. You have plenty of pre-FX, modulation FX, and global FX to play with. The effects include Vibrato, Tremolo, Vox Wah, a 3-band EQ, and the Red Compressor. Now, a lot of these sounds are iconic, and the SV-2 has the ability to recreate them. With vintage instruments, like Fender Rhodes electric pianos, many players would run them through effects pedals to experiment with new sounds in the early days. If we think about setting up your SV-2 for performing, the effects will play a key role in creating unique sounds. What you get are six independent stages of signal processing. The built-in effects go a little deeper than expected, which is a good start. The SV-2 allows for 64 saved sounds in total with eight banks and eight variations. FavoritesĪs an extension of the Editor software, the built-in Favorites banks give you quick access to all of your saved sounds/settings. It’s handy if you are setting up a range of custom sounds for a gig.
The SV-2 is an intuitive and tactile instrument by design, so the Editor software provides a more in-depth approach. Korg’s SV-2 Editor software helps you create and save custom sounds easily. It has the look of a vintage electric piano, which adds some authenticity to the playing experience. Nothing matters more than how an instrument feels and sounds, but we have to give some attention to the design of the SV-2.
The SV-2 and SV-2S share the same feature set with one exception the SV-2S has built-in speakers. It’s just worth noting that if you want a true acoustic piano feel, you’ll find better without spending much more.įor more information, check out our picks for the best-feeling fully-weighted stage pianos on the market right now. In our opinion, the vintage electric pianos are one of the main reasons to buy the SV-2, so it shouldn’t be an issue for potential players. On the other hand, it has an action that’s more fitting of a vintage electric piano. On the one hand, it probably doesn’t feel as authentic as it could when playing acoustic piano voices.
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It isn’t easy to know exactly how to score the feel. The keyboard is Korg’s premium Real Weighted Hammer-Action system (RH3). The speaker quality is good, the volume is enough for home use and some performance, and they look great, which is not something we often say about speakers. The SV-2S comes with Korg’s K-Array Stereo System, including a pair of 2.5″ speakers and dual 15 W amplifiers. The SV-2 has a max polyphony of 128 notes and over ten times the sample data of previous models. Whatever it is, some of the vintage electric piano sounds capture the magic of vintage jazz/funk/soul beautifully. The electric pianos are the showstoppers for us, and perhaps part of the attraction is the Rhodes-like design of the SV-2.
It has a wonderfully quirky tack piano, too. On the whole, the pianos are very nice, especially the German/Italian Grand and the M1. The acoustic pianos range from concert pianos like the German Grand to modern classics like the Korg M1. Sounds include lots of acoustic pianos, electric pianos, and other sounds like clavs, organs, synths, and strings. The SV-2 has 72 onboard sounds that come from the EDS-X Synthesis sound engine. If you love vintage but want modern reliability, it’s the Korg SV-2.Ĭheck availability and current price: Sweetwater Amazon Sound quality 4.5 It’s not about pleasing everyone it’s about being perfect for the right user. It probably does lose some potential users because it’s so dedicated to being a vintage keyboard. SV-2S 88-key stage piano / Image credit: Korg Our verdict on the Korg SV-2 4.7