CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT: ORKIDEA

 “Korg's Legacy collection features the virtual versions of MS-20, Mono/Poly, Wavestation, M1 and Polysix synthesisers — this is my favourite and most used piece of software, not least because of the brilliant MS-20 replica controller that shipped with the first part of the series.

“I used to have the original Mono/Poly synths in my studio in the early 2000s, so I know how the originals sound — and these come very close. As the Legacy collection comes directly from Korg themselves, they've been super-dedicated to make the software sounds authentic.

“As there are five very different synths (plus one effect) in the collection, the range of different sounds is vast. Personally I mostly use them for simple yet fat analog-sounding basslines and hi resonance filtered arpeggios. The MS-20’s double filter system can create some very dirty results.
“Some examples of tracks where I've used the Korg Legacy Collection would be the 'solid bass' bassline in my 2011 remix of 'Unity', acidy arps in the YouTube hit 'Free Dreams', the Vangelis type of 'Daaannngg! stab sound I used in the Solarstone collaboration 'Slowmotion II', and the simple main lead melody in 'Masochrist' by myself and Lowland.

“I can't praise Korg enough for the idea of building an MS-20 replica USB-controller for the package. I've noticed that with the Korg soft synths, I tend to jam around and automate more than with synths where I need to manually assign parameters to controls. With this pack, it just works! Interestingly, for their 50th anniversary Korg have announced an actual analog MS-20 replica, the MS-20 mini, which will be out very soon, so I'm also looking forward to checking that out — maybe getting an analog brother next to the digital one.”