MATRIXSYNTH: Vintage Korg Lambda ES-50 48 Key Polyphonic Synthesizer SN 234587

Monday, February 02, 2026

Vintage Korg Lambda ES-50 48 Key Polyphonic Synthesizer SN 234587

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via this eBay listing

"***has some issues. Please read fully before purchasing.

I'll start by saying the ENSEMBLE section of this synth sounds incredible and works 100%. The ENSEMBLE section is where the Brass, Strings, Chorus (think synth choir, not a chorus effect), and organ sounds are found. These are the bread and butter of this synth. Huge, fat sounds found in this section, and they all work excellently.

The PERCUSSION section is where the more "transient" sounds are found and they all work on each of the 4 settings (Electric Piano, Clavi, Piano and Harmonics). However, the "B" key in each octave either doesn't sound at all, or just makes a faint sound that is not at all like the others. The "TREMOLO" effect in the PERCUSSION section does not work at all, and if you select it, it effectively mutes all the sounds in the percussion section.

The Chorus modulation on the stick is very very faint, and sometimes not really audible at all. The pitch bend however works flawlessly, and the spring to return it to center is in tact and working 100%. The "CHORUS/PHASE" effect buttons work but the effect sounds underwhelming, but it does work. I don't know enough about the architecture of this keyboard, but I'm assuming the CHORUS/PHASE effect buttons and the CHORUS PHASE control on the stick are related.

Everything else works like it should. And even with these "issues" named above, this is still a very functional synth with some killer sounds that just don't sound like anything else.

Fully polyphonic! ALL notes. Its wild.

Cosmetically it is in very nice condition. There is one light colored scratch down the left side of the wood case (pictured).

I have not made any attempt to service this keyboard. Therefore, this could be a simple contact cleaning for some of these issues to restore some, if not all of its original functionality."

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