Behringer w/ KORG's Hiroaki Nishijima Introduce the Hirotribe Soul

Details:

"In 2019, Hiroaki Nishijima, the legendary synthesizer engineer, who designed the famous Korg MS-20, joined us in our mission to create amazing synthesizers everyone can afford. Hiroaki is watching this space, so please send him some love:-)

Listen to Hiroaki himself:

"The 'Hirotribe' is one of the analog synthesizers I always wanted to achieve. 'Hiro' of 'Hirotribe' was taken from my first name ‘Hiroaki'.

I designed and developed the 'Korg Monotribe', but I really wanted to make an evolved version of it. Fortunately, Uli Behringer kindly agreed to my proposal.

I devised the panel design, specifications and the first schematic. Various specifications were added or changed during the development process, and each time the project members had a hard time. However, looking at the 'Hirotribe' that was completed in this way, the hardships seem to be a nostalgic story. Thank you to all the project members, you did a very good job and I am very happy.
Now that the product is completed, I would be honored if you could all enjoy this 'Hirotribe' with my heart." - Hiroaki Nashijima.

The Hirotribe is an incredible Groove Synthesizer, which is now fully completed. Once we receive the semiconductors, this beauty is on the way to you. Suggested price is US$ 99. We have planned for many more synths under Hiro’s leadership.

What’s under the hood of the Hirotribe?

Portable Analog Groove Synthesizer with 2 DCOs, Drum Machine and Sequencer
- Analog groove synthesizer with built-in drum machine and sequencer
- Pure analog signal path based on authentic DCO, VCF and VCA designs
- 2 individual oscillators with saw, triangle and square waveforms
- Noise generator dramatically expands waveform generation
- LFO with 3 wave shapes for modulating both pitch and filter cutoff
- Single knob envelope generator with 3 continuous parameters Attack, Decay and Sustain
- Analog drum machine with bass drum, snare, closed hi-hat and open hi-hat
- 16-step motion sequencer with and memory slots
- 27 touch-sensitive keys for great playability with non-scale notes function
- Sync Input and Output to synchronize with your other synthesizers or drum machines
- USB Micro connector allows powering via smartphone, power bank or computer
- Comprehensive MIDI implementation (including NRPN/CC control of all parameters and bulk load/save)"

See the Behringer label for more.

Polivoks Creator Vladimir Kuzmin Teams up with Behringer

Another synth legend joins Behringer. You might recall KORG's Hiroaki Nishijima joined back in 2019. PPG's Hermann Seib joined in 2020. Luigi Scarano of fingersonic joined back in 2019 as well as Mode Machines Michael Thorpe. Robin Whittle of Devilfish fame almost worked out a deal to bring the Devilfish mods to the TB-3 but that fell through and Behringer moved forward without him. Not sure what the story was behind the Jasper WASP and then there's the Swing. It is interesting to see who is willing to work with Behringer and who isn't. You might recall Behringer sued Dave Smith Instruments/Sequential along with 20 forum members, they threatened to sue an online publication, and they created the Cork Sniffer. That said, here's the news:

"Vladimir Kuzmin and Behringer announced today that they have entered into a collaboration to develop a new Polivoks synthesizer.

Vladimir Kuzmin stated: “With great interest have I followed Behringer’s Vision to bring back iconic synthesizers and make them affordable for musicians. For all my life, I have been extremely passionate about synthesizers and I decided to contact Uli to see if Behringer would be interested to design a new Polivoks as I would love to see my legacy live on.

I designed the Polivoks in 1980 at the Urals Vector plant in Russia, while it was produced by the Formanta Radio Factory. The Polivoks has features that are very unusual on most analog synthesizers, which creates this very unique and distinctive sound, often referred to as “Russian synthesizer sound”. For many years it has been my dream to create a new and much improved Polivoks. Uli’s synthesizer Vision provides a fantastic opportunity for me to contribute to the reimagining of my Polivoks and to make it accessible to everyone - a Vision I profoundly believe in and want to be part of.”

Uli Behringer, commented: 'It’s an immense honor to have Vladimir Kuzmin on our team as he is a legendary synth designer. We are extremely proud, we could win him for our ambitious Vision.
This partnership demonstrates again that we welcome collaborations with boutique inventors and manufacturers, as we believe we can perfectly coexist and complement each other. We invite anyone interested in a possible collaboration to contact us at joinus@musictribe.com.'

Here is a great article about Vladimir Kuzmin and his amazing Polivoks story."

Roland SH-101 & Boss PS-3 Delay mode

HIROAKI IIZUKA

sonicware_LIVEN 8bit warps

HIROAKI IIZUKA

SONICWARE LIVEN 8bit warps & modular synthesizer

HIROAKI IIZUKA

New Behringer TD-3-DF "Murdered Out" - Devil Fish Version In the Works?

Might want to hold off on that TD-3...

Click here for more info.

Update: created a Synth Drama label for these moving forward. Should have created it years ago...

Related:
Is Behringer's WASP Deluxe a Clone of a Clone?

AMSynths & Behringer

Korg's Hiroaki Nishijima joins Behringer

Fingersonic's Luigi Scarano & Behringer

CLICK FOR MORE »

KORG's Tatsuya ‘Tats’ Takahashi Returns to KORG as CEO of KORG Germany

via https://korg-germany.de

"KORG Germany is the new Berlin subsidiary of KORG.

Our instruments will be developed not only by the core team we are building, but also through per project partnerships and collaborations.

We are the flux, and the fabric it passes through.

TATSUYA TAKAHASHI
CEO"

They are hiring.

Tats is credited with bringing back analog at KORG, so this will be interesting. It's worth noting Behringer recently hired KORG's Hiroaki Nishijima.

Check out previous posts featuring Tatsuya Takahashi here.

GliGli and Behringer Announce Partnership

First Fingersonic's Luigi Scarano, then Korg's Hiroaki Nishijima, now GliGli has joined Behringer.

This one was spotted and sent in via Soviet Space Child.

“GliGli and Behringer announced today that they have entered into a collaboration to develop classic analog synthesizers.

Fabrice, aka. GliGli stated: 'Behringer reached out to me to help them bring iconic synthesizers back to life. For many years it has been my passion to create a much improved firmware for the Sequential P-600 and to design my own poly synth projects. Uli’s synthesizer Vision provides a fantastic opportunity for me to contribute to the re-imaging of some of the best synthesizer designs from the 1970’s, and to make them accessible to everyone - a Vision I profoundly believe in and want to be part of.'

GliGli continues: 'My goal with P600fw was to have the vintage polysynth of my dreams. I used my computer science and electronics knowledge to make something that was both easy to install, capable of getting the most out of the analog hardware and most of all, fun to make!'

Uli Behringer, Founder of Behringer and Music Tribe commented: 'It’s an honor to have GliGli on our team - Fabrice is an amazing synth designer and I am so proud that we could win him for our ambitious Vision.

Ever since I designed my own synthesizer in 1977, I have been passionate about synthesizers and today, Behringer is on a mission to bring back classic synthesizers as well as design completely new instruments and make them available at prices everyone can afford. We at Behringer believe that everyone should have access to the amazing synthesizers and sounds of the 70’s and 80’s.'

Uli continues: 'This partnership also demonstrates that we welcome collaborations with boutique manufacturers as we believe we can perfectly coexist and complement each other. We are currently recruiting 70 experienced synth engineers from all over the world to join us in our synthesizer mission. People interested can directly contact me at uli.behringer@musictribe.com.'”

Big Synth News Coming From Behringer (& KORG's Hiroaki Nishijima)?

This one was spotted and sent in via Soviet Space Child.

Per the description: "I am in beutiful Japan together with Luigi Scarano, our Synthesizer Innovation leader.

Stay tune from some big news - and i mean BIG news.

Uli"


Note who looks like KORG's Hiroaki Nishijima in the back left. I thought that might be Korg's Fumio Mieda on the right, but I'm not sure. You can find a pic and interview with Hiroaki Nishijima and Fumio Mieda here. Some of the other faces look familiar as well, especially the gentleman on the front left. If you can ID them, please comment.

Could this be the Behringer DS80 / CS80, a partnership with KORG, or other?

Behringer meeting with any representatives of another large scale synth company is a big deal. It will be interesting to find out what this is all about.

You can find an interview with Luigi Scarno here.

Update: Announcement below with a new pic, also in via Soviet Space Child. It looks like Hiroaki Nishijima is indeed joining Behringer.

“Synthesizer Icon Hiroaki Nishijima to Lead Behringer’s New Synthesizer Innovation Center in Japan

Behringer announced today that Hiroaki Nishijima, synthesizer icon and inventor of the famous Korg MS-20 Synthesizer, will lead Behringer’s new high-tech innovation center in its Tokyo headquarter.

Behringer’s vision is to build a large research and development center and invite many talented Japanese engineers to focus on flagship synthesizers, samplers and other innovative product designs.

About Hiroaki Nishijima

“Ever since I was a child, I was always excited to disassemble toys and explore how they work. My father and grandfather helped nurture that side of me by teaching me electronics and how to solder while attending third year of elementary school.

During that time, I got into music. I started playing with my brother’s classical guitar and eventually got lessons from an actual classical guitar teacher. I continued to play and improve until I noticed I was becoming better at it than my brother.

As my skills grew more diverse, so did my taste in music. Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Genesis, ELP and I Pooh became my inspirations. In junior high school, I bought an electric guitar and formed a band. That’s when I saw a synthesizer for the first time. It was amazing and I wanted one for myself, but it was just too expensive for a student like me.

When I entered university, I studied electronic engineering and played in a band. While that was going on, I’d also repair my friends’ amps and would design effects on the side. After graduation, I joined Korg to develop synthesizers like the MS-20 series, Sigma, KES and PME-40X series, Z3 and even Korg’s component modeling technology.

Over the past few years I have watched Behringer deliver high-quality synthesizers and pursue a very strong mission to deliver impressive instruments to musicians around the world. I reached out to Uli Behringer because I wanted to be part of his mission and help Behringer design world-class musical instruments. This is my dream, too.

These days, it’s difficult for current Japanese companies to create the types of synths that I used to develop. This is why I joined Behringer because my ambition to create professional analog synthesizers coincides with Uli Behringer’s love of musical instruments and with that I’m very excited to see what we can dream up.

I am currently looking for experienced embedded software leaders and engineers for our new Innovation center in Tokyo. Please can contact us at yuka.ishigami@musictribe.com.”

About Music Tribe

Uli Behringer, Founder of Behringer and Music Tribe commented: “I am extremely proud to have Nishijima San on our team. This man is a legendary synth icon with decades of experience.
Ever since I designed my own synthesizer in 1977, I have always been obsessed with synthesizers and today, Behringer is on a mission to bring back classic synthesizers as well as design completely new instruments and make them available at prices everyone can afford. We at Behringer believe that everyone should have access to the amazing synthesizers and sounds of the 70’s and 80’s.”

Uli continues: “We are currently recruiting experienced synthesizer engineers from all over the world to join us in our synthesizer mission. People interested can directly contact me at uli.behringer@musictribe.com.”

Korg - Hiroaki Nishijima & Tatsuya Takahashi (RBMA Tokyo 2014 Lecture)

Published on Dec 11, 2014 Red Bull Music Academy

"This talk was held on November 3 as part of RBMA Tokyo 2014.

Be sure to use the CC button to turn on the subtitles for this lecture!
画面右下のアイコンから、日本語字幕をオンにしてお楽しみください！"

An Interview with KORG's Fumio Mieda & Hiroaki Nishijima

via @YabanKim

"my talk (german) with #Korg #Synthesizer-gurus Fumio Mieda & Hiroaki Nishijima http://www.amazona.de/report-korg-vintage-die-ms20-entwickler-fumio-mieda-und-hiroaki-nishijima/ … @matrixsynth"

Googlish translation here.

"Amazona:
Can you briefly tell how you came to Korg?

Fumio Mieda:
At first I had to construct no interest in synthesizers, but desire a new organ and therefore met Mr Kato, that was so 1968/1969. He listened to my ideas and gave me the OK to build a prototype for him. Because there should be two manuals and I had thought different functions, it took around one and a half years until I had finished the organ. So, at least I thought it would be an organ, but the people I showed it said: 'This is no organ, which is a synthesizer!'.

Unboxing and Assembling KORG MS-20 Kit [公式]

Published on Feb 6, 2014 KORGINC·390 videos

That's the original Korg MS-20 developers Mr. Fumio Mieda and Mr. Hiroaki Nishijim. Click here for a video interview with them.

Note the filter dip switch selection at 3:34. The full size version comes with both filter types, the more aggressive early production filter and the mellower late production one. See this post for the unveiling from teasers to NAMM videos. There was a teaser video for the above in that post as well.

Video description:

"1978年発売の名機アナログ・シンセサイザーMS-20が、
2014年、組み立てキットとして復活！
そのMS-20 Kitを、開発者の三枝文夫と西島裕昭が
実際に開封してイチから組み立ててみました！

この動画の後は、皆さまがご自分で組み立てる番です！
是非チャレンジしてみて下さい！


製品の詳細は：
http://www.korg.com/jp/products/dj/ms..."

Googlish:

"The name of the machine analog synthesizer MS-20 launched in 1978 ",
2014, revived as assembly kit!
Nishijima is Hiroaki and Saegusa Fumio developers, the MS-20 Kit
I tried to assemble from scratch by opening actually!

After this video, it's time to assemble all of you on your own!
Please try to challenge it!


Details of the products are:
http://www.korg.com/jp/products/dj/ms ... "

Hiroaki Nishijima with the New MS20 Board

via Jack Drumatrix on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Don't miss the video interview here.

Video Interviews with the Creators of the KORG MS20

Korg MS-20 mini - Interview with Mr. Fumio Mieda and Mr. Hiroaki Nishijima
Published on Apr 15, 2013 KorgUSAVideos·360 videos

"Original Korg MS-20 developers Mr. Fumio Mieda and Mr. Hiroaki Nishijima recently sat down to reminisce about developing the legendary analog MS-20 and resureccting that classic synth 35 years later in the form of the new MS-20 Mini.

To learn more about MS-20 Mini head over to http://www.korg.com/ms20mini.

Like Us - http://www.facebook.com/korgusa
Follow Us - http://www.twitter.com/korgusa"

Messe 2013 - Korg MS20 Creator Interview
Published on Apr 15, 2013 sonicstate·496 videos

"We had the chance to speak to Mr Fumio Mieda - one of the creators of the MS20 and the MS20 Mini."

Added to the Musikmesse Synth List.

Korg MS-20 Mini: Full Theme song without voices

Published on Jan 26, 2013 AkselPL·25 videos

"Soundtrack from the original Korg demo product movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA-owDEGpac

Join Korg Inc.'s own Fumio Mieda and Hiroaki Nishijima - the engineers who brought us the legendary MS-20 back in 1978 - as we take a look at the new MS-20 Mini! Both personally oversaw the design of the modern-day MS-20, which features the exact same true-analog signal path as the legendary original. The incredibly powerful dual filters with peak/resonance, CV functionality, external signal processing, and unique hands-on patching system are all here - with 5-pin and USB MIDI to boot -- and all at 86% of the original size.

For More Info on MS-20 Mini head over to http://www.korg.com/ms20mini."

WNAMM13: Korg MS20 Mini First Look & English Intro Videos

Published on Jan 24, 2013 sonicstate·320 videos

"WNAMM13: Korg MS20 Mini First Look Its an analog MS20 only smaller"

And the English versions of the vids posted earlier today.

CLICK FOR MORE »

NAMM 2013: Korg MS-20 Mini: The Legendary All-Analog MS-20, Reborn! Videos

Published on Jan 24, 2013 KorgUSAVideos·321 videos

"Join Korg Inc.'s own Fumio Mieda and Hiroaki Nishijima - the engineers who brought us the legendary MS-20 back in 1978 - as we take a look at the new MS-20 Mini! Both personally oversaw the design of the modern-day MS-20, which features the exact same true-analog signal path as the legendary original. The incredibly powerful dual filters with peak/resonance, CV functionality, external signal processing, and unique hands-on patching system are all here - with 5-pin and USB MIDI to boot -- and all at 86% of the original size.

For More Info on MS-20 Mini head over to http://www.korg.com/ms20mini.

Like Us - https://www.facebook.com/KORGusa
Follow Us - https://www.twitter.com/KorgUSA"

MS-20 is reborn. - KORG MS-20 mini -


KORG MS-20 mini イントロダクション・ムービー


And the Press Release:

"Korg Announces MS-20 mini

-Korg's classic MS-20 is recreated in mini size-

WINTER NAMM, ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA, January 24th, 2013 - Korg's MS-20 monophonic synthesizer, first introduced in 1978, is still coveted to this day for its thick, robust sound, powerful, iconic analog filter, and versatile patching options. It has now been reborn as the new MS-20 mini. The same engineers who developed the original MS-20 have perfectly reproduced it in a body that's been shrunk to 86% of the original size, yet retains the distinctive look of the original.

The MS-20 Mini offers the same distinctive synthesis that made the original MS-20 popular: two oscillators with ring modulation, and envelope generators with delay and hold. The VCA (Voltage Controlled Amp) maintains the original basic design, but it's been modified to produce less noise. Particular attention has also been paid to delivering smooth parameter adjustments, which are a distinctive feature of analog synthesizers. Special care was also taken to completely reproduce the original specifications of the MS-20, to deliver the same powerful sound, from deep, growling basses to crisp, rounded leads.

One of the most well-known - and still most sought after - characteristics of the original MS-20 was its powerful filters, which provided both high-pass and low-pass with peak/resonance. Maximizing the peak/resonance would cause the filter to self-oscillate; producing a distinctive and dramatic tonal change that was acclaimed as inimitable, and was used many years later on Korg's monotron and monotribe. The filter circuit was changed mid-way through the production lifecycle of the MS-20; the MS-20 mini uses the earlier filter, which was felt to be superior due to its more radical sound.

The ESP (External Signal Processor) functionality carries on the experimental spirit of MS-20, allowing users to utilize the pitch or volume of an external audio source to control the synthesizer. For example, an electric guitar can be used as an input signal, and the MS-20 mini can be used as a guitar synthesizer, or the mic input can allow it to be used it as a vocal synthesizer.

The patching system enables the creation of complex sounds by allowing the rerouting of both modulation and audio (both the internal oscillators and external audio). Different combinations of the modulation input/output and trigger, sample and hold, and noise generator can produce an incredible variety of sounds. By patching according to the MS-20 flow chart printed on the panel, musicians of all levels can take advantage of these possibilities right away.

To make it even more approachable, the MS-20 mini has been shrunk to 86% of the size of the original, with meticulous care taken to accurately reproduce the knob design and the printing. The patch cables have been changed from 1/4" phone plugs to mini-plugs, and the newly-designed keyboard is 86% of the original size as well.

The MS-20 mini is equipped with a MIDI IN jack for receiving note messages, and a USB-MIDI connector that can transmit and receive note messages. Users can also connect the MS20 mini to a computer and play it from an external sequencer.

For added authenticity, the MS-20 mini packaging replicates much of the original. Also included are the original MS-20 owner's manual and settings chart.

The Korg MS-20 Mini will be available April 2013 for a U.S. Street price of $599.00 Additional product information is available at Korg.com."