This is a very nice comparison video. I appreciate all the hard work you've done for this comparison. I've had several people ask me to do comparisons, but I know there's wonderful people like you that have already done all the hard work for all of us synth freaks. I'd like to thank you for doing this. I know how much time and patience it takes with editing software, video, and loading up everything. You have a wonderful channel here and I'm always coming back to it. Take care, Sam.
hi sam, thanks for your appreciation of my work. hope it didn't come across like i thought it was a drag. Yes, it's a lot of work but I do enjoy the process nevertheless, and find the result as fascinating as the rest of you. cheers!
Reading the comment section is funny. The m1 is a rompler synth meaning the exact aligorhythms from the keyboard are the same. Possible better because you don't have to replace pcms or converters. No difference between the two. In the 80s and 90s, producers wished for sonically neutral audio. Now we have it.
Nope. Although samples are the same, effects are not quite. Some are noticeably worse than the hardware. Reverb is sheen and uninteresting, and the chorus/ensemble is simply bad (actually there are much better free chorus vsts out there). And listen to the drums at 3:47! That's a very obvious difference. Also there's some unpleasant aliasing happening in some patches, could be filter design.
I really want them to be equal, but they're just not. Not all the differences are meaningful, and in a mix it might be harder still to tell. The chorus effect in particular is nowhere near as good, though. It ought to be the same, I agree. Maybe they've lost the technical details of the algorithms, or they were implemented by a DSP they don't have access to anymore. I don't know. But they're not identical, and it's not all in the DAC. There's a refined quality to some of the patches that's missing too. Layer blending and the like, perhaps.
Ave Mcree the effect adjustments and algorithms make a different sounding. The difference is obvious in some patches. Also the filter is different because the original M1 hadn't resonance. The envelopes also sound different. Of course, these differences disappear in an arrangement.
I have the VST and was wondering just how accurate to the original hardware it was, this video showed me that it's pretty darn close. Greatly appreciate the effort you put into this comparison.
@@WoodyPianoShack Im using the Korg M1 VST right now and I see i huge hole in low frequencies, around 80hz, on all patches... Same on the Wavestation... I just put an EQ visualiser plugin after the M1 to see it... but i also hear it. Like if the sound lacked depth. Is it the same on the hardware ? I mean when you put an EQ visualiser behind.
I think disabling the on board chorus (and reverb) on the the VST version and playing it through Acon Digital Multiply (and a reverb of your chosing), might be a pleasant surprise for many. :)
The hardware is propably just compressing and coloring the sound due to 90's hardware limitations and the VST should has the same exact sound source but doesn't color it because modern DAWs are completely clean but it can be colored and compressed to the users liking. If they emulated the synth hardware and outputs and kept the effects section limited to 90's, so that the vst would sound more similar it might limit modern use and sound shaping of the instrument. And yes the hardware sounds better here out of the box but with a little bit of tweaking it should be possible to make the vst sound warmer and fuller than the hardware version..
This was the first Synth i bought and i still have it,i also have the plug in and what's great about the program is that in essence you have 8 M1's as you can do multiple insytaumenst as oppose to Combi mode,The added cards and the Wavestation plugin in the complete set is truly a great value
it surely is, i',m very tempted to get the wavestation too. never owned the real hardware though unfortunately. love the sound browser on the plugin, super convenient way to find sounds fast.
Do yourself a favour and get the WS, It's fun, esp. for the money. I have a real M1 and the M1 plugin and have been playing them side by side on a set of good studio monitors. There really is no real difference. The plugin is a no-brainer if you want a M1, esp. since it includes all the expansion cards every made for it.
Great job Woody! It's clear that they are near as makes no difference, but the VST as others have said, is brighter and the reverb is very modern sounding and has a longer tail. To be honest, for people to not exercise some artistic license in a track, it would sound cliched and dated, but a hint of M1 is a nice retro nod to the 80s.
I bought the M1 when it was released and sold it after upgrading to the o1wFD and the X3 which I still own. I also have the Korg Krome and downloaded the free M1 library from the Korg website that I have stored onto the Krome. The sounds are still as good as ever though the Krome does not support aftertouch. Thanks for the comparison, great work as usual.
Thanks for the comparison. I always thought the Korg M1 VST was pretty close and this confirms it. I do not know why Korg seem really good at this yet IMO Roland's VSTs often lag miles behind in authenticity.
yeah, korg nailed this. although in Roland's defence, emulating an analogue non-preset based synth is much harder than emulating a primitive rompler. i've got a hunch that roland will be upping their game in respect to their software synths in 2017 and beyond... :)
Jon Vincent Totally unrealated to your comment but I was wondering about your avatar. It looks like something I bought on eBay to put in vinyl singles where the middle had been pushed out. Is that what your avatar depicts?
Roland run rings around everyone else producing synths, though. The Reface DX is interesting, but I don't know if Korg or Yamaha have offered anything programmable in the last decade. In their defense, "at least Roland puts knobs on their stuff" (tm). I'm in a sort of love/hate relationship with the new Roland though, their direction is correct, but some strange shortcomings. So I'd be more than happy to be informed! Like an (informed) feed of every new synth released.
I have the M1 VST and i think it captures the essence of the original hardware very well, great video Woody, let's hope this let's a new generation look into this classic by Korg.
The legacy edition is almost universally brighter and a bit more reverb on all patches. If I had to pick a side by side fav, it would be the legacy edition. Great video. Thank you for putting the work in!
It's the better quality of the Audio interface. Use 16 bit and 44.1 khz or lower quality. Filters and adjusting the reverb are obviously an option too...I personally rather like it HiFi.
I am here to testify that the M1 VST is awesome! You get more polyphony! The classics are there and they sound great! Oh and the effects processor is impressive.
Thanks! I agree, except for the reverb, it's pretty hard to tell them apart. I have both the VST and iPad versions, and I think that the iPad one is actually even better then the VST. It's great that you can get effectively a full M1 for less than 50 dollars nowadays.
Thanks much this comparison demo! It's just what I was hoping to find, to help inform a friend who's owned M1's since early '90's. Although there are slight variables, I think that with a 'blind' test, it would be hard to pick out the source of most sounds. I think it's certainly worth the price, to test out first hand. Thanks, appreciated much!
usually reverbs tend to sound louder as you increase the sample rate of your daw. try a reverb at 44.100 and at 88.200 to see the difference. doesnt affect all reverbs ( it depends on internal oversampling ), but if affects many. maybe this is the case.
The only hardware Korg I owned (and still own) is a rack mounted 03-RW which is considerably inferior to an M1. I've been using the Korg Legacy Collection for more than a decade. Korg did an amazing job of VMing [sic] a bunch of synths (not just the M1). Thanks for the effort to show no real-world earth shaking differences. I will comment that my old PC with ASIO drivers sounded great but had a fair heap of random clicks and latency issues which made the Legacy Collection SUCK badly for the first few years I owned it (for live performance). Today it sounds great, as Yamaha/Korg intended. Cheers Woody.
I have had the vst for a few years now and always thought it was close to the real thing now i know. Clubbed my way through the 90s with this synth on so many tunes . Great video.
Great job Woody! The KORG VSTs were the first plugins I purchased and I bought them back when it was the Analogue Legacy Collection and Digital Legacy Collection. I always thought that they were close to their hardware siblings but I never had a chance to compare, until now. Thank you.
Just bought M! VST yesterday. Am excited about having it. Probably won't be my last Korg VST! Already have Korg Krome EX which led to the Nautilus AT recently. Made so much sense getting this VST.
Thanks Woody! I got an M1 on ebay 4 years back. As you said, it was already on when I went to the seller. Of course when I got it home I found the battery was low. I opened it up and changed the battery and lost the voice memory. Tried many ways to Sysex the data but it wouldn't take. Had to take it to the techy shop in the end. All good now though!
Wow, love the extra air in the highs in the VST (probably due to crusty D/A converters on the hardware). Makes the M1 sound just that one step closer so you can use it in contemporary production without the need to compensate with an EQ
Great demo Woody, the M1 changed my musical life teamed up with my Amiga 500 late 80's. Sounds pretty close as that Lushness in Strings especially are so well preserved. Some subtle nuances might be fixed with the editor so very impressed! You know how heavy that baby is to lug around, So nice Job and thanks for that..I've been waiting for that VST forever!
funny you should say that, i carried the m1 on my shoulder this afternoon. I can confirm, this is the heaviest of all the 61 key synths I've owned. What a fantastically well-built synth it is, a real pleasure to behold. Not quite the same on the A49 midi controller and VST :)
Seems to me that any differences come only from the real machine's A to D converters and from the VST having far more reverb on it than the M1. Thanks for doing such a great job here Woody.
The stereo image is shifting around in small ways with the hardware, and I rather like that. The software is of course static in that regard. The software sounds good. This is a very helpful vid. If I ever go for an M1 I will get the keyboard. Thank you
I have the M1 vst and use a cheap yamaha psr whatever from 2017 as a midi controller. Works like a charm with velocity sensitivity but unfortunately no aftertouch
Very similar in tone but there is clearly reverb added on a few of the vst sounds, where there isn't on the M1. I think without that you'd really be able to hear the similarities between the two.
The reverb overdose on nearly every Korg M1 preset made me detest the M1 for the longest time. I mean, WHO PUTS HALL REVERB ON A BASS GUITAR?!?! (A Korg engineer, that's who!). I learned that if you turn down the reverb level significantly, the sounds are less cheesy and fit in a mix better.
@@justdope1963 Would be interesting to see the difference if he removed some of the wetness from the VST reverb send and re-recorded it through the same preamp as he recorded the hardware on. I think it would be pretty much identical then.
@@alexanderdiazlarsson829 Yeah, I don't get why there's obviously some reverb in the VST. I also really noticed the tinniness when he started playing the piano, but if there's a pre-amp involved, it's not apples to apples.
Sounds like the VST has more reverb on it. The sounds are so close it would be hard to do a blind test between the VST and the hardware. Could you do a video playing more sounds from the cards on the VST? Many of us had M1 keyboards, but didn't have enough money left to buy all the cards. Thanks for the meticulous attention to detail with your comparison videos. You rock Woody!!!
they;re very close, but the verb of the plugin is a bit more present in case of some sounds.. and ofcourse the fact that the original M1 has 1988 converters which are recorded through another set of converters, while the plugin stays in the digital domain.. other than that.. they're not really different.. (Edit.. forget the reverb remark... )
Blind tasting is the only TRUE test. And at different volume levels. What you created, already creates bias. But thanks for your effort. A true blind testing. Is where you label one A and the other B. And in addition, you dont try to play the exact same thing, instead you play various patches and at various levels and change the effects for different patches to prevent any bias and also confuses the listener on purpose therefore creating an atmosphere of anything goes, yet you stay true to the A and B. (In your case you already created a bias by having the vst with more reverb.)The ony thing you keep track of is the A and the B. It's a true real cross the board test. The way people would use the synth, in their own context. It allows for deeper listening to truly see if one can distinguish the them apart.
Then you gotta check out the Plogue Chipsynth SFC. Mindblowing! The chipsynth MD, likewise. They are the first company to ever completely, 100% nail the sound of these old video game systems, and I am ever so glad they have!
Definitely appreciate all of the work putting this together ... as others have said, you can hear some similarities and differences. But for me, unlike other 'sound-alikes' I wouldn't worry much about using either one!
First, a shout out to Woody for a well designed and executed comparison. The A/B of short, clear phrases works for my short term memory. Lots of comments/complaints about reverb and effects added in the VST. Is it possible to tame those in the VST? I assume the parameters in the 'INSERT FX' section are defaults and could be turned down or off as they are in the original M1.
Hi youz, and thanks for the comment, yeah you can tweak fx to your hearts content and I'm sure then you'd get them identical but I thought more interesting to show how it sounds "out of the box" :)
I'm very pleasantly surprised at how authentic the M1 VST plugin sounds. From Korg Polysix (ca. 1982) and Roland SH-101 up to the middle of the 90s I regularly had a lot of Korg and Roland instruments (commercial sound programming). I know that time and the sounds quite well. I've had the Arturia Seven Collection for a few months. There are so many sounds, I'd say 50%, I can't imagine that the synths sounded like that back then 🙄
Great video Woody. Lots of work but worth the effort for such a quality result! I think the vst sounds absolutely superb, and for $40 you can't go wrong!
I'd say good enough to choose the vst over buying a old hardware version...some of the sounds were a bit different in envelopes, filters and such but overall pretty spot on.
Hi Woody! I really enjoyed that comparison, so thanks for all your work. I've got an M1 (plus a few cards), and I was hyper-curious to hear how the plug-in would sound. To my ears, it's mainly the same, although, as you pointed out, the reverb was a bit more pronounced in places, which spoilt a couple of the sounds, but made a couple seem more modern. Thanks again!
I definitely felt and heard a sweeter more lushness to the actual hardware. Just much nicer and a bit warmer. To me just makes the difference. It's not loads but for me, definitely makes me think, yeah, the hardware is much more lush sounding.
Thanks for the comparison. Miles apart. One sounds thick and 3D. Other (VST) sounds thin, 2D, brighter with effect to make it feel fuller. It comes down to the hardware converters. Maybe consider running the VST through some warmer preamp/tube EQ and then comparing could show what can be achieved in reality with the VST in a studio environment. Bravo and thanks again for doing this.
Thank you for the work you put into making this, and also thank you for chatting about why and what to do about the reverb situation that has been puzzling me for some time, at the end. I enjoyed watching this :)
Woody did a lot to try and level the playing field but there still is the fact he had to record the physical M1 which is still a slight variable which is enough to give you the false differences people think exist.
Hi Woody, I keep hitting your vids so I can chill while I'm at work, always a pleasure. Question: Did you perform your "Woody Piano Shack" theme? It's really nice.
Thanks for the hard work in getting the comparisons, Woody. Very interesting and informative. I'm footering around and procrastinating on buying the VST. On the strength of this video, I reckon I will. I wonder why the reverbs are so different though?
Wow, gotta say the plugin sounds superb compared to the real thing, although the samples for the drums sound a bit botched, like they samples are pitched down, everything else has come across wonderfully well. And great job Woody, on getting the levels sorted - this is a great comparison video, you've made it an easy listen for us. One thing i will say, and i've wanted to get an M1 all my life since i was a young(er) raver - there's very little benefit to the hardware over the plugin, as it lacks a lot of realtime/hardware controls - the M1 was always a bit of a menu diver, it's not like a Juno 106 for example which is very much 'hands on'.
hi! i would say the m1 hardware is easily replaced by the plugin for the reasons you mention. we didn't cover it in this vid, but a great feature of the plugin is the dozens of expansion cards, and the browser where you can filter and search for types of sounds. you don't get categorized sounds on the hardware, so it's very tedious to find the right sound amongst the hundred presets. cheers
I was surprised since the drums don't sound that bad on my plugin. Either way, the drums are so horribly dated that I'll never use them unless I want to make a retro early '90s tune.
On many patches the bass is really tapered off for some reason. And the bright sounds either shimmer too much or not enough. I was expecting them to be identical. Still, for 25 bucks, it's pretty damn good.
Great comparison video. I can appreciate how much work you have put in to make this work and as fair as possible . Props to you . I have owned both and must say i miss the hardware , it made a good midi controller aswell.
hey adamski, yeah the m1 is so well made, and enjoyable to play. But I kinda appreciate the convenience of the plug, plus one less board to store and maintain. :)
Nice video sir. I can definitely tell the difference in some patches, but others are pretty spot on. The plugin definitely seemed to have a bit more presence and clarity in certain examples, and I agree with Xavier below in that the drum kit was shite in the plugin...who's gonna use that anyway though, right? ;) What is the version number of the plugin you used for the testing? Thanks!
the drums were awful. really don't know what's going on there. maybe i did something wrong? i'll do a demo/review of the plugin sometime, so we'll revisit those weird drum sounds then. i don't know what version, but I downloaded it about 6 months ago, i can check when i get home but i'll probably forget.... :)
The first two VSTs I ever bought were the Korg Legacy collection Digital Edition (M1 + Wavestation + MDEX), and Spectrasonics RMX. Later I grabbed the Analog Edition (MS20 + Polysix + MonoPoly).
Thank you for uploading this, Woody. I own both versions as well. I always had the idea they sounded much more different than what I hear from you. My hardware M1 sounds like your hardware, but I did a comparison with my VST and your VST on "Drums 1", and I hear a big difference: mine sounds thinner and overdynamic to my ears compared to yours. I also see this in a significant difference in the shape of the waveforms comparing our VST's. Yours are tight, mine have very pronounced transients. So, I was wondering if there is something on your master bus like a softclipper or did your video have some mastering? (I suppose not!) Or could this have something to do with the file conversion to youtube? Thanks for your answer & greetings.
Cool comparision, thanks for that! It sounds like the virtual m1 has a little more reverb on, right? But honestly, in a song with no direct way to compare these two nobody would hear the difference!
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This is a very nice comparison video. I appreciate all the hard work you've done for this comparison. I've had several people ask me to do comparisons, but I know there's wonderful people like you that have already done all the hard work for all of us synth freaks. I'd like to thank you for doing this. I know how much time and patience it takes with editing software, video, and loading up everything. You have a wonderful channel here and I'm always coming back to it. Take care, Sam.
hi sam, thanks for your appreciation of my work. hope it didn't come across like i thought it was a drag. Yes, it's a lot of work but I do enjoy the process nevertheless, and find the result as fascinating as the rest of you. cheers!
Reading the comment section is funny. The m1 is a rompler synth meaning the exact aligorhythms from the keyboard are the same. Possible better because you don't have to replace pcms or converters. No difference between the two. In the 80s and 90s, producers wished for sonically neutral audio. Now we have it.
Nope. Although samples are the same, effects are not quite. Some are noticeably worse than the hardware. Reverb is sheen and uninteresting, and the chorus/ensemble is simply bad (actually there are much better free chorus vsts out there). And listen to the drums at 3:47! That's a very obvious difference. Also there's some unpleasant aliasing happening in some patches, could be filter design.
I just found the reverb different. Samples seems to be exactly igual but with levels(volume) from some ones a little higher on the VST.
I really want them to be equal, but they're just not. Not all the differences are meaningful, and in a mix it might be harder still to tell. The chorus effect in particular is nowhere near as good, though.
It ought to be the same, I agree. Maybe they've lost the technical details of the algorithms, or they were implemented by a DSP they don't have access to anymore. I don't know. But they're not identical, and it's not all in the DAC. There's a refined quality to some of the patches that's missing too. Layer blending and the like, perhaps.
Ave Mcree the effect adjustments and algorithms make a different sounding. The difference is obvious in some patches.
Also the filter is different because the original M1 hadn't resonance.
The envelopes also sound different.
Of course, these differences disappear in an arrangement.
Ave Mcree dont agree with you. I have hardware T3 and it sound million times better than plug. The same with my Wavestation AD, DX7, D50...
The VST definitely has more reverb.
i think its woody
You can change the reverb on the vst maybe is that
I can confirm as an owner of the vst that it does in fact have more reverb
I will say, the sounds of the M1 are still awesome after 29 years!
I have the VST and was wondering just how accurate to the original hardware it was, this video showed me that it's pretty darn close. Greatly appreciate the effort you put into this comparison.
thanks for the comment, a lot of work, but it was fun to do, all good :)
@@WoodyPianoShack Im using the Korg M1 VST right now and I see i huge hole in low frequencies, around 80hz, on all patches... Same on the Wavestation... I just put an EQ visualiser plugin after the M1 to see it... but i also hear it. Like if the sound lacked depth. Is it the same on the hardware ? I mean when you put an EQ visualiser behind.
M1 Legacy is nice and all... but the original comes with a free MIDI controller.
Lol
Ha! Good one. ; )
Legacy comes with a free editor and the iOS version is even more compact and has chaos pad and filter resonance.
Fr !!!
Free?
I bought the Korg M1 many years ago and I'm really happy to see this video. I was born in 1990
I think disabling the on board chorus (and reverb) on the the VST version and playing it through Acon Digital Multiply (and a reverb of your chosing), might be a pleasant surprise for many. :)
Original synth is a bit warmer and has a "fuller" sound, but I've been using the M1 VST for a year now, really good vst
"Original synth is a bit warmer and has a "fuller" sound" Exactly.
Does depend an what interface you are using with the vst. The better the converters, the better the sound
@@stebo5562 Presumably both are seeing the converters. The hardware sees them on the way in and back out. The VST only on the way out.
The hardware is propably just compressing and coloring the sound due to 90's hardware limitations and the VST should has the same exact sound source but doesn't color it because modern DAWs are completely clean but it can be colored and compressed to the users liking.
If they emulated the synth hardware and outputs and kept the effects section limited to 90's, so that the vst would sound more similar it might limit modern use and sound shaping of the instrument.
And yes the hardware sounds better here out of the box but with a little bit of tweaking it should be possible to make the vst sound warmer and fuller than the hardware version..
@@epicon6 What plug-ins would you add to the vst to make it more like the hardware then? I'm thinking a saturator, maybe Soundtoys Decapitator?
I believe that vst managed to capture the essence of the M1. Nice job, Woody. Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷
Direct compare stamps
1. 1:31 and 1:49
2. 2:07 and 2:23
3. 2:39 and 2:52
4. 3:06 and 3:16
5. 3:25 and 3:36
6. 3:47 and 3:52
7. 3:56 and 4:07
8. 4:19 and 4:33
9. 4:47 and 4:57
10. 5:09 and 5:18
11. 5:28 and 5:39
12. 5:50 and 6:00
13. 6:09 and 6:21
14. 6:33 and 6:40
15. 6:48 and 6:58
16. 7:07 and 7:17
17. 7:27 and 7:41
18. 7:54 and 8:04
19. 8:14 and 8:30
20. 8:46 and 8:52
21. 8:58 and 9:13
22. 9:28 and 9:36
23. 9:45 and 9:50
24. 9:55 and 10:04
25. 10:12 and 10:22
26. 10:31 and 10:47
27. 11:04 and 11:14
28. 11:22 and 11:32
29. 11:41 and 11:54
Conclusion: The emulation of the Reverb is not succeeded. The rest works fine. Thanks Woody for the compariosn
This was the first Synth i bought and i still have it,i also have the plug in and what's great about the program is that in essence you have 8 M1's as you can do multiple insytaumenst as oppose to Combi mode,The added cards and the Wavestation plugin in the complete set is truly a great value
it surely is, i',m very tempted to get the wavestation too. never owned the real hardware though unfortunately. love the sound browser on the plugin, super convenient way to find sounds fast.
Do yourself a favour and get the WS, It's fun, esp. for the money. I have a real M1 and the M1 plugin and have been playing them side by side on a set of good studio monitors. There really is no real difference. The plugin is a no-brainer if you want a M1, esp. since it includes all the expansion cards every made for it.
Great job Woody!
It's clear that they are near as makes no difference, but the VST as others have said, is brighter and the reverb is very modern sounding and has a longer tail.
To be honest, for people to not exercise some artistic license in a track, it would sound cliched and dated, but a hint of M1 is a nice retro nod to the 80s.
I bought the M1 when it was released and sold it after upgrading to the o1wFD and the X3 which I still own. I also have the Korg Krome and downloaded the free M1 library from the Korg website that I have stored onto the Krome. The sounds are still as good as ever though the Krome does not support aftertouch. Thanks for the comparison, great work as usual.
Thanks for the comparison. I always thought the Korg M1 VST was pretty close and this confirms it. I do not know why Korg seem really good at this yet IMO Roland's VSTs often lag miles behind in authenticity.
yeah, korg nailed this. although in Roland's defence, emulating an analogue non-preset based synth is much harder than emulating a primitive rompler. i've got a hunch that roland will be upping their game in respect to their software synths in 2017 and beyond... :)
Jon Vincent idk...Roland nailed the SH2 plugout IMO
Jon Vincent Totally unrealated to your comment but I was wondering about your avatar. It looks like something I bought on eBay to put in vinyl singles where the middle had been pushed out. Is that what your avatar depicts?
If by upping the game you mean increase prices, yes that happened
Roland run rings around everyone else producing synths, though. The Reface DX is interesting, but I don't know if Korg or Yamaha have offered anything programmable in the last decade. In their defense, "at least Roland puts knobs on their stuff" (tm). I'm in a sort of love/hate relationship with the new Roland though, their direction is correct, but some strange shortcomings. So I'd be more than happy to be informed! Like an (informed) feed of every new synth released.
8:46 Seems to be the exact Seinfeld slap bass!
confirmed seinfield audio producers got the bass sound from the M1
Justin Laluga i always heard that the slap bass was from the MidiBass. I have one and would agree
I have the M1 VST and i think it captures the essence of the original hardware very well, great video Woody, let's hope this let's a new generation look into this classic by Korg.
The legacy edition is almost universally brighter and a bit more reverb on all patches. If I had to pick a side by side fav, it would be the legacy edition. Great video. Thank you for putting the work in!
Maybe that could be sorted with the in built EQ, cut a slight bit on the high end?
It's the better quality of the Audio interface. Use 16 bit and 44.1 khz or lower quality. Filters and adjusting the reverb are obviously an option too...I personally rather like it HiFi.
The M1 was a sample-based synthesizer (ROMpler) so it's easy to obtain an accurate digital replica.
I am here to testify that the M1 VST is awesome! You get more polyphony! The classics are there and they sound great! Oh and the effects processor is impressive.
Thanks! I agree, except for the reverb, it's pretty hard to tell them apart. I have both the VST and iPad versions, and I think that the iPad one is actually even better then the VST. It's great that you can get effectively a full M1 for less than 50 dollars nowadays.
indeed! add the free Dexed and upcoming D50 vst you have access to all the big 3 in your plugin library.
Love Korg's M1 VST! Best $50 I ever spent. Great vid, thanks!
Is it available to purchase? Also can it be used with fl or logic x?
@@Keyfive328 korg.shop/korg-collection-special-bundle-v2.html Yes it can be used with fl studio it is a vst.
And after M1 VST I bought M1 rack... love theme both, they different.
@@SuperbHerbMusic awesome thank you
Thanks much this comparison demo! It's just what I was hoping to find, to help inform a friend who's owned M1's since early '90's. Although there are slight variables, I think that with a 'blind' test, it would be hard to pick out the source of most sounds. I think it's certainly worth the price, to test out first hand. Thanks, appreciated much!
usually reverbs tend to sound louder as you increase the sample rate of your daw. try a reverb at 44.100 and at 88.200 to see the difference. doesnt affect all reverbs ( it depends on internal oversampling ), but if affects many. maybe this is the case.
The only hardware Korg I owned (and still own) is a rack mounted 03-RW which is considerably inferior to an M1. I've been using the Korg Legacy Collection for more than a decade. Korg did an amazing job of VMing [sic] a bunch of synths (not just the M1). Thanks for the effort to show no real-world earth shaking differences. I will comment that my old PC with ASIO drivers sounded great but had a fair heap of random clicks and latency issues which made the Legacy Collection SUCK badly for the first few years I owned it (for live performance). Today it sounds great, as Yamaha/Korg intended. Cheers Woody.
The VST sounds brighter and fuller, as mentioned by other commenters, it has more reverb from the get go. I think it's worth the buy.
I have had the vst for a few years now and always thought it was close to the real thing now i know. Clubbed my way through the 90s with this synth on so many tunes .
Great video.
Great demo. I wish everyone that did TH-cam reviews put in as much effort.Thanks.
Great job Woody! The KORG VSTs were the first plugins I purchased and I bought them back when it was the Analogue Legacy Collection and Digital Legacy Collection. I always thought that they were close to their hardware siblings but I never had a chance to compare, until now. Thank you.
happy to oblige, thx for the feedback!
Just bought M! VST yesterday. Am excited about having it. Probably won't be my last Korg VST! Already have Korg Krome EX which led to the Nautilus AT recently. Made so much sense getting this VST.
Thanks Woody! I got an M1 on ebay 4 years back. As you said, it was already on when I went to the seller. Of course when I got it home I found the battery was low. I opened it up and changed the battery and lost the voice memory. Tried many ways to Sysex the data but it wouldn't take. Had to take it to the techy shop in the end. All good now though!
You're The Best Keyboard and plugin guy on TH-cam. Thanks Woody.
I've got both and in a mix, I honestly can't tell the difference.
That Universe preset is still sooooo good after all those years!
Wow, love the extra air in the highs in the VST (probably due to crusty D/A converters on the hardware). Makes the M1 sound just that one step closer so you can use it in contemporary production without the need to compensate with an EQ
Amazing video i wish all videos on you tube were this well put together .... great work mate
much appreciated mr harris.
Great demo Woody, the M1 changed my musical life teamed up with my Amiga 500 late 80's. Sounds pretty close as that Lushness in Strings especially are so well preserved.
Some subtle nuances might be fixed with the editor so very impressed!
You know how heavy that baby is to lug around,
So nice Job and thanks for that..I've been waiting for that VST forever!
funny you should say that, i carried the m1 on my shoulder this afternoon. I can confirm, this is the heaviest of all the 61 key synths I've owned. What a fantastically well-built synth it is, a real pleasure to behold. Not quite the same on the A49 midi controller and VST :)
The hardware seems to be more warm and smooth, the vst brillant and dynamic
Playing that Crystal Waters. I see ya. You took me back to my teenage years with that one.
Thanks Woody. We really enjoyed your comparative test. You have twisted our arm into purchasing the VST.
cool, i think you should, hang on though if you're not in a hurry, korg have regular 50% sales.
Seems to me that any differences come only from the real machine's A to D converters and from the VST having far more reverb on it than the M1. Thanks for doing such a great job here Woody.
Jackofalltrades nailed it. The reverb is warmish so that's probably Korg attempt to compensate.
The stereo image is shifting around in small ways with the hardware, and I rather like that. The software is of course static in that regard. The software sounds good. This is a very helpful vid. If I ever go for an M1 I will get the keyboard. Thank you
Great job with the comparison! The M1 Legacy is impressive too. - All the production possibilities you can have like in a laptop these days.
Great comparison. Thank you for all the hard work, Woody!
Awesome video, thank you for putting in the time to do the topic justice!
I have the M1 vst and use a cheap yamaha psr whatever from 2017 as a midi controller. Works like a charm with velocity sensitivity but unfortunately no aftertouch
7:28 - that sound is fierce. Even more so in the plugin. The background layer here and on other songs seem more prominent in the plugin.
Very similar in tone but there is clearly reverb added on a few of the vst sounds, where there isn't on the M1. I think without that you'd really be able to hear the similarities between the two.
The reverb overdose on nearly every Korg M1 preset made me detest the M1 for the longest time. I mean, WHO PUTS HALL REVERB ON A BASS GUITAR?!?! (A Korg engineer, that's who!). I learned that if you turn down the reverb level significantly, the sounds are less cheesy and fit in a mix better.
The actual synth sounds warmer than the VST, but they're pretty close. You can definitely tell one is the original, though.
Yep, all the high frequencies and reverb in the vst show a clear difference.
@@justdope1963 Would be interesting to see the difference if he removed some of the wetness from the VST reverb send and re-recorded it through the same preamp as he recorded the hardware on. I think it would be pretty much identical then.
@@alexanderdiazlarsson829 Yeah, I don't get why there's obviously some reverb in the VST. I also really noticed the tinniness when he started playing the piano, but if there's a pre-amp involved, it's not apples to apples.
Your the reason why I purchased the VST. Such a great video thank you so much for taking the time to do this comparison video. x
This just reminds me how awesome the M1 sounds.
Wow! $25 is a really great price for something awesome like that! Worth to pay!
yes bruno, currently on special offer, it's a good deal
I got the Wavestation for $25 but kinda wish I had gotten the M1 too. Been $50 every year since... still not bad but still
$99 now 😭
@@BrancoArgenta i know wtf right? :( :(
Sounds like the VST has more reverb on it. The sounds are so close it would be hard to do a blind test between the VST and the hardware. Could you do a video playing more sounds from the cards on the VST? Many of us had M1 keyboards, but didn't have enough money left to buy all the cards. Thanks for the meticulous attention to detail with your comparison videos. You rock Woody!!!
thank you for the complimentary words, that's a good idea for a future video.
they;re very close, but the verb of the plugin is a bit more present in case of some sounds.. and ofcourse the fact that the original M1 has 1988 converters which are recorded through another set of converters, while the plugin stays in the digital domain.. other than that.. they're not really different.. (Edit.. forget the reverb remark... )
Blind tasting is the only TRUE test. And at different volume levels. What you created, already creates bias. But thanks for your effort.
A true blind testing. Is where you label one A and the other B. And in addition, you dont try to play the exact same thing, instead you play various patches and at various levels and change the effects for different patches to prevent any bias and also confuses the listener on purpose therefore creating an atmosphere of anything goes, yet you stay true to the A and B. (In your case you already created a bias by having the vst with more reverb.)The ony thing you keep track of is the A and the B. It's a true real cross the board test. The way people would use the synth, in their own context. It allows for deeper listening to truly see if one can distinguish the them apart.
I really enjoy taking the sounds from the VST and making my own SNES-esque instruments out of it.
Then you gotta check out the Plogue Chipsynth SFC. Mindblowing! The chipsynth MD, likewise. They are the first company to ever completely, 100% nail the sound of these old video game systems, and I am ever so glad they have!
I'm hoping that Korg also does the 01/W one of these days. They could probably reuse most of the code from the M1 VST.
Definitely appreciate all of the work putting this together ... as others have said, you can hear some similarities and differences. But for me, unlike other 'sound-alikes' I wouldn't worry much about using either one!
First, a shout out to Woody for a well designed and executed comparison. The A/B of short, clear phrases works for my short term memory.
Lots of comments/complaints about reverb and effects added in the VST. Is it possible to tame those in the VST? I assume the parameters in the 'INSERT FX' section are defaults and could be turned down or off as they are in the original M1.
Hi youz, and thanks for the comment, yeah you can tweak fx to your hearts content and I'm sure then you'd get them identical but I thought more interesting to show how it sounds "out of the box" :)
@@WoodyPianoShack
Understood; 'As is, as found'. Proper experimental methodology. In addition to being a musician, I assume you are a scientist.
I'm very pleasantly surprised at how authentic the M1 VST plugin sounds. From Korg Polysix (ca. 1982) and Roland SH-101 up to the middle of the 90s I regularly had a lot of Korg and Roland instruments (commercial sound programming). I know that time and the sounds quite well. I've had the Arturia Seven Collection for a few months. There are so many sounds, I'd say 50%, I can't imagine that the synths sounded like that back then 🙄
Thanks for all your effort. I was a fan of M1 sounds and bought VST, too.
Excellent video. Really enjoyed it.
Great video Woody. Lots of work but worth the effort for such a quality result! I think the vst sounds absolutely superb, and for $40 you can't go wrong!
too right rufus. thx for the feedback. more like $25 if you're patient and wait for the korg sales.
I notice a reverberant difference between the two. VST sounds in a wider place, but pretty much the same synth voice. I agree with you at the end.
I'd say good enough to choose the vst over buying a old hardware version...some of the sounds were a bit different in envelopes, filters and such but overall pretty spot on.
you'd never know there was a difference unless you did an A-B comparison :)
hopefully roland will make a D50 vst/au proper synth soon too
Awesome vid mate, thank you. Looks like I will be buying the VST in the near future.
Hi Woody! I really enjoyed that comparison, so thanks for all your work.
I've got an M1 (plus a few cards), and I was hyper-curious to hear how the plug-in would sound. To my ears, it's mainly the same, although, as you pointed out, the reverb was a bit more pronounced in places, which spoilt a couple of the sounds, but made a couple seem more modern. Thanks again!
Good comparison. I thought the keyboard sounded a little fuller overall, especially in the bass, though some patches there was very little difference.
I definitely felt and heard a sweeter more lushness to the actual hardware. Just much nicer and a bit warmer. To me just makes the difference. It's not loads but for me, definitely makes me think, yeah, the hardware is much more lush sounding.
Thanks mate. Hard work appreciated.
Thanks for the comparison. Miles apart. One sounds thick and 3D. Other (VST) sounds thin, 2D, brighter with effect to make it feel fuller. It comes down to the hardware converters. Maybe consider running the VST through some warmer preamp/tube EQ and then comparing could show what can be achieved in reality with the VST in a studio environment. Bravo and thanks again for doing this.
Nice job as always, Woody! Also, if I never told you before-- I LOVE that you use Reaper for all of your demos and videos. Reaper rules.
thanks for all the work you put into creating this comparison video !
Great work and thanks for taking the time to do this - it's greatly appreciated!!!
Thank you for the work you put into making this, and also thank you for chatting about why and what to do about the reverb situation that has been puzzling me for some time, at the end. I enjoyed watching this :)
Interesting comparison and well articulated. Teboho
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW.... I HAVE TO GET IT NOW!
thanks a lot Woody! this is definatly on my purchase list now!
Thanks for all the hard work on this vid
Such an excellent video. Thank you for this Woody!
hey, nice of you to say so, thx
Hi woody, great vid as always. Can't wait for your full review!
good to see you liver on twitch yesterday i hope to catch you again! :)
Woody did a lot to try and level the playing field but there still is the fact he had to record the physical M1 which is still a slight variable which is enough to give you the false differences people think exist.
Hi Woody, I keep hitting your vids so I can chill while I'm at work, always a pleasure. Question: Did you perform your "Woody Piano Shack" theme? It's really nice.
Thanks for the hard work in getting the comparisons, Woody. Very interesting and informative. I'm footering around and procrastinating on buying the VST. On the strength of this video, I reckon I will. I wonder why the reverbs are so different though?
Thank you for making this comparison!
Great video
Wow, gotta say the plugin sounds superb compared to the real thing, although the samples for the drums sound a bit botched, like they samples are pitched down, everything else has come across wonderfully well.
And great job Woody, on getting the levels sorted - this is a great comparison video, you've made it an easy listen for us.
One thing i will say, and i've wanted to get an M1 all my life since i was a young(er) raver - there's very little benefit to the hardware over the plugin, as it lacks a lot of realtime/hardware controls - the M1 was always a bit of a menu diver, it's not like a Juno 106 for example which is very much 'hands on'.
hi! i would say the m1 hardware is easily replaced by the plugin for the reasons you mention. we didn't cover it in this vid, but a great feature of the plugin is the dozens of expansion cards, and the browser where you can filter and search for types of sounds. you don't get categorized sounds on the hardware, so it's very tedious to find the right sound amongst the hundred presets. cheers
I was surprised since the drums don't sound that bad on my plugin. Either way, the drums are so horribly dated that I'll never use them unless I want to make a retro early '90s tune.
On many patches the bass is really tapered off for some reason. And the bright sounds either shimmer too much or not enough.
I was expecting them to be identical. Still, for 25 bucks, it's pretty damn good.
One of my favorite Vst-s.....
Thanks man
Great comparison video. I can appreciate how much work you have put in to make this work and as fair as possible . Props to you . I have owned both and must say i miss the hardware , it made a good midi controller aswell.
hey adamski, yeah the m1 is so well made, and enjoyable to play. But I kinda appreciate the convenience of the plug, plus one less board to store and maintain. :)
Woody Piano Shack Couldnt agree with you more and plus factor in the cost of rom cards these days , bit of a no brainer really :-)
Thank you for doing this video. I have both the VST for the PC and the IPad. I love them both. I often wondered how close the sounds were. Now I know.
Nice video sir. I can definitely tell the difference in some patches, but others are pretty spot on. The plugin definitely seemed to have a bit more presence and clarity in certain examples, and I agree with Xavier below in that the drum kit was shite in the plugin...who's gonna use that anyway though, right? ;) What is the version number of the plugin you used for the testing? Thanks!
the drums were awful. really don't know what's going on there. maybe i did something wrong? i'll do a demo/review of the plugin sometime, so we'll revisit those weird drum sounds then. i don't know what version, but I downloaded it about 6 months ago, i can check when i get home but i'll probably forget.... :)
The first two VSTs I ever bought were the Korg Legacy collection Digital Edition (M1 + Wavestation + MDEX), and Spectrasonics RMX. Later I grabbed the Analog Edition (MS20 + Polysix + MonoPoly).
Great video and comparison, thank you Woody.
cheers Jörgen, thanks for the comment!
Would love to hear a track made up with the DX7, D50 and M1
yeah, never got around to that, i'm not really a multi-keyboard guy! but maybe I'll do something using the plugin versions one day.
Thank you for uploading this, Woody. I own both versions as well. I always had the idea they sounded much more different than what I hear from you. My hardware M1 sounds like your hardware, but I did a comparison with my VST and your VST on "Drums 1", and I hear a big difference: mine sounds thinner and overdynamic to my ears compared to yours. I also see this in a significant difference in the shape of the waveforms comparing our VST's. Yours are tight, mine have very pronounced transients. So, I was wondering if there is something on your master bus like a softclipper or did your video have some mastering? (I suppose not!) Or could this have something to do with the file conversion to youtube? Thanks for your answer & greetings.
A great demo.Thanks !
Thanks for the awesome work Woody
Very cool! You almost get me excited to buy some old synthsizer :-)
tjenare bo! almost? i'll try harder next time :)
=) I am not big on retro things. I enjoy others enthusiasm about them tho
Cool comparision, thanks for that! It sounds like the virtual m1 has a little more reverb on, right? But honestly, in a song with no direct way to compare these two nobody would hear the difference!