Korg Prologue – New Flagship Analog Poly Synth

It was inevitable, wasn’t it? Korg announced the new prologue, a fully-programmable, full-featured, professional synthesizer. Preceded by the four-voice polyphonic minilogue (see our Korg minilogue review) and the monophonic monologue, it’s the long-awaited debut of the flagship: the prologue.

What Is It Exactly?

The new Korg prologue is a polyphonic, bi-timbral analog synthesizer equipped with a full-sized keyboard (yay! no more minikeys!), available in two different versions, 16-voice 61-key prologue-16, and the eight-voice 49-key prologue-8.

The new synth inherits the analog circuits of its predecessors, bringing several improvements and new features to the table.

– An extra digital oscillator for digital waveforms and FM sounds

– A user oscillator section that allows you to add your own oscillator programs (this is pretty cool if you ask us!)

– New DSP-based effects (chorus or ensemble, warm tape delay, various reverbs, etc.) – FYI, as for the user oscillator, also this section will be customizable via software

– Quality keybed – Made in Japan, and according to Korg, on the same level as their other flagship synths.

Our Thoughts

Design-wise, the prologue looks classy – probably the best-looking poly synth right now. Sound-wise, we’re looking forward to putting one through its paces but the demo below sounds quite promising (less cheese guys, please!).
Price-wise, the prologue is in the same league as the (recently Sonic Joy-awarded) DSI REV 2 – 8 voice 49 keys for $1499 / £1299 – 16 voice 61 keys for $1999/ £1699 (approx.). Definitely not bad!

Negative Points?

If you were expecting Korg to add a nifty little sequencer like the one on the Monologue, you will probably be disappointed. There’s an arpeggiator though, and a poly sequencer would have certainly made the price of the unit less appealing.
There’s only one LFO. On a powerful machine like this one, it would have been nice to see more modulation possibilities. On the other hand, having more than one LFO on similar machines is certainly not common. Also, the sound-shaping opportunities offered by the new multi-engine (Variable Phase Modulation, user customization features, etc.) look pretty unique and could somehow make up for this.
Oh, no aftertouch. Not a dealbreaker, but it would have made the instrument even more expressive.

Here’s a more comprehensive video of the instrument:

Availability

April 2018. See more details on the official Korg prologue web page.