Hi, I'm Nathan, a new Youtuber with a serious Ebay problem. I did the thing I always do...accidentally buying something on my favorite auction site by bidding much lower than I think the item will sell for but winning the auction anyway! So yeah, I bought a MicroKorg XL for 193 dollars, dumbfounding me completely with such a low price.
I've never owned an OG MicroKorg, but I saw them in every shared practice space I had when I lived in Montreal in the mid 2000s. I now regret not picking one up back then to see what was up.
This review does not go into the deep menu diving that's possible with the XL. Rest assured, you can navigate the mostly annoying workflow to create your own sounds, just check out the online manual!
Instead, this review goes over build quality and the stock presents (or the presents the previous owner created). Stay till the end for four pieces I made with the XL, Meris Hedra, and the Fender Marine Layer.
New MicroKorg XLs on Amazon although I would definitely recommend looking for used ones:
https://www.amazon.com/Korg-microKorg-Modeling-Synthesizer-Vocoder/dp/B001MQUZJ2
My music on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0N3yhNHGA2OJUGh0H3C0DU?si=BFtorpuTQz6uMvbzwOTQCA
And Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/winter-triangle/1526721681
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:08 The Good and the Bad
1:51 Comparison with Grandmother
2:36 Arpeggiator
3:41 First Impressions
4:00 Vocoder
4:38 Good and Bad Sounds
11:35 Fav Arp Sound
13:04 Conclusion
13:41 4 Pieces of Music