Korg Zero 4 & 8

rolfski · Post by **rolfski** » Sun May 27, 2007 11:30 am

BTW Zero8 is extremely well reviewed in this months Future Music magazine: 10/10

Deadbeat · Post by **Deadbeat** » Sun May 27, 2007 11:43 am

I had the pleasure of being leant the zero8 for my Japan tour over the last weeks and I can say with out a doubt that it is the most well thought out, rock solid controller I have ever layed my hands on. I will definitely be picking one up when it hits the street in August. Will probably do a more thorough review in he next days over on my myspace blog for those interested in further details...

scott

PiR8 · Post by **PiR8** » Wed May 30, 2007 9:44 pm

I wrote few words of this mixer, translating in progress (from hungarian to english)... please be patient

robtronik · Post by **robtronik** » Wed May 30, 2007 10:17 pm

claude young used one at DEMF this year when he played live. I have video of him using it.

Its pretty dope. I was impressed.

rob.

claudeyoung · Post by **claudeyoung** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:47 pm

robtronik wrote:claude young used one at DEMF this year when he played live. I have video of him using it.

Its pretty dope. I was impressed.

rob.

Cheers for the compliment.
A friend of mine is one of the main designers at Korg here in Japan and he actually developed / created the Zero 8 & Zero 4. They gave us one of the prototypes to take to the US for the DEMF. This is the best controller / audio interface ever made!
An all in one solution for your studio and live show needs. Were buying one as soon as production models are ready (very soon, were lucky enough to get first pick as soon as they are ready).

What makes this mixer great is the fact that everything on the surface can be used as a midi controller. the channels can be split - for example on channel 1 (-8) all controls can be used as midi control or you can use the absolutely amazing internal EQ and use the second set of knobs (sends) as midi control for your DAW.

For the internal EQs you have a choice of EQ curves / Filters A- K. these can be changes at any time and feature curves to reproduce all the popular mixers (allen and heath, pioneer, etc) + several special curves created by my friend the designer (like filters but you have to try them to understand what they do).

The FX are top notch - insert and master FX all controlled from a touch screen that doubles as the Kaoss pad control.

The faders are nice and smooth (not stiff yeaaa!!!!!) and the cross fader on the Zero 8 is nice. I was told that the Zero 4 is more of a club DJ mixer with many of the same features. I did not use the Zero 4 but we had the Zero 8 for about a month. We just got back from the US and I have to say I hate to have to send it back but as soon as they are ready were going to Korg HQ to get ours.

This machine and live work perfectly together! You connect the firewire to your computer and bang your ready to go!

If you can afford to get the Zero 8 - I would suggest you grab one as soon as it comes out. You will not be disappointed and it has so many functions that you will be able to use it for years to come.

theque · Post by **theque** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:26 am

thanks claude, i have been hanging to hear a user review of one of these. sounds like it is all it should be.

dinsync · Post by **dinsync** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:53 am

korg really are very on top of things. i long for a new electribe box. i will likely go for the zero 8 shortly after release as well.

robtronik · Post by **robtronik** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:53 pm

claudeyoung wrote:
robtronik wrote:claude young used one at DEMF this year when he played live. I have video of him using it.

Its pretty dope. I was impressed.

rob.
Cheers for the compliment.
A friend of mine is one of the main designers at Korg here in Japan and he actually developed / created the Zero 8 & Zero 4. They gave us one of the prototypes to take to the US for the DEMF. This is the best controller / audio interface ever made!
An all in one solution for your studio and live show needs. Were buying one as soon as production models are ready (very soon, were lucky enough to get first pick as soon as they are ready).

What makes this mixer great is the fact that everything on the surface can be used as a midi controller. the channels can be split - for example on channel 1 (-8) all controls can be used as midi control or you can use the absolutely amazing internal EQ and use the second set of knobs (sends) as midi control for your DAW.

For the internal EQs you have a choice of EQ curves / Filters A- K. these can be changes at any time and feature curves to reproduce all the popular mixers (allen and heath, pioneer, etc) + several special curves created by my friend the designer (like filters but you have to try them to understand what they do).

The FX are top notch - insert and master FX all controlled from a touch screen that doubles as the Kaoss pad control.

The faders are nice and smooth (not stiff yeaaa!!!!!) and the cross fader on the Zero 8 is nice. I was told that the Zero 4 is more of a club DJ mixer with many of the same features. I did not use the Zero 4 but we had the Zero 8 for about a month. We just got back from the US and I have to say I hate to have to send it back but as soon as they are ready were going to Korg HQ to get ours.

This machine and live work perfectly together! You connect the firewire to your computer and bang your ready to go!

If you can afford to get the Zero 8 - I would suggest you grab one as soon as it comes out. You will not be disappointed and it has so many functions that you will be able to use it for years to come.

yeah man. I it was great. Here is the video I shot of you using it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSIOxTg6sLY

rob.

gabster · Post by **gabster** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:25 pm

here is a big miss that zero 8 has not:

separate audio outputs per channel as for example the Presonus Firepod has.
Would be nice and handy for playing in clubs where you can hand separate OUTs for the house mixer.

Otherwise it is a great piece of gear.

Gabi.

john gordon · Post by **john gordon** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:35 pm

robtronik wrote:
claudeyoung wrote:
robtronik wrote:claude young used one at DEMF this year when he played live. I have video of him using it.

Its pretty dope. I was impressed.

rob.
Cheers for the compliment.
A friend of mine is one of the main designers at Korg here in Japan and he actually developed / created the Zero 8 & Zero 4. They gave us one of the prototypes to take to the US for the DEMF. This is the best controller / audio interface ever made!
An all in one solution for your studio and live show needs. Were buying one as soon as production models are ready (very soon, were lucky enough to get first pick as soon as they are ready).

What makes this mixer great is the fact that everything on the surface can be used as a midi controller. the channels can be split - for example on channel 1 (-8) all controls can be used as midi control or you can use the absolutely amazing internal EQ and use the second set of knobs (sends) as midi control for your DAW.

For the internal EQs you have a choice of EQ curves / Filters A- K. these can be changes at any time and feature curves to reproduce all the popular mixers (allen and heath, pioneer, etc) + several special curves created by my friend the designer (like filters but you have to try them to understand what they do).

The FX are top notch - insert and master FX all controlled from a touch screen that doubles as the Kaoss pad control.

The faders are nice and smooth (not stiff yeaaa!!!!!) and the cross fader on the Zero 8 is nice. I was told that the Zero 4 is more of a club DJ mixer with many of the same features. I did not use the Zero 4 but we had the Zero 8 for about a month. We just got back from the US and I have to say I hate to have to send it back but as soon as they are ready were going to Korg HQ to get ours.

This machine and live work perfectly together! You connect the firewire to your computer and bang your ready to go!

If you can afford to get the Zero 8 - I would suggest you grab one as soon as it comes out. You will not be disappointed and it has so many functions that you will be able to use it for years to come.

yeah man. I it was great. Here is the video I shot of you using it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSIOxTg6sLY

rob.

nice.i loved that first track he was rocking.

D@VE! · Post by **D@VE!** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:45 pm

cool movie, can't ait to test one myself.

ctx · Post by **ctx** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:23 pm

gabster wrote:here is a big miss that zero 8 has not:

separate audio outputs per channel as for example the Presonus Firepod has.
Would be nice and handy for playing in clubs where you can hand separate OUTs for the house mixer.

Otherwise it is a great piece of gear.

When I saw it didn't have direct outs, I started hoping for the ability to swap the assignments of the fader and the send 1 or 2 knob on each channel... It would be good enough for me anyway, to use the sends as additional outputs.

Bas · Post by **Bas** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:34 pm

I really love what this mixer can do with al its functions, but the only thing i saw and i really do not like is : how can they make the headphone socket on that spot? right in the middle of the top panel between al the knobs????? The zero4 does this a lot better, on the frontpanel.

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 2:44 pm

I have a Korg Zero 8.

Price was $1899.

So far, not 100% pleased with it.

Sound quality is not great. It lacks a bit of the bass response that I'm used to hearing from my previous mixer. (A&H XONE 62) Music I am quite familiar with now sounds very flat, and in some cases subtle basslines can hardly be detected where previously they had more presence. I think this is most likely a testament to the superior sound quality of Allen & Heath mixers. It could also be a drawback to digital mixers? Either way, I can hear and feel the difference easily.

Nothing in my monitoring setup has changed. Still using KRK V6 monitors on the booth, and Mackie SRM-450 speakers on the master.

I found a workaround to this problem by applying Drawing EQ as a master effect from the mixer. This lets me boost the bass slightly on the master output without having to increase the bass EQs on each channel independently. Not an ideal solution, but at least it works. I do not like running my EQ knobs past the center detent position.

The other problem is with Cueing in Ableton. The Zero8 only allows you to route audio to one of the eight mixer channels. You cannot route directly to the Master Bus or Headphone Bus. So what this means is.... when you are setting up Ableton you must assign the Master output to one channel on the Zero8 and then assign the Cue output to another channel. So you are essentially losing two channels on the mixer by doing this. Fortunately, the channel you use for your master can be left in MIDI mode so it is still usable. But the Cue channel must be left in (Audio+MIDI) or (Audio) mode, because if you leave it in (MIDI) mode the Cue will play audibly over the master. NOT good. So technically you only lose functionality of 1 channel for Cueing. But this is still a serious annoyance.

Hopefully this can be resolved in a firmware update. Although I might not keep this mixer long enough to find out. I've got a 30 day return policy which I may decide to take up.

I can't believe that after all of these years I've been using Ableton, nobody has yet to develop a great mixer/MIDI controller solution. Everything is either short on functions or plagued with bugs and design oversights.

If they can get the Cueing issue worked out, I'll be a lot happier.

The headphone jack is in a funny position, up by the master volume knob. But I'm glad it is not on the front panel. This was one of my big complaints about the A&H Xone 3D when I had it. The headphone jack on front means you can't rackmount the mixer flush into the table, unless you leave the front cut out.

I have my headphones on the Zero8 put in with two right-angle 1/4" adapters to keep the cord out of the way.

Tuur · Post by **Tuur** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:39 pm

subterFUSE wrote:The Zero8 only allows you to route audio to one of the eight mixer channels. You cannot route directly to the Master Bus or Headphone Bus. So what this means is.... when you are setting up Ableton you must assign the Master output to one channel on the Zero8 and then assign the Cue output to another channel.

I don't get it. You can't use it in some sort of 'channel direct mode'?

I was planning on using a Zero4 with 4 Live channels 'hardwired' (audio/midi) to the 4 mixer channels (without using the Master out from Live and doing PFL on the Korg - just like any other audio source). Is this possible?