My recent post on the Korg M1 “Organ 2” preset got a surprisingly huge number of opens and responses. Here it is for reference:
The legendary KORG M1 "Organ 2" preset
It’s been a while since I’ve done a music post. Last weekend I went to Somewhere Out There festival in Singapore, and it was the best electronic music experience I’ve had in years. Probably since seeing Dixon in 2023. I came away so inspired that I got my DJ stuff out of the closet, reinstalled Traktor and spent part of Sunday just mixing together some …
Inspired, I decided to see if there is a software version of the Korg M1:
THERE IS. AND I BOUGHT IT FOR 49 BUCKS!
Therefore, in this short post, I will now demonstrate to you fellow music lovers why it matters to have “Organ 2”. Some other random organ sound from your uncle’s Yamaha keyboard (or Garageband) just won’t cut it.
First, here the actual song, Organ starts at 0:32:
Here is me having recorded it for the previous post, using the built-in organ sound from Garageband:
And here is the same thing using the “Organ 2” preset from the official M1 Plugin:
There is that 90s sound!1 YES!
For good measure, I guess we have to do this one too:
Let me remind you of what I wrote previously:
I can’t stress enough that you can literally plug in a Korg M1, load the factory “Organ 2” preset, and play the Show me love riff, and it will be THAT EXACT SOUND!
And here it is, Show Me Love, with the “Organ 2” sound from the M1 Plugin2:
This is what the (virtual) machine looks like:
Epic 80s engineering!
Scrutinizing it more closely now, a few things: One, in the real song, the bass note is not the organ but a different instrument. And two, I’m not playing it exactly note for note. There is something slightly different during the 3rd chord.
Believe me that I am resisting the serious temptation to stay up probably until 4AM to not only figure out the difference, but also get the right Strings sound for the bass, and then while we’re at it ….. And that is exactly why I stopped making music when I started working.
Still, there is a 50/50 chance that this will keep bothering me enough that I’ll at least figure out what it is about that riff that I’m playing differently.
Again, scrutinizing this….. This time I actually know exactly what the difference is. I programmed this in with my mouse, and the original is clearly played by someone with their hands. The (micro) timing is remarkable, actually. It’s way off the grid, swings like hell. That’s probably why it’s so catchy.