The Korg DSS-1 (Digital Sampling Synthesizer) is a polyphonic sampling synthesizer released by Korg in 1986. As Korg's initial entry into the sampling market, the DSS-1 combines sampling, additive synthesis, and waveform drawing with an analog signal path.[3][4] The DSS-1 was released a time when major synthesizer manufacturers like Yamaha and Casio were beginning to explore sampling, an area of sound design dominated by companies like Fairlight, E-mu, and Ensoniq. Korg did not stay long in the sampling arena; the DSS-1 (along with the rackmount DSM-1) was the company's only sampler until 1998 when Korg introduced sampling options on their Triton and Trinity series of workstations.
The DSS-1 features a five-octave keyboard, a 3.5-inch disk drive, and a performance joystick on the left side. The top panel includes sliders for Master volume and tuning, data entry sliders A and B with step buttons, an LCD screen, a keypad, cursor buttons, and various operational buttons. It combines three synthesis methods: sampling, additive harmonic synthesis, and hand-drawn waveform creation.[2][1]
The sampler is 12-bit and supports fixed sampling rates of 16, 24, 32, and 48kHz. The maximum duration for recording varies, with the longest being 16 seconds at 16kHz and the shortest at 5.5 seconds at 48kHz. To record, users navigate a menu system to choose the sampling rate, determine the number of divisions within a sample, and select the key number for each sample. Features for looping include an automatic looping function, as well as crossfade and bidirectional looping options for seamless loop creation.[5] The DSS-1 also features a simple additive harmonic synthesis engine that allows users to create single-cycle waveforms by either drawing them with a data slider or by setting the relative amplitude levels of 128 sine waves to create complex waveforms as well as the standard sawtooth, square and sine waves.[6]
The DSS-1's synthesis structure resembles that of a traditional subtractive analog synthesizer, featuring two oscillators, voltage-controlled filters (VCF) and voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCA). The VCFs can be switched between 24dB and 12dB per octave slopes and incorporate keyboard tracking and an extended ADBSSR (Attack, Decay, Breakpoint, Slope, Sustain, Release) envelope generator that Korg first introduced with the Poly-800. This envelope enables the insertion of an additional attack or decay phase before reaching the sustain segment. The DSS-1 also borrows the auto-bend feature from the DW-8000, which creates an automatic initial pitch bend towards the played note with adjustable speed.[2][6]
Velocity sensitivity in the DSS-1 can modulate the VCF cutoff, VCA level, and the envelopes' attack, decay, and slope, along with the degree of auto-bend. It can also control oscillator switching or crossfading, which is particularly useful for sampled sounds. Aftertouch can introduce vibrato and VCF modulation, as well as modulate the VCA level.[1][6]
There are two individual sine wave low-frequency oscillators (LFOs), one for pitch modulation and the other for VCF modulation. There are also two separate modulation sources for the built-in twin digital delays. The DSS-1 also includes a four-way joystick for performance adjustments, enabling pitch bending and filter manipulation horizontally, as well as vibrato and filter modulation vertically.[2]
The mono signal from the synthesizer section is then routed through two internal digital delay effects, each linked to an independent audio output for stereo functionality. The delays offer controls for delay time, modulation, and feedback, enabling a range of effects including chorus, echo and slapback reverb. Users can configure the delays to operate either in series or parallel and invert the phase of the second unit's modulation wave to produce stereo effects. A built-in EQ effect offers treble and bass adjustments to help shape the output sound.[2][5]
Sounds in the DSS-1 are categorized into Samples, Multi Sounds, and Systems. A Sample is a sound you record using the synthesizer's input. A System is a collection of up to 32 programs that can be stored and accessed simultaneously for ease of use during live performances. Multi Sounds allow for the combination of several samples, each assigned to specific keys on the keyboard. This configuration enables a layered or split keyboard setup, where different sounds can be played in different sections of the keyboard.[2][1]
The DSS-1 has its operating system stored on ROM chips, so if you lose your floppy disks you can still boot the system up (unlike the E-mu Emulator, Ensoniq Mirage, and early Roland samplers which required you always have a floppy disk containing the OS). However, each time you boot up the DSS-1 you will not have any sounds available until you load a system into memory from floppy disk. This can usually take anywhere from 20 to 40 seconds, depending on the size and number of multisamples contained in that system. The floppies that the DSS-1 understands are the older DSDD (double-sided double-density) disks that were also used on the Ensoniq Mirage and on early Macintosh computers.[citation needed]
Korg DSM-1
The Korg DSM-1, released in 1987, is a rack-mounted variant of the DSS-1, boasting a memory capacity of 1Mb—four times greater than its predecessor—and featuring a quicker operating system, a high-density disk drive, individual outputs, and a multitimbral mode. While it doubled the polyphony to 16 notes (which reduces back to eight when layering two oscillators for performances), it lacks the DSS-1's digital delays, dual oscillator patches, oscillator sync, and filter resonance that largely defined the original's unique sound. Nonetheless, it maintains compatibility with DSS-1 disks.[4][5]
Related Research Articles
An analog synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically.
Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, or digital signals for logic or timing conditions. Typical modules are voltage-controlled oscillators, voltage-controlled filters, voltage-controlled amplifiers and envelope generators.
Sample-based synthesis is a form of audio synthesis that can be contrasted to either subtractive synthesis or additive synthesis. The principal difference with sample-based synthesis is that the seed waveforms are sampled sounds or instruments instead of fundamental waveforms such as sine and saw waves used in other types of synthesis.
The Ensoniq Mirage is one of the earliest affordable sampler-synths, introduced in 1984 as Ensoniq's first product. Introduced at a list price of $1,695 with features previously only found on more expensive samplers like the Fairlight CMI, the Mirage sold nearly 8,000 units in its first year - more than the combined unit sales of all other samplers at that time. The Mirage sold over 30,000 units during its availability.
A rompler is an electronic musical instrument that plays pre-fabricated sounds based on audio samples. The term rompler is a blend of the terms ROM and sampler. In contrast to samplers, romplers do not record audio. Both may have additional sound editing features, such as layering several waveforms and modulation with ADSR envelopes, filters and LFOs.
The Korg OASYS is a workstation synthesizer released in early 2005, 1 year after the successful Korg Triton Extreme. Unlike the Triton series, the OASYS uses a custom Linux operating system that was designed to be arbitrarily expandable via software updates, with its functionality limited only by the PC-like hardware.
The Korg DW-8000 is a polyphonic hybrid digital-analog synthesizer released in 1985. It blends digital waveforms with an analog filter and amplifier, followed by a digital delay for adding echo effects. It boasts eight-note polyphony and its keyboard is equipped with velocity sensitivity and aftertouch.
The Korg Poly-61(PS-61) is an analog synthesizer manufactured by Korg between 1982 and 1986. It was the first affordable synthesizer to feature two oscillators per voice, and was Korg's first synthesizer to feature digitally-controlled analog oscillators (DCOs). The Poly-61 marked a significant departure in design philosophy from previous Korg synthesizers by replacing the traditional array of dedicated control knobs on the front panel with a digital interface that required users to select parameters individually for adjustment.
The Korg Wavestation is a vector synthesis synthesizer first produced in the early 1990s and later re-released as a software synthesizer in 2004. Its primary innovation was Wave Sequencing, a method of multi-timbral sound generation in which different PCM waveform data are played successively, resulting in continuously evolving sounds. The Wavestation's "Advanced Vector Synthesis" sound architecture resembled early vector synths such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet VS.
The Ensoniq TS-10 was a synthesizer and music workstation introduced by Ensoniq in 1993. It provided synthesis, user sample playback, sequencer, effect units and performance facilities in a 61-key package.
Linear arithmetic synthesis, or LAsynthesis, is a means of sound synthesis invented by the Roland Corporation when they released their D-50 synthesizer in 1987.
A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.
Casio's SDSynthesizers were a late-1980s line of analog synthesizers featuring a resonant filter. SD synthesis was traditional DCO-analog synthesis, with the main difference being that some of the SD waveforms' harmonic spectrums changed temporally, or dynamically in relation to the amplitude envelope.
The Korg PS-3300 is a polyphonic analog synthesizer released by Korg in 1977. It was released alongside the PS-3100, a more compact variant featuring a complete synthesizer voice board for each of its 48 keyboard notes. The PS-3300 essentially combines three PS-3100 units, triggering all voices simultaneously with each key press and mirroring the PS-3100's overall design, featuring a total of 144 synth voices. The PS-3300 uses the PS-3010, a detachable keyboard equipped with an assignable joystick called the X-Y Manipulator.
The Korg DW-6000 is a polyphonic hybrid digital-analog synthesizer released in 1985. It blends digital waveforms with an analog filter and amplifier, also incorporating a chorus effect to create an enriched analog sound. The DW-6000 features six-note polyphony and was quickly succeeded by the DW-8000, also released in 1985, which introduced a velocity sensitive keyboard with aftertouch, a built-in arpeggiator, increased polyphony and waveforms, and substituted the chorus effect with a digital delay effect.
The PPG Wave is a series of synthesizers built by the German company Palm Products GmbH from 1981 to 1987.
The AX60 is a polyphonic analogue keyboard synthesizer manufactured by Akai Professional in the mid-1980s. It was Akai's answer to the popular Roland Juno series synthesizers. The AX60 uses voltage-controlled analogue oscillators and filter circuitry based on the Curtis Electronics CEM 3394 integrated circuit.
The CZ series is a family of low-cost phase distortion synthesizers produced by Casio in the mid-1980s. Eight models of CZ synthesizers were released: the CZ-101, CZ-230S, CZ-1000, CZ-2000S, CZ-2600S, CZ-3000, CZ-5000, and the CZ-1. Additionally, the home-keyboard model CT-6500 used 48 phase distortion presets from the CZ line. The CZ synthesizers' price at the time of their introduction made programmable synthesizers affordable enough to be purchased by garage bands. Yamaha soon introduced their own low-cost digital synthesizers, including the DX-21 (1985) and Yamaha DX100, in light of the CZ series' success.
The Volca Keys is an analogue synthesizer manufactured by the Japanese music technology company Korg. It was announced in April 2013 at MusikMesse and was at the time one of the few affordable analogue synthesizers available. The Volca Keys uses subtractive synthesis to create sounds and is three-note paraphonic, meaning that it can play chords with all voices sharing a single voltage-controlled filter (VCF).
References
1 2 3 4 Fishman, Paul (Nov 1986). "Korg DSS-1". International Musician & Recording World. United Kingdom: Cover Publications Ltd, Northern & Shell Ltd. pp.84–87. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Jenkins, Mark (Apr 1987). "Korg DSS-1". Sound On Sound. United Kingdom: SOS Publications Ltd. pp.40–42. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
↑ Bjørn, Kim (2022-01-01). Patch & Tweak with KORG. Bjooks. p.182. ISBN978-8799999552.
1 2 3 Nagle, Paul (November 1997). "Korg DSS1". Sound On Sound. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
1 2 3 Wiffen, Paul (Oct 1986). "The Synth That Samples". Electronics & Music Maker. United Kingdom: Music Maker Publications (UK), Future Publishing. pp.50–56. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
