Korg's latest drum machine achieves workstation status - in the first instalment of this two-part review, we ask: is it opening up new vistas for the drum machine or entering a blind alley?

AT THE TIME of its announcement at the 1989 Frankfurt Music Fair, Korg's S3 Rhythm Workstation was intended to complement two related and already long-awaited instruments from the company - the S1 sampling drum machine and Q1 dedicated sequencer. Korg subsequently abandoned the S1 and then the Q1, reportedly because they felt both had missed their time, which left only the S3 to make it, finally, into the shops almost two years after it was first announced. So why has the S3 survived? Perhaps its name gives an indication. The Rhythm Workstation is not "just" another drum machine, as it differs from other drum machines in providing onboard eight-track sequencing and digital effects processing. Additionally, it offers a novel approach to creating customised drum and percussion sounds - which makes it a tremendously versatile instrument sonically - and incorporates SMPTE read/write capability together with the ability to transmit MIDI Time Code.

The S3 was originally priced at £1150 (placing it between the Q1 and the S1), but pricing expectations can change a lot in two years. In particular, it's now possible to get a well-specified, 16-bit drum machine for considerably less than £500, whereas its equivalent a few years ago cost anything up to £1000. Accordingly, Korg have brought the price of the S3 down to £899, though this still makes it pricey for a drum machine (at least, of the non-sampling kind). But then the S3 offers more features than any other drum machine - which is either a tribute to Korg's foresight and technical expertise, or an indication that no other manufacturer considers Korg to have taken the right direction.

NEW OVERVIEW

WHERE DRUM MACHINES normally have what is effectively a single pattern track, the S3 has four Pattern tracks (1-4) and four Song tracks (5-8), allowing you to combine short repeating rhythms with extended percussion parts. More than this, the S3 can function as a general-purpose, eight-track MIDI sequencer, allowing you to record not only drum and percussion parts using the S3's own sounds, but also bass and piano parts, for instance, using external MIDI'd instruments. This is because the S3 doesn't restrict itself to the "pad hit" approach to recording typical of drum machines, but records note and other MIDI performance data in the way that a general-purpose MIDI sequencer does. Both the S3's drum pads and any MIDI performance source can be used to record into the tracks, and each track can be set to play S3 sounds only, MIDI'd sounds only, or both S3 and MIDI'd sounds.

The S3's role as MIDI sequencer is enhanced by its ability to generate and read SMPTE timecode to bit resolution (at 24, 25, 29.97 or 30fps), which should see it slaved to a multitrack tape machine or a video machine in many setups. Both MIDI Outs can be set to soft MIDI Thru, so you can route the input of your controlling MIDI keyboard through the S3 to slaved instruments and, if required, to a slaved sequencer.

The S3 can generate SMPTE code beginning at any start time, while each S3 Song can be set to begin at an absolute SMPTE time. Additionally, you can define a Song duration in terms of a SMPTE duration and the S3 will calculate the required tempo to the second decimal place. You can also create a tempo track for each Song (with up to 100 tempo changes) in step time from the front panel. Of course, a significant advantage of SMPTE timecode on the S3 is that it allows the drum machine to lock to any position on tape in Song mode (it won't sync with the timecode while in Pattern record or playback, however), so that you aren't limited to recording from the beginning of a song all the time. When set to internal or SMPTE sync, the S3 also sends MIDI Song Position Pointer to a slaved MIDI sequencer or drum machine when it's in Song mode.

The S3 is able to transmit either MTC or standard MIDI sync from each of its two separately-addressable MIDI Outs, opening up the possibility of being able to trigger samples within a hard disk-based recording system from a timecode-based cue list. MTC on the S3 can be referenced to either the SMPTE code off tape or to the S3's own internal clock (so you can take advantage of MTC within a tapeless recording setup).

The S3 also brings 16-bit digital effects processing to the drum machine. Two built-in digital effects processors can each be assigned any one of 28 programmable effects (14 stereo/14 compound, that is separate left and right channel). Sixteen effects programs can be created, each consisting of processor configuration, effect selection and effect parameter values. Effected sounds are routed via the S3's stereo audio outs, but Korg have also provided four non-effected Multi mono outs for those S3 sounds that you want to effect externally and individually.

Where drum machines typically allow you to play a single sound at a time off each pad, the S3 allows you to layer any two of its internal and card samples. What's particularly interesting about the S3's sonic capability is that more than half of its 75 internal samples consist of either the attack or the decay portion of the sampled sound. For instance, one sample might be the initial sound of a stick hitting a drum head, while another sample might be the decay produced by the body of a drum - Korg call them "head" and "shell" samples.

The majority of these samples are of bass and snare drums, but toms, congas and timbales have also received the separation treatment. The S3's manual is more than a little vague on how these samples were derived, but the implication is that harmonic analysis was used to extrapolate the attack and decay elements of the sounds so that they could be stored separately.

LAYOUT

A SIZEABLE FRONT panel and a slimline wedge shape - 13.5" (W) x 12.5" (D) x 1-2" (front-to-back H) - coupled with Korg's usual black casing and solid build-quality serve to give the S3 a sober yet striking appearance - outwardly paralleling the combination of soberly familiar and strikingly different features which lurk within the machine. Given its dimensions, another striking feature becomes apparent as soon as you pick the unit up: it weighs a surprisingly modest 5.7lbs.

Generous front-panel space and a typically economical use of buttons have allowed Korg to give their new drum machine a clearly-organised, uncluttered front-panel layout. In the upper half of the front panel are a master volume slider, a 2 x 24-character backlit LCD window, four soft function buttons (labelled S1, S2, S3 and S4) immediately beneath the LCD for selecting onscreen parameters and functions, a pinpoint-LED Beat indicator and a data entry wheel together with Exit, Shift, ±, Page L/R and Cursor L/R buttons. The lower half of the panel contains four Mode buttons (Pattern, Song, Instrument and Global), seven "transport" control buttons (FF, Rewind, Pause, Play, Record, Stop, Locate), a pinpoint LED run-time indicator, a Pad Bank/Tempo button and a row of eight velocity-sensitive drum pads.

The rear panel is necessarily rather more cluttered, with a DC 9v power input and a power on/off switch, one MIDI In and two MIDI Outs, SMPTE timecode in/out jacks, two programmable footswitch inputs, a stereo headphones output, L/Mono and R main stereo outs, four Multi outs, one RAM data card slot and two ROM PCM sample card slots. The locations of the three card slots have been labelled on the rear edge of the front panel, reducing the likelihood of you plugging the wrong type of card into a slot.

Power to the S3 is provided via an external adaptor; a thoughtfully-provided cable hook on the rear panel keeps the power lead firmly in place. Rather less thoughtful is the procedure for adjusting LCD contrast, which requires the use of a small screwdriver to turn a recessed screw located in the lower right corner of the S3's bottom panel. However, it's unlikely that you'll need to resort to this procedure, as the LCD provides a strong, clear display which can be read without difficulty from every practically useful angle.

TIMBRES & KITS

THE BASIC SOUND element of the S3 is the Waveform, which is a single sample drawn from the drum machine's 75 internal samples or 80 card samples (up to 40 via each of the two PCM ROM sample card slots). Internal and card samples can be freely mixed.

The 75 internal samples include seven bass drum heads and five shells, eight snare drum heads and seven shells, and five tom heads and two shells. "Whole" sounds include a couple of closed and open hi-hats, a couple of ride cymbals, handclaps, cowbell, tambourine, shaker, a couple of bongos and a pot cover. The range of sounds isn't as versatile as that found in Korg's workstation synths, but then there's plenty of scope for widening the range via the two ROM sample card slots. You can also create a much greater variety of sounds by taking advantage of the onboard editing. In particular, the variety of bass and snare sounds can be greatly increased by means of combining different head and shell sounds and altering their pitches. The sounds are clear and sharp, variously with plenty of bite and power where required. However, when tuned down by a large amount (the tuning range is ±24 semitones) some of the sounds acquire a rougher edge as their noise elements become more prominent and the attack becomes more diffuse. This is where the separate head and shell samples come in, because when you layer them in Kit mode you can tune the shell sample way down but keep the head sample at original pitch, thus retaining a sharp attack. In fact, overall the S3's sound quality has a comfortable balance of clarity and roughness.

"The Rhythm Workstation is not just another drum machine, as it provides onboard eight-track sequencing and digital effects processing."

An S3 Timbre allows you to select a particular Waveform and reverse it, tune it, apply an amplitude envelope of up to eight stages (with rate and level settings per stage), apply pitch autobend (±36 semitones with variable rate) and modulate such parameters as pitch, level, and attack level and rate using the likes of note number, velocity and aftertouch.

You can optionally define any one of the envelope stages as a sustain stage, in which case it's possible to control the duration of the Timbre (if it's long enough in the first place) from note-on duration. This can be controlled from the S3's drum pads (just hold the pad down for the required duration) as well as from a MIDI keyboard.

The S3 comes with 80 preset Timbres and allows you to program a further 80 internally and store up to two banks of 80 Timbres on a RAM card. One bank at a time can be played directly off card.

Bearing in mind its ability to play looped samples and its MIDI-based approach to sequencing, the S3 has the potential to play a much wider range of sounds, via ROM PCM sample cards, than its "drum machine" tag might suggest. The internal sounds provide some indication of the possibilities by including a looped synthbass sample and five looped waveforms.

Timbres are combined into Kits, with up to two Timbres per pad. Successive presses of the Pad Bank button (or of an assignable footswitch) switch the unit between two sets of eight Timbre assignments, effectively providing 16 pads although there are only eight physical pads.

The S3 contains ten factory-preset Kits in ROM and allows you to program a further ten internal Kits yourself. Up to 20 further Kits can be stored on a RAM card, in two banks of ten. Kits can be played directly off card, although only one bank can be available at a time - giving you 30 Kits to choose from at any given moment.

In addition to assigning up to two Timbres per pad you can set the tuning of each Timbre, volume balance the two Timbres, define the velocity response of each Timbre in such a way as to create velocity switching and crossfading effects, and define the output routing of each Timbre (stereo, effect send one or two, Multi 1-4, or Stereo + M1, M2, M3, M4, E1 or E2). Additionally, you can set individual pad level and pad mode (poly/mono, exclusive A/B/off and reserve/normal priority), copy all the parameters of one pad to another and copy whole kits (internal/card).

To be active in a Pattern or a Song, a Kit first has to be assigned to a track. Track pairs 1/5, 2/6, 3/7 and 4/8 each share the same Kit. If you don't want a particular track to play the S3's internal sounds you can set it to Ext, in which case notes recorded into the track will be played via MIDI on the assigned MIDI channel and on the assigned Out(s).

Each of the 16 pads within a Kit can be assigned its own MIDI receive note range (from one note to the entire MIDI range) and MIDI transmit note (which must be within the receive range). The transmit note is recorded into the S3's Pattern and Song tracks, but it's the receive note range which determines what Timbres are played - from the pads as well as via incoming MIDI. And as the receive note ranges can overlap, you can play more than one Timbre from an S3 pad or a MIDI keyboard by setting the receive note range(s) of the layered Timbre(s) to overlap the transmit note of the main Timbre.

The MIDI receive note-range map for each Kit also explains why internal sounds playing back can change if you transpose a track (the MIDI playback number is being changed, not the pitch of the internal sound). It also explains why some pads play no internal sound, and why some patterns disappear wholly or partially, when you select a different Kit for a Pattern track.

Additionally there's a System page called Pad Mode which allows you to select Major, Chromatic or User scale note playback off the eight pads of Bank A. User allows you to assign your own note numbers to the eight pads, while Major and Chromatic allow you to select a start note number from which the other notes are derived. The idea is to facilitate pitched performance off the pads for recording, say, a bassline. In practice, the sounds you get on the pads will be determined by the MIDI receive note range for the selected Kit.

If all this sounds a bit confusing, that's because it is - until you get clear in your mind how the S3 records your sequences and what role the MIDI transmit notes and MIDI receive note-ranges play. Once that clicks, all is clear.

Next month we'll take a look at the structure of the S3's sequencing facilities, its onboard effects section - and, of course, sum up its potential musical applications. Watch this space...

Price £899 including VAT

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