Originally launched in 1962, the Vox Continental become popular with many acts of the time, including The Animals and The Doors, largely due to its portability compared to Hammond’s super-heavy tonewheel beasts!

It also had a very distinctive bright, edgy and charming character which allowed it to really cut through a mix against loud guitars.

The sound, generated by 12 transistor-based oscillators with octave-divider circuits, was thin and bright – piercing even. And decidedly low-fidelity and egalitarian. The classier, more lush-sounding and expensive Hammond B-3 / Leslie speaker combination effectively required a road crew to move around, ensuring that only acts with a big touring budget could afford to carry one. By contrast, the Continental and its combo-organ rivals were something any keyboard player in any band, famous or not, could use onstage.

The new Korg Continental, Vox has gone for a complete reinvention,

There are a couple of nice touches, from the backlit Vox logo on the rear, to the backlit NuTube valve grille (this is the first time Korg’s new mini-valve technology has appeared in a keyboard). We also dig the free space to the right of the controls, which is handy for placing a laptop or small synth.

The overall design is quirky and feels very high-quality (as you would expect from Korg). The chassis and top case are metal (like Nord’s) and this machine is most definitely roadworthy. With this in mind, the 61-note model is particularly lightweight, plus all the switchgear feels solid.

The centerpiece of the front panel is the “Control” section – and the centerpiece of the Control section are the 9 Touch Sensors, surrounded by buttons for Bank and Scene selection, Exit and Write functions, and buttons which activate the Organ, E. Piano, Piano and Key / Layer sections.

The touch sensors, at first glance, appear quite similar to the 9 LED “virtual drawbars” found on most Nord Electro and Stage models, but they actually do much more. On sounds from the Organ section, they indicate the current drawbar registration (or, for the Farfisa Compact emulation, tone-switch registration) that you’re hearing. The cool new feature is: Unlike the Nord with its in-out buttons, on the Continental you move the virtual drawbars by touching the LED display itself with your finger.

 The sensors are plenty responsive to sliding, and you can also just touch the sensor where you want the individual drawbar set and the LED’s will quickly jump to your finger position. 

On top of a flawless reproduction of the original Vox Continental sound, you get two other types of organ emulation (CX-3 & Farfisa Compact), plus acoustic pianos (grand & upright), electric pianos (tine, reed and FM), a surprisingly usable synth, and a good selection of PCM – sampled instruments. All of these come courtesy of Korg’s proprietary sound engines: SGX-2 (pianos), EP-1 (Rhodes/Wurly), AL-1 (virtual analog synthesis) and HD-1 (Clavinet and PCM samples). Plus you get some nice onboard effects and really cool performance controls to bring these sounds to life.

 

More from sources :
Keyboard Mag
MusicRadar