MSC-5S Piano
Sound Card Set


The MSC-5S "Piano" sound card set consists of the MPC-05 Program card, and the MSC-05 PCM card.  These two cards install in the slots of the Korg M1 series, adding several new waveforms and programs to the machine.

The Piano card features several acoustic, electric, and keyboard piano sounds, but rounds it off nicely with new synthesizer, orchestral, special fx, brass and other commonly used patches.

The quality of the piano samples is an improvement over the stock M1 piano sound, but perhaps not by much - given the limited PCM sampling of the late 1980s, and the small size of the samples themselves.


Some of the best sounds on this card set are the typical Korg shimmering pads, with quality effects and percussion echoes in the background.  Other beautiful patches are the string ensembles, bell pads, and ethereal electric pianos.

Korg MSC-5S Piano factory demo song:

"Moskowski" by Jordan Rudess

 

Korg MSC-5S audio demos in mp3:

Stream all demos below

 

Program name with audio demo My comments
00 Piano2Low Nice deep, solid tone grand piano.
01 Piano2High Useful for more up-tempo music.
02 Piano1Low Dark piano, suitable for classical
05 Pianos2 Nice chorused piano ensemble
07 Brass&Reed Realistic, well sampled.
08 I saw wind Classic Korg M1 sounds, with nice "bell trail"
10 Fragile Another classic late '80s/early '90s pad sound, very beautiful.
11 5th Ave. Nice, well-produced pop chorused piano.
12 Band Swell Ok
13 Angel Hair Fantastic and typically Korg M1 ethereal choirs
14 Rock Organ Nice
18 Warm+Fuzzy Surprisingly analog-sounding
21 ReedPiano Typical Wurlitzer electric piano sound.
23 Dynner 1 Different.. intriguing.
28 LightAfter Charming synthesizer with nice pitch envelope bends
29 SawStrings Older analog strings
31 GlassPiano Very nice FM style piano
33 MagicVoice Superb, magical, digital voice.
40 ArcticWind Great sound FX
41 GrandHpsic Solid harpsichord
43 Ethereal Beautiful tone
45 KillerHorn Realistic
46 TyneVoices More piano ballad material.

Stream all demos below

 

 

Combination name with audio demo My comments
00 Piano Mix1 Realistic and nice.
02 Piano+Strg Nice
09 OrcaPizz Very spacious room for these pizzicato strings.
10 Soft Rings Ok
12 Bell Pad Very warm and analog-sounding.
17 Brass Talk Expressive
20 Tundra Nice, icy sound fx.
26 AsianBells Ok
29 Wanderings More classic New Age sounds.
30 Nocturnal Perfection and beauty.
31 (*Sweet*) Nice electric piano.
34 FlatHeaven Distinct.
38 DeccoEcho Nice
39 NylonSplit Standard bass/guitar split
40 Ice Dream Typical beautiful, pensive soft pad of the early '90s.
43 Twinkle Cool
44 Prolog 2 Powerful
45 Deep Dream Nice
48 Icy Smooth More classic M1 sounds
49 Knighthood Realistic brass

 

Features at a glance
Year of release: 1989
Polyphony: n/a
Presets: 50 Programs & 50 Combi
Rhythms: no
Keyboard: n/a
Responds to velocity: n/a
Responds to aftertouch: n/a
Sound generation method: PCM
MIDI: n/a
Sound expansion capabilities: n/a
Effects: n/a
Controls: n/a
Outputs: n/a
Display: n/a
Misc: n/a

 

Korg MSC-5S Piano pictures (click on thumbnails to enlarge)

Korg MSC-5S Piano manual

I scanned the included leaflet.  Click to enlarge it.

Medium-size jpeg version:     

Large .bmp version: MSC-05S Piano manual_large.bmp

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Korg MSC-5S Piano review with audio demo