VOX Continental 73 BK

Lightweight and simple to operate – a stage keyboard you can really use.

The VOX Continental 73 BK stage keyboard offers the sounds you need the most, all in one unit: PIANO, E.PIANO, ORGAN, and KEY/LAYER (including brass, strings and more).

The front panel controls have been designed around these four parts, so first time players can easily pick it up. With its simple and intuitive layout, players have instant access to master effects, EQ, and the Nutube vacuum tube-powered valve drive.

The unit is manufactured using metal components for a sturdy design, while still being easy to play with its light-touch waterfall keyboard, all packaged in a slim, compact, and lightweight body. With its excellent portability, this is the perfect companion for keyboardists who want an instrument that’s easy to play wherever you go.。

Instant access to the sounds you want, with four independent sound parts.
The VOX Continental 73 BK features a part select button that makes it easy to switch between the E.PIANO, PIANO, KEY/LAYER and ORGAN parts to use the sounds you need right away. Individual front panel controls for each part let you select the variations, set the levels and more. Settings for these four parts are saved together in a single scene. Press both part select buttons at the same time to layer and play both parts together.

E. PIANO part
Three electric piano sound engines are provided. TINE is the most representative electric piano sound. Along with TINE, REED is used in many famous songs. FM features the metallic sound often heard in songs from the 1980’s. This is an electric piano with a high-definition FM sound, carefully created to be rich in harmonics, using a realistic sound generator model with amp and cabinet modeling.。

PIANO part
Features three sound categories, including the GRAND with a high-grade sampled grand piano, an UPRIGHT sound that’s easy to use in settings like pop music, and an E.GRAND sound that’s often heard in music from the 1970’s. The GRAND and UPRIGHT sounds go all the way with non-looped, high-resolution sampled sounds in stereo across the entire key range to recreate the delicate and powerful sounds of the piano.

KEY/LAYER part
This part features six categories of sounds including KEY (clavinet, pipe organ and so on), BRASS (brass and woodwind sounds), STRINGS (strings and choir), LEAD, SYNTH and OTHER. These sounds give you the power to handle a wide range of genres with this instrument alone, and can be layered with piano and other parts.

ORGAN part
This part features three different sound engines. The CX-3 tonewheel organ sound engine models the sound of the KORG CX-3 combo organ, and works well for any genre from rock to popular music. The VOX transistor organ sound engine features a unique high-end sound and perfectly reproduces every detail of the original VOX Continental from the 1960s. The COMPACT transistor organ sound generator offers a characteristically cheap sound, recreating the sound of this compact organ that came out around the same time as the VOX organ. These sounds offer “touch control” that lets you use your fingers to control the harmony and tone, much like real drawbars.

The CX-3 and VOX let you switch between upper (the upper part of the keyboard) and lower (the lower side of the keyboard) or create a split with the touch of a button. You can also connect an external MIDI keyboard to play the upper part on this keyboard and the lower part with an external MIDI keyboard, like using two manuals (levels) on an organ. Of course, you can also use vibrato/chorus and the rotary speaker simulation, and you can use the bend lever on the side of the keyboard to change the speed of the rotary speaker effect when you play.

Intuitive touch control for drawbars and EQ.
The nine-line LED display to the left of the panel makes it easy to see the setting status, and it also works as a controller. Three control targets are selectable using this touch sensor, and when ORGAN is selected, this mainly works as a drawbar to shape that sound. When KEY/LAYER is selected, this is used to make the filter and EG settings. When EQ is selected, you can control the overall tonal balance over nine bands.

Nutube on board for an authentic vacuum tube sound.
This unit features a vacuum tube distortion effect that works especially well with organ and electric piano sounds. The Nutube vacuum tube-powered valve drive lets you create rich harmonics that are impossible to create using modeling, for a warm vacuum tube sound with smooth distortion. You can use the dedicated button to turn valve drive on/off. The amount of effect used can be adjusted in detail using the knob, and you can see how much effect is applied by looking at the brightness of the LED that lights the Nutube.

Nutube: the new vacuum tube
Adding stunning presence and warm valve drive sound, the Nutube is a new type of vacuum tube developed by KORG in conjunction with Noritake Itron Corporation. As with conventional vacuum tubes, the vacuum tube is constructed with an anode grid filament, and operates as a complete triode tube. Further, the Nutube offers the characteristically rich harmonics that create the vacuum tube sound. The tube construction utilizes technology from vacuum fluorescent displays to create a vacuum tube that uses far less power than previous vacuum tubes, with a more compact design and better quality.

DYNAMICS knob lets you adjust the balance between your key touch and the sound generated to match your preferences.
The balance between your key touch and the sound generated determines how the instrument responds to what you play on the keyboard. Your preferences will vary considerably depending on whether you play jazz music (which requires a delicate touch with expressiveness) or rock music (which calls for loud volumes with a strong key press), a gap that’s difficult to fill using only the velocity curve settings. For this reason, this unit features a DYNAMICS knob that gives you even more detailed control over the volume and how the sound changes according to how hard or soft you play the keys. Turn the knob counterclockwise to get the full range of inflection with velocity, and turn the knob clockwise for a stronger sound with more uniformity in volume. This makes it easy to choose the setting you want according to your playing style.

Light-touch keyboard with waterfall keys brings down the overall weight of the unit.
The VOX Continental 73 BK features a light-touch keyboard with waterfall keys that are suitable for playing glissandos. The keyboard is also semi-weighted, giving the keys a stable playing feel when using piano or electric piano sounds, for a superior key touch. Due to its keyboard and lightweight body design, the instrument weighs 8.4 kg (excluding the included wooden side panels), which brings it under the 10 kg class while still being a 73-key stage keyboard. This instrument can be easily carried with the SC-Continental 73 soft case, (sold separately).

Scene memory lets you save your preferred settings.
The VOX Continental 73 BK lets you register up to 64 scenes (4 scenes × 4 banks × 4), which include combinations of sounds in four parts, the master effect and so on. These scenes can be easily recalled using the buttons at the bottom of the touch control. You can also connect a USB flash drive (commercially available) to the USB port on the back of this instrument to save and load up to 100 sets of scenes, so you can always use the same settings by bringing the USB flash drive to the place where you’ll be performing with the VOX Continental 73 BK.

Master effects on board for solidifying the overall sound.
Three series of master effects plus EQ are available. The first stage is an insert effect to the master, with six selectable types including chorus, phaser and wah. You can turn the effects on/off and make basic adjustments to the parameters.

The second-stage delay and reverb are sends from the master, with four types of delay and five types of reverb. The third stage includes a nine-band EQ that can be set using the touch controller. The final stage features a valve drive circuit with Nutube.

A VOX V861 pedal is included, specially designed for use with this unit.
A volume/expression pedal (V861) is provided for use with this keyboard. The V861 features a compact, sturdy aluminum housing with a high-class black anodized aluminum finish, and is equipped with two INPUT/OUTPUT jacks and one EXPRESSION jack for controlling the volume or wah effect.

Leather Black body accented with wooden side panels that add a vintage look.
The leather black body of this instrument perfectly matches any stage, and the instrument comes with a set of dark brown wooden side panels. Attach these panels onto the keyboard according to your preferences. The body is made of sturdy sheet metal and lightweight aluminum. These materials offer a slim and compact product design with superior durability and portability.
** Attachable Wooden Side Panels are a special accessory for the 73key BK model only.