This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

Korg microKORG MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Korg microKORG: what it answers to, and the 71 controls it offers.

At a glance

Firmware: Not recorded.
MIDI channel: Any one of 1 to 16.
Voices: 4.
Note range: Not recorded.
Velocity: Sent and received. Release velocity is ignored.
Aftertouch: None, sent or answered.
Pitch bend: 12 semitones, and the range can be changed.
Program change: Received and sent, with 128 presets.
MIDI clock: Sent and received.
Start and stop: Received.
Control change: Assigned by the player, apart from the 42 controls below.
NRPN: Supported. 29 of the controls below have one.
System exclusive: Supported.

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("korg/microkorg") has loaded them.

Pitch

Control	CC	NRPN	Values
Pitch Modulation Depth `pitch_modulation_depth`	1		0-127
Portamento `pitch_portamento`	5		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Oscillator 1

Control	CC	Values
Wave `osc1_wave`	77	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Control1 `osc1_control1`	14	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Control2 `osc1_control2`	15	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Oscillator 2 and audio in 1

Control	CC	Values
Wave `osc2_wave`	78	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
OSC Mod `osc2_osc_mod`	82	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Semitone `osc2_semitone`	18	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Tune `osc2_tune`	19	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Mixer

Control	CC	Values
OSC 1 Level `mixer_osc_1_level`	20	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
OSC 2 Level `mixer_osc_2_level`	21	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Noise Level `mixer_noise_level`	22	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Filter

Control	CC	Values
Type `filter_type`	83	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Cutoff `filter_cutoff`	74	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Resonance `filter_resonance`	71	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Filter EG Int `filter_eg_int`	79	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
KBD Track `filter_kbd_track`	85	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Filter envelope

Control	CC	Values
Attack `filter_eg_attack`	23	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Decay `filter_eg_decay`	24	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Sustain `filter_eg_sustain`	25	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Release `filter_eg_release`	26	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Amp

Control	CC	Values
Level `amp_level`	7	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Panpot `amp_panpot`	10	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Distortion `amp_distortion`	92	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Amp envelope

Control	CC	Values
Attack `amp_eg_attack`	73	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Decay `amp_eg_decay`	75	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Sustain `amp_eg_sustain`	70	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Release `amp_eg_release`	72	0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

LFO 1

Control	CC	NRPN	Values
Wave `lfo1_wave`	87		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Frequency `lfo1_frequency`	27		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

LFO 2

Control	CC	NRPN	Values
Wave `lfo2_wave`	88		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Frequency `lfo2_frequency`	76		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Modulation patches

Control	CC	NRPN	Values
Intensity `patch_1_intensity`	28		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Intensity `patch_2_intensity`	29		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Intensity `patch_3_intensity`	30		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Intensity `patch_4_intensity`	31		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Patch1 Source `patch1_source`		512 MSB 4, LSB 0	0-127
Patch2 Source `patch2_source`		513 MSB 4, LSB 1	0-127
Patch3 Source `patch3_source`		514 MSB 4, LSB 2	0-127
Patch4 Source `patch4_source`		515 MSB 4, LSB 3	0-127
Patch1 Destination `patch1_destination`		520 MSB 4, LSB 8	0-127
Patch2 Destination `patch2_destination`		521 MSB 4, LSB 9	0-127
Patch3 Destination `patch3_destination`		522 MSB 4, LSB 10	0-127
Patch4 Destination `patch4_destination`		523 MSB 4, LSB 11	0-127

Modulation effect

Control	CC	NRPN	Values
LFO Speed `mod_fx_lfo_speed`	12		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Depth `mod_fx_depth`	93		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Delay

Control	CC	NRPN	Values
Delay Time `delay_time`	13		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Depth `delay_depth`	94		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

MIDI

Control	CC	NRPN	Values
Timbre Select `midi_timbre_select`	95		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change
Sync Ctrl `midi_sync_ctrl`	90		0-127 The factory's number, which the player can change

Arpeggiator

Control	NRPN	Values
Arpeggio On/Off `arpeggio_on_off`	2 MSB 0, LSB 2	0-127
Arpeggio Octaves `arpeggio_octaves`	3 MSB 0, LSB 3	0-127
Arpeggio Latch On/Off `arpeggio_latch_on_off`	4 MSB 0, LSB 4	0-127
Arpeggio Type `arpeggio_type`	7 MSB 0, LSB 7	0-127
Arpeggio Gate `arpeggio_gate`	10 MSB 0, LSB 10	0-127

Vocoder

Control	NRPN	Values
Band 1 Level `vocoder_band1_level`	528 MSB 4, LSB 16	0-127
Band 2 Level `vocoder_band2_level`	530 MSB 4, LSB 18	0-127
Band 3 Level `vocoder_band3_level`	532 MSB 4, LSB 20	0-127
Band 4 Level `vocoder_band4_level`	534 MSB 4, LSB 22	0-127
Band 5 Level `vocoder_band5_level`	536 MSB 4, LSB 24	0-127
Band 6 Level `vocoder_band6_level`	538 MSB 4, LSB 26	0-127
Band 7 Level `vocoder_band7_level`	540 MSB 4, LSB 28	0-127
Band 8 Level `vocoder_band8_level`	542 MSB 4, LSB 30	0-127
Band 1 Pan `vocoder_band1_pan`	544 MSB 4, LSB 32	0-127
Band 2 Pan `vocoder_band2_pan`	546 MSB 4, LSB 34	0-127
Band 3 Pan `vocoder_band3_pan`	548 MSB 4, LSB 36	0-127
Band 4 Pan `vocoder_band4_pan`	550 MSB 4, LSB 38	0-127
Band 5 Pan `vocoder_band5_pan`	552 MSB 4, LSB 40	0-127
Band 6 Pan `vocoder_band6_pan`	554 MSB 4, LSB 42	0-127
Band 7 Pan `vocoder_band7_pan`	556 MSB 4, LSB 44	0-127
Band 8 Pan `vocoder_band8_pan`	558 MSB 4, LSB 46	0-127

Where these facts come from

Source documents

micro KORG MIDI Implementation, Revision 1.4, dated 27 June 2002, its MIDI implementation, read on 2 October 2026 (the file read).
microKORG Owner's Manual, E 2, its user manual, read on 2 October 2026 (the file read).
Downloads | microKORG (2002) | KORG (USA), its download page, read on 2 October 2026 (the file read).

How they were read

Two documents, because this instrument's control map is split across both and neither half is in the other. The MIDI Implementation, revision 1.4, is a plain text file with no pages, cited by its own section numbers; the Owner's Manual E 2 has 80 pages and is cited by page.

THE IMPLEMENTATION GIVES NO CONTROLLER NUMBER FOR ANY PANEL PARAMETER, which is this instrument's first surprise. Its channel message rows say only "Control Change cc=00~95" (implementation), and its panel table is headed "Panel Knob & Switch Control (assignable)" (implementation) - forty-odd parameters in two columns and not one number against them. That is not an omission. The numbers are the player's to set, and Korg prints the factory assignment in the manual instead, in a table whose column is headed "Initial" (p. 56). Both facts are at the head of this file because that is where somebody about to rely on a number is looking.

THE IMPLEMENTATION GIVES THE NRPNS, all 29, and prints them twice over - once for what the instrument transmits and once for what it recognises. The two copies are identical, which was checked rather than assumed. They address what the panel does not: the arpeggiator, the four modulation patches, and the vocoder's eight bands.

ONE CONTROL CHANGE IS NOT ASSIGNABLE and so is in neither table: CC 1, which the implementation's receive table fixes as pitch modulation depth and its transmit table names as the modulation wheel.

ONE CHANNEL, STATED AS A LIMIT RATHER THAN INFERRED: "The microKORG uses only one MIDI channel to transmit and receive. You cannot use two MIDI channels to play the two timbres independently" (p. 66). So there are no parts here, although the instrument is two timbres deep when layered. Which timbre a control change reaches is CC 95 below, a setting rather than a channel.

THE TWO DOCUMENTS DO NOT NAME THE SAME 41 CONTROLS, which is worth knowing before anybody tries to reconcile them. The implementation's map of assignable slots includes an "EG2/Gate Sw" (implementation) and a "SEQ Off/On Sw" (implementation) that the manual's table has no row for, while the manual's table has Timbre Select and Sync Ctrl, which the implementation keeps as two global bytes of their own rather than as slots in that map. The numbers below are the manual's, because the implementation gives none; the overlap is recorded rather than resolved.

NO BANK SELECT, said outright: "The microKORG does not transmit or receive bank select messages" (p. 52). That is the difference the microKORG S's own implementation adds, and it is why one definition cannot cover both.

NO USB. The specifications list the connectors and name only MIDI in, out and thru, and the word USB appears twice in 80 pages, both times about somebody else's interface box: "Some USB-MIDI interface devices may not be able to transmit/receive the microKORG's MIDI exclusive messages" (p. 49). Every byte this instrument sends or receives goes down a DIN cable.

WHAT IT WILL NOT ANSWER TO, established from the table that enumerates what it does. The recognised channel messages are note off, note on, CC 1, data entry, the NRPN pair, the channel mode messages, generic control data, program change and pitch bend - and nothing else.

AFTERTOUCH IS ABSENT FROM THAT LIST in both forms, which agrees with the keyboard the specifications describe: "37 notes (mini keyboard, velocity sensitive, no aftertouch)" (p. 67). So aftertouch is a checked absence rather than an unread page.

NOT RECORDED: the note range, which neither document states for what the instrument receives - the implementation gives kk = 0 ~ 127 for what the 37-key keyboard transmits with octave and transpose applied, and that is the panel rather than the span it answers to.

THE SIBLING MODELS WERE SETTLED, NOT ASSUMED. The microKORG Crystal's download page offers the same MIDI Implementation under the same manual id, resolving to the same file, so this definition describes the Crystal by construction. The microKORG S's own implementation was fetched and compared: it is a different document, revision 1.01 (2026.06.22), and it adds Bank Select MSB and LSB that this instrument has not got. It is held in the library beside this one and is not described here.