Korg Phase8 is the first-ever acoustic synthesizer

Korg has shifted the relationship between acoustic and electronic with the Phase8, its new acoustic synthesizer, which debuts at NAMM 2026.

The finished instrument,which was first teased at Superbooth 2024, comes with 13 precisely engineered steel resonators that vibrate at the frequencies of a chromatic scale. Eight of them can be installed on the synth at one time.

To produce the sound, coils send a signal to the resonators. These signals can be modified using familiar synthesizer parameters such as envelope and velocity, and then sequenced.

The acoustic element means you can get experimental by physically interacting with the resonators. You can touch the resonators to affect the sound, or any matter of physical item can be placed upon them to alter the way the resonator vibrates.

At Korg’s NAMM booth, each station with the phase8 had a series of small objects that everyone was encouraged to use with the synth. These included stones, wooden sticks, small metallic bits, and even magnets, which added modulation beyond the different quality of sound. Then the AIR slider can specifically adjust the acoustic response of the resonators.

“[Korg] wanted to do something that had never been done before,” says Rachel Aiello from KORG Berlin. “It would have been easy for them to continue making analogue synths, but they wanted to do something different.”

Check out more NAMM 2026 news as it happens.

Harry Levin is a freelance journalist with credits in SPIN, Billboard, MusicTech, Grammy.com, Los Angeles Magazine, and more. His musical journey began 20 years ago with a Led Zeppelin CD. He played jazz trombone through college, produced large-scale electronic music events, and now spends his professional time writing and editing.