Oct 8, 2025 | Bill Wolfer
Bill Wolfer, the GRAMMY-nominated record producer, songwriter, musician and synth programmer, shares a wild and visually rich session with the Trident Mk III.
"Cherry Audio has resurrected another 80's synth and transmogrified it from unobtanium to obtanium. The Korg Trident was a rare beast in that it became obscured by the coming of the Yamaha DX-7 and MIDI. Those two things completely changed the landscape in the early 80's, and if a synth didn't have MIDI, no one was interested. The original Trident is a polyphonic and programmable instrument with three independent sections - Synthesizer, Brass, and Strings, released in 1980. It features 8 voices of polyphony and two of the instrument sections can be played simultaneously while in Split Keyboard mode.
Cherry Audio's version doubles the polyphony to 16 voices. Each section has its own unique VCO voice architecture, VCF (filter) types, and LFO capabilities. The Brass section's VCF and Envelope Generators are virtually the same as the Synthesizer section, allowing the Brass section to be used for generating additional synthy sounds as well as faux-brass sounds. The String section has some unique features as well such as a "Bowing" effect. Another unique effect included is a global flanger that can self-oscillate! Flanger controls include Speed, Feedback, Intensity and Manual.The Trident mkII version released in 1982 had doubled the memory (32 patches), an independent envelope generator for the VCF (filter) section and more. The specifications listed are for the mkII since it is the more popular and common of the two. The Tridents sound very nice, warm and analog and have been used by Rick Wakeman, Joe Zawinul and Phoenix.
Cherry Audio's version, of course, includes many of their own touches, as well as capturing the original sound very accurately. The effects section especially is packed with various effects one can load into the instrument's various sections. I'm hoping that Cherry Audio will do a stand-alone version of these effects, because they would make a killer virtual pedalboard that would be extremely useful for any instrument. Thanks for watching, and please subscribe if you haven't."
Music written and performed by Bill Wolfer.
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