At the 2026 NAMM Show, held Jan 22–24 in Anaheim, California, Korg has officially introduced the phase8, an electro-acoustic instrument, based on the concept of acoustic synthesis.

Acoustic synthesis has been a fairly niche concept to date, implemented on instruments like the Vo-96 Acoustic Synth and the String Armonica. It’s based around the idea of using electronics to control the vibration of physical objects – like strings on a guitar – which makes it possible to create sounds that would not otherwise be possible on an acoustic instrument.

With the phase8, Korg is testing the waters for making acoustic synthesis mainstream.

The phase8 offers eight independent electromechanical voices driving steel resonators – so the sound is controlled electronically, but generated acoustically.

KORG supplies 13 chromatically tuned resonators with the instrument, eight of which can be installed at a time. So you’re limited to 8 notes, but you can customize them to any scale by physically swapping out the resonating tines.

You can play the instrument via the 8 note buttons, via MIDI, or by directly touching the resonators. Because the sound is generated acoustically by the resonating tines, you can also affect the sound by touching the resonator with your hand, or by placing objects on the resonators.

Envelope control is also provided, so that you can create percussive notes or long sustained tones that would otherwise be impossible with tines.

The phase8 also offers a built in sequencer that supports step programming an unquantized live recording.

Connectivity includes MIDI TRS-A In/Out, USB-C for USB-MIDI and firmware, Sync In/Out, a ¼-inch line audio output, and a 3.5mm headphone output.

Note: Korg has not provided an official video demo at this time.

Pricing and Availability:

The Korg phase8 acoustic synthesizer is available now, with a street price around $1,150 USD.