Unlike the legendary M1 (which has the brilliant Korg M1 Le VST) or the Triton (which lives inside Korg Collection ), the lowly X5 has been left out of the software party.
If you were in a band between 1994 and 1998, you remember it. You remember the smell of cigarette smoke in the practice space. You remember the yellowed keys. And you remember that weird, grey slab of plastic sitting on a double-braced stand: the Korg X5 .
Fast forward 25 years. You’re not hauling gear to a dive bar anymore; you’re sitting in front of a laptop. But you miss that sound. You miss the "Piano 16" patch. You miss the "Universe" pad.
So, you ask the internet: Is there a Korg X5 VST?
If you absolutely must have a VST, buy (if Korg ever releases it—they currently have the Korg Collection 4 with the Triton, but not the 01/W) or stick with the Wavestation and tweak it.
Why? The X5 was essentially a cut-down, budget version of the Korg 01/W. It used AI2 synthesis—the same engine found in the 01/W and the Wavestation. Korg has given us the Wavestation as a VST, but not the X5's specific preset list.
So, if you want that specific X5 vibe , you have two options: Hardware resurrection or software simulation. Before you buy a plugin, check Reverb or eBay. A used Korg X5 (or the slightly improved X5D) sells for $150 to $250 .
But it won't sound like the 90s.