A first look at the newly released IK Multimedia UNO Synth - a great-sounding portable synthesizer with two analog oscillators, multi-mode filter, arpeggiator, sequencer, and built-in delay FX.
Im really digging the direction IK Media seems to be moving i always saw them before as like guitar specialists but they got really underrated products.
I love your reviews , because you are so honest , its like handing over a synth of mine over to a friend and asking him his honest opinion of it after hes tried it out for a few days , but I realise you have to be careful of what you say too , but your followers will know by your reactions if you really love a product , or just going through the motions of reviewing a product ,
dos gos yo man!! Yeah, I finished streaming and saw Paolo had published this review, so I too watched it immediately lol. I learned a few things since I hadn't read the manual yet, can't wait for that editor though, is def going to be needed.
I'm looking forward to getting mine. This is a very cool first venture for IK. I know not everyone likes the matrix style navigation, but with its features, and decent sound, I feel like it's a pretty darn good deal. Also it's designed and made in Italy, which is a kinda boss. 👍
You could start a RU-vid channel. Downside is that Google pays very little to the creators and producers of video content. Also takes a massive amount of time to develop a short video. And equipment costs are not inmaterial. Some of your favourite RU-vid channels are "raking in" less than minimum wage, making well below 10$ per hour. This is a labour of love. Music fans really benefit from channels like Paolo's. So indeed, Paolo is sending you some great weekly videos.
RU-vidrs are NOT beeing offered synth in exchange for review, most of the time, compagny send them a product with a paper to sign, and you have to return the product in 2weeks or so ; they even take your credit card number in case of you wanna steal the product ; then you can do a video about it if you want ; then people are saying youtubers are sold to the compagny...but in fact, most of them are USED by the industry ; cheers :)
What surprise me with this synth is all the kind of "accent" "dive" "glide" and stuff, it's awesome they made all of this, we need more synth with expression tools like the accents ; cheers
accent are life ! on my tanzmaus I have 4 accent for each element and it shapes the sound itself, as well as the volume/velocity of course ; and I have a x0xb0x, I can even write a rest with accent and/or slide on it, I wonder if the unosynth does this ^^
I really can’t justify another little tabletop synth, but have to say this sounds really good..Really interesting to see such an experienced guy like you review this. I’m glad it was you cause you can say “UNO” in such a correct and pleasant way.....as an English only speaker I say it in an unattractive “you-know” way :)
Great demo Paolo. This is a nice sounding box and has a lot of power for 200$. It will be interesting to see what the external editor software can do when it is released (in the autumn?)
Would be good to see this hooked up with say a behringer bcr controller. Fully midi is a welcomed option for my sausage fingers. Love to have all the controls at my fingertips.
I received mine late last week, and I've been generally very impressed with it. Particularly the sound quality and depth of functionality. It's really very quick to pick up and start making music on this, and you have access to most of the key parameters, though a few of them (Sustain, PWM, parameters for the 5 effects buttons) are only accessible by MIDI. There's a strange annoyance with the calibration of the unit, it plays a very quiet note sequence after 10 seconds of inactivity. IK did a firmware update to address it, but I swear I still hear it. It's not very noticeable, but kind of strange, and would be annoying if you were recording with it and had calibration noises playing during a stretch you aren't playing any notes. The sequencer is also the best and worst part of the UNO. The level of parameter automation blows away anything from the Volca series, and it even has a special recording mode to allow for per-step changes. But it's also only 16 steps long, and you can only save one sequence per preset. So you really can only sequence one bar at a time, and there's no convenient way to do pattern chaining or "song mode". Also, while the batteries do seem to last for the 3-4 hours advertised, it shows a "BAT" warning on the device's only LED screen for probably the last 75% of the battery's life. This is annoying because you don't know what parameter you are working with or where it is set at when that displays. But at $200, I'm really quite impressed. The touch controls are better than you think (far better than Volca). The sounds are great, particularly for chiptuney stuff and anthem-style leads. It can do bass, also, but it's not my favorite cutoff filter, so you can't make it boom like some of the other affordable synths. They made a few questionable design choices, but the good far outweighs the bad, and I've had quite a bit of fun with it. It just really needs external sequencing and MIDI control if you want to use it beyond noodling.
I bought it because of the insane deal that I get amplitube 4 for free with it. So in essence I get the synth for free as I was already thinking about buying amp 4 for my guitar. Now I will be venturing into synths FOR FREE! So nice!
Love mine. Only thing that I wish was it had is a 32 step sequencer and/or a song mode like its sibling the UNO Drum. Tip: both this unit and the Uno drum sync pretty well with each other and other equipment without MIDI, provided you hold their play buttons and release at the right time to start them. I’ve jammed for twenty or more minutes midi clock free with my arpeggiated deepmind 6, MiniNova, and the reface dx’s looper. Of course midi sync is preferable.
I bought one of these, and it arrived last week. My initial impression was not as favorable. They have some misses which I find really tough to overlook. Some are in the UI, so I hope they can update them with firmware, which would make the interface quite usable. Sound is up to the listener, of course, but the site really over-plays "true analog", IMO. For me, I really dislike that the envelopes aren't fully exposed on the front panel, so you have to use a software editor or external CC to get to the rest of ADSR (and PWM). They could have done the envelopes and PWM the same way they did the oscillators where you hold the button to get to the second row -- I don't get why they didn't. I really hate it when hardware requires something external to access all the features. I also found while using it, the cutoff knob being next to the tempo knob was a bad decision - super easy to hit it accidentally, and when synchronized to an external sequencer, throw your sequence into 1:2 time or similar. Finally, the multi-function data buttons can cause you a world of hurt if you don't save often. Super easy to accidentally navigate to another patch and lose all your work. Happened twice to me because of how the UI state machine works. Also, would be nice to be able to see parameter values without changing them. As it is, the only way to see, for example the oscillator wave, is to turn the knob, which of course, changes it. If you don't change how the knobs work (you can change behavior via sysex, as I recall), then it because far more of a chore to create a patch than it shoudl be, because you keep turning the same knobs and have no indicator as to previous value for that parameter. I think it *looks* super nice, and has a nice tight sequencer (that holds time really well with external MIDI clock). And, even though it is easy to hit (I think removing the knob is the safest bet), the way the tempo works for time divisions is nice.
It sounds pretty sweet out of the box seems like a great way to add in a tr303 sound with real analog but having a digital lfo might remove some of the warmth you get with analog lfo where the sound is more randomized than digital lfo.
I've had the device for several days, and while my experience with it has been overwhelmingly favorable, you hit on basically all of the negative points I noticed. Particularly the U.I. stuff with bumping the preset changing. (Note: the way around that is that you have to remember to hit Octave before you start playing the patch...then bumping an arrow button will not change presets). Fortunately, most of these concerns are ancillary, and some of them may be correctable.
Great point, also, about the poor use of the LED display. Mine just showed "BAT" after the first hour of using it, which I assume is a low battery indicator that's coming on way too early and leaving me with basically no information about what I'm editing. While the Volca FM and UNO Synth both respond to Sysex/CC, the UNO display doesn't show any changes happening, even when you are editing parameters that are also available on the dashboard of the synth. These complaints seem nitpicky, but I found them a little maddening because I actually really like the sounds from this thing and find it otherwise very easy to work with.
Pete: I agree with about the UI. The interface is about the same as the MicroKorg. In other words it is very difficult to know what are the parameter settings, and impossible to look at the synth overall and know where the parameters are set. The price is wonderful, but even as an impoverished musician I would save another hundred dollars and buy a Korg Monologue or Arturia MicroBrut, Roland Boutique, or Yamaha Reface synth.
I do want to see a firmware update over iOS too. And the editor should have been available immediately on the released date since IK multi media is a major iOS player. And I tried to connect the usb to th modulor 114 made by sound machines expecting for it to run native since Sound Machines designed it . But no go still love it though!. Peace Christo 👽
Very nice, kinda reminds me of the SH-101. Maybe you should do a sound compare-some of the two? I know Uno has 2 EGs while the SH has 1, but they're both mono. They got that mono Juno synth sound.
Thats why i went with the korg volva sample instead. Its can do beat sequencing just as well. That was recommended to me and ive never been happier. Up next this guy running to a monologue and sample. Hope that helps !
Hey Paolo, Lets hear some Rick Braun or Al Hirt on that Trumpet... That synth reminds me of the Electro Harmonix Mini Synth from the early 80's. But far, far more sophisticated.... $199 at Guitar Center!
Hi Paolo...thanks for the review... I just got Uno Synth and for me this is my first "hardware" synth....I like it a lot..there's also things I don't like about it but I think it is good (considering the price) for a beginner like me. I think the next one I wanna buy must be a drum step sequencer...I'm looking at the Korg Volcas, Behringer, Cyclone, and of course IK Uno Drums....which one do you think is the best choice for a beginner? thanks in advance...ciao!!!! ;)
For beginners all the ones you mention are perfect .... however there are some differences that you need to consider - in primis: do you plan to load up your samples, or want to just use the on-board sounds? If you want to use a lot of samples, then a drum machine that accepts samples (either by on-board sampling or by wav/aiff/mp3 data transfer) makes a lot of sense. If, on the other hand, you just want the fat, analog punchy sound, you can go in the direction of those types of drum machines / step sequencers.
@@SynthManiaDotCom thanks so much!! No I don't think I need a lot of samples...on the contrary, I'm trying to have less choices compared to VST plugins and that's why I wanna buy an "hardware" one...I think i'm more interested about connectivity so I can edit something later if necessary so I think Volcas are not good about it
Rich with harmonics and the sync tempo etc is worth the $150. 00 dollars for sure ! Something like twenty lanes of automation with step or REAL-TIME EDITING AS WELL. PEACE Christo 👽
An interesting bit of Hardware. Unfortunately i did not see you operate the Record button in this vid. Can you build multiple layers within this machine? It would make it worth the money. Mono sounds quite boring unless in a jam with other equipment. Great vid anyway..
Sounds good, should be a great synth for preset tweekers, not for sound designers. The interface is great for the price, but just not a sound designers interface. Since computer interfaces to synths make me ill to use, a software version would not help me any. This synth though is a great improvement over a Volca, and for the same price as a Volca (remember Volca's don't come with power supplies). If you already own an USB powered hub, you are all set with the Uno for the price of an USB cable. Battery power for me in a studio is completely unacceptable.
Serum and Massive are wavetable synths they don't sound strictly like an analogue synth and vice versa. You can get analogue type sounds out of Serum/Massive but not the same as a real piece of hardware.
We are often told if we have nothing good to say, then say nothing.......................................................................................
I think it would be way better if it was polyphonic. For the price its ok. You have to have more light in your videos. It was impossible to see what you were doing. I would have liked to see the unit instead of blur.
From what I can see in the video and read in the manual this machine is not very intuitive. Courtesy of the 3 digit numerical display and the little amount of knobs which creates the need of more than 1 function per knob. It looks like they desperately tried to save money on production costs by minimizing the amount of knobs and potmeters. On the other hand you get a 3 mode filter for € 240. Considering the fact that the Korg Monologue's price dropped to a staggering € 244 recently one must _really_ have a need for a high pass (or band pass) filter to prefer this over the Monologue in my opinion...
meneerjansen00 Yes it looks very good value for money. Personally i think once you have used it for while you may get used to the intetface . Sometimes i like the carrot dangling of not working out everything straightaway. leaves you thirsty for more.
Point taken. I think it depends on how much you like making your own patches or changing the sound characteristics of a patch during performance. A lot of players, for instance, like to "play" with the amount of LFO during play. With this machine you first have to select the LFO and then find out that the amount of LFO "jumps" because the knob was at 90% while the patch has the LFO amount set to 50%. That is the LFO jumps from 50% to 90% once you touch the knob. Know what I mean? That's the big downside of not having 1 function per knob.
meneerjansen00 Yep i hear you. Im not a fan of menus. Thou will accept this for what it is . I guess the price point would have been alot diffrent if one onob per function. Im in the process of prototyping my own monosynth which is fully analog in total ot has about 70 knob controls and around 50 switches so this alone would make it commercially expensive, however the immediate hands on experince is unbeatable. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u4IGdEvKK0Y.html
IMHO the Minimoog was the perfect combination of the amount of "control" (separate ADS(R) for filter _and_ loudness) and amount of wheels/knobs/switches. Only thing that could be added is Midi and patch memory, which they did in the end w/ some other model if I'm not mistaken. Only thing I personally miss on the Korg Monologue is separate filter and loudness ADSR envelope controls. Maybe I should sell my Monol. and buy a Boog or a Roland SE-02. Hate those toddler sized knobs of the SE-02 though... Or maybe I should buy yours when it's finished. :-)
Instantly, you can hear it, it sounds brittle, surgical, has no personality and the sound just doesn't leave a pleasant impression, mostly because the filter has no personality... I don't wish people who try new things to fail, quite the opposite, but unfortunately in its current form, this thing is 100% doomed to fail, and quite catastrophically so... Compare that to the sound of Roland's SE-02, and it's so blatant which one of the 2 "hits" you in the right "zone" and which one does not...
Because cost should increase in correlation to added functionality. It's not because an object is less expensive that its core elements have to sound cheap and unappealing. People really have to be careful about falling in the trap of constantly spending on cheap gear and by doing such never really get in touch with an instrument that has true quality. Buy less and spend more when you actually buy something. Time and time again this approach has proven to be the most efficient one both from a productivity and financial point of view...
So maybe you just prefer the sound of digital technology, as you use VST and a DSP based synth ; did you try analog synth and sold them afterwards ? I'm not saying one is superior to another, they are just not the same thing ; I know a few people who don't like analog synth, that's a matter of heart and feeling :) cheers, thank you for your answer :p
