This is hands down one of the best explanations of the Korg MS-20 that I've found on RU-vid. The clarity and attention to detail in this video are really impressive. I've been trying to wrap my head around this synthesizer for a while now, and finally, everything is starting to make sense. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together, it's really helped me out a lot!
Thanks man. It's a classic. Yes the synth looks confusing, but if you break it down bit by bit you start to realize, it's not so scary. I will be creating some sound design videos with this monster, so people can practice with me :)
@@XNBeatsMusic Thank you for the video. I got myself a MS-20 just two days ago and this video has been very useful for me. I haven´t got thruu the whole video get though because i sit in front of my synth and does everything together with you in the video so i can try it out an really learn everything. So i have been watching your video and playing with my synth maybe about 10 hours or more this week but still im not even 30 minutes into the video. There is just so much to explore :-). Every little new thing you learn you have to try with all the old things you can and all small aspects of them and it´s just so unbeliavably fun. I totally lose track of time and space around me and just exist in the moment, my soul loves it! Thank you for all the help! Your video is very different to a big part of youtube-tutorials. You´re work is really high-quality. No BS or annoying stylish/funny memes or background noise meant to make you watch. This has actually value and you are thinking about the viewers learning experience, like a teacher should. Great work and i feeled blessed and spoiled at the same time because of having access to this video. I´m 35 and remember the hours reading manuals and scratching my head frustrated and confused still not getting it, this is great! Again, thank you! You said in the comment i reply to that you will be creating some sound design videos with the MS-20, for us to practice with you. This never happened though, huh? I have searched thruu your channel but i cant find any content at all about the MS-20 released after this video. Did you skip that idea or is it in the future do you think? I like that you do Studio One content though, it´s "my DAW" and your content is high quality. Hugs!
Best ms20 tutorial on RU-vid imo, I went through many, this is the only one where I understood everything concisely, I totally understand every function of this synth completely now inside and out, other tutorials just gave me a vague idea of things on the ms20, yours is the most informative and the most well explained imo, great job!
Thank you for doing guides of "older" synths. Happy to have found your channel when I was learning my arp odyssey, then the microfreak, then this. You're a gem.
The MS-20, a pretty much complete synthesizer music studio for the everyday synth fan. It's even better expanded with some of its MS stable-mates, such as the MS-10, MS-50, SQ-10, and VC-10 vocoder. The MS-02 interface unit solves all of the problems of incompatibility with different brands (the last 30 minutes of your excellent video.)
You got talent to explain difficult topics with simplicity and great examples. Love your tutorials. I'm watching even if I don't have particular synth :)
This is the most moving tutorial I've seen. I love this synth. I've had it for several months now, And have play around it quite q bit, but it's always extremely rewarding to hear someone who knows more about it than you do explain it and offer solutions and possibilities. Thanks to you, I love my Korg even more.
Man thank you so much for making this. Ive had my Ms20 for like 3 years now and the patch bay was mostly shrouded in mystery up until watching this. Every other video available on the topic is either trash or really old and hard to watch. And the instruction manual is written under the assumption that you have the pre requisite knowledge of an electrician . . again, thank you!
Finally! Ive had an MS-20 for a decade and have read the manuals and the patch bay still never made sense to me. Now I can actually make stuff that I want to make
Thank you so much for this! I came across a used MS-20 Mini a month ago and felt a bit overwhelmed by the patch bay. But your explanation of the entire synth was so well thought out, logical, and clearly communicated. I feel so much more capable! Appreciate your awesome video!
Don't know how many times i have come back to this video. And how many more i will be coming back in the future. Great, great job. Very useful explanation. Thanks a lot
I have the Korg MS20 possibility on my Korg Kronos. Couldn’t get it right, now thanks to you I can begin with it. Thank you very much. I have seen the first 10 minutes and already enjoy it.
I echo other sentiments. This video is top quality. I've spent the last few days listening to sections and then getting hands on. I've learnt so much. I've added this video to a list so that I can always come back to it. Thanks man.
i thought it would be very long to watch, but i'm already at 30 minutes and i feel like i have a much better comprehension of this part of the synth already.i thought i had a pretty good grasp of this part but it makes it a lot clearer
So I have a blowout model, strangely the low price made me shelf it and not put much time into learning the machine. Pulled it out yesterday to play around for an hour. Absolutely blower away. In a Techno and experimental context, it's insane! Littorally could make an entire album on this one device alone. UI and synth engine is 10/10, build quality is 3/10... 😮
U allmost covered one extra thing! Modulation generator output voltages. Triangle has -2,5v to +2,5v Square has 0v to 5v Triangle is bipolar Square is unipolar. For example : 1. patch mg triangle out to cutoff freq in of lp filter. 2 turn low pass filter knob into 5 3. Open lp cutoff frequency modulation to 2 ( lfo/mg control knob) 4. Now your cutoff automation should go from points 4 to 6 back and forth. Result: The cutoff knob represents the 0v where ever you set it to. Because triangle out is bipolar modulation will be max -2,5v to + 2,5v from that point depending how much of that signal you put into that modulation. If you make the same setup with square out 0v to 5v the cutoff point is again representing the 0v. But wen you apply more modulation it goes only positive values and back into 9v . Hope this makes any sense english is not my mother language🙈🤟
This is definitely the best explanation video on the MS-20, I've had it for a couple of months and knew a couple of things. But watching this video everything is just making more sense and im more comfortable with this. Thank you man!
Great tutorial, I spent a whole evening playing with a friend's MS-20 Mini and learned a lot of stuff. You even anticipated most of the questions I thought of when watching the video. Kudos!
Well, considering the free time, I've spent two weeks regularly watching this video, replicating everything the author does on my VST. Overall, it's an excellent guide, and I did it to understand whether I really want to buy this vintage synth or not. It's frustrating that in Ableton, you can't connect CV from other sources like a sequencer, as the author did (or can you, but I don't know about it?). In any case, thanks for such detailed material; you explain things clearly, and it's very pleasant to listen to you. Even a little sad that I've watched it all, and the tutorial has ended, it feels like after finishing a favorite TV series. :)
Seriously Man you've make the best complete tutorial of this legendary synth. So simply explications to use patchbay. Just this words to you : Thanks so much!!! I can use with a clear comprehension my Patchbay now. A pleasure!
The speed adjustment option is really useful to keep pace - though I had to chuckle, as it was like you were being time shifted through a wormhole when I set it slower...
i love your videos. your style and methods of teaching synths really resonates with me. not to mention, you leave no feature un-taught. this and your neutron tutorials are my personal favorites. perhaps you could look into doing a tutorial on the free KORG PS-3300 simulation the Full Bucket FB-3300 in the future?
Thanks for sharing! Love all your tutorials! … specially MS20 ! …any plans on a deep diving patching / presets tutorial? Bought you a coffee! Thanks again! Gracias !
I'm not sure i follow you about the s-trig method. As far as i know, the voltage polarity isnt reversed, it's just that the MS-20 treats a closed circuit (signal passing through) as no gate, and the gate is where the circuit is broken, when on most other synths it's the other way around.
Thank you once again for your good work and another very useful tutorial. Just one thought (and dont take it the wrong way, its just one subscribers feedback:) .. I often just listen to tutorials while working and doing other stuff, and I have noticed in many of your videos, that you often say "this one controls this one, and this and that", which without watching you and just listening gets a little confusing sometimes. :) Just an idea that being more specific and descriptive would be a bonus feature:) Thanks again
Completely awesome, what a great tutorial! Thanks so much! One noob question - with the V-triggers, does it trigger when the trigger source hits max volts or when the source rises just above the 0V line? I guess I was wondering what would happen if you used a ramp-up sawtooth instead of the square wave you used in the example at 1:17:30. Cheers!
Totally, but this is a guide for beginners to intermediate and it's already too long. Besides, not everybody has splitters, so I would be showing something that a only a group can recreate at home. I will be uploading more, maybe I can use splitters to show a patch or something like that. Thanks for the comment.
Anyone know how the reissue FS model compares in sound to the vintage units? This tutorial is great. I’m enjoying it as I wait for my MS-20 FS to come in the mail.
Thanks for in-depth video just donated 5$. Would love hear more what can be done with the envelope follower, could the MS20 play along by itself to vocals for example?
Have you ever used the MS-20 and K-2 together? (Similar to how the manual mentions the original MS-20 and MS-10 being paired to "increase depth and richness.")
I want to get the MS-20 and this is an amazing overview that makes me want it even more. But why, oh god why, you keep putting the peak of the LP filter at max as a default position? 😆 Your ears must have taken a beating with those accidental 20 kHz blasts hehe.
Thank you for the tutorial! Weirdly, I don't seem to be getting the same results as you in the EG frequency modulation section at 28:31 even though my knobs are in the same position as in the video. When I play a note, there's no bending of pitch, but moving the FM EG1/EXT knob bends the pitch (down as many as 4 octaves the more I turn the knob up). After turning the FM EG1/EXT knob to about 8 where it is the video, playing a note still doesn't give me that ramping up/pitch bending I'm hearing in the video, just a steady (lower-pitched) tone. I have an MS-20 mini, but I wouldn't expect that to make a difference, so any ideas? I'm sure I could be missing something
We are lucky to have it, thanks! Planning to buy this one as my first synthesizer, could you tell would it be possible to create some jazz/fusion type of leads? I can only see techno stuff done with it on youtube
Hello. The MS-20 is a very versatile synth. Jazz/Fusion, yeah you can. The thing is that the MS20 is know for being aggressive, gritty and loud. I wouldn't use it for Fusion, I would use something more versatile, where you can create from organ, pianos like to various types synth sounds. I would use the MS20 for techno and all it's subgenres, Synthwave, Retrowave and music like that. Do the following, get the plugin version for cheap....use it and if it works, great. If someone asked me to do fusion I would use something I can really get a lot of sounds out of it, like a HYDRA or Deepmind, even an Opsix. But that's just my opinion.
I’ve had the mini since launch, which feels like a long, long time ago. I still don’t fully understand the use of EG2 with the filters. The sustain always seems to be backwards when controlling the filter. Turn the sustain down and the LPF opens more. It’s left the synth being more trial and error than any other synth I have.
You are you using 2 tools visualise the out coming sound I guess from Ableton, one I already knew is the spectrum analysis tool, but what are you using as 2nd looks like a oscillator, but is only to show the curves?
Hello. Not right now....I need to buy the gear to do it. And it's quite expensive. But I do have plans to get them in a little while and I will create videos for sure.
Hello. Well just like any instrument, it has a line out. Just like a guitar or a bass. So MS20 > Pedal > to mixer. If you are working on a DAW, you can buy a tiny hardware to "reamp" and use your pedals as plugins.
@@XNBeatsMusicok but how to I use Korg to pedal to monitors? I’m not going to a mixer. I have monitors hooked up through phones output because that seems to be the only it way I can get a stereo sound. I assume I’m doing something wrong.
I understand what V triggers and S triggers do, but... WHY are the letters "V" and "S" used? I've tried searching for this online, but it's a nightmare trying to search for single letters and I haven't had any luck. Does anyone know, please?
GND stands for ‘Ghost Nesting Diodes,’ it’s a special technology for receiving electrical transmissions from the spirits of people who have died and passed over into the beyond. It requires a special ghost antenna that you attach to your third eye. You have to concentrate on channeling the spirits into your synthesizer. It takes a lot of practice. Korg only made the ghost antenna for a year in 1980, they’re really hard to find now.
