Duty cycled pink noise can be used with spectrum analysers to check the absorption and reflection parameters of a room when setting up a studio as you can send a noise pulse into the room and then see what comes back during the silent period. You can then use this information to a: add sound absorption if an area is sending back something nasty, and b: balance the sound of a room using graphic equalisers. Pink noise is used because it's closer to the response of the human ear than white noise.
"Pink noise is used because it's closer to the response of the human ear than white noise." -- no, you're thinking of grey noise. Pink noise is used because it has the same acoustic energy across all octaves. The problem with white noise is that, because it's equal loudness across the spectrum, higher-frequency sounds sound louder than lower frequency sounds - 70dB of soundwaves vibrating 1,000 times per second has a lot more energy than 70dB of soundwaves vibrating just 100 times per second.
When I first worked in the sound department at a small tv station, back in the late 70’s - early 80’s it was so simple: record to tape, make razor-blade edits until the sound clip was the same length as the video clip it would accompany, then let the video editors sync them up. I’m retiring this year, and as I look back at the changes over the decades (8 track, to 16 track to two-inch 24 track tape to recording direct to disk, finally to recording to, and editing and mixing in a computer) - I am amazed. Sound really has become a science, and audio engineering is quite a technical (as well as creative) thing. This RU-vid vid kind of blew me away. I’m thinking, we used to just assume some mysterious noise in a signal was likely due to electrical flow somewhere. We’d check for overlapping cables, and to make sure the fridge was unplugged, but ultimately had to resign ourselves to the fact that somewhere down the chain, EQ would have to be used to attenuate the approximate frequency range the noise occurred in. But with a scope hooked right to the recording console, you don’t have to so much: “fix it in post”. Brilliant vid here my friend. Thank you.
Bro, you can make a jig and buy a real scope for another 100. I had the volca beats and gave it away then regretted it haha. I got it free though with almost 10k in gear so I can't complain. 300 beans in Canada for it and a siglent can be had for another hundred with built in wave gen. I think my issue with the scope is the build quality. They are making 250 off it after parts. I'm a fan of korg so I hate to dis. What's with the European obsession with electronic music? When I was a kid there was an awesome metal scene with virtuoso level players from Europe. I enjoy building synth circuits but I'm a daily guitar player since I was 14 and take 2 hrs just to warm up. Religiously for over 30 years. I'm trying to find a decent midi keyboard for my daw. Weighted keys preferably.
For those of you who doesn't have the $250 but still want to start playing around the concept of oscilloscope music, I've built one for TouchDesigner (free software). It has the amazing YX mode, goes up to 4k resolution, and it's fully modifiable.
yep this is a must buy for me, been wanting a synth company to do something like this for a couple years, Korg to the rescue and another great video by loopop! Congrats on the book mention!
Nice review as always but I think you missed one of the most important uses for a scope and that is to find out when signals are bipolar or unipolar which can be a headache to figure out the hard way.
You truly have a gift for explaining things. I watch other videos, but you really have such a great way to make it all very logical and clear and simple, no matter how complex the topic.
Korg is so pro-consumer I love them. I would have loved to see a voltage monitoring/reference mode as well. I use the DATA all the time to dial in the range of voltage of a modulator and the voltage reference to calibrate for certain firmware updates. Weird there was no mention of the Seeed Studio DSO Nano v3 which I see as this thing's direct competition other than the through outputs. Internal battery/nice metal enclosure for like $115 and a DIY version for like $25.
This is great and I really want one for my setup but it is a bit expensive when the book is included. I hope they don’t wait too long to put it out without the book. €229 is a lot. Getting it down to €150 without the book would make it reasonable.
230 euro is in par with a good Chinese oscilloscope. Do I need LFOs? No... But a real scope gives options like probes (to check circuits) and (very important) can work with voltages up to 600v.
@@MrDigimal yeah, it's for synths )) But the price seems not fair. You can literally use a cheaper Chinese oscilloscope (Hantek for example) with less precision than OWON and get almost the same results as this Korg's thingie... on a much bigger screen! It will not give you four channels for the same price but it will be re-usable for some serious job (like checking circuits with crystals and etc. they need Mhz freq. ranges).
First time I watched this video I knew I wanted it. Finally got it yesterday and re-watching this video was a must for reviewing all functions. I even got it hooked while watching/listening and it's great to see some of the wave forms here. I do recommend it if you ever wanted to have an affordable oscilloscope for music/sound. Cheers! ✌
I finally got mine yesterday and discovered your video. I then had to remove the Korg book film to read about your patch. I only own iMS20 (iPad softinst) so I did not think I was interested in the book otherwise. 😅
Very cool! It's really nice to see a music/modular-focused 'scope in a nice portable form factor, and to see the NTS series expanded. In addition to an old analog oscilloscope, I do have a device called an Xprotolab, which is a tiny 'scope - 1"×1.6", with a 1" OLED screen - that's meant to pop into a breadboard, and which I've designed a Eurorack module to house; it does some of the things this does, but not as well. (Sadly, the manufacturer has discontinued the Xprotolab. And to give appropriate credit, Division 6 made a PCB that could be turned into a module similar to the one I'm working on; it was a giveaway at Knobcon 6.) I've found it very useful for all the reasons you mentioned, in addition to my electronics development work.
Just got mine today, the standalone unit (no book) and it was simple to assemble. I'm testing it now with Dixie2+, switching octaves, pitch, lfo/vco mode, and using different outputs. There's a bit to learn, but after watching the video and playing around with it for about a half hour, most of it is simple to figure out. I don't have the splitters yet, but patching 4 Dixie waves through my Joranalogue Switch 4 and outputting them through the two switchable channels, I can easily cycle between all 4 waveforms with just a pair of regular TS patch cables, so I can view sine + sub, or saw + flip or whatever combo, at the simple turn of a knob - Rather a nice way to use those 2 channels that I hadn't considered previously. Also interesting to view the odd/even harmonic outs from the MN Spectraphon. Also very handy for tuning multiple oscillators - I can get XPO and Rings and 0-Coast/0-Ctrl all working together in harmony in just a few seconds, or tune them at intervals for use with a sequential switch or shift register. It's a bit battery hungry, I noticed the power indicator drop after just an hour's use with fresh Energizer Max alkaline batteries, with battery mode set to alkaline. I'd definitely recommend using the usb cable as much as possible to save money on batteries. Later on, I'll upgrade to the Mordax Data, but this is a great little starter unit. I'm planning a lesson for my kindergarten students, I'll take in some modules and the NTS 2, and let them play around with either the Tetrapad or 0-Ctrl and see how the visual waveforms change as the sound does. We'll have a box with salt/sand to do the vibration patterns over the speaker cone thing as well, get them thinking about sound as a medium we can interpret with our other senses besides our hearing. If it was good enough for Beethoven, it's good enough for me. It's a shame the screen doesn't port out to an external display over the usb, but we can always film the screen with a cellphone and mirror it. Should be fun. Thanks again, Loopop, for your content. I've learned a ton from your videos.
Another great video. I just pre ordered mine from Sweetwater. My sales engineer, Jared called me back yesterday to let me know the expected delivery is the end of July. He also said they received a larger than expected amount of preorders and requested additional units from their distributor to handle all of the orders. I suggest if anyone wants to get one they should preorder it now. I suspect initially they will be in short supply. Personally I think it’s a great unit at a pretty good price when you consider their other books alone (like Synth Gems 1) sell for around $70.00.
Could barely contain my excitement. FINALLY. A scope/tuner. Is this a colab with Bjooks? It seems to be the perfect pair- book and scope. Like an invitation for knowledge.
11:26 ❤️ This kind of offhand esoteric joke is not why I watch your videos, but every time I catch a subtle bomb that you’ve dropped it sparks joy. (This is a train wreck of a mixed metaphor. I think I just made it worse. I clearly need to re-watch your mixing videos.)
This is awesome! The cheap DSO138 scopes a pretty bad, a Rigol tabletop scope is much more expensive (if I'm correct, the NTS-2 retails for around US$250?) and needs BNC-1/8-TS adapters, and a Mordax Data requires an Eurorack setup. This really fills a gap in the market, and an oscilloscope is like, the best utility one can buy.
While writing this I heard increasing bleeps from the vid and thought Loop became his old G self swearing off 😁 Really useful and most of all fun and boosts the nerd level, also the gadget form factor in general is really nice. Makes me want a granular NTS
Outside of the fact that you absolutely made me audibly say "noooooooo" as you removed that screen protector, this review has 100% convinced me that this is a buy. I was considering building a skiff for a mordax data, this nts 2 gives me exactly what I want at a third of the cost. Thanks for the stellar review as always, Ziv. Hope all is well!
LOL. I thought the same thing, when watching him remove the screen protector 😆 It's funny how many people are like us, and how many think we are crazy for leaving them on.
@@TheScreamingFrog916 the only way my screen protectors get removed is from the adhesive failing or if they block my view lol Definitely got my preorder in on this NTS2 Very excited to have the new utility!
I like it, good review! the cost is a bit prohibitive to me because the scope I use to just monitor my eurorack was 25$, not 225$. I would give 100 bucks for it because of the advanced features. Also if you have ever used an old school scope the reason you can move the wave forms around is so you can line them up with the time and voltage divisions count how many boxes the wave takes up, and calculate it based on the division settings. this was before the scope calculated it for you. Great fun
So the cheapest (decent) O-Scope I've been able to find is normally in the $300 category... where did you find an O-Scope for $25? I do have one I'm building for ~$70 but that's primarily for building other electronics projects. Not one dedicated to CV and Audio with 3.5mm jacks...
Just an FYI - if you're getting noise when nothing's plugged in, it's a problem known by Korg. If you registered the device on their website, a quick video of the unit to support showing the noise when unplugged and a copy of the original sales receipt is all it took to get an RMA for an exchange. Shipping is to Melville, NY if you're dealing with Korg USA.
Great video. Just a quick note. The Optx module from Boredbrain is advertised as having DC-coupled inputs, however it does NOT. Only DC coupled outputs. The manufacturer confirmed that in Modwiggler.
This is a great idea I just hope the inputs are welded a lot more sturdy than the nts-1 they were really bad and just come loose with any normal amount of use so unless you find someone to solder it for you you have to get another one and it happened on 3 of mine!!
Great review of this one. I didnt know this was out. A scope is extremely useful, and especially as you say with cv. I bought the Intelijel Zeroscope a few months back to have in my 1U row. Small, but has taught me a lot already.
Finally I can see what marbles and ornaments & crime are doing. Absolutely no idea. Among a few other modules as well I can read manuals for days, but if I see it, I will instantly learn. Nts-2 is in the mail.
I’ve been looking for a sine wave generator & oscilloscope to use with my guitar pedals. To get a better feel for what they do. This looks like this might be the perfect all-in-one compact solution.
Mordax is a higher quality oscilloscope but yes, this definitely meets a need for an inexpensive basic oscilloscope designed for musicians. It has lots of great features plus an awesome book. It’s a win win!
I would assume all the different waveforms are for studying and understanding them. Just my opinion. Korg is always doing something innovative with oscilloscopes like putting them on al their “logue” series. They’re great tools for understanding your synth, especially during sound design.
So I’m sure you answered this question but I’m not the sharpest tool. Can you send a desired frequencies to monitor through a 3 head tape deck to bias the deck to factory specifications? Thanks for the video. It was great…
This is smack in the middle of my cheap 30€ DIY DSO 138 mini that I converted into a Eurorack module and my big scope that I use for trouble shooting circuits, so I wouldn't have much use for this one myself. It does look like a really good option if it's your first scope though and if you don't really need it for circuits. If you do plan on using this for troubleshooting circuits, I'd recommend going with a big scope! Those can be had for about the same price now and can do even more stuff. If you don't have this kind of money, for 98% of my use cases the DSO 138 mini is good enough even as someone who is into Eurorack DIY!
Great demo, as always! Amazing how you can talk in perfect English while demoing. Interesting product! I was saving up for the € rack Zeroscope, but this might be a better alternative.
for a sec I was mad my NTS-1 was now outdated. But this is a totally different kind of thing. Surprised the generators don't accept midi for freq/magnitude in lieu of note/vel but perhaps it'll be added?
He asked what could the noise pulse-width setting be for, not sure but musically it could perhaps be a sync'd snare or hihat type sound... Digging the features of this as a musically oriented mini-scope from a reputable brand, I wonder when they hit retail?
That thing is pretty awesome. I have a "real" scope, but it lacks all the cool audio/music specific features that this one has. I don't think I'll buy one, but I'd totally jump on a full-size version.
Other comments say $250 with a book, not sure what the book is tho, and eventually perhaps available for around $150 without the book. Nice book I guess. But $250 seems fairb to me for 4 channels of all the other features.
It seems pretty cool... but OTOH, a professional oscilloscope only costs a little bit more while being far more capable. Or, for simple FFT purposes during sound design, or for tuning, that stuff is pretty easy to do with free phone apps.
Super handy. Getting one of these ;-) Been wanting to get a Eurorack scope or small unit for learning, monitoring, calibrating etc. This is perfect ;-)
Ah man, when I saw this in the thumbnail I was anticipating a moment, when you got back to the box and picked another panel as a suprise-twist saying: "and if you like to have it IN your Eurorack, here is the conversionkit!". It never came. I am of course seeing the market-niche for a desktop-unit because there is things like the Mordax Data in Eurorack, but I'd really liked it as a contender to that module. Especially the build-it-yourself-approach without soldering and the individual parts as they're picked here were strongly inviting to that idea. May not be Korgs market, but could have been the step to add "that damn modular costumers" to their selling-range even better. Highly subjective opinion, cool thing nevertheless.
Yeah, bizarre choice, makes it very hard to use in that mode. Korg is generally pretty bad with firmware updates so I'd be worried about willingness to 'fix' this.
Seven months ago. SEVEN MONTHS ago this video was released. An excellent video extolling the features and utility of a new music production tool by Korg. I watched it the day it was released and I was sold on the device. I have another small scope I use for similar purposes, but it's really not created for musicians and doesn't have nearly the feature set that this one does. So, I waited. And waited. And waited. And I'm still waiting. Best estimate of when I can shell out my hard - earned money for one? April 2023. If my math is correct, that will be ten months from when Korg announced the product and released test units to reviewers. Like here. I get that chips are in short supply and that there are supply chain issues. But this was a problem BEFORE the pandemic and all of the chip and supply chain difficulties. Manufacturers: if you can't release a product within two weeks from when you announce it, don't announce it. Please. It just makes us frustrated and less interested in buying your product. Korg, you can do better than mimick Behringer. Please do that.
@@loopop One website yesterday said April 2023. That was also the date for getting a supply of Montages, but I did manage to snag one a few months ago. Was on a waiting list since July 2022.
Good video, thank you! Why they did not turn the screen 180 and put the inputs on front, since otherwise it seems very close to eurorack mount size, I do not understand. Features are good, except, as you note, lack of v/oct or trigger in/out. Oh well, I bought one anyway.
I got fed up waiting for this to arrive so I looked for alternatives and found the Vox Mystic edge guitar pedal, a Vox AC30 simulator with a real minivalve and a built-in oscilloscope for £150!
While I'm not into this new line of devices since they are so incomplete (how hard is it to build them into a sturdier case?), it's still nice to see they went with USB-C. Nonetheless, this and the NTS-1 should have been designed into a Volca form factor. That being said, I'm sure this will be useful for some people
