I am getting so sick of people saying things like "people who use these TOYS are not REAL musicians". You're a real musician no matter how you make music, even if you write a full album on a stylophone. Often the most creative people are the ones that are most limited
Both units are awesome to sample. I have the Delay in my locker at work. I use the Xynthesizr app and play sequences into the delay. Add the filter and it’s easy to get lost for a few minutes on a break. Everything can be music. Change your expectations
They are a really great source for tone making... Percussion, basses... Solos (assuming you have small fingers or a stylus!)... Case in point: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4RccBWJJ_9w.html
Ironically enough, it's almost Christmas time again and I just discovered this thing. This sounds like it'd be perfect for Drone and Noise music, which I occasionally do for fun.
LMFAO's Sexy and I know it uses the TB-303 which was essentially the 80's version of a mini analog synth like this. So you can't really say you cant make hits with a small synth...
If you can only get one, buy the Duo. It's the most useful Monotron for musical sounds. The original Monotron is also great for learning how to use a synth because of the LFO. Both are very limited, but those limitations force you to use what's there and discover new sounds. I've had an original Monotron for a few months and still find new sounds. If you can solder there are a lot of easy mods for them. You could make a really nice synth by combining a Duo and original and modding them.
Great instructional piece. Just got a Monotron Delay and could figure out the LFO Waveform Trim Knob - but you explained and demonstrated that perfectly. What a great little sound toy - it's going to be all over my productions until I get bored and buy something else!
I thought going into these two new monotrons I would prefer the duo over the delay,but I'm actually finding the delay more my speed,perhaps it's the LFO fun!
In the 50s and early 60s, electronic music was made with oscillators controlled by a pitch knob (no synthesizers with keyboards yet), manipulated with tape. There's no reason you can't make music with a dual oscillator synth with a quantized ribbon.
i make ORGANIZED music using SOLELY THE 1/4 JACK!! (I take that "bzzt!" and alter the "pitch" using delay rate, and loop little bits. Everyone is stunned when they hear the techno music etc I make... to find out it's ALL just a "bzzt!" -- even all the "drum" sounds!
@DJSkeeterson The reason the LFO trimpot is where it is is that these new Monotrons are made with the same case molds as the first one. The first Monotron has a trimpot in the same place for adjusting the ribbon's pitch range. This is also why the new features come at the expense of other features.
just for kicks have you tried plugging the duo ouput into the aux in of the delay then outputting the delay back into the VCF of the duo? could be pretty gnarly feedback noise... or it could sound god-awful... only one way to find out...
I already have a standard Monotron and will defo buy the Duo and Delay variants. Korg did a great job with the Mono-family, would be nice if they'd keep on releasing new variants. For example, I'd love to have a Monotron with the three drums (tuneable) of the Monotribe and a simple 8-step sequencer... the Monodrum! :) Anyway, I like our reviews, Nick, keep up the good work.
And the NTS-1 brings it back around to the same form factor with the good old ribbon keyboard again. Digital, but it supports third-party oscillators and effects using the same SDK as Minilogue XD and Prologue. Thought it was a silly thing but ended up buying one and it's actually pretty cool. Korg is definitely the most adventurous of all the big synth companies!
@UltimaWeapon9339 but then it loses the analog character, knobs doesnt mean its analog, analog means its not digital, and im VERY glad there are still analog synths, even cheap ones like the monotrons
oh com'on Nick, why did you said "not the cleanest square wave l've ever eard"? l noted this kind of "snobbing" only on low-priced products. if the same wave were emitted by a fucking moog, l'me sure you're been talking about "lot of weight in that square...defenitively subby"
love these little wee beasts... still need to get the 'classic' then I have the whole set. All of them are muscially useful, the duo being the most versatile of the two I currently have... but the delay OWNS when it comes to making organic sounding drones/beat synth tones... and you can ges resonance, but only if you're ready to invaldiate to warranty and take a soldering iron to it...
I have one of the original Monotrons Guitar Center had thel as a $50 Loss Leader at the time. I built an power adapter out of a piece of 9VDC Wall Wart, Short piect of Insulated Rod and a couple of clothing snaps (Glued on to the Rod and Soldered on to the Wall Wart leads) so I was able to run it off of Wall AC for more reliable Pitch, and I had a Plastic Bracket (Tap Plastics, Custom) made for it that conforms to the panel of a Nord NE-2, so it would stay in place with that unis. I tuned the ends of the Ribbon to a Minor Tenth (tuned Bb-C#) and that kept the pitch reference reasonably close. Still awkward to play and used more as a Noise maker, Recently I got a Volca Bass mostly using it as a Lead instrument.
Wasent expecting much from the delay but with the AUX in it's looking like a great little pocket filter. Fantastic. Just the right size for my Christmas stocking as well. :D
Is it for playing with the sound like this or can you apply the effects to another keyoard you have? Or what else you can use it for other then just messing around.
well, keep in mind that ALL MUSICIANS ARE DOING IT WRONG and always have been. (NOTHING about the history of music has been that intelligent. Lazy, lazy, lazy.) (EX: Musicians Touring is the DUMBEST and most inefficient thing ever.) (EX: carrying a LOT of gear to do gigs is LITERALLY DUMB.) (for instance, I've played art-metal guitar across the globe... yet I NEVER use an amp! I go direct into the PA and every guitarist calls it blasphemy... until I begin playing. THEN, they say "why did i waste $$ and time on an amp!!") (i've toured the world as a drummer -- touring's a lot of FUN for me, but not efficient -- and my ENTIRE drumkit fits in my shoulderbag (!). Takes me 30 seconds to set up, 3 seconds to break down! I'm 99% more efficient than most drummers, because I eschewed tradition and use a Roland SPD6 [think thick laptop with 6 rubber pads, which i play with only 2 drumsticks and no feet]! Yes, i sacrifice a few things, but GAIN 99% more than regular drummers of either acoustic or electronic kits! It's incredibly superior to regular drums, in almost every way. DRUMS are the dumbest instrument ever.) (EX: I can play with a band IN A TINY BEDROOM (!!), and at ANY VOLUME. I can record full drums at ANY volume in any situation!! WOWZA!!) People need to realize "TRADITION" means ANT-thinking.
One of the best tutorial reviews I have ever seen on RU-vid. Fantastic job sir. I play these things along with my Microkorg. They provide terrific "lead synth" and noise generator mayhem to other sounds in your mix.
Thank you for this video! Actually Korg sent it to me. However as a 75 year youngster who loves music I would love to know of a NEWBIE book to learn more about what my Delay unit is doing. I think I might purchase the other one too as you showed them plugged into each other.
oh yeah that would work, you mean the claviature would be 12 buttons that would as well be midi controllable. what you can do is you can have a device that makes pure triangle or square wave sounds and put them in the input.
@Goth108 I stand corrected after mailing to Korg.. the monotron delay really is a analog BBD delay.. so probably really the best you can get for this price.
For people with questions about handling the excessive noise, run it through a gate within your daw. I tend to use sonnox dynamics and it works a treat. Though I'm curious as to what cable he is using himself because I have never heard any of these units captured with such a low amount of noise without additional processing and everyone I've used goes through my apogee symphony
Just had fun modifying/distorting/destroying the sound from this Monotron video with my Monotron. Turn up the resonance just before self oscillation and turn the cutoff to about half and it's great for vocal distortion.
I think the issue is that "hardcore synth types" have been asking the major manufacturers to put out some real analog gear since I got into it 17 years ago. In the meantime a cottage industry of boutique designers met some of that demand but not much on the affordable side, and when Korg finally got around to it, it's one that requires hacking the hell out of just to get it functioning integrated with an existing synth setup.
@sonicstate-You say the filter is the MS20 and MS10 "modeled." Is it the same component as in the Korg MS20. Is the delay on the second unit you reviewed (analogue BBD chip) or DSP? Great review once again.
Korg. the absolute opposite mindset of Apple. Analog cool synths for everybody, accessible, quality, and cool. inputs and outputs included! all I really need is a MIDI in though! ; )
korg has been really tearing it up. i almost swore off korg after spending way too much on a kaosilator pro++ but since i picked up the monologue i've got an addiction that korg is all too happy to feed with stuff like these and their volca line.
I bought one, and I have a lot of static noise on the headphones output. I use it to play with on the train, it's fun and you can get some fat bases out of it, if very delicatly tweaked. So to me, it's a really good toy. If I want to make some "descent" music, I'll play with my Tempest.
Ya gotta keep the damn synth still. The camera never has time to focus so it just looks like 480p the whole time when it’s actually 720p. Made me dizzy. Besides that- helpful review. Very interesting synth. I really like what Korg is doing for the portable market.
i plug my monotron into my amp all the time, it has a standard output, you just need a converter of sorts to go from quarter inch, to headphone jack...
@megabot80 Bucket Brigade Device. Analogue chip that chops the sound up and stores it in capacitors. Tends to have a warmer less trebly sound than digital delay with more distortion and more character. 'Bucket Brigade' is referring to a line of firefighters passing buckets of water along a line!
What a thoroughly excellent review, great idea showing what's inside too. VCC is Voltage cathode/collector usually positive and 3 volts in this case presumably:-D
I have the mono with delay, it needs help getting a boost in gain, it's hissy, noisy and nearly impossible to play the note you want... but it's probably the best $50 you can spend on audio gear. Now I gotta pick up the duo which will fix at least one of the issues.
These are really neat looking. I was considering just a normal Monotron, but I might get one of these instead now. One question though: what is the MIDI stuff everyone is talking about? What would that do for the Monotron if a MIDI input was added? Thanks!
Toy ? of course what were you expecting. However you can sample it do anything and even use it in a hit song, ask the Stylophone. With its 8th inch jack im gonna use one to effect my Eurorack Modular Synth. Thanks Korg...great stuff.
I guess korg hasn't released a "miditron" just because right now at this price and size they can't offer a stable pitch, which they think would be frustrating to most users......not me as i already have other digi synths that play concert pitch! Hope korg is working on a "miditron" right now. In the meantime i really want to get my hands on these two!
Hello, I probably missed it. But I didn't hear you talking about the noise those synths (specially the Duo) were making. So do the Duo makes as much noise as the original Monotron, or much less, like on the Monotribe for example ? Thanks for your answer. After listening a second time, the duo or the delay alone seem okay, but when you process one into the other, it becomes pretty aweful in term of noise, that's a shame....
GuPu If you're just starting to get into music production, I would get some decent software rather than an analog synth first. You can make very good tracks with just the built in plugins in something like Logic Pro X or Protools. Once you know that you will enjoy it and you think that it would benefit your setup, then I would start getting into analog synthesisers. It is a very big investment if you don't know whether you will keep on doing it.
GuPu If you are looking for a synth, then I think this could be a good first one. Although, if you're willing to spend a little bit more, I think that the Korg Volcas would be more beneficial because it gives you much more control and you can learn more in a short amount of time.
Thank you very much for your reply, I've tooled around with Ableton and Sony Acid for a few months and I think it's time to go analog now. I'm thinking of buying this one first and, if I like it, go for a Volca after three months or so. I'm, particularly interested in the Volca Keys, could you maybe tell me how this one holds up to the other Volcas?
Ummm hmmm.... All of them! Depends on what you really want. Cool sound fx? The delay. Greater sonic capability and harsh tones? The duo. Standard monophonic glory and some acid type sounds? The normal one. Also consider the monotribe. The monotribe has a drum machine that can sound pretty nice.
Buyers beware the monotron duo doesn't add its effects to the auxiliary in. I just bought one thinking it acts as an effects unit so I played my otomatone through it and the sound of my otomatone was completely unaffected by the monotron duo. I bought one for the purpose of changing the sound of my otomatone and to my surprise it does nothing to the sound. I just happened to have an extra otomatone so I took the ribbon off of it and soldered it to the monotron duo. It works but I just wish the duo would add its effects to any instrument you plug into it's auxiliary in.
@UltimaWeapon9339 well - you would then loose some of the things you can do with the ribbon controller and 'sides as Korg have released the full circuit board schematics... thanks to people's wishes for the same MIDI needs have made retrofit kits for them.
@UltimaWeapon9339 They're designed to be modded. All circuitry is clearly labelled and easy to modify with little to no hacking experience. Very easy to install your own midi in. Take a look at a good tutorial for it, there's a lot of them on youtube.
I got both the delay and the duo this week. But one thing that annoys me is that the delay has some random clicks and pops. Kinda how the duo sounds when the cutoff is set to 0 and you touch the ribbon. Dont know if this is the way it should be or if I got a faulty one? I will probably go back to the store if I can find my receipt, but I'm staying in Japan and I dont speak any Japanese so not sure how I to explain it. Does this happen on your monotron delay as well?
00:29 ..."And the filter from the legendary MS-20 - at least modeled.". I checked out the Monotrons' schematics and they are real analog filters on all 3 Monotrons, there is nothing modeled about them. I do not know if they are the same as the MS-20, though; I have not got that schematic.
