Korg Monotron Duo!

[famous beagle]

I know this probably belongs in the synth section, but I don't know anyone there, and ... it is analog after all.

I got one yesterday, and holy sh*t this thing is fun! I'd never played around much with a real analog synth, but I always wanted to. I’ve been wanting an analog synth for a while, but the few made nowadays are super-expensive, and if you try to find a vintage one, they’re super steep too, obviously. So I figured I’d build one from Paia; they have a model called the Fatman that sounds really nice, and the kit is only $250. But when these things came out and were so cheap (got mine off ebay for $35 with free shipping), I checked out some demos and was really impressed, so I pulled the trigger. It sounds really amazing; I’m totally floored!


Anyway, after messing around with it for a few minutes last night, I discovered how to create the soundtrack to Starman. Check it out.


You can do a lot with this thing—play actual melodies too and all—though it’s really great at making cool noises too. Best $35 I’ve spent in a long time! For those that don't know, there are three models: the Monotron, Monotron Duo (mine), and Monotron Delay. The Duo has a switch on the back so you can set the ribbon controller to four different modes: chromatic, major scale, minor scale, or continuous (just slides up and down). It’s a really small keyboard, but with the chromatic mode (and especially the major or minor scale mode), I was able to play some melodies without too much trouble.

There’s no MIDI on this thing, so you can’t control it with a keyboard right out of the box. However, I’ve found plans online to build your own MIDI interface for it, and the parts cost only about $25. Then you can play it with a keyboard controller. (It disables the ribbon controller when you do that, but that’s no big deal to me.) After hearing how amazing this thing sounds, I’m definitely planning on building the interface.

Another really cool thing you can do is plug an external sound source (guitar, mp3 player, etc.) into its 1/8” aux jack and process it with the Monotron’s filter. I haven’t messed around with that yet, but the demos I’ve seen are pretty cool in that regard.

Anyway, if you’ve ever been curious (as I have) about analog synths but couldn't afford one, I’d highly recommend these. Even if they weren’t valid musical instruments (which they are---it just takes a bit of effort), I’d still consider it worth it just for the fun!

 

[jpmorris]

I have the original monotron. I used it on my song 'Demonhunter' because I needed a proper resonant analogue filter (the Pulse is digitally controlled and it was stepping badly). I believe it uses the MS10 filter circuit and a lot of people bought it just for that, so they could use it to filter external sources like I did.

It worked very well for that - though it's rather noisy - but I haven't really used it much since. It's addictive as a toy, though - every so often I'll just grab it and make some horrible noises with it
Nice to see there's now a 2-osc version, that was the big limitation on the original (though it can make some awesome cross-modulation with the LFO)

EDIT: The keyboard really was painful to try and play, though. If they've fixed it now so that it can be set to lock to the nearest note instead of sliding, that would be a major, major improvement.

 

[famous beagle]

I have the original monotron. I used it on my song 'Demonhunter' because I needed a proper resonant analogue filter (the Pulse is digitally controlled and it was stepping badly). I believe it uses the MS10 filter circuit and a lot of people bought it just for that, so they could use it to filter external sources like I did.

It worked very well for that - though it's rather noisy - but I haven't really used it much since. It's addictive as a toy, though - every so often I'll just grab it and make some horrible noises with it
Nice to see there's now a 2-osc version, that was the big limitation on the original (though it can make some awesome cross-modulation with the LFO)

EDIT: The keyboard really was painful to try and play, though. If they've fixed it now so that it can be set to lock to the nearest note instead of sliding, that would be a major, major improvement.

Yeah I can see how having only the continuous ribbon would make melody-playing really tough. I messed around a bit with the continuous setting on mine, and it can be done with a bit of effort. I think maybe a stylus would help with the precision because you'd be able to see exactly where on the key you need to be in order to play in tune. At any rate, the variable settings on the Duo are extremely helpful in that regard.

I agree that it is noisy. I ended up setting up a parametric EQ to help filter out most of that hiss without digging too much into the actual signal. Or ... at least ... I can't really tell much of a difference in the actual signal.

Anyway, I love it and am looking forward to adding it to my recordings and, eventually (probably after I've built the MIDI interface for it), my live shows.

 

[jpmorris]

(Digital, direct from sequencer. The filter sweeps were done on the Pulse, note the sparkly sound as it steps between values)

(On tape. The Pulse was double-tracked, with the filter left open, and fed through the Monotron, with the overdub being ring-modulated. Note the smoothness of the sweeping)

 

[famous beagle]

(Digital, direct from sequencer. The filter sweeps were done on the Pulse, note the sparkly sound as it steps between values)

(On tape. The Pulse was double-tracked, with the filter left open, and fed through the Monotron, with the overdub being ring-modulated. Note the smoothness of the sweeping)

The whole sound is different!