Thanks for the heads-up re: Monotribe. Although the hands on seq may be some fun and the midi-in-out gives it more features, what you said about sounds is a deal breaker for me. I have two other hardware boxes on my shortlist. One the Akai MPD32. It integrates well with FxSpanion's Geist which I have and 30 preset slots that I can use to further control the Miniak via the two software editors and also I would use it for VSTi's or Daws as it has transport controls, knobs/sliders and buttons and templates for some Daws. The problem there is availability. I may not find one for the price I want next week. The other piece of kit is the Mopho. I do presently own the Novation Xio and it besides it being a VA has 11x2 knobs,same for the buttons and an X/Y pad. There is an editor to create controller templates so I could use that right away on the Mopho and Miniak. Also have a Yamaha KX49(49 keys) and it has 4x2 knobs and transport controls. If I get the Akai MPD32 first I may just wait for thebmot wrote:i've been getting into hardware more too recently. the details you posted on the miniak really made me sit up and think about whether I could use that sort of hardware. a bargain price, agreed. but there are some interesting products starting to come out now, i will wait for a while and see what 2012 has to bring us.
I bought the montribe last year, and bought the altitude909 midi kit you linked to a few weeks ago. I can confirm the kit is excellently made and does exactly what you'd expect. Both midi in and out work fine. I think the main benefit is to replace the limited sequencer on the monotribe. Plus it can only save 1 pattern at a time so this gives a way to save as many patterns as you want in your sequencer of choice. There's also some CC control included with the midi implementation so it really expands its capabilities if you want to programme patterns. If you have a monotribe it's pretty much a must have, expands it into a proper instrument for me.
otoh, if you don't have a monotribe, be aware that the sound is quite basic, it's a lot thinner and weedier than other analogues i've heard. which surprised me actually. the amp power output is very low which might account for some of this perception. the lfo can help coax some more unusual sounds out of it but mostly it's useful for classic (acid) bassline-type sounds. if you want a good variety of sounds then look elsewhere
MiniBrute and put the Mopho on the back burner.
I will say I suggest you consider the Miniak seriously. Besides the bargain
blow-out price, it is a capable little synth that one can coax out mnay cools sounds. Also the Seq is a breeze and fun to use to come up with your own Phrase/seq's
) I'm well happy, I even bought an Ultranova but much prefer the Miniak's sound, the UN hasn't grown on me yet, sounds quite digital - but I run my Plugiators output through it to boost the low signal and it also is my main controller now, so it has it's uses even though I'm not using it's engine much...
