Korg MS-20 mini... THE BEST bang for the buck mono synth?

[chk071]

It's true that the Pulse 2 sounds rather clean and clinical. It's also very apparent in this comparison video with the Minitaur:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMWMmiEOjoQ

The Arturia 'Brutes on the other hand sound rude, distorted, and bland to me. Not an easy decision considering they all sound so different from each other.

[thecontrolcentre]

hmmm!!! check the $500 Roland SE-02 out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYLloIcu7us
not shabby... 3 oscillators... NOW there's something else i like. i have to go back and check MS20 demos out, but if memory serves me right, it has more grit and attitude, but the roland has a big old butt for sure

Of the two, I would go for the SE-02 ... 3 osc, delay unit, and a sequencer makes it for me. I like how it sounds too.

[Stupid American Pig]

The MS 20 is definitely a nasty and fun synth. I love what mr oizo has done with it. Airs moon safari also makes great use of it for sound effects and such. I wouldn't go with it for pads or melodies necessarily but I'm sure that you would enjoy it quite a bit. Someone else mentioned the arp odyssey module. I've one of those and enjoy it quite a bit. Like the MS 20 there is no patch memory and there are occasions when I need to spend a few minutes figuring out why it's making sound when everything should be running off of the envelopes and not lfos or s/h. It's also capable of being a great sfx machine and processing audio. I love the bass sounds it creates(herbie Hancock chameleon ftw) but it can also be a great lead machine as well. I do plan on getting an ms-20 someday as well though as I think they're different enough to justify both.

[fluffy_little_something]

Although it is virtual analog, the Yamaha Reface CS is a clever, musical little synth, albeit 8-voice. For 300-400 bucks one gets a whole lot, including 3-octave keyboard and effects. And it has an audio input.
One can save and load presets via a smartphone app.

Makes me wonder, when people complain about missing onboard patch memory, how is it supposed to work? I mean, a hardware synth has dozens of controls, so when you load a different patch, the controls remain in their old, wrong positions as they have no motors, right?
(The only hardware synth I ever had, didn't have analog controls as such, i.e. no knobs or sliders, so loading sounds from the cartridge just changed the values internally and when I picked a certain parameter, the display showed the correct value.)

[Ingonator]

It's true that the Pulse 2 sounds rather clean and clinical. It's also very apparent in this comparison video with the Minitaur:

Is this conclusion based on your own experiences including creating your own patches with a Pulse 2 or did you get that conclusion just from watching certain videos?

[funktoons]

The Roland/Behringer D

i've always hated moog sound. maybe i've just heard all the wrong demos, but when i think moog, i think cheesy low budget 1970s science fiction soundtracks. i'm TOTALLY in the ARP camp there. ARPs sound juicier, more flexible, and overall just classier. i've never understood moog popularity when almost EVERY other synth sounds better to me.

what about a moog mother 32?

nope, i would NOT get a moog mother. i was going to mention them originally in this reply's 1st draft, but chose not to until reading that question in updates, as that's getting into eurorack territory and higher prices, though it does come with a case too, but if i was getting a eurorack synth voice, it would DEFINITELY be one of the tonestars. my first instinct would be to just go with the 2600 as a 1st step, but maybe one of the other filter clone models has more attitude & bigger balls. bass duty would be ESSENTIAL in any analogue i get. yep... i'm that 1 in a 100 moog hater.

yes, gritty & distinctive are pluses with me. analogue shouldn't be polite. (i'm not into brass or pads either along with filter sweeps & resonance)

i did read some favorable reviews for the ARP odyssey a couple months ago and really like that they're available in all 4 original colors, and if memory serves me right, also offer all of the filter variations of each color in every one as a choice. pulse width modulation (which the MS20 doesn't do according to a review i read or watched today, AND it doesn't do REAL ring modulation, so there goes processing audio with that) is a nice feature and i like slider ADSRs, but at $600 though, they're starting to get pricey. i'd be inclined to start cheap with an MS20 to start, THEN invest big bucks in a true modular down the road, but i should go back and give the odyssey a listen as i don't think i did yet having only read reviews.

as to virtual analogue... i'd rather do that in software. there's tons of FREE VSTs and some of them sound pretty darn good actually. buying modeling HARDWARE is an oxymoron to me when a PC can do "infinite digital".

From your posts, I get that you like more a vintage sound

not always. as to digital, there's all kinds of VSTs including analogue sims, FM, modeling & wavetable etc. so it makes sense to do all of that as freeware. i do like the dubstep "bass wobble" sound too, but not how thin & digital a lot of it sounds. it could be done better in analogue i think which just has that warmth and grit digital just can't get 100% right.

i'm not well versed in wavetable VSTs, but i'm really bonkers for intellijel's cylonix shapeshifter eurorack module as the morphing stuff it does is nuts, and that's not counting its amazing vocoder too.

there's always room for SOME digital, but when it comes to techno sounds like that "fizzy house organ" sound etc. and ESPECIALLY TB-303 filter sweeps that drive me into a rage, yeah, i can mostly leave digital synthesis, BUT, actually, my "first love" as far as synthesis goes (i'm a drummer before anything) is SAMPLING and i'm not talking about that annoying stut-stut-stutter crap, but serious resynthesis and animation like the best early art of noise (and rebranded stuff under malcom mclaren) because you can make ANY sound you can record with sampling and then you can mangle it a dozen ways, so sampling will always be a factor in my music.

i've collected lots of sounds and ideas for sampling over the years. just a few days ago, i was playing with part of a busted hacksaw blade, and when i let it rest on the table i'm sitting at right now and dragged its teeth, it made a really cool whooping noise that can be played with different inflections. i miss the cassette tape i had where i recorded all kinds of experiments that included some "tuned" bits smacking a folded & welded steel plate sculpture someone through out. it had a distinctive "monster cowbell" sound.

you can't even really buy samplers anymore. i bought a busted emax, toyed around with a casio SK-1 (actually had a fat 8 bit sound if zero multisampling or editing), wished i could own a fairlight (being re-issued right now a lot cheaper) or synclavier and lusted over kurzweil K2000s when they came out and thumbed my nose at akai.

i would "splurge" kontakt as that seems to be the current "state of the art" in sampling, but would go back to analogue & effects for resynthesis. my "ultimate" system would include an awesome sounding studio where i could record EVERYTHING through speakers in different locations through a multitrack or even playable as stereo samples, plus all of my percussion would be samples and drum machines or maybe an analogue beat box or two, so digital would be a part of my sound where it makes sense.

About FXs/pedals: the LPB 2UBE adds some drive and grit, but I'm not a fan.

i wouldn't be getting it for the MS-20, but to round off digital spit in VSTs where it's warming abilities would be more pronounced, and, i'd likely return channel 1 into 2 for a double dose of tubes for an even fatter sound. if i had the money, i'd go with a racked tube amp or two like the mesa boogie. if i were to use an effect on an MS20, it'd likely be a fuzz box, spring reverb and/or my TC electronics chorus and would use IT, like the 2ube to fatten VSTs up with its analogue filters.

in the short run, i'd probably start with a behringer tube overdrive as they get decent bang for the buck reviews, and also look into a BK butler and/or an english muff'n for more attitude. there isn't a lot out there about people using tubes & stomp boxes with synthesizers or soundcards. i became aware of the 2ube years ago, right here, when asking what people recommended to warm VSTs & effects up and it was the most popular recommendation at the time. i'd rather have a quality pre-amp that you can overdrive and chose multiple levels of distortion with in different channels but they cost more than entry level tube heads.

i've also thought of maybe getting a low wattage $300ish bugera blues/jazz tube head and simply padding it's output down to line level as well as actually using it when i have access to a space where i can let it rip through a speaker. amp level is where you get real tube crunch... and lots of heat in a small apartment in summer, but a bugera is not only cheaper than a 2ube, but has more controls and the classic "3 channels" guitar amp feature, though the 2ube is supposed to be pretty "hifi" for subtle warming.

thinking about it now, maybe the head amp choice is better as i plan on getting a telecaster too, but i also planned on recording it direct for maximum twang sound and because NO ONE ever does that, so it would be a signature sound. single coils sound awesome direct in my opinion. i don't get why it's blasphemy to even THINK about recording a guitar direct. LOL

[transmetropolitan]

The MS 20 is definitely a nasty and fun synth. I love what mr oizo has done with it. Airs moon safari also makes great use of it for sound effects and such. I wouldn't go with it for pads or melodies necessarily but I'm sure that you would enjoy it quite a bit.

Kids by MGMT (main lead line) is a good example of it playing a melody... I agree it's not what it does best, but you can get a nice edgy almost 'Strat on bridge pickup' tone from it.

[rod_zero]

For me currently the best value synths around 500 USD are

1.- Se02, roland mini d.- What I like is that is not a 1:1 it has some improvements and while obviously it uses a ladder filter it doesn't seems to be that close tot he original what gives it its own character. Sequencer and patch memory are nice additions.

2.- Bass Station 2.- Nice UI, good sound shaping options, patch memory and arp.

3.- Behringer Model D/Korg MS20, i think both are cheap, the Model d clones gives you the classic sound and the ms20 also but a different character and a more flexible synth architechture because of the patch points. Nvertheless both lack patch memory and the MS20 doesnt send/receive midi for its parameters.

4.- Roland system 1m, yeah it is digital BUT it's a chamaleon with the plug outs which sound incredible good and you get patch points and patch memory.

5.- Arturia Minibrute.- great and different character.

6.- Korg minilogue, polyphonic, sequencer, effects and patch memory, great overall value.


Nevertheless for me the best value in analog Monos right now is the Arturia Matrixbrute, that thing is a beast of a synth for a very considerable price.

[Stupid American Pig]

The MS 20 is definitely a nasty and fun synth. I love what mr oizo has done with it. Airs moon safari also makes great use of it for sound effects and such. I wouldn't go with it for pads or melodies necessarily but I'm sure that you would enjoy it quite a bit.

Kids by MGMT (main lead line) is a good example of it playing a melody... I agree it's not what it does best, but you can get a nice edgy almost 'Strat on bridge pickup' tone from it.

Ahh I really like that song- had no idea it was an MS-20. Good stuff!

[funktoons]

i found the video to be disturbing in the extreme

does anyone know if the MS-20 mini recognizes pitch modulation through MIDI?

[Uncle E]

one of the the things i love about the MS20 is KNOBS, and lots of 'em

Don't be fooled by the number of knobs. It's a wonderful sounding synth but the actual range of sounds is more limited than you might be imagining.

i'd rather get an ARP 2600

I've owned 2 ARP 2600's, including a Blue Meanie, and actually preferred the orange and black Odyssey that a friend "loaned" me (well, sold it to me and then asked me to sell it back to him). If you want the sound of an ARP 2600, you should get the Odyssey and not the MS-20.

as to the monologue, no i haven't looked at that figuring it probably sounds a lot like the minilogue which sounds more like a casio toy than a chunky analogue to me.

Not quite that same but, yes, if you didn't like the Minilogue, you most likely won't like the Monologue.

besides the "added values", for me, of the MS20 having a ring modular, keyboard and the ability to patch... i just like the look of it with that "big" wall of knobs. it looks like it means business. yes, it's a total placebo effect, but it just looks like it'd be fun to have access to all of its parameters with a nice comfy vertical layout.

Yes, it looks bad ass.

Personally, I love keeping a knobby synth handy. Make a sound, record the audio, move on. With an MS-20 or a Minimoog, I know the synths so well that I don't need to think much about what I'm doing and don't need to save patches.

i found the video to be disturbing in the extreme

Watch this version instead, it's a fanvid but was one of those early internet sensations where it actually got more attention than the real video. MGMT even featured them in the video for "Electric Feel":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEOZCcaXzE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmZexg8sxyk

[sin night]

does anyone know if the MS-20 mini recognizes pitch modulation through MIDI?

It doesn't (I just checked with mine). You can modulate the pitch it you use cv, but you need a midi to cv converter which supports pitch bend messages. The Korg SQ-1 doesn't respond to pitch bend, while the Arturia KeyStep does.