I want to get MS-20, which has the most energetic sound?

Anything about hardware musical instruments.
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

I'm looking into this and have narrowed it down to this list. Would love to get advice and if there's any option I'm leaving out, I'd like to know. Really wanting with similar character to the original but also considering Arturia's version cause I hear such great things about it. I don't care if it's hardware or software, though the ability to save presets is nice. I love "that" sound of the original, so if newer versions have that in even more energetic degrees, that would be welcomed. By energetic I mean growly and aggressive, not timid, but also can be smooth and rich.

1) Arturia Korg MS-20 V
2) Korg MS-20 Mini
3) Behringer K-2
4) Korg Collection MS-20
5) U-he Diva (I understand the filters are superb!)

Post

I have a little MS-20 obsession so I have explored quite a bit of routes to this sound.

1) I think Arturia has done a great job here and really captured the soul of the filter. The addition of the sequencer and the possibility to save the patches are a great addition. Quite similar to the hardware, but the hardware has more weight in the oscillators (and Arturia's emulations always lack a bit of oumph. A saturator can help here ).

2) This is the original hardware so you get the real sound. The MS-20 is somewhat of an organic instrument so you get that experience with the immediacy of the hardware and the patchbay and external input which gives vast possibilities to explore. You get the oump of the hardware. The mini is not very well build though and the keyboard is just shit. The mini has a bit of noise but nothing i worry about.

3) Well, the K-2 was released not all that long after the model D and i suspect that they have used the filter of the model D somewhat as a starting point. I can t back this up but what i can say is that the filter of the K-2 sounds somewhat Moogy and not MS-20. So fail, as the filters are the thing that gives the MS-20 it s sound.

4) This emulation doesn t cut it of for me. It s not good. Moving on.

5) The Diva does not give the real MS-20 flavour either imo. I m picky and only the Arturia emulation nailed it for me for authenticity. Also notice that the Arturia emulation is recent while Diva has been around quite some time already.

6) I can give you another option and that is eurorack. There are several good analog ~MS-20 filters out there, copying the circuit designs. For me the intrinsic sound of the MS-20 comes from the interplay between the high pass and lowpass filter so I will only go for models that give the 2! filters at the same time as the MS-20 does.

A very good one imo is the dual Borg :
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/malekko-h ... -dual-borg

It gives that MS-20 growl and gives you the high pass and low pass in series as the MS-20 does. But both filters can be switched to either lowpass and highpass so it actually has more flexibility to it.

7) Korg did a re-release of a fullsize MS-20 with a very good build, so you could get a fullsize MS-20 on the second hand market. It s not cheap though.


So, my summary. Only Arturia could do a good emulation, albeit with somewhat less oumph as the hardware.
The Korg hardware obviously does the sound and so do some analog eurorack filter modules.

Post

Stefken wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 8:51 pm 2) This is the original hardware so you get the real sound. The MS-20 is somewhat of an organic instrument so you get that experience with the immediacy of the hardware and the patchbay and external input which gives vast possibilities to explore. You get the oump of the hardware. The mini is not very well build though and the keyboard is just shit. The mini has a bit of noise but nothing i worry about.
It's not the original. The original hardware was made from '78 to '83.
I never bought the mini remake because of the build quality, and the FS was beyond my budget (when it was released).

I've never owned an original, so I can't compare it directly. Comparing the 2 emulations (Diva isn't - it just has the filter), I like the Arturia one the most.

Post

T-CM11 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 9:44 pm
Stefken wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 8:51 pm 2) This is the original hardware so you get the real sound. The MS-20 is somewhat of an organic instrument so you get that experience with the immediacy of the hardware and the patchbay and external input which gives vast possibilities to explore. You get the oump of the hardware. The mini is not very well build though and the keyboard is just shit. The mini has a bit of noise but nothing i worry about.
It's not the original. The original hardware was made from '78 to '83.
I never bought the mini remake because of the build quality, and the FS was beyond my budget (when it was released).

I've never owned an original, so I can't compare it directly. Comparing the 2 emulations (Diva isn't - it just has the filter), I like the Arturia one the most.
There is a certain type of persons here that will nail you down for one word.
I m not too fond of this behavior. You did a great job helping the OP with this remark, Congratz on that.

‘This is the Korg hardware’. It this better now? :dog:

Post

Stefken wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 8:51 pm I have a little MS-20 obsession so I have explored quite a bit of routes to this sound.

1) I think Arturia has done a great job here and really captured the soul of the filter. The addition of the sequencer and the possibility to save the patches are a great addition. Quite similar to the hardware, but the hardware has more weight in the oscillators (and Arturia's emulations always lack a bit of oumph. A saturator can help here ).

2) This is the original hardware so you get the real sound. The MS-20 is somewhat of an organic instrument so you get that experience with the immediacy of the hardware and the patchbay and external input which gives vast possibilities to explore. You get the oump of the hardware. The mini is not very well build though and the keyboard is just shit. The mini has a bit of noise but nothing i worry about.

3) Well, the K-2 was released not all that long after the model D and i suspect that they have used the filter of the model D somewhat as a starting point. I can t back this up but what i can say is that the filter of the K-2 sounds somewhat Moogy and not MS-20. So fail, as the filters are the thing that gives the MS-20 it s sound.

4) This emulation doesn t cut it of for me. It s not good. Moving on.

5) The Diva does not give the real MS-20 flavour either imo. I m picky and only the Arturia emulation nailed it for me for authenticity. Also notice that the Arturia emulation is recent while Diva has been around quite some time already.

6) I can give you another option and that is eurorack. There are several good analog ~MS-20 filters out there, copying the circuit designs. For me the intrinsic sound of the MS-20 comes from the interplay between the high pass and lowpass filter so I will only go for models that give the 2! filters at the same time as the MS-20 does.

A very good one imo is the dual Borg :
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/malekko-h ... -dual-borg

It gives that MS-20 growl and gives you the high pass and low pass in series as the MS-20 does. But both filters can be switched to either lowpass and highpass so it actually has more flexibility to it.

7) Korg did a re-release of a fullsize MS-20 with a very good build, so you could get a fullsize MS-20 on the second hand market. It s not cheap though.


So, my summary. Only Arturia could do a good emulation, albeit with somewhat less oumph as the hardware.
The Korg hardware obviously does the sound and so do some analog eurorack filter modules.
This is a fantastic summation and I completely appreciate it! Great points and education and tips! Lots to think about. Another option that has come up is the Cherry Audio emulation. I saw a very favorable video comparison here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-JQWgYkT4

I'd be so curious what you think of it. It's only $29. Ideally, I'd love to get the real thing, but it would be awhile before I could afford to do so.

Thanks so much!

Post

Stefken wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:09 pm There is a certain type of persons here that will nail you down for one word.
I m not too fond of this behavior. You did a great job helping the OP with this remark, Congratz on that.

‘This is the Korg hardware’. It this better now? :dog:
What one word?
Sure, call 'original' subjective if you want, when talking about the different revisions they released 30 years ago. But if you're trying to sell your MS20 mini as an "original (MS20)" for 2000 euro/dollar, you're just a scammer.
And yeah, the MS20 mini was the original MS20 mini, but the OP didn't refer to remakes (no reason given to interpret it as such).

Post

killmaster wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:33 pm I'd be so curious what you think of it. It's only $29. Ideally, I'd love to get the real thing, but it would be awhile before I could afford to do so.
AFAIK, all 3 software emulations have demos. Why don't you try them?
If you want to know how they compare to the 70s/80s hardware... search for it on youtube.

Post

T-CM11 wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:38 pm
Stefken wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:09 pm There is a certain type of persons here that will nail you down for one word.
I m not too fond of this behavior. You did a great job helping the OP with this remark, Congratz on that.

‘This is the Korg hardware’. It this better now? :dog:
What one word?
Sure, call 'original' subjective if you want, when talking about the different revisions they released 30 years ago. But if you're trying to sell your MS20 mini as an "original (MS20)" for 2000 euro/dollar, you're just a scammer.
And yeah, the MS20 mini was the original MS20 mini, but the OP didn't refer to remakes (no reason given to interpret it as such).
Je hebt misschien het punt 7 gemist waar ik spreek van een re release. Dit betekent ipso facto dat de oorspronkelijke versie vroeger was. Ik bedoelde original als in original manufacturer nl Korg zelf, geen clone. Onnozelaar...
Last edited by Stefken on Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post

Stefken wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:43 pm Onnozelaar...
Classy! :tu:
8 ) I'm not that good at communicating online and rational thinking or debating in general. When I'm found out, I resort to personal insults.

Post

I don't even know what y'all are talking about. I literally can't comprehend the thread. I'm here for MS-20 opinions.

Post

killmaster wrote: Fri Mar 17, 2023 11:28 pm I don't even know what y'all are talking about. I literally can't comprehend the thread. I'm here for MS-20 opinions.
Are you referring to a certain person posting in Dutch? I don't know, maybe he's been banned in the past for insulting people in English? :shrug:

Post

@OP

I don t think that Cherry Audio is very good at authentic emulations. I would pass on their emulation. On sale, i guess you can get the Arturia for 100 bucks so that will not break the bank.

Post

PWM Malevolent...most energy 8)

Post

korg mini or behringer for sure.

Diva and softube korgasmatrons would be my software choices. Arturia ms-20 has great filters but missing oscillator punch as is common for Arturia. (I still like the Arturia one though)
Last edited by Echoes in the Attic on Sat Mar 18, 2023 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post

I've only seen a few demos of the Arturia one, and it sounds pretty good, but nothing shows it going that extra screamy bit bonkers with rawness that MS20s do. Definitely captures the overall character though. I'll have to demo it at some point, but it hasn't wowed me from what I've heard.

Korg MS20 mini had some noise issues...dunno if that was ever sorted, but they are MS20s for sure. And obvs the MS20fs are the dog's dangly bits. These are the 2 to go for, but check if the minis were ever sorted. The full size ones are a bit pricey.

I've got the Korg Collection MS20, and it definitely has the ballpark character, but it's really quite tame. Wouldn't be my first choice, or 2nd or 3rd.

Behringer is on my to-buy list. Initially I wasn't impressed, but discovered many of the demos I originally heard were with the 2nd generation filter :dog: . Which is very different to the 1st generation. Way less screamy and unstable, though it can be more effective for the high-pass filter. I've not heard anything get spot on with it, but when it's used right, it's pretty damned close. There are tricks for overdriving the filter (more than one way to do it) and the K2 can be pretty ear-splitting when it's done right.

I have an original mk1 MS20, so you can imagine the K2 must be pretty good if it impressed me. And it's a bloody good price - best value out of them all, which proves you don't always get what you paid for...occasionally you get more than you bargained for.

I want to get a new Korg fullsize MS20, but tbh the price doesn't compute to me. Maybe one day.

Post Reply

Return to “Hardware (Instruments and Effects)”