Korg Prologue

[BONES]

I think this will at least have a better range. I got bored with both the Minilogue and Monologue fairly quickly. Each have their strengths but ultimately I could only find one thing that each was good at. I got bored fairly quickly and moved on. OTOH, even though the Waldorf Rocket seems really simple, it's actually amazingly versatile and after nearly a year I still love playing with it. (Sorry, had to get a Rocket plug in somewhere.)

[SvelteFelt]

I also got bored with the Minilogue, but I think that had more to do with the limit on polyphony, rather than tone. I find it hard to use a four-note poly, honestly. I always felt like the machine had character, and sounded alive with a decent sweet spot, but unless you want to construct music with lots of layering (which isn't everyone's cup of tea), the four note limit was a drag. Both musically—in terms of chord construction—and sonically—in terms of richness—a four note poly just leaves you wanting more, and I can't be arsed to layer. It's not immediate enough, so I'm psyched about the polyphony. But there are a couple other sound upgrades that have me intrigued in their own right as well.

The compressor on the 16 voice model sounds like it helps the low end a lot, based on the demo from Andertons. It adds a power and heft that can be somewhat lacking on poly's like this, which are designed thin for the mix. I could never really coax a good bass out of the Mini, but the Pro sounds like it has a good deal more thickness in the low end. Tasty.

I'm also excited for the multi-engine, which is one of my deciding factors between this and the Rev 2. I think the digital oscillators on this sound great running through the analogue filter/drive/compressor etc. Digital waveforms and a juicy analogue path is an underrated combination in my opinion (love it on the ESQ-1), and the FM sounds are top notch in their own right; they sound lush, round, and clean. And, in a way, it partially grants my wish of being able to play killer FM sounds on a knobby synth, which is something the market is seriously lacking. But if there's one last thing I can say about the multi-engine, it's that the ability to upload user oscillators and effects, exponentially expanding the sounds of this machine, seems more interesting to me in its potential than the modulation/aftertouch of the Rev 2, even though the Rev2 is superior in those respects.

With that said, the way I figure modulation is this: on a machine like the Rev2, I would want all that modulation so I could add a lot of subtle movement to the sound, to "analogue up" the sterile DCOs. I'd add subtle pitch shifts, panning, and filter movement in addition to any LFO used musically or timbrally. With the Prologue, the VCOs have so much character and movement already, they don't really need all that modulation—which is great for me, because I'd rather save time programming and get right into crafting musical phrases. So I can live with one LFO, if the tradeoff is a big sweet spot. The Mini/Mono/Prologue all have a really lively sound, but the Prologue looks to have the biggest sweet spot of them all (with the Mono in 2nd, imo).

[Halonmusic]

This is why i love Korg. Wow!

[V0RT3X]

I'm sold, I think I might just have to get this on a payment plan or something.

I'm not really concerned if this only has one LFO, I just want a decent polysynth to jam out with.

This thing IMO sounds better than the Prophet REV2 and Deepmind both of which I had my eyes\ears on as well.

[lolilol1975]

I'm sold, I think I might just have to get this on a payment plan or something.

I'm not really concerned if this only has one LFO, I just want a decent polysynth to jam out with.

This thing IMO sounds better than the Prophet REV2 and Deepmind both of which I had my eyes\ears on as well.

Don't forget the Minibrute 2 !

[V0RT3X]

I'm sold, I think I might just have to get this on a payment plan or something.

I'm not really concerned if this only has one LFO, I just want a decent polysynth to jam out with.

This thing IMO sounds better than the Prophet REV2 and Deepmind both of which I had my eyes\ears on as well.

Don't forget the Minibrute 2 !

I'd rather get the Matrix Brute.

[stikygum]

I'm sold, I think I might just have to get this on a payment plan or something.

I'm not really concerned if this only has one LFO, I just want a decent polysynth to jam out with.

This thing IMO sounds better than the Prophet REV2 and Deepmind both of which I had my eyes\ears on as well.

Don't forget the Minibrute 2 !

I'd rather get the Matrix Brute.

But that's just subjective, not like one is better. One's a mono and the other a poly. The Korg is for simplicity, while the MatrixBrute is all about complexity, albeit in a really nice interfaced way. I think Korg did well with this synth. We can always want more, but every company has their own vision and this does sound really nice.

[V0RT3X]

I'm sold, I think I might just have to get this on a payment plan or something.

I'm not really concerned if this only has one LFO, I just want a decent polysynth to jam out with.

This thing IMO sounds better than the Prophet REV2 and Deepmind both of which I had my eyes\ears on as well.

Don't forget the Minibrute 2 !

I'd rather get the Matrix Brute.

But that's just subjective, not like one is better. One's a mono and the other a poly. The Korg is for simplicity, while the MatrixBrute is all about complexity, albeit in a really nice interfaced way. I think Korg did well with this synth. We can always want more, but every company has their own vision and this does sound really nice.

No I only meant if I had to choose between the MiniBrute 2 or the Matrixbrute. In this scenario i'd have the Prologue already

[stikygum]

No I only meant if I had to choose between the MiniBrute 2 or the Matrixbrute. In this scenario i'd have the Prologue already

Oh gotcha I would too. But I do like the Minibrute 2S and would like to check that out. Not in love with the sound, but it looks fun.

[BONES]

With that said, the way I figure modulation is this: on a machine like the Rev2, I would want all that modulation so I could add a lot of subtle movement to the sound, to "analogue up" the sterile DCOs. I'd add subtle pitch shifts, panning, and filter movement in addition to any LFO used musically or timbrally. With the Prologue, the VCOs have so much character and movement already, they don't really need all that modulation—which is great for me, because I'd rather save time programming and get right into crafting musical phrases.

Really? You've got all that out of a couple of YouTube demos? Man, you must have incredible ears because I don't hear any of that. (/sarcasm) You can't possibly believe all that tripe, can you? Just because a few ancient instruments can't stay in tune doesn't automatically means that every VCO will automatically drift.

[V0RT3X]

Just watching this

.


And this

[BONES]

Some pretty convincing sounds in there. I like Perfect Circuit's videos, they seem to get right down to what matters. It was their Analog Keys demos that convinced me to get one.

[coltpeacemaker]

Well its months later and i've bought it! And its is a beast! I don't care how many lfo it has! it fantastic! I was tossing up between this and the rev2 but hated the rev2 sounds, this thing was so much more original in sound design i had to buy it.
I had the choice off the Peak, System 8 Yeah i know its a va i only care about sound quality and the rev2, and for "ME" the korg blew the rest out off the water....Thanks Korg

[rgarner]

Well its months later and i've bought it! And its is a beast! I don't care how many lfo it has! it fantastic!

A local music shop was closing down and had the 8-voice at £970, a full £329 off. I played it for a couple of hours and I just got *lost* in the patches. Even 33 – Simple Saw had me noodling for a good 10 minutes. It sounds utterly great, totally musical. Have I missed any LFO opportunities? Not really. But it's paired with a Sub 37 so if I need weird, it's one tier down on the stand. This fills the mid-range gap in every track. Add an FC-7 expression pedal and do you miss aftertouch? No.

Not getting the hate at all. I do wish the 16 wasn't quite so expensive (any Duo basically turns the 8-voice into a better-sounding Minilogue at 4 voices, and bi-timbral stuff is almost off the table) but this'll do, this'll do very nicely

[modifier]

I'm loving this synth. (The 16) Most of the demos out there aren't doing it justice. It has been said already but it really doesn't need multiple subtle modulations to get the oscillators moving. They move all by themselves and sound glorious. The Prophet Rev 2 (8 voice) which I also have, takes time and multiple modulation settings to get there. I love the Rev 2 but it has taken on a different role since the P16 arrived. The Rev 2 is a monster modulation machine and will be used for sounds that need that underlying structure. The P16 will take over where I want the pure thickness of 16 naturally drifting analogue voices. Totally different beasts and I'll be keeping both.

People need to sit down at one and turn off the 3rd oscillator and just play with the analogue Oscs. Glorious I tell you. I don't really care what the Multi-Engine becomes with 3rd party developers. It'll just be icing on the cake.