Korg Monologue

[DavidDever]

Got a chance to try one of these today, and promptly purchased one (due to arrive this week, in Valentine's Day red finish as shown below).



Unlike the Minilogue, the Monologue's filter is a 2-pole/12dB-per-octave design with plenty of grit. In addition, many of the areas in which I complained about the Minilogue have been fixed, including the waveshaping (and the removal of the noisy onboard delay).

All in all, a very nice instrument (elongated mini keys aside).

[BobTheDog]

I'm very interested in how you get on with it.

[timbo74]

Got a chance to try one of these today, and promptly purchased one (due to arrive this week, in Valentine's Day red finish as shown below).



Unlike the Minilogue, the Monologue's filter is a 2-pole/12dB-per-octave design with plenty of grit. In addition, many of the areas in which I complained about the Minilogue have been fixed, including the waveshaping (and the removal of the noisy onboard delay).

All in all, a very nice instrument (elongated mini keys aside).

Did I read somewhere the filter is based off the MS20?

Cheers.

[DavidDever]

Unlike the Minilogue, the Monologue's filter is a 2-pole/12dB-per-octave design with plenty of grit. In addition, many of the areas in which I complained about the Minilogue have been fixed, including the waveshaping (and the removal of the noisy onboard delay).

All in all, a very nice instrument (elongated mini keys aside).

Did I read somewhere the filter is based off the MS20?

Cheers.

Good question - the claim (by Korg) is that it's a new design and, having spent a fair bit of time over the years with various flavors of MS-20, I'm not so sure that it sounds like an MS-20 at all (certainly not at full resonance).

There were things about the Monologue filter design that I liked as well (almost Voyetra-8 like), so it will be interesting to see what's going on inside....

[timbo74]

Unlike the Minilogue, the Monologue's filter is a 2-pole/12dB-per-octave design with plenty of grit. In addition, many of the areas in which I complained about the Minilogue have been fixed, including the waveshaping (and the removal of the noisy onboard delay).

All in all, a very nice instrument (elongated mini keys aside).

Did I read somewhere the filter is based off the MS20?

Cheers.

Good question - the claim (by Korg) is that it's a new design and, having spent a fair bit of time over the years with various flavors of MS-20, I'm not so sure that it sounds like an MS-20 at all (certainly not at full resonance).

There were things about the Monologue filter design that I liked as well (almost Voyetra-8 like), so it will be interesting to see what's going on inside....

Hi David,

It looks and sounds like a great mono synth!

Also looking forward to your feedback when you get the unit.

Sure you will enjoy it also!

[DavidDever]

Initial thoughts on the Monologue:

• The DRIVE circuit is definitely an acquired taste / occasional seasoning - seems as if it's been high-pass filtered to generate as much upper-mid even harmonic content as possible; very good for drum sounds though.
• The SHAPE mod is active on both oscillators, as on the Minilogue but with much more usable range.
• You will definitely menu-dive at least once to access deeper synthesis parameters (e.g., FILTER KEYTRACK), so keep the manual handy!
• The software LFO is absolutely brilliant - have not yet tried high-frequency mode, but it's a great third envelope (with key-gated VCA, for example)
• Do try the SLIDER as something other than pitch bend, e.g., VCO SHAPE or GATE TIME.
• I'm warming to the 87%-sized keys.

Will post some Soundcloud snippets once work duties permit....

[megamarkd]

Initial thoughts on the Monologue:

• The DRIVE circuit is definitely an acquired taste / occasional seasoning - seems as if it's been high-pass filtered to generate as much upper-mid even harmonic content as possible; very good for drum sounds though.
• The SHAPE mod is active on both oscillators, as on the Minilogue but with much more usable range.
• You will definitely menu-dive at least once to access deeper synthesis parameters (e.g., FILTER KEYTRACK), so keep the manual handy!
• The software LFO is absolutely brilliant - have not yet tried high-frequency mode, but it's a great third envelope (with key-gated VCA, for example)
• Do try the SLIDER as something other than pitch bend, e.g., VCO SHAPE or GATE TIME.
• I'm warming to the 87%-sized keys.

Will post some Soundcloud snippets once work duties permit....

Velocity?  Is there any setting for it in any capacity?  I am quite fond of it.

It's some sort of thing now to put distortion of some description on a synth, Arturia's "Brute Factor" being a great example of how it can really go too far (I'm so sure that thing has shortened the life of the channel it lives on).
I used to run my MS-20 through a Boss Turbo Distortion with great results, including removing a good amount of bottom-end and sounding like a guitar.  Sounds a bit like what you are describing.

My biggest wish for this new range from Korg is desktop/rack mounted versions.  I've no room for another keyed synth, not even minikeys.

[DavidDever]

It's some sort of thing now to put distortion of some description on a synth, Arturia's "Brute Factor" being a great example of how it can really go too far (I'm so sure that thing has shortened the life of the channel it lives on).
I used to run my MS-20 through a Boss Turbo Distortion with great results, including removing a good amount of bottom-end and sounding like a guitar.  Sounds a bit like what you are describing.

Problem is: there's overdrive, and then there's distortion. Overdrive is perfectly fine, if the knee behaves in a manner that allows you to subtly roll in additional effect to taste.

Unfortunately, that's not the way the Monologue does things: at 8:30 on the DRIVE knob, it starts to get quite crisp (but only at the top end). There is no middle ground.

Compare this to the overdrive that occurs when the oscillator levels are set beyond 2:00, which works reasonably well.

Frankly, I've already listed it up on the local Craigslist, but I'm willing to give it another day or two to see how it plays out. The Korg artiste complex, as it relates to synthesizer product design, is wearing me thin*–if only for the fact that they get so very close to hitting it out of the park on some of the products, then implement a feature in a catastrophically stupid manner for who knows what reason....

In other words–if I felt like hacking the Mini-/Monologue products to bits, I'm sure I could resolve most of the sonic problems, but only up to a certain point. How very frustrating!

* - though I did spend an hour on the Pro-2 in protest.

[Paul Dither]

This is a little OT, but did you see this?

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/02/16/synth-guru-tatsuya-takahashi-leaving-his-role-at-korg/

[DavidDever]

This is a little OT, but did you see this?

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/02/16/synth-guru-tatsuya-takahashi-leaving-his-role-at-korg/

You beat me to it!

And I am going to keep the Monologue, after trying a bit of clever patching between it and the SEM

[megamarkd]

Problem is: there's overdrive, and then there's distortion. Overdrive is perfectly fine, if the knee behaves in a manner that allows you to subtly roll in additional effect to taste.

Unfortunately, that's not the way the Monologue does things: at 8:30 on the DRIVE knob, it starts to get quite crisp (but only at the top end). There is no middle ground.

Right, It's frustrating to have a feature that could add to the sound if only it was a little more refined.  That said, I never worked out how to use the output hack on my Evolver that well...

As hated as the machine is, the Howl on the Rhythm Wolf is pretty nice at full bore though really requires a gate to avoid the noise that it adds when not in use (I actually have more fun with that machine than my Volca Beats).

....The Korg artiste complex, as it relates to synthesizer product design, is wearing me thin*–if only for the fact that they get so very close to hitting it out of the park on some of the products, then implement a feature in a catastrophically stupid manner for who knows what reason....

I have quite a soft-sport for Korg as the first two synths I owned are Korgs and both with full ADSR envs and fairly flexible patching (even if it meant painting a house through the letterbox using the M1).

There must be some scope for sonic mayhem if you have kept the machine, though I feel like I have been spoilt by my instruments previously.  When I look at the Monologue I want things like keytrack.  If they are creating boxes for the performeur, then include a velocity mod, even if it's a simple hi/lo/off setting routed to the amp.  The motion sequencing would fill in for some of those want's I guess.  Really I think I'm just still pining for an MS2000, heheh.
When it's all said a done though, it's nice to see consumer synthesis returning to the instrument.  I'm not so scorned theses days when I mention to a young person I don't use computers for electronic music, they even want to know what synths I own!

[DavidDever]

There must be some scope for sonic mayhem if you have kept the machine, though I feel like I have been spoilt by my instruments previously.  When I look at the Monologue I want things like keytrack.  If they are creating boxes for the performeur, then include a velocity mod, even if it's a simple hi/lo/off setting routed to the amp.  The motion sequencing would fill in for some of those want's I guess.  Really I think I'm just still pining for an MS2000, heheh.
When it's all said a done though, it's nice to see consumer synthesis returning to the instrument.  I'm not so scorned theses days when I mention to a young person I don't use computers for electronic music, they even want to know what synths I own!

You can get to the keytrack, etc. in Program Edit mode via the sequencer buttons, which is the only compromise as far as menu diving goes.

I'm still looking at this, sideways, as a battery-powered replacement for my old MC-202, with better sound, MIDI, external input, etc., so it stays–even if I have to yell at it from time to time!

[megamarkd]

You can get to the keytrack, etc. in Program Edit mode via the sequencer buttons, which is the only compromise as far as menu diving goes.

I'm still looking at this, sideways, as a battery-powered replacement for my old MC-202, with better sound, MIDI, external input, etc., so it stays–even if I have to yell at it from time to time!

Cool, I'm not too worried about menu-diving if I can assign an external dial-box to do the job for me.  The 202 was a great machine for what it was, the original groove box really, but yeah sounds really skinny and basic.  NB: my mate is still kicking himself for selling his MC202, although one is on the market here right now for nigh on $2000au.....money vs sound pallet is the question.

The external-input, what is the signal in like?  The Minbrute seems to have a limiter on it so to stop me from ruining it, but needs a rather hot signal to drive it well.  How is all that on the Monologue?  With the MS-20, just running drums though the initial signal processor module was enough to add some nice drive to the sound.

[LoboLives]

I was really confused when Korg made their announcement. We went from 4 voices...to one....I think there's enough Mono synths, both affordable and expensive on the market. What a missed opportunity to keep evolving and come out with something mind blowing. They have the ability to do this. Perhaps they could have combined the Minologue and Monologue into a single instrument sort of like a new Mono/Poly. You could split the keybed in that you could have a polyphonic sequence going on one side with a mono lead being played on the keys or vice versa. I dunno, just something different. This doesn't really offer anything new.

[DavidDever]

I was really confused when Korg made their announcement. We went from 4 voices...to one....I think there's enough Mono synths, both affordable and expensive on the market. What a missed opportunity to keep evolving and come out with something mind blowing. They have the ability to do this. Perhaps they could have combined the Minologue and Monologue into a single instrument sort of like a new Mono/Poly. You could split the keybed in that you could have a polyphonic sequence going on one side with a mono lead being played on the keys or vice versa. I dunno, just something different. This doesn't really offer anything new.

IMHO, it's a fear of expectations on Korg's part; it's easier to aim low (in terms of price point and features) than to bring forth full-sized, fully-conceptualized specialty analogue instruments with a modicum of risk. They're more comfortable with folding layers of plastic onto themselves (made in China, no less) than forging something that is classic, enduring and can conquer the market.

In this respect, oddly enough, Behringer has surpassed Korg by virtue of their development efforts for the DeepMind 12. Who'd have guessed that we'd be saying that in 2017?