Do I need an MS20 (Mini)

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:26 am

I can't decide.
I'm a fan of electro, electronica, in fact anything electronic.
I have a lot of VSTs.
Hardware wise at the moment I have (approximately).

Volca Bass (+ Midi mods)
Volca Beats (+ Midi, snare and line out mods)

Roland JD900 + Vintage synth
Roland XV5080 + several expansions & sampling RAM
Novation X-Station (like a KS synth and a great controller)
Roland Alpha Juno 2
Sequential circuits six-track
Ensoniq EPS16+
Casio CZ101
Yamaha TG500
Korg Poly 800 - soon to have Hawk800 and Atomahawk/moog slayer mods

Pod effects processor

Many VSTs etc

And I look out for a cheap MicroKorg at some point.

I wonder about the volca keys. I'm considering some other kit. TR-8, SH-32, TG77, D-550 etc. I like stuff with Midi that I can store patches on, old is fine. Digital is fine even, but analog character is important, hence an accumulation of outboard gear.

I'm a bit fan of analog, but not storing patches makes it hard for me to switch between tracks I'm working on (I'm fickle in the way I work).

What would the MS-20 mini bring to the table from the above stuff I've collected?

Would it be worth adding it, or considering an analog alternative such as minibrute or even novation bass station 2, for example?

kvitekp · Post by **kvitekp** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:43 pm

> What would the MS-20 mini bring to the table from the above stuff I've collected?

Unique gnarly scratchy filter resonance no other filter can produce. VCF and HPF in parallel with instant access to frequency, resonance and modulation options. Semi modular patch panel with external signal processor.

/Peter

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:26 pm

Hi Peter,

Ok you're in the pro camp, I like it.

Is it a world away from the vst emus, I have the ipad and pc/mac one. Actually the iPad one sounds pretty good, but it's not the real thing...

What can be done with the external signal processor. Also could I route audio into the ms20 filters, controlled by midi cc?

kvitekp · Post by **kvitekp** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:57 pm

Hi Louis,

> What can be done with the external signal processor.
You can send an external signal into it, which could be pretty much anything (guitar, mike, another synth, drum machine or any other sound source, then amplify, LP/HP filter, limit, envelope follow, etc. it to produce control voltage and/or gate signals to modulate or drive MS20 or any modular or semi modular synth. Check this for starters.

> Also could I route audio into the ms20 filters, controlled by midi cc?
You can route audio into MS20 filters using patch panel. MS20 mini's MIDI implementation is rudimentary: it can only accept note events on channel 1. However, you can use external MIDI to CV converter to produce gates and CV that will drive MS20. I'm having a lot of fun with MidiALF step sequencer which can generate 4 x CV and 4 x Gate signals which i'm using to modulate and trigger MS-20 via patch panel. The note info is sent to MS-20 via MIDI so there is no 1V/Hz issue and i have 4 x different CCs and 4 x Gates to mod MS20 with!

/Peter

LouisJB · Post by **LouisJB** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:22 am

Sounds great

Think this is successfully added to my wish-list. Just what order I purchase from my wish list really, so many things and so little time.

Interesting about the Midi implementation (or lack thereof), will keep that in mind...

Think I'll watch the second hand market, don't need one urgently perhaps but for the right price I'll get one, sounds like a lot of fun.