Interesting mini/monologue thoughts

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:49 am

Maybe interesting maybe not. I was just looking at the market and seeing things like the Minilogue, monologue, the little synths from Yamaha and Roland and I wonder if the monologue is the last we will see form Korg. Perhaps there is a larger version of some of the other items coming like a bigger beats or fm. Just thinking out loud.

megamarkd · Post by **megamarkd** » Thu Aug 17, 2017 5:18 am

I think these new analogues from Korg are just the beginning myself. The Volcas have been going for some years now with the 'logues being the new kids on the block; the Minilogue is barely a year old.
Tats has left but that doesn't mean Korg are doomed in the analogue realm. As much as we love to hold one person up as champion, there was more than just one man behind the Volcas and the 'logues. The big difference between what Yamaha and Roland did with their 'reissues' and what Korg did is Korg didn't 'reissue' anything they previously released. Korg went all new. Korg has their 'reissue' thing done now. It's out of the way. The Mini and Monologue are the here and now and they are themselves, not an attempt at a past glory.
If Korg is to 'reissue' anything again (forgetting stuff like that keytar), they should reissue the Prophecy or the Z1 with analogue filters.

So, what now in an analogue form? I'd like a string machine or a bigger polysynth. Six voices would rule. Too many recent four voices analogues out there now. They are good but pads are a little out of the four voice range since they usually have long releases that are truncated when only using four voices on a three note chord. There is that history between Korg and Dave Smith, so how about Korg get inspired by Dave again and follow the DSI lead of six and twelve voice polys? DSI's synths are monsters with more controllable parameters than any of Korg's new analogues, but that is where Korg can clean up: Make an enthusiast-priced six voice. It might need to be paraphonic or a single osc per voice to keep the price down, as well as only have a fraction of the controls a P6 has, but there is a gap now and Korg should fill it! Deep Mind 12 is already trying to fill it up, don't let Behringer take the new analogue people's choice award!!!!

slug · Post by **slug** » Thu Aug 17, 2017 5:20 am

When Tats was doing an interview on release of the Minilogue he said there was something bigger in the works based on the new circuits, but whether Korg decides that resulting synth is worthy of going to market is a whole other question.

After the King Korg, they really couldn't do any worse!

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:55 pm

I hope they haven't finished with rehashing some old gear but love the new stuff as well. I still wait to see if a Arp Quadra makes an appearance. I just hope if it does it is when I have some cash!

The Sound!

thehighesttree · Post by **thehighesttree** » Thu Aug 17, 2017 4:13 pm

megamarkd wrote:...they should reissue the Prophecy or the Z1 with analogue filters.

Yeah it's time we saw this next-gen for sure: deep digital brain meets deep analog heart! The interface is probably the big challenge though. What I'm envisioning is a product line designed with a mini-KP controller on either side and a knobby interface with middle-res screen...maybe pots or encoders on the side as opposed to touchscreen to cut costs. Throw the reworked brains of various Kronos and physical-modeling engines in as either different products or expandable firmware. Maybe something totally novel like a speech synth! The UI could use the screen interface for depth and cover the primary controls with 16+ front panel knobs. Full MIDI and pad assignability to CC with a ton of motion sequencing. Extensive sequencer. $500-$800 USD. Come on Korg, this is nothing you haven't done before!

megamarkd · Post by **megamarkd** » Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:53 am

Bertotti wrote:I hope they haven't finished with rehashing some old gear but love the new stuff as well. I still wait to see if a Arp Quadra makes an appearance. I just hope if it does it is when I have some cash!

The Sound!

Yeah the Arp reissue is something that needs to continue, but I'm sorta not counting the Arps as actual "Korg" reissues as they were originally made by Arp and still sport the Arp logo. There is lot of want in other place on the 'net for a Quadra reissue too.

thehighesttree wrote: Yeah it's time we saw this next-gen for sure: deep digital brain meets deep analog heart! The interface is probably the big challenge though. What I'm envisioning is a product line designed with a mini-KP controller on either side and a knobby interface with middle-res screen...maybe pots or encoders on the side as opposed to touchscreen to cut costs. Throw the reworked brains of various Kronos and physical-modeling engines in as either different products or expandable firmware. Maybe something totally novel like a speech synth! The UI could use the screen interface for depth and cover the primary controls with 16+ front panel knobs. Full MIDI and pad assignability to CC with a ton of motion sequencing. Extensive sequencer. $500-$800 USD. Come on Korg, this is nothing you haven't done before!

Exactly. They have the Triton controllers with the touchpad and the knobs and sounds and the little plugholes on the back, so it's not even like there are that far from it. Put a few analogue filters (six I say) into one of them and it's almost there.

Waldorf have a few vocal sample wavetables in the Microwave II which are super fun to use. Using a wavetable editor, a user can even import any short vocal samples they want and create a custom voice sample wavetable to create spooky speaking pads the can deliver subliminal messages to the listeners. Around the same time as the Microwave II was in production, there was a fad of electronic toys as musical instruments, with the most sort after being the Texas Instruments Speak&Spell. They are still rare as rockinghorse poo and cost an arm and a leg and a kidney to buy when they appear on eBay. Taking into account that it's been 20ish years since the original rush on the Speak&Spell, maybe the time is ripe for a reappearance of the wonderfully robotic voice in music again. Korg would be again ahead of the crowd if they were to include such a function in a future hybrid synthesiser (assuming all the kids are going to go "WOW" when the hear Stevie The Wheelchair Astrophysicist sing in a song).

thehighesttree · Post by **thehighesttree** » Fri Aug 25, 2017 5:37 am

Cool stuff about the Waldorf! I love vowel-y basslines and gargling swamp textures so that sounds pretty deep. One of those with the Access controller was listed near me recently but they were asking bigboy synth prices and I just can't afford that as a hobbyist.

kudamm99 · Post by **kudamm99** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 5:28 pm

I was playing with a friend's Monologue this week. What if Korg stuck the Electribe 2's sound engine in a Monologue case? I would love a VA+ROMpler engine in a Monologue or Minilogue form factor, with keys and the simplified Monologue sequencer. Obviously a Wavestation would be cool, but the E2's controls would fit easily into the Mono's. Give up the XY pad and multitimbrality for bi- or tri-timbral like the Circuit. Simplify the effects to master reverb/delay with send amounts, and allow distortion/modulation/chorus as per-part.

megamarkd · Post by **megamarkd** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:55 am

kudamm99 wrote:I was playing with a friend's Monologue this week. What if Korg stuck the Electribe 2's sound engine in a Monologue case? I would love a VA+ROMpler engine in a Monologue or Minilogue form factor, with keys and the simplified Monologue sequencer. Obviously a Wavestation would be cool, but the E2's controls would fit easily into the Mono's. Give up the XY pad and multitimbrality for bi- or tri-timbral like the Circuit. Simplify the effects to master reverb/delay with send amounts, and allow distortion/modulation/chorus as per-part.

Sounds a bit like an MS2000 'board, heheh.

I think the X/Y pad is a winner myself and should feature on all their synths just because of it's flexibility as a parameter control. For years the trademark Korg modulation control was that sprung joystick, which is essentially the same as a touchpad only with moving parts that are bound to break. Not to mention the sprung bit making it fairly useless for some applications.

kudamm99 · Post by **kudamm99** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:01 am

Yeah, maybe what I really want is a JV-1080 in a Monologue's body, lol. I think my old DS-8 had the sprung joystick!

megamarkd · Post by **megamarkd** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:35 am

kudamm99 wrote:Yeah, maybe what I really want is a JV-1080 in a Monologue's body, lol. I think my old DS-8 had the sprung joystick!

LOL, nah, those Super JV's were great for a second, then you just use your favourite patches from then on. Never was inspired to make a sound from scratch on one. Putting an analogue filter and a sequencer on it would only really make an analogue filtered rompler. The idea of an Electribe in a keyboard with analogue filters is way more flexible. Which brings us back to the hybrid. VA oscillators with analogue filters and amps. Or, to bring in the DS-8 concept, FM operators for the oscillators and analogues for the rest!

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:18 am

I'm patiently awaiting the Kronologue announcement. A 61 slim key beast with all Volga's minilogue Monologue and electrons built in. 10 voice polyphonic, poly after touch, release velocity, velocity sensitive keys and xy pad maybe even a vector joystick or second pad. Plenty knobbie and a 128 step sequencer etc etc hahahaha

edit to add I noticed the auto correct got the better of me again. I meant Volca's and Electribe. Obviously.

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 2:07 pm

Bertotti wrote:I'm patiently awaiting the Kronologue announcement. A 61 slim key beast with all Volga's minilogue Monologue and electrons built in. 10 voice polyphonic, poly after touch, release velocity, velocity sensitive keys and xy pad maybe even a vector joystick or second pad. Plenty knobbie and a 128 step sequencer etc etc hahahaha

sounds sexy and expensive

kudamm99 · Post by **kudamm99** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 5:18 pm

Which brings us back to the hybrid. VA oscillators with analogue filters and amps. Or, to bring in the DS-8 concept, FM operators for the oscillators and analogues for the rest!

I like 'em both. When will Korg be able to license Ensoniq's tech and make a Volca ESQ? Or a Monologue with wavetable oscillators? A Korg Shruthi?

moho · Post by **moho** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 12:09 am

kudamm99 wrote:
Which brings us back to the hybrid. VA oscillators with analogue filters and amps. Or, to bring in the DS-8 concept, FM operators for the oscillators and analogues for the rest!
I like 'em both. When will Korg be able to license Ensoniq's tech and make a Volca ESQ? Or a Monologue with wavetable oscillators? A Korg Shruthi?

Or a Volca Mirage complete with programing in Hex and oh that filter