Korg - MONOTRON-DUO Analog Ribbon Synth with Dual Oscillator and Built-in Speaker

In terms of hardware synths, I have a microKorgXL and a Moog Slim Phatty which I love to pieces and use all the time... However I don't think either of them get as much use as my montron and I think that is purely down to the in built speaker... I have yet to use it in any of my productions and purely play around with it for fun, but I would like to include it in a tune soon. It is sooo much fun for when your chilling and wanna play around with the possibilities of what you can create. I bought this and my housemate loved it so much he went and got the original monotron so we now chain them together and run them through our guitar pedals and kaoss pads to see how far we can push the sounds... if you are a tech head you will know that although sometimes utterly pointless, this experimental process is a lot of fun. Specifically for the duo: I have found that it is definitely the only real monotron designed for playing melodic lines due to its quantizable ribbon keyboard. If you have a chromatic tuner at hand it is very easy to set a key and a scale and get some sweet lines and hooks out of it. The second oscillator is wicked for creating interval based sounds which are reminiscent of retro video game music and electro due to both oscillators being square waveforms. The x-mod on the duo is essentially a frequency modulation effect that routes the output of each oscillator across one another other (hence cross or x mod). The second oscillator can reach inaudible low frequencies and therefor the effect can also be used as an LFO using the square wave of oscillator 2 to modulate the pitch of oscillator one. When turned up to a higher frequency, oscillator 2 modulates the first oscillator to create harmonically rich tones not present in either oscillator creating some interesting distorted and metallic sounds. I am definitely going to buy more monotrons once my next load of pocket money comes in to chain them all together :)

This thing is great fun. Amazing quality and sounds for the money and I love having the built in delay. My almost 3 year old daughter loves it too!

I love this little machine. It makes some great sounds and is excellent value for money.

I was given this for my birthday and just love it! Yes it is small and the ribbon "keyboard" is pretty much unplayable but my word, it makes some amazing sounds! I'm using it to generate backgrounds for the "space music" that I play and it does that really well .. I find the best thing to "play" it with is the stylus from a Nintendo DS . works really well. I also feed a keyboard through it for echo and reverb effect .. its a tad noisy but nothing you cant lose "in the mix" . for £34 or thereabouts its a great fun thing to have :)

Wish a tiny Monotron? This is the gift that keeps on giving. I have been playing with it for a while now and it is truly wonderful. Acts like an early seventies looped tape, synth with none of the bother. I know that for a tiny synth with limited cqapabilities the £44.00 price tag may seem expensive but this is well worth it. Records a treat and gives all the noises you would hope for. I love it.

Great range of sound manipulation

Hours of fun

Having had this a few days now I have to admit that after the initial play around I haven't picked it up again. But this is more a reflection on me than the instrument. I did experiment recording it into my DAW and found the result was rather more 'angular' a little rougher, than it sounds through the headphones. I am hoping it was the method I used. Having said all that the instrument itself is of the quality we have come to expect from KORG. A delightful little thing with great potential. For the price you couldn't do better. I haven't yet tried linking it into my other gear but realise the potential that lies there. I heartily recommend this to anyone who enjoys playing with synthetic sounds. Its great. Please note this reivew is for the Monotron DELAY.

astrein

小さいのに遊べて最高のシンセサイザーですね レトロ好きでないならおすすめはしませんが

Small, travels great to anywhere. But that's not why your reading this. This little gem sounds great, delving into cool retro synth sounds. Using it doesn't require a massive knowledge of synthesizers. It's so incredibly fun. I own to 2 as a strange matter of fact. I did some left field work recording both on separate tracks, bounced them down and layered more. This is a great thing to have. The value is perfect for this kind of thing so get it now. ..............Donnie P

Muy buen producto para usarlo incluso en estudio de grabación.

Zero learning curve, just put the batteries in and start messing around! The design is simple to understand and looks sleek, while the device itself is pretty light this is definitely not a toy. These are great for someone interested in music production, sampling, or just having fun by making sounds. If you have a kid with a passion for music or electronics I think this is a great investment because It’s a cheap and available way to be introduced to the fun of making music! There are endless possibilities to what you can do with this device and use it with, I especially like how easily the device can be disassembled and modded because of the open solder pads! I highly recommend you give this little guy a shot.