Introducing the Monotron Duo & Delay

Korg have announced two new additions to their family of portable pocket sized analog synths. The Monotron Duo and the Monotron delay are the latest additions to korg's line up of handheld analog synthesizers. I can remember getting my original Monotron through the post earlier this year and spending hours messing around, making huge sounding siren noises and creepy effects. It now sits at the side of my computer distracting me from whatever I'm supposed to be doing and at the same time annoying anyone else that happens to be near me.

It's probably one of my all time favourite pieces of studio gear and I've used it in countless productions and tracks. The raw power that this tiny beast holds is astounding, the sound of that analog filter is pure gold. I'd love to be able to get my hands on one of these new wonderful new Monotrons. The teaser videos have got me pretty exited already.

Korg if you're reading this send one my way for reviewing and I'll be the happiest man alive.

Below are the teaser videos that were uploaded by Korg. I think I might have watched them about ten times each.

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FREE Samples: Microkorg and Monotron Basslines

Here's some new samples for all of you music production lovers out there.
It's just a small pack this time but I hope you'll find them usefull.

This pack contains: 10 basslines made by running the Microkorg through the filter on the Korg Monotron. There's a little bit of background noise from the Monotron filter but a little bit of grit never hurt anyone.

Download the samples here (.RAR)

Load the loops up into your favourite sampler/DAW and get making some music!

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The Korg Monotron is a very basic but powerful palm sized monosynth.

The Korg Monotron is a very basic but powerful palm sized monosynth.

I've been messing around with my new Korg Monotron for a few days now and I have to say that it’s definitely worth the £50 price tag. The Monotron is the first analogue product from Korg in nearly 30 years.

The first thing that struck me when I unboxed the Monotron was the size of it. Pictures and videos on the net can be a bit misleading and it’s hard not to be surprised of how tiny it actually is (It’s only just slightly bigger than my iPhone 4).

The little palm sized wonder is made up of three simple elements. A sawtooth wave, a low pass filter and a LFO. It may not seem like much but I can assure you it's all that this little beast needs.

The fact that it has the VCO and VCF have the same circuitry as the legendary Korg MS-20 makes the Korg Monotron extremely desirable, the sounds that it produces scream pure analogue.

The filter is phenomenal and the option to process external audio via the aux in is a godsend.

As well as the analogue filter the monotron also boasts a very nice saw wave oscillator, it too from the MS20.

You can get a wide range of sounds out of this little monster such as deep bass sounds, High-pitched squeals and even some nice little analogue percussion hits. But it really starts getting interesting when you start messing around with the LFO.

The Filter and the oscillator may give the little synth its huge voice but the LFO is at the heart of the device. The LFO is capable of controlling ether the pitch of the oscillator or the cut off frequency of the low pass filter.

The sounds that you can get from the monotron are truly unbelievable for the price.

Below there are two audio demos; The first one is of the monotron with just a little bit of delay from the Korg Mini Kaoss pad and the second one is a drum loop from the iPhone FunkBox app running throiugh the filter section of the Monotron.

Monotron by synthersizer-sounds

Drums Processed with Monoton Filter by synthersizer-sounds

Keep a look out for more on the Monotron in the future including a free sample library.

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New Gear! Korg Monotron.

My Korg Monotron came through the post earlier! I’ve been messing around with it for hours now, it couples up nicely with my Microkorg and mini KP. I haven't got around to hooking it up with anything else yet but it is a completely amazing little bit of kit.

Add a little bit of delay and this thing sings! It’s good for dub sirens, beeps, bleeps and making tones of noise. It also has a very powerful analog low pass filter (12 dB/oct) which is brilliant for processing external audio.

It’s fully analog too! The oscillator and the filter are based on the legendary korg MS20 synthesizer. For such a little box (It's just a little bit bigger than my iPhone) It has an amazingly aggressive sound. Crank up the peak control and the filter screams (Just like the MS20) and the oscillator itself has quite a big range.

The only thing that I can see it lacks is MIDI support. The ribbon control is frustrating to use but I suppose I can't complain because at £50 this is an awesome piece of gear.

I’ll be recording some demo tracks with the monotron and hopefully a huge sample pack for all of you music tech people out there.

I'll post more on the monotron soon.

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