Korg Re-Issue mini-MS20 Monosynth!!!!

[namnibor]

Thanks. WHAT Korg do you own? The only Korg I have that I need to somehow incorporate in my space is a Radias Keyboard...an underrated synth IMO.
I was incredibly discriminating when deciding on a few midi controllers and the key action is indeed acceptable on the Novation SL MKII. We also get that extra midi out, which is nice. One gets spoiled with keyboard feel and action once you have the keybed of Virus, which is same on MEK by the way, so with SO many midi controllers out there, took my time. I also have an older Korg Kontrol 49 because it has a vector joystick and 16 pads for activation of whatever and this came out WAY before the Ableton multicolored pad controls out now, and it has touch sens. encoders and sliders as well--was orig. marketed for the Korg Legacy Collection but use it for my Wavestation SR rack and will eventually use it when I decide to tackle high learning curve of the first incarnation of Elektron SFX60 Monomachine, as it accepts Vector control as well---only thing is Korg put a crappy keyboard on it!! I may very well sell the still in box new M-Audio Axiom Pro 61 as that was when was thinking using Pro Tools--it has the BEST keybed and action (better than the Novation), but am also still in evolution of making my set-up be an intuitive and ergonomic space, so shall see. Isn't it really ODD to have that unused blank long screen to the top far right on the SL?

[TweakHead]

Yeah, I have the Korg Prophecy. It's a monosynth with the MOSS engine, that's also available for some of their workstations like the Karma and stuff, he doesn't look to good, but has got some good sounds on it - because of the physical modeling engine it's got. And has plenty of modulation stuff you can do with it that's quite unique. I think the Radias is somewhat like an evolution of the MS 2000, isn't it? With the step sequencer, and all...

Yeah, I took the Novation over the M-Audio because of the Midi options and the automap thing. I can actually get it to work fine nowadays, have a couple of software synths with my own mappings saved as default, so any time I load them, I can play them just like I would any synth, with no mouse and just tweaking away... That's how I found use for the faders, in a rather SH 101, kind of way, usually: amp envelope & filter envelope.

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Yeah, I have the Korg Prophecy. It's a monosynth with the MOSS engine, that's also available for some of their workstations like the Karma and stuff, he doesn't look to good, but has got some good sounds on it - because of the physical modeling engine it's got. And has plenty of modulation stuff you can do with it that's quite unique. I think the Radias is somewhat like an evolution of the MS 2000, isn't it? With the step sequencer, and all...

Yeah, I took the Novation over the M-Audio because of the Midi options and the automap thing. I can actually get it to work fine nowadays, have a couple of software synths with my own mappings saved as default, so any time I load them, I can play them just like I would any synth, with no mouse and just tweaking away... That's how I found use for the faders, in a rather SH 101, kind of way, usually: amp envelope & filter envelope.

Did you know that upon the demise of Dave Smith's Sequential Circuits, he went to Korg with his small design/tech staff and engineered YOUR Korg Prophecy, the Z1, and the Wavestation series? You have a piece of Dave Smith synth history under commission/brand of Korg, but there was a time when Korg was not doing well and was temporarily taken under wings of Yamaha but Yahama was not interested in *taking a gamble* on Vector Synthesis, Korg was. One f my best friends is a child of the World War 2 Japanese Internment Camps (he was a young kid with Japanese dad and American mother), and he educated me on the Cultural differences that we all could learn so much from in that the Japanese indeed believe in "free market" and indeed "competition" but there's a comraderie amongst all as a Culture in that rather than seeing even a competitor fail, they WILL and DID (as in Yamaha saving Korg for a brief time from bankruptcy) help each other as HUMANS and it also further explains how three "big brands" have uncanny ability to all be from Japan, a relatively small land-mass when taking the world into consideration. Thought you find an increased pride in ownership of your Prophecy in this info.
Another thing--any tips on using that Novation SL MKII really ODD combo joystick/modulation device that can be "locked" into certain position/function? Maybe dumb question but as I am putting final things together, thought might as well as a fellow owner. Thanks in advance. By the way, am pretty SURE they also have an Automap template for Reaper DAW now as well.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Yeah, I have the Korg Prophecy. It's a monosynth with the MOSS engine, that's also available for some of their workstations like the Karma and stuff, he doesn't look to good, but has got some good sounds on it - because of the physical modeling engine it's got. And has plenty of modulation stuff you can do with it that's quite unique.

1:46+ that 303 line was made using Korg Prophecy.

Prophecy and Z1 Moss were great. Prophecy sounded better than Z1 in some aspects, I feel, greater bite. I think they compromised the sound of Moss slightly when they made the Z1 in order for the Z1 to have more voices.

I think the Radias is somewhat like an evolution of the MS 2000, isn't it? With the step sequencer, and all...

[MS2000 fascia] [Radias fascia]

Very similar (see above picture comparison). But it's a massive extension from MS2000. 24voice poly, additional oscillator types, PCMs, drums, sequencing, stacks of effects...

[TweakHead]

Hey guys. Thanks for the usefull info to both of you. Spot on. I didn't knew that this Korg had something to do with Dave Smith, but it makes sense. I think it's a very unusual synth that's also very understated - they go sort of cheap on Ebay. I think the reasons for that must be that this thing trully looks ugly, and while having many many options inside it, the interface can put some people off. But it's capable of sounds that I certainly can't get with anything else, and it's sort of like my secret weapon - so to speak. Most of the times, for convenience, I use this do edit it:

http://www.squest.com/Windows/Instru...ecy/index.html

Also very cool to know Prodigy used it on one of my (and everyone?) favourite tunes ever eheh... I think Prodigy was one of the reasons I got interested in electronic music to begin with.

EDIT found this video, the last part showcases the teebee sort of sound, here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzbQ...4&noredirect=1

What I do love about those Korgs, both ms 2000 and the radias, is that the interface is very intuitive and sort of inviting - I could tweak it right away and get lost on it, sort of analogue looking thing and the sequencer looks very old school and cool to...

[TweakHead]

As for the Novation... Yeah, you can download their editor and get a map of one of your synth's CC numbers, and build a template for it their and save it, even with a name on it, for later use... There's a bunch of them flying on the net, made by other users, I think I've read something about it even here. The Joystick, I mainly use it for the normal settings: pitch and mod, but if I'm not into using the pitch for a specific sound, I sometimes use it for other modulations, even with the virus. There's something to it, I mean, you'd have a hard time playing with the right hand and being able to control two wheels, right? So this brings some mad modulation to the table eheh... But as for templates, I leave it alone, I can get other functions for pitch mod inside the synth's themselves if needed

[namnibor]

Thus far, I have on paper and pdf format, all the midi cc mappings for all keyboards and synth rack units. It's those in my rack, the Microwave XT, Q, uO-Omega, Supernova 1--that all have extensive midi cc that even if no ready made template for the Novation Remote Sl 61 MKII, it's easy enough on paper at least to assign an intelligent mapping to what makes sense for say my own work-flow, then there's what, 4 or more banks/pages to that template alone? Then, would share my made templates. Does the midi learn work very well on external synth mod's?
The Korg Prophecy MAY be sort of an oddly looking sort, but it has controls that you wonder WHY they somehow got lost in synth design. This YT example of some ambient/techno-mix is definitely a guy using ableton and Prophecy to large extent and although not all those lists of instruments are not there, I searched my bookmarked extensive library and found this for you and only know he used Prophecy from yet another interview that he talked about this piece and synths used and ableton's reverb but cannot find that right now but here you go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYw3uV8cD8Q AND this is an official Korg video for Prophecy that if you have never seen it with Jan Hammer playing the holy crap on it as if a guitar and here's notes on it and then vi link: Straight from the Korg USA archives, here is a product overview of the revolutionary Korg Prophecy, with demos from world renowned keyboardists, Jan Hammer and Joe Zawinul. This video was originally produced in 1995:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZsJrAJXuWw Just because something is going cheap on ebay, it means nothing when so MANY notorious artists ALSO call it their "secret weapon" as you so rightly did and reason made me fine these for you, esp. Tweakhead!
Enjoy!!

[TweakHead]

Thanks. Didn't know that video! That's some keyboard playing to...Yeah, there's a bunch of synths that are very good that can be bought for a cheap price out there. I'd say the Karma (also from Korg) is one of those. A friend of mine has it, that thing would be worth it for the sequencer alone, and the phrases you can get out of it... Even to send notes for other synths... It's amazing. And coupled with external cards, there's one with the very same engine of the Prophecy, there's plenty of power and creative bliss on such a keyboard. I wonder if they've incorporated that technology in other of their products, as it makes the standard arp on most synths look like a sad joke...

From all these new products out there, I think I'd go (and probably will) for the Korg MS-20. I think the pure analogue sound would be a nice addiction to my palete of sounds, since I have the digital side of things pretty much covered between the two hardware units and the plug-ins I have, and the modulation options on that coupled with the lush sounding filter on that... I'm pretty much sold.

I think one of the things that does sound a lot better in real analogue, is like when you're modulating the filter with an Lfo and you turn up the rate to its limits, and it still sounds awsome, without the scratchy sound you get on almost anything digital doing that, for example. It produces such a luxurious sound just by doing that, it gives me chills... And the simple filter sweep with the resonance up into self oscilation has such a rich tone to it... So there's that, some high frequency stuff (that sounds a lot better to my ears in true analogue), and the really floor shaking bass sounds on those. Something about it, uh?

[namnibor]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Thanks. Didn't know that video! That's some keyboard playing to...Yeah, there's a bunch of synths that are very good that can be bought for a cheap price out there. I'd say the Karma (also from Korg) is one of those. A friend of mine has it, that thing would be worth it for the sequencer alone, and the phrases you can get out of it... Even to send notes for other synths... It's amazing. And coupled with external cards, there's one with the very same engine of the Prophecy, there's plenty of power and creative bliss on such a keyboard. I wonder if they've incorporated that technology in other of their products, as it makes the standard arp on most synths look like a sad joke...

From all these new products out there, I think I'd go (and probably will) for the Korg MS-20. I think the pure analogue sound would be a nice addiction to my palete of sounds, since I have the digital side of things pretty much covered between the two hardware units and the plug-ins I have, and the modulation options on that coupled with the lush sounding filter on that... I'm pretty much sold.

I think one of the things that does sound a lot better in real analogue, is like when you're modulating the filter with an Lfo and you turn up the rate to its limits, and it still sounds awsome, without the scratchy sound you get on almost anything digital doing that, for example. It produces such a luxurious sound just by doing that, it gives me chills... And the simple filter sweep with the resonance up into self oscilation has such a rich tone to it... So there's that, some high frequency stuff (that sounds a lot better to my ears in true analogue), and the really floor shaking bass sounds on those. Something about it, uh?

One thing that is especially something to be aware of with real analog of the like of new Korg Mini-MS20 is those "earth-shaking basses" and extremely wild filter freq/res sweeps you can get: Watch your volume levels or make sure you have great monitors that can handle it. Way back when I had the orig. MS20 I had really huge cerwin vega woofers after literally blowing-out a run of th mill but still supposedly made for extreme freq's of keyboards....cannot wait and my cat is verrrrrry afraid!!

[TweakHead]

Yeah, no sympathy for people who have never blown speakers!

On Hanz Zimmer's interview on Access's website he says exactly the same: that he turned to the Mini Moog for extreme bass.

I know for a fact that most EDM producers use digital synths for Bass. It's mainly got to do with precision: since there's usually the option to lock the phase on the oscillators. Either that, or use other sources, such as Analogue, but sampled. And it's no easy task: you have to record many notes for the same note, and choose the best sounding one (for all of them)...

That's mainly what's happened here:

http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/trilian.php

This product is done like that: a lot of good sources, sampled carefully and ready to go. (I think it doesn't include the growl bass shit, however )

But I somehow miss the all over the place, more organic and unprecise synth bass. I think the BPM has gone way up, nowadays, because you can trully get more precision with digital sequencers and synths, and sampling... I mean, you couldn't possibly expect an analogue synth to cope with 160bpm KBBB bass, that's why you'd see much more glide taking place on the 90's rave scene then nowadays... The TB303 era, so to speak... Most modern synths still sell on the basis of recreating that kind of filter for squelchy delights, and analogue warmth, and distortion still sells to... So Bass is probably the area where it shows people want the best of both worlds, nowadays...