Korg has to be my favorite synthesizer company atm. They really hit the sweet spot of great aesthetics and usability. The sound is, of course, a matter of taste. The monologue is more mid-rangy than you'd expect from an analogue synth but I guess it has its place and, more importantly, it gives the synth a unique character. Personally I think the market is over-saturated with emulations of classics.<p>Someone else mentioned that the Monologue seems too limited and I think that's the wrong way to look at it. What counts, imo, is that a synth has a certain something that makes you want to be creative with it. The monologue/minilogue does that for me. While there is a place for complex synths, too many knobs can turn you from intuitive playing to abstract thinking which is not necessarily what you want as a musician. An extreme example: There are more people who made a career out of tweaking a 303 or a Moog than there are people who did so by (actually) programming a dx7 or a modular system.
Korg essentially disrupted an industry doing exactly the rules outlined in the innovator's dilemma.<p>Starting with the monotron, then the monotribe, the volca series, now the minilogues. They're the only big 3 (roland, korg, yamaha) who has a competent analog synth division. The other two are stuck continuing to double down on their digital recreations of classic analogs (roland ACB)
Fancy seeing this here - cool for sure. One of the music journalists I follow, Peter Kirn, has a piece regarding this release:<p><a href="http://cdm.link/2016/11/gallery-korgs-synth-line-gets-refresh-including-new-monologue/" rel="nofollow">http://cdm.link/2016/11/gallery-korgs-synth-line-gets-refres...</a>
I'd consider getting a Eurorack modular synth.<p>Advantages:<p>1 - it's much more fun to build your own synth out of components than to buy an off-the-shelf system designed and built by someone else<p>2 - and you get to build exactly what you want<p>3 - there are literally thousands of modules to choose from, giving you much more flexibility and features than any integrated synth<p>4 - lots of cables to make a patch, which can be fun to mess with and interesting/intriguing for audiences to look at<p>5 - audio and control voltages are the same, so you can do things like change synth parameters with audio<p>Disadvantages:<p>1 - price, typically much more expensive to get equivalent functionality to a cheap integrated synth. [A]<p>2 - size - much bigger than a typical integrated synth [B]<p>3 - lots of cables to make a patch, which can make recreating a patch a pain compared to a digital/hybrid synth<p>4 - can look intimidating to someone unfamiliar with modular synths [C]<p>5 - making a modular patch can be slower than just dialing in a digital patch<p>Notes:<p>[A] - But you don't necessarily need to replicate everything, you can have partial functionality that will still be useful and fun, and may get effects that would be hard to get any other way<p>[B] - though Eurorack is still much smaller than some other modular formats<p>[C] - But it's not hard to pick up, and learning modular synthesis is fun
I own a Microkorg and must say that I'm not really impressed by the sounds the Monologue offers; it seems far too limited and doesn't have that deep punchy bass that the Microkorg offers. And it's a lot more expensive too. It makes me think of the iPhone 5C.
As a synth guy I'll say what I said on SonicState again here - nifty but at 299.99 I don't know why I would choose this over the more capable Korg Minilogue. Where this is mono and therefor can only play one note at a time the Minilogue is a ploy 4 synth so you can actually play cords on it. Of course there are more distinctions between the two but that's the most obvious comparison point for me.<p>I love the look of it and it's cool they are pushing more analog gear out the door at reasonable prices. But for me I still don't know why I would choose this over the Minilogue which can be had on the used market for close to $400. The only real practical use I can imagine for this is to use it as a bass synth compatible to the Roland TB-3 or TB-03 Boutique. Or to augment aTB-3 bass synth which is digital, to give it some nice bottom end; I do that with a moog slim phatty currently when needed,which is a pricier approach but I also use the Slim Phatty for some other synth duties, it's quite a versatile bit of kit.<p><a href="http://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/minilogue/" rel="nofollow">http://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/minilogue/</a><p>Edit: type-o on # of voices.
Artirua's been doing this for a few years, including their Brute lineup; the MiniBrute and the MatrixBrute would be the closest comparison. <a href="https://www.arturia.com/products" rel="nofollow">https://www.arturia.com/products</a>
Who is the target audience for this? Why did they spend quarter of the video on colors? Why does it even matter? It made me feel like the device is probably not that spectacular if color is one of its main features.
I am such a fan! Great sounds, accessible, designed to be fun.<p>Korg often leaves me wanting just a little more in a good way.<p>Play. That's the best. People can just play. Serious or fun, it's all good.