Korg MS-20 mini, finally official in English...

avj · Post by **avj** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:02 am

Guitar Center has them on preorder for $599. Great price, and a great year for analog monosynths so far.

[youtube][/youtube]

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:05 am

WAHEY11!!

Seriously exciting price.
So much more awesome than that wack new Moog they want a million bucks for.

avj · Post by **avj** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:24 am

The Sub Phatty seems decent at $999 for what it offers, and I was even more impressed after watching Amos's super-thorough demo for Sonic State.

► Show Spoiler

Some great features indeed and it's more interesting to me than the Little/Slim, but it's not different enough from the Little Phatty I already own to warrant purchase of another Moog analog monophonic synth with a single low pass filter.

Now that the Minibrute has started to finally become available, and with the MS-20 mini being something other than a screenshot of a photo of a German magazine, and with other exciting new stuff from people like Pittsburgh Modular, it really pushes the Sub Phatty a bit out of reach -- especially at that price.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:40 am

Yep. I love Moog gear but I'd like to see them work a bit harder for my money than "how bout you spend another grand on a "grittier" version of what you already have" kinda deal.
I'm sure the new synth sounds great but I'm thinking: patchbay + can use filter on external source + $599 and well... The competition kinda looks like it's riding on branding and boutique mojo to account for the inflated price. i miss my old MS-20 and I'm pretty excited that there's an option out there for something very similar that won't need 10 hours bench time and $100 of parts to get to work properly.

Edit: I didn't realize you could run an external source through the Phatty's filter.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:23 pm

yeah this is pretty exciting.

laterallateral wrote:I didn't realize you could run an external source through the Phatty's filter.

the minibrute too I think.

I imagine korg has probably done a lot of smart engineering to keep the price low. it appears that they are maybe just reusing the same keys and enclosure they used for the MS-20 midi controller and I'm sure the insides are all surface mounted components similar to what's inside the monotron, designed for cost effective mass production, and since it's korg they are expecting to sell these things on such a large scale it brings the cost down for them more. the R&D costs are going to be somewhat low compared to the moog and arturia. the MS-20 already has so much prestige they don't even need to do much marketing.

avj · Post by **avj** » Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:55 pm

Mages wrote:yeah this is pretty exciting.

laterallateral wrote:I didn't realize you could run an external source through the Phatty's filter.
the minibrute too I think.

Yep, true for both. On the Phatties it also runs through the Overload circuit (and Multidrive for the Sub), and on the Minibrute also through the Brute Factor. To be honest, I don't find this to be terribly useful for live performance, but it's a great way to add some character to a sound for recorded material.

Mages wrote:I imagine korg has probably done a lot of smart engineering to keep the price low. it appears that they are maybe just reusing the same keys and enclosure they used for the MS-20 midi controller and I'm sure the insides are all surface mounted components similar to what's inside the monotron, designed for cost effective mass production, and since it's korg they are expecting to sell these things on such a large scale it brings the cost down for them more. the R&D costs are going to be somewhat low compared to the moog and arturia. the MS-20 already has so much prestige they don't even need to do much marketing.

Someone in a comment or forum post somewhere theorized the intention of introducting the Monotron/Monotribe units was to ramp up production for certain key components as well as drum up interest in new analog offerings from Korg, which certainly makes a lot of sense to me and seems to have worked wonders. This is an absolutely brilliant move by Korg and I can't wait to try one out. I can't imagine not owning one, as I am even in love with the software emulations. I purchased a Nintendo DSi XL years ago specifically to use the DS-10 "game" and have loved the architecture ever since. The iOS version seems to be even better, but I haven't purchased it.

avj · Post by **avj** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:16 am

More great information:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/01/korg-ms-20-mini-analog-classic-reissued-599-first-hands-on-impressions-sounds-1978-manual-pics/

[youtube][/youtube]

Viljami · Post by **Viljami** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:17 am

Analog synth that doesn't cost a kidney? Sign me up! I already have the Monotribe, which is fun, but I need them keys to make magic.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:55 pm

FUCK

NEED

ONE

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:51 pm

I love the original & used to play one at college they had in the studio. Stupid prices now for originals but the iPad version is great as well. I just hope they won't be silly prices

avj · Post by **avj** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:48 pm

The iMS-20 app sure does seem great, but I've all but abandoned the iPad for live use. I tried to get on with it in band context, even going as far as programming the proper MIDI mappings in a controller to provide tactile knob-per-function controls for what I wanted -- but the setup is needlessly complicated.

For pads/polyphony I picked up a nice compact Roland JV-1010 module and Vintage Synth expansion card, which is basically a preset machine but a great one. I control it via MIDI out of the Little Phatty, so there's no need for an extra controller. For me, the iPad is an irreplaceable tool for writing and sound design, but I just can't manage it in the current Bright Nights configuration.

In looking for additional portability I had my eye on the Minibrute, but the idea of using the MS-20 and retaining the same 37-key layout as the LP while gaining more portability and complex modulation routing options is very exciting. Losing the presets on the LP sounds a bit daunting, but I'm up for the challenge.

$599 USD is quite an unsilly price in my eyes. Now, the wait.