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Korg Monologue Analog Synthesizer - A Good companion for an iPad?
I'm thinking of buying a Korg Monologue Analog Synthesizer.
I like this Synth because the small size and the ability to tweak sounds on real hardware. This little guy sounds pretty good in my ears. I can get one for 200.-€.
I wonder if this little synthesizer would also cut a good figure as a midicontroller on an iPad.
Does anyone own the Korg Monologue and have something to say about it? Would you recommend it as a small midi controller?y
My smallest midi controller is currently an Anturia mini lab with 24 keys. I bought it because it have 16 knobs for tweaking but I’m not 100% happy with the knobs and the keys.
Can you recommend any alternatives?
Thanks a lot for reading and your help!
Comments
I will speak to the MIDI controller part, having had to use a Minilogue as MIDI keys for a while:
A HUGE minus is the single slider instead of the standard pitch wheel/mod wheel setup. It will work to pitch bend, but to get it to work as a modwheel, it’s a little trickier because 1) Korg decided to assign random MIDI ccs to standard things, and 2) 99% of iOS synth apps will not let you MIDI learn the modulation wheel. You can bypass the Korg mappings (for example, assign mod wheel to the Monologue filter cutoff), but you will have to buy a separate app called Midiflow to do the re-routing.
If that doesn’t sound like a big deal to you, or having an actual hardware synth weighs higher than having a MIDI controller, then go for it. But that’s my warning of frustration for using one as a controller. I miss having the pitch and mod wheels, which is something I feel should be pretty standard on a synth.
Thank so much for mention it @oat_phipps !
That’s why I love forums. I can ask and I get answers. Normally you first spend a lot of money and after you realize that the product will not fit your needs. And you will look for an other product spending more and more money...
In Berlin we have a really big music store (just music) but I think nobody there is aware of this problem.
::thumbs up:: no prob at all
@chandroji I'm about to buy a second hand Arturia Minibrute, the first one, I know from experience of owning a Microbrute that it was a fantastic companion to the iPad and from truly extensive research over the last few weeks that the Minibrute will be just as good with the iPad and even better as a synth in it’s own right.
I think the Monologue (and just about any other hardware) will be great with an iPad, if you look at it the other way around. I mean, you can buy the iConnect Midi with the lightning adapter, some other midi cables and synths and control them all from your iPad with ModStep, Cubasis, or some other sequencer/controller like Liine's Lemur. So uh, yeah...start that hardware collection now. 200 Euros ain't bad
Not a fan of the Monologue here. Envelope implementation is crap. LFO assignment not flexible. Filter is harsh to my ear. Sold mine pretty quickly. I’d keep looking and try others. IMHO and YMMV.
I feel the same about the Minilogue to be honest. I haven’t used it as a proper synth in well over a year. Not even curious to fire it up and see if I can get any more life out of it.
I like mine. It's a nice little synth for $300, much better than the competing Microbrute. And it can be battery powered.
All these sub-$1000 analog synths have limitations one way or another. If you need like 4 LFOs, super flexible mod matrix and all that stuff, be prepared to spend $1500 or more.
I have a micrologue, minilogue and the Minibrute. I like them all, they have very different voices and hence, different uses. I liken it to standing in a small crowd of people ... some voices are irritating and some are smooth and some have a bit of both. Some are covered in a mucus-ey mush, others are dry and a tad shrill ... but they are all different and interesting, at least to me.
This is at least the argument I use with my wife when discussing the latest I-need-to-have-it synth. I do love them all!
I bought the Monologue today. An almost new device with 30 month remaining warranty for only 200€ incl. power supply.
I think there was nothing I could do wrong for this price.
The keyboard feels much better than the Arturia Minilab keyboard. I've already had some fun with the device in the last few hours. Although I don't like most presets very much, it seems possible to create great presets by myself. Some YouTube videos about the Korg were very inspiring. Even lovely ambient sounds are possible.
I will now test the Synth extensively and see what is possible with it. The monologue may leave me one day , but I'm sure he will give me some joy until then.
Exactly how I think about my hardware also. I have a minilogue, Monologue, volca fm, and a Pittsburgh modular sv-1. They all have very different characters and I like each one. Never used any of my synths as controllers, so can’t speak to that. I route iPad usb midi into a Keystep then pass it to 5 pin DIN then into a quadra thru to pass to each synth.
My best advice - try gobs of gear, if possible. Things speak differently to folk, and that’s ok....even encouraged. Sometimes the journey matters more than the destination.
You might enjoy this series if you haven't found it already:
I once had an analog monosynth that was far more sophisticated, and cost almost 10x as much. But I realized that I'm most productive with simpler synths, not the ones with a million options.
I bought the Monologue today. An almost new device with 30 month remaining warranty for only 200€ incl. power supply.
Yay for you chandroji! Enjoy the synth and as waynerowand said, enjoy the journey!!
Thanks for that link Governor. Secrets are my favorite.
Sounds great to me
I have a Monologue which I pair with my iPad, in particular with Nanostudio. It's a very good little synth, if a little harsh sounding (opposite of Minilogue- which was very clean sounding). It's a good combination because it's roughly the same size as well as being battery operated.
I like the monologues simplicity but the whole Aphex Twin thing is way bogus. Just a ploy to sell more units. Microtuning is pretty useless to me as well. It's cheap, simple and portable. The keybed is cheap as well. You get what you pay for.