Korg monotron DUO Analog Ribbon Synthesizer

I love everything about this synthesizer. Im known as the one who carries his synth everywhere he goes and its a really great device. As a single instrument you can make some really good sound effects. However it doesnt have enough on it to create a excision or skrillex sound but definetly something like deadmau5 or Mord Fustang is achievable on this. The fact it isnt a midi is something that not everyone likes but i actually prefer to have it with the aux jacks because im an on budget person and have some mild Daw's and Music creator 6 cant really make a electro or dubstep beat. You can run a song through it and play sounds over it and that feature is pretty cool. you can also find some pretty good combo's on this thing and its interesting every time you turn a knob. ALSO get a headphone splitter if you plan to record the sounds because once you plug it into your microphone jack you can hear hat your playing, this way you can hear and record it. Belkin Speaker and Headphone Splitter Overall a really great buy for the beginner and maybe even a professional who would like something to carry around and make sounds on. Really Fun, Very Portable, Great Device Korg!

I never owned an analog synth before -have played with a couple & have a few such apps for iPad & iPhone - but something about the physical / tactile controls + ribbon, the simple design (enough controls to make it flexible & interesting w/o being overwhelming or non-intuitive) and the super portable handheld format makes this totally better than anything I've tried. I put on some headphones and played with this thing for hours, and can't see myself getting bored with it. The ribbon controller is pretty neat for making all sorts of slidy noises and in quantized mode for playing riffs, I may google how to hack in a CV or a MIDI input so I can control it with a larger keyboard or control the various knobs with an expression pedal or Arduino. But everything is laid out pretty nicely that I can tweak knobs while playing and it isn't too difficult. I think I'll be expanding this with the Monotron Delay and others before long, and experimenting with plugging other instruments into the input (a rad feature btw - it basically doubles as an effect pedal!). Well done Korg, you have won a new satisfied customer.

It's kind of a toy, but also kind of a proof-of-concept for Korg. The Monotron duo is awesome. It's about the size of an old audio cassette case. The knobs are responsive, but a little wobbly. The ribbon is great - very responsive, and it's easy to use. You can make some fun and funky sounds with this. There's a little button on the left shoulder of the unit that selects between continuous and several quantized modes. The two oscillators are controlled with a pitch knob (labeled VCO1), and the second oscillator is tuned relative to VCO1 with the VCO2 knob. This actually caused great frustration for me, because they were not perfectly in-tune on my unit when the VCO2 knob was straight up and down - it had to be a little bit to the left. This no doubt has to do with the analog circuitry and cheapness of the product, but the imperfection was annoying enough that I sent it back. The VCF sounds fantastic, and the cross modulation knob adds a lot of character to the sound. For those who have seen the original Monotron, you'll notice that there's no LFO on this unit. You're trading the LFO for the second oscillator and the quantization button. The result is a much more musical machine, but the tradeoff is real. You also get an aux in jack, which allows you to run external audio through the excellent filter. I said this was a "proof-of-concept," and it is - where the concept is, "A ridiculously affordable and fun analog synth that proves people want analog synthesizers, so Korg can go on to make tons more at other price points with different features." It *seems* like this device made other instruments, like the Volca series and the Minilogue, possible. And for that, I am tremendously grateful. And I really like this product. But having returned the unit I purchased, I would not buy another since I purchased the Volca Keys instead. The bottom line is that if you can afford this unit or the Volca Keys, you want the Volca Keys. But this is an excellent toy and a surprisingly fun instrument, if seriously limited in application.

Small and packed with features. Super cool to see what my son makes with this tiny synth.

I bought this tiny analog synth out of curiosity. I wanted to see what they hype was all about. While it looks (and feels) like more of a toy, this thing can generate some big sound. It was also a learning experience to understand some basics of Synthesis: it has two Voltage controlled Oscillators and a Voltage controlled Filter. The ribbon keyboard is almost useless; it works, technically, but its size makes it not very accurate. It's fun. I may pursue some modifications which would allow me to connect it to external gear for the purpose of controlling it with CV. There are instructions you can find online to do it if you're brave. Since getting this, I've dived into the world of modular synthesis. For this reason, you may wish to consider NOT buying this. :)

It’s a fun toy, but very very small about 4.5” x 2” makes robot type noises. I’m not a musician so maybe someone who makes music would like it more.

Korg and Electro Harmonics . The only company that manufactured synthesizers that were fun like toys and could hands-on tweak oscillating frequencies to your heart content. Life expectancy in ponderous, as I can amplify this little monster through my computer speakers aux in. It sounds great,like a real instrument with headphones on, and I haven't figured out how to play it through my board of shame.(studio inputs) It clips annoyingly if you don't control the sound, but it has a lot of sound for a teeny tiny Ribbon synthesizer, which I refuse to play it as a ribbon synthe. It's got a choice of scale modes and a glissando (that's what we used to call it) like an air raid siren. It's tinny tiny output speaker is next to useless, so I plan on burning the batteries up and running it to death while I can. My Electro Harmonics Mini Synthe didn't last a year. But that was 1982 and I have learned not to play out with my equipment. Even in the studio, I take better care of my stuff, but nothing lasts forever. I give it six months in my capable hands.

Most people seem to view this as a toy and it sort of is but you can absolutely use it as part of your music making process. The limitations of the instrument are what make you get creative with it. I've never had a hardware synth before and after playing with this very basic one I ended up getting into larger, more complex hardware setups with the Korg Volcas and an OP-1. The 4 modes (ribbon, major, minor, and chromatic) make it easier to play melodies if you have something particular in mind. The controls are quite basic but I love the sounds you can get out of them. An impressive range. You can also input any line level sound source into the aux input and use the filters to manipulate it. That's always fun. For me this is a great tool for recording ambient drone music. Everyone has their unique way of playing the Monotrons and that's mine. It is addicting and for me it was a gateway into the world of proper hardware synthesizers.

Monotron Duo von Korg ist ein schönes kleines Gerät. Trotz der Kleinheit lässt es sich gut bedienen. Ich halte es in einer Hand, mit der ich zugleich die "Tastatur" (Ribbon-Controller, Bandtastatur), eine Oktave) bediene, mit der anderen Hand kann man die verschiedenen Knöpfe einstellen. Die Tastatur hat verschiedene Möglichkeiten: kontinuierliche Tonhöhenveränderung oder drei verschiedene Tonleitern (Dur, Moll, chromatisch). Die Lautstärke ist nicht allzu groß, aber völlig ausreichend. Man kann auch einen Kopfhörer oder einen Verstärker anschließen. Das Gerät hat zwei Tongeneratoren, hierdurch kann man Schwebungseffekte erzeugen. Für Kinder ist es geeignet, aber nicht für sehr kleine Kinder. Man kann von außen Signale zuführen, das habe ich aber noch nicht erprobt. Die Bedienungsanleitung ist etwas kurz ausgefallen, insbesondere werden die Effekte nicht erklärt. Trotzdem ist sie ausreichend, um das Gerät zu bedienen, benötigt man sie nur begrenzt. (Für mich war die Beschreibung zum Umstellen der Tonleitern wichtig - sie werden mit einem kleinen Knopf an der Hinterseite der Reihe nach umgestellt - alles andere habe ich auch durch Probieren herausgefunden.) Die Beschriftung ist englisch, das ist aber ebenfalls kein Problem. Es werden die üblichen englischen Bezeichnungen "Standby", "Peak" (Tonhöhe, Resonanz), X-Mod (Kreuzmodulation), Cutoff (ungefähr: Höhenbeschneidung) und Peak (ungefähr: Höhenverstärkung) verwendet. Die Lautstärkeregelung erfolgt mit einem Knopfregler an der Hinterseite. Ich kann das Gerät empfehlen, weiß aber nicht, ob man es auch für "ernsthafte" Musik einsetzen kann, denn der Ribbon-Controller ist recht klein. Am interessantesten ist die Möglichkeit, bei gehaltenem Ton die Effekte zu verändern. Man kann den Ribboncontroller mit einem Finger bedienen, aber auch mehrere Finger verwenden. Bei Mehrfingerbedienung kann man einen kontinuierlichen Ton halten. Bei Einzeltonbedienung (nicht bei gleitender Bedienung mit kontinuierlichem Ton) entstehen am Anfang und Ende eines Tones je nach Einstellung der Regler eine Art Knackgeräusche am Anfang und Ende des Tones, vielleicht eine akustische Täuschung durch den plötzlichen Einsatz bzw. Abbruch des Tones). Ergänzung: Korg schickt auf Anfrage mit E-Mail den kompletten Schaltplan. Das ist sehr interessant, weil man genau den Aufbau verfolgen kann. Außerdem könnte man auch Ergänzungen anbringen, natürlich unter Verlust der Garantie.

Me encantó

Llegó antes de tiempo (bien por el vendedor) y el precio era algo más barato que la media. El aparato es muy divertido y da muchas posibilidades. Lo recomiendo para crear atmósferas. Ahora a por el Monotron Delay!

Good

C'est un "synthétiseur de poche" 100% analogique. Je suis agreement surpris par la qualité de fabrication (fabriqué au Vietnam) du Monotron par rapport à son prix. Les deux oscillateurs (VCO) en série du Monotron permettent d'obtenir des sons vraiment "étranges" et "complexes". Les réglages se font par les petits potentiomètres très réactifs et agréables à manipuler. Les modifications s'entendent, bien évidemment, immédiatement. Le son généré sort par un petit haut-parleur. Le volume est réglable. Il y a aussi une prise casque et une entrée auxiliaire (AUX). On peut appliquer les filtres analogiques (VCF) du Monotron au son arrivant sur l'entrée AUX. Ca génère des sons sales / "interferés" marrants de vieux récepteurs radios Il faut utiliser le petit ruban, en bas du Monotron pour jouer les notes. Avec les doigts, ce n'est pas très précis, mais on peut utiliser un stylet ayant un point fine pour plus de précision. Un bouton permet de passer changer entre les gammes chromatique, majeure, mineure et continue. Il fonction avec deux plies LR03 (AAA) qui sont fournies. Je pense que son frère, le Monotron Delay doit être aussi une grande source d'amusement....