Tim brought his Minilogue along and I had a good play. Should probably have read the manual to discover if there was a level control for the external input, whether the sequencer had 'tie', whether there was a way to turn off the sequencer's automated start as you might not always want that. I sure don't but then Cirklon has a trick for that, since I also didn't want it for the Octatrack once upon a time. Cool that if the sequencer is running you can select a new patch and its sequence will kick in too. How ace would it be if there was no patch memories, only sequencer memories? Shame only 16 steps though. Also a shame that if you make a 9 step sequence you then have to enter a fecking menu to confirm that yes, you really meant 9 steps. The SH-101 is just too good...
So my thoughts.
It looks really nice, strokable, woody, slim and... I didn't totally hate the little keyboard. Sounds good too. Not a massive difference in character between the two filter slopes, obviously more resonance in 2 pole mode. The cross mod is useful, the PWM OK but not exactly lush. I liked the bender too, although might want to remove the spring if I had one. I'd prefer a portamento control to the useless Tempo. Will anyone really use this as their master clock?! Annoying to have to keep hitting the menus to adjust portamento time, maybe I'm weird but that's something I do constantly.
The good bits are many and I'm not gonna do an actual review - plenty others out there already. The oscillators are nice and each waveform has a variable shape. The downside of that is if you modulate the shape, you can't have one unmodulated to add 'solidness', but that's a small price to pay. The filter is fairly sweet, I know people have said it's plain but I think it's good enough. I'd like to have been able to drive it harder. I disliked the bi-polar eg int controls - would much rather have the whole knob travel doing positive filter env amount. There's also no detent, the dead zone is too small. In the case of VCO2 pitch, it's therefore too easy to have it out of tune. While the display is sharp, I found myself constantly moving the EG int control before I dared switch off sync. BTW oscillator sync and the ring mod are brill additions, as is the shift/play functionality to work in manual mode, which is where I stayed constantly, always wondering what the knobs are pointing to.
Looking at the LFO waveforms - missing are noise and Sample and Hold (if you were making some kind of SH-101 homage that is, and Korg kinda were I think). The sequencer is good though - and you can record up to 4 lots of control tweaks and clear them individually. All good but it'd be better if you had a button for on/off for motion rather than menu-diving. The (older) Electribes had this right. The arpeggiator doesn't seem to have hold but if you want to hold it, you can record its output into the sequencer, which is something. Must find out whether velocity is routed to EG depth or cutoff, hopefully the former. Not a big response to velocity, fiddled with the curves available and settled on '5'.
The mod stick can do pretty much anything you want. I had it doing feedback, which seems to double as delay depth. Which brings me to...
The envelopes... obviously software. They start at zero. Hardware envelopes start at the current voltage. How many times have I told Korg this? So this time we did a vid, which I might post a link to here if I remember. The clicks are probably related to this, as they were on the Modor NF-1. We'll see what happens, assuming Korg will accept the idea this little beauty is too good not to get completely right. I think I said the same about the new Electribes and I'm still waiting there. (Indeed, a new bug got added recently.) Hey, I'm moaning again so I should point out I'm actually very impressed overall. It's a wee poly analogue for hardly any money!
Still, while moaning, I'll roundup with: the layout is too generic, the knobs are unhelpfully anonymous with the same stupid minimalism the Electribes suffered from. I'd replace them all with ones that proudly to point. Did I say I thought the delay was darn useful? Noisy, especially at its longest times, and no clock sync, but great to have all the same. The extra voice modes are also totally fab, although I'll need to spend time with side-chain to work out exactly what's going on. (Edit: sussed it now). Each mode has a 'depth' control which is a superb idea, from the shifting of chords to the variation of unison detune. The delay mode is sweet, using the 4 voices creatively and allowing synced delays (but no dotted values). Alas, mono mode is sadly unusable for hippies like me due to the shitty envelopes. Chord mode is fun - even if I instantly wanted to record my own. BTW you can record the mode depth, although when you do this the screen is showing the text 'motion recording' so you can't see the values - which you'd want to, I think. Doh!
Switching modes as the sequencer plays - simply awesome. We got a whole day's recording out of it with more to come! What else? Well, occasionally it felt like a paraphonic rather than polyphonic synth. I don't think it's just the high pass filter/delay that gives that impression - the use of portamento also seems to change its response, although I didn't spend long pondering this. I should declare I've yet to play the thing unstoned.
Oh yes, it's another of those 'doesn't turn on without help' devices like the Electribe and RC-505. If this trend continues you'll have to schedule extra studio time just to power on! (Or have less stuff). Didn't see an option to let the MIDI out be a thru but haven't looked at its MIDI so it could be hiding somewhere. Still haven't found the sequencer 'tie' but it must be possible cos when you record live it sorts out the proper legato. So that's good even if it's not an obvious part of the step input. My 101 fixation eh?
And... the resonance went wonky after we tried the external input. I think this is a known bug though, at least I'm fairly sure I read about it somewhere just after we'd done the OS update. Odd.
So anyway, bottom line is I'd quite like one but can resist for now. If Korg take another look at the envelopes, maybe assign the guy who worked on the Radias to give a few tips, then I might change my mind. But what a machine - and so small and cheap and sequency! All those patterns too cos, unlike the BassStation 2, you get a pattern in every patch.
Naturally, I'm now dreaming of a slightly bigger 8 voice one with adult-sized keys, two LFOs, quieter delay, proper envelopes, knobs done by someone who plays synths, no fecking menus.... who knows, Korg are pretty hot right now, if only they'd scale up a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF2F6MhWIm4&feature=youtu.be
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