Can You Alter Minilogue Promoters and Upload to Minilogue

Korg'southward single–handed analogue revival continues unabated, with the release of an affordable four–voice polysynth.

Of the major synth manufacturers, Korg seem to be the most probable to practise something unexpected or in a manner that'due south not quite what one might have anticipated. In recent years, the Kaoss products, the Monotron and the proclamation of the Korg ARP Odyssey all defenseless the world unawares and, although industry watchers sniffed something in the air when the visitor trademarked the Minilogue proper name in 2015, none of the ensuing speculation (or, at least, none at the time of writing) foresaw what y'all now see before you. With its swept command panel and the almost obligatory lump of forest acting equally a rear-console decoration (rather than the usual end-cheek or 2), information technology's 1 of the most distinctive small-scale synths of recent years, and mayhap one of the most bonny. And, while its looks shriek 'virtual analogue', the signal path is 18-carat counterpart, which is going to attract a lot of involvement.

The Voicing

First things first: the Minilogue is a single–aqueduct, mono–timbral, 4–voice analogue/digital hybrid polysynth with various duophonic and monophonic options. Each voice offers ii VCOs plus white noise, a low–pass VCF and an sound VCA, all modulated past a digitally generated LFO and shaped past dual, digitally generated ADSR envelopes. It'due south a simple just archetype voice compages, although Korg have enhanced it with some interesting twists that we'll address in due course.

The oscillators offer iv octave settings that evidence to be 16', 8', 4' and ii' when the contained tuning knobs for each oscillator (which offer detune as fine as ±ane cent and as coarse as ±ane octave) are fix to nil and the global octave switch is set to the centre of its five positions. Well, that'south not quite truthful, because the sawtooth moving ridge sits an octave above the pulse and triangle waves unless y'all alter it using waveshaping (which we'll come up to in a moment). But, even ignoring this bibelot, sounds can range from nearly subsonic at the bottom finish to almost supersonic at the top, even when confined to the Minilogue's three–octave keyboard.

You tin just select ane of the 3 waveforms for a given oscillator at whatever given time, but there'south waveshaping available for each, applied manually via the Shape knobs or controlled by the LFO for dynamic effects. The shaping applied to the pulse wave is unproblematic to explain: information technology'due south pulse width when controlled past the knob, and PWM when controlled by the LFO, and information technology generates the usual range of sounds. It's harder to explicate the waveshaping of the sawtooth and triangle waves but, when Arturia bent their MiniBrute waveforms in a like manner, they gave the functions names such as Ultrasaw and Metalizer, which gave you an idea of what you were going to hear. I'll go out information technology to Korg'south marketing department to come up with equivalents.

Unfortunately, you tin can't apply LFO–driven waveshaping to one oscillator and not the other, which precludes patches that mix sawtooth and PWM waves for ensemble sounds, and you can't use the LFO to modulate the pitch of one oscillator just not the other, which precludes many chorus patches. Still, the oscillator section is more powerful than y'all might expect because information technology offers cross modulation (FM) and oscillator sync (both with VCO2 as carrier and VCO1 as modulator), plus a ring modulator, the output of which uses the VCO2 input in the mixer then that you tin can combine the point from VCO1 with the output from the modulator. At that place's goose egg stopping you from invoking these in any combination, although, even with farthermost settings, everything remains well behaved — in the area of useful sound furnishings rather than sonic commotion. Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with the sync when used with sure combinations of pitches, pitch sweeps and waveforms. If you set up a standard hard-sync patch with the assignable EG sweeping the pitch of VCO2, everything goes swimmingly until the sweep approaches zero, at which betoken at that place'due south a discontinuity in the sound. Y'all can often eliminate this past tweaking the corporeality of sweep or adjusting the relative tuning, or past selecting the sawtooth as the carrier just, of class, that may not be what y'all want for that patch.

The outputs from the oscillators and the racket generator are mixed before being fed to the input of the switchable 12dB or 24dB/octave depression–pass filter, which I found to have a cutoff range in either fashion of near precisely 20Hz to 20kHz. The cutoff control boasts the largest knob on the panel, and there are additional controls for the corporeality of resonance and the amount and polarity by which the assignable EG affects the cutoff frequency. There are three keyboard tracking modes (0, 50 and 100 percent) and three velocity modes (also chosen 0, 50 and 100 percent), the latter of which affect the cutoff frequency directly, not the amount by which the profile generator is applied. With the resonance set higher than the two o'clock position and the keyboard tracking at 100 percent, information technology's possible in either style to play the iv cocky–aquiver filters similar a fix of slightly wonky, out–of–tune oscillators. You can invoke the auto–melody routine to proceed them in tune and scaled merely, once they've drifted a niggling, you lot tin create some nice, eerie patches, only as on vintage synths with the aforementioned facilities.

The signal at present passes to the audio VCA. This, at showtime, appears to be affected only by its dedicated ADSR contour generator. This is because Korg decided to omit the concrete on/off switch and relegate the velocity/loudness relationship to a menu! When enabled, velocity affects the amplitude of the ADSR profile practical to the VCA gain, as information technology should.

Modes, Effects, Performing & Sequencing

The outputs from the four voices are summed in one of viii means (known as Voice Modes) before being passed to the output department. The operations of some of these modes are obvious — for example, Poly is the 4–voice polyphonic mode, Unison plays all four voices under a single cardinal, and Arp invokes the arpeggiator. Others are less straightforward, so I've summarised them, together with the effect of the single parameter available to each (the Voice Style Depth) in the table in the 'Voice Modes' box.

The audio is then passed to the output section, which comprises an analogue high–pass filter combined with a digital delay line and its associated feedback loop. There are three places from which y'all can tap the audio from this section. Firstly, you can bypass the delay and send the bespeak from the audio VCA directly to the socket on the rear of the synth. Alternatively, you tin can tap the output from the audio VCA together with the sound generated by the HPF/delay loop, resulting in a full–bodied original followed by progressively thinner echoes. Lastly, y'all can pass the output from the VCA through the HPF to suppress the lower harmonics of the original sound as well equally the repeats. If yous select the terminal of these but don't apply any delay, you can combine the HPF with the LPFs in the primary voicing compages to obtain band–laissez passer filtering, which is a useful bonus.

The delay line itself offers only delay fourth dimension and feedback gain controls, and then it's equivalent to the simplest stompboxes and single–caput tape delays. Nonetheless, it's capable of a range of quasi–reverberant effects as well as standard echoes and delays. What'due south more, with a maximum feedback gain of a tad greater than unity, you can generate all manner of '50s sci–fi effects.

The Minilogue's (surprisingly few) sockets are all to exist found recessed into the wooden rear panel. Once you've created your sonic masterpiece, you lot'll want to be able to command it, only the Minilogue is almost devoid of operation facilities. Aftertouch isn't provided from the keyboard or over MIDI, and Korg have eschewed the usual functioning controls, substituting a unmarried sprung slider that lies at about 15 degrees to the left/correct axis of the instrument. Y'all can direct simply one from a list of 29 parameters to this, ranging from pitch–curve and various oscillator, filter and contour settings, to things such as the filibuster time or feedback corporeality, or Voice Mode Depth. Many of Korg'due south vintage analogue synths immune you to apply pitch–bend (left/right) and two types of modulation (forward/backward) to a sound, and information technology'southward a shame that the Minilogue doesn't practice likewise.

On the other hand, every Minilogue patch (called a Program in Korg–speak) contains its own sequence. Recording and overdubbing existent–time sequences couldn't be simpler: while the sequencer is playing, just press Rec, and play. Your functioning will exist quantised and dropped into the (maximum) 16 available steps, and you can overdub equally it loops, upward to a maximum of four notes per step. If yous don't similar the result, press and agree Residual while looping to eliminate what yous've recorded. You lot tin can also record up to 4 motion sequences (sequences that comprise changes to one of the summit-panel control values) within each Plan. Recording in stride way is as straightforward: determine the length of the sequence, press Rec when the sequencer is not playing, and then play the requisite number of notes and/or chords. The screen will show you what'southward stored in each step, and it'southward then elementary to replace private steps should yous desire. In addition to notes, you tin record rests and ties, as well every bit determine the Gate Fourth dimension on a notation–past–note basis. The concluding of these requires numerous button pushes but works if you lot're prepared to put the time in.

In Apply

There are 200 memories in the Minilogue: 100 preset factory sounds that you can't overwrite, and 100 user memories. When I received the synth, I worked my way through all 100 of its presets, which demonstrated its capabilities in a variety of monophonic and polyphonic roles. Then I discovered how to load the current panel settings into the edit buffer and started to program various monophonic patches from scratch, and was overtaken by an overwhelming urge to compare these with the same sounds produced by my four–voice Korg Mono/Poly. The results were fascinating. Initially eschewing complexities such equally cross modulation and sync, I was able to create all way of single–oscillator patches on each that were remarkably similar to one some other. Contumely, flutes, leads, basses... the Minilogue was proving to be much the equal of its ancestor. Adding a second oscillator on the Mono/Poly and selecting Duo mode on the Minilogue reinforced the similarities, although this was one area in which the vintage synth demonstrated its occasional superiority by allowing me to mix PWM with other waves. On the other paw, the Minilogue would have stepped way across the Mono/Poly had I chosen to invoke its triangle and sawtooth waveshaping. Next, I compared some cross-modulated and sync sounds. The results weren't always identical, but once more I was surprised by how like I could make them. The factory presets had strongly influenced my initial perceptions of the Minilogue but, in my view, at that place'due south a better (or, at to the lowest degree, more appealing to an onetime fart) synth within, waiting for the opportunity to flare-up along.

When I placed both instruments into polyphonic mode, the truly polyphonic, dual–oscillator architecture of the Minilogue hugely outreached the paraphonic Mono/Poly, then I found myself wondering how it would compare with one of Korg's more than contempo 4–vocalisation polysynths, the MS2000. Despite their rather dissimilar architectures and control surfaces, I was again surprised to observe that I could brand basic patches audio all but indistinguishable on each, which is a compliment to Korg'due south modelling algorithms. Merely as I extended the complication of my sounds, the characters of the 2 instruments started to diverge from one another. This was particularly noticeable when programming modulated sounds. The Minilogue isn't heavily endowed with modulation capabilities and, in addition to its waveshaping and pitch modulation duties, its single LFO per voice (which generates merely sawtooth, triangle and square waves, and offers no niceties such every bit noise modulation or sample & hold) has just one other destination: the cutoff frequency of the filter. What'south more, merely one waveform and only one destination are available to information technology at any given time. And, while the assignable EG can affect the LFO rate and intensity, it can merely command one of these at a time. Clearly, Korg's four–voice VA synth engine is a very different beastie, then I decided not to pursue this comparison any farther.

The Minilogue'southward front panel measures fifty by thirty cm.

Despite these limitations, I was surprised to discover how flexible the Minilogue can be, although there are several things that I might take done differently had I been 1 of its designers. For example, at that place are some hidden functions accessed using the Shift key, then I would have silk–screened them on to the panel. I would also have tried to devise a machinery to enable users to jump directly to a given patch without using a MIDI message (currently, you lot can only save eight favourites or step through the memory in increments of one or 10), and I would take attempted to include a software LFO to modulate the delay time for bones chorus and flanging effects. I would also have included MIDI Overflow so that users could chain two or more than units. In addition, an internal power supply would take fabricated the whole package feel more than 'pro', although I have to admit to beingness impressed by the solidity of the instrument, and in particular the command panel's knobs and switches, which feel much smoother and more solid than the Minilogue'south toll might pb yous to wait.

But then we come to its 'slim' keyboard, on which a standard octave width spans roughly a 10th — say, from C to East rather than C to C. I understand that many people nowadays use synth keys equally triggers rather than as the means for playing conventional keyboard parts and widdly–widdly solos, only I have to acknowledge that I'one thousand becoming ill of these abominations. (The keys, non the widdly solos.) A normal keyboard allows yous to pursue both approaches to making music whereas a slim keyboard allows only one, and I feel that the synthesizer within the Minilogue deserves better. And so why practise it? Although many manufacturers are now using miniature keybeds, I put this question to Korg and they responded, "Information technology's a form cistron that's increasingly compatible with a lot of studio environments with less space. We feel that the idea of a 'go to' chief synth is less relevant today (although there is a place for that too), and the Minilogue at this price and polyphony is not really about that. Information technology's inevitable that a few people are going to be unhappy with scaled-downwardly keys, but we believe that our slim keys are the best selection for bringing superlative analogue sound to a diverse range of players and studio spaces." Obviously, I disagree. A standard keyboard spanning a little over 2–and–a–half octaves (C to 1000) is almost exactly the aforementioned width as Korg's iii–octave slim keyboard and, for me, that would be by far the better option.

Merely my biggest issue with the Minilogue is its MIDI implementation. I conducted most of this review with the Minilogue perched on the laptop extension of an Arturia KeyLab 88 MIDI controller, which would have worked perfectly had Korg'southward engineers not chosen to ignore the standard MIDI CC map and substitute new destinations for every controller. I discovered this when I trod on the Arturia's sustain pedal and, rather than obtaining a sustained sound, heard ane of the oscillators jump up a few octaves. I checked that I hadn't washed anything stupid (I hadn't) so I inspected the Minilogue'southward CC listing. I was stunned. For instance, CC1 (modulation amount) is directed to racket level, CC2 (breath control) is directed to VCO1 pitch, CC7 (volume) is directed to VCO1 level, CC64 (sustain) is directed to VCO1 octave, CC65 (portamento on/off) is directed to VCO2 octave, and then it goes on. Everything works as specified, but why was it specified that way? Non but 'why', but... WHY? With and so many unallocated MIDI CCs and NRPNs available, I'grand at a loss to understand this. Not only does it mean that the Minilogue has no sustain function, it means that, when you lot utilize the modernistic bicycle or its equivalent on any standard synth connected to it, y'all merely add together a large amount of unwanted noise to the patch! Fifty-fifty if y'all have a MIDI controller that allows you to remap the MIDI CCs sent by its diverse knobs, sliders, wheels and pedals, you're nonetheless going to have to invest considerable time and endeavor if you lot want to use the Minilogue with information technology. Equally for using the Minilogue to control other MIDI keyboards or modules, allow'south just say that it's not going to be straightforward!

Conclusions

I've never been quite sure most mono–timbral four–voice synths. While they are for obvious reasons more than affordable than analogue synths with more voices, they take also many oscillators for a single monophonic synth, and besides few voices for anything just the simplest polyphonic uses. In the past, the 1 that worked best for me was the Oberheim iv–Vocalisation, because its dual–oscillator multitimbral compages was hugely more flexible than, say, the single–oscillator, mono–timbral Roland Jupiter 4 or the paraphonic Korg Mono/Poly. I'grand therefore impressed with Korg's innovative Voice Modes which, while non going every bit far every bit permitting multitimbral utilize, extend the possibilities of the Minilogue far across those of a simple four–voice polysynth with a Unison button.

In fact, there's a cracking deal about the Minilogue that I like. It can sound excellent and, notwithstanding the fact that it'south smaller than I would like, information technology looks slap-up. Then, finally, nosotros come to the issue of cost, and here the Minilogue also scores highly because, with a projected toll of just £435 $499 or thereabouts, it's clearly designed to exist affordable. Even so, I doubtable that sales will be rather more hampered by its miniature keyboard and express performance capabilities than Korg would wish. If you're comfortable with these and its strange MIDI implementation, it's a cost–effective way to obtain 4 genuine analogue voices in a very stylish package. If you're not, a module with standard MIDI CCs or, better still, another model offering a full–sized keyboard and more than than one operation command, likewise as standard MIDI CCs, would be even better.

Alternatives

4–vocalism analogue/digital hybrids with congenital–in sequencers of one sort or another are in fashion, and current offerings range from the Akai Timbre Wolf, through the DSI Mopho x4 and Elektron Analog Keys to the Roland JDXA. At effectually £435 $499 (the projected price at the time of writing), the Minilogue is attractively priced and, if it satisfies your needs, possibly offers the best toll/performance ratio. Alternatively, you could likewise consider a low–cost MIDI controller and one or two of the recent Roland Bazaar modules, which offer several benefits at the expense of substituting a virtual analogue synth engine for a truthful analogue signal path.

Menus

The Minilogue'due south Edit Manner comprises 3 menus containing 45 boosted parameters dedicated to the Programs, the Sequencer and the Global setup. Many of these have obvious uses: master tuning, naming patches, MIDI and sync parameters, local on/off, how the knobs reply, and and so on. Others provide the but manner to control important aspects of the sound. These include things such as the sync modes of the LFOs (which determine whether the iv voices are locked to each other and/or the sequencer), the portamento, and whether MIDI velocity affects the loudness of the sound. Nevertheless more provide vital parameters for the sequencer including the length, swing, and gate time. Y'all're going to become intimately acquainted with these menus, so I find myself wondering whether Korg will release an editor/librarian. It would seem sensible.

The Rear Console

The Minilogue boasts remarkably few sockets. Audio I/O is limited to a single quarter–inch monophonic output, a single–aqueduct quarter–inch audio input, and a quarter–inch TRS headphone output. Side by side to these lie 3.5mm Sync In and Out sockets and, to the left of these, you'll observe standard 5–pivot MIDI In and Out connectors plus a USB 'B' socket that carries MIDI but not audio. Lastly, there's an input for the wall–wart, a cablevision hook, and an on/off switch.

The audio input injects external audio into the point path before the low–pass filter and then that it can be effected in the usual way. However, there's no Hold function for the audio VCA, so drones and some other treatments won't be possible without property down a key or running the sequencer.

The Phonation Modes

Mode	Blazon	Phonation Mode Depth
Poly	4–vocalisation polysynth.	Selects inversions of the chords that you play on the keyboard.
Duo	Duophonic synth with two voices per note.	Increases the detuning of the unison pairs.
Unison	Monosynth with four voices per note.	Increases the detuning.
Mono	Monosynth with sub–oscillators.	Introduces sub–oscillators one and two octaves beneath the fundamental.
Chord	Plays a 4–notation chord when you play a unmarried key.	Selects from a set of predetermined chords.
Delay	Monosynth: voices 2, iii, and four echo the notes played on vocalization 1.	Adjusts the delay time.
Arp	Invokes the arpeggiator.	Selects the arpeggio type.
Side–concatenation	Reduces the loudness of an existing notation when the next is played.	Determines the amount of level reduction.

The Oscilloscope

When I first saw the Minilogue'due south oscilloscope displayed in its OLED screen, I idea that it was a gimmick, something that a bored programmer had added to kill a few hours on a moisture Friday afternoon in downtown Tokyo. Notwithstanding, the more I used the Minilogue, the more I realised that I rather liked information technology. It doesn't display the waveform at the synth'due south output, but rather (and mayhap more usefully) the output from the most recently played voice, which is then scaled to fit the screen no thing the frequency of the annotation.

The Contours' Shape

The Attack, Decay and Release stages on most analogue synths tend to be curved, which results in smooth transitions from ane phase of the contour to the next. This is not the case with the Minilogue, whose contour generators seem to sweep at a abiding charge per unit. In most cases this isn't an upshot, only on some patches — and in particular on some sync'ed sounds where yous utilise the assignable EG to control the pitch of VCO2 — yous'll find that there's a cusp as the Decay stage progresses into the Sustain phase.

Pros

• It tin sound first-class.
• The Phonation Modes add a lot to its flexibility and usefulness.
• It's stylish, light and manageable.
• The controls feel firm and responsive — not at all lightweight.
• It's attractively priced.

Cons

• Its non–standard MIDI CC map means that you lot tin can't easily use it with other devices.
• Yous may not wish to use its 'slim' keyboard.
• It suffers from some voicing limitations.
• Information technology lacks MIDI Overflow.

Summary

The Minilogue is much cheaper than many of the 4–voice analogue/digital hybrids from elsewhere, and information technology tin can sound great. On the other hand, information technology offers only a miniature keyboard and incorporates an, um... 'misguided' MIDI implementation. If these limitations don't carp you, I suspect that yous're going to like it a lot. If they practise, keep your fingers crossed for a 'pro' version.

information

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Source: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/korg-minilogue

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