Korg Minilogue

The Korg Minilogue is a SUPER fun & intuitive analog synth for everyone from beginners to seasoned synthesits. I've been programming synths for 20 years and this was just as fun as the first synth I ever used. Its analog sound is wonderful and thick. Almost everything has a knob or switch for control and, for the patches I was making, I never went into the menus for further editing beyond naming patches and setting sequencer settings. The shape control of the oscillators gives a lot of variation to your standard waveforms and the sync/ring-mod, cross modulation, & pitch envelope of oscillator two really open up the sonic possibilities. I very much enjoy the dedicated switch for velocity modulation of the filter cutoff and I like that there are only two modulation depths beyond none. My favorite feature of the Minilogue is the envelope modulation of either the rate or the intensity of the LFO. This really gives a sense of motion to what is already a sense of motion from the LFO. My only complaint is that the LFO doesn't go fast enough for analog-FM style tones. It's not nearly as fast as the LFO on the Monologue but that's more of an observation that a full drawback. I really enjoyed the different voice modes of this synth, really finding mono, which introduces a variable level sub, and chord, which creates various fixed chords, to be the most useful beyond the standard poly mode. This is by far the best poly synth I have ever found for someone who is interested in learning analog synthesis. The knobs and switches along with the actual layout of them makes programming make sense and a joy to use. The Minilogue does have mini-keys but the mini keys Korg has been using for their new synths are really great. Much better than the microKORG. With the Minilogue, Korg really show us that there will always be room for one more analog synth.

This thing is a little analog powerhouse! The keys are small which takes some getting used to, but that helps it easily fit into a live rig. They have a good solid feel when pressed. The waveshapers on the VCOs are a very nice touch; you can smoothly grade between the selected shape and the next closest shape allowing for a unique waveform or some interesting tweaking. The movements of all the parameters, including the waveshapers, can be recorded into the onboard sequencer. The knobs have a lot of resistance allowing for very careful, specific tweaking. It lacks any CV ins/outs but syncs nicely with clocks and MIDI. Where it really shines is with its wealth of different voice modes. This synth can be used for deep subby basses, beautiful etheric pads, pumping chords, and cutting leads. It fills every role that you'd need an analog synth to fill with fantastic sound quality and signal output. It's intuitive to use and has a bit more than meets the eye. The tiny screen is quite useful. There is some more depth to some of the parameters and this information will be shown onscreen, including the chord shapes and inversions while in chord mode, the waveshape itself as you play it, and the values of the parameters on a 0 to 1024 scale or a beat division when the parameter is tempo-synced. There is minimal menu-surfing necessary but available for those who want to really shape their sound and explore the real depth of each parameter. It's a bit lacking in the effects department; it only has a delay, but considering the size and price, it's cool that it even has that. The Minilogue isn't meant to replace your main synth, although it can totally steal the spotlight. Complimented with some of your own off-board effects, it's an indispensable second synth for any live or studio setup. A solid build and fairly lightweight. It has a global tuning feature in Hz values, and it self-tunes when powered on mitigating detuning problems caused by age and temperature. This has quickly become one of my favorite toys.

This thing is a little analog powerhouse!
The keys are small which takes some getting used to, but that helps it easily fit into a live rig. They have a good solid feel when pressed.
The waveshapers on the VCOs are a very nice touch; you can smoothly grade between the selected shape and the next closest shape allowing for a unique waveform or some interesting tweaking.
The movements of all the parameters, including the waveshapers, can be recorded into the onboard sequencer.
The knobs have a lot of resistance allowing for very careful, specific tweaking.
It lacks any CV ins/outs but syncs nicely with clocks and MIDI.
Where it really shines is with its wealth of different voice modes. This synth can be used for deep subby basses, beautiful etheric pads, pumping chords, and cutting leads. It fills every role that you'd need an analog synth to fill with fantastic sound quality and signal output.
It's intuitive to use and has a bit more than meets the eye. The tiny screen is quite useful. There is some more depth to some of the parameters and this information will be shown onscreen, including the chord shapes and inversions while in chord mode, the waveshape itself as you play it, and the values of the parameters on a 0 to 1024 scale or a beat division when the parameter is tempo-synced. There is minimal menu-surfing necessary but available for those who want to really shape their sound and explore the real depth of each parameter.
It's a bit lacking in the effects department; it only has a delay, but considering the size and price, it's cool that it even has that. The Minilogue isn't meant to replace your main synth, although it can totally steal the spotlight. Complimented with some of your own off-board effects, it's an indispensable second synth for any live or studio setup.
A solid build and fairly lightweight. It has a global tuning feature in Hz values, and it self-tunes when powered on mitigating detuning problems caused by age and temperature. This has quickly become one of my favorite toys.