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sw80 « 2 oscillators »
Published on 10/11/12 at 22:42If you need a portable analog synthesizer with 2 oscillators then the Korg Monotron Duo is the way to go! It has analog filters and an internal speaker which is pretty good considering that this unit is only 50 dollars. I have not seen a negative review on this unit yet. The sound you are able to get with the Monotron Duo is a true analog synth sound all in a very small and portable unit. The built in speaker sounds very good, you won’t hear any really deep frequencies with it though and everything kind of sounds like it is coming out of an old clock radio. But there is no distortion and after using this unit for a year the speaker still sounds the way it did when I took the Monotron Duo out of the box.
UTILIZATION
This synth has no presets, you will need to know how to work with oscillators to achieve the sound that you want to have. There is 1 output and 1 input with the Duo. Nothing is digital, no digital outputs. There is also no MIDI which would have been nice if they would have added some MIDI connections to it so I could work with a lot of other gear and sync up to be quantized.
SOUNDS
Another thing that I wish that the Monotron Duo had is an arp, there are no arps on this unit. But it does work with triple A batteries, so with it being battery powered and having an on unit speaker you can truly take this anywhere and pull it out to just have fun or start working with building some sounds. This is a great analog unit to learn to use oscillators with. I always felt learning oscillators on hardware was a lot better than learning from a computer VST.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall it could have had some MIDI connections and some presets in a perfect world. But you are getting a great dual oscillator analog synth for 50 dollars. You will have fun with it none the less, and enjoy learning to work with sounds the way it was originally done many years ago. This is a perfectly priced unit, and it weighs less than a pound.
UTILIZATION
This synth has no presets, you will need to know how to work with oscillators to achieve the sound that you want to have. There is 1 output and 1 input with the Duo. Nothing is digital, no digital outputs. There is also no MIDI which would have been nice if they would have added some MIDI connections to it so I could work with a lot of other gear and sync up to be quantized.
SOUNDS
Another thing that I wish that the Monotron Duo had is an arp, there are no arps on this unit. But it does work with triple A batteries, so with it being battery powered and having an on unit speaker you can truly take this anywhere and pull it out to just have fun or start working with building some sounds. This is a great analog unit to learn to use oscillators with. I always felt learning oscillators on hardware was a lot better than learning from a computer VST.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall it could have had some MIDI connections and some presets in a perfect world. But you are getting a great dual oscillator analog synth for 50 dollars. You will have fun with it none the less, and enjoy learning to work with sounds the way it was originally done many years ago. This is a perfectly priced unit, and it weighs less than a pound.