well it’s here. and it’s fantastic. I never played a MiniKorg before, but I did own a MaxiKorg, which is two MiniKorg 700S in one box. I sold it because it lacked cv/gate and then spent five years wishing I’d just sent it to a tech to have that added instead… now I’m quite happy to have the 700FS because even though it’s “just” half of the MaxiKorg, it’s still plenty of “that sound.” and the additions are just superb. I love having the spring reverb, the arpeggiator, the assignable joystick, memory, and most importantly: midi, complete with syncable clock for the repeat speed.
favorite feature so far: assigning the repeat speed to the joystick, holding an arpeggio and changing up the speed while I tweak other controls.
SUPER fun synth. TONS of sweet spots, and very easy to find them. even if playing it is kind of like having this minor layer of translation between synth terms you’re used to and those that Korg chose back in 1973.
I’ve contacted Korg last week and asked them if they’re going to provide the MIDI CC list. I didn’t get any response yet (I don’t expect it either). A big thanks for that.
no problem. really easy with that USB port and MIDI Monitor
let me know if I’ve goofed anything up and I’ll correct it. also the individual values listed for the VCO1 scale/mode and VCO2 mode are the values output from each position on the multi-position knobs. just in case that wasn’t obvious. if you send a CC value that’s between the listed values, I’m not sure what happens yet. likely it goes to the lower value’s corresponding position.
Mine finally arrived! The case it comes in is pretty good. I expected a cheap, light case, but this thing is heavy. The 700FS is drop dead beautiful. It may the prettiest synth I’ve ever owned. I love the wacky nomenclature for the parameters. I thought it would be confusing, but after twenty minutes I felt like i’d been doing Traveller sweeps my whole life. The way the second oscillator is integrated is a bit strange. When the mix slider is all the way down it’s just OSC 1; when it’s all the way up it’s just OSC 2; and in the middle is both. It makes sense but it’s different. The travel on the slider is pretty short for incremental mixing changes.
The knobs, levers (!), and sliders all seem very high quality. I really like the color coding on the controls. Useful and cool looking. The keybed is better than I thought it would be (i.e., way better than the MS20).
So far i’m pretty impressed with the sound. It excels in leads, especially with it’s vibrato control. The bass isn’t as heavy as I’d hoped it would be, but it has a really organic flavor. More crunchy and nutty, than beefy. It’s the peanut butter to the Minilogue’s marmalade. I think it will play well with others and sit nicely in a mix.
It’s fun to just look at it. Forget about your troubles.
Does the 12V power adapter supplied with the unit come with multiple adapters for US, UK, and EU outlets? I just purchased a unit from the UK, but live in the US.
same here. and speaking of power: if I leave mine in the “on” position at all times, and just power it off via the power strip it’s plugged into, it doesn’t power back on when the strip does. I have to turn the MK’s power switch to off and then on again, but after that it’s fine.
I typically power on/off all of my gear this way, and have never seen any of it function like this. is this happening for anyone else? does Korg have some sort of power safe guard in there?
thanks, I forgot about that. I tried changing the setting to off (was on by default) and it had no effect.
I’m not sure it’s an “issue.” it’s just strange. someone please let me know if yours does it or not, when you get a chance. if I’m alone, I’ll contact Korg to make sure there’s nothing wrong with mine.
not sure about the Monotribe, but the SQ-1 and Volcas have more “soft” power buttons. in that they don’t have any clear state when you look at them; nor do they stay up or down when the machine is on or off. the MK has a giant switch with a huge light and stays where you set it. I love that switch, btw… feels like powering up lab equipment.
a fair point. it would make a great controller for a modular. it does have MIDI out over USB, so you can use it as a master controller with a DAW. guess Korg figured more people would do that…?
I’m using the USB I/O. I route it through my computer to my Cirklon and capture parameter movement and note data there, plus use it to play/program other synths via Cirklon. wouldn’t have to go through the computer if it had a MIDI out port (or once I have the Cirklon V2 with MIDI host ability).
