Korg Monologue

I can look after them for you :sunglasses:

:slight_smile: Thank you! I was very happy to find them.

Enjoyed this demo

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Having had a few days with it, I can say that it really is tremendous value for money. I got it for 263ā‚¬ and spend some 30ā‚¬ on the damn power adapter (I know, could have been cheaper, but I am risk averse and will not use third party equipment). There currently are a lot of (analogue) monosynths around, but the combo of a good sunding monosynth with a really good sequencer can be had in the form of the Novation Mono Station for 468ā‚¬, the Toraiz AS-1 for 473ā‚¬ or the Dominion Club MFB for 519ā‚¬. All 50% more expensive and each with its own drawbacks.

The Monologue is a little acid, bass and lead machine, but the sequencer is the real star. Not only as a composition tool - creating sequences from scartch is a joy - but more importantly as a performance tool. You can mutate and change alle sequences on the fly by muting steps and motion sequences; the sequencer can be played like an instrument, something I could not get myself to on the A4 as easily.

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When I sync my monologue to my Octatrack2 using midi clock, monologue seems to lag by a few noticeable milliseconds behind the master. Itā€™s almost as if the start command is slow to respond. If I send it notes from the OT the timing is tight (as are my other synths). If I sample the output and trim those milliseconds off the front timing is bang on. Itā€™s really annoying as itā€™s only the monologue doing it.

Iā€™m sure it may not bother some but it drives me crazy.

This is an obvious but useful Monologue tip. To my ear certain other synths have a richer sounding midrange and sometimes I wish the monologue could be more full in the mids. Not much luck with EQ.

Today I ran it through a blues overdrive pedal I think (sweet cream) and it voiced the whole synth with a new focus centered on saturated mids. It wasnā€™t very much distorted either. Awesome. Mission accomplished. Ive used distortion pedals on synths in the past but most were more rock or metal focused rather than smooth saturated blues pedals. A mellow jazz or blues overdrive on a monosynth is not something I had tried before. Itā€™s not a million miles away from the sound of tape to my ear and yeah I like it when things work.

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My first track with basically only a Monologue and a Kick drum. All recorded into Ableton, then arrange and FX - space echo and some reverbs.

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cool trackā€¦ wrong thread?

No, just a typo :wink:

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How do you guys use the sequencer without things getting monotonous since you canā€™t really change from one sequence to another musically and in time, unless you stop the sequence and start another. A shame since one of the main selling points of this synth is the sequencer.

Should I just use a MIDI track from my Octatrack to the Monologue and not use the Monologueā€™s sequencer? I can still run the motion sequencer on the Monologue though without activating any of the notes. Am I really missing anything by not using the Monologueā€™s sequencer for notes?

Hm, let me test this on my Monologue this weekend.

I guess that is one disadvantage of a sequence pattern being part of a patch instead of maintaining patterns in a separate location. Might be able to have an external sequence send MIDI Program Change, immediately followed by MIDI Clock or whatever MIDI command it is to trigger the next pattern.

I guess I can just create three patches (with sequences) and have the middle one be like the starting sequence/patch and then turn the program knob left or right so it goes to the next sequence/patch in time since the sequencer is always running when turning the knob (as opposed to it starting and stopping). That gives me some variety in that respect for live play.

@bradleyallen Yeah totally agree that the motion sequencer and the ability to turn off/on the steps so easily gives a lot of variety. It is such a fun synth to use. Where I start with and where I end up with that synth is a wild ride each time I sit down with it.

Try using the slow LFO and motion sequencing the rate so that at some steps itā€™s as slow as possible (stopped, I think). The LFO will land on a different value at the stopped steps every iteration of the sequence, so it will sound different every time.

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Nice track !

A way around the limitations of the build in sequencer is the very complete Midi implementation. Every parameter you can think of is accessible through Midi CCs, and I am having great fun to control the Monologue via Midi from external probabilistic sources, such as Reaktor ensembles. I use the internal one mainly for sketching ideas now.

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You mean like this:

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I do something similar but with a Minifooger delay. The analog drive on that pedal really fattens up the sound on the monologue.

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I wonder if he tried the built-in overdrive first.

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I might have to check out that pedal. Was interested in the MF Drive but if the MF Delay has a drive anyway, I might look into it (or get both :slight_smile:). Never got along with the Monologueā€™s drive. Too distorted for me.

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I have a MF Drive but I donā€™t like it as much as the MF Delay. Colors the sound in a way I donā€™t like and removes the bass. I think Monologueā€™s built in drive works very well with the MF Delay. I donā€™t like the Monologueā€™s Drive by itself but it seems to be transformed (if used sparingly) with the MF Delay. My two cents.

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