what do you think compare to an Avalon or a 303?
Different synths. The original 303 had only one oscillator, for one thing.
If your real question is whether you can use it for acid house, yeah it sounds pretty good for that.
I had a dream recently that I was suddenly on tour as keyboard player for Kid Rock. All I brought was my blue Monologue and a Volca Bass. In the dream I thought “ah, I’ll just set things up myself like I’ve always done” and, naturally, caused the whole show to be delayed as we could never find the right cables for things and I was freaked out because the batteries on the Volca were running low… 
The dream did cause me to break out the Monologue which has been set aside for a while. I forgot how fun it can be.
3 Likes
It’s closer to a SH-101 IMO.
I haven’t really tried to make acid house with my Monologue, but others have put up acid sounding demos.
thanks
I’d have thought the main selling point was the fact that it’s analogue and absurdly cheap. That’s why I bought one, anyway. The sequencer was just a bonus, albeit a surprisingly useful one. Korg would be idiots to put any more effort into it, though, given that it’s monophonic and, therefore, unable to play more than one part.
I only ever used the sequencer on one song. Everywhere else, and to stop “things getting monotonous”, I did this amazing thing called “playing”, which is a method whereby you use your fingers on the black and white keys to trigger notes. It’s brilliant, you should try it sometime.
I also used the motion sequencer as an extra bank of LFOs, which is what really makes the sequencer useful. You can latch it to note events and have it transpose with the notes you play, so it’s really as many patterns as you want it to be. You need to think of it as a programmable arpeggiator, not as a replacement for Cubase.
4 Likes
I heard about this. Can’t say that I can get my head around the idea, and not being my cuppa of tea anyway, but if you people really feel like it, go for it. Me, I went into electronic music not to be burdened by complex concepts like “playing”, or come to think about it, practicing.
5 Likes
Thanks for the LOLs there, guys.
The sequencer, while useful for sketching out ideas, is probably strongest as a super-LFO - it’s like 4 lanes of modulation, each to a different source, and it can go from as slow as 10 bpm to pretty fast.
So if you’re exploiting the sequencer that way, you’ll probably want to use an external sequencer to play more “complete” tunes or whatever with your Monologue. It should respond to MIDI program change, MIDI clock ,etc.
More thoughts about 303 stuff, I have a Bassbot TT-303 - the first-gen version that looks more like the Roland. I’ve never programmed a sequence on it. Apparently the Roland was notoriously difficult to program and this one isn’t much easier. I just pick one of the patterns and work off of that - if I need more I’ll just use the auto-generation feature.
The Avalon costs nearly $1000 and I’m not enough of an acid head to spend that much money on a machine that looks pretty specialized I guess if it’s your main thing, it might be worth it. The filter cartridge thing looks kind of neat.
The Monologue has an easy-to-use sequencer and delivers a lot of synth for the money.
2 Likes
Since I had my weird “playing Monologue on tour with Kid Rock” dream, I decided to get my Monologue out again. It’s sat to the side as I just have too much stuff in too small of a space. And to be honest, it was back on the ‘maybe get rid of…’ pile. But it’s back in the ‘keep’ stack. I’ve got a new appreciation for it. I’ve tried to simplify some of my sound design on it and I’ve got a renewed appreciation for the synth.
I also got over my stupid fear of overwriting the presets and have a really good sound of my own load up as sound 001 and that really increases the playability factor. It’s the kind of sound that mostly overwrites the weird SH-01A desires I’ve had. Now I’m cooking up some new Machinedrum-Monologue-Digitone? ideas.
1 Like
Don’t forget about the new Monologue patches from Korg: Sound Packs vol.1 “Electronic score and Retrocade.” A few are pretty good.
1 Like
Hi there!
I design some patches for Monologue, if anyone is interested:
you can listen to every patch before purchased so you know what you buy
If not interested, please disregard this post, thanx.
1 Like
To be honest, I’ve only created two patches so far on the Monologue - a velocity-sensitive bass patch, and a drone patch. I’ve used it a lot more as a controller for iPad apps. But I intend to get more into the microtuning stuff at some point.
I was wondering if the monologue can give a thick, solid signal down to the 30hz range. Currently I’m using the digitakt for sound design in that range, and while it’s capable, it’s pretty fiddly getting from a to b.
I know the minitaur is an option, but I was hoping to use a triangle base and be able to mix in some folded waves for texture.
Any advice would be appreciated.
1 Like
Heads up, now seems a good opportunity to pick up a Monologue, you get a free Volca Kick during September. Only U.S though 
That’s a combo that will delivery deep, PHAT bass for sure, if the Monologue by itself isn’t enough. 
Has anyone got a tip/trick on how to shift (nudge) the sequencer notes left and right? (similar to funct+arrow in record mode on Elektrons)
I recorded a great jam the other day I am trying to recreate into a track and the Monologue was 7 steps off sync with my other sequencers, somehow
I’ve read a bit about program change and slaving a Monologue but I’m not sure if I can have my Rytm as a master, and the Korg to follow the program change of the Drum Machine.
Like, if I play A1 on the Rytm, will the Monologue will plays his 01 pattern, and then jump to 02 when the Rytm will plays A2 ?
I get that, and now I realize that I knew the answer to my question.
I use program change with my Rytm/A4 and in that case, it’s easy because each units has 128 patterns. The monologue only have 100 patterns, so I guess the last 28 change will not be understand but it should be good for the first 100.
Thanks !
2 Likes