Gear lust

[mks]

I have heard some comments about the build quality of the ms-20 mini, but most of the reviews have been positive.

It's just with the MiniTaur coming in at $499, I'm thinking I just save up an extra 100 bucks for the ms-20 mini.

Videos like this are convincing me to do so. This is on an original ms-20:



If the ms-20 mini is really specced out to the original ms-20, just slightly smaller, with 1/8 " jacks instead of 1/4" and midi capability, then this is pretty tempting.

[nowaysj]

Jesus, that is beautiful.

[mks]

I also know, I would do some naughty naughty things with that mintaur.

I think I'm heading towards the ms-20 mini now though.

[knobgoblin]

The Minitaur does the moog bass thing well, but not much beyond that. Simple sounds done well. I haven't played with the new ms20's, but other than the mini keys what makes them feel toy like?

@MKS: yeah I've a decent sized euro rack system, but most of it is from before the eurorack explosion, so it's mostly doepfer and some plan B stuff I built for myself when I worked for them.

[cyclopian]

fuck you mks, I had just about convinced myself i don't want an ms 20

gas relapse

[wolf89]

I've got an MS20. Not the mini either so I don't have the mini so it's not ridiculously small too.

They are really that good.

[nowaysj]

[nowaysj]

[wolf89]

Thing with those types of comparisons is for one the old ones actually sound really pretty different from unit to unit in my experience and secondly they're not using them how you'd actually use them musically. I'm sure you can match them sonically a lot easier than the idea of "the settings look the same so it is". I also found the sound on sound review a lot more interesting as it seemed to be more about whether or not the two can do the same thing sonically (including the quirks of the MS20 that aren't actually particularly intentional) instead of just playing plain waves and turning the filter up and down for a couple minutes on video with approximated "Identical" settings. I mean with something like the MS20 the slightest differences on settings can make a huge difference to the sound and the weird things the filters do is one of the main draws. In all honesty I'd probably say that what one can do the other can do. I'm not at all fond of the Mini in terms of the dinky little toy like feeling of the mini MS20 at all. It feels cheap and horrible but if I hadn't already bought an original years before the mini was announced I would have bought the mini instead for sure. The price difference would have been too huge for me to justify it. I do wonder if the sheer noisyness of my original is part of its age though sometimes.

[nowaysj]

I have an ear for life, I just don't hear the same life out of the mini. It is dope, don't get me wrong. I certainly could put it to use. But all of those old korgs, ms 20, poly six, monopoly, poly 61, they all are just rawly alive. The mini from what little I know of it, just lacks that depth of rawness, like you say that quirky interaction in the filter. It is still kind of there, but it is not as deep and rich. From what I can tell from youtube videos. I've never laid hands on either, so what do I know?

[wolf89]

I have an ear for life, I just don't hear the same life out of the mini. It is dope, don't get me wrong. I certainly could put it to use. But all of those old korgs, ms 20, poly six, monopoly, poly 61, they all are just rawly alive. The mini from what little I know of it, just lacks that depth of rawness, like you say that quirky interaction in the filter. It is still kind of there, but it is not as deep and rich. From what I can tell from youtube videos. I've never laid hands on either, so what do I know?

Yeah see that was what my initial impression was when comparing the mini to my own original. However I was worried that may have been just my own bias with regards to what I owned so tried to think of player differences and how the sounds were being compared with regards to the approach to attempted likeness. Then reading reviews such as the sound on sound seemed to back up the idea that they were capable of sounding the same. However every time I mess about with my MS20 I get some crazy shit out of it it does things that I think it logically shouldn't be doing sound wise and I have to think about how my (admittedly limited) experience with the mini and all the videos I've seen them in haven't really hasn't ever shown me moments quite like that.

[_ronzlo_]

There are variances from unit to unit, as with guitars. We're trained to think "these are electronic so they must be much more precise because it's electronic. "

It's simply not true. The model year, factory of origin, whether it was made on a Friday or Monday - all can influence the final result where something was made on an assembly line. My Poly 800 sounds better than other 800's I've played in stores without a doubt, and is in better condition to boot. Every time I hit a chord you instantly hear all those eighties tracks that used it... The Jets, Shalimar, DeBarge...

[nowaysj]

just missed an 800, maybe you dont talk about that right now.

[knobgoblin]

I hope the new ones sound decent enough, cause a I want one of the new ms20m's to patch with my old one for ultimate ms-ex. From the demos I've heard on YouTube it really sounds like an ms20 a lot more than any of the countless ms20 filter clones out there, but then again, that's YouTube

[nowaysj]

KG, what is the price of that kit, and what skill level is it.

Could you link them up and make a four note poly?

========


Picked up another dbx 163x. Now I got sterereo.

Think I may tweak these guys a bit. Gotta check the price of the that chip that upgrades these things.

[knobgoblin]

Don't remember the price off the top of my head. $900ish maybe? Anyway, looks super easy to assemble. No soldering, just screwing things together and connecting ribbon cable to interface the various completed circuit boards. I bet it would take an hour or so to bolt together

[knobgoblin]

It would take an external box or software to do the proper note sorting, but yeah you could make a poly ms20 that way. Honestly, with everyone clamoring for analog poly synths recently, korg should just hurry up and make a 4 voice Version and call it the MS-24. They seem like they've gotten their manufacturing of the ms20 voice down to a degree where such a thing wouldn't be too hard.

[mks]

What kit are you guys talking about?

[mks]

It would take an external box or software to do the proper note sorting, but yeah you could make a poly ms20 that way. Honestly, with everyone clamoring for analog poly synths recently, korg should just hurry up and make a 4 voice Version and call it the MS-24. They seem like they've gotten their manufacturing of the ms20 voice down to a degree where such a thing wouldn't be too hard.

For an analog polysynth, just look at my avatar. From back when Roland was still making decent bits of gear.

[knobgoblin]

I'm on a phone so I can't see avatars, but I assume mks80? Too bad the programmers for those things were as expensive as the synth itself.

At least now we know Roland is getting tooled up to make analog stuff again, hopefully they make a full analog poly. That jdxi thing seems like a joke. The PCM stuff sounded terrible in the demo I heard. But at least there's 128 voices...