Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

If something is easy to mod, and only adds function, then a modding i go!

Automatic Gainsay wrote: I confess that while I understand the motivation to mod, I simply cannot grasp the motivation of buying a new device at full retail so you can change it.

I often find it bemusing that people on guitar forums often want to know what kind of pickups etc. they should buy for a new guitar before they've even played it, including very expensive instruments.

th0mas wrote:

Automatic Gainsay wrote:Yeah, cuz a good product is one that isn't what I want until I have to modify it myself.

I realize I'm not necessarily speaking for the masses but

I'd rather spend the hours myself to mod it than the price+markup for the added parts and engineering built in. to a certain extent, anyways

Well, yes... if a person is a person who has great electronics skill, and buying the thing new allows them the situation you're describing, I understand that completely. If the engineering is stuff you can't do or don't have, but you can modify it, then that makes sense to even me.

Whether is modable or not really a selling point for me (it will be a bonus however). The fact that is is a cheap, modern analog mono-synth with unique features definitely is.

Think of it as a relatively cheap platform sold with the potential for easy modding designed in. They give us a decent basic feature set, make it real analog, good filter, fun to use as it is, and they also give us schematics and internal patch points for modding ease. If they released the source code for the sequencer and had a port on the board for flashing the micro with new code, it would take this concept to the next level.

This makes it attractive to a whole other audience, the hackers/benders/electronics nerd guys. So yeah, analog vintage eletists, not so much. Gigging musicians, not really. Bedrooom analog tweakers - h**l yeah. Hipster electro jammers, yep. Circuit bending granola tweakers - yep. People who want to get their kids into electronic music with room to expand? -NICE!

peace
~Steve

revtor wrote:Think of it as a relatively cheap platform sold with the potential for easy modding designed in. They give us a decent basic feature set, make it real analog, good filter, fun to use as it is, and they also give us schematics and internal patch points for modding ease. If they released the source code for the sequencer and had a port on the board for flashing the micro with new code, it would take this concept to the next level.

This makes it attractive to a whole other audience, the hackers/benders/electronics nerd guys. So yeah, analog vintage eletists, not so much. Gigging musicians, not really. Bedrooom analog tweakers - h**l yeah. Hipster electro jammers, yep. Circuit bending granola tweakers - yep. People who want to get their kids into electronic music with room to expand? -NICE!

peace
~Steve

I have to say that even if I have no interest in the the modding and hacking aspect of synths, it's very much in the spirit of the times (open source programmers, bedroom artists, etc.). Synths are kind of the new guitars now and it's about time that someone come up with the new equivalent of what people like Hendrix and Link Wray championed -- stuff like distortion, fuzz, that kind of thing. It's just too bad that so many synth modders/benders are just after pure noise and not really conventional musicality. Maybe the last real experimental movement that made a big musical dent was the IDM/glitch era in 2000-2004'ish. Aside from that, you have to go back to the 80's to turntablism, which if you think about it, is the only real musical innovation in the 80s that was bred from a hack technique that the device was never designed to do. Absolute genius.

Anyway, I'm totally pro modding and hacking... if there is a chance that a new genre or musical technique can be created from it.

Check this out:
50 Years of Making Fuzz, the Sound That Defines Rock 'n' Roll -- A look at the evolution of the technologies that give rock its signature sound

It does seem that a lot of the modern 'hacks' are just in the pursuit of noise etc

I think one part of that is that a large amount of 'musicians' aren't interested in any form of, or aren't skilled in form of playing or physical manipulation.

Probably due to computers and the 'ease' of sequencing, or those who are mainly interested in electronics. The funny thing about the monotribe is that I didn't expect it to have any kind of melodic ability. I thought it would be aimed at the whole bleep and noise crowd for the most part.

You gotta remember in all of this, that the electribe series is popular due to the highly acrobatic interface... When friends come over to play, I pull out the electribe due to the fact I can actually jam out beats with some fluency... muting, tweaking, changing...

I think the monotribe will be great for this, as far as instant (and simple) beat/bass dropping goes...

Its like the ukulele of groove boxes... and Im sure will find its place...

yeah... the ukelele of groove boxes.. thats it! hahahaha its going to be a fun box for sure. hackers might be into noise because for the most part with circuit bending at least, thats half of what you get. perhaps this will open a few new doors for the masses. ? This would be fun to sync with a U create. gotta figure out how to get a clock out of that thing...

I suggest to Korg to release it at $1200, so some people won't complaint about Korg releasing toys.

I had great fun on all Electribe models. Their simplicity means inmediacy. You can put your dance ideas on them very fast. They have their cons and contras, but they will always be a good value for your money if you are into dance music.

BTW, I even feel certain admiration and gratitude with Korg´s attitude as a synth company. I have this monotribe on target right now

More info has been verified on the Korg forum's via a floor rep that got some futher time with it. I've summed it up and some other details here : http://www.lazytrap.com/?p=277

Some of the more interesting stuff that hasn't been mentioned most places yet, but verified:

Each step can hold 2 notes/hits. This is done by holding down the part button to reveal the additional layer. When a second note is on a step, the led for that step blinks twice.

Active step works like a traditional sequencer,.. it doesnt mute the step, but skips over it entirely.

Flux isn't just turning off note-quantization, it also turns LFO beat-sync on/off.

One pattern can be stored in memory and is recalled on power-up.

IMO, Active step + the double step feature can mean alot of fun/creativity. I can already imagine having 2 8 step patterns by turning 4 steps off, 4 on, and flipping between them, etc. Anyways, I was very happy to hear all of this.. can't wait to pick one up personally..

Record only works on the Ribbon controller + Octave switch.

mute wrote:Each step can hold 2 notes/hits. This is done by holding down the part button to reveal the additional layer. When a second note is on a step, the led for that step blinks twice.

Active step works like a traditional sequencer,.. it doesnt mute the step, but skips over it entirely.

Flux isn't just turning off note-quantization, it also turns LFO beat-sync on/off.

One pattern can be stored in memory and is recalled on power-up.

IMO, Active step + the double step feature can mean alot of fun/creativity. I can already imagine having 2 8 step patterns by turning 4 steps off, 4 on, and flipping between them, etc. Anyways, I was very happy to hear all of this.. can't wait to pick one up personally..

Record only works on the Ribbon controller + Octave switch.

I like all of those things, and I like the sound. Will be picking one (or two) up for my trip to Europe in May.

Stab Frenzy wrote:I like all of those things, and I like the sound. Will be picking one (or two) up for my trip to Europe in May.

Me too. (apart from the trip to Europe bit).

I should hopefully be able to get a couple in June.

I think the only thing it's missing is a separate output for the drums. Unless I've missed something...

But WHEN will it be available is the question.