Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Wutz muzik?

£169, £192, $300 or anything in that ball park for an analog Synth/Sequencer/Drum Machine combo is very cheap in my opinion. We should be happy that a major player has come up with something this cool for a decent price.

No midi, sequencer is only 8 steps, drums can not be edited, synth can only be played via stylophone style ribbon. $300 is way too much. This thing is worth about twice as much as the Monotron, $150 tops. If the drums could actually be edited and it had 16 steps I think it would be a cool piece.

The reason I am holding my breath over price is that I really don't need the Monotribe. I have other gear that does pretty much what it does close enough. Price will dictate whether I splurge on it or not. And I have a feeling that's pretty much where a lot of us will be on it. But I'm pretty confident that it will be sub-$300. I would be surprised if Korg hasn't take this into consideration too.

It's 200€ in Germany. Why no MIDI? The drum sounds are not editable? I thought that those sounds are coming from the synth so you can create cool and weird stuff with it. Otherwise the whole thing wouldn't make any sense at all.

supermel74 wrote:No midi, sequencer is only 8 steps, drums can not be edited, synth can only be played via stylophone style ribbon. $300 is way too much. This thing is worth about twice as much as the Monotron, $150 tops. If the drums could actually be edited and it had 16 steps I think it would be a cool piece.

The sequencer is 16 steps, read the thread. (page 20 if you need a pointer)

Stab Frenzy wrote:The sequencer is 16 steps, read the thread. (page 20 if you need a pointer)

From looking at the link that info was taken from, I think only the drums are confirmed as 16 steps right now, and in one of the video demos I remember hearing what sounded like 32nd note hi-hats against an 8-step synth part, so it could end up being an 8 x 16th note synth seq and a 16 x 32nd note drum seq or something.

It would be a little weird if they omitted the second set of "in-between" steps from the synth part, but I could see them reasoning it away as being too confusing since there is pitch data wheras drums are strictly "it plays or it doesn't" - not necessarily something I agree with, just sayin.

i think Korg have a major hit on their hands and am glad they are listening!
and it's just one more blip in the MASSIVE analog market today....we are unbelievably spoiled-for-choice nowdays, and at FAR better prices than ever (barring a 2-5 yr anomaly in late 80's that isn't going to happen ever again)

way too many people wrote:$300 is way too much.

this is why VSE is lamer and lamer these days
'the world owes me a free analog... that does everything'
this forum used to be a paradise for enthusiasts; now it's but a dried-up husk of a memory.

Psy_Free wrote:£169, £192, $300 or anything in that ball park for an analog Synth/Sequencer/Drum Machine combo is very cheap in my opinion. We should be happy that a major player has come up with something this cool for a decent price.

no kidding.
and to think, you can spend over double that for a single oscillator .... many people do; and they are neither stupid nor rich.
Like it or not, you must pay good$ for quality - or quality goes bye-bye eventually; inevetably.

shaft9000 wrote:

way too many people wrote:$300 is way too much.

this is why VSE is lamer and lamer these days
'the world owes me a free analog... that does everything'
this forum used to be a paradise for enthusiasts; now it's but a dried-up husk of a memory...

Exactly. What the f**k has happened to this place? It really is getting bad lately. I wonder, If Korg actually did it, how many of you guys complaining about this really would buy a new MS-20? Cause you know something, I'd say next to none.

Seriously guys how about you go and make some music? Instead of coming here and complaining everything is too expensive, cause take it from someone who knows, that is only going to get your music precisly nowhere.

shaft9000 wrote:i think Korg have a major hit on their hands and am glad they are listening!
and it's just one more blip in the MASSIVE analog market today....we are unbelievably spoiled-for-choice nowdays, and at FAR better prices than ever (barring a 2-5 yr anomaly in late 80's that isn't going to happen ever again)

way too many people wrote:$300 is way too much.

this is why VSE is lamer and lamer these days
'the world owes me a free analog... that does everything'
this forum used to be a paradise for enthusiasts; now it's but a dried-up husk of a memory.

Go to Muffwiggler... they enthuse over everything to a nauseating degree, and everything's always a "reasonable" price

Anyways, I agree with your sentiment - if $300 is breaking your bank, you probably can't afford one for $250 either. After considering plonking down $2k on an ancient polysynth (or a new one for that matter), $2-300 for a NEW product will seem like peanuts.

Yeah, same with once you get a modular going. I've been looking at getting a $650 Cwejman VCA, that makes you realise that a $300 analogue synth is cheap.

no intellijel HexVCAs in Oz?

my sympathies, Stabs - you guys get sooo hosed on import price-hikes and availability.

if it were feasible and saves you cash somehow, I'd be happy to buy something(s) for you here and ship it over; proxy

shaft9000 wrote:i think Korg have a major hit on their hands and am glad they are listening!
and it's just one more blip in the MASSIVE analog market today....we are unbelievably spoiled-for-choice nowdays, and at FAR better prices than ever (barring a 2-5 yr anomaly in late 80's that isn't going to happen ever again)

way too many people wrote:$300 is way too much.

this is why VSE is lamer and lamer these days
'the world owes me a free analog... that does everything'
this forum used to be a paradise for enthusiasts; now it's but a dried-up husk of a memory.

Psy_Free wrote:£169, £192, $300 or anything in that ball park for an analog Synth/Sequencer/Drum Machine combo is very cheap in my opinion. We should be happy that a major player has come up with something this cool for a decent price.

no kidding.
and to think, you can spend over double that for a single oscillator .... many people do; and they are neither stupid nor rich.
Like it or not, you must pay good$ for quality - or quality goes bye-bye eventually; inevetably.

That's a great argument. But for some reason I feel like $225 is the limit for something like this personally for me. I wouldn't have second thoughts spending around $2000 for an updated MS-20 with modern day features like MIDI etc, or a Dotcom Portable-22 for $2550. So at least for me, it's not a linear response to price points. I'm totally willing to pay extra bucks for something if it fits my needs since developing analog this day and age can't be taken for granted. I can't speak for others, but my price limit for the Monotribe is dictated by its specific features. Like I would have preferred they put in more synth features like ADSR or patch points, rather than a sequencer.

shaft9000 wrote:no intellijel HexVCAs in Oz?

my sympathies, Stabs - you guys get sooo hosed on import price-hikes and availability.

if it were feasible and saves you cash somehow, I'd be happy to buy something(s) for you here and ship it over; proxy

Actually a fair bit of stuff is available here cheaper than in the US, the Australian dollar is really strong at the moment. TipTop stuff is cheaper here than anywhere else in the world thanks to the local distributor, also any European stuff I want I buy from Schneidersladen which works out really cheap due to not having to pay EU VAT. We only need to pay import duty on things over $1000, so I keep all orders under that.

edit: OK, just saw the HexVCA and Mutagen, might have to invest...

Hair wrote:

Stab Frenzy wrote:The sequencer is 16 steps, read the thread. (page 20 if you need a pointer)

From looking at the link that info was taken from, I think only the drums are confirmed as 16 steps right now, and in one of the video demos I remember hearing what sounded like 32nd note hi-hats against an 8-step synth part, so it could end up being an 8 x 16th note synth seq and a 16 x 32nd note drum seq or something.

It would be a little weird if they omitted the second set of "in-between" steps from the synth part, but I could see them reasoning it away as being too confusing since there is pitch data wheras drums are strictly "it plays or it doesn't" - not necessarily something I agree with, just sayin.

It's that way because the synth is programed from the ribbon controller and the drums are sequenced with the buttons. If flux is off, theres no note quantization so you can record/play notes inbetween the steps. I imagine for decent precision one would be laying down a 16 step hat real quick, dropping the tempo way down then recording the synth part and return the speed back to normal afterwards.

Anyways, I'm just going to stop thinkin about it till the actual product is released..