jimmarchi1's Electronic Synth Setup

bang for buck... and this has THE sound... its gritty and cutting... Its highly playable... deeper features (and even a few standard features) can be a bitch to access which makes live tweaking patches a pain. Still, it sounds great. My favorite CEM synth on a chip synth hands down, sorry prophet 08 and rev2.

FUN! A great little analog sequencer for your CV/Gate analog gear that syncs perfectly to MIDI clock via USB port and provides MIDI out to sync my non-CV/Gate hardware so I can double parts coming off the hardware sequencer. Originally created to go with the DIY MS20 desktop module that flopped, Korg musta made a lot of these because they are basically giving them away now. When I returned my keyboard ARP Odyssey RI to get the module when I heard it was coming out (see my other 2 Odyssey RI reviews) I caught a deal where a few retailers were virtually giving them away as a package with your Odyssey desktop (not a DIY like the MS20 desktop, Korg built it for you) so I went for it. At first I basically ignored this little guy. I tend to PLAY the Odyssey.... but this thing works as a sequencer for any CV synths, so eventually I slapped it into a Moog. I think I've used it with alla my synths now to create some whacked out patterns, sending control voltage to any sections of a synth that have jacks! I really enjoy this little thing. Great for anything from R2D2 noises all the way to vince clark and alan wilder type 'beyond arpegiator' type sequences. Now that I've really gotten going with it I've been enjoying flipping from the forwards-forwards mode over to the far elft up-down, zig-zag mode to fuck with my sequences while wanking filter cutoff or envelope mod around LOL. I started out using this very musically and traditionally but I've rapidly embraced it as a tool for creating burbling, disintegrating mayhem without any additional effects....

You can pretty much guess how this cool little guy is programmed just by looking at the pictures, right? So I will say no more. Very fun, especially if you just set up a pattern randomly and THEN plug it into CV jack on a synth and see what kidna noises it makes.

Are there cooler analog sequencers? You bet, but this does most of what they do and it was free. Its also very easy to program, not unlike an old ARP sequencer with the sliders.... prior to this if I wanted sloppy analog sequencing I had to settle for using my Bassbot to control another synth and the bassbot is a bear to program intelligently just like a real 303. Its also pretty limited compared to this Korg, very linear whereas the Korg will take your music and turn it into something completely new and unexpected if you let it.

I think I got the last one of these from Novation last night. Thanks to the good folks at their artist relation program, by the way. I was able to create sequences, longer patterns of multiple sequences and easily get the sounds I wanted from the synthesizer and mod matrix within about 30 minutes. The manual felt rather arcane before it arrived but with the machine running the learning curve got easier. Its very easy to interface with other gear. I need to ask the Novation team if this guy is discontinued. I took my sweet time getting one from them to review and they may have just dropped the whole product since them. Such a shame. My only gripe is that so far it seems that if you want to use the 2nd note sequencer for another synth then you have to be caution with the use of oscillator 2 because the 2nd sequencer's note data is permanently locked to that sequencer in both modes even though the gate can be triggered strictly from sequencer 1 in mode 1... but maybe I'm not totally figuring the machine out yet. Detailed review coming soon to the equipboard articles section... and Novation needs to make a sequel to this guy if they discontinued it, because this is a wonderful machine. Intuitive and fun with the great sounds of the bass station right on board. I think this is going to be the heart of my live rig, clocking everything and providing Depeche mode basslines when needed. I like this more than the peak for mono and it contends sonically with a lot of my other monos. With the sub engaged its pretty well just as thick as the moog sub phatty if not as wet sounding, and it schools an odyssey for low end. I had a bass station 1 back in the day and they've really stepped up their game, and that synth was no slouch. When I'm enjoying the bass from your unit as much as a minimoog? you done good.

CORRECTION: you can still buy a monostation, novation just ran out of them for a while in 2019 because they're that sweet

I got this well below retail as a black Friday deal. I don't always use sweetwater, but my sweetwater rep really looked out for me this holiday season. Shoutout to Jim Black!

First off, I wish I had gotten the bigger 16 voice. The couple extra features like the compressor I don't miss, however, voice stacking is kinda weak when you go down to 4 voices. For the jump in price though I really wish Korg had added a fully variable high pass and that burned me on sending the $400 extra for the big one.

On to the synth. The main engine is a bread and butter early 80s poly. It falls a bit short of the Jupiter8 having only 1 fitler mode (12db/oct) and 1 LFO. it schools it with wave shaping on each VCO and a nice ring mod in addition to the hard sync option. To my ear the fitler character is Japanese at lower resonance settings, very Yamaha-ish (does a good cs80 impersonation) and as resonance creepy toward 50% it gets oberheimy. This synth has very primitive routing capabilities. Its backward looking in a cool way (most of the time). The analo engine architecture makes me think OBX. Not the OBXA with extra features, but the original OBX. The sound is right there in OB/CS turf. Preset 1 is blade runner brass and its actually really good. Most Vangelis based presets suck. This does not. The synth has THAT sound.

This thing wouldn't have been worth the asking price to me if it weren't for the array of digital options. The user oscillator is genius, although the limited modulation routings mean that each oscillator type is only as good as the internal modulation capabilities programmed by the developer be that Korg or a third party like Mutable Instruments. All that said, the ability to load wavetables (!), various TX81Z like FM oscillators of varying complexity, additive modules and physically modeled plucks etc eally expands the versatility. And you always have that ebating analog heart of the VCOs, filter and VCA to reinforce all that. This is a true hybrid. The stock waveshapes are really analog and the digital oscillator is as versatile as all get out assuming you're willing to drop a few bucks for add-ons that go beyond the freeware options. I have got a lot of cool stuff in my user oscillator right now. Of course, if you need a plain old saw so you can tune one VCO as a sub and detune the other an octave up? The user oscillator can do that. Its a digital saw, but surrounded by all that VCO goodness? Its okay!

The digital effects sound stunning overall and if you want a more analog sound there are 3rd party addons that can provide that. There'ssoem good choruses out there as well as a fixed frequency rng mod, comb filters, you name it. Of course, any digital effect without a mic control is fully digitizing your analog synth, but the conversion is great to my ear and we're all digitizing our stuff when we record into a computer anyway, right?

This synth needs another LFO. Period. It also needs a few more routings for the envelopes. This could be achieved with the shift key. Hopefuly now that all the bugs are worked out in firmware 2.0 korg will see fit to add these features. I'm still docking it a star for the limiting architecture. Limits are good, but a little more deep editing would help me a lot in patch creation. Sorry Prologue, you have a great sound, but when I'm trying to realize a sound I'm imagining using your more modern features I'm wishing the whole time I was using a Peak. Maybe if I buy a Summit I'll be happier with this synth as-is. Its not an apples to apples comparison so I shouldn't make it.

The other reason I dock it a star is because I like windows at home and the midi drivers and patch librarian (which controls transfer of oscillator and effects as well as patches) is very wn10 unfriendly at this time. Its a frustrating process getting it to work and every other time you try to use the USB you wind up having to start from scratch and reinstall, reassign midi ports. I'm sure its better on mac. I'll try it eventually. Then again, macs aren't so USB friendly these days LOL Korg needs to get their shit together in this regard because we all know Microsoft won't. Work AROUND win10 guys... they won't work with you.

The prologue also has a really fast and comfortable keyboard with modern sharp edges to the black keys. You really know what key you're hitting when you perform live on this thing. Like my DSI Mopho, this synth has the modern placement for its pitch and mod wheels and that annoys me, but now that I'm using 2 synths with this arrangement I'm getting used to the wheels being up by the synth engine editing knobbies. It'll cease to bother me in by summer '20 I'm sure.

Al in all I'm really fond of this synthesizer. Out of my current production synths its totally unique. Even used only as an analog poly it really has a totally different voice than my DCO based DSI. Is it a Prophet6 or OB6 killer? No, but neither do those synths beat on this one. They're all nice. Up against the Mopho its softer and more lush, darker, mysterious.... capable of very Japanese sounds from Yamaha to roland that my Mopho struggles with because it has so much presence and punch. Patch creation is a breeze compared to the mopho that ahs layers deep editing if you want it. I would recommend this synth to anyone. Even a beginner can easily start with an init patch and build a great sound with no hassle and minimal shift/menu use. Its a fast synth in every way that is geared towards playing. I would not sell it unless it was to get a 16 voice one.

If you use MIDI and you perform live with multiple controllers and sequencers and various synths, samplers etc? You need this. Gotta distribute clock? bang, this does it. No fuss. Its so plug and play, even sending the midi data to a computer via USB, it just works instantly! Why did they discontinue it? WHY, ROLAND, WHY?!

this synth was fun right out of the box, but with some extra patch cables and some hardware sequencers? damn. It came with enough peripherals to enjoy right in the box, but more is always better, right? It feels like if roland decided to make an ARP2600 clone in the 80s. Its both an instrument and an intimidating sound fx generator... both musical and alien and it bridges the gap between 70s and 80s subtractive sounds perfectly having the cutting power of an Odyssey, a filter that can go from roland to oberheim and a lushness that makes me think mono Jupiter. I'm absolutely in love with this thing and I own a lot of synths. It feels awfully sturdy for a Behringer product. The value for dollar is insane. Expect an extended review with demos published on Equipboard soon.

this is my wildcard for single line parts, its so weird