Saturday, February 11, 2012

Korg Monotribe Review

Click here for an a closer look at the Monotribe's front panel.
A couple months ago I got my hands on the Korg Monotribe, one of the newer members of the Monotron collection.  I figured it would be worth reviewing since it's recently had its software updated.  The Monotribe is basically a rethought version of the Monotron, the single-oscillator analog module, with more features added, including a sequencer for the synth and the added analog drum sounds.  The three drum sounds included are a bass drum, a snare, and a closed hi-hat.  The synth is a single oscillator with selectable waveform (square, saw, and triangle) with the classic Korg MS-20 low pass filter with resonance.  The synth is played by ribbon keyboard, which can be locked into key across an octave, played continuously across an octave, or set to wide mode, which can encompass the entire frequency spectrum of the synth on the ribbon.