End of Year Post
Another year gone. And not much to show for it. Just some new songs. Hopefully someday they will pay off but for now they are just part of my musical education leading me to bigger and better things.
My Korg Monotron Delay arrived and I have to say it is an amazing little synth, mostly for the delay part. It’s very noisy but that actually adds to it’s charm. The noise can be very useful for the delay regeneration effects.
The delay sounds very much like an analog delay probably partly because of the noise (each time it repeats, more noise gets added) but also because the regeneration is after the filter. That means that each time the echo repeats it gets filtered by an amount determined by the setting of the cut-off frequency knob.
So you can have a sound repeating over and over and cause it to sort-of fade out by slowly turning the cut-off knob down. Or you can turn it down and then back up abruptly and have that filter whoosh get echoed over and over.
When I get the Monotron Duo (hopefully soon!) I’ll see if I can do a whole song with just the monotrons.
Also, there are rumours that Korg may be releasing a new mini version of their old, classic synth, the MS-20!! It makes sense since analog is so popular now and they already have half the circuitry they need designed for the monotrons. The only problem is that it looks like it will have a mini keyboard like the Microkorg. That’s a real drag. I’d rather pay an extra $150 or so and have a real keyboard (and maybe a third oscillator!). But if this turns out to be true I’ll definitely get one! So far I’m hearing April 2013.
I’ve also found the problem with the OB-8. This time it’s a broken rectifier (power supply). We’ll replace all of them and a few more caps, hopefully soon.
I’ve started another new song and gotten most of the way through it already. I’ve also got ideas for 2 more (one being the monotron song) so I should get back to it!
In the meantime, here’s a shot of my messy studio as of today, December 31, 2012. I can’t believe it’s already 2013. Time sure flies.
