Korg Monotron Duo Dual Oscillator Ribbon Synthesizer, Duo Dual Analog Oscillators, Built-in Speaker

2023-07-02T17:16:31

The Korg Monotron Duo is a super fun synth and for the money it sounds fantastic. The controls are limited but what really comes across here is the combination of Korg's legendary MS20 filter with the x-mod from their MonoPoly synth. The oscillators are fixed to square waveforms but so much sonic territory is covered with the interplay of their respective independent pitch setting and the x-mod control. I used this to program a custom sample library and found a great range of beefy analog tones that I have been going to for inspiration. I didn't use the Monotron Duo in this way but it does have a filter-in which could be fun for applying the MS20 filter to external sounds. I would say that it is limited as a straight performance piece but the ability to create samples for use in a DAW or hardware sampler is really unmatched for analog tones at this price point.

Tom N.

2016-11-15T02:40:30

Fun Little Palm-sized toy. You can get a lot of old school synth space-effects out of it. The keyboard ribbon isn't calibrated to any specific notes but it has a full multi-octave range. Good for sounds but not specific notes. All the functions work.

David T.