Monotron Delay Analog Ribbon Synthesizer

The Monotron Delay is tremendous fun, and I use it in a lot of different ways. It's great to throw in my purse and noodle around on when I have time -- it takes up almost no space, which is perfect. It's great to add as an FX instrument when I jam -- it gives great sci fi or other kinds of sounds to add to a mix, and adds something really distinctive. And it's great to use as a small, affordable delay effect to add to an instrument -- especially something like a Volca or something similar where the instrument's portable and you're already using a 1/8" jack, where it's going to be easier to deal with than a pedal effect. One good/bad thing depending on what you want is that the delay isn't a pristine digital effect -- there's some grittiness there and higher pitches will die off over time instead of being perfectly preserved. But this is pretty much by design -- perfect digital effects are available in many places if you want them, and this is intended to have a distinctive sound more like an old tape delay. I'm certainly not an expert in all the things this can do, but if you're not used to playing around with delay effects, it's pretty versatile. You can just put a decaying echo after everything, or you can turn up the feedback until it repeats everything rhythmically over time. Which is to say, you can use it as a sort of looper, though the high end will decay before long. If you can dial in sounds you like, you can even turn it into a weird sort of drum machine, repeating percussive sounds per measure or per quarter note, depending on the time interval you set. Also, like a tape delay, you can mess with the pitch as it's repeating by twisting the time knob, which yields some cool effects depending on what you're repeating. In my opinion, this is the best pocket instrument out there.

I had low expectations from the start, about a cheap plastic toy that I expected to use on one recording, and then give it to a kid or something... BUT, I was so wrong ! The first time I played it, I couldn't put it down for hours...buy the suggested power adapter for $7...it will put out what you care to put into it ! I went for "scary" analog noises first.I found a crackly moaning loop on the first try-which was EXACTLY WHAT I was looking for.I then turned back the looper a bit, to activate the theremin-there was my favorite creepy ,windy graveyard(you gotta keep turning knobs, or it can become thin and repetitive). It has limitless overdubbing capability, so knock yourself out- you really can't go wrong- the looper is powerful.. it can overpower the unit, so just remember ,"the last button IS the crazy-button"... it can turn a loop into grainy feedback-which is cool for shocking jolts of sound;Its the best of the cheap units...you cannot beat it even for the next more expensive one-the "dual has no delay ! no fun...get this cool one with the cool artwork; RUN IT THROUGH A 200 WATT ORANGE AMP, AND YOU MIGHT FORGET ABOUT YOUR GUITAR !-YOU DO NEED 1/8" TO 1/4" 10' CORD... AND SADLY, MY 1/8 HEADPHONE OUT BROKE, SO IT MUST BE REPLACED ALREADY. BUT i'LL BUY 10 ! THEY SOUND LIKE A ROLAND SH-1 FROM THE EIGHTIES ! CLASSIC !...BECOME A MUSICIAN IN 5 MINUTES; If you already know what the basic knobs are for, you learn pretty fast, that the two last knobs will be your "hands-on" control to get machine quality industrial feedback, you can expand the width of the waves(it has shark's tooth, and square, but you can't tell much at all...the flashing speed button looks cool, but its more for looks-I just use it as a flashing light most of the time, because it doesn't make strong rhythmic beats, its a lead instrument, or it can be a creepy background of whooshing, robot noises, helicopters, spaceships(well, use a little imagination !)it can sound like a $400 Roland...it has no presets... but for any live performance, it could be a MAIN INSTRUMENT-BUY AT LEAST TWO,IN CASE THE 1/8 HEADPHONE JACK BREAKS...MINE WAS NEVER JERKED OR ABUSED, IT JUST CRAPPED OUT ! but for $50, who cares-the speaker still works... give it to a child to learn on, and then let him play the good one through the 200 watt amp ! 200 watts makes most things sound pretty good, but this is INCREDIBLY USEFUL...OUR BAND CONSISTS OF A MONOTRON, A MONOTRIBE(GREAT FOR A DRUM-BEAT-BUT MUCH MORE FUN THAN DRUMS,SONICALLY) AND A GUITAR THROUGH A SYNTH PEDAL... 3 PEOPLE TWISTING KNOBS.... ITS THE BASIC BAND OF THE FUTURE !

Small, travels great to anywhere. But that's not why your reading this. This little gem sounds great, delving into cool retro synth sounds. Using it doesn't require a massive knowledge of synthesizers. It's so incredibly fun. I own to 2 as a strange matter of fact. I did some left field work recording both on separate tracks, bounced them down and layered more. This is a great thing to have. The value is perfect for this kind of thing so get it now. ..............Donnie P

I am a sucker: I got the Monotron when it came out, liked it, got the Monotribe, loved it, bought the other two 'trons last week and spent hours twiddling with them. Each one does something slightly different. The Delay is probably the least "musical" of the trio. Its ribbon controller range is permanently set to "wide" which is something like 4 or maybe 6 octaves, so the keyboard printed on the ribbon is meaningless except as a sort of visual landmark. You can play theremin-like glides on it with ease. The oscillator puts out a sawtooth wave just like the original Monotron, and the LFO modulates the pitch, just like in PITCH mode on the original Monotron. The switch on this unit toggles the LFO between triangle and square waves, and the trim screw in the back adjusts the "duty" of the wave form, which seems to move the wave peak back and forth in relation to its trough (think pulse wave modulation for square wave). The LFO does not trigger with note-on, so if you are using any modulation, it means you will never hit the same note twice. The oscillator section is not the important part of this unit. The wide ribbon range and wacky pitch modulation make it extremely difficult to play as a standard synth. I also noticed that this unit is far noisier than the other Monotrons ... however, its significant circuit hiss is vital. The oscillator and the noise are there to provide raw material for the filter & delay. Continuing across the panel to the right, we have another iteration of the MS-20 filter (this one without a resonance control however; just cutoff), and then a Delay section with controls for Time and Feedback. Time, obviously, controls the delay rate. Turning this knob will warp & pitch-shift sounds currently looping in the delay circuit. Feedback controls the amount of the delay signal that is returned to the delay input. Turn this up, and the sound gradually multiplies & morphs into thunderous static and howls, akin to the "controlled feedback" of an overdriven guitar amp. The circuit noise coming from the oscillator will cause the delay to self-oscillate at high feedback settings. Then you can adjust the Time and Cutoff knobs to vary the pitch, producing unworldly electronic hoots & growls that build and then fade. The results are not very "musical" as I said, but these barely-controllable sounds are fascinating to listen to. I spent more time playing with this unit than with any of the others.

The Korg monitron delay analog ribbon synthesizer is 100% totally amazingly awesome! I am a theremin player, and I set this synthesizer settings to sound very similar to a theremin. Of course you can set the settings to sound like a science fiction movie; I have done that too and it is really fun to play with. I don't consider this synthesizer a toy at all. I use the stylus pen when I play it and there are many, many beautiful notes that resonate out of this incredible ribbon synthesizer. The speaker is pretty loud, and the knobs are of good quality: They turn easily, and very smooth. I can see the batteries lasting a very long time, and I really intend I'm writing some beautiful music with this amazing ribbon synthesizer. The plastic quality is very good, and very strong. I absolutely love my Korg monitron delay analog ribbon synthesizer!

I have a classical piano background and an itch for analog synth noises, so I bought the Monotron Delay to familiarize myself with synth foundations and figure out what I liked before I splurged on a more fully featured synth. I also have the Duo, but the Delay is far more fun. It looks like a child's toy but don't be fooled; it is a pocket beast that can easily produce some of the filthiest, grittiest, dystopian space-trash-compactor sounds you have ever heard. You can get a surprising amount of sound exploration out of it, and the simple array of stripped down controls is more of a feature than a drawback in that it lets you build an intimately familiar mental model for everything you're doing. By itself, it makes some fun noises, but you'll probably tire of that pretty fast. It really shines if you pair it with another instrument that can produce predictable notes. You can't really carry a melody on the ribbon synth because it's not discretized or fixed to any scale, although you could always plug in a different Monotron that lets you play scales. I like to jam with it by running my normal 88-key piano through it, and using the delay portion as a filter on top of my piano sounds, with the LFO layered for auxiliary cosmic noise. I've also had a lot of fun running my friend's sequencer through it. The delay is addictive paired with a keyboard, as the feedback loop gives you a bit of rhythmic encouragement and you can bend the loop you've got trapped in there for a fun effect. It's a little annoying how much base noise there is -- if you run a clean sound source through the Delay, there's no way to twist the controls to get back to a clean-sounding output, which would make for a nice contrast. But I guess that's not the goal of the Delay. It's more about twisting the cutoff knob as the LFO ray-gun sound trapped in the feedback loop builds to a climax, to transform into a rocket blasting a slow burn into an alien atmosphere. FYI, it's hard to see the dial indicator indents so I painted them white. Battery life is great. Bring your own aux cables for input and output. The onboard speaker is okay for messing around but it's more fun when you have a subwoofer.

Absolutely fantastic if you know what you're getting yourself into. I bought the delay expecting not to use the actual synthesizer very often. I expected to mostly just run a keyboard of mine (the Arturia MicroBrute Analog Synthesizer , which I also highly recommend) through the filter and delay. It's great for doing that. Also, before I launch into my full review, I feel that it's important to talk about battery life. I've had the thing for about 2 months now and I use it about an hour a day. I go through about 8 AAA batteries a month. However, what I didn't expect were the surprisingly musical synth noises I've been able to coerce out of this thing. Don't come in expecting to be able to play real melodies on this thing. The keyboard/touchpad thing is only a couple inches wide and spans at least 4 or 5 octaves. What I found is that it's great for producing drones and effects. I recommend holding down a point in the middle of the keyboard with something like a guitar capo and tuning it with the LFO and INT knobs, turning the LFO up so that the LFO is actually making the sound. Now as for the delay effect itself, it's dirty and noisy, but if this isn't the first review you've read, you probably already heard that. What you may not have heard is how fun and actually useful the grit and feedback properties of the delay actually are. Recently, I've had a lot of luck turning the time way down and the feedback up to a point where it almost won't fade. It's good for something like a long spring reverb type sound. TLDR; I love this nasty little effects unit. At 50$ you'd be amiss not picking one of these up to put between your raw synth and your amp.

I needed to get a few swooshing/portamento sounds in a few songs and was looking into several options, including getting a theremin. But then I discovered this, and it does exactly what I need. It's super-helpful that it already has delay. So while it's not on par with the professional instruments, this works out great whenever you need to make some noise. It's small, it's light, it runs on batteries. It's a little noisy at high volumes, but is EXACTLY what I need and cannot be happier.

Died after less than 6 months with only a handful of uses.

So small but so much fun, the sound is thick and its fun to play around with the knobs once u connect it to a speaker it sounds even better. You can also connect any instrument to it with an aux cable which is awesome.

Comprei para minha namorada como um mimo de aniversário e ela adorou. Unica reclamação é que o preço poderia ser um pouco mais em conta, mas aí é culpa do dólar.

Man kann das Gerät über Kopfhörer oder den eingebauten Lautsprecher betreiben. Über Kopfhörer ist der Klang natürlich besser, als über den Lautsprecher. Faszinierende Klänge entstehen bei Rückkopplung mit Echo, wenn die Verstärkung nahezu 1 beträgt und damit das Echo lange erhalten bleibt, wenn es auch dumpfer wird. Wenn man die Verstärkung noch etwas anhebt, wird auch das Rauschen verstärkt und moduliert, das sonst nur wenig zu hören ist. Es entstehen wahrhaft "kosmische" Klänge. Die Tastatur ist wirklich sehr klein, und es ist schwierig, einen Ton genau zu treffen. Allerdings macht das nicht so viel aus, wie ich anfangs dachte. Zum einen kann man den Ton in der Höhe automatisch ändern lassen, zum anderen wird man das Gerät eher für Geräusche einsetzen, denke ich. Und man kann es sehr gut zum Meditieren verwenden. Mit dem Fingernagel konnte ich Töne ganz gut treffen. Eine Tastatur lässt sich anschließen, wenn man das Gehäuse öffnet und entsprechende Anleitungen im Internet beachtet. Ein kompletter Schaltplan wird von Korg auf seiner Seite zur Verfügung gestellt. Man kann also eine Tastatur nachrüsten, wenn man will, aber auch andere Nachrüstungen sind möglich.

Sebbene abbia già strumenti ben più "importanti" il monotron delay è uno straordinario compendio di tecnologia lo-fi a basso costo, un oscillatore, un LFO a due forme d'onda collegato al pitch, un filtro lowpass basato sul Korg 35 (ms20 e ms10) e un delay pt2399 in coda, il cui feedback rientra però nel filtro, e questo è un twist formidabile. Rispetto al monotron originale e al duo qui non è presente il controllo di resonance ma a orecchio direi che un quarto di resonance è già presente nel comportamento del filtro, sicché suona molto incisivo e gnarly. È possibile collegare e filtrare / ritardare strumenti esterni. In più, se siete armati di saldatore e fantasia potete anche modificarlo a piacimento (aggiungere sensori ottici, modificarlo per il controllo cv/gate, aggiungere il controllo di resonance, modificare la destinazione del LFO, collegarlo a un powerbank anziché utilizzare le pile, etc.). Tanta roba.