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KORG Monotron Mods


Acid Hazard

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Very cool.

 

Wonder if anybody figured out how to control pitch with a real keyboard.

MIDI would be too complicated. But I wonder if you can rip out a keyboard out of an old Casio and parallel the switch contacts with the Monotron sensors?

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Cool stuff. I should buy a Monotron or three and start tinkering.

 

I liked the "modular" version and the mini sequencers.

 

One could make a "mini-modular-tron". ;)

 

Does the VCO track accurately enough (at 1V/oct or whatever) to make it useful with a MIDI-CV?

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I can't really tell how accurately it tracks. But i don't think it's 100%. Good enough though. For me anyway. However, it DOES play back at a higher pitch than the CV it receives. Sequencing it with the x0xb0x or 303, it sounds like it's probably about an octave higher.

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I am going to go out on a limb and make a prediction: Korg will bring out a version of this thing with MIDI.

 

 

The monotron is Korg's first analogue synth in who knows how long. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is Korg testing the waters, as it were, before they bring out something considerably more impressive... just a hunch. There's a market there after all.

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And it's not that much of a leap to put 4 monotron boards in a box with microprocessor control.

 

 

Exactly.

 

Hey, has anyone had issues with a noisy signal from the headphone jack? What sorta lead should I be sticking in there anyway? I don't think I've ever had to run a stereo plug out of a synth...

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There is a way around it. Don't use the output. Tap the signal at the volume control before it hits the headphone amp. Should be less noisy.

 

 

Yeah, you could, but then you'd be stuck with an unsightly cord dangling out of the back. And there's no room for another jack. Unless you can bus that audio around the HP AMP to the 1/8" jack already there.

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Maybe it's just having usable knobs and being able to do things like a real filter sweep, but I'd honestly be happier, noise and all, with the limited monotron than the mopho if it had midi (though I do love the ribbon pad.)

 

So the mopho doesn't have any usable knobs nor you can do a filter sweep with it...:facepalm:...oh! I forgot! The monotron just sounds better!:lol:

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Yeah, you could, but then you'd be stuck with an unsightly cord dangling out of the back. And there's no room for another jack. Unless you can bus that audio around the HP AMP to the 1/8" jack already there.

 

 

That's pretty easy if you ask me. Just cut all the tracks running to the 1/8" jack and solder some wires in place which lead to the audio signal before the headphone amp. I just did a test with my monotron and it sounds a lot better!

 

Any other easy Monotron mods? Midi and CV are a bit too challenging.

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So the mopho doesn't have any usable knobs nor you can do a filter sweep with it...
:facepalm:
...oh! I forgot! The monotron just sounds better!
:lol:

Maybe it's just that I like tight interaction and swift, bold sweeps, but the mopho's encoders are unusable. To be fair, I've never encountered an endless encoder I liked but the mopho's are {censored}ing awful. I'm hoping the akai LPD8 (pad + pot mini controller) will be what I'm looking for but am not counting on it...

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Good call. I'll have to try it.

 

 

Take a look at the volume control. You see five solder joints. With those facing towards you, the functions are as follow from left to right:

 

1. Nothing

2. Mono audio signal (after volume control)

3. Nothing

4. Mono audio signal (before volume control)

5. Ground

 

I recommend using the second joint, so you still have your volume control on the Monotron. By lowering the volume on the Monotron and increasing the volume on your mixer you should hear even less noise. You'll still hear noise but it's something I can deal with now.

 

After some quick examination of the schematics, it seems the Monotron isn't stereo. One mono track is split in two and goes to the stereo output.

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