KORG MONOTRIBE PREVIEW
Posted on Tue 12 April 2011 in entries
What do you get if you lock a Korg Monotron and a Korg Electribe in a romantic, candlelit Honeymoon suite in an expensive Paris hotel? Yes, that’s right… absolutely nothing… apart from your Monotron and Electribe back, assuming one of the candles didn’t blow over and set fire to the curtains… in which case you will just receive a few useless ashes and a hefty bill from the hotel for the room that you destroyed with your carelessness! So, that’s probably why the clever team at Korg decided not to take this approach, as it is highly unlikely that a burnt-out Monotron and Electribe would have caused a stir at this years MusikMesse festival. Instead, what they decided to do was to take some of the technology from the Monotron and some of the technology from the Electribe, and combine them to create a completely new product called the Electotron!…. oh, wait a second, no…. what they decided to do was to take some of the technology from the Monotron and some of the technology from the Electribe, and combine them to create a completely new product called the Monotribe! That’s better!
KORG MONOTRIBE – THE COMBO
The Korg Monotribe is a combination of a pure analogue synthesiser with an analogue rhythm and step sequencer. The word ‘analogue’ is always a refreshing one to hear in a world where digital has become the norm, so the Monotribe is something that I am very much looking forward to sampling when it is eventually released to the mass consumer market.
I guess a good place to start would be to give you a brief description of what a Monotron and an Electribe are, in case they have never crossed your path before. So, the Monotron looks like this…
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNNb18aFSQ4[/video]
It is quite literally a palm-sized monophonic analogue synthesiser, which features a ribbon keyboard and a small selection of controls for adjusting the in-built filter, LFO and VCO. It has been labeled by many as a ‘toy’, but it is really so much more than this. Yes, it is highly fun to play with (despite only featuring 5 dial controls, you could literally spend hours on this thing), but you can also route external audio through it’s analogue filter, and route it back to your computer or interface using the headphone audio output. The Monotron certainly offers the most cost effective option if you are craving a piece of equipment that can produce real analogue sounds.
And the Electribe? The Korg Electribe (see it in action in the video below) has been produced in many forms over the years, firstly as the Electribe R, an electronic drum machine, and most recently, the Electribe MX, which utilises a number of different modeling technologies along with twin vacuum tube Valve Force circuitry, a number of effects, an arpeggiator and a sequencer to allow you to produce whole tracks and patterns within the one unit!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZaqlSudOuw
So, onto the Monotribe, which puts a combination of both these products into one unit, fusing the analogue heart of the Montron, with Electribe-style sequencing, whilst also giving you the controls to delve deeper into the world of analogue synthesis! Like the Monotron, the Electribe also features a built-in speaker and battery power, and comes in a highly portable form (although not quite as portable as the miniature Monotron!) As well as all this, the Monotribe also gives you access to 3-part analogue drums, active Step and Flux features for realtime dynamic loop manipulation, an advanced multi-function ribbon keyboard with 3 different modes (‘chromatic’, ‘continuous’ and ‘wide’), auto-tuning, selectable oscillator waveforms, a noise generator, a versatile LFO, an analogue Voltage Controlled Filter, and sync in and out jacks which allows integration with multiple units.
KORG MONOTRIBE – TRUE ANALOGUE SYNTHESIS
The fact that the Korg Monotribe provides true analogue synthesis is probably going to be one of it’s main selling points. The words ‘analogue synthesiser’ always grabs my attention, and I’m assuming that it will also get the majority of other people excited as well! The Monotribe makes use of old and new technology to combine analogue synthesis with the flexible playability demanded from modern groove making environments. The simple fact is that the Monotribe will provide you with all the warmth and character that you require if you crave that analogue sound…
KORG MONOTRIBE – ANALOGUE DRUMS
It’s not just your melodies and basslines that you can inject with analogue character, as the Korg Monotribe also provides you with a three-part rhythm section for analogue drums, which is powered by discrete analogue circuitry. The three parts include bass drum, snare, and hi-hat, which gives you a solid foundation to create classic analogue beats, and will give your productions a fresh, new twist…
KORG MONOTRIBE – GROOVE CREATION
The Korg Electribe has been around for over a decade, and so it provides a tried and tested architecture for dance music production and DJ work. Hence, it was only logical to use this popular system in the new Monotribe, giving you a familiar step key interface to create your grooves on, with a dedicated button for each of the eight-steps. This gives you a fantastic hands-on step-editing method to make beats and melodies.
KORG MONOTRIBE – ACTIVE STEP AND FLUX MODE
Active Step editing allows you to remove or re-insert individual steps, meaning you can create short loop-like effects or off-beat patterns that weave in and out of complex rhythms. You can achieve these effects by triggering the step buttons during playback, and the Monotribe also provides you with a way of instantly returning to the original 8-step sequence if desired.
The Monotribe also features Flux Mode, which allows the creation of sequenced synth parts that are not rigidly constrained to the step grid. This provides a lot more musical versatility, and allows you to create much more fluid musical patterns. Hence, the Korg Monotribe makes it extremely easy to create and morph edgy beats and stuttering rhythms.
KORG MONOTRIBE – AUTO-TUNING ANALOGUE
Old analogue synthesisers were prone to pitch drift, but the Monotribe eliminates this completely using clever auto-tuning circuitry to provide stable chromatic playback that will stay in perfect tune. Plus, this circuitry means that the Monotribe requires no warm-up time, no servicing for pitch calibration, and it isn’t sensitive to changes in temperature. It just gives you perfectly tuned analogue sounds all the time!
KORG MONOTRIBE – RIBBON KEYBOARD
The Monotribe employs a similar ribbon keyboard to the Monotron, allowing you to run your finger along it to create crazy analogue sweeps, or touch down on individual printed keys to produce individual notes. However, the Monotribe differs from the Monotron in that it offers three selectable playing modes/ranges.
The first mode is called ‘Key’. This is the chromatic mode, and is perfect for playing melodies and basslines, or for stepping smoothly from note to note. For example, if you press one note, it will play that note in perfect tune. If you then slide your finger a semitone up (or down), the Monotribe will jump from playing the pitch of the first note, to playing the pitch of the second note (i.e. it will not create a slide between both pitches).
The second keyboard mode of the Monotribe is called ‘Narrow’ continuous mode, and this mode is ideal for glides and bends. This replicates how the Monotron keyboard functions, so if you slide your finger between notes, you create a kind of portamento effect, as the frequency of one note morphs into the frequency of the next. In this mode it is even possible to create unorthodox pitches, for example, if you press down on the line between two notes, you will create a frequency that corresponds to the midway pitch between the two notes. As it is possible to create pitches outside the standard musical scale, this mode is quite difficult to play perfectly tuned melodies with… but it is awesome for producing some crazy sweeps!
The final mode of the Korg Monotribe keyboard is called ‘Wide’. This is another continuous mode (in the same way that Narrow was), and so it is also good for crazy slides, and can again produce some unorthodox pitches. However, the Wide mode differs from the Narrow mode as it features a six octave pitch range, so you can use it to produce huge zaps and screams! You can also press the Gate Time button to allow the gate time to be sequenced as the ribbon controller keyboard is played to add a bit of a twist to your sounds!
KORG MONOTRIBE – ANALOGUE COMPONENTS
The analogue VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) of the Korg Monotribe offers a choice between a sawtooth, triangle and square wave, and you can also mix white noise in with any oscillator signal in any amount, to add a bit of extra character to your sound. The Monotribe also provides you with an Octave selector that covers a broad range, from deep basses to piercing leads. The VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) then provides you with three Envelope Generator presets, and the included LFO can be patched to the VCO (to modulate the pitch and create a vibrato effect), or the VCF (Voltage Controlled Filter) to modulate the filters cutoff and create some dynamic analogue wobbly goodness! The LFO also comes with a range switch that allows the LFOs to deliver stirring cyclic changes over tens of seconds (SLOW mode) or operate in an ultra-fast way (ingeniously named ‘FAST’ mode)! If you modulate the frequency of the VCO using the LFOs fast mode, you can even produce some typical Frequency Modulation ringing effects. Finally, the LFO also features a very handy 1-SHOT mode. This is a feature of many professional synthesisers, and it essentially allows the LFO to behave as a second envelope generator by only triggering once every time a note is pressed.
KORG MONOTRIBE – VINTAGE FILTER
The Korg Monotribe features the same vintage filter technology as found on their legendary MS-10 and MS-20 synths! This should most definitely excite anyone who has ever used or heard one of these synths before, as it gives you an unquestionably analogue sound, giving you a tool that was included on Korg’s really early analogue synthesisers. You can even connect an external audio source to the audio input of the Monotribe to process it with the filter and give it that vintage sound.
KORG MONOTRIBE – SYNC JACKS
The Monotribe provides you with both Sync In and Sync Out jacks, so you can connect together a number of Monotribe units to work to together for an even more complex performance. You can even synchronise your Monotribe with a DAW system (or something else) using audio line level pulses to trigger the sync input! The polarity of the pulse waveform can also be changed for both the input and the output, to allow you compatibility with a whole range of other equipment with Sync connections.
KORG MONOTRIBE – SUMMARY
It’s small, it’s portable, and it looks like a lot of fun! Create simple analogue drum patterns and play your analogue melodies over the top… then record your melody using the in-built recorder and mess about with the controls to your hearts content! It’s one of those instruments that can be both a heap of fun (you can take it with you and play it anywhere), and hugely useful for professional production purposes.
Although the analogue drums of the Monotribe sound great and are a welcome addition, they are fairly limited, and so you will probably mainly use them to build up your ideas before implementing them with a more flexible piece of equipment. However, they would also be very useful in live situations due to the innovative looping capabilities of the Monotribe.
It's obviously not the most complete analogue synthesiser out there... for example, it's oscillator cannot produce a pure sine wave... but if it could do all this then it would cost a whole lot more, and that isn't the point of the Monotribe. However, the sounds that it can create can be so wild, unique, and distinctly analogue, that you could use them to great effect in your production/composition projects… it’s boring if you use the same sounds, equipment and techniques as everyone else out there, so the Monotribe could really be used to set your work apart! And trust me, the resonant analogue filter sounds absolutely amazing!
If you thought the Monotron was good, you are going to LOVE the Monotribe!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuqJfAWkN2c&feature=player_embedded
Please note that if you are looking at the Korg Monotribe on our website before we have received the official RRP from Korg, then it will show up on our website as costing £10,000... trust us... it does NOT really cost this much!