Korg Monotribe

[Faldoe]

Anyone have one? Thoughts on it today given everything else that is out there? Looks like fun but was thinking of this or the volca beats. Thoughts?

[Pepe]

I had one for a while. I liked the overall sound, but when the MS-20 mini was announced, I quickly sold the monotribe. The monotribe's bigger knobs were so wobbly. If I had kept it, I would have looked for plastic tube pieces to wrap them around the shafts. A big negative point is that it doesn't come with CV in, only with those sync in- and outputs:



I totally need a keyboard to play synths. The monotribe's lack of being controlled via another synth or CV signals (i.e. from my KORG X-911 Guitar Synthesizer) make it a limited fun-box only for me. The sound is great, though! Instant KORG MS-10. I don't know any of the Volca models from first hand experience, so I cannot be of help there.

[coupleonapkins]

When they were released, there were lots of mods (MIDI, CV, etc.) for the Monotribe, though one of the biggest gripes was the build issues, as Pepe mentioned.

The Volca Kick features the legendary Korg filter in question, though I've never warmed to the whole Volca series enough to commit (that would be the one, though).

I, also like Pepe, preferred the MS-20 reissue as an option, even though it's not as supremely compact as the Monotribe.

[frodog]

Apparently it only came in with the 2.1 firmware update, but the Monotribe now handles CV and does.. more. You might have to do a little calibrating procedure after updating. Mine probably came that way, works fine syncing with a PO12 and Rucci 8-bit synth. I love the thing for what it is, portable, sounds good and easy to program/play kinda wish the ribbon controller was bigger. The only mod I've done (there are loads) so far is this:

[MechaGodzilla]

I had one for a while. really fun little box with a PHAT synth but very limited and very noisy output.. I traded up for a volca bass which is definitely more useful.

[mr. sound boy king]

Monotribe is probably one of the most immediately fun synthesizers. I actually love the sound of the drums and, as noted above, the synth voice is phat. If I had to choose between Volca Beats and Monotribe, I would choose Monotribe without hesitation.

If you desire an analog style drum machine with tweakable drum voices, then Volca Beats is better.

If you desire a funky little groovebox machine, then Monotribe is better.

Now, I am at work but if I were at home, I'd fire up the Monotribe and wreck hot acid lines until luncheon.