Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 16:04:30 -0700 From: djadun To: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: [AH] ms2000 extensive review Ok after about a week of testing this synth its just not worth the 850 I pa= id for it. Ill try and give an unbiased review of it even though Im not kee= ping it. It does do somethings just great. Pro: mod sequencer, this thing is really interesting, imagine a step sequencer c= ontrolling the cutoff, pan, pitch, semitone, envelope amounts adsr amounts,= or just about any other parameter on the synth. The only things it cant mo= dulate are the effects. It can even cycle through the digital waveforms in= osc 1 for interesting step sequenced rythyms. basses. Does them wonderfully. Im not talking about juno bassiness, Im talk= ing about unique korg basses. Im not sure how to describe korg basses, thei= r just very unique and interesting sounding. Clean and not too gritty ( the= y can be ) but deep and low. the band pass filter. Thie filter is really unique. Im not sure why, it see= ms to have a very wide band. If you hold down notes it desnt ever really ki= ll the sound like some bandpasses. It lets frequencys through always, jus a= t different frequencys. Maybe this is a bad thing, because its a weak filte= r, but it makes for a unique bandpass sweep That I really liked.=20 The vocoder is good. Im not too experienced with vocoding but I liked the k= orgs vocoder more than other synths Ive heard. I dialed it to the preset vo= coder pulse, and input through headphones in the back and it stil sounded p= retty good. Very robotic eighties style vocoder.=20 The layout. I cant say much, its almost as easy to program as my juno. ever= ything is layed out easy to see and understand. The sequencer gave me a lit= tle trouble because it was so easy. Turn the mod sequence switch on, choose= which sequence you wont to edit, select which parameter it will modulate o= n the lcd, hold down a note and twist the knobs to change the parameters. E= ach note ( 16 of them) has a knob just dial in the # for each step and its = done. Virtual patch. Makes things easy without dialing into menus etc etc. very u= seful, 4 virtual patches are available. wood side panels. he he, look cool. Cons: the effects. quite simply they arent that great, the delays delay with lots= of noise with them, which sucks. not just a steady noise, but extra noise = when each delay hits. The mod effects, chorus/flanger, ensamble, phaser are= ok. Not great not bad. The keyboard is flimsey. Its very light, which scares me.=20 The filters. I dont like the 24lpf the 12lpf or the highpass. Often when a= patch is made useing these, for some reason the filter ends up doing very = little to the sound, sometimes almost not present, very strange and well, t= hat sucks that you cant do a fay filter sweep on every patch. The resonance. This cuts the lowend like theres no tommorow. either you hav= e no low end, or very little resonance. Its like the Q is cranked permanant= ly. If there where a parameter to change the Q seperatly from the amount it= might be better, but, there isnt.=20 polyphony. 4 notes? 850 bucks, I knew there was a reason I was aprehensive = to buy this thing at first, maybe Ill trust my gut feelings in the future. = After making a few nice pads with nice long realeases and then hearing thos= e nice long trailing notes get cut off because of lack of polyphony is pret= ty much infuiating. Dont expect to make pads with this thing unless you lik= e to use one or two note chords.=20 The oscilators. Ok it only has 2. and each one is really only a half oscila= tor. osc 1 has no tuneing posibilitys. its got nice pwm and even a tweak kn= ob for the other waves besides square, which sounds like pwm just on triang= le, saw etc waves. Oscilator two doesnt have pwm or tweak. it has triangle = square and saw waves. pick one.=20 The distortion. On or off, dont like the amount used? turn down the oscilat= ors is what the manual says to do. Ok now I have a quiet patch wiht too muc= h distortion, great. The distortion sounds great sometimes, but if you only= want a little, youll have to use outboard effects. the lfos. Their digital, they act digital, I cant explain the difference. T= he lfos on my juno and 202 sound way better, cant explain why. lfo one has = triangle square saw and s/h lfo two has triangle square sine and s/h. I rea= lly wish they both had the same waveforms . virtual patch. I wish it had more parameters, I guess they couldnt make it = fully modular but its sort of a tease. the sources in VP are ; eg1, eg2, lf= o1, lfo2, velocity, keyboard tracking, midi 1 midi29 these can be set as pi= tch bend, aftertouch, and 95 cc controllers. The apeggiator. This is a very basic borring arpegiator. up down random bac= k forward alternating1 alternating 2 blah blah, no accent, no programmable,= no in order pressed, very boring arpegiator. manual. not too many technical specs, very basic. I didnt need it but when = I consulted it for the sequencer, it was sort of confusing, then again Im n= ot used to reading manuals, I learn better but diving right in.=20 small knobs. I think theyre the same as the nord modular. very small. I lie= kknobs bigger like the virus or even the xt, good resistance though.=20 Well having said all that, I also need to say that this synth makes some gr= eat sounds. Some are unique some are not but they still sound good. Im taki= ng it back because when I think what the synth is worth to me, its more lik= e 350-400 just for basses. The unison mode fattens the sound, but then its = a mono synth. When I played with it for about a week, I realized a few thin= gs. 1. My juno can make the normal boring ( but still very useable) bread a= nd butter sounds the korg can make 2. this thing makes great basses 3. I do= nt want to pay 850 for a bass synth when there are so many other mono synth= options out there exp, pulse plus, FR777, 303 clones, bass station, grante= d I dont know if they can sound this korgish. 4. I get better sounds more u= nique sounds out of my kurzweil and fsir easier, with more polyphony, bette= r effects, ( on the fs1r) and cheaper ( I paid 300 for the fs1r). whats the= biggest thing I realized? for 950 out the door I can get a novation nova. = So, the korgs going back and the novas getting a new home. Feel free to ask me any questions or tell me how much of an idiot I am. Djadun