Korg Minilogue XD

First off the Minilogue XD sounds great. The price is fair with the amount of synth you get. Compared to the original Minilogue which is also great, the additions, especially the digital oscillator make the XD really shine.

The synth is mainly used within a DAW/studio environment directly connected to a mixer/audio interface.

Build quality is of a high standard, with firm knobs, buttons and switches and a really nice front panel which feels robust. Mini keys are… mini keys, hate them or love them these keys are not bad. The screen is always a nice touch, values are shown depending on knob tweaks and of course it becomes an oscilloscope, which sometimes feels satisfying looking at it and sometimes it’s just helpful to “see” the sound. Presets are ok to get to know the synth and there are plenty of slots to make your own patches. The panel is pretty straight forward and all basic functions have a dedicated knob / switch.

The VCOs sound as they supposed to sound, but the digital oscillator adds really something to it. Some of the Korg oscillators sound really, really good plus user wavetables can be added. Still need to exploit more this part of the synth but there are lots of wavetables and effects available (both paid and free). The effects are ok, some of them are great sounding, some of them are just ok. All matter of taste. Again, the option to expand the engine with user effects is promising. Filter sounds nice but the overdrive is a bit limited (0, 50%, 100% overdrive values, nothing in between).

Modulations are also a bit limited but you can get decent results. Especially in accordance with the motion sequencer where you can add motion by recording motion movements. The sequencer is quite deep, intuitive and most of all fun to play with.

One setback, this synth is not able to properly communicate with a windows 7 pc. At least in my case Korg win7 drivers where not working properly, device not recognized no matter what, despite extensive troubleshooting. Fortunately XD works fine with a win10 pc. Just a note to those who use older Windows OS. There are some other issues for those who want to check, that hopefully can be overcome with a bit of help from the forums and YT. Speaking of pc connectivity, the librarian is quite useful to load and save patches, user wavetables and effects.

Despite this, the XD is a no-brainer synthesizer. Easy and fun to make patches, fair value, doesn't take too much space and most importantly great sounding, with the option to expand with more wavetables and effects.

Pros:
+ Great sounding synth
+ Good value
+ Knob per function for basic controls
+ Powerful sequencer
+ Ability to load user wavetables and effects.

Cons:
- Korg drivers can be tricky

Been jamming on this for a few weeks now. It's great at what it does, really well put together, feels solid, looks great, and sounds nice and clean in the mix. One thing I would say though is that its not ever going to be a wild analogue ride. Not a fault of the synth, it's not trying to be, but worth baring in mind because I was hoping I'd be able to push it into slightly weirder territories than I've found so far. The filter is quite controlled and safe sounding, as are the oscillators and the effects. Of course thats 100% a personal taste thing. Personally I'd watch demo videos to get an idea of the sound of the synth before buying, the presets do give a pretty good idea of what its capable of. What it does, it does really well. Overall I'd say its a very good synth but for me its not quite the perfect synth or a really timeless classic. I guess it just doesn't ever really catch me by surprise... But I do think thats to be expected given the price point and its overall flexibility. I def won't be passing mine on anytime soon and would recommend it to others so i must be pretty happy!

I bought this synth after years of lurking on forms, and I'm really glad I made the leap!

I wanted an instrument that would be good for a beginner, but also something that I could grow with and wouldn't become redundant in my setup, and the Minilogue XD does just that!

The instrument is laid out in a really easy to understand way, and has plenty of presets which demonstrate the capability of the machine and the directions in which you could take your own patches!

There are obvious limitations like having only 4 voices, but I really think that what the Minilogue XD delivers at this price point far exceeds its shortcomings!