Korg Monotron Duo

I already had the Monotron DELAY which is great fun and I've even used it professionally in the studio on several commercial recordings. So I decided to get this one as well.

I must admit I was a bit disappointed. The DELAY was more of an effects device that could be used standalone with good results. This one... not so much.

First of all, this one works better when it's actually PLAYED rather than just making weird noises. But unless you mod it for MIDI it's rather limited. The small ribbon "keyboard" worked great for making effects with the DELAY but not so much for actually playing melodies on this DUO version.

A lot of the mojo of the DELAY was... well, the delay. Remove the delay and it quickly lost it's charm as a standalone device (even though the filter was excellent!). The DUO just doesn't impress me as much as a standalone device. It really needs to be used with other effects to get the best out of it in my opinion. And then it quickly gets less interesting because then you might as well start patching up a bigger and better synth.

The strength of the DELAY was that it was instantly fun and usable, even when used as a standalone device. Just patch it straight into a console or DI and you'll get great sounds. The DUO just isn't very exciting unless it's processed by external effects in my opinion. It's usefulness is also severly limited by the lack of midi connections.

Get the DELAY instead.

The thing I love about Monotrons is how they're kinda the in-between of music toys and serious musical instruments. It's good for just messing around and in the beginning you probably won't find it very usable besides that. It's way too noisy.. very bad output. Best part is that It has a truly amazing filter (the famous Korg filter from the original MS-20). It's bad that it doesn't have MIDI or CV which means you can't program any patterns on them, but again, it's just a pocket size gadget. Though, I am sure you can do a lot with it if you practice with it and learn how to handle it well. It's the best one of the Monotron series (imo). The ultimate in compactness.