Korg

Reviews | Korg Minilogue
84
B
elieve it or not, Korg haven’t
released a keyboard-
equipped analogue poly
since 1985’s DCO-driven,
Poly-800 MK2. With the current
resurgence of all things analogue, it was
only a matter of time before a new
analogue poly keyboard emerged from
the Korg camp. While Korg have been
perfecting their analogue tech with the
re-release of the ARP Odyssey
(duophonic) and their super-cheap
Volca Keys desktop module (three-note
polyphonic), many of us have been
trying to predict what Korg would do
next. Well, now we have the answer and
it’s the Minilogue, an all-new, four-voice
analogue polysynth priced at just £435.
By now I’m sure you’re salivating
over this new beast so here’s the
lowdown! As already mentioned, it has
four voices, so you can play up to four
notes simultaneously but, notably, this
price-point is bereft of keyboard-
equipped analogue polys except for
Akai’s two-octave, four-voice Timbre
Wolf at £299. Then there’s a signifi cant
jump in price up to DSI’s Mopho X4 at
£730, the Elektron Analog Keys at
£1,035 and the Roland JD-XA at
£1,549 (all DCO, not VCO).
Consequently, the Minilogue now owns
the lower-midrange poly-analogue
keyboard market – let’s see if it delivers!
Straight out of the box, the build
and looks are impressive. The front
panel is fashioned from 2mm sand-
blasted anodised silver aluminium
which feels tough and is nicely
contoured/textured, while the chassis is
constructed from tough yet lightweight
plastic with a Pyinkado wood back
panel (a South Asian tree known to have
very durable properties) – this fi nishes
off the Minilogue’s future/retro vibe
nicely. There are 14 metal ‘paddle’
switches (like a ’70s music centre/’80s
video recorder!) and 29 black plastic
dials on the panel. These all send/
receive MIDI and feel very sturdy indeed
due to the metal shafts, underlining
that Korg have designed the Minilogue
to last going forward and not just to a
price-point; interestingly, the Minilogue
feels more ‘premium’ than many of the
more-expensive synths I’ve tested
recently! (And you can remove and
swap the dial caps for something a little
more blingy if you so desire). You’ll
notice there’s a small, perfectly-formed
OLED display on the right; this displays
patch names, parameter values/
changes, four sequencer ‘motion’ lanes
and a handy real-time oscilloscope so
you can ‘see’ your sounds. It also helps
you navigate program, sequence and
global settings in combination with the
eight red-backlit function/Voice Mode
buttons (underneath) – these also
double as sequencer steps and editing/
page buttons. Reassuringly, for general
sound-making and sequencing you
WHAT IS IT?
Versatile four-voice
polyphonic analogue synth
with multiple voice modes,
audio input, delay,
sequencer, and more!
CONTACT
Who: Korg
Tel: [phone]
Web: www.korg.com
HIGHLIGHTS
1 An absolute steal!
2 Well-built with intuitive
hands-on control panel
3 Versatile analogue engine
with powerful-sounding
VCOs and fi lter plus built-in
delay and arp/sequencer
Korg
Minilogue | £435
Korg’s Minilogue analogue polysynth has arrived and
there’s a lot to be excited about! Dan ‘JD73’
Goldman checks it out…
This angled slider
defaults to pitch-bend,
though it can also
be assigned to
any of the 29
available modulation
destinations. It’s
very sturdy and
expressive too.
Slider
There are 200
writable program
locations onboard
and all are easy to
recall using the value
dial. The screen can
display parameter
values, the nifty
oscilloscope, motion
lanes and more.
Screen/Control
Section
INCLUDES AUDIO
l
vault.futuremusic.co.uk
Though there’s no
dedicated mod wheel,
there’s plenty
onboard for mod
duties including a
fast three-wave/
three-target LFO,
assignable EG,
ring-mod, cross-mod,
sync, shape-mod,
pitch-mod, and the
sequencer too.
Modulation
FMU302.rev_korg.indd 84 27/01/2016 17:58