Entertainment For Lively Minds
Gear Lust: I love Mrs Stimpy :-)
Posted by stimpy on 7 November 2011 - 7:45pm.
Mrs Stimpy has just returned from a day in that London and she's come bearing gifts - a Korg Monotribe.
It's an ickle teeny music workstation that crams a 4 part drum machine, 16-step sequencer and two-oscillatior synth into a package the size of a paperback book. Runs off AA batteries and has a little onboard speaker.
I'm in hospital for a couple of days next week and she thought it would keep me entertained. I love my FPO :-)
On a serious note, at first glance it has everything an analogue monosynth needs - VCO, VCF, VCA, preset envelopes, noise generator - this would make a great toy for someone wanting to dip a toe into vintage-style synths without spending a fortune.
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Animoog
Stimps, have you seen the animoog app for the iPad?
Hours of polyphonic fun to be had. And a steal at 69p! (Soon to be repriced to the UK equivalent of $30. And it would still be a steal).
Take care next week my friend - hope all goes well.
Animoog
Ta for the tip. Downloading now. But Stimpy's Monotribe has proper knobs, and as I know from playing with the Korg iMS-20 the iPad interface is quite limited compared to proper knob control. So to speak. But for a few quid one can hardly complain.
Get well soon Stimpers and have fun with the toy. Looks fab.
Having spent a couple of hours tinkering...
I can say that I'm very impressed with it. For £150 it's a bargain. It has all the features you'd expect from a 'classic' analogue synth and, as you say, the real knobs and controls make all the difference in using it.
The filter is, apparently, the same as used in the original MS-20 - I haven't hooked the Monotribe upto an amp yet but through cans it sounds really meaty and fat.
The LFO is really powerful - akin to an MS-20 or a Mlinimoog.
The ribbon keyboard (akin to a Stylophone) is a bit limited but it's great for sweeps and effects; I reckon that it'll be easy to plug in a Korg Nano Keyboard or similar for playing proper melodies although the ribbon keyboard can be played with a biro if you have big fingers.
I really dont think there's anything to touch it as an intro to analogue synthesis.
Midi
It doesn't ship with midi does it?
No MIDI but there's a pair of Sync Out/In jacks
to allow triggering of external devices based on the Monotribe sequencer clock or triggering of the Monotribe clock from an external device.
This seems to have been done without any external boxes:
...but I guess anything that outputs/accepts a 5v control voltage would work.
Keyboard
How do you plug in a keyboard then?
I have absolutely no idea what it means
but it does have MIDI, apparently:
There's loads of other geeky vids by the same poster.
I saw that
But it's not a handy socket like you usually get. He's found a way of retrofitting it. Briefly midi is a digital language which allows musical equipment to chat to each other. The socket looks like an old 5 pin DIN socket on an old fashioned tape recorder..
Cheers Paul
The last hour and a half has just evaporated thanks to Animoog - what a fab app. Just shows what a creative platform the iPad (and I suppose other tablets) can be.
*** Reminder to self - GET MARRIED ***
Blimey... so that's what married life is like. The FPO bringing home expensive electronic equipment!
If there are any hot, single women out there with a penchant for Supertramp, mine's a Hasselblad H4D-40.
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/eng/product/hasselblad_h4d-40_dslr_with_80...
Ah... Yes... But...
As well as getting married, you have to get cancer (or similar long-term affliction) to get the full sympathy, but I agree it makes a change from a dozen Krispy Kremes from the Paddington doughnut stand :-)
Hmmm...
Don't you think a bad cold could have the same effect, if I really made a fuss?
I reckon a bad cold would get you a 1970s vintage Instamatic
:-)
That would do me!
I'd settle for a FPO, to be honest. *** Reaches for nasal hair trimmer and Grecian 2000 *** :-)
Hi Patrick! I'm hot and I'm single!
I don't like Supertramp though. Sorry.
(and I might be fibbing about being hot)
but I do like expensive electronic equipment. Will that do?
You'll do fine...
Supertramp? Who they?
When's the big day then? Shall we get some Twiglets for the guests?
You get the Twiglets
and I'll pick up some Kettle Chips.
Small technical hitch: the big day will have to wait until my divorce is finalised. We'll just have to live in sin til then.
Hussy.
I blame the bacon.
Don't blame it on the sunshine,
don't blame it on the moonlight,
don't blame it on the good times,
blame it on the bacon.
Yup, that's probably about right.
Hasselblads
A patint of mine picked up a beautiful 1970's Hasselblad body and prime lens on eBay for about £500. Because everything is modular, it's a simple job to retro-fit a digital module on instead of the original film cartridge.
The only drawback was that the CCD unit cost the thick end of £12,000..
The photos are stunning, though.
Oh I've got a 500C/M (but of course!)...
I just want a fancy digital one too!
Mrs BP wouldn't know a vintage synth from a stylophone
but she did ask after you the other night. Hope your recovery is going well.
A sentiment...
shared by all of us.
What he said
:)
Oh...
want one...
Filter
It's got an audio in I notice, does that mean it could be used simply as a filter unit for other things? The filter sounds decent on that vid, nice and fizzy.
Yup...
You can stuff any signal into it and use the Monotribe to manipulate the external signal.
Oooh
Missed your comment about the filter itself....oooh
Stimpy
Good luck with the hospital stuff! And don't wreck their heads with your mini synth!
That's ace
I think I might have to get me one of those. I'm fancying some new gear, I think it's either that or an eBow.
Can an eBow do *this*?
(Pink Floyd/On The Run - played on one Monotribe)
You've got me there.
Impressive!
I've got a midi keyboard I can do some nice stuff with but I do like the idea of a hand-held device like this.
Ebow
I've got one. Quite limited in the fun department really. a fine gizmo, but it doesn't do much unless you become a real expert, in which case you can pretend to be a cello. Yes. As an alternative to the little synth, a Loopstation is HOURS of fun. I got mine cheapo on eBay - a basic Boss one, and you can lose yourself for hours in it!
No expert here!
I can't see myself becoming an expert, I'm just gradually getting a few extra bits and pieces to play with and get some new sounds on my recordings. Once I can get a some decent noises out of them I'm generally happy enough. I have always fancied an ebow, but they are a bit pricey for what you get, so I'm undecided.
I got a loop station earlier this year as it happens, a Boss RC-2. You're right, it's a lot of fun!
Why not!
I'd look out on eBay. Bound to get one for less than half on there, especially a more recent one. Like everything, the older ones are "better". Cept they aren't!
My knowledge of electronic synths begins
and ends with this fella
who did not, as I recall, have a MIDI output.
Best of luck with hospital stuff, Stimpy.
Available on Amazon UK
for £131.69 inc p&p
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0050G7VR4/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UT...
Wow
Mrs Stimpy is a keeper, that is a fantastic present!!!!!!
Do you have a nintendo DS? Korg have brough out there Ds10 on it. Good fun and can be used like a Kaoss Pad.
Good luck with the treatment mate! We're all pulling for you!
all best wishes to you, stimpy
That looks a wonderful machine.
If I hadn't just bought a deArmond Starfire, I'd be seriously tempted!
Reading this thread
has taken me back to the days in the early '80s when I used to read Electronics & Music Maker magazine. It was mainly for the features on Tangerine Dream and the like, but I'd drool over the machinery in the articles and ads, knowing they were way out of my price-bracket.
Perhaps now that I'm, ahem, a bit older, I should think about indulging the inner teen - after all, I'm sure a synth would be a cheaper way of tackling the impending mid-life crisis than a sportscar!
And, by comparison, new synths are a LOT cheaper
than they were in the 70s and 80s :-)
I don't know..
I once thought the same way, but reading a lot of Stimpy's previous postings and doing a little sniffing around made me realise that the enormous modular analogue synth that I always dreamed of one day buying for pennies will actually cost me the sort of money and need the sort of maintenance that owners of vintage sports cars would find remarkably familiar.
Gratuitous purchase
I'm not a fan of acquiring more stuff. I have loads of stuff already. But if someone gave me a few grand on the strict proviso that I buy something purely for fun, I would buy a new Mini Moog. No contest. The Gibson Les Paul
or Telecaster of synths.