Electronic Sound May 2015 (Regular Edition) | Page 44
TECH
Korg’s decision to reissue their legendary MS-20 Mini in
January 2013 as an all-new, scaled-down, mini-jacked, MIDIenabled 21st century fun machine was a stroke of genius.
Someone at Korg clearly had their eye on eBay, saw the huge
prices the old synths were fetching, and thought they might get
a chunk of that retromania action with a reboot. The price was
right (currently retailing for around £399) and it proved to be
a hit. The kit version upped the ante by enabling enthusiasts
to build a full-sized replica of the original. And now Korg have
made a module version of the kit, which is easier to build – no
keyboard! – but still comes with the attention to detail that the
MS-20 kit had.
The main advantages are the inclusion of the two filter types
(you get the old slightly hissy one and the revision, which is
beefier and quieter, and there’s a switch to flick between them
rather than the circuit board jumper pin you had to move on
the MS-20 kit), the full-size patchbay cords for grown-up hands
(making for a less fiddly patching experience), and the larger
panel that is easier to navigate. The kit also comes with Korg’s
nifty new SQ-1 sequencer, and packaging the two together
is a nod to the original late 1970s pairing of the MS-20 and
the SQ-10 sequencer, a technological breakthrough that was
responsible for a