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In 2010, Korg released the Monotron. It was a toy-like, fairly simplistic plastic synth with a ribbon keyboard and, at the time, a fraction of the street cred of the Stylophone. However, in a market full of digital workstations and software synths, it was entirely and unexpectedly analog. It had a filter based on the 1978 Korg MS-20 and would kickstart a cascade of analog development that would end up engulfing the industry.
This article will look at Korg's contribution to the analog resurgence that took off in the 2010s and still excites us today.
Prehistory
But first, let's take a look at how we got here. The last fully analog synthesizer Korg built was the Poly-800 in 1983, but even at this time, digital control and effects were starting to creep in. By 1986, Korg’s last remaining analog circuit, the filter, made its final appearance in the DSS-1 sampling keyboard and DSM-1 module. With the arrival of the phenomenal M1 workstation in 1989, it seemed that digital synthesis could replicate every sound we could ever need for much less money and with far more convenience than analog ever could. But fortunately, that was not the end of the story.
In the twenty years until the Monotron, the industry spun through many revolutions where cultural and technological influence brought us back to a world where analog could find a new foothold. For Korg, many of the seeds were sown by the design team from the defunct Sequential Circuits, who, along with Dave Smith, joined them in 1987.
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The Wavestation in 1990 was the first result of that acquisition, which built on the vector synthesis of the Sequential Prophet VS. But it was their work on the OASYS platform that really gave Korg the tools to explore interesting ideas in the digital domain that would, I believe, keep the playfulness alive that underpins Korg's approach. Ultimately, this playful spirit left the door open for analog to eventually return.
OASYS was a computer-based Open Architecture Synthesis System capable of running all sorts of synthesis forms simultaneously. It was extraordinary and costly, but somehow, the California-based R&D department managed to harvest some of the power and squeeze it into the odd-looking 1995 Prophecy. It had virtual analog, FM, and physical modeling engines, an interestingly combined ribbon controller and modulation wheel, and a handful of real-time controls. Everything else at the time was following the minimalist design aesthetic and PCM-based sounds of the M1 and then the Trinity, so the Prophecy stood out. It became a favourite of the underground dance music scene that had been quietly picking up all the old analog gear that was knocking around in charity shops and car-boot sales.
By the time the new millennium came around, virtual analog-based synthesizers had started to remind us that hands-on controls were incredibly useful. Korg didn't quite match up to the performance stylings of the Roland JP-8000 or Access Virus until the release of the MS2000. It was covered in knobs and real-time controls that stirred memories of the analog synthesizers of old. The same engine found itself in the 2002 microKORG, which has gone on to become the world's best-selling synthesizer. These sound engines also ran the Electribe groove machines, which leaned heavily into the electronic dance music market, offering a very analog way of working.
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In 2004, the Korg Legacy Collection of VST Instruments introduced a new computer-based generation to the delights of the MS-20, Polysix, and Wavestation. And then in 2006, they produced the beautiful Radias synthesizer, the last run of the OASYS architecture before it evolved into the Kronos much later.
All of this development and evolution was pushing forward into the limits of complex digital technology while looking backward into an analog way of working. It seemed to be reaching some sort of peak of sophistication that would surely result in something spectacular. Instead, someone at Korg came up with a cheap little single-oscillator analog box. They pulled a filter from the archives, gave it a couple of knobs, and it was totally brilliant. The Monotron was the antithesis of the complex systems of the day and led to simple, exciting, and familiar things. You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief when the wondrous simplicity of analog sounds and circuits were back in our hands.
The Monos
A year later, the Monotron evolved into three more interesting boxes. The Monotron Duo added a second square wave VCO and some cross-modulation, whereas the Monotron Delay added an LFO and delay effect. Both were built at the level of instant-buy pricing and sold through non-traditional music gear outlets like Amazon. Many were found wrapped up under the tree for musicians who had made it onto the good list that Christmas.
The more ambitious Monotribe brought in elements from the Electribe to give it a simple groovebox vibe, but with analog sounds. It had a souped-up Monotron synth, three drum voices, and a sequencer. More important, perhaps, was the additional level of control: knobs were plentiful, and the instrument overall felt much more mature. The Monotribe looked like it had fallen through a time portal. It was all knobs and switches, waveforms and filters, a single LFO, and a little bit of enveloping. There was no MIDI, but it had Sync In/Out like you'd find on old drum machines and bassline synths, which were becoming very popular in second-hand markets. There was no display, no endless preset surfing—just a simple monosynth, a couple of percussive sounds, eight steps, affordability, and a huge amount of fun.
The Mono's enthusiastic reception seemed to be a catalyst that spurred the industry into exploring the cheaper end of analog possibilities. While Moog was still producing premium analog synthesizers, and Dave Smith had returned with the fabulous, but high-end Prophet-12, there was a lot of interest in something more affordable. The growing modular and Eurorack community demonstrated that you could build analog circuits relatively cheaply, even without the advantages of mass production. Arturia was the first to really test the waters with the Minibrute in 2012, and it caused quite a stir. It was raunchy, aggressive, hands-on, and immediate—everything that software and digital synthesizers weren't.
MS-20 Mini
Korg's response came in the form of reintroducing one of their most sought-after synths, the MS-20. Musicians had been asking all the Japanese synth companies to revisit their analog back-catalogues for years; Korg was brave enough to give it a go. The MS-20 Mini was 86% the size of the original and went with Eurorack-sized minijack patch sockets, but it was otherwise an MS-20 through and through. It was built by the original designers from original schematics and was uncompromisingly an analog synth straight from the '70s.
Korg was not content with just reviving an old synthesizer. They wanted a new angle and something more to explore, so they tapped into the growing interest in DIY synthesizers and electronics. Later the same year, they released a full-sized MS-20 in kit form. Now, this wasn't about handling bare PCBs and soldering components; it was about assembling premade parts into a finished synthesizer to give you a sense of achievement without the danger of damaging things or getting it all wrong. It also helped keep the prices under control or, at the very least, gave the illusion of great value.
Kits would become a bit of a theme for Korg going forward. Around the same time, almost as a side quest, Korg got together with an educational startup called LittleBits and came up with the STEM-infused LittleBits Synth Kit. It was a collection of little synth components that you could snap or patch together to form working synthesizers. It was like synthesizer Lego and opened up analog synthesis and modular patching to a wider, all-age audience.
The Volca Series
In what would be a very busy year, Korg introduced the first boxes in the Volca series. The Volca followed on from the Monotribe and offered small-format electronic instruments that were compact, battery-powered, and had an inbuilt speaker. Each Volca focused on a form of synthesis or function; it had a much-improved touch keyboard and some form of sequencer. The first three Volcas were the Volca Keys, Volca Bass, and Volca Beats. They were all analog, syncable, easy to play via a MIDI input, and terribly cute. They somehow managed to surf around the edge of being considered toys because they were packed with some very serious and appreciated technology.
The Volca Keys was an analog lead synth with up to three voices for polyphonic playing. The filter came from the legendary miniKORG 700S synthesizer, and you had enough modulation to make things really interesting. The sequencer was pretty simple and would loop whatever you played, but it also had a “Motion Sequence” function for recording modulation and “Active Step” and “Flux” to add dynamic changes (carried over from the prior Monotribe). These functions would become a bit of a key feature.
The Volca Bass was an obvious take on the Roland TB-303, but with three oscillators and a much easier sequencer. Volca Beats went for a cut-down TR-808 vibe with six analog sounds for the kick, snare, toms, and hi-hats, supplemented by some PCM sounds for some additional percussion. The sequencer was pulled from the Electribe and added stuttering and step jumps for some really interesting rhythms.
You could connect all three with sync cables and have a tabletop EDM analog jam at your fingertips. The Volca line has, of cource, continued to develop, with new models emerging every few years or so, including the crowd favorites Volca Modular, Volca Sample, Volca FM, and more.
It's also worth mentioning the SQ-1 at this point. It's an analog step sequencer that feeds quite nicely into the "dawless jammin'" vibe. If you wanted to make music outside of the computer, you had to rely on synths having their own sequencers or using MIDI from a groovebox or workstation. The SQ-1 stepped in with a pair of sequencers with multiple modes, simple operation, and lively visual feedback. You could patch it into modular, into the MS-20, or any other synth with a CV input. It was brilliant, simple, battery-powered, and superbly liberating.
Korg Volca Favorites
Korg + ARP Partnership
Completely out of the blue, in 2015, Korg came up with a reissue of the ARP Odyssey. ARP was a major mover and shaker of analog synths in the 1970s, perhaps most famously with the impressive-looking ARP 2600, which, amongst other things, provided the voice for Star Wars' R2-D2. ARP went out of business in 1981, around the time Korg had released their most popular analog synths, the Mono/Poly and the Polysix. Anyway, impressed by the reissue of the MS-20, Alan Pearlman's co-founder at ARP, David Friend, approached Korg with the idea of resurrecting the odd classic ARP synth or two. They started with the Odyssey.
The Korg ARP Odyssey was beautiful to behold. Dressed in the MkIII orange and black, it pulled in all three filter versions and added some overdrive to what was otherwise an authentic-sounding Odyssey. It wasn't a clone as such, but it was redesigned from the original schematics to be produced with modern surface mount technology. Like the MS-20 Mini, it was smaller than the original and had a slightly disappointing mini keyboard. It took a while, but eventually Korg released a full-sized "Odyssey FS."
As soon as the Odyssey appeared, people asked about the possibility of a new ARP 2600. It was the synth that everybody wanted, and when they revealed it at NAMM 2020, it sold out in a day. Korg released it as a limited edition, one-time-only production run, hand-crafted in Japan. It came in a flight case with an improved ARP 3620 duophonic keyboard with added LFO, arpeggiator, and sequencer.
The 2600 is semi-modular and features three oscillators with the usual waveforms and cross-modulation. The filter profiles of all the versions are available at the flick of a switch, and you get noise, ring modulation, two envelopes, a VCA, mixer, and reverb. There's something about the physicality of the 2600 that sets it apart. The normalled connections can take you on a satisfying journey of analog synthesis, but then, through patching, you can find completely different adventures.
Korg could have easily sold many more full-sized 2600s, but instead switched to the more affordable ARP 2600M. It may have been reduced in size and visual impact, but it lost nothing in terms of tone and explorability. It comes without the keyboard and so loses those useful additional features, but otherwise, it is an authentic analog 2600 that more of us can reach.
The 'logues
Let's take a step back. At some point, Korg was going to have to take things beyond vintage reissues and design something new. The popularity of analog was obvious, and they needed a new synthesizer to capitalise on that enthusiasm. In 2016, Korg nailed it with the Minilogue.
The Minilogue was brilliant. It was a compact, nicely styled four-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer with a sequencer and delay effect. It looked like a proper synth with a futuristic edge, and it would reward people by sounding amazing while appearing to have all the conveniences of a digital synth. The recent analog adventures had been largely monophonic, and for the mainstream market, monosynths seemed to require a lot of work to end up playing a single note at a time. It needed to be polyphonic and affordable, and the Minilogue was both.
It had two oscillators with shaping and cross modulation, a great-sounding multimode filter, a pair of envelopes, an LFO, and a straightforward routing and modulation architecture. It was totally approachable, full of presets to get you going—and it had some nice touches like the little oscilloscope display and the wooden rear panel.
The Monologue came a year later. It was easy to see it as a cut-down single-voice version of the Minilogue, but it was, in fact, designed to be different—with redesigned envelopes, a fatter filter, and a much more interesting sequencer borrowed from the Volcas and laid out in 16 buttons. It was available for half the price in five different colors.
Leading up to the 2018 NAMM show, there were rumours that Korg was going to release something really special. The smart money was on some kind of full-sized Minilogue, and they were not disappointed.
The Prologue was the real deal: a professional analog synthesizer with retro looks and a thoroughly modern architecture. It was available in 8-voice and 16-voice versions with full-sized 49 or 61 keys, and most importantly, it sounded fantastic. This is what everyone was waiting for: a proper analog polyphonic synthesizer with all the hands-on control we loved and the advantages of modern circuits and digital effects at a very reasonable price.
Korg wasn't just looking backwards; they were also looking forward and introducing new innovations. On the Prologue, this was found in the third oscillator. It was digital and had three modes: it could be a noise generator, a Variable Phrase Modulation (VPM) oscillator, which is similar to a complex FM oscillator, and a User oscillator. The VPM side was very interesting, bringing in non-analog textures and tones to the Prologue, but it was the User mode that really set this synth apart. The User oscillator was open for development. Korg provided an SDK that allowed programmers to come up with their own custom waveforms and oscillations. This means you could add wavetables, effects, virtual analog, and whatever else you could fit into the space. It allowed the Prologue to move into completely different territory, making it far more versatile.
The "Multi Engine" custom oscillator found its way into the expanded Minilogue XD that appeared later that year. It also added more digital effects, a stereo output, some CV connections, and the enhanced sequencer from the Monologue. This evolution pushes the Minilogue XD into being what I would consider an almost perfectly featured and affordable analog synthesizer.
More from the 'logue Series
More Resurrections
Since the Prologue Korg has reissued the stunning miniKORG 700 as both a full-sized replica and a new miniaturized version. It's a fascinating monophonic synthesizer from 1973. It was originally designed to sit on top of an organ or electric piano, which gives it its odd arrangement of controls. The reproduction was overseen by Fumio Mieda, the original designer, who ensured it was as authentic as possible.
The miniKORG 700 featured the "Traveler" controller, which was Korg's first filter and appeared on several of their early synthesizers. It works quite cleverly using two sliders for the low and highpass filters that could form a bandpass when you use them together. The sliders were not supposed to be able to pass each other and had protrusions to prevent it. Users often shaved these off in order to push the synth into unexplored territory. The reproduction allows for that.
It also has the extra oscillator from the slightly updated miniKORG 700S version and adds patch storage, a spring reverb, arpeggiator, modulation joystick and aftertouch. The miniKORG 700 is a fantastic synth for lead and basslines. It's designed for lively performance, and I think is one of the most beautiful-looking synths I've ever seen.
While many people pondered what Korg might do next in the analog department, no one predicted what came next. At the 2024 NAMM show, Korg revealed a reproduction of the legendary PS-3300 polyphonic synthesizer. This was one chunky synth produced in 1977 when everyone was trying to solve the problems associated with making fully polyphonic analog synthesizers. The PS-3300 was impressive; it consisted of three PS-3100 synthesizers combined across the 48-note keyboard for full-range polyphony. Each of the PSU-3301 synth units had a single VCO, LFO, lowpass filter, envelope modifier, and VCA. It also had a global filter envelope and a three-peak voltage-controlled resonator. Only around 50 were ever made, making it extremely rare to find a working example. A simplified single voice from the PS-3300 is what ultimately became the MS-20.
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The new full-scale reissue brings the behemoth back to life as a homage to Korg's heritage. There are a few modernizations like USB/MIDI, a memory function, and a redesigned resonator made with less toxic components—and it comes with the PS-3010 keyboard. It's semi-modular, very patchable, and interesting because each PSU-3301 can be programmed differently.
It's a sizable piece of furniture, and I was lucky enough to see one at the Korg Gallery exhibition at the Musical Museum in London. A Korg representative said that the PS-3300 FS is currently in production and will have a very limited run, similar to that of the ARP 2600 FS. The price is likely to be around $15,000, but nonetheless, it will probably sell out almost immediately. Even if Korg did a mini version, I imagine it would still be prohibitively expensive for most of us.
The Future
What comes next from Korg is difficult to predict. One of the reasons they've endured is because they are able to come up with diverse ideas and unexpected projects. Much of this may be because they have R&D departments in different parts of the world, and they all have different ideas to bring to the table. Recently, Korg established a new R&D centre in Berlin, Germany, headed up by Tatsuya Takahashi, who was responsible for many of the Volca synths and other recent analog Korg creations. They've been working on designing entirely new musical instruments.
In terms of the place of analog at Korg, it's fair to say that reproducing legacy synths from the 1970s has introduced new generations of their engineers to the delights and difficulties of building analog machines. All of the processes that have been relearned and the development of modern interpretations have got to be useful tools for future projects. It's difficult to imagine what new ideas could come from the realm of analog synthesis; Korg has already reworked the concepts into instruments like the Minilogue and Prologue. On the other hand, if they were to look back again, then the most obvious contenders for reinvention would be the Mono/Poly and the Polysix. According to the aforementioned Korg representative, those are the synths they get asked for the most. He would not disclose any concrete future possibilities, but suggested that working for Korg requires an open mind and a healthy sense of adventure.
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