The Korg Minilogue is a

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

analog synthesizer An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses Analogue electronics, analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a var ...

released in 2016 by

Korg , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instrument An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electr ...

. It offers users four-voice polyphony with two analog VCOs per-voice and was designed to be affordable. It was designed by Korg engineer and synthesizer designer Tatsuya Takahashi, who said "the concept of the Minilogue was to build an analog synthesizer that doesn't rely on the fame and success of an old synth". An updated version, the Minilogue XD was released in 2019, and a limited edition Minilogue Bass was released in 2023.

Sounds and features

The Korg Minilogue combines analog and digital elements in a single-channel, monophonic architecture with four voices. It incorporates a 37-note mini keyboard and an array of modulation and filter settings, alongside a robust sequencer and arpeggiator. Additionally, it is equipped with an OLED screen that functions both as a parameter display and a waveform oscilloscope. Each of the four voices includes two

voltage-controlled oscillator A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is an electronic oscillator whose oscillation frequency is controlled by a voltage input. The applied input voltage determines the instantaneous oscillation frequency. Consequently, a VCO can be used for fre ...

s (VCOs) along with

white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used with this or similar meanings in many scientific and technical disciplines, i ...

, a

voltage-controlled filter A voltage-controlled filter (VCF) is an electronic filter whose operating characteristics (primarily cutoff frequency) can be set by an input control voltage. Voltage-controlled filters are widely used in synthesizers. A music synthesizer VCF ...

(VCF), and a

voltage-controlled amplifier A variable-gain (VGA) or voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) is an electronic amplifier that varies its gain depending on a control voltage (often abbreviated CV). VCAs have many applications, including audio level compression, synthesizers and ...

(VCA), modulated by a digital

low-frequency oscillator Low-frequency oscillation (LFO) is an electronic frequency that is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This is used to modulate musical equipment such as synthesizers to create audio effects such as vibrato, tremolo ...

(LFO) and shaped by dual

ADSR envelopes ADSR may refer to: * ADSR envelope In sound and music, an envelope describes how a sound changes over time. For example, a piano key, when struck and held, creates a near-immediate initial sound which gradually decreases in volume to zero. An ...

, also digitally generated. The VCOs provide four octave settings and allow selection from three waveforms, with waveshaping capabilities managed manually or through LFO modulation for dynamic effects. The mixed signals from the oscillators and noise generator feed into a switchable 12 dB or 24 dB/octave low-pass filter, featuring adjustable resonance, cutoff modulation via an envelope generator (EG), and three keyboard tracking options. The signal is then directed to the audio VCA, which is modulated by its dedicated ADSR envelope. VCA velocity sensitivity can also be activated via the menu options. The Minilogue's output combines the four voices in one of eight Voice Modes, including a polyphonic mode for four-voice chords, a unison mode for layered single-note sounds, and an arpeggiator mode. The final audio output includes an analog high-pass filter and a digital delay line, capable of creating a range of effects from reverberant atmospheres to standard delays. The Minilogue features 200 memory slots—100 are preset factory sounds, and 100 are user-programmable. Each patch can store its sequence, with the capability to record up to four motion sequences that capture changes to panel control values within each program.

Release

Korg announced the Minilogue prior to the 2016

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

. It was priced new at $499.99 in the United States, ¥55,000 in Japan and £449 in the United Kingdom and Europe. The official release was preceded by leaks which caused media speculation. In January 2019, Korg release the Minilogue XD, which was shortly followed by a desktop version in May. The XD is an enhanced version of the original Minilogue featuring the same design, four-voice polyphony and control panel while adding the digital Multi Engine from the Korg Prologue, microtunings from the Korg Monologue, an improved filter, and a joystick for parameter control. The desktop version features a poly-chain mode that allows it to be connected to a keyboard-equipped Minilogue XD for eight-voice polyphony. In 2023, Korg released the Minilogue Bass, a limited edition version of the original Minilogue with an alternate colour scheme but otherwise the same sound engine.

References

External links

Korg Minilogue
on Korg's official site
9 Ways to Get More Out of Your Korg Minilogue
on MusicRadar {{Korg Korg synthesizers Polyphonic synthesizers Analog synthesizers