Korg • Mono/Poly
A cool analog monophonic/polyphonic from Korg. It has 4 VCO's which can be shared in 4-voice Polyphonic mode, or linked in Unison for a versatile monophonic lead. Each VCO has its own level, tune, and waveform type control. Waveforms include sine, sawtooth, Pulse Width, and Pulse Width Modulation. It has a great VCF filter section as well as 2 envelope generators (one for the oscillators and one for the filter). There are also 2 individual LFO's which can be used to modulate the Pulse Width, envelope and Arpeggiator independently.
A very flexible and fun synth. Other cool tricks up its sleeve include chord memory and an effects mode in which oscillators have a variety of ways to be synced. The built-in arpeggiator and sequencer can run all 4 VCO's at a time or cycle through each voice per note! There's also portamento, CV/Gate, VCF and VCO mod inputs, white noise generator, and the pitch/mod wheels can be assigned to control LFO, pitch or the filter. Its sound quality is a little thin, but nice and very Korg. This synth is used by Hardfloor, Tangerine Dream, The Orb, 808 State, Juno Reactor, Megaton Matt Haines, Freddy Fresh, and the Chemical Brothers.
1) No, unfortunately, the mono-poly can not process external signals such
the MS 20 (I possess them both)
2) Yes, the mono-poly has a hold / Latch function
And it's far from sounding thin, as suggested.
If you are considering the purchase of a Mono/Poly there's a couple of things to check first: do ALL the keyboard keys work? Are there some keys you have to press harder to make them work? If so, the keyboard contacts will need some attention. Second; are the knobs glitchy? If so, they might require some cleaning which means dismantling the whole front panel.
If everything works flawlessly, and the price is right (between $700 and $1200 these days) then go for it! It's got more features than a Minimoog, and cost a LOT less and, after 15 minutes or so, is much more stable also.