Korg MS-20

Very intuitive as long as you do not use the patchbay. Have to admit that up to now I have been a bit too lazy to explore all the added potential hidden in the patching options. But I regularly use it in live situations and am always able to switch to the next sound I'm after

The combined LPF and HPF defines the character. Got not much to add to other reviews here. When you want an MS-20 you may already know it's limitations. I love most old synths for the sake of those limitations for it sets them apart from each other. The MS-20 is distinctively different from any Moog or ARP monophonic, even from the more screamy Korg predecessors like the 700s (which I also love dearly)

Realistic. Yes. It sounds like a Korg MS-20. It can do that very well ;-). Seriously, this little monster is e.g. the core sound of the brutal electronic pioneers Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft who whipped their MS-20 forward with the matching sequencer Korg SQ-10.
It is a punky synthesizer

YES! I think that the MS-20 is the most reliable oldie I own. I used it for a location theatre project last December (a cold storage house, temperature during performances dropping below zero). Kept screaming happily for weeks. It's unbelievably sturdy

No idea. I think they would like to talk me into a Korg Legacy package which I would understand. But I think I'd friendly decline.

I had to write this because of the last comment on the MS-20 posted in 2008. Maybe Harmony Central should somehow screen it's reviewers. I don't think the offensive aggro blog-style, combined with the ignorance about facts and figures, is helpful to anyone here. Or anywhere else.

The MS-20 is a bag full of character. It fits my style of harsh sound-scaping very well and it is one of my oldies I dare to take on the road.
It is NOT smooth and lacks a real fast envelope (not good for biting percussive sounds). But for a bit of hardcore electronics I switch it on!

If you know how to operate radio equipment from 1945 you'll feel right at home with this

1 voice monophonic. That's right, you are paying all that money for 1 weak lousy voice. What a hunk of crap. But anyways there are digital synths that do everything can do and more and sound better. it was made in 1970's everything sucked back then look at it it look like it from a frankenstein lab. Overrated hunk of ****.

1 voice of overrated non-sense. Buy a digital board it can do everything this can and more why waste your money unless you a dumb rich kid who just want to show off but guess what synths aren't cool dummy if you wanna be cool you collect guitars nobody is impressed by old frankenstein keyboards.

It was made in 1972 what do you think dummy it gonna break all the time they made everything crappy back then.

you gotta be a real dumbass if you think they will support a frankenstein keyboard from 1974

Way overrated 1 voice it sound ok just like a digital but it is more expensive

Well, if your looking for a "plug&play" solution then this ain't the synth for you.

The usual analog lay out is pretty common, but the modulation is pretty "you have to take some time to get to know it"

all-in-all, just a matter of time and plugin'/tweakn'

This thing is monophonic.
Basically a great machine for bass, cazy leads and especially effects.

When you start digging the modulation - that's when the magic happens.
Really, if you start to think about, 90% of music made today is multitracking and building a structure (skeleton) by throwing muscles at it (sounds).
The point is - don't let the monophonic scare you. It' just the matter of your fantasy and use

Well, that's what i bough it for - the analogueness ... that sounds sweet . . .
a great instrument for about any type of style. Making sound effects is it's core.
I use it for everything

Reliable as a tank. I had it ones being fallen from a 3rd tier stand (hommies fault) but nothing happened to it apparently.

Haven't giged with it yet, but can assure anyone that it's a solid horse.

Even if something goes wrong with the insides, the components are pretty common and easy to find in any mechanic/electronic market/shop

guess there's no support for an 1978 model synth, ay
as i told in the reliability: easily repaired with the right hands.

Overall, a pretty good alternative to a higher costing minimoog.
If you're into experimenting, getting the most of it - then it's your thing.

Got it for a pretty high price - about 1000$ but don't regret it (anyway, it would cost about twice here (Moscow) if i were to sell it)

If you know what a vco,vcf,vca and lfo is, it's a cookie.

2 vco's and the best filter on this planet.

You hear them all the time in commercial productions.

This grade has been given because of my absolute faith in my ms.
Filter knob could be stuck some day.......it's happend to my ms-10.
Maybe a 10 problemo.

hahahaha

I use my syntecno teebee yo midify my ms20,x911,yamaha cs-10.
I'ts just what i always wanted. when i get my motu 828 mk2 all the vst audio and vsti's whill be routed trough tha filters(also thru the electrix filterfactory and akai mcf 42) ...I can't wait.

Big Pimping

If you know subtractive synthesis, then it's pretty intuitive (once you rewire your brain to see Modulation Generator as LFO). If not, you're in for a long lesson. But glory be- all the knobs and switches are right there, so you're not diving through obscure menus and submenus. If I were teaching an analog synthesis class, I'd buy a few of these babys.

Monophonic, cheapo plastic organ keyboard.
No built in effects (or you can think of this thing as a HUGE effects processor in and of itself).
Expansion capabilities include the MS-10, MS-50 and the SQ-10, and plenty of other analog modulars.

The external signal processor is AWESOME. Aside from being able to filter/tweak external sounds (hello auto wah, hello sample and hold, hello vibrato), you can filter/tweak external sounds and control the oscilators with whatever you can get into a 1/4 cable. This includes voice, pianos, guitar, bass, etc. I made a patch yesterday that had my bass being filtered by a sample and hold pattern, with the pitch controling OSC2 set to ring modulator, while I played a melody on OSC 1. You think it, you can do it.

Sure, it doesn't have midi, it doesn't have velocity, forget about memory etc. But nobody complains about a violin having only 4 strings. It's a monophonic synth, and it's *extremely versatile* for a monophonic synth, especially one this small. I have, however, been aching for one more LFO, however, and the OSC2 tuning knob is too small. So it gets a 9.

Give me a 1:1 knob to sound aspect ratio over velocity any day. This thing has tweakability up the yazoo. As you get familiar with it, patching becomes smooth and quick. I find myself repatching things in the middle of playing.

I bought a Juno 60 a while ago to make basslines and some leads on. It was okay, but I found it to be pretty sterile when compared with this old Roland SH-2000 (old-ass preset synth). I realized I didn't really want polyphony, and that I did want voltage controlled oscilators vs. digital controlled.

I started out impressed that the oscilators had the warmth and fullness I was looking for, and the filters could make it sound as cold or dirty as I wanted. The insane flexibility has led this synth to be included in some aspect on almost every one of my songs. It has a distinct, meaty sound.

Lots of people use this synth to do industrial type stuff, but it has totally excelled at making more intricate experimental jazz and hip hop.

I depend on it; I've got it in a flight case and have and will continue to use it without a backup. Oscilator drift is minimal.

I've heard of people putting high-headroom VCA's in there instead of the rather noisy ones they've got in now. Anybody?

I was looking for something to do predominantly bass stuff, but something I could really tweak if I wanted. The MS-20 does this with aplomb. It never ceases to surprise me at the insane weird noises it'll squeak out, and the bass is SOLID. I found it a very satisfying (and about half as expensive) alternative to a minimoog. With the tweakability I find it to be just as useful.

There's some really high-profile musicians using it these days, including Mr. Ozio and Aphex Twin. If you're curious as to how it sounds in a number of different applications, how it sits in a mix, with other instruments, etc. in a more musical setting, listen to some of the tracks here: http://www.redshiftrecordings.com/univac/velella

If it were lost/stolen I'd totally try to find another one. This synth is on par with my Rickenbacker 4001 in terms of value to me as a musician. I'm making tracks these days with an assortment of gear, and it works very well with all of them (see the list on the website).

The MS-20 manual is quite revealing but for the most part you don't actually need one (just a reasonable knowledge of subtractive synthesis, which you'll pick up easily).
I especially like the "open-ended signal paths with hardwired default" approach, where the synth operates as a pretty reasonable "2-of-everything" mono-analogue without a single patch-cord inserted (well, apart from one to the old Marshall amp!). The knob-panel is also really well laid out - very logical and following signal-flow, L-R.
Loads of potential when you have loads of patch-cords with which to start routing/rerouting the signals (and awesome when in tandem with the MS-50 Expander and SQ-10 Sequencer). The patch-panel initially looks messy but it's clearly-marked and easy to find what you want.
I did, however, find some of the smaller knobs difficult to operate with my meatplates, which is probably due more to the steep-angled front than a cluttered front panel.
Obviously, this synth has no presets whatsoever and so it is a knob-twiddler's machine ('oo-er', obviously!) than a switch-on-and-use-someone-else's-sounds type, but obviously it can be a pain to have to write valuable settings down.
Also, prospective buyers should remember that it's nigh-on impossible to get exactly the same sound twice, where really complicated patches are concerned - some will love that concept, others will hate it. I both loved and hated that, depending on the moment.
Also no MIDI (which wasn't around at that time), but CV/MIDI converters can easily be plugged-in.
Rating is based upon a synth with no patch-memories. If you consider them important, halve the score.

Features are quite basic, really (especially these days) - obviously it's monophonic, etc., but the open-endedness of it all, for a cheap mono', is fantastic. Just about everything is accessible for re-routing. It does, however, make a much more attractive proposition with the MS-50 Expander, so I suppose in retrospect there are significant limitations... But then it was my only synth so probably not recommended as that! Do make sure you have plenty of patch-cords and some <external> effects.
Same proviso for the rating applies as last section.

Crikey, this review is difficult! In its time, its expressiveness (as with just about everything else!) was pretty good, but maybe doesn't compare with basic performance features these days, such as keyboard velocity/aftertouch/rel-vel, x-y controllers, etc.) but of course the MS-20 is so "interfaceable" that you can simply link it in with a MIDI/CV interface. Note that you need a Hz/V compatible interface.
Sounds... Hmm. It used to do my head in that the decent cheap monosynths were either very controllable OR sounded great. This fits the former, as opposed to, say, the Moog Prodigy (which came out much later, actually) which sounded fantastic but you couldn't do much with it.
It's mainly down to the filters - Moog used a fabbo 24dB/Oct LP filter, Korg used 2 weak 12dB/Oct ones - one HP and one LP. Sound variety id excellent, sound quality is just fairly qood.

Never had a problem in over 10 years, except that the volume pot occasionally crackled when turned over a wide range.
Wouldn't use it for a gig, though, simply because it'd need too long to set up. Oh yeah, keyboard CV starts to drop if you have a long drone going but don't press a key - need to route keyboard CV through S&H module (using keyboard gate-CV trigger) if this is an issue. Actual oscillator-drift was really minimal for the time.

Never used

This is a review of a synth I no longer own - I bought it in about 1980 and sold it - along with an MS-50 Expander and SQ-10 Sequencer (both were fairly rare, even back then!) - in about 1992/93. To The Aphex Twin actually which, I would say, is a strong endorsement of this model of synth.
I bought it because I was very much into messing about with complex sounds, distorting them in various ways, and playing industrial (not metal, as is now oft-referred-to as industrial) type music/nonmusic. For that it is pretty darned good - better than the Korg 770 that it replaced - but it doesn't have the sheer balls of a comparable Moog (although its have the flexibility certainly makes up for that).
Anything I wish it had...? Well, obviously it got old in the tooth compared to the MIDI and then digital stuff that arrived and I replaced it initially with a Kawai K4. Now that times have changed so much, you can easily obtain MIDI/CV interfaces, and I can now augment it with more instruments, I wish I still had my old MS-system. I do quite miss it.

Polyphony Monophonic
Oscillators 2 VCO's + noise
LFO One LFO w/ multiple waveforms
VCF 2 MultiMode VCFs: Highpass, Notch, BandReject; with ADSR
VCA 2 VCAs: ADSR + Sample and Hold with an envelope follower
Keyboard 36 keys
Arpeg/Seq None
Control CV/GATE
Date 1978
I think You know this....

We use the MS 20 to create many strange effects and sound....it sounds lovely.

In the studio, on a live gig and a privat jam session, every time it is with us.

The Korg MS 20 is a wonderful little machine with a lot of effects. It sounds good and it looks fine. So.....

An easy synth to program if you do it just with the knobs. All the fun starts when you start using the patch cables. The original manual is typical for the Korg synths of that time.

2 VCO 2 EG White and Pink Noise. Nice filters. Plus the ability to use external soundsources as controlsource. eg. mic guitar etc. It's monophonic but with a little bit tweaking you get a very "fat" sound.

You can use this synth to create a lot of different sounds. Filter sweeps on lead and bass sounds is very nice. Analog noises is easy to create.

I bought mine used at an bazar. Never had a problem with it.

A lot of sites on the internet, but not supported by Korg i think.

A nice synth. The only problem is... "WHY DID I SELL IT??"

For me the layout was not that intuitive (as like the ARP 2600). This is a small modular synth that is very powerful. I never got a real manual but the online manual was very basic. With time it will all come to you.

The MS-20 has 2 of almost everything. 2 VCO's, filters, envelope generators. This Korg analog runs on a hz/volt scaling system (not the typical 1 volt/octave) but my Kenton Pro 4 can handle the MIDI-CV conversion. I can even control and automate BOTH highpass and lowpass filters w/ my Kenton Pro-4! That's what the MS20 is all about..The filters. S/H is great and you can insert external input to run the filters through (that's why this machine is trendy now. Thanks to Willaim Orbit's filter use). The External signal processor can be used to contol the MS-20's VCOs buy something other than the keyboard (e.g. guitar). Never used this before though.

The best thing about this overpriced trendy piece of gear is the dual filters. I think they are sleazy sounding (but in a good way!). Tweaking both the highpass and lowpass concurrently is the funnest. The MS-20 is a discretly made synth and has that unmistakeable warm almost "electrical" sound like the Minimoog or ARP 2600. It's just not as phat sounding as those 3 VCO synths. I'm head over heals for 3 discrete VCO's basses but I like thinner leads. This is where the MS-20 comes in. The envelopes are slooow (unlike Moog) but being discrete it makes for some warm and smooth leads (amazing when sweeping the filter as well). This filter can be baught from Frostwave as well (The Resonator). It is supposed to be an exact clone.

If you have problems just take it to a tech. Mine never failed me yet..

Lots of MS-20 resources on the web. This is a trendy and popular synth now.

Overall an awesome synth. Don't even touch the MS2000 VA. It's a shame they had to use the "MS" name for that one. Top notch filters. Great discrete sound. If your looking for the ultimate bass machine look elsewhere. Leads, strange FX, and filtering external sources are what the MS-20 is all about.

Right up there with the ARP-2600 as far as the prepatched architecture
goes. However, the patch panel can be a little obtuse, as some things
there don't necessarily work the way one would expect, even with
modular experience. Just grab a fistful of noise and go... Manual?
Ah...it's fair, and you will want to refer to it to see how to use
(or abuse) the external input section well...buy by and large you're
best off just diving in here.

Monosynth, no MIDI. One caveat here is that it uses Korg and Yamaha's
annoying V/Hz linear scaling standard, so if you want to use a MIDI-CV
box with this, you MUST make sure it can handle that. The feature
set is fabulous, though...you have independant HP and LP VCFs, a
great LFO, lots of screwy routing capabilities, the AMAZING external
input with pitch-CV and envelope follower, and once you get the
hang of it, external/alternate routing via the patch panel. This
and the EMS Synthi AKS are about as tiny as potent modulars get! Sole
drawback here is a very cheap-feeling keyboard and wheel/button
controller.

Ultra-complex sounds are a nono here, since you only have two VCOs
and the routings can't be made to be TOO complicated. But 90% of the
time, if you can think up a noise, the MS-20 can belch it out. And
again, I direct you to the often-abused-by-Aphex-Twin external input
section...enough hints?

Here's a hint: I actually BLEW MINE UP by misconnecting the power
cord across hot-to-ground. Repair needed: an internal fuse. Keep
the jackfield well-cleaned and burnished, and don't use it for a
football, and it should be working fine years from now.

Korg is friendly enough, but they don't support the old MS series
anymore. Loads of techs know these, however, so if yours goes off,
you're not SOL.

Touch mine and your hand may be removed forceably. One of my faves,
especially because you can (here I go again) use that external input
section to make SERIOUS audio trouble. Think the TB-303 is the ahcEEd
machine? Get busy with one of these (and I won't tell you how...this
is for you to discover yourself!) and you may be convinced otherwise.
Everything from droning bass pedals to klangorous racket to total
unfamiliar electro-gibberish resides in these synths, just waiting to
be unleashed by the right user. Like I said, perhaps one of the most
powerful small synths aside of the Synthi AKS. Expensive on the used
market these days...but one of the few cases where the inflated price
is worth every penny!

It's very easy to use,just tweek those knobs,
only the patch-bay it a little harder to obtain.

Features are the biggest dissapointment,there are almost no features
on this korg synth,you just get a very basic synthesizer.

The filter sounds like no other analog synth that's for shure but I doubt you must buy the synth only for this must say 'great' filter.

It's oscillators are very stable and my guess is that this
synth is one of the more stable analog synth's out there.

Korg is still out there so I guess there is still
kind of support on their old synth's.

I did buy the korg ms-20 at a very high price,and it's my biggest dissapointment untill now and I owned quite a lot analog synth's,so I suggest you better buy another analog synth for your money so I traded my korg ms-20

Tres facile d'utilisation, ergonomique et vraiment tres pedagogique.
A premiere vue aucun probleme. Mais des que l'on s'aventure sur le panel de droite, on commence a percevoir sa relative simplicite : Et c'est bon signe! Des assimilation de la synthese et de ses possibilites de modulations (il est vrai bien aides par son ergonomie), on envie de pouvoir moduler independemment la resonnance des filtres...
Le manuel est bien foutu et en plusieurs langues. Neanmoins, en parcourant le chapitre anglais, j'ai decouvert des annotations absentes dans la partie francaise!

Vraiment il y a tout ou presque!
Il manque un PWM, separe sur chaque osc et quelques mods (resonance, mod LFO, ...)
Une merveille sur l'ENV2 : la fonction hold et le processeur d'entree ext.
Mon MS20 est parfois utilise avec un convertisseur Prosolo, lorsqu'il est asservi au sequenceur de mon SQ80)

Les sons sont tous sauf realistes. Remarquez que je ne l'ai pas achete pour cela.
Rien que jouer sur l'autoscillations des filtres (vraiment geniaux ces filtres 12db/Oct resonnants en serie, chercher les synthes qui le proposent aujourd'hui... Q, etc...) prends 50% des sonorites tirees du MS20.
Le clavier est bon et couvre 3 octaves, ce qui est ideal pour un Mono

RAS

RAS

Un synthe a garder, non pas a collectionner, mais pour en jouer.
Et en plus, il est stable!
je m'en paierai presqu'un autre pour doubler ses possibilites ou pour le faire modifier.
Un bijou et mono vraiment polyvalent servant a faire autre chose que des basses et synthe lead

like a guidebook to analog synthesis; very intuitive, yet at the same time very deep. it takes a long time to get into the guts of this thing, but it's so worth it.

not many features except straight up fat analog sounds. no arpeg., no seqeuncer, no midi, just incredible sounds that no VA could ever touch.

speaks for itself. makes some of the most ungodly noised i've ever heard, along with incredible filter sweeps and beautiful soft lead lines.

has never crapped out on me, although i'd be hard pressed to bring it to a gig.

they stopped making these in the late '70's so no chance of customer support from korg unless you've got an electribe or something.

i couldn't live without this synth; like it says above, it's basically a japanese minimoog, but with some ice-cold sounds that can't be touched.

ok, obviously there is no much in the way of a software version in this ol' hump-o-technology. no presets either.
It came in a nice flightcase with the manual patch sheet and patch cables and looked just near perfect, paid about $500.
editing patches is a breeze if you use the pre-wired modules to the left, the right hand side features the seperate modules and you have to experiment with these but thats where the fun is !!!!
the only reason im not rating this as a ten is because i havent quite figuered out how to patch the thing, but hey i only got i two days ago so...

its monophonic, keyboard action is well...... its not a steinway a bit plastic but who the hell gives a ..... thats not why you have this instrument. no effects, expansion capabilities are the ms 10 or the ms 50 which are respectively weaker and stronger feature wise. some people prefer the ms 50 oscillators.

okay, dont expect that you can compare it to a korg z1 or yamaha vl1 its something totally different. the way i use it is by patching other synth in the ms 20's modules to give them a different character or just tear their sounds to smitherines. the ms20 excels in strange weird sounds and gut wrenching screaming filter squeels, im not kidding if you turn the resonance way up you might get VERY scared if you have the volume turned up high. but its just a wonderfull sound, irreplaceble. the cool thing is when you patch a bass in you can play the oscillators either their pitch , or pitch and filters or just the filters it really is something you must try !!!!! if you patch it up in the right way you can get something like a electro harmonix q tron envelope follower.

as of yet i've had no problems but i only had it for 2 days now so....

i own several instruments:
korg ms20, korg z1 exp., rhodes mk1 73, roland vk7, roland hp 550, korg polysix, yamaha ex5, roland mc505 (hardly use it), and i record to a roland vs 1680, i mostly make reggea- ish kinda funk retro thingies and the korg ms20 is just what i need for those spaced out sounds. if it were stolen i'd declare a jihad against the thief and buy a new one.

Like a Japanese Mini-Moog, the Korg MS 20 features great spacey synth sounds with awesome filter sweeps and siren-like modulations. Patches are made with the quarter-inch jack patch bay for plenty of possibilities. I do not have the manual, but I don't really need it.

Made in the late Seventies, the MS 20 is mono, no midi, no arpeggiator, no sequencer, nothing but cool electronic sounds. It has a budget little brother called the MS 10 with fewer features and an expander module without the little three octave keyboard called the MS 50. Korg's VC 10 vocoder is also in this series. They're all pretty cool machines if you can still find them out there.

For pure electronic music the machine can hardly be excelled. Synthesizers like these deserve their own niche and applications, not just as leads and basses. It is for musicians who want something completely different than the usual bread and butter sounds. Use it to get freaky and wild like nature intended!

What's not to like? It is solid and reliable and has never had a problem or needed repair.

KORG no longer supports the MS 20. This year the synth turns 20!

The MS 20 is probably the best synth deal I've ever made. I just wish I had a few more of them. Maybe I can find another in the dusty basements of my town's local mom and pop music stores. I'll keep looking.