Korg MS-20 mini

I've been messing with this synthesiser for about a week now. I must admit it's a lot more to take in than i had expected. There's way too many features and ways to use this synth in retrospect to others within the same price range as well as ways to connect it to other gear you have.

Fully supportive of eurorack, i've got a beatstep connected to this as well as my Arturia Keylab49. I prefer the bigger keys of my arturia to be honest as well as the fact that i can control my ableton sessions from there as well. I have no problem with the small keys presented by Korg on the MS-20 mini but i like having more octaves for a quick switch up.

It comes with a booklet with multiple preset options to get you on your way and creating your own sounds. it also has some empty ones so while jamming if you happened to cross an awesome sound you can fill in the information and have it for when you wana come back to the sound.

3.5mm to 1'4" is a little weird for me, however the output signal is quite nice, you do need a mono cable though. It also supports USB for midi communications which is awesome if you don't use much analog gear.

Pros:
- Great look and feel
- Price range is perfect for all it's features
- Compatibility with setup is high

Cons:
- Plastic knobs
- Small keys

I would 100% recommend this synth to any professional, amateur and beginner musician. It's just a beautiful synth.

The more I use it, the more I love it! No doubt this is one of the best synthesizers. (I never tried the original one, but comparing videos with them for sure the mini is not that powerful, still.. its amazing!)

Yes, its noisy and hissy but thats the way I like it. The filter is the beast here... a totally boring digital kinda synth can get you wet when you push the frequencies to the limits...

Its one of those few synths you will see in every major artist's studio, and not only for collecting dust... I am sure they use it in every song and album they make.

It only accepts note data, so for example, for automation of filters you have to do them by hand. Which is big fun to do!

It always impress me and probably the only minus is that you cant save presets, but you can just print the blank ones you got together with the synth.

And if by any chance you own a space echo... man... the combination is out of this world... add some reverb to it too and you can even make ambient music...

With a little bit of knowledge and imagination there is nothing that this CHEAP piece of plastic cant make... yes, in my opinion its very cheap! Its the best synth you can get for the money and actually I am pretty sure you cant get something better for even twice of its price!

My first ever synth; what a glorious piece of kit! It never fails to sound fresh. I found sequencing it with the Arturia Beatstep Pro to be a real treat. I program one of the sequencers to trigger notes on the MS20, get a bit of rhythm going then use the velocity and gate out of one of the other sequencers on the Beatstep Pro through the patchbay on the MS20 to add depth to the sound. It's simply awesome.

If you're new to synths just know it doesn't have memory or anything so you'll have to take a note of a patch you make. If you zero all of the knobs and video yourself patching a sound, you can get it again but if you don't video it you'll likely never get that sound again which is just the nature of the beast. Highly recommend this purchase! Oh and when buying make sure to get a mono minijack to 1/4 inch jack so you can actually get audio out of the thing, otherwise you'll have to do it all in headphones which can be dangerous to the ears as the MS20 has a moreish, gritty sound and is tempting to crank the volume up!

Good luck!

Edit after 2 years.
I love how this instrument sounds.
I had to opportunity to compare it with the K2, and to my ears the MS-20 sounds slightly better.

The build quality is definitely not the best, one has to be a bit careful with it. Some knobs do not have the same resistance as others.
It feels a bit like a toy... A toy that sounds like a real instrument.

What you read is right, it is a noisy beast. And a Synth that has a real character. It is quite oldschool, I suppose one likes or dislike it.
You won't be surprised, you'll get a toy that sounds kick ass like an MS-20.

The Midi implementation is rather rudimentary, stuck on channel 1.

Up until today, the only hardware synths I’ve used are the Behringer Wasp and Behringer TD-3, both are cool but this one is my first keyboard synth and my first proper semi-modular synth, it feels special.

The synth comes with an awesome “settings example” book that shows you cool patch ideas to get you started (amazing for a noob like me). The synth itself feels well built and sturdy, sounds incredible and I think is very easy to use.

The keys are perfect for me and I’m excited to start recording with it.

It’s an awkward size and shape to transport, would love a dedicated bag or case.

This is not my first analogue synth, and I have much more analogueish (if I can say so) synths in terms of discrete components, transistors, etc.
I also never tested original MS-20.

Anyway after spending first hour with it I can say it really rocks in terms of character! Which is very important for analogue synth in my opinion (where they shine above VA and soft synths). It is very very rich in harmonics, put it into high quality freq spectrum and you will see it!

Brilliant for aggressive cutting-through basses, crispy leads and of course you can make a lot of crazy effects and percussion sounds out of it due to its semi-modular design.

Yes, and it looks so fabulous and inspiring on your desk!

i bought this synth around 3 years ago ,only now am i coming round to review.

never thought of how much it would influence my production, this thing does everything leads bass drums anything you can think of can be programmed.

even as a mono synth there are ways to patch and change this! the unit gives you inspiration and variety

there are no cons from my end to tho my only preference would be not to have to use mini jacks for sensitivity issues

for anyone looking to get into the world of synthesis from all ranges of production the ms 20 is the synth to have