For me, what makes the monologue brilliant is not one single thing or feature. Rather, it’s how well designed the whole combination of features turns out to be.
In isolation, nothing about this synth is particularly outstanding, or isn’t something that hasn’t been done before.
However, taking the sound and modulation features of the oscillators and the filter and the distortion and the sequencer and the simplified envelopes and the audio rate and one-shot options of the LFO and the direct access to the sequencer and the four automation lanes and the unusual E-to-E key layout and whatever I forgot to mention together with an unusually immediate control surface and you got one hell of a brilliantly fun monosynth.
The monologue might very well be Tatsuya Takahashi biggest accomplishment as a synth designer.
Did I also mention that it’s dirt cheap? And that it comes in a whole range of fun colors?
Monologue is also a really fun “turn on and play” instrument. This is a quick jam I recorded Saturday with the Monologue and PO-32 Tonic drum machine. It’s all Monologue at the beginning. I’ve got the filter on a bit heavy. And there’s a wee bit of reverb coming from the mixer on it.
It’s really fun when you route that bend wheel/widget to something else like LFO INT or speed.
Question: When you change programs that have patterns inside, is that pattern change synchronized (a’la “direct jump”?, when Monologue is MIDI slave?
I’m just thinking of ways to get a 32 step pattern out of it in realtime, even if it is as simple as changing programs manually. Of course, a chain mode, as @Prints would like would be the most ideal.
I’m real close to buying one.
With Kenton’s Pro CV-to-MIDI coming to market later this month, I could use AK’s CV track to send 2 CV LFOs, plus the onboard Monologue LFO, plus Monologue’s 4 motion sequence lanes as pseudo LFO = 7 LFOs!
And until the Kenton is available, I could use its own internal sequencer.
I don’t think so, but I haven’t had a chance to double-check yet. To me, the 16-step limit is the Achilles’ heel of the Monologue because the sequencer is so good. It’d be so simple to just make it so patterns transition smoothly when patches are changed; it’s frustrating, but c’est la vie I guess. The Monologue is a ton of fun to play with by itself though. You could even just record little funky licks from it, and load them up into the RYTM to mess around with too.
I still really love this synth, and play with it all the time. I’ll turn it on right before I go to bed, and 20 minutes later, I’ll have 2-3 completely new ideas. After a couple days of not playing with it, I’ll turn it on again, and I’m always surprised by how much better it sounds than I expected, and by how much I like the patches I’ve made. I love instruments like this.
Almost went with silver to match my favorite Elektrons (and as a nod to my first analog synth experience of a Steiner Parker Synthacon) but told me she’d be jealous if I brought another silver synth home.
I also like how the black body of the Monologue blends in with the black faceplate. I don’t like how it looks like a veneer or skin with the rest of the colors.
told me she’d be jealous if I brought another silver synth home.
