long live cheap, brilliant korg stuff.

I had a monopoly, some 7 years ago... its a beast. the sounds are so dirty, fat, organic and REALLLY RAW. Try using the monopoly for some progressive rock, or hard rock stuffs. you make your band sounds cool. Some of Van Halen's old records uses the MONOPOLY. (im not too sure, but it sounds certainly like it!)

how i wish i can get my monopoly back..

and if you have one, keep it. the synth doesnt rust that badly... just take care of the wood.

What I really wanted to say is: Chirst you guys write some excellent detailed reviews, you're obviously quite smitten with the ol' MonoPoly, too bad I don't own a newspaper or something I'd have to offer you a job... (hehe)

-Nubey

Well, i simply can't imagine why there're so many freaks who spend 2 hours on a synth and then tell you it's crap... That's very very stupid indeed.

I've owned my MP for almost 2 years now and i'm really satisfied with it's performance. I'm not going to repeat what others have already said and to list it's features, i just want to post my comments on it's sonic power. I believe it's one of the best monosynths out there. In every aspect. Many of you say it's not fat/warm. That's not true. No, it doesn't give the immediate satisfaction that a moog does. It may be a reason of moog's popularity, because you have to be a genious to make a moog sound thin or boring. Anyone can tweak some pots on a moog and get that classic warm lead or punchy bass. It's idiotproof. Now turn to a monopoly. At first sight it seems to be a monster knobular machine, so you might expect terrific sound from this box. You turn it on and... oh no, it's thin and plain. very uncovincing. you play with knobs and it still sounds plain. oh, of course there're pretty cool FX, but that's not what you expected to have, you'll prefer a 2600 or an MS20 for that stuff any day. And you're about to get rid of the one... wait! This was my first impression. I really wanted to discharge that crap next day. and on the third... but i was wise enough to hesitate. On the fourth day i discovered a gold mine. What a rich palette of sounds... anything you name it. But it's unlikely that you make a good sound by accident. You have to know exactly what you're doing. Monopoly hates careless attitude, it will aslways sound thin if you treat it like a moog. Knowledge comes with experience. You must be especially careful when setting levels of VCOs, no other synth is SO delicate in this aspect. That's a way to create some really beefy basses and leads. PWM is also worth taking care of. I used to be a collector of monosynths and now have a mini, a 2600, an MS20+MS50, an odssey and a Prophecy and also have access to new-generation analog synths like ATC-1, Pulse or nord modular. I sold my Pro-one and sh-101. Only MP and minimoog do compete in terms of sonic power. If you compare them one by one, without any processing, mini will win easily. But who the hell listen to a single monosynth in a song? Even in a pretty basic arrangement one can make the MP to produce leads or basslines identical to those of a moog. I made this experiment myself and recoreded a Monopoly + guitar + bass drums rock song and took it to a seasoned rec engineer for evaluation. He assured me that the bassline in the begining and the lead came from a mini! So why the hell spend a thousand bucks on a thing which can be outperformed by cheaper equipment? Yes, the mini is overrated... uhmm, overpriced, that sounds better. And it's indispensible, sort of. And I will never sell mine. But if I was forced to have only one monosynth it would be the monopoly. With the monopoly you have warm sound, 4 VCOs, good modulation routings, quite a flexible architecture, and even 4-note polyphony for some basic chords! And what does a mini have besides the remarkable sound? Yes the sound is the main point for a synth, but any sane person will agree that the sound of a mini is not 3 times better than that of a MP (unlike the price). Modern analogs are good and far more flexible and offer more control over the sound, but if I was to pick the best non-modular non-midi vintage analog monosynth the monopoly would be it. Period.

If this is boring I want to know your definition of an exciting synth!

4 marks of 5, they're good but just not great, hope that seems fair.

-Nubey

There are a number of features that make this synth pretty unique, the first among them being the 4 VCO setup. The sync (2 types) and FM (called x-mod, also 2 types) are excellent-and are triggered by the same orange button labeled "effects". The arpeggiator cycling in poly mode is sonically unique to my knowledge. The use of a positive AND negative pulse on the LFO are interesting. The addition of noise is a great one.

In some ways, the Mono/Poly reminds me of the Prophet 5 or Pro-One regarding implementation of the mod wheels--never since has a synth made mod wheels so easy and so meaningful to the overall sound of the instrument.

Contrary to some belief, the Mono/Poly is NOT unuseable in polyphonic mode; however, this is not one of the machine's strengths except w/ the Arpeggiator running through the different oscillators.

The Mono/Poly is an excellent--nay, AWESOME bass machine, spitting out odd timbres at the drop of a hat. It also can out-bubble and hiss a Yamaha CS-whatever (excluding the 80's, which RRrippp--not bubble) or Pro-One with ease. In general, the Mono/Poly is useful all over the place and in many contexts--conquering all with style and character.

www.mohodisco.com/monopoly

Should be a bit more permanent this time.

closing comment: Don't abuse the filter. Spare from using the resonance and the filter envelope emphasis by keeping their levels low to mid - You'll find just how beautiful the response of the filter really can be.

I found a feature on mine that made it sound particularaly good, there was a point between two of the LFO waveshapes that caused the LFO to run at incredible speed, using this as a modulator on pitch and/or filter cut-off created some beautiful clangy timbres. Maybe it happens to them all. Was it just mine that ran at a suprisingly high temperature?

truly killer sound from a small package

I like the sound of the M.P. very much, especially the flutelike, Zawinulish sounds which you create with a triangular or narrow PW waveform. You can also get nice hornstab attacks by modulating the

PWM waveform by the EG/filter. Another good thing is that you can modulate the timbre (read filter) by the pitch wheel. It makes your sound very expressive. A sad thing is that you can´t store your programs in a

memory bank. I´ve got a big loose-leaf binder with patches, but of course it takes time to change the patches in a concert. Overall, it´s a good synth, but don´t expect natural keyboard sounds ( even if you can program a good synth-clavinet),

and digital-sounding pads. The fonky bassounds are the baddest!

band in the early 80's , along with a polysix both of which

I'm now using to produce progressive trance. The monopoly

puts out some crazy sounds through the effects function, most

of which I've never heard on any recording. I've got it patched in

in a couple ways to the polysix, one from the mono trig. out

to the arppegiator of the six, and the mono. CV to the fcM of the

six. It's fun having the two work as one, but I dont have very

much flexibility without sampling power. I do love the sounds I

get out of the monopoly, especially the bass. I dig hitting

a 4 note (in P5's) arpeggio going two 8va's up and down with

effects on and my EG intensity at about -3. It's groovy as hell

and leaves me with so much to manipulate . Keep in mind as you read this

I'm still young and not versed in the ways of synthesis as the big boys

but Ive been experimenting with this synth since I was 15, and I

still find newer phatter sounds. I love the Mono/Poly.

bass sound around. Any ideas on DIY repairs and where to get the spares? A new rubber keypad would also be helpful, as it seems to perish easily

One Question: Does this machine run pretty hot? After an hour my back panel is cooking but all function continue to work...I even like some of the 4 voice poly patches, which the purists seem to dis...

The bottom line for all ANalog FreQs: THIS MOTHER ROCKS !!!!