Synth Tutorial #3: "West Coast" Minilogue

A walkthrough of how to approach the Minilogue's two VCOs as a complex oscillator.

[@itchyvinyl]

Loving these Minilogue videos. Doors just opened with thinking of Osc 1 purely as modulating Osc 2. Thank you, sir.

[@moosgummi4480]

Wow, I´m really impressed! Right now I´m waiting for my Minilogue to arrive and totally expected another "Look I can do pads" video. You really know how to use this machine!!!!

[@rbeny]

Man, you are almost single-handedly convincing me I need the Minilogue. Great tutorial.

[@Flohr]

Haha and you've got me thinking bout the OP-1!

[@skyreadersociety6183]

+Flohr why the OP-1 - just out of curiousity?

[@Flohr]

+skyreader society watch r beny's recent OP-1 video. While you are at it watch all of r beny's videos.

[@noikabat1450]

I've been watching quite a few Minilogue reviews and tutorials recently .... mostly covering the step and motion step functions... having bought one a few months back. As interesting, enjoyable and as informative as some of these are, your series on these is the most enlightening and helpful so far. Really getting to grips with the subtleties of the sound and functions... Thanks so much... I'll certainly be looking through your previous posts for more Regards from London

[@BetinhoSM]

To let you know? Sure! Your videos are the BEST on the Minilogue out there, seriously! Keep 'em coming! :D

[@dudeabides6522]

I like them too......more please.

[@RemixSample]

Really digging the Minilogue tutorials, thanks for sharing!

[@Flohr]

Cool, glad it's helpful!

[@Noidal77]

Thanks for the tutorials. Great stuff. I'd love to see more.

[@gvickerschtick]

Poor man's Buchla ! Nice :) Thanks for posting

[@caljory711]

Your videos are great! Nice sounds and I appreciate the bits of general synth knowledge you throw in there

[@Flohr]

Thanks!

[@marcolex100]

fantastic videos, learning a lot thanks to you. all the best

[@MrJorjazz]

really informative! please keep em coming.

[@danarves7452]

Good tip on the mixer :) another great video, thanks

[@Wijnfles]

thanks! these are more the kind of sounds i was looking for in the minilogue at first u dont get how to make more darker, weird but clean sounds but this really helped me out!

[@danieljackson3868]

sweet patch. gotta get one of these. well done.

[@crustacea99]

just scored a second-hand mini. really excited to explore this synth, so glad to find your vids!

[@Flohr]

Hey Jason! Hope it’s helpful! Have fun with your new mini!

[@mherman90]

Thank you so much for uploading these. Minilogue is My first analog synth and your videos really gives me more width on how to use it! Really encouraging. I dont often comment on videos but you deserve to hear that. I still have a lot to learn tho. Tryin to figure out things like how The filter envelope works and also key track and velocity and so on... But im getting there :) anyways thanks man

[@Flohr]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@Its_Avalon]

Great tutorial!

[@ryanzore2481]

Killing it man! Thanks!

[@thelandbelow]

Great tips!

[@matw7346]

thank you so much for this, it's my first synth so these starting points are really helpfull.

[@Flohr]

Man comments like this are why I do what I do despite all the haters. Grateful to hear it was of some use. This is an amazing first synth. My first was a MicroKorg and while it was pretty fun it was compromised by a bunch of aspects (dodgy genre presets which obscured how the synth actually worked, weak VA sound, terrible mini keys etc). I can't wait to see what the generation whose first synth is a Minilogue end up creating. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Have fun!

[@potty509]

some brass patches would be cool to see on the minilogue. Keep up the good work!

[@iurygroove5576]

you are a sorcerer on minilogue, great textures

[@Flohr]

Thanks so much!

[@pearl3042]

thought this was gonna be you making some west coast rap style leads ): cool video however. thanks

[@urineanxiety]

i thought that too

[@lownrgy]

i thought this is going to be p-funk leads

[@samdevine9387]

love this

[@CliffHuxtableSweater]

I clicked because I thought I was gonna get some tips on creating some dr Dre, dj quik, bass patches lol

[@marcussmith5863]

Not really, LOL

[@guaiamum8864]

Couldn't get mine to sound as open as yours, not sure why, but still to a nice place. Thanks mate!

[@poppyxander]

Wow man, I am so thankful for you. This video was amazing. I've played piano for over twenty years and have played keyboards for ten. The minilogue is my first real synth so it's pretty new to me. Will definitely be following and watching all of your videos. My goal is to be a huge synth nerd. That being said... you are talking about philosophy a lot and some of these ideas don't mean anything to me. Any study materials you would recommend?

[@bumbullbeez]

Can you do a tutorial on deep tech and house bass please , more in the sub range rather than a higher frequency bass

[@dudeabides6522]

Thanks!

[@tsif3559]

Thank you for the nice videos you are great. ITs also my first synth and i m very excited. What reverb are you using? What you think about the cliking??? It doesnt annoy you?

[@Flohr]

Thanks for watching. I discuss the click in my 2nd long overview video. To me it's a non-issue. The reverb is an Alesis Nanoverb.

[@MrJorjazz]

Well I thought I had the Singing Bowl effect working but now it seems like the slider is either on or off. All the way left for short notes and non controllable amp attack to the right. I must have something wrong?

[@MrJorjazz]

I figured it out. You must have the slider Bend Up and Bend Down set to 12.

[@Blueguitar007]

Why did you set up on one wave form then change the wave part way in?

[@jakebutler1095]

Korg should seriously hire you. You explain how to actually use the synth better then they do

[@BetinhoSM]

May I ask you, does the Portamento on the Minilogue works polyphonically? Like, if you turn it on and play chords, do the notes on chords you play glide into the others when you play the next chord?

[@Flohr]

Yes

[@Edonyle]

Hey, thanks for those 3 great videos! I noticed you don't use the sync button and wondered why that is? Cheers.

[@Flohr]

Thanks. Do you mean LFO sync? I turn it off because having free running LFOs which are not phase synced is useful for modulation with a sense of movement and drift.

[@Edonyle]

No, I mean the sync switch next to the ring mod switch. I mean the oscillator sync.

[@Flohr]

+Edonyle I use it for certain patches, but my default is to not use it if I want to have detuning and phasing. The sync really shines when doing extreme fm, using the env pitch mod, and having extremely different settings between the two oscillators. Can get into weird dial up modem/glitch territory.

[@bombayblur3797]

wait. Why aren't you adjusting vco 2 pitch before all the shaping? isn't it off? is it supposed to be that way?

[@Flohr]

Bombay Blur I don't understand your question. Why would I adjust VCO 2 pitch? I mean, of course you could, but it isn't necessary. And VCO 1 is muted in the audio path but not off. VCO 2 is at full volume.

[@bombayblur3797]

Flohr no i got it, i felt as if the sound had harmonocs that were not along the pitch of the fundamental. so i saw you adjust the shape and charachter of the sound first. and the last thing you did was tune it to the right pitch. i believe if you kept tuning while shaping the sound it would keep distorting the charachter. hence the sound is always tuned to the right pitch last. shape first. then pitch. right?

[@Flohr]

Bombay Blur Ah ok sorry I get what you are saying. Yeah I think that's right because as you add modulation the pitch will keep getting off so rather than retuning as you go you could just make the timbre as crazy as you want and then adjust the tuning to compensate. But it's certainly possible to pay more attention to the tuning as you go.

[@bombayblur3797]

anyway to externally keytrack the lfo so that we can get fm when self oscillating the filter. not with zaquencer but an actual keyboard. the cc numbers for that knob limit to 127. but its rate is uptill 1k. 127 divided by 1k wont get us the right pitch. any workarounds?

[@Flohr]

I'd love it if you could find one! If they ever make a higher end version of the Minilogue (which I fear will not happen since Tatsuya left Korg) keytracking LFOs would be an essential feature.

[@kristiaanreekmans5154]

altough i do not like the sound that you created , i do appreciate very much that you made a tutorial for a specific sound on the Minilogue . Well done !!!!

[@valdiskrebs566]

Sure has that Buchla sound... great patch @7:25!

[@chrisstrobel3439]

Gee I've been into synths since the mid 70's (and living in Los Angeles area) and have never heard the terms 'west coast' or 'east coast' Please explain?

[@Flohr]

It's not a real distinction but it's more of a catch all phrase to describe the difference between the Moog and Buchla approach. The geographical aspect breaks down under any further scrutiny. I wrote a lengthy post about it in the Minilogue Facebook group but KZbin won't let me cut and paste and I don't feel like writing it all out again.

[@chrisstrobel3439]

Flohr Ahh ok, Don was from here (I'm in Los Angeles), and Bob from the Carolina's, hence east vs west. The odd thing for me though is if I think Moog synthesizers I think West Coast. I played all the studios around here, Burbank, Orange County, etc. starting in the 70's, and it was always Moog synths that graced the control rooms and booths. Not once did I ever see one of Don's synths around here back in the Day, we all used Minimoogs, Polymoogs, and the occasional modular system. But technically the Moog/east vs Buchla/west phrase makes perfect sense geographically, so when did the phrase east vs west itself start becoming used?

[@Flohr]

+Chris Strobel yeah I know what you mean about California Moog. Not to mention Oberheim and Sequential were both West Coast right? Although I guess Arp was also East Coast original right? I'm not sure when the terms started being used that way. I encountered it in the modular community. It really doesn't make sense in the majority of synth discussions because pretty much all fixed architecture synths are "East coast". The geography becomes a bit of a misnomer for sure. Subtractive vs. Additive is a bit better but also doesn't hold up if you push it.

[@chrisstrobel3439]

Flohr Yes the Oberheim 2/4/8 voice synths were a staple here till the OBX/OBXa replaced em. The Prophet 5 was everywhere! And the Roland Jupiter 4 then the 8 were big staples too which I guess would be West Coast since they are here in Los Angeles. There were not too many Modulars hanging out around here, mostly those were in eccentric rich guys homes lol :) Just like today the big Moog modular system were out of reach for us lowely union guys, thats why I'm kinda excited about the Moog Mothers and other Eurorack offerings, its a chance to noodle around with what was once unobtainium in a footprint that doesn't take up the whole control room lol :)

[@Flohr]

+Chris Strobel I agree completely vis a vis the Mother-32. I borrowed my friend's for a few weeks and made a few videos with it. Def plan on picking one up myself. I think it's my favorite modern Moog (haven't tried the new Minimoog of course), I think I like it even better than the Sub37, which is also amazing.

[@glow3892]

DO A TUTOTRIAL ON HOW TO DO PROGRESSIVE HOUSE PLUCK