Page 2: Korg Minilogue XD

In Use

Given its similarities to one half of the bi-timbral Prologue it should come as no surprise that I was able to conjure some great sounds from the XD. There were a few occasions when I craved a more powerful filter but, more often than not, I liked how the existing one 'breathed' and allowed patches to sound open and natural. I also made good use of the filter overdrive, and I liked being able to send digitally generated sounds directly to the VCAs to mix them with filtered analogue sounds.

As for the sounds themselves, these ranged from the simplest timbres to immense soundscapes, from delicate fairy-dust patches to overpowering lead synths and basses. In fact, it was sometimes difficult to reconcile what I was hearing with what I was seeing and touching — the XD seems too small to be capable of generating some of the sounds that I created on it. With it sitting on top of an 88-note master keyboard and acting as a four-voice analogue sound module, I found that — despite its limitations — it's not a synth to be dismissed lightly.

When you've created your sounds you'll find another improvement over previous models. Whereas the original Minilogue offered just 100 user memories and the Prologue offered 250, you can save up to 300 of your own Programs in the XD. On the other hand, the sort and favourites/live‑set functions of the Prologue are more advanced than those on the XD, which, given both synths' inability to jump directly to a Program, isn't trivial. Scrolling through 500 of the sodding things (even using the Shift+scroll function to jump in steps of 10) can be very frustrating.

Performance control on the XD is limited to portamento and its X/Y joystick, but the latter is a huge improvement over the slider provided by the Minilogue. Its X axis is permanently assigned to pitch-bend, and you can determine the maximum amount of bend independently for the X+ and X- directions. In contrast, its Y axis is assignable and you can select one of 29 possible destinations for each of the Y+ and Y- directions, with independent amounts for each. In my Minilogue review in 2016 I noted that some of Korg's vintage synths allowed you to apply pitch-bend (left/right) and two types of modulation (forward/backward) to a sound, and suggested that it was a shame that the Minilogue didn't do likewise, so it's nice to know that somebody was listening. I accept that some people prefer pitch-bend and modulation wheels, but I find joysticks to be much easier to use and they're more flexible too.

The other major addition is the provision of the dual CV inputs that I've already mentioned. Using these couldn't be simpler. In CV+gate mode you can present suitable CV and gate signals to play the XD monophonically from another synth. In modulation mode, you direct suitable signals to these inputs, set their gains (ie. the amount of modulation) and choose from 29 possible destinations, and away you go. I had the XD sitting in front of a modular synth throughout this review, and the possibilities were immense. In my view, these inputs alone could justify selling an original Minilogue to buy the new one.

But despite all the good stuff, there are further ways in which I would have improved the XD while the opportunity presented itself. For example, when I reviewed the original Minilogue I suggested that Korg implement MIDI Overflow so that users could cascade synths for 8-, 12- or even greater polyphony. It hasn't happened. Maybe the company's reasoning was that this would have trodden on the toes of the Prologue, which is understandable. There's also the issue of the 'slim' keyboard. For me, a synth with two-and-a-half octaves of full‑size keys would be a better instrument than one with three octaves of miniature keys. But again, there's the Prologue... so maybe I understand Korg's reasoning here too.

So what's the catch? As before, it lies in the XD's MIDI implementation. My biggest complaint regarding the Minilogue was reserved for its non-standard use of MIDI CCs. One or two of those mis-assignments have been fixed (CC 5 is now portamento, and CC 64 now controls the damper function as it should) but many of them conflict with the published MIDI specification. I had no idea why Korg implemented MIDI in this way on the Minilogue and I have no idea why the company still do so on the XD. What's more, while the XD manual states that "the Prologue [sic] lets you assign MIDI Control Change numbers (CC) to the major parameters that affect the sound" it's still not true; unless I've missed something, there's no way to assign CCs. Oh yes, and while we're talking about MIDI, I can forgive the lack of aftertouch on the XD's mini keyboard, but omitting it from the synth's MIDI capabilities is a missed opportunity.

Conclusions

I was very happy when I heard that Korg were going to release an updated version of the Minilogue because, despite its limited polyphony, miniature keys and weird MIDI map, I liked the original rather more than I had expected. The same is true of the XD and, although there are some aspects that I wish that Korg had implemented differently, finding the soul of the Prologue in something as small, convenient and affordable as the XD should excite many people who want a largely analogue signal path, a bit of polyphony, and a great sound. Although it's about £$100 more expensive than the original Minilogue, the XD is still not expensive; indeed, I think that it's better value than the original.