As the possessor of a small collection of completely incompatible analogue synths (pre midi) the MS20 goessome way to providing a basic interface by way of its built in pitch to voltage convertor. The MS20 excels at fat bass sounds thanks to some beefy osc.s and filters. Filter sweeps are wild. For an analogue synth of its age and class itcopes with staying in tune very well and doesn't appear to be affected by temperature fluctuations. You can feed any signal through the patchbay and use the MS20's filters to alter the sound colour, so its kind of a synth and analogue effects unit in one. Excellent!!
Sonic Says I just took delivery of one of these. After a bit of head scratching I figured out what they can do , sort of. The filter is very interesting as there are two sections a HPF and a LPF. Both have resonance, with a bit of tweaking you can create some very interesting bandpass filter fx too. There's also a simpler HPF+LPF accessable from the external input via the patchbay. It's a pseudo modular but is very good fun to fiddle with. I'm off to buy a white coat and a clipboard -and a whole bunch of patch leads. Basic Architecture
2 env 1=delay, attack, release - hardwired to pitch of VCOs 2= full ADSR +hold - hardwired to VCA + Filter.
ext signal input with env follower and basic pitch tracker.
PS I read somewhere that both the MS series synths use fairly standard component circuitry. Which makes em easy to fix. No (or not many) obscure ICs to find and pay throught the nose for.- They do seem pretty robust but all things break sometime!
Comments About the Sounds:
A very unique sounding instrument. Filters have their own character. A classic.
David Kristian's Official Website This site features mp3s, a gear list, and album reviews - DK used the MS-20 and MS-10 with the SQ-10 sequencer on "Beneath the Valley of the Modulars" CD and the "Clubfoot" and "Ectopic Beat" 12"s.