MiniKorg 700 FS : Good but expensive

The synth sounds really good, with lots of character and punch. Obviously it excels in vintage sounds like Kitaro style leads, but more modern sounding bass and plucks are possible too. The ring mod adds surprisingly much depth do an otherwise somewhat basic synth. Most of the sound shaping options are simple on/off toggles, but they work surprisingly well. As an example, the "bright" toggle seems to add resonance, but the amount it adds seem perfect. The "bender" toggle gives every note a little pitch bend at the beginning, like a fast glide but with a constant amount unrelated to what note you played just before, and it sounds just perfect. All in all there are some very unconventional but interesting and useful controls, and rather than feeling limiting, it spurs creativity in other ways than always thinking about meticulously tweaking knobs (like I usually would). It feels like a solid performance instrument with a warm vintage sound, more than a sound designers dream, even though the ring mod almost makes up for it. It definitely is not a synth for everyone, but it is great at what it does. It has its own sound, but unless that is specifically what you want, then most other (and cheaper) 2 OSC synths can do almost the same and more.

Pros:

- Not just a plain remake, but packs a few great new additions.

- Really well built with high quality materials. Good key bed.

- Stereo spring reverb sounds great.

- The joystick is a very good addition for performance.

- Ring modulation modes bring interesting sound shaping possibilities.

- Does not feel as limited in real life as it looks on paper.

Cons:

- Only 14 preset slots. Granted, it is not a super complicated synth, but why only 14.

- Perhaps the original minikorg had a bit more buzz, but that may just be me and/or naturally buzzy old recordings.

- Would make more sense at half the price, even if the craftmanship is top notch.

- Not for everyone, especially if vintage 70s synth sounds is not your thing.