MS-20: Korg’s mini-modular for the masses

By 1978, most modular manufacturers were looking to streamline their synthesisers to increase their appeal to gigging musicians. Modular behemoths had long since been relegated to university storage closets and the race was on to offer not only polyphony, but patch storage as well. Electronic musicians were demanding two things in 1978: the ability to play chords, and instant recall of patches. As a result, when Sequential Circuits offered just that in the form of the Prophet-5, it shook the industry to its core, and competitors fell all over themselves to create their own.

Why do we bring this up in an article about classic Korgs? Because it helps illuminate just how unlikely the success of the diminutive MS-20 actually was! The MS-20 offered no patch storage or recall of any kind, nor did its chopped 37-note keyboard promise polyphony. Indeed, unlike Korg’s fully polyphonic PS-3200 of the previous year, the MS-20 was monophonic, and though its reduced size might suggest portability, the front panel was neither collapsible nor adjustable, making the whole thing more cumbersome to transport.

Not only did the MS-20 not offer presets, but it practically threw its impracticality into the faces of would-be users with nearly half of the front occupied by a patch panel that allowed owners to re-route the normalled signal path controlled by the other half. That signal path, incidentally, consisted of a pair of oscillators, a pair of envelope generators, low- and high-pass resonant filters and an LFO. Other niceties include a primitive audio-to-pitch converter and a gorgeoussounding vactrol-based input amplifier.

Priced at a paltry £425 upon its release, the MS-20 was cheap enough to appeal to many a struggling would-be muso of the day, and its wickedly raw sound made it acceptable to the post-punk and burgeoning proto-industrial crowd and even more appealing to edgy IDM producers who discovered it after-the-fact. The MS-20 could sound demure and delicate, but it was at its best when its filters were screeching out a terrific din. This was an instrument that seemed custom-built for the likes of Severed Heads, Skinny Puppy and The Prodigy.

The MS-20 enjoyed respectable sales, moving around 20,000 units during its initial four-year run, a figure that bested sales of the must-have synth du jour the Prophet-5 by 12k. However, by 1982, Korg realised that the landscape was changing and shifted their focus to inexpensive polysynths.

And that, you would think, was that. However, in 2004 Korg released a virtual MS-20, complete with a miniaturised hardware USB controller that offered the same controls as the original and even a functioning patchbay.

After a killer iPad version in 2010, they did the unthinkable in 2013, announcing an actual – and analogue – re-issue, albeit one that was 86% the size of the original, replacing the full-sized keys with mini-keys and the 1/4" patchfield with an 1/8" version. It was a massive worldwide success, spawning full-sized and desktop versions.

With its impressive roar and inviting options, the MS-20 is a classic that belongs in every electronic musician’s arsenal.

“They did the unthinkable in 2013, announcing an actual re-issue”