――I was surprised at the announcement of the MS-20 mini this time. I never thought that an analog synth like this would appear in this day and age, and I never thought that it would be sold at such a low price.
Mr. Masahiko SakamakiSakamaki: I've been making analog synths for the past few years since monotron, and I've always had a strong desire to revive analog synths as real instruments. The keyboard has become a useful tool. It's certainly high performance and has a nice sound. You don't have to worry about the pitch going wrong, and you can easily program total recall.
Personally, I think analog synths are like guitars. It has a simple structure with no effects on its own, but you can connect effects here, connect an amp, and adjust the parameters to complete the sound. In that respect, analog synths are the same, and they have a crude guitar-like feel. It might be inconvenient, it's a little clumsy, but I wanted to create a musical instrument that would go beyond theory and make people say, "It's a good sound that makes you want to use it."
――In terms of my generation, when I was a student, I used to use analog synths, or even made my own.
Sakamaki: I was born in 1978 and am 35 years old. Actually, I'm the same age as MS-20. That's why I had a strong desire to revive it, but in fact, I myself first encountered PCM digital synths, and it wasn't until I saw Denki Groove that I learned about the existence of analog synths. you know. At that time, I remember thinking, "What is this fat sound?!" However, many of the young people today started out with soft synths in the first place, and they don't know the actual sound of analog synths. We have finally created the MS-20 mini as an easy-to-use instrument that such people can afford to buy.
――Even when monotron was released, I was surprised and immediately bought it. But was the MS-20 mini in your plans from then on?
The front is the original MS-20 that was released 35 years ago, and the back is the reprinted MS-20 mini. . The monotron is a ribbon controller, which is interesting, but I wanted to create an analog synth with a keyboard.――Does that mean that the company allowed Sakamaki-san to do whatever he wanted? (laughs)
Mr. Hiroaki NishijimaNishijima: It's a company policy to do analog. In the first place, five or six years ago, the deceased founder and chairman of the company, Mr. Kato, gave us a special order: "Can you make an analog synthesizer with the parts we have now? Try reprinting the miniKORG700S." hey. So I actually made it myself. It is true that we were able to make a product, but the cost of parts was extremely high, and it was unrealistic to sell it.
Sakamaki: Then, I decided to try to make it very cheaply, so I tried monotron. If Korg were to do it now, it would have to present the existence of analog synths that would change the market.
――Is the monotron also designed by Mr. Nishijima?
Nishijima: No, that was designed by our own Takahashi (Tatsuya Takahashi). A 30-year-old engineer who joined the company because he loves analog circuits. At first, I was asked to make an analog synthesizer for 5,000 yen, but I refused, saying, ``With those specifications, it won't be an analog synthesizer.'' (laughs) Of course, I received some advice about circuits.
――In the end, monotron was a huge success, wasn't it? After that, variations such as the monotron Duo, monotron Delay, and even the monotribe, analog rhythm and step sequencers were released. And this time it was a reproduction of the MS-20 mini and your own vintage equipment. Why did you choose the MS-20?
Sakamaki: There were many options, but the name recognition of the MS-20 has increased, such as reprinting the MS-20 as part of the Legacy Collection series of soft synths and releasing the iPad version of the iMS-20. The big point was that there was. Also, the MS-20 is a vintage product that is still used in the music scene, and its price hasn't dropped even on the used market. It was against this background that I decided to create the MS-20.
The MS-20 is reprinted in the Legacy Collection of monotribe software synthsiMS-20――I have the impression that analog synths have suddenly appeared overseas, such as Arturia's MiniBrute, but why has it been 30 years since the analog era? Now that it's getting close, are each company making it into a product?
Sakamaki: Isn't there a change in music over time? The 80s and 90s were the era of digital synths, and the 90s and 00s were the era of sampling. is in vogue. Isn't DUBSTEP an easy-to-understand example? Technologically, it uses the same principle as 1-bit audio, and I think the fact that the technology to create CV with PWM has been established is also boosting.
――CV in 1bit audio??
Nishijima: This is the technology we adopted when we developed the monotribe, which uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to generate voltage. This technology was originally used to control the rotation speed of servo motors. It uses a CPU to create a pulse wave and changes the duty ratio to control the rotation speed. A voltage can be obtained by smoothing the pulse wave. In other words, if you apply a low-pass filter and integrate it, it becomes a direct current. With this method, you can create a stable voltage and you can make it very cheaply.
Sakamaki: I haven't checked in detail, but it seems that analog synths from other companies are also adopting this method these days.
-I see, so that kind of technological innovation is also the reason why analog synths are now being reprinted.
Nishijima: Another thing I've been thinking about for a long time. In a sense, you could see the limits of DSP modeling. With today's modeling technology, we are trying to get as close to analog as possible, but no matter how hard we try, we can never surpass analog. Also, if you try to reproduce it as faithfully as possible, you will have to process it at 24bit/96kHz or even 24bit/192kHz, which requires extremely high computing power. Strictly speaking, even the realization of a single filter requires a considerable amount of computation.
--Legacy Collection and iMS-20, I thought they sounded very analog, but that's still not enough.
Nishijima: As was the case with the Legacy Collection, we kept the calculations within the range that the CPU at the time could handle. We created an electronic circuit modeling technology called CMT (Component Modeling Technology) and worked hard to get it closer to analog sounds. There was also the aspect of being able to go down.
