^as far as i know

Love it but hate a lot of things about it. I've gotten some really great step sequenced arpeggio patches out of it that I still love to this day, but the synth itself could be so much better. 8 voices would really make it great. You have to try really hard to keep it from sounding thin and nasty though. It can definitely make some super fat progressive sounds if you have your programming down and are willing to spend a lot of time with it. I have an MS2K Full of patches that I've programmed over the years, and I wouldn't trade some of those patches for anything. So I do love it, but I hate the limitations that it does have.

Couldn't agree more. I have quite a collection of synthesizers, ranging from vintage modular which I've spent many thousands on to cheaper VA era-based synths, and they all have their place in my heart. To be honest, I love some of the stuff I have cranked out of my VAs more than a lot of stuff my prize gear has actually gotten for me in production. Don't get me wrong, I am a modular fanatic, but I would never dis VA synths like this. They are very useful for their own applications.

That was my basic feeling. It had a few decent tricks up it's sleeve but nothing too special. Sold it to fund software VA and never really looked back.

I'm having mixed emotions about it, actually.
I love its design, and I the most I learned about Synthesis, I learned by playing around with the MS2000.
However, the keybed, the basic sound and the limited polyphony, are less fantastic. Question of taste though, I guess!

These are the same problems I had with it. Also, it would be great if the patch knobs 1-4 had more options for what you could patch to what. A lot of the more useful patching capabilities were left off the virtual patchbay for some reason.

That's interesting! Could you elaborate on this, please. I'm a beginner with synthesis, and don't even know what other parameters could be patched in there. Thank you.

The only possible modulators are EG1/2, LFO1/2, Velocity, KBT, MIDI1/2 (not too bad, you can get a lot done with those)

But the only things you can patch them to are: Pitch, Osc 2 Pitch, Osc 1 ctrl 1, Noise, Cutoff, Amp, Pan, LFO2 Freq. And if you have the LFO 2 freq tempo synced, anything you modulate it with will not actually modulate it. It's a bummer. This synth would be really great if you could modulate tempo synced LFOs, and actually choose to modulate any parameter from a list instead of being stuck with these ones. Can't modulate LFO1? Can't modulate res? kinda lame.

You can however do some pretty cool things between the 3-modulator step sequencer and the mods that it does have. You just cant do some of the things that you "could only do if you could only modulate both LFOs" etc.

Thanks for the reply!

I think I might end up buying an external filter unit.

i REALLY dont know what it is.... but i love it. Granted i dont own a modular, and if i did i would probably never eat or sleep and just make patches all day, but there is just something about this thing. My big blue bundle of joy.

I don't love nor hate it.
It's a solid instrument and one of the best suggestions for a newbie who wants to learn synthesis.
The sound is not the best, but all in all it's a decent device for the price.
I recommend this to everyone who wants to learn synthesis.

Really liked the MicroKorg as I said in the beginning of this thread, but ended up having to sell it.

Recently bought the MS2000R and like it a lot. The mod sequencer makes it much more flexible than the MicroKorg. The ability to quickly mute arpeggiator steps on the MK is quite fun though, especially when combined with synced delay. Also the knobs are much bigger and more accurate on the MK. They're really tiny on the MS2k. The best solution - buy a MicroKorg and the MS2000

Earlier in this thread I did say that i never use mine, however since then I have a friend who pops around my house occasionally and we have a live jamb with all my synths.
I find in jams of later we always use the MS2000, set the BPM to the tempo of our jam tweaking a good pad sound then use the latch function....Great stuff

Not the best sound, not the worst. I'm not a massive VA fan these days anyway so take my POV with a pinch of salt. Would prefer an AN1x ( I had one previously) over an MS2000 (r)

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It was the first synth I owned and still continues to be a source of inspiration. Granted, it can sound cheap/thin/digital, but it can also sound lush and deep...it all depends on the patch and the context in which it's played. Like others have said, it is one of the easiest synths to learn synthesis on because the layout is so logical and typical of many other subtractive synths. I used Reason's subtraktor first and so I found the MS2000 a doddle as they are so similar.

I had one and sold it to get a Gaia. I still prefer the Gaia's sound, even though I hardly touch it since I got a Prophet.

Since this thread was resurrected, I thought I'd point out that while I no longer have a Korg MS2000, I have the Superwave Tarkus VST which does a pretty nice job of capturing the spirit of it. (though not exactly) But the sequencer is just as much fun and there's a few nice additions.





It's a pretty good bargain at $46 too.

Love it, I used to have one and learnt synthesis on it - Its capable of some nice bass and pad sounds, but its leads (unless super brash and saw) can sound weak.

What the MS2000 is all about is live tweaking and knobbage - I got rid of mine for financial reasons, but still have a beaten up MicroKorg for my korg VA fix,

though I agree with the general consensus that VA is not really applicable, though it does have quite a unique tone.