minilogue

This is the main volume knob for the whole synth. Turn it right for louder, left for quieter.

tip: Always turn this fully left before powering on or off to avoid pops through your speakers. It does not affect the recorded/USB signal, only the analog outputs.

Sets the speed of the built-in sequencer and any tempo-synced effects — turn right for faster, left for slower.

tip: Each Program stores its own tempo in SEQ EDIT mode, but this knob lets you override it live. If you're syncing to an external device, the external clock takes over instead.

Nudges oscillator 1 slightly sharp or flat, or up to a full octave in either direction.

tip: Detuning VCO 1 a few cents against VCO 2 creates a lush, thickening beating effect that's the secret behind big analog sounds.

Reshapes the raw waveform to add richness or change its character — for a square wave it narrows the pulse width, giving a thinner, nasal tone.

tip: Assign SHAPE to the LFO (via the LFO TARGET switch) for classic pulse-width-modulation movement that makes a sound shimmer.

Sharpens or flattens oscillator 2, up to a full octave up or down.

tip: When using RING modulation, tune VCO 2 to odd intervals against VCO 1 for clangy, bell-like, or metallic textures.

Reshapes oscillator 2's waveform for extra harmonic richness or thinner pulse tones.

tip: Combine SHAPE tweaks on both oscillators with slight detuning to build wide, evolving pad textures.

Lets oscillator 1 bend and warp oscillator 2's pitch — from subtle harmonic color at low settings to wild, atonal chaos when turned up.

tip: A little goes a long way for adding harmonic bite; crank it fully for harsh, noisy sound-effect textures.

Makes oscillator 2's pitch rise or fall automatically each time you press a key, based on the EG envelope shape. Center means no effect.

tip: Turn right for a pitch that swoops up on attack; turn left for an inverted downward sweep. Great for zap, laser, and drum-like sounds.

Controls how loud oscillator 1 is in the blend before the filter.

tip: Balance this against the VCO 2 and NOISE knobs to set the core tone; turning one fully down lets you isolate a single source while dialing in a sound.

Controls how loud oscillator 2 is in the blend.

tip: When using ring or cross modulation, the balance between VCO 1 and VCO 2 dramatically changes the modulation character.

Adds hiss/noise to the mix — useful on its own for wind and surf effects, or blended in for breathy attacks and percussion.

tip: A touch of noise with a fast filter envelope adds a realistic 'chiff' to the start of pads and plucks.

The main brightness knob — turn right to open up and brighten the sound, left to make it darker and muffled.

tip: If a sound goes silent, the cutoff may be too low. This is the single most fun knob to sweep live under your fingers.

Adds a whistling, ringing emphasis around the cutoff frequency, giving the filter a sharper, more vocal or squelchy character.

tip: Turn it up while sweeping CUTOFF for that classic squelchy acid sound. High resonance can distort, so watch your levels.

Makes the brightness automatically sweep each time you play a note. Center is off; right opens the filter with the envelope, left closes it (inverted).

tip: A positive setting with a short DECAY gives punchy, plucky attacks; this is the heart of most expressive analog sounds.

Controls how quickly a note fades in — low for an instant punch, high for a slow swell.

tip: Long attack times turn any sound into a gentle pad that blooms in; zero attack is essential for tight basses and plucks.

Controls how fast a note drops off toward its held level after the initial peak.

tip: Short decay plus low sustain gives percussive, plucky notes; longer decay smooths the transition into a held tone.

Sets how loud the note stays as long as you hold the key down.

tip: Set sustain to zero for plucks and percussion that fade even while held; set it high for organ-like sustained tones.

Controls how long a note rings out after you let go of the key.

tip: Longer release adds a natural tail to pads and leads; very short release keeps things tight for staccato lines.

Controls how fast this second envelope ramps up. This envelope doesn't control volume — it moves other things like filter cutoff or oscillator pitch.

tip: This EG is routed via the FILTER EG INT, VCO 2 PITCH EG INT, and LFO EG MOD controls — set those first so you can hear what this envelope is doing.

Controls how quickly the modulation envelope drops back after its peak — for example, how fast a filter sweep settles.

tip: A short decay here with FILTER EG INT turned up gives the classic 'pow' filter pluck on every note.

Sets how much ongoing modulation stays applied while you hold the note.

tip: Set to zero when you want the filter or pitch to move only at the start of a note, then settle back.

Controls how long the modulation continues to fade after you let go.

tip: Match this to the AMP EG RELEASE for cohesive-sounding filter tails on released notes.

Controls how fast the wobble/sweep cycles — turn right for faster movement.

tip: Turn on LFO BPM Sync in PROGRAM EDIT to lock the rate to musical note divisions of the tempo for rhythmic, in-time modulation.

Controls how strong the wobble is — from a subtle shimmer to dramatic, wide swings.

tip: Keep it low for gentle vibrato and pad movement; crank it with PITCH target for siren-like effects.

Thins out the low end of the sound and echoes — turn right to remove more bass and leave the echoes brighter and less muddy.

tip: Use it to keep delay repeats from building up bass mud, or set it high for tinny, telephone-like echo tails.

Controls the gap between echoes — short for a tight slapback or metallic ring, long for spacious repeats.

tip: Very short times combined with feedback create resonant, comb-filter and flanger-like tones rather than distinct echoes.

Controls how many times the echo repeats — low for one or two, high for long trailing cascades.

tip: Push feedback high with a short TIME for droning, self-oscillating textures you can play like an instrument.

The main data dial — turn it to scroll through sounds, or to change a setting's value when you're deep in the menus.

tip: Hold SHIFT while turning to jump through the Program list 10 at a time. In Step Edit it changes gate times; in Microtuning it detunes notes in cents.

A do-it-all knob whose job changes with the Voice Mode — it might detune unison voices, pick a chord type, set delay-voice timing, or choose an arpeggio pattern.

tip: In UNISON/DUO it controls detune spread for thickness; in CHORD it selects the chord; in ARP it picks the pattern; in MONO it adds sub-oscillators. Its effect can be motion-recorded.

A little joystick-style slider you push left and right during play to morph a sound live — what it changes depends on the Program.

tip: Set what it controls under PROGRAM EDIT > Button 2 (SLIDER FUNC). Most presets assign it to PITCH BEND, but you can point it at cutoff, LFO intensity, delay time, and much more for expressive live tweaks.

Shifts the whole keyboard up or down in whole octaves so you can reach very low bass or very high notes without a longer keyboard.

tip: The five LEDs above it show your current setting; the center position is standard pitch. This switch is excluded from motion-sequence recording, so you can move it freely while recording.

Chooses which octave oscillator 1 sits in, from very deep (16') to bright and high (2').

tip: Use different octave settings for VCO 1 and VCO 2 to build thick, layered tones spanning multiple octaves.

Picks the basic tone color of oscillator 1 — square is hollow/reedy, triangle is soft and rounded, sawtooth is bright and buzzy.

tip: Sawtooth is the go-to for classic analog basses and brass; triangle is great for mellow sub tones and flute-like sounds.

Chooses the octave for oscillator 2, independent of oscillator 1.

tip: Set VCO 2 one octave above VCO 1 for a fuller, brighter blend, or match them and detune for width.

Picks the basic tone color of oscillator 2 — same three shapes as oscillator 1.

tip: Mixing two different waveforms (e.g. saw on VCO 1, square on VCO 2) yields a more complex, interesting timbre than either alone.

When on (up), it locks oscillator 2 to oscillator 1, creating the aggressive, tearing, harmonic-rich sound famous in classic synth leads.

tip: Combine SYNC with the VCO 2 PITCH knob or a pitch sweep (PITCH EG INT) for that iconic screaming sync-lead effect.

When on (up), it multiplies the two oscillators together to make clangy, metallic, bell-like, and inharmonic tones.

tip: Adjust VCO 2 PITCH while RING is on to explore endless non-tonal and metallic sounds — perfect for bells, gongs, and sci-fi effects.

Chooses how sharply the filter cuts highs. 2-pole is gentler and more natural; 4-pole is stronger and more focused/fat.

tip: Use 4-pole for thick, classic basses and leads; switch to 2-pole when you want brighter, airier pads that keep more top end.

Makes higher notes automatically brighter than lower notes, so the tone stays consistent as you play up the keyboard.

tip: Set to 100% when you want high notes to keep the same relative brightness as low ones; leave at 0% for a fixed filter character across the keyboard.

When on, playing harder opens the filter and makes notes brighter, mimicking how acoustic instruments get brighter when played loud.

tip: Set to 100% for expressive, touch-sensitive leads where harder hits cut through the mix.

Chooses the shape of the slow, repeating modulation — triangle for smooth up-down (vibrato), square for on/off jumps, sawtooth for ramping sweeps.

tip: Triangle is the classic choice for vibrato and gentle wah; square gives trill or gated effects.

Lets the envelope automatically speed up/slow down the wobble (RATE) or make it deeper/shallower (INT) over the course of a note.

tip: Set to INT for vibrato that fades in as you hold a note — a very natural, expressive touch on leads.

Points the wobble at either filter brightness (auto-wah), waveform shape (shimmer), or pitch (vibrato).

tip: PITCH gives vibrato, CUTOFF gives wah/tremolo-like sweeps, and SHAPE gives PWM-style movement — try each to find the animation you want.

Chooses whether the delay effect is off, applied only to the echoes, or applied to both the dry sound and the echoes.

tip: PRE FILTER keeps your dry sound full while filtering only the echoes; POST FILTER thins everything. BYPASS turns the delay off entirely.

A row of eight multi-purpose buttons. In normal play they switch between the eight Voice Modes (Poly, Duo, Unison, Mono, Chord, Delay, Arp, Side Chain); their LEDs show the current mode.

tip: Hold SHIFT and press one to recall a Favorite; hold SHIFT and hold one to save the current sound as a Favorite. In step recording they pick steps 1–8, and with SHIFT, steps 9–16. Press and hold button 7 (ARP) to toggle latch.

A modifier key — hold it down while pressing something else to unlock a shortcut, like Favorites, panel load, manual tuning, or clearing a sequence.

tip: Key combos: SHIFT+WRITE loads panel settings; SHIFT+PLAY toggles key-trigger; SHIFT+REC runs manual tuning; SHIFT+REST clears the sequence; SHIFT+buttons 1–8 handle Favorites.

Opens the deeper settings menus for things that don't have their own knob. Press repeatedly to move between the four menu areas.

tip: Once in a menu, press one of the lit buttons 1–8 to open that page, and press the same button again to advance through its sub-parameters.

The save button — press it, choose a slot with PROGRAM/VALUE, and press again to store your sound. Also confirms things like initialize and dump.

tip: Nothing you tweak survives a power-off or Program change until you WRITE it. Slots 101–200 are yours; 1–100 are the factory presets.

The back/cancel button — press it to escape a menu or bail out of a save without changing anything.

tip: If your panel controls seem unresponsive, an EDIT MODE or 1–8/9–16 button is probably lit; press EXIT to get back to normal playing.

Switches which half of the 16-step sequence buttons 1–8 currently represent, so you can edit all 16 steps with only 8 buttons.

tip: Press it to enter Step Edit for tweaking recorded notes and gate times; hold SHIFT while turning PROGRAM/VALUE here to change the step length.

Press to play the current Program's sequence; press again to stop.

tip: SHIFT+PLAY turns on key-trigger so the sequence only plays while you hold a key; hold PLAY while pressing SHIFT to latch it so it keeps running hands-free.

The record button — press during playback to overdub notes and knob moves live, or press while stopped to enter step-by-step note entry.

tip: SHIFT+REC runs the manual auto-tune routine (takes ~15 seconds). Moving knobs/switches while recording captures up to four 'motion sequences' of automated parameter changes.

In step entry it adds a silent step (rest) or, when held with a key, ties notes together. During live recording, holding it erases notes.

tip: SHIFT+REST clears all sequence data (notes and motions) for the current Program in one move — handy for starting a pattern fresh.

The little screen that tells you what sound you're on and what you're editing — and it can also draw the actual sound waveform as you play.

tip: Enable the oscilloscope under GLOBAL EDIT (Button 6) to watch your waveform change as you tweak — a great visual learning tool. Lower the Brightness there to extend display life.

The on/off switch — hold it until the logo appears to power on, and hold it until the screen goes dark to power off.

tip: Wait about 10 seconds after switching off before turning back on. Save your sound first — unsaved edits are lost at power-off.

Where the power supply plugs in.

tip: Only use the included Korg adapter — other adapters can cause malfunctions. Loop the cable around the nearby cable hook so it can't be yanked out.

Connects the synth to your computer with a USB cable to send/receive notes, control changes, and sound data.

tip: Install Korg's USB-MIDI driver first. Set MIDI Route to 'USB' in GLOBAL EDIT if you're only using the computer connection as your MIDI interface.

Plug a MIDI cable in here to let another keyboard, sequencer, or computer play and control the minilogue.

tip: When driving the minilogue from an external sequencer with echo-back, turn Local SW off (GLOBAL EDIT) to avoid double-triggered notes.

Sends the minilogue's notes, knob moves, and clock out to control other gear.

tip: Set Clock Source to 'Internal' in GLOBAL EDIT to make the minilogue the master tempo for slaved external gear.

Lets another device's pulse signal drive the minilogue's sequencer step-by-step, for tight sync with volcas, DAWs, and modular gear.

tip: A cable plugged in here overrides all MIDI clock settings. Use a 1/8" cable to chain with Korg volca products. Set Sync In Unit/Polarity in GLOBAL EDIT to match your source.

Sends out a timing pulse so the minilogue can drive other pulse-sync gear in step.

tip: Set Sync Out Unit to 16th or 8th notes in GLOBAL EDIT to match the resolution your other device expects.

Plug in another instrument or sound source to process it through the minilogue's filter, envelopes, and delay.

tip: Enable it via GLOBAL EDIT (Audio In = On) or nothing will come through. Note it's mono, so use it to feed drum machines or other synths into the analog signal path.

The main output — connect this to your speakers, mixer, audio interface, or amp.

tip: This is a mono output, so a single cable carries the whole sound. The MASTER knob controls its level.

Plug in headphones for silent practice — you hear exactly what comes out of the main output.

tip: Its level also follows the MASTER knob, so start low and turn up gently to protect your ears.

A little anchor point that keeps the power cable from getting accidentally tugged out.

tip: Don't force the cable off the hook — remove it gently to avoid damaging the plug.