Korg MS 20 mini - White Noise when pressing the keyboard

[chris-korg]

Hi !

First of all: I do love my brand new MS 20 mini !!

Anyhow I do have a technical question concerning the MS 20 mini:

In following YouTube-Videos (the second one is mine) a noise-problem is shown: when pressing the Keyboard-keys you can hear white noise pretty loud, despite both Osc-Mix are at Zero (only the Overall-Volume knob is up)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg6rnqLaj3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9WZmUbalNE

Just to clarify: I´m not talking about the "basic noise" when the MS20 is just switched on and not played - I do mean the rather loud noise you can hear when you press the Keyboard-keys as shown in the videos.

This noise-level mentioned is than added to any wave generated by Osc 1 and/or 2 (when you turn up the Mix-knobs)

My question: is this a "normal behaviour" (similar to the old MS 20) or could there be a quality issue?

Your reply would be very appreciated !

Thanks and best regards,

Chris Schenk from Austria

[DrHoo]

Sounds normal. Which output were you using ? Did you have the master volume on max ?

[Re-Member]

My question: is this a "normal behaviour" (similar to the old MS 20) or could there be a quality issue?

It is indeed normal behaviour. The noise isn't coming from the OSC section, it's actually generated by the filter. Part of the filter's unique characteristic is that the noise overdrives the sound when you crank up the Peak knob, even without the oscillators turned up. The original MS-20 with the Korg-35 filter also functioned this way, so there's no need to worry.

A moderator should probably create a sticky about this since it gets brought up so often.

[chris-korg]

[quote="DrHoo"]Sounds normal. Which output were you using ? Did you have the master volume on max ?[/quote]

Master Volume was at around 80%, Output was "Signal out";
both filters were fully open with Peak at Zero; VCO 1+2 Level at Zero;
VCO1 triangle, VCO2 sawtooth

It just strange to me why I do hear this rather loud "hiss" (White noise) when I press a key (unfortunately it does not come out that good on my Video, it´s is very good to hear from 36second on when I increase VCO1-level)

[DrHoo]

I have to agree with R3member. It seems normal to me.
For the record i don't have my master volume up so high as that normally for recording purposes & i wonder when would it be that you will be recording a patch with the oscillators turned down ? The noise generated by the ms20m is not normally audible in a negative way over a given patch but it does help to shape it & define it.

[Re-Member]

It just strange to me why I do hear this rather loud "hiss" (White noise) when I press a key

It's simple really... it's an analog component. Ever press play on a tape deck without even having a cassette in it? You get hiss. How about a guitar amp without anything plugged in, but cranked to ten? You get hiss. That's not to say that everything analog generates noise, but a handful of things do. For example, my Juno-60 produces this loud hiss when I turn either of the two chorus buttons on even if I'm not playing any notes.

[Redmond Barry]

There's been a lot of internet hysteria about the Mini's hiss, and I think what you are describing is normal for this unit too. I like some hiss to be honest and record a lot of digital synths to cassette tape and bounce it back so that I can get some hiss and grit. In the words of Air, "hiss is like the wind-- it's life!"

[Barbara W. Shores]

It sounds normal.... What kind of output you are using ? I'm using exactly same model are they are working awesome for me....