Hey folks...I'm ashamed to admit this, but despite being a music obsessive for over 30 years I know absolutely nothing about gear and how it works. So this is a very sincere question and I'm hoping people are chill with the responses. Looking for help!

I'm considering buying a Korg Monologue to screw around with and have zero clue what I would do with it to hear the sound it creates once I get it. I know I could plug in head phones, but what do I connect it to in order to hear the sound out loud? A receiver? What are the options for outputting the sound of a piece of equipment like this?

Imagine you are explaining this to a child with no knowledge of electronics whatsoever...except the child is a middle aged man seeking the most basic advice on how to enjoy a starter synth.

I feel dumb even posting this, but hopefully some of you can enlighten me. I know it needs power...from there, I'm clueless.

Thanks!

I don't own this synth, but the specs look like there’s a 1/4” headphone output and a 1/4” line output. Two common situations would be to run the line output into an audio interface for recording (which also would likely provide monitoring options) or connecting directly to an instrument amplifier. An amp designed for keyboard with line level input is ideal, but I run keyboards into regular guitar amps all the time.

I just bought my g/f a Monologue and we're both going thru a lot of this stuff together. In general for keys, I think you look for a somewhat powerful, relatively clean/sterile amp like a Roland, or most practice bass amps work fine. However, for her work from home desk setup, we bought a tiny Orange Crush guitar amp and with the gain fairly low it sounds fine for noodling around.

penningtron wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 10:06 am I just bought my g/f a Monologue and we're both going thru a lot of this stuff together. In general for keys, I think you look for a somewhat powerful, relatively clean/sterile amp like a Roland, or most practice bass amps work fine. However, for her work from home desk setup, we bought a tiny Orange Crush guitar amp and with the gain fairly low it sounds fine for noodling around.

That's kind of what I was wondering...if one of those small Orange guitar amps would do it...or if I need to buy keyboard specific gear.

I've got a Monlogue as well, and it was a great intro into synths and sequencers.

I'll second the small solid state guitar amp method. Other thing I've done is I've got a small JBL bluetooth speaker that has an 1/8" plug (so you don't have to use bluetooth) and I'll plug that into the headphone out with a 1/4" adapter. Very handy when my bandmates and I have been passing it around to try out different parts in the studio.

I would suggest that the best way to learn synths is to get your hands on one and fuck around until you start to get it. Reference the manual and learn all the knobs / connections / functions. The world of synthesizers is so deep you can paralyze yourself with learning for years before you play one note.

Andy wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 2:00 pm I would suggest that the best way to learn synths is to get your hands on one and fuck around until you start to get it. Reference the manual and learn all the knobs / connections / functions. The world of synthesizers is so deep you can paralyze yourself with learning for years before you play one note.

This is exactly what I intend to do, but I want to be able to hear what's coming out of the machine!

I think I've got some good tips here. I'm mainly concerned with damaging the guitar amp with a synth since I will be fiddling around with the range of sound the thing puts out. Can a small Orange Amp take what a synth like that puts out?

I like the small speaker to headphone jack idea as well. I'm not intending on playing loud or live anytime soon. Heh.

m3kcomp wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 5:37 pm

Andy wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 2:00 pm I would suggest that the best way to learn synths is to get your hands on one and fuck around until you start to get it. Reference the manual and learn all the knobs / connections / functions. The world of synthesizers is so deep you can paralyze yourself with learning for years before you play one note.

This is exactly what I intend to do, but I want to be able to hear what's coming out of the machine!

I think I've got some good tips here. I'm mainly concerned with damaging the guitar amp with a synth since I will be fiddling around with the range of sound the thing puts out. Can a small Orange Amp take what a synth like that puts out?

I like the small speaker to headphone jack idea as well. I'm not intending on playing loud or live anytime soon. Heh.

Perfect. The 35rt sounds ideal for your uses. Headphone jack, effects loop, plenty of power for you. Even something smaller would work though.

Yeah, I'm kind of a synth noob too. I've been futzing around on a micro brute, that became so important on a record, I have to now perform with it.

It is important to be aware of what your synth is putting out, since many of them can go way down to what a bass guitar would do, or lower. I kind of figure the question is if, or how loud, you'd be willing to plug a bass in to an amp (assuming you're even using that range). Also, it seems like synths can usually put off a hotter signal than a passive instrument would, so setting the master volume on they keyboard really low to begin with, as per standard caution.

careful with levels; those simple tones can burn holes in your cochlea without you realizing it