Monotron Delay Analog Ribbon Synthesizer

Back in 2012, this pocket-sized wonder brought a genuine analog tape-echo vibe to the palm of your hand, capturing those swooping pitch shifts you only get from varying delay time the old-school way.

At its core sits a single sawtooth VCO feeding into a classic lowpass VCF pulled straight from Korg's MS-10 and MS-20, with a versatile LFO offering triangle or square waveshapes—selectable via a front switch and fine-tunable with a rear trimpot for everything from subtle wobble to pulse-width madness. Five knobs let you dial in LFO rate and intensity for pitch modulation, VCF cutoff for that warm filter sweep, plus delay time and feedback for cosmic space echoes that you can splash onto external audio through the aux input. The wide-range ribbon controller handles precise slides and bends across octaves, while a built-in speaker (muted by headphones) and two AAA batteries keep it running about 8 hours anywhere; at just 120 x 72 x 28 mm and 95g, it slips into your pocket with 1/8" stereo in/out jacks ready to go.

Players love its immediate tweakability for sound design and effects, turning simple riffs into swirling soundscapes, though some note the ribbon takes practice for accurate notes and wish for more polyphonic heft. It's a staple for Monotron fans chasing authentic analog grit without the bulk.