Dispersion Controls - Arturia KORG MS-20 V User Manual

5.7. Dispersion Controls

Just when we think we're done with the Hardware Panel, we realize that there's something
hidden in the corner! When we hover over the KORG logo, we see a hint of a small circuit
board with six trimpots that's revealed when we click on it.
This is a feature that's designed to take the KORG MS-20 V model's authentic analog
character in a cool new direction: Voice Dispersion.
Like all analog synthesizers, the MS-20 was never perfectly stable except under strictly
controlled conditions. Its tuning and circuit characteristics would change with warmup time,
temperature changes in the room, and other factors. Normally, these effects were only
noticeable when they had a direct impact on performance, for example relative tuning of
VCO 1 and VCO 2.
Because the MS-20 was monophonic, there was nothing for its one voice to be compared
against in terms of tuning and stability – but what happens when you model a monophonic
synth and then give it the option for polyphony? If you're Arturia, you give the user control
over what a polyphonic version of the synth might have sounded like if its circuits had a
tendency to drift – in other words, Voice Dispersion.
The hidden Dispersion Control panel has a set of six trimpots, to represent the Dispersion for
six types of circuits: VCO pitch stability, Pulse Width uniformity, envelope parameters, filter
cutoff from voice to voice, filter resonance alignment, and overall stability of modulation
routings. Each of these trimpots goes from a perfect 0.00 to a totally out-of-whack 1.00, so
you can make your own particular KORG MS-20 sound as filthy as you want – but have the
calibration snap back to perfection just by switching to a new Preset.
How cool is that?
Arturia - User Manual KORG MS-20 V - The Hardware Panel 76