IK Multimedia UNO Synth portable monophonic analog synthesizer

I got this on Amazon for £139.00 and what a bargain !!! this thing sounds HUGE!! I have quite a few analogue mono synths (Moog Little Phatty, Moog Mother 32, Arturia (Mini & Micro Brute), Behringer Neutron and D, but this little thing is one of may faves. It's soooo small and light but sounds EPIC!The editor Ap is superb and offers many additional controls and modulation options not available from the four panel. The USB integration with the Ap is really great in the DAW too. I love it!

This, and its sibling the UNO Synth, are my first foray into the scary and exciting world of hardware synths. Before, it has all been software with some MIDI controllers. I must say I am very impressed with this - a little more than its brother. It's versatile, small, pleasant to use, and impressively 'big' sounding. I own a number of IK Multimedia's software offerings, so was very intrigued by these small units. FYI, a lot cheaper here than from IK Multimedia directly (even with Jam points... Seriously pointless). So far they've not been a let down. A few negatives, however: although the capacitive surface is neat, there is no velocity sensitivity. Also, the encoders are a little on the cheap side - time will tell on those things. I have found that sequencing on UNO Drum is a lot more intuitive than on the UNO Synth, but I haven't needed to resort to reading the manual except in order to sync to a master MIDI device. The software side of this is handy, and offers a lot of simplicity for your DAW of choice; instead of having to sort out MIDI channels, a pretty comprehensive VST is offered to control and manage the little guy. It's simple to set up, but I'm not sure about the extra sound packs; I may be wrong, but they seem to be just extra PCM sounds that can be flashed onto the device, and won't necessarily use the analogue circuitry. Which brings me neatly to the analogue... It's a nice selling point, but in all honesty, I struggle sometimes to tell the difference between analogue and digital, especially when care and attention are given to physicial modelling. All I can say is, I like the sound, and have some interesting projects in mind for the UNO range. Nice one, IK Multimedia (just stop it with the ridiculous JamPoints)!

Initially, I'd really enjoyed my Uno Synth. Granted, it sounds amazing, is really small, light and portable, it is phenomenally cheap, and with the editor offers some big features... however, the more I use it, the more frustrating it seems. Given the portability aspect, the need for an editor has become an irritation, as has the step sequencer, which at 16 steps maximum is virtually useless (the suggested workaround of using patches and manually switching between them is pretty weak IMO and adds further complication). I was hoping for a firmware update fix for the latter, but given that it's been mentioned and not addressed in IK's forum since the Uno was released, I'm not going to hold my breath - odd since the Uno Drum comes with a 64 step sequencer! Add to that the fact that IK have just announced the Uno Synth Pro, which fixes the two aforemention issues, but is larger and vastly more expensive, and I think it's unlikely they'll be releasing any firmware that might improve the original's features. Yes, if you're just going to have this on a desk, hooked up to your DAW and running the VST then it's a great hybrid solution, but if you want to use it DAWless and particularly as a mobile solution then it's a pain. The ground noise issue that many have mention is really annoying, and although it can be mitigated by switching to batteries, it is still a nuisance.

Please dont laugh but I really missed my old battery wasp (yes i am that old)I did look at all the korgs etc, but features where a bit slim and no white noise.This has everything you need in bundles, and.....you can save it.It has to be the best deal in the market so far, its monofonic but the keyboard plays arps chords etc.Line in as well for more fun and it can link to anything via usb/midi.If only it had a really basic drum machine built in with a 4 trk I would pay another £50.

Lovely compact chassis and great sound but hampered by a fault that causes it to randomly switch through patches while your trying to use it, so anything you've been working on is lost if you didn't store it. Also, the 16 step sequencer is very limited. If they can fix the fault issue and add a 32 step sequencer then this is easily a 5 star winner and I would probably purchase again but as it is, I've returned for a refund. =(