This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

Korg monologue MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Korg monologue: what it answers to, and the 24 controls it offers, on firmware 2.00.

At a glance

Firmware: This page describes firmware 2.00.
MIDI channel: Any one of 1 to 16.
MIDI mode: 3: omni off, poly.
Voices: One, so it plays one note at a time.
Note range: 0 to 127: C-1 to G9, counting middle C as C4.
Velocity: Sent and received. Release velocity is ignored.
Aftertouch: None, sent or answered.
Pitch bend: How far it bends is not recorded, and the range can be changed.
Program change: Received and sent, with 100 presets.
MIDI clock: Sent and received.
Start and stop: Sent and received.
Control change: 24 controls, in the tables below.
NRPN: None.
System exclusive: Supported.

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("korg/monologue") has loaded them.

Master

Control	CC	Values
DRIVE `drive`	28	0-127

VCO 1

Control	CC	Values
VCO 1 PITCH `vco_1_pitch`	34	0-127 Received, never sent
VCO 1 SHAPE `vco_1_shape`	36	0-127
VCO 1 OCTAVE `vco_1_octave`	48	0-31 `n16`, 32-63 `n8`, 64-95 `n4`, 96-127 `n2` Received, never sent
VCO 1 WAVE `vco_1_wave`	50	0-42 `sqr`, 43-85 `tri`, 86-127 `saw`

VCO 2

Control	CC	Values
VCO 2 PITCH `vco_2_pitch`	35	0-127
VCO 2 SHAPE `vco_2_shape`	37	0-127
VCO 2 OCTAVE `vco_2_octave`	49	0-31 `n16`, 32-63 `n8`, 64-95 `n4`, 96-127 `n2`
VCO 2 WAVE `vco_2_wave`	51	0-42 `noise`, 43-85 `tri`, 86-127 `saw`
SYNC/RING `sync_ring`	60	0-42 `ring`, 43-85 `off`, 86-127 `sync`

Mixer

Control	CC	Values
VCO 1 LEVEL `vco_1_level`	39	0-127
VCO 2 LEVEL `vco_2_level`	40	0-127

Filter

Control	CC	Values
CUTOFF `cutoff`	43	0-127
RESONANCE `resonance`	44	0-127

EG

Control	CC	Values
AMP EG ATTACK `amp_eg_attack`	16	0-127
AMP EG DECAY `amp_eg_decay`	17	0-127
EG INT `eg_int`	25	0-127
EG TYPE `eg_type`	61	0-42 `gate`, 43-85 `a_g_d`, 86-127 `a_d`
EG TARGET `eg_target`	62	0-42 `cutoff`, 43-85 `pitch_2`, 86-127 `pitch`

LFO

Control	CC	Values
LFO RATE `lfo_rate`	24	0-127
LFO INT `lfo_int`	26	0-127
LFO TARGET `lfo_target`	56	0-42 `cutoff`, 43-85 `shape`, 86-127 `pitch`
LFO WAVE `lfo_wave`	58	0-42 `sqr`, 43-85 `tri`, 86-127 `saw`
LFO MODE `lfo_mode`	59	0 `n1_shot`, 64 `slow`, 127 `fast`

Where these facts come from

Source documents

monologue MIDI Implementation, 1.00, dated 19 February 2019, its MIDI implementation, read on 4 October 2026 (the file read).
monologue Owner's Manual, E 3, its user manual, read on 4 October 2026 (the file read).
Downloads | monologue | KORG (USA), its download page, read on 4 October 2026.
Downloads | monologue - System Updater | KORG (USA), 2.00, dated 28 June 2019, its release notes, read on 4 October 2026.

How they were read

monologue MIDI Implementation, 66 KB of ASCII: every controller number below is one of its rows, and it is the only document that has the two the panel cannot send. monologue Owner's Manual, 59 pages, for the panel sections, the programs, the global settings and - on its p. 58 - the implementation chart Korg does not publish separately, which is the newer of the two MIDI documents. And Korg's downloads page and System Updater page, for what is published and for what has changed since.

THE CHART'S MARKS ARE LETTERS AND NOT DRAWINGS, which was the first thing checked and is not always true: the volca beats' chart draws every one of its yes and no marks as a vector and returns none of them to a machine. This one's O and X are in the text layer, which is why it could be cut by position rather than read by eye. One grep settles that question and it is worth spending.

WHERE THE TWO DOCUMENTS DIFFER, AND IT IS THREE PLACES. First, song position: the implementation has no system common section, the chart marks Song Position received, and the System Updater's notes for 2.00 say it added "support for MIDI set position messages" (updater). Second, the chart lists controller 121 among the channel mode messages it answers to and the implementation does not - the implementation has 120, 122 and 123, the chart has 120 and 121 in its control change rows and Local On/Off and All Notes Off in its aux rows. Third, the chart lists only the twenty-two numbers that go both ways and never mentions 34 or 48, which only the implementation has. None of the three changes a control below.

THREE ROWS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION ARE NOT CONTROLS AND ARE LEFT OUT, by number rather than by accident: All Sound Off at 120, Local Sw at 122 and All Note Off at 123. They mean the same on every instrument that has them. The manual says something about them worth keeping: "CC#120 onward cannot be controlled using this setting" (manual p. 43), of the global filter that turns every other control change off.

SIX GLOBAL SETTINGS CAN TURN OFF WHAT THIS FILE DESCRIBES, which is more than any other instrument here. The chart's footnotes make the control changes conditional on "MIDI Rx CC" and "MIDI Tx CC" (manual p. 58), program change on "MIDI Rx Prog Chg" (manual p. 58) and "MIDI Tx Prog Chg" (manual p. 58), and pitch bend on "MIDI Rx Pitch Bend" (manual p. 58) and "MIDI Tx Pitch Bend" (manual p. 58), each of them an Off/On in the global menu (manual). The manual does not print a factory default for any of the six, which is a real gap: the volca beats' manual marks its two with an asterisk and a key, and this one does not.

THE MAKER'S NAMES DIFFER BETWEEN ITS OWN DOCUMENTS and the implementation is followed, because it is the document the numbers come from. Controllers 16 and 17 are "AMP EG ATTACK" (midi_impl) and "AMP EG DECAY" (midi_impl) where the chart's row reads "EG (ATTACK, DECAY, INT)" (manual p. 58). The setting that gates the control changes is "Enable Tx MIDI" (midi_impl) and "Enable Rx MIDI" (midi_impl) in the implementation, and "MIDI Tx CC" (manual p. 58) and "MIDI Rx CC" (manual p. 58) in the chart and the manual. Controller 26 is "LFO INT" (midi_impl) and "LFO (RATE, DEPTH)" (manual p. 58). Controller 123 is "All Note Off" (midi_impl) and "All Notes Off" (manual p. 58). And the chart heads its last block "Aux Meassages" (manual p. 58).

AND ONE FOOTNOTE OF THE CHART SAYS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT IT MEANS. Its sixth ends "the monologue will transmit signals." (manual p. 58) of the setting it calls En Rx Transport - an Rx setting cannot govern transmission, and the implementation says the same setting governs what is recognised: "This message is recognized when the" (midi_impl) setting is on. The implementation is right and the chart's wording is a slip. Nothing below rests on it.