The instrument
The six-voice analog sound architecture of the MKS-30 largely corresponds to that of the JX-3P keyboard synthesizer from 1983. In contrast to the JX-3P, the MKS-30 is velocity-sensitive. The PG-200 programmer can also be connected for operation.
Details
Each voice of the MKS is based on two digitally controlled oscillators (DCOs) that generate the sawtooth, pulse and needle pulse waveforms. They can be played in three foot positions and can be fine-tuned, synchronized and cross-modulated. The second oscillator is also equipped with a noise generator with white noise. The low-pass resonance filter has a 4-pole characteristic. A static, resonance-free high-pass filter is also used. Filter cutoff, DCO and VCA are available as modulation destinations; they can be modulated by an LFO with the waveforms triangle, pulse and sample & hold or the ADSR envelope. The two-stage chorus enhances the pad sounds. The filter section consists of six filter chips including an 80017A clone.