Guest blicero Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 since apparently half of EKT owns at least 1 of these, i have some questions. how are they, and what is the difference between the various... uh... flavors? colors? i've played with the sampler a bit at a shop, it was good fun. but i don't like that you can't transfer audio to it. the ribbon controller/arppegiator seems like it would be good fun live. anyone ever perform with these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCM Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 I used to have a Korg Electribe EM-1: It's basically an EA-1 and an ER-1 in one (so you've got beats and synths). I used this on it own in conjunction with a Fostex VF-80 digital multitracker all MIDI'd togther and that and found it highly enjoyable and easy to make tracks with. Get a beat going, put it into one track in the Fostex, then a bassline in the next, then some pads etc...bounce it all down, master and Robert's your mavva's bruvva. I sold 'em both about 3 years ago and moved into laptop only music making. I have an affection for the Electribe series though and found the sounds to be pretty good, the sequencer brilliant and all the tweaking and effects also brilliant for the price. I'd recommend 'em to anyone looking to make hands-on music on a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blicero Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 see, i like hands-on mixed with software. if they made it so you could create sounds and samples on your computer and then transfer them to the electribe for sequencing and fx, etc... i'd be into that, but i feel claustrophobic working on an all-in-one device like this, with limited onboard memory and little to no visual interface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goffer Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 i love my EM-1; it's a fun little machine, and it's stronger than a brick. i say it is obsolete nowadays to record anything off it except for some break or something, but for the price (i got mine for $50) there's nothing to hate about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba69 Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 You could transfer into the sampler if you dont mind ad-da conversion. Ive done it several times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adjective Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 i think the worst thing about the electribes (at least those early ones, the only i played with) was that little pin connector / adaptor instead of the 3-prong generic power cable. (i'm bad with knowing the names of things) they are fun though, if someone was new to music and wanted a drum machine that would be a great first one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LJG Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 I have the EMX-1. Absolutely love it. Good synth and drum sounds, limitations of course, but hella fun, and actually the limitations make it more fun to trick. Tubes as well. Basically 5 monophonic synths and a drum machine. Looks way cooler than a laptop as well. :laughing: EMX-1 clicky... Ideal setup for me would be the EMX-1 synth and the ESX-1 sampler connected via a dj mixer. Fun stuff. Worth the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goffer Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 I have the EMX-1. Absolutely love it. Good synth and drum sounds, limitations of course, but hella fun, and actually the limitations make it more fun to trick. Tubes as well. Basically 5 monophonic synths and a drum machine. Looks way cooler than a laptop as well. :laughing: EMX-1 clicky... Ideal setup for me would be the EMX-1 synth and the ESX-1 sampler connected via a dj mixer. Fun stuff. Worth the money. i have the ESX-1... my first drum machine. i love it more than anything. the only gripe i have is sampling into the machine... the input is set way too low, but it works great via smartcard. EDIT:: looks even cooler next to a laptop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LJG Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 I have the EMX-1. Absolutely love it. Good synth and drum sounds, limitations of course, but hella fun, and actually the limitations make it more fun to trick. Tubes as well. Basically 5 monophonic synths and a drum machine. Looks way cooler than a laptop as well. :laughing: EMX-1 clicky... Ideal setup for me would be the EMX-1 synth and the ESX-1 sampler connected via a dj mixer. Fun stuff. Worth the money. i have the ESX-1... my first drum machine. i love it more than anything. the only gripe i have is sampling into the machine... the input is set way too low, but it works great via smartcard. EDIT:: looks even cooler next to a laptop Indeed... I used to have the ES-1 sampler back in the day, but I did find it very hard to do samples on- I guess I liked sound forge editing and viewing the wave so much more... Do you have a setup for transferring from your comp via smartmedia? Is that like an external drive or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SamWhite! Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 I'm a complete novice. My freind some times brings over his Midi keyboard, and we hook that up with fruity loops, and make sound packages, that's about all I've done =/ (and use Frutiy Loops on live mode for beats a few times) but I like watching videos of the electribe on you tube: etc. etc. I love teh you tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba69 Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 wow, some people get really into the whole hands on one piece of equipment with these things. I always figured they were good for backing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blicero Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 live improvisation via ribbon controller is a huge part of the appeal for me. i bet i could replicate the ribbon/arpegiatior with x/y pads... ooo fun experiment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LJG Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 live improvisation via ribbon controller is a huge part of the appeal for me. i bet i could replicate the ribbon/arpegiatior with x/y pads... ooo fun experiment The ribbon controller is pretty cool. Essentially the ribbon sets the gate time of the notes, the top being a held note and the bottom being a bunch of staccatto notes. The slider sets the scale, and you can determine the center pitch or the scale and save it as a global setting for your patterns (handy that). It's surprisingly expressive for how simple it is. I will play both the ribbon and slider left handed whilst tweaking filters with the right hand. Mind you, even though the EMX-1 is monophonic, you can input arpeggio scales with the keyboard pattern buttons (hold down a chord and then hit the ribbon and away you go.) Besides I like making ribbon/slider faces whilst playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braintree Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 I have the ESX and I love it. Great for recording, great for shows. Lots of memory, great audio quality, and the tube gain makes it sound almost analogue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velazquez Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 I have the ESX and I love it. Great for recording, great for shows. Lots of memory, great audio quality, and the tube gain makes it sound almost analogue. EsX is great, my good friend has one of those. I have the es-1 and the slice function is very hit or miss, I've yet to slice a good amen break on it. I also have an ea1 which I bought dirt cheap- an alright toy that I use4 mainly to sequence my sh32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosca Posted September 24, 2006 Share Posted September 24, 2006 original ea1 - in cupbaord original er1 - sold to spasm69 regret selling that actually - rotten kicks but great for blips and fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goffer Posted September 24, 2006 Share Posted September 24, 2006 Indeed... I used to have the ES-1 sampler back in the day, but I did find it very hard to do samples on- I guess I liked sound forge editing and viewing the wave so much more... Do you have a setup for transferring from your comp via smartmedia? Is that like an external drive or something? well my laptop has a smartcard port but you can get external devices that run pretty cheap. editing the sample on the ESX-1 is worthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LJG Posted September 25, 2006 Share Posted September 25, 2006 see, i like hands-on mixed with software. if they made it so you could create sounds and samples on your computer and then transfer them to the electribe for sequencing and fx, etc... i'd be into that, but i feel claustrophobic working on an all-in-one device like this, with limited onboard memory and little to no visual interface. yeah, i agree...i have a hard time working with equipment that isn't some sort of a hybrid these days. i've slowly sold off all of my old gear and replaced it with a minimal setup that directly interfaces with my laptop. i disagree that a lack of visual interface is a purely negative thing though...sometimes it's good to seperate that visual world from the auditory. i remember reading an interview with autechre stating that they made lots of tracks without looking at a screen or display. I definitely find the lack of visual interface to be challenging, but I would say that for me it enhances the music creation process. It makes me rely on the musician's most basic talent- listening. Creating a track sans visual cues is definitely a dynamic process, and it brings my mind into much sharper focus on the balance of sounds in a mix. I also find myself relying on a changing perspective of any given piece over a series of sessions- when you revisit things a second or third time, you may hear something you didn't before, or want to change a level, sweep, or pan in a way that you perhaps couldn't hear the first time. In the end, it makes the creative process much more evolutionary, in terms of designing set pieces. However, another advantage is that you come to know the instrument, as you would a piano or a guitar, you know where the notes are, what the tricks are, and some of the charictaristic tweaks as well, which is very informative for pure improv. I find myself much more involved with listening to the effects of modulation than I ever am by watching a wave, or looking at the numbers on the LCD of my synth. If I look at the numbers I have a tendency to sort of try to round things out and make them balance- I get a preconceived notion of what a parameter should be (if I pan this to 20 rather than 15, or raise it to 60 rather than 57), rather than waiting simply for it to sound right. Of course over time improv and composition begin to align very closely. But what the hell do I know? It's too damn early in the morning to be discussing this rubbish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blicero Posted September 25, 2006 Share Posted September 25, 2006 i like to edit wavs visually (soundforge) but prefer to perform with a tactile hardware interface. knob twiddlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LJG Posted September 25, 2006 Share Posted September 25, 2006 i like to edit wavs visually (soundforge) but prefer to perform with a tactile hardware interface. knob twiddlin. Knob twiddlin fo shizzlin. I think if I was going to use the sampler, I would definitely want to edit my stuff in SoundForge and perform it on the electribe, no doubt, pretty much as per the Goffer method. As I'm doing synthesis with the EMX-1, there's really no sound editing that's not done "live" per se- basically the machine is a performer all the time. I dunno if this might be of interest to you, but it looks like this Roland has some nice functionality to it, even if it's not as sexy as the Electribe samplers... Roland SP-404 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blicero Posted September 25, 2006 Share Posted September 25, 2006 i have the sp-303 it's fun, although i don't use it much these days. the onboard fx are good fun, but i have 2 major complaints. 1) like the electribe, there is no way to connect it to your pc and transfer wavs on to it. therefore, all sample editing is done on board. it's a pain. 2) there is no midi out, so you can't use the pads and knobs as a midi interface. or use the onboard sequencer to sequence samples on your pc. seems like a missed oppurtunity. this is the device that madlib primarily uses. if you don't believe me check the picture of it in the liner notes of the last quas album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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