Korg Forums

[itdontsync]

i'll probably be returning it shortly. i'm totally disappointed.

it doesn't sync. i have MIDI clock coming from an RC-50 loopstation, i have the sync set to external MIDI, i'm using trigger threshold to start sampling and setting it to record 2 bars. the loops it cuts are way off - making the microsampler unusable in a live setting if you need to maintain sync with other devices.

the kp3 is actually a better sampler- i bought the microsampler because the kp3 is severely limited by the sample length, which has a tendency to be exactly HALF of my phrases. but at least the kp3 successfuly syncs via external MIDI clock with other devices, even when you're triggering the sample start manually.

the microsampler also can't autoplay the loop like the kp3 does- another show stopper. you can't manually trigger the loop on time by hitting the key exactly at the end of the sample time, either. you'd have to wait at least a bar (in silence) to trigger the newly sampled beat, and when you do trigger it, expect to train wreck immediately with any other external devices that are playing loops, even if they're supposedly synced.

the external sync source does not set the microsampler's "bank" BPM, and if you look at the original tempo of a sample in the "sample" edit mode it will differ from the source BPM by at least one but as much as 3 BPM. the situation is not improved by setting a threshold for a precise sample start and a preset "time" for the sample duration, which should really take any guesswork out of it, right?

i was expecting a big step up from the KP3's sampling capabilities- after all, it's a SAMPLER. specifically, not an FX processor that happens to have a sampler on board. it's supposedly designed for use on the fly in a live performance situation. how can you ever use this live if you can't sync it with anything or cut a clean loop?

buyer beware. this is just an expensive toy until it syncs and loops properly. unless that happens in an update tomorrow morning, i want my money back, and the money for the stupid batteries, too.

if anyone is actually using this successfully in sync with other devices, i'd love to hear how you pulled it off. i have a feeling nobody has.

[softroom]

I made this track entirely on the Microsampler synced to a Korg ER1 electribe. It was edited a bit for indulgence in Ableton but essentially this was all done very quickly on the little beauty. Works for me.

http://www.bogusfocus.com/mp3/TFT.mp3

Paul

[itdontsync]

well, i don't dispute that it's a fun toy for making beats -

i'm saying it won't work for sampling on the fly in a live setting.

i already have plenty of fun toys for beatmaking - including, well, a laptop that runs circles around this thing. i needed something that i can use live to sample loops from other devices for further manipulation in REALTIME. microsampler is not up to the task. to korg's credit, there isn't much else out there- (other than the amazing rc-50) to do loops on the fly. i'm halfway considering just buying a second rc-50 with the money i spent on this thing.

ah, well. any success stories as far as looping on the fly out there?

[DeadVolume]

I feel your pain man.

I use an RC-50 and gave up on that dream after about half an hour. As far as loops are concerned, you can't really get it to work properly on the fly.

The sequencer however, is rock solid with the RC-50 as master, as are loops done 'properly' beforehand and synced to tempo.

What you could try is sample as one shot with threshold trigger, and sequence the start of it with quantise on (sequence the 'empty' key before you sample and it should play straight away, providing you stop sampling just before the sequencer plays the note). That way you can still do it on the fly, and use the mute fuction to drop it in and out bang on time. That still might be a bit cumbersome, and you might have problems with loops that are continuosly noisy where you don't want a gap at the end, but drums and tight riffs should work.

Alternatively you could just sack off trying to sample entire loops altogether (like me) and have a look at Auto Next or Key Gate with shorter sampling times used in conjunction with the sequencer. You can get it to do some bonkers stuff with that, which nothing else can. Try sequencing a groove with a handfull of notes and sampling over the the samples that make up this groove while they're playing back.

I was ready to take mine back at one point for exactly the same reason as you (this was about an hour after I bought it mind) but once I played around with the sequencer and other functions, I never looked back.

Like most things like this you have to find out its strengths and weaknesses, but I suppose it all depends on what you personally wanted to get out of it when you bought it.

Hope this helps mate.

[itdontsync]

thanks man! some great suggestions - i didn't even get to playing around with the sequencer before i put the damn thing back in the box in disgust. it's so close, yet so far! here's hoping that they sort some of this stuff out in a firmware update. (just make it sample like the kp3 does!!! at least in loop mode.)

i'm going to break it back out and see if i can get $500 worth of fun out of it with the sequencer running. it's nice to hear that at least that quantizes and locks up with the MIDI clock. do you have to manually punch in the bank BPM, or does it glean that successfully from the rc-50?

anyway, thanks again for the ideas. i called korg's "specialists" for the microsampler and they had absolutely no idea what i was talking about. "we haven't tested it with any other devices. did you try beatboxing into the gooseneck mic instead of all of that complicated stuff?" haha.

[softroom]

I reckon that working out cunning ways around limitations is a really rewarding way to spend time. Kinda zen.

[DeadVolume]

[itdontsync]

this is a totally legit workaround.

it's cool that you can have an EMPTY key quantized to the first beat in a pattern with the sequencer running and sample onto it at any time without stopping the sequencer. i found that using threshold trigger in one-shot mode i was able to pretty effectively move a beat from the looper to the sampler on the fly- you're right, the trickiest thing is stopping sampling just before the end of the pattern so it triggers properly the next time around.

a slight drawback - clearing the sample that i've just moved onto the microsampler from the rc-50 (so i can make another loop there while playing a keyboard part with both hands, for example) actually stops the MS sequencer. i'm going to see what happens if i switch the record mode on the rc-50 to momentary punch-in / out or replace to see if i can clear the sample by overdubbing silence onto it without killing playback on the MS. i do wish i could keep the MS sequencer running even with the rc-50 stopped. i can understand that that's not gonna happen, as the rc-50 automatically sends start and stop messages when you play and stop.

i'm gonna keep the microsampler - despite the blaring and huge limitation of unavoidable timing sloppiness in recording samples - specifically the "time" function (when i tell it to sample 2 bars, or 2 beats or whatever) it seems to be pretty arbitrary. AND of course the fact that it doesn't loop automatically the next time around when you capture in "loop" mode. this is a pretty huge drawback for a SAMPLER - not being able to SAMPLE accurately. or LOOP in LOOP mode.

nonetheless, i'm begrudgingly sold. i do desperately hope for some magic in updates to address some of these obvious limitations!

[DeadVolume]