Your KP3's bank of 8

[chad9477]

If you feel like it , post to this thread and let us know how you've got your Kaoss Pad 3's eight bank buttons assigned.

I got curious after I realized I'd spent a few years with my KP3 and slowly boiled down the effects to a single bank's worth, the group of eight that I get the most use out of. I still switch around to other efx while I'm jamming, but I know I want these particular eight "standbys" handy -- along with their depth, hold and motion sequence settings -- when I power up. Started wondering about others' experiences.

I know a lot of us use the KP3 with different musical styles and for different purposes, so if you post, let us know a sentence or two about what you do and how the KP3 fits into your setup. I'll start...

[chad9477]

I do mostly live PAs solo or with other groovebox artists. The KP3 is my downstream efx processor, the one I put the whole groove through before it goes to the speakers. Depending on the gig, I focus on minimal, techno, house and ambient. For these styles, here's my bank of 8:


Lop.1 - I love the looper cos it allows me to create instant turnarounds. Max depth. I've got the hold button saved to the 3rd column of pixels from the right, and moving a column or two in either direction gives great results...but lately I've been pushing my finger further to the left a lot for quick rhythmic effects.

Flt. 10 - Half depth, no motion sequence. I like tapping this one quickly to emphasize snare hits -- gives them a touch of reverb. Gets obnoxious IMHO if you leave it on for too long, but used sparingly it's quite effective.

Flt. 13 - The radio filter is also nice for quick-hit turnarounds and transitions. I've got the hold button saved at max depth just northeast of center, but as often as not I'll crank it down and bring it in gradually with the level knob.

Mod.3 - My standby for atmospherics, and (from the YouTube vids I've seen) everyone else's as well. I can't argue with success. I've got a motion sequence playing a figure-8 sweep that avoids the edges of the screen, as that tends to distort the incoming signal.

Dly. 5 - I use it most often 3rd or 4th column from right to add - imagine this! - delay effects. I keep the level knob down pretty low and bring it up as needed.

LFO.1 - Hold button 2nd or 3rd column from left creates a nice one-bar down-up LPF sweep. Level around 2 o'clock -- high but not maxed.

LFO.2 - Same setting as LFO.1 but with HPF. I may have these reversed

LFO.5 - The "infinite" effect is nice. Kinda like the previous two, but I can let it run longer. Good for breakdowns. Also right next to LFO.6, another favorite that I use nearly as often and in similar fashion.

[neotechtonics]

I don't have a set bank of 8 as such.
Currently i'm only really using the KP3 to jam with my KPRO. I don't use any MIDI syncing and run the KP3 at 1/4 the tempo of the KPRO - this produces really nice looping of the effects when you put the FX release on the KP3 to maximum... and 1/4 tempo makes this looped section longer.

FX i use most are the 72db LP filter to touch over the kick which gives a nice booming sub kick looped over the KPRO audio (with FX release at max) and also the LFO-6 (random LP?) gives interesting effects when used over a simple drum loop with FX release at max.

other than that i tend to use LFOs alot to make some wobbly basslines and also use most of the MOD effects especially decimator and talkmod...
don't really use the loopers much =/ probably cos i'm using the KPRO and not another audio input.

[didjeko]

After different tests, I went back mainly to the default one (I just changed Mod1 by Mod2) because it is quite simple to move from one group to the next / previous one.
A few years ago, I was thinking that it should be usefull to creat a kind of "set" : the samples I use for one pice, plus the effects to use with it. but finally, I found that it is much more complicated to affect different effects on the 8 pads for different groups of loops because finally, it is very difficult to remember which effect is on which pad if it changes all the time. Especially the risk to make a mistake, choosing by error a pad afected to the sample effects that will stop intententionnally the sound, for example.

i also think that the effects need additionnal documentation to the one given by Korg, but I never achieved this goal.
for example, specifying where the "bypass" point of an effect is - I mean, the position where it has no effect on the sound would be usefull, because this point changes with the different effects, it is not always the top right of the touchpad, like it is for the filters.
there are also effects that must be used just vertically (the delays, otherwise it produces some parasite sounds when used horizontally on the pad).

Effects I never used are those with reverb because I rellay don't like the sound of these reverbs, the synths and the drums.

I've never been able to use mod4 because it produces always a very sharp sound, regardless of what's injected in.

I really like Mod1 and Mod2, delay 3, 14, 15, 16.

Grain shifters are fine because for me, they act as a kind of "synth", i.e. Grain 1 : regardless the sound that is treated, when used in the top left quarter of the pad, it produces always the same type of sound, sometimes like a kind of arppegiator that I can rarely reproduce two times with the same result. I call this "the sound of the Kaoss", same thing with Loop 6 on the left vertical part of the pad, it gives a continuous flange that's always the same.

[djzachtyler]

be interesting to see what others start putting up here, but I know out of the gate I am setting a few of the banks to varying synth sounds.... The KP3 seems to be great for Ad-lib psy trance sounds while I run my patterns and sequencing on my Groovebox and Virus.

the effects I have to spend a bit more time with though, but haven't found anything I totally love yet.

[wudsiba]

chad9477: I see your first effect is Lop 1. This is my favourite as well. I have to ask you though do you hear a popping if you move your finger around too fast? I think it might just be that the segment being looped is not on a zero crossing, but it still drives me crazy. Also happens sometimes when I lift my finger off the pads... Please just confirm or deny this at some point so I can rule out any ground issues or any other bullshit.

Also:
LFO1. Simple and straight forward. Just what it should be.

Mod 3. Didn't realize this was a popular one on youtube, just kind of stumbled accross it. I don't apply this to an entire track. Just a sound swimming in the mix is nice.

Flt1. Again, simple and effective. Does what it should and does it well.

Finally, several of the delays. 1 and 3 are nice, but I really like reverse delays. (Though now I often use Lop1 for a similar effect.) Think my favourite is 14. The Tape delay. Too good. Also the delay with Reverb is nice.

Funny you should ask, as I was just trying to narrow my favourites down to 8 last night, but I only got through the delays. 8 will be tough.

[chad9477]

chad9477: I see your first effect is Lop 1. This is my favourite as well. I have to ask you though do you hear a popping if you move your finger around too fast? I think it might just be that the segment being looped is not on a zero crossing, but it still drives me crazy. Also happens sometimes when I lift my finger off the pads... Please just confirm or deny this at some point so I can rule out any ground issues or any other bullshit.

Yes, I get this too -- I'm fairly sure it's a zero-crossing issue, as you guessed. Although this is one of my most-used effects, it's also the one I need to practice using in advance more than any other for just this reason. Figuring out just what moment in a track to touch the pad, and what speed to make it loop, is where the art comes in

[wudsiba]

Thanks for the quick reply. Good to know. Nice equipment by the way, and good post