Korg Forums

DrHoo · Last edited by DrHoo on Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:36 pm; edited 1 time in total

For the benefit of anybody (Now or future) who might want to buy the Electribe 2 i feel it's a good idea to talk about what this machine can do.
If you browse the early threads about this new tribe you will read all of the pre-release hopes & fears AND you will read all of the early impressions from new owners.

It is still early days & i for one have been guilty in the past of critisizing & picking fault with synths, i did it with my esx1 & my emx1 before that among other units i've tried but then i went on to have a really good relationship with the esx1, i loved it.
So, all that worry, concearn, hope's & fears stuff is for other threads & NOT IN THIS ONE PLEASE ! It had to happen, we let it happen & things needed discussing, questions had to be answered etc.. etc.. BUT, if we can forgive Mick Jagger & David Bowie for 'Dancing in the street' then i think we can get over ANYTHING ! Wink

So here it is... I do feel some love for this device because after owning it for a week, even though i'm still breaking into it i am making sounds with it that i like ! The mix out of this box, with a little added trained ear is a very nice & satisfying mix, rounded & comfortable. Sounds can be made to live in harmony & not all competing or jumping on top of one another, if you can't make this tribe sound good then you don't stand a chance with its predecessors & i say that because i'm finding this one all round better sound quality wise. It still needs us, the user/editor & it won't do it for us (A good thing) but overall headway can be made & satisfaction can be had.

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It's been said that only 1 synth wave edit parameter knob it limiting ! OK, perhaps .... Or maybe not too bad after all because there's a modulation generator with a depth knob & there's a filter with an intensity to the mg knob. The mg is also assignable to other areas too & just that is an expansion of synth wave editing so i say fear not !

We have a choice of filter models that i havn't even seen yet, i'm still using the stock filter & honestly, i like it & there's plenty of time to try other filters in the future so i'm not feeling like i'm out of options. We have lp, hp & bp to choose from straight on the faceplate & that alone is more than many machines have had in the past.

There's no song mode ! We know that but then Korg never said there would be & i think that inventive users will find their own work-arounds, i intend on finding mine ! Probably in the form of multiple cloned patterns with variations in each, added pattern sets, some event recording with motion sequencing & the possibility of having to splice two or three chunks together on a laptop, oh well if that's what it's gonna take !...Time will tell.

Although there's no quantization (Like all electribes) it does seem to know where you intended that note to land & i've found that i have to be proper off-beat to get a missfire. If you do misfire it's a doddle to correct the notes anyway.

The master fx can be used to a good advantage, select a reverb or delay for example & then send whichever parts you like to it, some dimention is added with the right setting.

I find the sequencer pads nice & easy to hit square on. Each one offers a different short cut to the part edit menu when holding the shift button.

All good stuff here so far then, positive !

I'm aware of the features that the emx & esx had but which this model does not have..... But this model is not the emx1 is it ! It has what it has & is missing nothing if viewed as an individual. I've looked at the Electribe 2 from different viewpoints & when i see it in its own light & without comparisson to other tribes, without focus on the knobs it doesn't have etc.. Then it's an interesting twist on our beloved sequencer.

The only question remaining is 'Do i (Or does anyone) want to adapt ? Because the machine wont !

Please feel free to say "Meh" if you want.

Cool

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My current Korg gear. MS20 Mini... & now the .... Oh, maybe not !
...Had a few other Korg things over the years.

Tarekith · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:10 pm Post subject:

Woo hoo, thank you for this.
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Erik M.
InnerPortalStudio.com - electronic music mastering

L551 · Joined: 09 Oct 2014 Posts: 31

What I really like about the new tribes is the pad layout and the different scales you can use with them. It's different than playing a keyboard and inspires new kind of melodies and basslines. I have one ipad synth (TF7) with similar pad layout and it's awesome.

Tarekith · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:20 pm Post subject:

The groove templates are a huge draw for me, those made a huge difference in the MC505, I used them all the time.
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Erik M.
InnerPortalStudio.com - electronic music mastering

roblabs · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:28 pm Post subject:

DrHoo · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:30 pm Post subject:

They are good, plenty enough to choose from & a parameter scale of 0 - 127 in single increments. They add a subtle but useful shuffle or accent to a single part. You can have a different groove & setting per part it seems !
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My current Korg gear. MS20 Mini... & now the .... Oh, maybe not !
...Had a few other Korg things over the years.

roblabs · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:34 pm Post subject:

DrHoo · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:42 pm Post subject:

Tarekith · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:49 pm Post subject:

The fact that it can be applied as much or as little as you want really increases the flexibility. You can add quite a bit of "feeling" when you have something a bit more complicated than simple shuffle grooves.

Another positive for me with the new Electribes is the battery powered aspect, as mentioned in another thread. I've long been a fan of making music outside at parks, and while the iPad fills that role for me now, being able to bring the Electribe with me sounds like too much fun.
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Erik M.
InnerPortalStudio.com - electronic music mastering

DrHoo · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:52 pm Post subject:

Yes, groove templates are a good tool & they free up the lfo for something else perhaps. I always used to use the lfo on my esx1 to add groove to hats, shakers etc so it's a nice extra feature.
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My current Korg gear. MS20 Mini... & now the .... Oh, maybe not !
...Had a few other Korg things over the years.

roblabs · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:54 pm Post subject:

Re-Member · Platinum Member Joined: 15 Feb 2008 Posts: 657

You can count me in as one of the few people that isn't upset about the 4 bar pattern limitation. I've never owned any of the previous Electribes before, but I have owned a handful of the Roland Grooveboxes. On those machines, I would actually write all my songs using nothing but 4 bar patterns, then chain them together piece by piece for a full length track in the end.

I'm also no longer bothered by the lack of Song Mode since it's been confirmed that you can use the Pattern Set buttons to easily trigger up to 64 patterns to be used with the Event Recorder. This feature has a lot of potential for full length song composition.

There's also the fact that you can record MIDI IN data onto all 16 parts with the Event Recorder. For those who do MIDI sequencing on a DAW, you can set up the Electribe to act as a sound module, do all your song programming on the computer, and then hit record when you're ready to bounce all that MIDI note data into one event file. You can cram an entire song onto one single pattern.

I'm sold.
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Roland Juno-60, SH-101, TR-606, MC-505, Casio CZ-101, Yamaha DX100, DX11, Kawai R-50e // Korg R3, microSTATION, Monotribe, MS-20 Mini, SQ-1, minilogue, electribe sampler, Volca series: Bass, Keys, Beats, Sample, FM, Kick, Moog Theremin

DrHoo · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:06 pm Post subject:

I did this really basic & simple thing earlier & it sounded wicked. The first wave & the default on the top row of pads is a saw tooth & it's a goody. I arp sequenced a single note over 4 bars (1 note per step) & patched it to the eg, trimmed the decay/release & knocked a few notches off the attack. Using the lpf & some res' i gave some depth to the mod generator & adjusted the speed. Then i motion sequenced the mg intensity at the filter to get a progressive dip & rise..... Well ok, it's not revolutionary but it did do a superb job of a classic sound with hardly any effort. Add a delay & just sit back for 5 minutes lapping it up. Haha. Little things please little minds ! Instant electro.
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My current Korg gear. MS20 Mini... & now the .... Oh, maybe not !
...Had a few other Korg things over the years.

d2ba · Joined: 18 Nov 2012 Posts: 25

https://www.facebook.com/david.bulog

Electribe 2 + Elektron AR make a prefect pair and sound as great as each other
Will post a version of 808 States Pacific State made entirely with this pair in next few days to you tube

roblabs · Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:10 pm Post subject:

Dude! You should record that or post a quick vid on youtube. So far no vids or anything up with people actually digging into this thing.
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www.soundcloud.com/rob-labs