Korg Forums

dutchcow · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:35 am Post subject: EMX2: Poly/paraphony question.

The manual states that effects, filters and OSC also count towards the 24 voice limit. Does anyone know exactly how this works?

24 voices become very little if an effect counts as one voice. It can't be right that using a kick drum with an effect and some filtering takes 3 voices. Or a part with chords taking 4 voices plus 2 more when using a filter and effect.

Has anyone tested this or knows a bit more? My wish is that the parameter guide gets an update with detailed descriptions explaining how many voices a certain OSC or filter takes.

roblabs · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:01 am Post subject:

I'd like to know myself, but I can tell you this much at least: as per the oscilltors, if you choose something like dual saw, thats 2 voices right there.

Filters seems weird - does having one on count as an additional voice? That would be weird. Or, do certain filters count as more than one voice? (and speaking of filters, is it just me or do they all sound basically the same except for variations in volume?)
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apapdop · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:16 am Post subject:

roblabs · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:42 am Post subject:

actually you're right; i havent been messing with the hpfs too much, but they sound very very good, especially the ms20 as you said.
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dutchcow · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:03 am Post subject:

I just ran some tests with 16 pads setup in mono2 with one drum PCM each and an IFX each, a lot of notes are stolen/lost. Delays only run once and lots of other weird stuff.

I guess this also has to do with the paraphony part, with notes sharing the same EG/AMP values or something? I put a 3/16 delay on a snare at 127 and it only sounded once Rolling Eyes

roblabs · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:16 am Post subject:

try this, how many parts then do you have to mute to play perfectly?
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Poumtschak · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:48 am Post subject:

dutchcow · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:29 pm Post subject:

Disabling IFX helps, so they do count towards the 24 voices. I would also like to see the load on the box. Makes me wonder if the paraphony is a hardware or software limitation.

Guess there is nothing else to do but wait and see what Korg decides to fix. Hopefully they do this sooner rather than later.

It also seems nobody has gotten a reply from Korg support regarding any of the issues raised on this forum, which is kind of disappointing for such a big global company.

Discore · Junior Member Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 53

I can't imagine that all effects are counted as an additional voice. Since I'm still waiting for mine to arrive I can't check it, but I can hardly see how effects like the EQ/filter ones add up to the amount of used voices. For fx like delay/repeater it does make sense.
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Korg Gear: Electribe ES-1 MKII, Electribe 2
Korg Gear I had: Electribe MX & ES-1, Kaoss Pad 2
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Ted3000 · Platinum Member Joined: 06 Jul 2013 Posts: 625

I think it would be interesting to find out what exactly are the most voice-robbing combos of oscillators and effects.

But in the real world: I've never hit the limit with any of the patterns I've programmed. Korg gave it enough DSP muscle to handle most everything the average user will come up with. It does not feel underpowered to me.

It's also not really a polysynth - so I'm not trying to emulate big 8-note 3-oscillator pads with long decays. With grooveboxes, most elements will be mono. Paraphony will be most often used to create chords the same way you'd make them on a Minimoog (tunign osc to intervals) or a Odyssey (para-duophonic).

Since the voice assignment is dynamic (unless you use priority settings) it only affects things that overlap. Not every element overlaps even in a busy and complicated pattern.
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Discore · Junior Member Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 53

Discore · Junior Member Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 53

Oh and I just thought of another possible issue. How is the delay of a polyphonic part handled? Does it take up more voices than on a mono part?
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Korg Gear: Electribe ES-1 MKII, Electribe 2
Korg Gear I had: Electribe MX & ES-1, Kaoss Pad 2
Other stuff: Ableton Live 8, SP-303, M-Audio Mixtrack Pro, M-Audio M-Track

Tarekith · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:17 pm Post subject:

I usually get 4-5 drum parts and about 4 complex synth parts before I start getting drop outs due to polyphony. Usually decreasing the amp release on some sounds seems to help a lot, or using effects other than long delays which need to carry on after the note has stopped.
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dutchcow · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 4:58 am Post subject:

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering about the limits of the box. I wish I could start making more music on it but the clicking amongst other stuff makes it next to impossible for me. I don't want to keep the machine's bugs into account when creating music. It's obstructing my creativity and takes away the fun Sad

256K · Full Member Joined: 22 Jan 2015 Posts: 236

I dunno i never really noticed any clicking! Either im not pushing hard enough or its infact clicking but i cant tell. Either way i embrace machines, warts and all.
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APC80 - kaoss pad quad - Launchpad - Launch control - an iPad Air 2 with a slew of useless gimmicky apps - electribe 2 free! - and future volca owner.