why only 4 measures!? (below 108.5bpm)

samartin · Post by **samartin** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:11 pm

When you drop the K-Pro down to 90bpm why can I not record 4 measures!?

Actually I've just read the manual and it mentions that if you go below 108.5bpm then you can only record @ 2 measures!

How can you get round this!?

For example I used a sampled which came in @ 96.2 bpm, therefore I can't record long loops.

I'd love to sample some simple guitar melodies one day but feel that I won't be able to.

Why are we limited to this? Shame they didn't have expandable RAM!

supermel74 · Post by **supermel74** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:28 pm

Every new post I read about the KPro makes me think the original Kaossilator is a much better buy.

Mr36 · Post by **Mr36** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:58 pm

I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the measures are limited to 4 and especially that it's limited so high as 108.5bpm. At least it should have been the typical 90.

I really do hope that there is some workaround to get double the looping time.

samartin · Post by **samartin** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:10 pm

Judging by some of the threads, it seems Korg aren't that pro-active in issuing firmware updates!? Is this true?

Could you see a firmware update fixing the issue? That amongst other issues.

Do any Korg developers frequent these forums? Are know Korg aren't affiliated with them, but it would be great if they did at least read problems, solutions and ideas.

*edit*

Is there software out there that enables you to timestretch samples? So resampling the 96.2 bpm to 120 bpm.

supermel74 · Post by **supermel74** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:16 pm

Lots of software can do that. Melodyne I think it's called is supposed to be really good at it but I'm sure there are a ton of other programs that do it as well.

Mr36 · Post by **Mr36** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:21 pm

Unfortunately, I don't know how pro-active Korg are about firmware updates and I don't know what kind of issues they can even fix.

However, Rich Formidoni, who is in many of the Korg videos, looks and posts on these forums and is generally very good at answering questions and queries.

As for timestretching, you can do it in Reaper quite easily. I say Reaper because I'm pretty sure you say you had it in one of your videos... But I'd guess you can do it pretty easily in any DAW.

samartin · Post by **samartin** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:31 pm

Thanks all,

I am evaluating Reaper at the moment, so I will have a look and see if that does a good job.

As for Melodyne, a bit too expensive for the hobbyist such as myself, thanks anyway.

Saw that Rich Formidoni posts here quite often. I guess I've been spoilt as I work in 3D and the software I use is very pro-active with the engineers, artists and even the CEO. But I guess being hardware based it's a different ball game.

JJP · Post by **JJP** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:36 pm

well the normal kaossilator has the same problem. you can pretend to set it to 8beats, but below 75 bpm it will only record 4beats.

the soundmemory uses its maximum power at 8beats@75bpm which is (i think)
8x(60/75) secs = 6,4 seconds is the absolute looplenght maximum
in 16bar mode it is 12,8 secondos

the kpro seems to be the same. the problem is not the limitation, but that the maximum is just 16 beats @ 108,5bpm
16x(60/108,5) = 8,85 seconds
and there is no 16bar mode
yep, there are 4loop banks. but still....

KORG? DO YOU FOOL US!??

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:22 pm

I'm fairly sure a firmware update couldn't fix this. It would need a complete redesign with more physical RAM on board and the facilities to access it (data lines/memory controller). Its understandable that it can only go so low before having to cut down loop time, however 108 does seem a little high.

The same goes for the 'undo' feature actually, it would require exactly twice as much memory, which makes it kinda wasteful from an engineering perspective.

Scott M2 · Post by **Scott M2** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:32 pm

OUCH!!!

My group is ambient/downtempo and we play most of our sets at 80BPM.

My KP3 will sample 4 loops of 4 bars at 80BPM (12 seconds) and
my Kaossilator Non-Pro in "dly" mode will loop 4 bars at 80BPM (12 seconds - without Undo).

Why on earth is the Kaossilator "Pro" a step or two down in usefulness?

In Rich's original description he said "Each of the four buttons below the pad are like a self-contained Kaossilator".
Apparently none of the four buttons can loop as long as a "self-contained Kaossilator".

How very disappointing.

JJP · Post by **JJP** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:39 pm

Scott M2 wrote:OUCH!!!
Apparently none of the four buttons can loop as long as a "self-contained Kaossilator".

How very disappointing.

Every loop bank is a single Kaossilator without the DLY-mode

Scott M2 · Post by **Scott M2** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:51 pm

JJP wrote:
Scott M2 wrote:OUCH!!!
Apparently none of the four buttons can loop as long as a "self-contained Kaossilator".

How very disappointing.
Every loop bank is a single Kaossilator without the DLY-mode

and also without the Undo mode.

JJP · Post by **JJP** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:26 am

Scott M2 wrote:
JJP wrote:
Scott M2 wrote:OUCH!!!
Apparently none of the four buttons can loop as long as a "self-contained Kaossilator".

How very disappointing.
Every loop bank is a single Kaossilator without the DLY-mode
and also without the Undo mode.

and without patterns

samartin · Post by **samartin** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:04 am

Damn, so is the original Kaossilator better then? It seems it isn't quite as limited as the K-Pro!

I want to be creating ambient type music, is the Kaoss Pro really going to be a limiting factor!?

I like the unit but I want to try and lay a few tracks down where my friend plays guitar and I use the unit to add texture.
I guess it wouldn't be so bad if you could load samples into seperate banks on the fly, so you had a couple of beats occupying 2 banks say, but now and then you might want to switch to another loop.

Forgive my newbiness, but what is DLY mode?

Randy|Kaoss · Post by **Randy|Kaoss** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:07 am

samartin wrote:Forgive my newbiness, but what is DLY mode?

The original Kaossilator usually records for 8 beats, and allows you to undo the last loop layer that was applied.

However, when the Kaossilator is off, if you hold the Tap/BPM and Loop Rec/Play buttons and then switch it on, DLY appears on the display and it will record for 16 beats! The undo facility is disabled though, as the extra 8 beats are occupying the RAM that usually stores the undo-able loop.