One question before I buy an EMX

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:33 am

My interests in electronic music are far beyond the "4 to the floor" house music sound. (not to dis you house guys) I'd like to make music with interesting synth textures that pad over complex, fast drum beats. I hope that makes sense.

I'm a pianist, and would like to sequence my synth tracks using a keyboard connected to the EMX rather than using the small function keys on the unit. I can do that right? I figure it would be pretty dumb not to be able to control the synth sounds on the EMX from a keyboard. But, can I record sequencer tracks in real time using my keyboard to control the synth/drum sounds?

I've looked all over the forum so I do apologize if this is a common question. I love Korg products and thing this EMX would be a nice addition to my home "studio"

As you can probably guess, I'm a real grass roots musician and really know next to nothing regarding sequencing stuff.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:39 am

Sorry I forget to ask. I heard you cannot play chords with the synth sounds on the EMX. Is this true?

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:51 am

Darwin wrote:Sorry I forget to ask. I heard you cannot play chords with the synth sounds on the EMX. Is this true?

The synth parts are monophonic, so you can only play one note at a time.

There are however some chord types in the form of an oscillator type that can switch between major and minor. Not as intuitive I know.

I'm fairly sure you can control one with a MIDI keyboard however I'll let someone else answer that for certain. I don't actually have an EMX.

P-E · Post by **P-E** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:06 pm

Sure you can control the EMX with a keyboard.I'm a pianist too and I use my Yamaha P-85 (which is an electronic piano, not a midi controller but it supports midi) with the EMX.... and it works like a charm.

However, no polyphony and no chords, unless you use Electribulator: http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/Electribulator/ (I have not tested it, but it gets a lot of positive feedbacks).

chad9477 · Post by **chad9477** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:42 pm

Darwin wrote:My interests in electronic music are far beyond the "4 to the floor" house music sound. (not to dis you house guys) I'd like to make music with interesting synth textures that pad over complex, fast drum beats. I hope that makes sense...Sorry I forget to ask. I heard you cannot play chords with the synth sounds on the EMX. Is this true?

The answers you've received so far are spot on, but I'll add my $0.02:

Since you're a beginner, the EMX is probably the ideal place for you to start for the goals you've outlined. It's user-friendly and can generate a lot of what you're looking for -- or an approximation of it -- without too steep a learning curve.

Once you've grasped the basics you may want more power or fidelity than the EMX can provide, and it can be frustrating if you like sophisticated harmonies. (The chord function X-trade mentions does exist and I make use of it all the time, but you're limited to about 20 chord types and their inversions. Not bad at all, but you won't find extensions above 7ths. There is also a set of chord samples produced on various key and string instruments, but these are limited to 4 types: maj, min, M7 and m7.) I've also heard good things about the Electribulator, though like P-E I have yet to try it.

Don't let any of this stop you -- I've had my EMX for years and am still growing with it, exploring and making discoveries. For instance, I wasn't into '4 to the floor' when I bought it, and now it's my music of choice

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 2:24 am

Thanks for the great answers. I'm buying one tonight from musiciansfriend. It's going to come with a pair of free headphones.

I'm looking at the EMX1 as an "instrument," and intend to dive deep into what it can do and not sweat what it can't.

I recently downloaded a demo of Reason 4.0. Now Reason seems to be amazing, but I work so much better with physical buttons than at a computer. Maybe somewhere down the line I'll unite the two, but until then I think the EMX will give me hours of creative field-play and most importantly fun and enjoyment.

Thanks again. This is a great forum.

Ebbertron · Post by **Ebbertron** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:10 pm

the EMX is awesome, especially as a first piece of hardware. Its super intuitive and you'll get a lot of mileage out of it before you out grow it, and even then you'll still use it.

MrMackie · Post by **MrMackie** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:06 am

I had posted my question below in the sticky 'Advanced drum techniqs for EMX' but havnt received an answer so thought id post here, as im looking at the EMX aswell.

In the sticky 'Advanced drum techs.' there is a method mentioned where you sacrifice a synth part to use as an input from either output 3/4 and routing it into the sterio/mono input, giving you further control and tweekability of a drum part. My question was: Is this only available on the EMX? or can the ESX do the same thing?

I thought that this Drum technique cannot be acheived to "as good an effect" on the ESX due to its lack of the synth/osscilator paramiters?

Is that correct?

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