So I got the new Electribe...now my thoughts on it.

Olivander12 · Post by **Olivander12** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:49 pm

DrHoo wrote: I'll give you my view. The output of the new tribe sounds pretty well levelled & rounded to me, it has a quality not before heard in previous tribes & even without the master fx it still sounds pretty damn pleasing on my ears, not harsh or sharp, more like a pleasing mix where you can hear things in there without sounds all killing each other.
As for the individual sound catagories in there, i like the drum selection & editing makes them even more useful & diverse but it's still short of a few things. I like the synth waves too but editing is limited. The instrument section ! Well, not much to say there really, nothing new or inspiring...... But the overall sound is good.

Thank you, this helps me a lot.

This questions really depends on your work flow, but did you already had a sound in your head which you could not produce/find on the new electribe? How are 'organic' sounds, like real drum samples and things like pianos, flutes, etc, represented?

DrHoo · Post by **DrHoo** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 6:07 pm

Olivander12 wrote:
DrHoo wrote: I'll give you my view. The output of the new tribe sounds pretty well levelled & rounded to me, it has a quality not before heard in previous tribes & even without the master fx it still sounds pretty damn pleasing on my ears, not harsh or sharp, more like a pleasing mix where you can hear things in there without sounds all killing each other.
As for the individual sound catagories in there, i like the drum selection & editing makes them even more useful & diverse but it's still short of a few things. I like the synth waves too but editing is limited. The instrument section ! Well, not much to say there really, nothing new or inspiring...... But the overall sound is good.
Thank you, this helps me a lot.

This questions really depends on your work flow, but did you already had a sound in your head which you could not produce/find on the new electribe? How are 'organic' sounds, like real drum samples and things like pianos, flutes, etc, represented?

Flutes, havn't seen one yet (Is there one ?). Drums sound very good. There really are not many organic instruments in there. I was hoping for a sitar but no, not there. Guitars, hardly any, pianos, hardly any, same for bass guitar & well, whatever else is in there. They are useable, sound good but they are also like the selection from the emx as i remember it, not that different.
The behaviour of the parts accoring to settings is different too, it's worth keeping a count of the number of voices already in use when adding another.... That's another story though.

sauce · Post by **sauce** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:19 pm

Olivander12 wrote:What about the actual sound?! I do not understand why people are critizising the 4 bar limits and midi sequencing, but the most important thing, the music coming out of the device, barely matters.

Maybe it's because amazing sound is *dead easy* to come by these days whereas comprehensive performance features are rare. With a device bearing the "Electribe" moniker I expect near-perfect performance capabilities, as they have succeeded in this since the debut of the series. For Korg to go backwards, with shorter pattern-length, less micro-editing features, less MIDI capabilities, less performance-oriented control and a blatant audio discrepancy when switching patterns is an insult to all of us. They might have just as well called the Microsampler an "Electribe"; they would have sold more presale units.

Olivander12 · Post by **Olivander12** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:29 pm

sauce wrote: For Korg to go backwards, with shorter pattern-length

Has nothing to do with perfomance. One might even argue, that for a perfomance, 4 bars are better than 8.

sauce wrote:less micro-editing features

Again, doesn't that improve perfomance capabilties?

sauce wrote:less MIDI capabilities

Electribe should be a stand-alone perfomance tool, so there is only basic midi needed.

sauce wrote:less performance-oriented control

Yes, especially the master fx and the kaoss pad are really bad for perfomance. Also, the EMX was far better for finger drumming. Who needs those fat pads?

sauce wrote:and a blatant audio discrepancy when switching patterns is an insult to all of us.

This has not been proved yet.

Spheric El · Post by **Spheric El** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:35 pm

Fair point @sauce.
By the way I liked your acid jam on YouTube with ESX1.
That was the only one I looked at.

sauce · Post by **sauce** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:55 pm

Olivander12 wrote:
sauce wrote: For Korg to go backwards, with shorter pattern-length
Has nothing to do with perfomance. One might even argue, that for a perfomance, 4 bars are better than 8.

sauce wrote:less micro-editing features
Again, doesn't that improve perfomance capabilties?

sauce wrote:less MIDI capabilities
Electribe should be a stand-alone perfomance tool, so there is only basic midi needed.

sauce wrote:less performance-oriented control
Yes, especially the master fx and the kaoss pad are really bad for perfomance. Also, the EMX was far better for finger drumming. Who needs those fat pads?

sauce wrote:and a blatant audio discrepancy when switching patterns is an insult to all of us.
This has not been proved yet.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I am sure you will love it. Have you ever owned any Electribes?

sauce · Post by **sauce** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:57 pm

Spheric El wrote:Fair point @sauce.
By the way I liked your acid jam on YouTube with ESX1.
That was the only one I looked at.

Hey, thank you. I have a lot on my channel, I know.. Here are my ESX videos in a playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 7500B6FCA0

cooptrol · Post by **cooptrol** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:52 am

Hey everybody. Hi @sauce , been a bit out from the E forums lately, hope you're ok!

Well, as I was still waiting for the new E's to be available in the US so as to send one to my friend who is coming to my country on Christmas and bring it to me, I just got nervous the release would be too late for him to get it before leaving, so I decided to seize the opportunity (stuff is hard to get in Uruguay) and bought an Octatrack.

Today is 10th and still no signal of availability, and I read there is a conflict of the US port handlers that has delayed everything, so I did good.

As for the new E, I was suspecting a lot of what has been stated on this thread, and I am as dissapointed now as was enthusiastic when they were announced. I am a hardcore Electribe user (@sauce can tell), and have owned the whole line since the first ones were launched, having kept only the EMX, which is to me one of the best musical instruments ever made.

I feel relieved I have not ordered one of the new ones, since I feel the kind of work I do at the studio and playing live demands more flexibility and complexity. I think the E2's have a chance in the more amateur market, or as a sidekick for some quick fun in a more pro environment.

Either an opportunity missed in mantaining the Korg name close to pro quality, or an opportunity gained in populating the world with affordable, easy to use electronic music instruments. Hardware is "in" now, and as everything that is fashionable, degradation is on call. We are witnessing this watering down in quality in most companies. You could say "I would have payed 800 for a full featured new Electribe", but they way commerce is handled nowadays conspires against this way of thinking a product. It's not rentable.

Sorry about the empty speech here, it's late and I'm gear-sensible :p
Thanks for the nice reviews!

sauce · Post by **sauce** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:35 am

cooptrol wrote:Hi @sauce , been a bit out from the E forums lately, hope you're ok!

Hi, Cooptrol! I have been away as well.. I sold my ESX about a year ago and even then I had not been using it much. I got another one, though, as I was planning on getting these new tribes and got antsy. =)

cooptrol wrote:I decided to seize the opportunity (stuff is hard to get in Uruguay) and bought an Octatrack...having kept only the EMX, which is to me one of the best musical instruments ever made.

Dude.. Congratulations! I suspect you now have *two* of the best instruments ever made. Can you link us to your music? I love it, and I think others here will as well..

Tom 62 · Post by **Tom 62** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 8:48 am

sauce wrote:
Olivander12 wrote:
sauce wrote: For Korg to go backwards, with shorter pattern-length
Has nothing to do with perfomance. One might even argue, that for a perfomance, 4 bars are better than 8.

sauce wrote:less micro-editing features
Again, doesn't that improve perfomance capabilties?

sauce wrote:less MIDI capabilities
Electribe should be a stand-alone perfomance tool, so there is only basic midi needed.

sauce wrote:less performance-oriented control
Yes, especially the master fx and the kaoss pad are really bad for perfomance. Also, the EMX was far better for finger drumming. Who needs those fat pads?

sauce wrote:and a blatant audio discrepancy when switching patterns is an insult to all of us.
This has not been proved yet.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I am sure you will love it. Have you ever owned any Electribes?

lol

Olivander12 · Post by **Olivander12** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:07 am

sauce wrote:

Hey, don't get me wrong, I am sure you will love it. Have you ever owned any Electribes?

[/quote]

Yes, EMX and ER-1. I even made a short tutorial for the EMX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUtMwim ... yXqCFoUnYQ

Nevertheless, what does that have to do with the discussion? I gave arguments why the new electribe has better perfomance options than the EMX. You answered, whether I even own an electribe or not. This is not how a discussion works as my person has nothing to the with the object of the discussion.

sauce · Post by **sauce** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 10:30 am

Olivander12 wrote:Nevertheless, what does that have to do with the discussion? I gave arguments why the new electribe has better perfomance options than the EMX. You answered, whether I even own an electribe or not. This is not how a discussion works as my person has nothing to the with the object of the discussion.

I felt that all of my concerns were valid, so I wondered if perhaps you were used to working with other gear. I was not hating on you at all.

I feel like pattern-length is a huge issue when performing. I feel that at least 8 bars is necessary to build huge effects modulation and comprehensive motion-sequences, to keep a pattern interesting. I also feel that more micro-editing is necessary for intricate pattern development within those 8 bars. I also tend to use other gear in conjunction with my Electribe during performances, so more MIDI capabilities would be nice, although I *do* see your point about it's appeal being that it is a comprehensive stand-alone device.. When I mention "less performance-oriented control" I am referring to a single knob for controlling insert effects, a single knob to control the oscillator and thus limited modulation to the synth engine, all of which are bad for performance. Furthermore, there is no option for chaining effects and I may be wrong, but I understand I can not choose which instrument gets sent to the master effects section, nor can I set the depth of the master effect for each instrument.

apapdop · Post by **apapdop** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:06 am

My manual scouring leads me to believe that each part has the choice of being routed to the MFX or not. This MFX Send on/off can also be motion sequenced. But just like the esx-1, there is no MFX send amount per part. And that sure didn't stop anybody. We all just work within the limitations, right?

cooptrol · Post by **cooptrol** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 1:19 pm

sauce wrote:Dude.. Congratulations! I suspect you now have *two* of the best instruments ever made. Can you link us to your music? I love it, and I think others here will as well..

Of course I can! And thank you for your kind words:

Latest album (EMX, Micromodular, FB01, Monomachine, TX802, Ableton)

https://cooptrol.bandcamp.com/album/octaedrone

Sideproject AMDET dubby release (EMX only)

https://cooptrol.bandcamp.com/album/dubcoming

Previous album, dubtechno (EMX, Micromodular)

https://cooptrol.bandcamp.com/album/untension

AMDET dubhouse release (EMX only)

https://cooptrol.bandcamp.com/album/furtherance

These are the latest releases so far, but at www.cooptrol.com there is all my discography.

Also at http://www.mixcloud.com/cooptrol/ there are long sets. All the live ones and the ones called "blank sessions" are EMX and sometimes Micromodular too. I always just use the EMX in club sets, improvising for hours with this goddam lovely machine. It's part of my body at this point. I was hoping to continue this approach with the new E's but that "presetedness" it bears drew me back. No flexibility in sound creation at all, something critical when you are creating everything from scratch and have a big crowd before you depending on your skills and the power of your tool. I need a fast way to assign modulation, more synth and fx parameters at hand, a proper xoxo sequencer (not keen on pads). I dont care that much about the 8 bars, I usually just use 2 and keep on changing the music constantly, no rest.

markxl1 · Post by **markxl1** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:30 pm

There's probably a reason why korg went 4 bar not 8 and hope to see some demonstrations in the future of joining 2 x 4 bar patterns smoothly if 8 bars are necessary.
I found that editing over 4 bars on korg gadget a real pain in the bum but not with grooveboxes so I see both sides.

I should get mine on DEC 15th ( UK ) and I can't wait to do the things I have planned. I feel like I already know how to use it watching all the videos on youtube over and over again.

I think I will be justified selling my MC808 to buy this