feedback on Kaossilator Pro+ features

[detuner]

I tried out the KP+ and it was interesting though did not fully understand the short sample time enough to realize it would confine the end result to a certain type of similar pattern, no matter the different instruments it involves. It seems this is due to the requirement for notation and beat matching, where it must sync with MIDI and other things.

Still, I wanted to provide feedback in case it may give other users ideas on how this limitation could be dealt with, or perhaps a future Kaossilator device that could allow long looping times without the notational aspects and unleash the synth power within.

So what I realized is that with an audio mixer (a small four channel could work, though an 8-channel may be more optimal if using multiple instruments) and the KP+ hooked up to it, it would be possible to output what otherwise would be put onto one of the sample buttons (A,B,C,D) onto an external looper, in this case the TC Electronic Ditto X2, and then just play the KP+ synth for say 1 minute before restarting the loop, and then switch synth sounds and overdub several times using the Ditto X2 for the looping. diagram:

Kaossilator Pro+ ==> audio mixer <===> Ditto X2 looper

Audio output can be either by speakers or headphones-out on the mixer, to hear what is going on. What I also realized from doing this is that you can still make these five second samples and overdubs on the built-in pads (A,B,C,D) and then activate them separately from the main recorded loop on the external looper, so that there are more layers of looping going on, some recorded and some live, as well as any kind of improvisational playing. Thus the custom music-box aspect of the device opens up to its larger potential for playability, yet requires an external looper to give it some room to breathe, otherwise it seems like everything must be very short and gets quick dense and repetitive using only the onboard samples, which in skilled hands may not be a limitation though for those who want or need the longer sample duration to build up their sounds it can result in focusing off the device for looping, which then leaves just the synth sounds that are of value and the interface, which is quite good, though can also be emulated by software.

So this had me thinking, what if-- what if the 5 minute loop time with unlimited overdubs that is the TC Electronic Ditto X2 device were possible on the inside of a future Kaossilator, what would it mean or how would that function. And what I realized was that if the A,B,C,D buttons for samples were essentially long-loops without precise measures, and that like when the record button is pressed 'loop recording' would begin, that if this recording length were made arbitrary (10 seconds, 33 seconds, 3minutes 5 seconds) that hitting the button again would cut or crop the loop automatically, or have some kind of algorithm that would allow tweaking it, providing extra space or something, yet allow for a non-measured loop that may have a tempo indication yet would not be beholden to it or have to fit into that technical framework to still be valuable for loops.

So if I press record and hit button A and it starts recording various melodies, where kit switching from sound 53 to sound 48 occurs during the loop, and then hitting stop record or whatever is necessary, then it starts looping that here imaginary loop (say 1 minute) from that point onward unless the button is not activated.

Yet what is really needed is visual indication of this arbitrary length of time, because the KP+ interface only has a finite measurement, where instead this could be any amount of time, say up to 5 minutes of total looping, with say 30 layers of overdubs per A,B,C,D sample button. Essentially what is needed is a visual timer, and so what if a smartphone or tablet could run software that not only showed the time of each bank (A,B,C,D) yet also the timing placement of subsequent overdub samples/loops within the major loop structure, such that a timeline could be running in real-time in software on an iPad or smartphone, like visual timers, that map out the loops running in a hierarchical structure so that when a given loop starts or stops it is visible on the diagram --- including its MIDI information and an undo capability, which could be managed by the future Kaossilator as if a controller interface for the software app, versus the active touch-based screen for sound generation. In other words, loop construction would be much longer, it would be multilayered as it is now, yet also its 'data' would be attached to it, and it would then be editable via that additional interface, so that if the piano sub-loop (b6) in major loop B was not optimal, it could be removed and reconstructed again as a loop.

If this device existed it would be something that would allow what I am trying to do and what is difficult to even approach, especially with a foot-based loop pedal (though I like the Ditto X2 a lot and think everyone interested in this longer looping should check it out, not least for allowing 1/2 speed and real-time reversing of the loop while overdubbing).

What is more, I think the potential of the future Kaossilator could be in its interface not just for the onboard synth sounds, what if any MIDI sound module device could be readily mediated in the same x-y access terms, so that a device list of translated electronic instruments then could be played by this interface, partly its own instrument and partly others, though open-ended and thus could exist in a MIDI network or some other approach, perhaps with custom samples also held on-board in memory to make it more like a MIDI-networked sample-looping workstation of some kind.

I wanted to provide this feedback in case Korg somehow is listening as well as others who use and enjoy the device and are interested in future versions and iterations, and also those interested in looping beyond existing parameters, in case anyone connects with the viewpoint. Again, if you have a mixer and a looper, it could be worth exploring the KP+ in that context because it changes its nature, puts the loop time outside-the-box as it were, and gives an indication of how expansive it could be as a music tool if only there was more room to experiment beyond existing timing and editing constraints.

PS. forgot to mention that chaining of the layered A,B,C,D loop patterns would then also allow sequencer like structure and dynamics, perhaps additional hardware interface display/controls for this, and yet it could then allow moving through patterns, such as A-B, A-C, A-D, D-B, etc., in a step-by-step progression. Another option that would open up the dynamics as loops could be nested and then moved through. Perhaps this is too much of something else, though could still be interesting to explore, perhaps via an app interface, as an additional software-based feature.

(DISCLAIMER: KORG and others may use these ideas freely - no compensation in any form is needed or required or requested and there is no claim to copyright or other restriction.)