The New Electribes

Olivander12 · Post by **Olivander12** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:15 pm

robosardine wrote:Thanks for that roblabs- it's coming back to me a bit now.
I seem to remember not understanding the arpeggiator on the old electribes when you could set them to say- the Ionian scale- I always expected it to only play the notes in the scale (no sharps or flats)

Ionian scale is another word for major scale which contains sharps and flats. Only C Major does not include any shaprs or flats.

robosardine · Post by **robosardine** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 10:54 pm

According to the chart that roblabs kindly left on the page before- the Ionian scale is :- C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. There is no mention of sharps or flats:- so what does this set of notes mean and why does it not mention sharps or flats if there are sharps and flats in it?

And

What then would your expectation be if you were playing with the arpeggiator on the electribes using the Ionian scale. What use is it to know you have selected the Ionian scale when using the arpeggiator?

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 12:39 am

All scales are relative. An Ionian scale starting on C is as you wrote, C D E F G A B. An Ionian scale starting on D is D E F# G A B C#. Two sharps. An Ionian scale starting on G flat is Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F, almost all flats.

In other words, in addition to setting a "scale" for the arpeggiator, you will need to specify a "key" somehow, otherwise it's meaningless, as potentially any note can be part of an arbitrary Ionian scale. "Ionian" or "major" as a scale does have a certain sound though, so I would expect that sound from the arp no matter which key is selected. I would expect Aeolian (natural minor) to sound quite different for instance.

Dj Pound · Post by **Dj Pound** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:09 am

So 'song mode' got axed? Hmm. Kind of disappointing to be truthful.

Olivander12 · Post by **Olivander12** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 5:34 am

Dj Pound wrote:So 'song mode' got axed? Hmm. Kind of disappointing to be truthful.

Yes, it is. But to be fair, Song mode just put patterns into an order. Nothing more, nothing less. It didn't save mute/solo or anything else.

So you can still write down "Pattern x = Intro", "Pattern y = Pre-Chorus" on a sheet of paper and play the pattern in a row manually to substiute it. At least this is how I am going to program a song. Maybe the "pattern set" function allows you to save pattern groups, and maybe those patterns can be somehow chained.

Dj Pound · Post by **Dj Pound** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:52 am

Olivander12 wrote:
Dj Pound wrote:So 'song mode' got axed? Hmm. Kind of disappointing to be truthful.
Yes, it is. But to be fair, Song mode just put patterns into an order. Nothing more, nothing less. It didn't save mute/solo or anything else.

I have to disagree with the bolded statement. The ESX and EMX are totally capable of saving mute/solo changes while using song mode. On the other hand, the ES-1 and the other first generation Tribes lack this ability.

Maybe the new Tribes have somehow improved upon the old 'song mode' function. At least, I hope so. We'll see

robosardine · Post by **robosardine** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:09 am

SanderXpander wrote:All scales are relative. An Ionian scale starting on C is as you wrote, C D E F G A B. An Ionian scale starting on D is D E F# G A B C#. Two sharps. An Ionian scale starting on G flat is Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F, almost all flats.

In other words, in addition to setting a "scale" for the arpeggiator, you will need to specify a "key" somehow, otherwise it's meaningless, as potentially any note can be part of an arbitrary Ionian scale. "Ionian" or "major" as a scale does have a certain sound though, so I would expect that sound from the arp no matter which key is selected. I would expect Aeolian (natural minor) to sound quite different for instance.

Ahhhhh... right thanks for the reply. So if I understand correctly.-when playing with the arpeggiator on the electribe there is no real way of making sure what you are playing stays in any given key- though by chance it may sound okay. I hardly used the arpeggiator previously due to this confusion- all I could see was a blizzard of notes- sharps, flats- everything bobbling about- having no idea what was happening- it kind of put me off- so I used it almost exclusively on the ESX for breaking up spoken word samples and drum rolls etc.
Having said that I have seen lots of video of folks making some amazing sounds on it.
Can you or anyone help with some insight into how to get the best out of it whilst having some idea of what notes you are about to trigger- or any more thoughts at all would be welcome.
Or maybe I should just go for it.... and if it sounds okay... why bother what it's doing..?

robosardine · Post by **robosardine** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:23 am

Dj Pound wrote:
Olivander12 wrote:
Dj Pound wrote:So 'song mode' got axed? Hmm. Kind of disappointing to be truthful.
Yes, it is. But to be fair, Song mode just put patterns into an order. Nothing more, nothing less. It didn't save mute/solo or anything else.
I have to disagree with the bolded statement. The ESX and EMX are totally capable of saving mute/solo changes while using song mode. On the other hand, the ES-1 and the other first generation Tribes lack this ability.

Maybe the new Tribes have somehow improved upon the old 'song mode' function. At least, I hope so. We'll see

The EMX & ESX also had it's own 'event recording' for songs- where you can record pretty much everything in the song- notes-motions etc. It's on page 72 of the manual- (for some reason my computer is not letting me copy and paste at the moment).

robosardine · Post by **robosardine** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 5:35 pm

robosardine wrote:Has it been stripped down a bit too far though? This seems to be the actual and not a quickstart manual?- I was kind of expecting lists for the effects, osc types and scale types for the arp/ playing the pads etc.

There is also a parameter guide - from the new manual- 'Refer to the “Parameter Guide” for details of each knob'. - must be on it's way.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:15 pm

robosardine wrote:
SanderXpander wrote:All scales are relative. An Ionian scale starting on C is as you wrote, C D E F G A B. An Ionian scale starting on D is D E F# G A B C#. Two sharps. An Ionian scale starting on G flat is Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F, almost all flats.

In other words, in addition to setting a "scale" for the arpeggiator, you will need to specify a "key" somehow, otherwise it's meaningless, as potentially any note can be part of an arbitrary Ionian scale. "Ionian" or "major" as a scale does have a certain sound though, so I would expect that sound from the arp no matter which key is selected. I would expect Aeolian (natural minor) to sound quite different for instance.
Ahhhhh... right thanks for the reply. So if I understand correctly.-when playing with the arpeggiator on the electribe there is no real way of making sure what you are playing stays in any given key- though by chance it may sound okay. I hardly used the arpeggiator previously due to this confusion- all I could see was a blizzard of notes- sharps, flats- everything bobbling about- having no idea what was happening- it kind of put me off- so I used it almost exclusively on the ESX for breaking up spoken word samples and drum rolls etc.
Having said that I have seen lots of video of folks making some amazing sounds on it.
Can you or anyone help with some insight into how to get the best out of it whilst having some idea of what notes you are about to trigger- or any more thoughts at all would be welcome.
Or maybe I should just go for it.... and if it sounds okay... why bother what it's doing..?

I actually don't have an Electribe so I can't tell you which button to press, but speaking generally there really should be a way to set the key. If you know anything about music and harmony it should be easy to set it for the effect you want. I can't imagine there being no way to set the key. That'd be like building a piano and leaving all the black keys out.

EDIT: but yes, using it and going by your ears is great advice! Using theory is just a way to potentially find the desired effect quicker. Ignoring theory can sometimes lead to surprising results. In the end it's the sound that matters. If you find something unique and get enough people to like it, eventually someone will write a theory book about it

richbeemPOW · Post by **richbeemPOW** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 5:37 am

To change the key of the arpegiator, just go into the keyboard part, press KEYBOARD key, and the last key you will press there (the 16 step buttons) will be the starting point for the arpegiator. You can press the one you like and try to arpegiate it directly. YOÚRE WELCOME!

Also, as for the actual topic, I think I will be keeping my ESX. I just bought a brand new SD one literally like a month ago for 350 bucks lol, after having the smartmedia one for a year. Ive had a ton of fun with this machine, ive written so many tracks, so much you can do with it, its like having ableton or fruity loops or whatever DAW but with actual inputs and outputs you can sample with, or send to external processors, or to cv inputs, whatever.

These new ones seem interesting, but i kinda dislike the 16 square pads 2x8, maybe im crazy but I just dont like them lol, I like the 16 steps of the regular electribes or roland style sequencing whatever youll call it. Plus its not the tempest lol.

Id like to see if this new sampler tribe is better than the esx, I guess well see in near future. Kinda looks to me like the ESX EMX are the fathers and these new boxes are the sons or something, smaller, full of blinking lights and stuff eye catching.

Id like to know what esx owners think about this new sampler.

The new "electribe" or new emx sounds like it can bring the funk tho, kingkorg synth engine? I need to try this!

Discore · Post by **Discore** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:44 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrSacEFyYL0

Olivander12 · Post by **Olivander12** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 6:38 pm

Discore wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrSacEFyYL0

Sounds great!

I have to disagree with the bolded statement. The ESX and EMX are totally capable of saving mute/solo changes while using song mode. On the other hand, the ES-1 and the other first generation Tribes lack this ability.

Didn't know that! So yes, the song mode is lacking :/

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:07 pm

Also I don't even think there's a SOLO function anymore, is there?

Hugo · Post by **Hugo** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:13 pm

Damn, the lack of song mode is not good

If only Korg could implement this is an update.
Did anyone see confirmatuon of 16 individual insert effects?