Korg Forums

i read it has three discrete drum sounds with all analog circuitry.
could someone pleases explain this to me?

i mean the 'discrete' part. i searched but the info was over my head. what does it mean in terms of playability?

jbl wrote:i read it has three discrete drum sounds with all analog circuitry.
could someone pleases explain this to me?

i mean the 'discrete' part. i searched but the info was over my head. what does it mean in terms of playability?

A discreet circuit is a very tight circuit to save room. It has nothing to do with playability.

I've got a very plain question for Rich F. I don't care if he's not allowed to talk about it yet, I just want him to read the following and reply when he can. I'd be very interested to hear a sensable explanation:

Dear Rich F,

The Monotribe has a lot of cool features. Korg got a LOT of things right, and that's great. And even most of the exclusions I can deal with:
No MIDI? okay.
No real keyboard? fine.
However there is one glaring issue that I feel Korg will have an awfully difficult time explaining. The 8 STEP stepsequencer. Why? Would it have killed you to put in a full 16 steps? Do you realize how annoying it will be to only have 8 steps? It can already be annoying and repetitive with 16, but 8 is rediculous. There's no room to get a typical musical idea down. There's no room for a full typical rhythm. There's only enough room for HALF of a good idea and HALF of a good drumloop.
Why? Do you realize how many people will get angry at this? I understand that you're trying to build up an analog reputation here, trying to get analog into the hands of more consumers before moving forward in that area. However, even someone who considers themselves a musical novice will get annoyed with this.
Imagine a typical user sitting down to program a riff or bassline they just heard on the radio (usually based on 16 steps), only to find that they can only program in the first half of it. That is not going to be good for building up this analog reputation.
Either way we know that Korg understands the point of 16 steps. Every current electribe and synthesizer you currently manufacture (with a stepsequencer) has a minimum of 16 steps. Why give this half of a sequencer?
I'm very interested in how you plan on marketing it when all your demos are just going to be annoying 8 step loops!
Look, I'm still interested and I do plan on buying one. I'm all for working with limitations too but this one is just too much of a limitation. It almost seems like a joke.
I really hope I'm missing something here. I really hope I'm wrong and it is NOT limited to 8 steps.
Please!

Thank you for your time,
Alex (Biopharmer-at-gmail.com)

If anyone knows a better place for Rich to see this, would you please forward it there.

No MIDI?

If you need midi you buy DSI Tetra! Obviously monotribe doesn't have midi because it has more physical controls than tetra and audio/voltage(?) input for sync so perhaps Korg just decided to reduce price omitting midi.

gjvti wrote:

No MIDI?

If you need midi you buy DSI Tetra! Obviously monotribe doesn't have midi because it has more physical controls than tetra and audio/voltage(?) input for sync so perhaps Korg just decided to reduce price omitting midi.

Did you just hear what I said? Or did it go in one ear and out the other? I'm fine with no MIDI

Videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuqJfAWkN2c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE6_o7sSjtA

Biopharmer wrote: Did you just hear what I said? Or did it go in one ear and out the other? I'm fine with no MIDI

I'm sorry you took this personal - that was just my general comment addressed to those who asked about midi

mesoboy wrote:Videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuqJfAWkN2c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE6_o7sSjtA

Cool!
Don't get why they are the same video twice.
Here's a different one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuqJfAWkN2c

gjvti wrote:

Biopharmer wrote: Did you just hear what I said? Or did it go in one ear and out the other? I'm fine with no MIDI

I'm sorry you took this personal - that was just my general comment addressed to those who asked about midi

Oh. My apologies. I actually wasn't trying to sound mean either.

Those videos are awesome! I may have to buy two. And I may have to overlook the 8 step sequencer.
I'm in. Now we just need a price.

I lost my excitement after I heard the crappy drums that you can not change or effect. Ehhh have to to it live but not that jazzed about it. I like my montron more and hooked up to my es1 I get pretty much the same thing but with cool effects and sampling. :/

Biopharmer wrote:

jbl wrote:i read it has three discrete drum sounds with all analog circuitry.
could someone pleases explain this to me?

i mean the 'discrete' part. i searched but the info was over my head. what does it mean in terms of playability?

A discreet circuit is a very tight circuit to save room. It has nothing to do with playability.

Eh not really

A discrete circuit could take up any amount of room you wanted it to. If a circuit is discrete it means it's made up of physically separate components as opposed to integrated as in an integrated circuit or IC where all the components are fabricated from the same substrate - such as a wafer of silicon - and packaged in some kind of housing, a chip for example.

Some analog purists consider discrete circuitry as preferable to integrated circuits as they have a better sound. The classic Moog transistor ladder filter for example that you find in a Minimoog (IIRC) is a discrete circuit and sounds better or at least different than say an SSM filter that you might find in a Prophet 5

@BiophaRmer; thanks for the response.
@gonzodada; thanks.
Does this mean it has three voices powered by three different analog circuits (I.e. three monotrons)?
@smk; what do you mean? Since there is no memory (or so it seems), wouldn't you always have to start with the same sound on every power-up? It's not like that sound stays the same as you tweak it, right? If so what would be the point?

Another vid....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4KMuMEpbs4

jbl wrote:Does this mean it has three voices powered by three different analog circuits (I.e. three monotrons)?

it has three drum voices powered by analog circuits, but they're in addition to the synth part and probably much much simpler. the synth part is like the monotron (but with more features: waveforms, pitch, EG, LFO routing etc.), I would guess the drum parts are not.

jbl wrote: Since there is no memory (or so it seems), wouldn't you always have to start with the same sound on every power-up?

surely the physical position of the knobs is the "memory"

good point!
btw is your handle Jim Henson related? pastor of MUPPETS