Korg Forums

Kaoss Elation wrote:

Mr36 wrote:@Kaoss Elation
You say that there are better things available in the same price range for serious sampling... I'm not meaning to sound confrontational, but like what?

Well, perhaps "serious" sampling may be overstating it, but I was looking at the MicroSynth, MicroSampler and Electribes at the same time as the KPro (OK, the Electribes are a bit more than the KPro but both are "serious" money). I think both the Microsampler and Electribe offer more in the way of sampling and sequencing, but the overall package of the Kpro and the XY pad is just right for me. I think if you are focused on sampling/sequencing or synthesis, you may go elsewhere.

So for serious sampling you're saying an actual sampler would be better than the KPro, which is not a sampler?! What a crazy idea!

I agree. You can find an secondhand electribe SX for roughly the price of a new KPro. A brand new microsampler or akai mpc500 is only a bit more than the KPro.

sipa wrote:This must be somekind of record, triplepost: Forum got me an error, so i thought it didn't send it at all, I fail.

Just happened to me too ... some PHP error and a message like "DEBUG MODE"

Edit: and it happened again submitting that one.

Failed sending email :: PHP ::

DEBUG MODE

Line : 234
File : emailer.php

That's been happening to me for the past couple of days. Every post.

New video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0GRII2Z65E

If I could understand Japanese, it would be a better video, as it seems to be more of a review than a performance. And there a couple of bits where I couldn't help but think "what are you doing?!?!?".

Mr36 wrote:New video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0GRII2Z65E

As far as I can see, that's a direct sequel to the video on the same users channel where someone from korg japan is demonstrating the device and this is a video about jetdaisuke himself using the device.

It does seem so.

Mine's coming tomorrow.

Mr36 wrote:That's been happening to me for the past couple of days. Every post.

It hasn't been happening to me on other threads, just this one.

Maybe someone selected "Notify me when a reply is posted" but they entered a bad email address in their profile. How rude.

If that would cause such an error. I have no idea. But I just checked and as Shaggy said, it wasn't me.

Now I've actually worked with the KPro a bit and produced some music, I have to say I really like it. The issues we have been talking about are not issues for me, apart from the occasional click on some sounds. I did an 80bpm song and didn't have any issues with the short measures, I love the ability to save loops and the note range facility is excellent for more precise playing. The loop mixer is great as well. For what I want to do, it is (near) perfect.

The only real thng I would really like changed would be the ability to pan sounds in the stereo image. I record my work and the problem with a lot of the lead sounds is that they are all centred in the stereo image. So as you layer sounds in a loop they crowd the stereo in the centre of the mix. Not an issue for live playing but not good for recording. This forces me to multitrack some sounds so I can pan them on my digital recorder and create a better stereo image.

Kaoss Elation wrote:Now I've actually worked with the KPro a bit and produced some music, I have to say I really like it. The issues we have been talking about are not issues for me, apart from the occasional click on some sounds. I did an 80bpm song and didn't have any issues with the short measures, I love the ability to save loops and the note range facility is excellent for more precise playing. The loop mixer is great as well. For what I want to do, it is (near) perfect.

The only real thng I would really like changed would be the ability to pan sounds in the stereo image. I record my work and the problem with a lot of the lead sounds is that they are all centred in the stereo image. So as you layer sounds in a loop they crowd the stereo in the centre of the mix. Not an issue for live playing but not good for recording. This forces me to multitrack some sounds so I can pan them on my digital recorder and create a better stereo image.

Did you not find that being restricted to 2 measures is quite repetitive? And not being able to bounce loops around?

If these 2 restrictions were non-existent this would be one hell of a machine! That's imHo...

@samartin
As much as I too would have liked to have the option of longer phrases, it wasn't because of the fear of sounding repetitive. Using a loop recording, by definition, is based on repetition, however, this does not mean the music has to be repetitive, no matter what the measure limit. Just listen to some Autechre or something like that. They often use loops but, in my opinion, rarely sound repetitive. It's more about what you do with those two bars and then what you do next.

For another example, Beardyman. I think you were the one who posted one of his videos on here. His loops are rarely more than a bar, often just half.

P.S. This wasn't a lecture. Just my opinion.

Mr36 wrote:@samartin
As much as I too would have liked to have the option of longer phrases, it wasn't because of the fear of sounding repetitive. Using a loop recording, by definition, is based on repetition, however, this does not mean the music has to be repetitive, no matter what the measure limit. Just listen to some Autechre or something like that. They often use loops but, in my opinion, rarely sound repetitive. It's more about what you do with those two bars and then what you do next.

For another example, Beardyman. I think you were the one who posted one of his videos on here. His loops are rarely more than a bar, often just half.

P.S. This wasn't a lecture. Just my opinion.

No worries and I haven't take it as a lecture

I'm on a massive learning curve so my knowledge is somewhat limited. I will give Autechre a listen, luckily they are on Spotify I am at the moment listening to more dancey stuff than normal, as I hope it will inspire. Just as long as it's not friggin' techno tho'...

tsk tsk tsk bum tsk and out

What's wrong with techno?!?!?!?! My guess is that you just haven't heard the right stuff and just the stereotypical stuff, which, unfortunately has a stigma attached. There are many DJs who play (and produce) interesting brands of techno.

Again, not a lecture.

samartin wrote: Did you not find that being restricted to 2 measures is quite repetitive? And not being able to bounce loops around?

If these 2 restrictions were non-existent this would be one hell of a machine! That's imHo...

No, as Mr36 said, you have to work with the limits and use the short measures to create an interesting mix by dropping things in and out. I wouldn't say what I did was fantastic but I certainly wasn't frustrated by the short measures. Parts of it are repetitive but they are meant to be, other parts are more dynamic. I also don't think more than 4 measures is needed either - trying to play something consistent on the XY pad over more than 4 measures is hard. Just MO of course.

You can't bounce stuff but I love being able to save loops. That is a huge step forward for what I am doing.

Kaoss Elation wrote:

samartin wrote: Did you not find that being restricted to 2 measures is quite repetitive? And not being able to bounce loops around?

If these 2 restrictions were non-existent this would be one hell of a machine! That's imHo...

No, as Mr36 said, you have to work with the limits and use the short measures to create an interesting mix by dropping things in and out. I wouldn't say what I did was fantastic but I certainly wasn't frustrated by the short measures. Parts of it are repetitive but they are meant to be, other parts are more dynamic. I also don't think more than 4 measures is needed either - trying to play something consistent on the XY pad over more than 4 measures is hard. Just MO of course.

You can't bounce stuff but I love being able to save loops. That is a huge step forward for what I am doing.

I am very happy with this unit, I can't play any instrument, apart from a little guitar (few barre chords and basic chords). But it has meant I can acutally come up with concepts really quick, got a lot more exploration to do.

The XY is a little inconsistent, the pad doesn't really match with the key changes as you'd expect, bit of a shame but I guess you live and learn, and tricky stuff will be saved/loaded I do find it a shame you can't load/save a sample whilst performing.

Corr look at me picking fault in everything! I'm one to talk...

*edit*

Mr36, well techno to be fair has never really struck a chord with me, I searched for the best techno songs out there and was surprised at what came out. I wouldn't class The Prodigy as techno, nor Faithless, but I can't stand Faithless.

I'm more into the ambient, Boards of Canada, Zero 7, anything with soulful vocals on a dance track, to Ian Brown (Remixes of the Spheres), Gorillaz.

My taste being in the dance orientated sense not my usual indie/rock taste.

Forget Faithless and listen to Orbital