Will I grow tired of my EMX?

[paul_courville]

I have read and/or listened to everything I can get my hands on relating to the Korg EMX Music Workstation. The concensus seems to be about 9 out of 10. Their are always a few negative critics that can never be pleased. The reoccuring complaint is that the EMX is great for trance/dance music but the sound grows old quickly. Is this due to a lack of creativity on the part of the reviewer or is their some truth to this statement. Like I really care, I'm buying one next month anyway!
What the f*ck, if the sound sucks as bad as some say (And I serious doubt this) I'll just use it to spice up my videos.

www.cyberdudeproductions.com

[Ruso]

probably, they are pretty good for all styles of music and have relatively good sound but these days the synthesis engine that they have is becoming more and more outdated.... The best aspect of the box is the sequencing abilities.. you can not change the drum sounds, you can not extend it and the sound it has does get somewhat tiring...


I'd recommend getting an esx actually due to the fact that it's only limited by the samples you throw at it. The pure sound mangling possibilities are splendid...


another thing if you do get it I highly sudgest learning to sequencing it from your computer from like ableton live and then recording that to the electribe just so you don't have to play everything out and can have more presicion.

good luck don't get discouraged they are both splendid machines I've had these forever and am fully sattisfied.

[paul_courville]

probably, they are pretty good for all styles of music and have relatively good sound but these days the synthesis engine that they have is becoming more and more outdated.... The best aspect of the box is the sequencing abilities.. you can not change the drum sounds, you can not extend it and the sound it has does get somewhat tiring...


I'd recommend getting an esx actually due to the fact that it's only limited by the samples you throw at it. The pure sound mangling possibilities are splendid...


another thing if you do get it I highly sudgest learning to sequencing it from your computer from like ableton live and then recording that to the electribe just so you don't have to play everything out and can have more presicion.

good luck don't get discouraged they are both splendid machines I've had these forever and am fully sattisfied.

OK Ruso, you seem to be the man on this topic.
Let me ask you (and the others) this.
I own a Triton Le, how does this change the equation?
Should I get the EMX or ESX first?
What is the most advantagous way to use them together.
I also have Ableton Live6.

Apologies in advance for my shameless self-promotion

www.cyberdudeproductions.com

[Ruso]

totally different game.... electribes are grooveboxes, they're sequencers which work splendidly for live performances... they are designed for fast sequencing, on the go sound mangling real time...

both have their advantages... one thing I gotta say is that using them together with ableton live is awesome.....


if the triton supports multi tiembre patches which I'm sure it does... and it also supports each one of those tiembres to be assigned to its own midi channel I would HIGHLY advice getting an emx, and using it to sequence the triton's synthesis engine.... together they'd probably make a top knotch combo....

the ESX is harder to get used to but it has a LOT more sound mangling possibilities, also you can create the most drastic sound mangling....

also you will not be limited of the synth engine, you can for instance record samples of other instruments and record them into the esx and use them as the keyboard parts is you so choose to...

hope that helps if you want I can follow up and extend my reply more when I have time I have an appointment really soon...

[paul_courville]

Thank-you Ruso for your info.
You and Daz seem to be the authoritative voices in this forum.

Here's my situation...
I have about $1K to play with (it's my 47th b-day Oct1).
I can afford both an EMX and a ESX or a Radias.
I have performed extensive research for the past 2-3 months.

My conclusions are...
the EMX excels at sequencing,
the ESX excels at sampling,
and the Radias excels with its sound engine.

So the question I ask myself which of these options will help me create music similiar to www.psyradio.org
excellent sequences, excellent samples or excellent synth sounds?

Bear in mind, I own a Korg Triton Le and Ableton Live.
So... as much as I love the Korg Radias, from a songwriting or compositional standpoint I have just about made up my mind to get the EMS/ESX combo.
Do you agree with my logic?
Your thoughts?
Also, if possible try to get Daz's 2cents on this.
Thanks, Cyberdude

[Daz]

Personally I'd get the Radias and hook it up with Ableton Live (I assuming you have 4, 5 or 6 that have full fat MIDI sequencing) ... there's good reason why Ruso mentions Live so fondly ... it's a total creative power house.

You can sequence the Radias from Ableton Live, composing 4 parts at a time and then dropping those to audio tracks in Live and then working on the next 4 parts. If you don't feel comfortable programming drum patterns for this genre, just cheat a little. Companies like Keyfax and Groove Monkee sell ready made drum patterns in MIDI format that are GM drum assignment compatible. The Radias uses a GM compatible drum kit assignment so it just works straight off the bat.

A handful of random other thoughts :

* You can use the free sampler (simpler) and audio tracks in Live for flying in any vox snippets etc.
* The Live arpeggiator and the Radias arp work quite differently; between the two of them offer the best arp solution you'll find.
* When you're operating the Radias in multi-timbral mode, it doesn't really offer much in the way of dialling up preset sounds for each of the 4 parts. That might not be good for you if you don't create your own sounds. Similarly when you use the EMX the emphasis is more on you creating the sounds for the 5 synths parts. Neither is particularly like your LE where there is vast collection of premade Programs you can dial up in combi or song mode. A second Access Virus B or C might be better suited for that reason.
* Get yourself a controller of some sort for Live ... another hot topic with Ruso and for good reason

Daz.

[Ruso]

I'd get a very very good soft synth an an emx to controll ableton


but you misunderstood me, they both excel highly in sequencing that's truly what makes em so wonderful..... together they are unstoppable especially for live situations.... however exactly like daz said, ALL of what they do except for their nice analogue tubes which I now pass my ableton through can be recreated, and recreated a lot better within ableton...

this is my opinion and my opinion only, they are my favourite midi controllers for ableton live, and I made live the sound engine for both of the machines.

I wish I had enough programming knowledge to tear appart their firmware and reprogram them but I do not. Nor do I have the time to.

[Ruso]

ps check this out... there's a reason all this hardware is now one giant midi controller face it's cause ableton kicks major ass .



except now there's a midi keyboard in the center instead of that old shitty mixer.

[paul_courville]

Daz and Ruso (and any others),
Just got off the phone with Guitar Center here in San Diego.
They said they would sell me the EMX/ESX combo or the Korg Radias for $800.
And I would have 30 days to try them out.
Should this new info effect my decision?

[paul_courville]

Do either of you guys have psytrance demos created?
Where can I hear them?
Did either of you have the time to checkout www.psyradio.org ?
Just a couple of seconds will show you the kinda of music I'm into...

[paul_courville]

Ruso quote,
"However exactly like Daz said, ALL of what they do... can be created a lot better within Ableton Live."

If this is true, why bother with an EMX/ESX combo?
Just do everything with Ableton Live 6 and a Korg Radias/Triton Le!

Did I mention I have Absynth4?

So it looks like it's boiling down to...

SetupA:
Ableton Live
Korg Radias
Korg Triton Le
Absynth4

or

SetupB:
Ableton Live
Korg EMX
Korg ESX
Korg Triton Le
Absynth4

What do you guys think?

[paul_courville]

Somewhat unrelated... but where is the best source for those cool spoken word samples?

[Daz]

There are sample CD's full of that stuff, but YouTube, TV, Movies, spoken books are all great sources for that kind of materials. Watch out for any legal implications obviously. I recently took a snippet of the product manager for the EMX saying "Incredibly fat deep sounds" from a video clip on Sweetwater's site, sounded cool after some processing in Live

Daz.

[Daz]

SetupA:
Ableton Live
Korg Radias
Korg Triton Le
Absynth4

Sounds good to me. You might want to throw some money towards a nice effects plugin package to go alongside that too. The Live effects are good and much improved in recent versions, but it's worth budgeting for a few extras to fill any gaps. Maybe you'd be better off buying a soft synth like NI Massive or Pro-53 instead of the Radias and using the money you save on effects. If you have a good handle on synthesis then Absynth will do a lot of nice synth basses and leads with the right programming, so maybe you could hold off on the Radias until you feel you need it.

Daz.

[paul_courville]

OK, I just couldn't take it anymore.
I just had to hear these machines I'd heard so much about.
I had never heard either one of the three machines before a few hours ago.
Would they standup to the hype?
Would I be bitter disappointed or overjoyed?
At 2pm, I decided to take some much needed PTO (paid time off) and run across town to the local San Diego Guitar Center.
And there they were in all there glory smack dab in the center of the Pro Audio room... the EMX/ESX and the Radias.

Initial Impressions:
EMX: The EMX is the BOMB!!!
A fantastic compositional tool.
Could not stop playing with the damn thing.
I knew I only had 1 hr before I had to scurry off to my 2nd job ( I teach electronics down at San Diego City College).
But I kept coming up with these killer patterns.
I literally could not pull myself away from it.
The sound was much fuller, much fatter, more rich and textured than some reviewers had indicated.
And with the Korg Triton Le things can only get better!

ESX: I spent so much time on the EMX I never played with the ESX.
I reasoned that the sequencing would be the same but with samples.
So I quickly so went to the Korg Radias with remaining 10 minutes.

RADIAS: The Radias easily had the best sounds, but Jesus there are alot of controls to master. I only had enough time to quickly punch up a few presets and play a few melodies.

DECISION:
Eventually I want a Korg Radias but for now I believe for me the best first step is the EMX/ESX combo.
I mean for $800 come on, that's a lot of sonic horsepower.
I do need some powered outdoor speakers so I may focus on mastering the EMX first and pickup the ESX at a later date.
The powered speakers would give me many more opportunities to play Trance parties thru-out Baja California, Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada.

Scheduled purchase date is September 10 at approximately 12 noon.

Thank-you both Daz and Ruso for your input and please gimme some feedback on www.cyberdudeproductions.com .

Oh yeah, and before I forget.
I need my Korg RK-100 repaired (bad cpu board).
Any suggestions?
I'll even buy another, but where eBay and Craig's List are always out?

later,
Cyberdude