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question about esx machine
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 6:24 pm
by xbubbax
hey all
im into drum and bass music, and i use the emx, and it is so powerful in my music, but it feels like im lacking vocal samples.
i listen to alot of breakbeat/drum and bass, and for example one artist, pendulum uses some vocal tracks in his music.
does the esx allow you to sample from an external source....ie a 1 shot of a vocal track. also what can the esx do sample wise?
thx.
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:04 pm
by musikmachine
Yeah it comes with a bunch of one shot and short vocal phrases and you can sample whatever you like into it.

Re: question about esx machine
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:54 pm
by Milhouse
xbubbax wrote:hey all
im into drum and bass music, and i use the emx, and it is so powerful in my music, but it feels like im lacking vocal samples.
i listen to alot of breakbeat/drum and bass, and for example one artist, pendulum uses some vocal tracks in his music.
does the esx allow you to sample from an external source....ie a 1 shot of a vocal track. also what can the esx do sample wise?
thx.
you can sample from a external source. You can make the vocal into a one shot sample or a time stretch sample. Also you can use the sample in the keyboard parts and make some interesting stuff.
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:38 pm
by xbubbax
cool, im thinking of getting one after i get a microkorg.....i think the micorkorg and the esx, or an sp 404 will do the trick.....im just torn if the esx will be a lil easier of a learning curve since ive been hacking away on my emx.
anyone else want to thow down a comment if they have an sp404 or another sampler or the esx.....and what your using it for..
thx.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:56 pm
by travisthered
I am going through a similar debate with myself. I want to do pretty much the same thing as you so i started
this thread a while back and here are some helpful hints i got.
[musikmachine]-The esx can play back vocal phrases. There's 21 voice phrases that come with the esx.
[ruso]-esx is not good for vocal phrases.... you can only do a sample that's 8 bars long at a sacrifice of a large amount of your memory.it's ment for short vocal bursts like. "Put on your jacket" and "Dance DJ" anything like sentances or phrases longer then that are not worth it because you lose too much ram.
[ruso]-The sp-404 is nice for long samples, and recording loops, so you could use it like a sequencer but at the same time the sample bank is not very big.
hope that helps...
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:56 pm
by musikmachine
xbubbax wrote:cool, im thinking of getting one after i get a microkorg.....i think the micorkorg and the esx, or an sp 404 will do the trick.....im just torn if the esx will be a lil easier of a learning curve since ive been hacking away on my emx.
anyone else want to thow down a comment if they have an sp404 or another sampler or the esx.....and what your using it for..
thx.

Yeah just got an esx recently. Imo it's the perfect partner for the MX, where you might wanna add vocals or percussion and build upon your patterns with the emx the esx is great, same workflow as the emx but with samples (and two synth parts

).
The slicer is nice as well, i've resampled loops from the mx and used them as bass or drum parts in the esx.
If it's one shots you want and short vocal phrases the esx is gonna be fine. Plus you can use it as a standalone groovebox so you have a lot of flexibility.
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:10 pm
by xbubbax
awesome, yea thats what im looking for is the esx....looks like another 400 down the tubes.....in a good way.
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:55 pm
by musikmachine
xbubbax wrote:awesome, yea thats what im looking for is the esx....looks like another 400 down the tubes.....in a good way.
Well if your gonna spend that kinda money have you thought about an RS7000? One of the issues i had with mine was slooow loading times. It also has a steep learning curve but otherwise awesome machine.
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:57 pm
by xbubbax
well im trying to stay away from learning a new peice of equipments setup....thats why i would like to get the esx.....i think they have one of sale used at the local guitar center for 300...no power chord tho....ill get one off korg.com
also if you have a 20 sec voice sample and its at 120bpm, and you change the tempo to 170, will the voice pitch change, and can you timestretch this back to the original pitch?
hey musikmachine.....i have a favor would u check out my song and tell me what u think....its the post the 1st wave.
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:14 pm
by zalo
if you use the stretch parts the pitch doesnt change
but at the same time you wouldnt be able to use the stretch part on a 20 sec voice sample if it is at 120bpm to start out with
the stretch parts are only limited to 8 bars and 20 sec would be 10 bars
Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:49 am
by xbubbax
i see, only 8 bars...hhmm....
well i wish i could see the esx in action...actually use it.
Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:32 pm
by musikmachine
xbubbax wrote:i see, only 8 bars...hhmm....
well i wish i could see the esx in action...actually use it.
That's the best thing you can do with these types of decisions. Even if everything tells you this thing is great it still might not be the best thing for you and you would only find that out after paying for it! Anyway take your time over it, make sure it does what you want it to and don't let GAS affect your decision.

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:53 pm
by Ruso
this might inspire you.
ESX is a great machine, 8 bars is not a limit. It's a rule that is bent by constantly playing with the machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7msZNibSs6U
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 12:49 am
by travisthered
All of his samples are 8 bars long... Wouldn't this fill up his machine?
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:24 am
by zalo
travisthered wrote:
All of his samples are 8 bars long... Wouldn't this fill up his machine?
88 seconds roughly
so 2 more songs like that and then you need to reload the machine for the next 3 songs
but at the same time these we are all loops that could be repeated so they could easily be stretched to a 7+ minute song
but going back to what we have been talking about, vocals, you cant loop like a drum sample
now you could split an entire song into 8 bar samples but you will be using half of your esx memory
im picking up an sp404 in the next week
if recording a full songs worth of vocals or using an acapella version to do a remix it seems like the best bet to reduce micromanaging of vocal tracks so that you can control the music
example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o60uNLWE3cM