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Hey guys (and girls? )

Got my KORG Karma today, and I have to say it is fantastic! Still has 1.0.6 or whatever on it but I guess I'll have to get my hands on some floppy disks.. That floppy drive is going to drive me nuts!





I have to say, the sound seems all over the place compared to the TR its supposed to be replacing. Is it possible KORG used different output limiters or such? Sounds a bit like there is an expander in the audio path. Or maybe i'm just not used to the keybed and velocity curve. Anyway it doesn't seem that different, can't wait to upgrade it to 2.0 though!
Not sure if the previous owner played around with the patches, C & D are still blank, but I was hoping to find for example the hardpulse bass and the joystick machine SE patch that is on my TR...
KARMA is a little daunting at first but exactly what I was hoping for! I could spend hours playing with this if only I didn't have other things to do like building my own synthesizer ...so its only spare hours at the moment but hopefully'I'll get to play with it a lot more soon! I have to say again though absolutely fantastic instrument. It's really nice to work with something with a full range of insert effects for a start.

Also hoping to get EXB-PCM05 at some point.

I'd say I look forward to sharing knowledge and discoveries and music with the KARMA (and in particular triggering my Radias rack unit), but it seems fairly quiet in this corner of the forum....

I'll be using this in the studio for interesting musical timbres and triggering exciting grooves with the drums and on my Radias, and also hopefully using it live when the new band gets off the ground!

Congratulations! they look NICE together.

That floppy drive is going to drive me nuts!

Oooh, you'll have to get yourself one of these -

http://www.2av.com.ua/indexe.htm (HDM-UNIFlash)

http://www.karma-lab.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9039 - a thread that has pictures of it installed in a Korg KARMA

I have to ask, how is the keybed compared to the TR? is there any difference?

They do look nice together. Its a shame the TR will have to go though, and the K1, to finance the Karma.... they're quite similar though really in a lot of ways, so I won't be missing too much.
I can't understand why they couldn't have kept the TR more like the Karma. It was cheaper and a lighter build than the rest of the Triton series, surely if they took the KARMA processing out then it would be a similar cost to the TR. and they are a very similar chassis. I just can't use it! That 1 insert effect slot. I'm also disappointed with the M50 and the triton extreme (luckily I haven't bought one), Still only two arpeggiators?! the four karma GEs do produce some pretty complex stuff, I don't think two arpeggiators are adequate in comparison.


The keybed on the Karma is a little springier than the TR. meaning that the TR is a much lighter touch - the Karma pushes back a little more. but the aftertouch depth on the Karma is much more sensible - more like .75cm rather than .075

Also, I noticed a lot of the programs and combis that are the same (and sound more or less the same) are mixed a lot differently. I copied some settings from the TR for the mix and master EQ, and got some much nicer, wider sounds.
I ported the HardPulse bass from the TR by hand (This is the single patch that sold me the TR in the first place), and it sounds exactly the same so there is no output difference, but the mixing of combis and use of EQ on the karma seems kinda rubbish.
The programs are also excessively velocity sensitive. I don't know if this was intentional for Karma expression purposes?

As I said though I don't know if the previous owner played around with it. I'll have to wait to get some floppy disks later in the week.


does anybody have any tips on triggering the four karma modules for four separate EXT timbres?



...How many KARMA users do we have here on KF?

yes how many users in the world now, is really use the red devil-korg karma , should have been interesting to know actually:))

so we can make a great korg karma group agree??

sad that the support is dying away on this one. thats why i have serious plan of making a new dvd for how to use this red devil:)) i have now 5 people with me who will help me. so in this year i think it will be finished. or in the beginning of next year.!!!! exiting anyway to do such dvd.

my second album i also been working with now. and i teach in piano too. so i am busy, and i make new songs. your self what is your goal about making music this year:)) ok see you and make good karma

Congratulations, X-Trade. The Maroon Monster still kicks butt.
Have fun; and, don't forget to take time to sleep....
Cheers,
Jim (aka EJ2)

That floppy drive is going to drive me nuts!

Hi X-trade

Congratulations - sleep no more my friend - it will keep you awake at night.
It does something different every time you play it. Don't ever part with it because it will haunt you.

Hey, about the floppy, there are alternatives and good ones - check out the Karma-labs forum (might have to do a search) - these options may have been mentioned on this forum somewhere too but basically there are alternative devices you can install - the Karma still thinks it is floppy but you can use USB etc ...

Cheers for now

Pete

Thanks all! I've had the KARMA for about 3-4 months now and I've been working okay with floppies - which reminds me I really must go back up my sequences - now!

I'm not sure about purchasing any extra hardware for it at the moment though. I've got EXB-PCM05 (vintage archives - amazing!) and I'm thinking about getting KARMA MW or PCM08.

with regards to backing up sequences, I'm thinking about looking into using MIDI dump with another piece of gear or my laptop to store files - if that is possible.


The KARMA is perfect for electronic/dance/rock (which I'm doing with my band at the moment), and its also got some amazing proggy sounds in the presets, which I love. I think I'm going to have to form a prog band again!


I don't know about lost sleep - I prefer making music over sleeping anyway. However it may have impacted on my university studies...


It truly is an amazing board and I really feel I should have just got one in the first place. Fantastic for its second hand price and even more amazing with everything going on in it. I'm only just starting to dig into KARMA. I think there will be many more sleepless hours ahead!

The KARMA is perfect for electronic/dance/rock (which I'm doing with my band at the moment), and its also got some amazing proggy sounds in the presets, which I love. I think I'm going to have to form a prog band again!

If you can get your hands on an EXB09 Trance Attack, do so asap. The drum kits are amazing and the basses and leads are right in your face. I think Korg did an awesome job with this expansion board. It's way better than EXB04 Dance Extreme...way better. And 09 has been KARMA-fied by Valery as well as yours truly (me). Here's an old link to my TRANZFER mp3's http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=153147
Cheers,
Jim

I forgot to mention that EXB MOSS is another really great add on for the Karma, especially when KARMA-fied. Here's a link to some of my MP3s for MOSSTER, a small collection of MOSS integrated combis.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=100082

However, this board is too damn expensive these days, even if you are lucky enough to get your hands on one.

I'm not really sure how useful third party sounds would be to me as I'm more a programmer than a consumer of other people's programs. I think I have about two third party programs on my KARMA and I did have about four on my TR but hardly used them.

I also wasn't that impressed by the KORG demos for the EXB09. Yours were a bit more interesting. I'm not really after 'traditional' trance sounds like supersaws and such. Did I mention I'm also using a Radias for a lot of the sounds?

I generally move off less important sounds to the HI engine in the KARMA when I run out of timbres on the Radias and Virus, or when I want an acoustic instrument or other thing that HI does better. Which is why I wanted the EXB08 - I thought the default HI piano was awful. I enjoyed the one in the TR a lot more. Still, if you could convince me that the EXB09 will give me something other than cheesy trance saw leads then I'll be interested.

MOSS does look good but then as I said there is the RADIAS and the Virus which cover a wide sound palette together. I think I'd rather get the Z1 that they have had at my local shop for quite a while.


Are there any third party GEs available for the KARMA? I have the 04/05 GEs but was wondering if there were any user or third party packs, as I haven't purchased the MW software yet.

hello again. how are you? do you make new songs now on the red korg karma??

i have made one now on youtube. is a bass song cool groove.!!!!

never stop to amazing me this korg karma:)) if you have a tips of using the korg karma share it thanks.

I wish I never upgraded my Karma to OS 1.6 and then 2.0 As soon as I did, the pitch bender stopped modulating (1.6) and then stopped bitch bending (2.0).

Of course, putting OS 1.4 back in it diddn't fix anything. So, now I'm stuck at os 2.0 without the ability to pitch bend.

Yeah!....cry.....

Anyone know of a fix for this without having to send it in for repair?

This does not sound like an OS problem - mine works fine - you may have a hardware problem.

Pete