2014 ELECTRIBE 2 - The positive thread !!!

DrHoo · Post by **DrHoo** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 5:39 pm

For the benefit of anybody (Now or future) who might want to buy the Electribe 2 i feel it's a good idea to talk about what this machine can do.
If you browse the early threads about this new tribe you will read all of the pre-release hopes & fears AND you will read all of the early impressions from new owners.

It is still early days & i for one have been guilty in the past of critisizing & picking fault with synths, i did it with my esx1 & my emx1 before that among other units i've tried but then i went on to have a really good relationship with the esx1, i loved it.
So, all that worry, concearn, hope's & fears stuff is for other threads & NOT IN THIS ONE PLEASE ! It had to happen, we let it happen & things needed discussing, questions had to be answered etc.. etc.. BUT, if we can forgive Mick Jagger & David Bowie for 'Dancing in the street' then i think we can get over ANYTHING !

So here it is... I do feel some love for this device because after owning it for a week, even though i'm still breaking into it i am making sounds with it that i like ! The mix out of this box, with a little added trained ear is a very nice & satisfying mix, rounded & comfortable. Sounds can be made to live in harmony & not all competing or jumping on top of one another, if you can't make this tribe sound good then you don't stand a chance with its predecessors & i say that because i'm finding this one all round better sound quality wise. It still needs us, the user/editor & it won't do it for us (A good thing) but overall headway can be made & satisfaction can be had.

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It's been said that only 1 synth wave edit parameter knob it limiting ! OK, perhaps .... Or maybe not too bad after all because there's a modulation generator with a depth knob & there's a filter with an intensity to the mg knob. The mg is also assignable to other areas too & just that is an expansion of synth wave editing so i say fear not !

We have a choice of filter models that i havn't even seen yet, i'm still using the stock filter & honestly, i like it & there's plenty of time to try other filters in the future so i'm not feeling like i'm out of options. We have lp, hp & bp to choose from straight on the faceplate & that alone is more than many machines have had in the past.

There's no song mode ! We know that but then Korg never said there would be & i think that inventive users will find their own work-arounds, i intend on finding mine ! Probably in the form of multiple cloned patterns with variations in each, added pattern sets, some event recording with motion sequencing & the possibility of having to splice two or three chunks together on a laptop, oh well if that's what it's gonna take !...Time will tell.

Although there's no quantization (Like all electribes) it does seem to know where you intended that note to land & i've found that i have to be proper off-beat to get a missfire. If you do misfire it's a doddle to correct the notes anyway.

The master fx can be used to a good advantage, select a reverb or delay for example & then send whichever parts you like to it, some dimention is added with the right setting.

I find the sequencer pads nice & easy to hit square on. Each one offers a different short cut to the part edit menu when holding the shift button.

All good stuff here so far then, positive !

I'm aware of the features that the emx & esx had but which this model does not have..... But this model is not the emx1 is it ! It has what it has & is missing nothing if viewed as an individual. I've looked at the Electribe 2 from different viewpoints & when i see it in its own light & without comparisson to other tribes, without focus on the knobs it doesn't have etc.. Then it's an interesting twist on our beloved sequencer.

The only question remaining is 'Do i (Or does anyone) want to adapt ? Because the machine wont !

Please feel free to say "Meh" if you want.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:10 pm

Woo hoo, thank you for this.

L551 · Post by **L551** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:16 pm

What I really like about the new tribes is the pad layout and the different scales you can use with them. It's different than playing a keyboard and inspires new kind of melodies and basslines. I have one ipad synth (TF7) with similar pad layout and it's awesome.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:20 pm

The groove templates are a huge draw for me, those made a huge difference in the MC505, I used them all the time.

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:28 pm

Tarekith wrote:The groove templates are a huge draw for me, those made a huge difference in the MC505, I used them all the time.

Is the groove functionality the same on both boxes? I had started a thread on this and the good doctor said its basically like accent templates.

DrHoo · Post by **DrHoo** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:30 pm

They are good, plenty enough to choose from & a parameter scale of 0 - 127 in single increments. They add a subtle but useful shuffle or accent to a single part. You can have a different groove & setting per part it seems !

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:34 pm

DrHoo wrote:They are good, plenty enough to choose from & a parameter scale of 0 - 127 in single increments. They add a subtle but useful shuffle or accent to a single part. You can have a different groove & setting per part it seems !

That's interesting! I was under the impression it was for the whole pattern, not individual parts.

DrHoo · Post by **DrHoo** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:42 pm

roblabs wrote:
DrHoo wrote:They are good, plenty enough to choose from & a parameter scale of 0 - 127 in single increments. They add a subtle but useful shuffle or accent to a single part. You can have a different groove & setting per part it seems !
That's interesting! I was under the impression it was for the whole pattern, not individual parts.

Nope, an example then, get a hi-hat going on alternating pads, 1/3/5/7 etc.. & go into the groove template menu. The current part number is displayed at the bottom & you can scroll through all the templates 1 by 1 & then curser right to the intensity screen & make your groove. Select say, a tambourine template & apply that to your hi-hat & then adjust the intensity to suit.
Then if you press a different part pad you'll see fresh options all over again. It all makes sense when it's there in front of you.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:49 pm

The fact that it can be applied as much or as little as you want really increases the flexibility. You can add quite a bit of "feeling" when you have something a bit more complicated than simple shuffle grooves.

Another positive for me with the new Electribes is the battery powered aspect, as mentioned in another thread. I've long been a fan of making music outside at parks, and while the iPad fills that role for me now, being able to bring the Electribe with me sounds like too much fun.

DrHoo · Post by **DrHoo** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:52 pm

Yes, groove templates are a good tool & they free up the lfo for something else perhaps. I always used to use the lfo on my esx1 to add groove to hats, shakers etc so it's a nice extra feature.

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:54 pm

Tarekith wrote:The fact that it can be applied as much or as little as you want really increases the flexibility. You can add quite a bit of "feeling" when you have something a bit more complicated than simple shuffle grooves.

Another positive for me with the new Electribes is the battery powered aspect, as mentioned in another thread. I've long been a fan of making music outside at parks, and while the iPad fills that role for me now, being able to bring the Electribe with me sounds like too much fun.

Only this time you actually have knobs and pads to mess with! It makes a huge difference. I was really psyched about the ipad and all the touch screen possibilities but as far as performance goes, it just doesn't cut it compared to having actual hardware to use.

Re-Member · Post by **Re-Member** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:03 pm

You can count me in as one of the few people that isn't upset about the 4 bar pattern limitation. I've never owned any of the previous Electribes before, but I have owned a handful of the Roland Grooveboxes. On those machines, I would actually write all my songs using nothing but 4 bar patterns, then chain them together piece by piece for a full length track in the end.

I'm also no longer bothered by the lack of Song Mode since it's been confirmed that you can use the Pattern Set buttons to easily trigger up to 64 patterns to be used with the Event Recorder. This feature has a lot of potential for full length song composition.

There's also the fact that you can record MIDI IN data onto all 16 parts with the Event Recorder. For those who do MIDI sequencing on a DAW, you can set up the Electribe to act as a sound module, do all your song programming on the computer, and then hit record when you're ready to bounce all that MIDI note data into one event file. You can cram an entire song onto one single pattern.

I'm sold.

DrHoo · Post by **DrHoo** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:06 pm

I did this really basic & simple thing earlier & it sounded wicked. The first wave & the default on the top row of pads is a saw tooth & it's a goody. I arp sequenced a single note over 4 bars (1 note per step) & patched it to the eg, trimmed the decay/release & knocked a few notches off the attack. Using the lpf & some res' i gave some depth to the mod generator & adjusted the speed. Then i motion sequenced the mg intensity at the filter to get a progressive dip & rise..... Well ok, it's not revolutionary but it did do a superb job of a classic sound with hardly any effort. Add a delay & just sit back for 5 minutes lapping it up. Haha. Little things please little minds ! Instant electro.

d2ba · Post by **d2ba** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:09 pm

https://www.facebook.com/david.bulog

Electribe 2 + Elektron AR make a prefect pair and sound as great as each other
Will post a version of 808 States Pacific State made entirely with this pair in next few days to you tube

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:10 pm

Dude! You should record that or post a quick vid on youtube. So far no vids or anything up with people actually digging into this thing.