Korg Forums

Hi.

I have a KP3. I now use it as an external FX unit.

I originally bought it as im a beatboxer and I wanted to use it to loop my beatboxing. I was told that I could sync it via midi with my other gear such as my ableton live setup.

The things that bothered me were the following and this is why I gave up:

1. MIDI Sync was terrible and never on time. Eg. . . If ableton or my MPC or another midi device was transmitting at 90BPM, the KP3 would be thinking it was 90.1 or 90.2 or 89.9. . . You get the idea. . .

2. There is no stop. If I wanted to stop a sequence on the down beat, the KP3 would continue to play. Its so frustrating that I had to hit the pads to mute the sounds. This was a huge creative let down as it was too hard to coordinate everytime I wanted to stop.

3. If I did mute the pads after stopping and then hit play again, engaging the KP3, then the loops would not be triggered at the beginning, they would just continue to play regardless of the new MIDI signal. This meant having to constanttly and frustratingly line my loops up with the MIDI signal.

4. The click. It was annoying that I could not just hit a pad and make a loop. I had to tap a tempo, make my own click, then add the loop. I have used a line6 delay unit and its so simple that it doesn't have this problem. The line6 is therefore better if you want to put an idea down.

I want to like the KP3 so much as it has FX that are hands on and that's fantastic but the points about, as well as knowing that you only have 4 pads to record loops onto make the KP3 highly disappointing for me.

This email isnt to moan at you, its to ask for some advice, and let you know how I feel about the KP3.

Thanks for your time,

Benji javascript:emoticon(':shock:')

1. i have found that if you just set the .bpm to the same as whatever you're trying to sync with, everything works fine.

2. I'm going to guess that you mean it doesn't respond to midi stop messages? that's probably because it is not 'playing' in the same sense as a midi sequence would be. i'm pretty sure you can send note off messages that will stop sounds from looping indefinitely (i think the A sample button responds to note C1 or C2, but i may be wrong.

3. The reason for this is simple, and it has to do with how the KP3 was designed to be used. This is so you can drop parts out and then bring them back in exact sync with the other loops you have playing. Because really, how often do you want something looping not to be in sync with everything else?

frankly if it was not like this i have a feeling you'd be complaining how hard it is to sync everything up.

you can create one-shots by not recording a full loop. they will trigger from the beginning every time you press the appropriate button (which will be red instead of orange).

4. I'm not sure i follow you here. when i want to make a loop i can just 'hit a pad and make a loop'. i have never had to tap a tempo(can you not just use the tempo knob? is there an easier way to set tempo other than deciding what you want it do be and setting it to that value??) or create a click track in order to create a loop.

i really don't follow how you 'have' to do these things with a kaoss pad but not a line 6 delay unit.

do you have version 2.0 installed? i found that after installing it the clock timing was much more accurate.

yea i do. its better but still not accurate.

I've had the same issues since I got my KP3. Still do, even now that I've got OS 2.0. I find it strange cos I'm linking it to an EMX-1 Electribe...another KORG box.

Hello people.

I know this post is from a long time ago but ive still been trying to find an intuitive live looping solution and have come back round to the KP3's and would love to solve these issues out.

Im wondering if you could take the time to read my original post at the top of this thread.

All the points still stand valid and ongoing issues for me.

If anyone has the same issues please speak up and if anyone has solved them please share your solutions.

Thanks everyone, Benji

maybe you could tell me what you don't like about my first answers?
korg is not going to rewrite the firmware on your whim, the kp3 works the way it does, tried to helpful the first time around, but not much to say this time...

Hey.

Thats cool. Maybe i should have have replied to your original reply.

1. This doesnt work for me. . . things drift and go out of sync. We should not have to do this manually, sync means sync!

2. I mean that if i hit stop in ableton, the synced kaoss pad will continue to play, it doesnt receive a stop command. This means when i want everything to stop in sync for the ending of a track live the audio loops will continue to play and spoil the ending. The only solution is to manually hit the pads to mute them. Technically they are still playing though!

3. I get what youre saying but as they are pre-defined loop lengths of 1/2bar or 4bars or 16bars they are going to always be in sync if they are triggered together from the start. This is hugely important to sync other gear to the kaoss. I know you can manually line the loops up but again its not exact and can drift. You shouldnt have to do that! Sync means sync!

4. What i mean is that you cant hit a pad, record your loop, then hit it again to stop recording. The kaoss works with an internal click so you cant give it an audio loop to work out the tempo for itself.

Im syncing it from ableton here so youre probably asking why this matters to me. . .

Its because im raising the issue of there being an internal click but us not being able to hear it. . .

If i use the kaoss pad independently of ableton sync then i have to record my own 1beat click into the kaoss which takes up a pad. I know this isnt the end of the world but it would be more intuitive if there was a click that came out the phones or something. . .

I think it really needs a sync box that allows start and stop commands to work on the kaoss and an update with better sync is needed badly!

cheers, benji

1 - this is a long lasting problem and is not likely to change, sorry. when changing the bpm, you want to resample anything that's playing ASAP to prevent drift.

2 - go into KP3 editor, click on the 'external global control' tab. this will bring up a picture of the kp3, click on the "C2" beneath sample A. on the right this will bring up a bunch of info about midi data for sample A. Change assign type to start or stop (not both, apparently). then you have to load the changes to your kp3. haven't tried this but it seems like it should work.

3 - in my experience drift only occurs when changing the bpm - if you want to change the bpm of a sample, you must resample...

4 - since you're using ableton, why not just use the ableton click? it's not a drum machine, so i don't really expect the kp3 to have a click out, i guess it would be nice, i just usually have a drum track playing (which doesn't have to have it's own sample to be done, btw, and then sample incoming sounds to that beat.

actually i think what i was suggesting for #2 will only work in external midi controller mode. it would be trivial to make a patch that waits for stop messages and translates them into the necessary note data however.