Korg Forums

Given the the KPPro is just a KP3 in drag, Korg obviously have the capability for firmware upgrade. The most pertinent two features that are missing (after their "consultation" with users who apparently decided that these facilities were not useful) are the fix and the arp patterns.

Time for us to help them out. We know which controls are available to us on the front panel. Just off the top of my head, I'd suggest a shift function with the gate arp button to select patterns and some sort of key press protocol for copying banks to replace the fix function.

Let's come up with a well thought out protocol that we can send to Korg and do the bulk of the job for them. It would be handy if Korg could tell us of any hardware/BIOS limitations there were regarding the front panel.

"Given the the KPPro is just a KP3 in drag"

i don't think this has been proven, but i'd be happy to be shown wrong.

"Let's come up with a well thought out protocol that we can send to Korg and do the bulk of the job for them"

i think you are seriously underestimating how difficult it is to change things like this. coming up with which buttons to press is the easiest of easy parts. given the lack of firmware fixes for the real shortcomings on the kp3 i think it's likely we'll see little to no movement on this.

slipperyjim wrote:Given the the KPPro is just a KP3 in drag, Korg obviously have the capability for firmware upgrade. The most pertinent two features that are missing (after their "consultation" with users who apparently decided that these facilities were not useful) are the fix and the arp patterns.

Until someone takes a peek inside, I don't think we can assume the hardware is identical. Having said that, it is pretty likely that the firmware could be upgraded via usb whatever architecture is present.

Time for us to help them out. We know which controls are available to us on the front panel. Just off the top of my head, I'd suggest a shift function with the gate arp button to select patterns and some sort of key press protocol for copying banks to replace the fix function.

Let's come up with a well thought out protocol that we can send to Korg and do the bulk of the job for them. It would be handy if Korg could tell us of any hardware/BIOS limitations there were regarding the front panel.

It would be wonderful to have an opportunity to have such an interaction, but it's not often that you'll find a large corporation willing or able to operate this way. I make no excuses for this, there's nothing in principle that prevents good ideas from making it from the user-base to the development cycle, however it depends on whether or not there is a development cycle! That is a commercial decision that no outsider can really expect to influence other than by modifying their buying habits.

Assuming there is a feedback channel, it may be a good idea to set up some polls about the various issues we KPro users are facing.

well they want to sell a KP4 and a KPro 2, right?
btw: I want a Kpro 2 mini - should be no problem technically

I think it's VERY unlikely that they'll do anything about the arp patterns. The slider gives the opportunity to create those patterns and many more and I think that will be their standpoint.
Also, being labelled a "Pro" device, it makes sense that a bit more precision should be required to use it, separating it from the toy that many thought the original was.

I do, however, agree that there should be functionality to bounce banks and I just hope it's not that difficult to make work via firmware updates. We shall see...

"well they want to sell a KP4 and a KPro 2, right?"

i dunno, seems like everybody's going to just go buy the kpro despite the massive number of unfixed kp3 flaws. heck, i haven't even seen anybody asking about if they've fixed up the sync clock and other sync issues (i doubt it). for me, there are so many flaws in this device i would simply not consider buying one until they turn into an actual synth. no f*ck*ng way am i paying $400 for some un-editable presets.

It's not really the synth side of it that I'm buying it for, I just see that as a kind of bonus. It's the looping functions that I'm interested in and although, as I've said before, it's disappointing that it's limited to 16 beats, the general idea and useability of it is very good at this price.
I'm not sure there's anything else that really does the same thing... Maybe the Roland SP-404SX? Or certain looper pedals? But they don't quite offer the same things.

I see the Kaossilator Pro as a looper with synth capabilities not the other way around.

the loopers are barely preferable to the ones on the kp3, and it seems they may be inferior in a few ways. and if the sync on them is buggered the same way as the kp3 that makes them even more useless. just my 2 cents...

1. buy
2. check
3. send back if lame

that's my way of finding out if the Kpro is worth buying.

Good method, JJP.

Salamanderanagram, in what ways are they inferior? Not that I'm defending it, I'm just curious as to what you mean.

i haven't been paying that much attention but

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... 67aa0a5bfd

and

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=51029

make it seem less than well thought out to me but that doesn't mean somebody else couldn't find a use for it!

for what it's worth, i do get $400 worth of midi controller out of my kp3 but that's about all i use it for.

Mr36 wrote:I think it's VERY unlikely that they'll do anything about the arp patterns. The slider gives the opportunity to create those patterns and many more and I think that will be their standpoint.

To accurately recreate the patterns using only gate duration and gate frequency would require the skills of a Japanese car building robot.

Mr36 wrote: Also, being labelled a "Pro" device, it makes sense that a bit more precision should be required to use it, separating it from the toy that many thought the original was.

This sound like a very strange argument to me. With great respect, it sounds more like an excuse for not trying a little harder to perfect the user interface. Unfortunately, given the recording glitch issue it appears that not everything we've noticed so far can be ascribed to deliberation.

I was just giving an opinion about how I think Korg will see it, not so much how I think it is or should be.

I will be very disappointed if the gate arp slider really is that difficult to tame though. And not having a bouncedown function is a big mistake. As for the glitching problem, that's just dire.