getting started

andy24 · Post by **andy24** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:07 pm

hello, i'm new here. i'm posting a topic in the electribe section and one in the kaoss section. i have an electribe (don't know which model

it's not the rhythm one, it's blue) and a kaoss pad k3. i'm a guitarist mostly and i have several pieces of guitar and bass related korg gear (like the pandora box, etc) but these two machines are one's i'm most interested in right now. i've been using them for background stuff, weird processed noises, but i don't really know how to "play" them. i know that they offer much, much more than i am currently using and i'm ready to sit down and really learn what these are capable of. i'm an audio engineer, so i'm pretty familiar with a lot of pro audio ideas and language, but i know very little about electronic instruments, so i'd like to start completely fresh, like i'm a young kid who's never touched any kind of synth before. what would you guys suggest i start with? i've skimmed the manuals, and i know i need to sit down and really read them, but are there any online resources you'd reccomend for beginners? i'm guessing that dedicating even a weekend to this will open up tons of possibilities. it would be really handy to have like a walk through video of starting up on these as stand-alone machines. all i've done so far is hit the keys on teh electribe while playing with teh filters/effects to make strange noise, and manipulate the pre-set "songs" in there with teh knobs and buttons. with teh kp3 i've only put it on rhythm a couple of times and run my hand around the screen to manipulate beats. i've also put it on filters to get like a white noise generator. but i've never run anything through it. the vast majority of the settings on teh kaosspad don't make a sound when i play with teh touch screen (i think only some filters and the drum settings are stand alone audio generators). anyway, any and all advice is very much appreciated. and really, dumb it down. pretend i'm a monkey with learning disabilities or something. thanks.

Mr36 · Post by **Mr36** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:29 pm

First thing you should do is to connect something (an Electribe, for example), to the KP3. Without giving it any audio (be it a sound source to its inputs or samples loaded in its banks), it's pretty pointless to even own one in my opinion.

Unless you just like the lights. They are priddy though...

andy24 · Post by **andy24** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:15 pm

yeah, i agree. i really want to get my moneys worth out of it (and i've been wanting to learn to play electronic instruments for awhile). i splice a lot of tape to make loops, i think it'd be cool to run tape loops through it. i was mainly just looking for a nice way to start. a beginners crash course i guess. i play metal, my stuff is very guitar driven but i want to lean more and more towards electronics. are there already samples on the pad's drive? are the filters (like the white noise sounding things) and the percussion on there the only stand-alone audio sources the machine comes with? i'm asuming i can pretty easily record my own samples onto it right? it sounds like this thing is more a processor than anything.

Scott M2 · Post by **Scott M2** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 1:54 pm

The KP3 is definitely a processor with a few synth & drum bits thrown in.

I'd suggest playing one of your tape loops (with a balanced frequency spectrum) through it (on Direct setting) grab the patch chart and start trying things out.

Keep a piece of paper or sticky nearby and note the programs that you particularly like or relate to (and maybe save them in the Program buttons).

After a bit, try sampling from your loops and observe how to minimize clicks and such. Then try re-sampling them through other effects. Make sure you have an SD card loaded and formatted to save anything extra-cool you come up with.

andy24 · Post by **andy24** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:14 pm

awesome, thanks! i don't think they come with SD cards, do they? i imagine i could buy one at best buy, are they all pretty much the same (just different sizes)? it sounds like the kp3 has enough memory built in that i could save about 4 short samples, right? so since i don't play live it's not going to kill me to not have an SD card just as long as i make note of what i like and how to get back to it? 4 short samples recorded onto the kp3 itself that i could transfer to protools and then go back in and erase/re-record stuff in their place? i took a jack out of the electribe and rca's into the kp3 and played with it last night. i just played some of the pre-set songs on the electribe and messed with the kp3's screen. used some cool filters, there was no audio at all when i wasn't touching the screen but then i could touch it and make the sound come through and manipulate. i'm sure there's a way to make the electribe play through the kp3 but be completely unaffected by it, right? like just having the signal totally dry until i start touching the kp3's screen. i set up a little desk by the mac i run protools on and set them up there. to be honest, just having them right there and always patched together will make me use them a lot more than i was before. like i said, i splice a lot of tapes to make tape loops and i think i'll run some of those through the kp3. i've never done anything with the software that came with the kp3. is there any reason to? i was under the impression that it's just an editing software, is there anything i can do with that that i can't do with protools? any benefit to installing it? thanks again! here's how my work area looks now:

and (just for fun) here's the rest of my studio

Pastor-of-Muppets · Post by **Pastor-of-Muppets** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:58 pm

answered at http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... 669#347669

andy24 · Post by **andy24** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:06 pm

thanks so much, you've been a big help.