Korg Forums

Hi all, I'm quite new to the synth scene, I've had my MK for a few years but never SERIOUSLY used it. I play guitar in a band and instead of looking for a dedicated synth player, we thought it would be easier for me to do the synth parts. My question is: is it possible to record parts from the MK to an Electribe through MIDI? So like, using the MK to record parts to an Electribe rather than the keyboard on the Electribe? And if so, would the MX or SX be better for this?

You can indeed use a MIDI controller to play the Electribe.

It doesn't matter which keyboard you use because MIDI controls the destination device, meaning it will be the Electribe's sound generators making the sound and not the microKorg's.

I can move this question to the Electribe section of the forum for you as you'll get better answers there.

I can tell you that the electribes are monophonic and their sequencers are step-based so you will be limited to single notes at a time and a fairly rigid grid-like timing.

Thanks, do you know of any piece of gear that would be better for tho kinda thing? I'd prefer hardware to software if possible.

if i understand what you're trying to do, the emx would be better for you than the esx, because you're basically trying to make up for the MK's lack of a phrase sequencer.

both the esx and the emx have a polyphony of 16 voices, so they're not actually monophonic. but, if you're playing chromatically on the keyboard parts, you're limited to one note at a time.

this changes if you're playing the keyboard parts via midi from an external instrument - you can play chords on the esx/emx keyboard parts this way.

the reason the emx would be better for you is that you can work with the various patches and presets to get the synth sounds you need. on the esx, you'd be able to record the patterns you need, but would then need to assign a sample for the esx to play back; and it's tough to get the loop points right and get the synth sounds you want when you're only working with samples.

if you were to use the esx for your purposes, it would be better to just sample the output of your MK directly and trigger it in the patterns or just by tapping the appropriate part key when you need the sound to play.

in one way, you're right about it being easier to use gear instead of a keyboard player - the emx won't drink any of your beer and will have no problem meshing with the band.

but, the downside is that you have to mess around learning how to use it, whereas with a keyboard player you'd hopefully find someone who already knew how! XD

decisions, decisions. let us know how it works out!

Agreed. It basically sounds like you're looking for a sequencer. Any of the electribes excepting the ER-1/mkII would probably be the best candidates since they are really built to record note sequence data. The ER series would work as well but the interface may be a bit more difficult to navigate since drum sequencers are used to dealing only with a few notes corresponding to the drum tones.

If you're looking for a software sequencer you can definitely take your pick. I use Logic and it works very well but you need a Mac. Ableton is a great professional sequencer for both Mac and Windows and I've used Fruity Loops and Sonar quite extensively. Just make sure you've got a USB/MIDI interface for your computer if you do it in software (unless you're using an XL).

Cheers!

staticwarp wrote:if i understand what you're trying to do, the emx would be better for you than the esx, because you're basically trying to make up for the MK's lack of a phrase sequencer.

both the esx and the emx have a polyphony of 16 voices, so they're not actually monophonic. but, if you're playing chromatically on the keyboard parts, you're limited to one note at a time.

this changes if you're playing the keyboard parts via midi from an external instrument - you can play chords on the esx/emx keyboard parts this way.

the reason the emx would be better for you is that you can work with the various patches and presets to get the synth sounds you need. on the esx, you'd be able to record the patterns you need, but would then need to assign a sample for the esx to play back; and it's tough to get the loop points right and get the synth sounds you want when you're only working with samples.

if you were to use the esx for your purposes, it would be better to just sample the output of your MK directly and trigger it in the patterns or just by tapping the appropriate part key when you need the sound to play.

in one way, you're right about it being easier to use gear instead of a keyboard player - the emx won't drink any of your beer and will have no problem meshing with the band.

but, the downside is that you have to mess around learning how to use it, whereas with a keyboard player you'd hopefully find someone who already knew how! XD

decisions, decisions. let us know how it works out!