Korg Gadget vs Korg Electribe

apapdop · Post by **apapdop** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:09 pm

It looks as if i need to replace my ipad2 running ios6 with a newer, shinier one (instead of the Electribe Sampler

). Initially i was reluctant to do this, but then i remembered that it means i can finally get my hands on Korg Gadget.

So, anybody out there able to share their views on Gadget vs Electribe? Who would win in a fight? Will i never want to touch my sleek, slate grey slab of fun again? (i'm one of those rare, strange people who love it warts and all...) Or do the two coexist quite happily in different ballparks?

Thanks in advance people, your views would be appreciated.

Spheric El · Post by **Spheric El** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:33 pm

I'm not qualified ,I don't have either,but...
I like knobs and buttons ,plus you may be able to get a cheaper iPad in future.
Sorry ,that's jus my 2cents,now hopefully sone people who have used Gadget/Es2 can comment..

Steinberger · Post by **Steinberger** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:01 pm

Knobs are king to me but I also have Gadget and won't part with it. They are different animals and you can achieve good results from each individually. If you don't mind fiddling virtual synth controls through a pane of glass you might like Gadget. They both sound excellent too.

Every time I set up a fight between the Electribe2 and Gadget they start playing together.

Frenzies · Post by **Frenzies** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:31 pm

The sequencer part of Gadget us a bit odd, takes a bit of getting used to. Where people moan about the lack of song mode on electribe, on Gadget there is pretty much only a song mode. The sounds are, on the whole, very good. A fair few of them made their way on to the e2 I think. As to which one I think would win in a fight, well, I've had Gadget since it came out and have only made one song with it. I have loads of iPad synths but I don't find them very satisfying to play with, but I'm just an old hardware junkie. The experience is much improved with a good midi controller.

troxx · Post by **troxx** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 6:27 am

I have both, and running Gadget on iPad Air is sweet, it can handle around 25 tracks before it starts to skip and pop. The awesome thing with Gadget is Korg are updating it, the last update allowed the M1 synth to be used as a Gadget, obviously that is an in app purchase, but still, if they have implemented this, I think there's a good chance that we can see Polysix, Monopoly & Wave Station introduced as Gadgets.

The only thing with Gadget that I have found is midi sync ain't that great, i've hooked it up to the E2, set the E2 as Master and it will sync up but it sounds slightly out of sync, it might be me, but i've not had much success, hence why I have not used both together much.

Frenzies · Post by **Frenzies** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 10:11 am

troxx wrote:I have both, and running Gadget on iPad Air is sweet, it can handle around 25 tracks before it starts to skip and pop. The awesome thing with Gadget is Korg are updating it, the last update allowed the M1 synth to be used as a Gadget, obviously that is an in app purchase, but still, if they have implemented this, I think there's a good chance that we can see Polysix, Monopoly & Wave Station introduced as Gadgets.

The only thing with Gadget that I have found is midi sync ain't that great, i've hooked it up to the E2, set the E2 as Master and it will sync up but it sounds slightly out of sync, it might be me, but i've not had much success, hence why I have not used both together much.

I've found the same with all iPad apps when using the e2 as master.

dutchcow · Post by **dutchcow** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 10:12 am

I'd say a good midi sync is pretty damn important if you wanna hook the machines up.

Money wise it is probably cheaper to grab a good second hand ipad than a brand new E2/ES2. Specially when it's jailbroken

troxx · Post by **troxx** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 10:34 am

Is it just midi from the micro usb on the E2 which is the problem?

I've not tried it from the other midi ports, not sure how you would hook up to an iPad other than using a specific iPad midi interface such as the Alesis IO Dock, but it's not exactly cheap. I wouldn't mind getting the two working together.

apapdop · Post by **apapdop** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 6:51 pm

Thanks for all the thoughts people, much appreciated. I was making music exclusively with ioads until a couple of years ago, so there won't be anything to get used to on that front. I can't really see myself hooking the two up together either, i was very excited about syncing the Grey Electribe with apps like Samplr over USB (and it worked really well too...) but now i'm a one-box-at-the-time kinda guy.

I'm sure i'll be raving over Gadget real soon, but hopefully the pull of the grey slab will not diminish...

Frenzies · Post by **Frenzies** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 6:59 pm

troxx wrote:Is it just midi from the micro usb on the E2 which is the problem?

I've not tried it from the other midi ports, not sure how you would hook up to an iPad other than using a specific iPad midi interface such as the Alesis IO Dock, but it's not exactly cheap. I wouldn't mind getting the two working together.

I might try hooking up my Roland UM-ONE usb to midi using the breakout cable and see if the sync is better....can't remember if I was just going usb to usb when I had the issues.

Frenzies · Post by **Frenzies** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:30 pm

Some apps are better than others, ims20 is terrible, Animoog is not bad, Gadget is somewhere in between. Makes no difference if I'm going out the usb or the midi port.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:09 am

In some respects Gadget can be more powerful since you get really nice sounds but with a lot more polyphony and a better song mode. The sequencer can be a little fiddly at times (I miss an Undo function), but once you get used to it not so bad. Of course, you lose knobs and pads to bang on, and there's no master effects other than reverb and a limiter.

To me they are two different ways of doing the same thing, and can compliment each other nicely.

apapdop · Post by **apapdop** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 am

One last question from me, does Gadget carry note decays over when playing from one scene (or whatever its called) to another? In the way that the Grey Electribe doesn't?

Frenzies · Post by **Frenzies** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:12 am

apapdop wrote:One last question from me, does Gadget carry note decays over when playing from one scene (or whatever its called) to another? In the way that the Grey Electribe doesn't?

Yes.

apapdop · Post by **apapdop** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:26 am

Frenzies wrote:
apapdop wrote:One last question from me, does Gadget carry note decays over when playing from one scene (or whatever its called) to another? In the way that the Grey Electribe doesn't?
Yes.

Phew. Thanks everybody...