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songboy « Pocket Rocket (that you are supposed to play with) »
Published on 07/06/11 at 10:32This unit has no keyboard but instead has a X/Y touch screen pad. Most patches only allow you to go up/down three octaves max, but you can set the Root note so you can go up and down the full range of octaves. There are a ton of sounds in this guy that range from noise efx, pads, keys, bass, drums, and ARPS and sequences. Unfortunately, the editing features on this guy are really weak. Essentially you can only change the key and the scale( major, minor, chromatic, glide, etc....) of the patch and add an arpeggiator/gate function. The main controller is the touch pad. All the other buttons change patches, edit patches (very limited), setup the looping device and trigger the Arp/gate. The only connections are RCA outputs on the back and a headphone jack (with volume) on the front. I read that the polyphony was 12, but when looping, I can create as many loops as I want it seems and I don't have 12 fingers to trigger 12 sounds at once, so I'm not sure how important that is.
UTILIZATION
Editing is achieved by pushing different buttons then using the main knob to change the selection. There are very few ways to edit a patch so I guess by default that makes it easy. Yes, the setup/config is very easy. I had to reference the manual on how to loop record, but I thought the manual was poorly written. a 1 minute tutorial on youtube got me going real quick.
SOUND QUALITY
The sounds are not "realistic" in the sense that the piano patch sounds like a piano. The sounds are very good though. They definitely have the Korg "Shine" and the pads sound pretty big and lush. The drums are pretty good and the noise EFX are really awesome. The touch pad is actually very acceptable. It has a great reaction time to my fingers and with enough practice, you can start to really "play" the device and actually hit the right notes when you want to. There is a delay mode that adds a decent enough delay, and there is a ARP/Gate selector which is really nice except you can't edit your own Arps. They are all preprogrammed as well. I think there is a place for all of the sounds if you do electronica. I run this device through some EFX pedals (mooger foogers, distortion, chorus, etc...) and it's a heck of a lot of fun.
OVERALL OPINION
What I like most about this unit is its very small but packs a huge punch in the way of sound. People are always intrigued by it whenever I bring it out. The big downside to be is the lack of Midi and the limited amount of patch editing. I paid only $90 for this guy and I am very happy about that. It sells new for much more, and I probably wouldn't have paid full price for it as you are pretty close to getting the PRO version which is much better. The precision and quality of the sound is really good with how small this little guy is. I give that a 9 out of 10. I have used the Korg KP3 before and I definitely prefer the larger touch screen, but this little guy is still a gem. At the price I paid for it, I would definitely buy it again. If I had to pay full price, I would save up and get the Pro.
UTILIZATION
Editing is achieved by pushing different buttons then using the main knob to change the selection. There are very few ways to edit a patch so I guess by default that makes it easy. Yes, the setup/config is very easy. I had to reference the manual on how to loop record, but I thought the manual was poorly written. a 1 minute tutorial on youtube got me going real quick.
SOUND QUALITY
The sounds are not "realistic" in the sense that the piano patch sounds like a piano. The sounds are very good though. They definitely have the Korg "Shine" and the pads sound pretty big and lush. The drums are pretty good and the noise EFX are really awesome. The touch pad is actually very acceptable. It has a great reaction time to my fingers and with enough practice, you can start to really "play" the device and actually hit the right notes when you want to. There is a delay mode that adds a decent enough delay, and there is a ARP/Gate selector which is really nice except you can't edit your own Arps. They are all preprogrammed as well. I think there is a place for all of the sounds if you do electronica. I run this device through some EFX pedals (mooger foogers, distortion, chorus, etc...) and it's a heck of a lot of fun.
OVERALL OPINION
What I like most about this unit is its very small but packs a huge punch in the way of sound. People are always intrigued by it whenever I bring it out. The big downside to be is the lack of Midi and the limited amount of patch editing. I paid only $90 for this guy and I am very happy about that. It sells new for much more, and I probably wouldn't have paid full price for it as you are pretty close to getting the PRO version which is much better. The precision and quality of the sound is really good with how small this little guy is. I give that a 9 out of 10. I have used the Korg KP3 before and I definitely prefer the larger touch screen, but this little guy is still a gem. At the price I paid for it, I would definitely buy it again. If I had to pay full price, I would save up and get the Pro.