« Almost the perfect groovebox ! »

UPDATED after a few days, this box is awesome !!!


Hey all,

I've been using my new electribe for 2 weeks now, so here is a short list of pros and cons for people considering buying one. Enjoy and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or if I couldn't find the tricks (please tell me I'm wrong for all the cons...).

I'm doing hardtek/tribe/trance/hardcore as a music lover, sometimes playing live for friends. Coming from EMX and different synths like TR-8 and TB-3.

Pros :
- filters (f*ck yeah, way beyond the emx toy filter), especially the acid one (considering selling TB-3) !
- attack knob, wtf, how could Korg make a synth without this before ??? on the emx I used EG/int or ramp modulation, but well, you know... (notice that when EG amp is not activated, the attack knobs modifies the filter enveloppe, smart !!!)
- synhs sound, much clearer and well defined, no aliasing
- sound is awesome for this price range, sound is very clear, and it's a pleasure to work out new sounds compared to EMX where they all sounded the same and so muddy !!! filters, attack/decay and modulation allow you to really sculpt sound now
- ergonomy is great, as usual with Korg
- knob quality
- pads
- catch mode for knobs, no more jumps in values
- 16 parts with any kind of sound and filter and pitch
- polyphony, chords !!!
- different insert FX on each part
- edit parameter for drum sounds (well, pre-defined and sometimes not so useful, but I like changing kicks texture without using an effect)
- different length (last step in a bar) for each part
- drum sound are really good, much better than I thought at the beginning, and after a few tweaks they are really great
- signal/noise ratio is one of the best I've heard... If you switch on the EMX connected to the same mixer, you'll hear what I mean
- "pattern level" function is great when working on a mix if you don't want to adjust every part level each time you notice a difference when switching patterns
- using scales in keyboard mode is awesome to create new melodies you are not used to play ! You can even play random and sometimes it's ok
- "jump" function is awesome !

Cons :
- mute mode is a switch, so we cannot use keyboard or trigger at the same time, what a shame... mute key should be a function key like emx !!!
- no way to select a part without triggering it or using "prev" and "next" button, we need a direct and quicker access !
- no step recording : you can't enter notes (or tie) with pads and jump automaticaly to next step !!! WTF Korg ??? there is no way to choose a note with the pads, you always have to use the value knob, this is a real pain !
- no "repeat" or "move" function, come on Korg, with no step rec and no repeat, are we supposed to kill the value knob in one week ?
- no "shift note" function, again, are we supposed to shift notes one by one with knob value ? this is silly !
- no transpose function (although you can use the scale parameter to change tonality, but within one octave range only, and no shortcut)
- max length of notes is now reduced to 1 step, so for longer notes you have to tie several notes... it means if you want to change a note, you have to change all of them, pain...
- arpeggiator does not do arpeggios !!! it's just a kind of rhythm toy associated with the toy touchpad... shame !!!
- one edit parameter for synths...
- one edit parameter for effects....... unusable for most of them !!!
- only one master effect
- master effect only editable with the f*ck*ng toy touchpad
- bass drum sounds are poor (except for 808 and 909, I'm selling my TR-8 right away !) and fx sounds and real instruments (voices, pianos...) are bad, but hey, Korg needs to sell the sampler version !
- bass drums sometimes lack decay to really fuck them up with effetcs or modulation (but this maybe specific to a style !)
- power cable is a too short if you want to jam comfortably sat on the sofa
- no separate outputs to route all drums into one part for FX on whole drumset (but insert FX and filters on drums compensate) or simply use external FX

In conclusion, I had really good surprises after unpacking, and after a while I was really disappointed by some weird choices from Korg, going deeper in editing and playing... But in the end, despite poor editing capabilities, sound is so awesome that I think this box could be my only one or at least the center of my setup

For this price range, the new electribe rocks !!!

I just hope Korg will be efficient and reactive with updates, because everything mentionned could be easily improved !

Have a good day, weirdos !