Over the last several months I have been buying production gear. The goal is to play out live, so I have been buying hardware. Enter the KORG Electribe series. Being tight on finances, I picked up an EA-1 (synth), ER-1 (drum machine) and an ES-1 (sampler). I also got an amazing deal on a "buck toothed" MicroKORG in Charlotte, and I'm holding on to a KORG DW-8000 until a friend gets an audio interface and takes it home. Its a big happy Korg family up in the studio... sort of.

My rant is mainly for the sampler (ES-1), since this particular piece of kit has been a royal pain to use ever since I got it. Hopefully my woes will help someone else with their Korg quandry or at least let them know what they're up for when they buy one of these things.



NOTE: I have the original Electribe series, NOT the newer ESX/ERX boxes.

The first thing you need to know if you are going to buy an ES-1 is that you will want to find a SmartMedia card. No USB. No SD. Not even CompactFlash. SmartMedia. Yes, these cards were outdated by 2002, so good luck finding one. If you see these at a pawn shop or flea market for under $10, grab them.


wikipedia

Ebay prices vary wildly, but thanks to the demand for these in older production gear and I guess old Olympus cameras (?!?) expect to get these for $20-30. Good luck finding them anywhere else. Yes, I looked. The ES-1 takes cards up to 64MB, but thanks to the ES-1's vast storage capability (more on that later) you could make due with a 16MB card.

Once you get a card, you have to hope that it still works. The geniuses at Olympus designed these cards so that the chip was fully exposed on one side of the card! Get a scratch on that metallic contact opposite of the card label? Enjoy your dead card! There are repair services online, but IDK if its even worth however much those cost versus finding another card to use. Oh, and these cards are apparently notorious for their high rate of failure during normal read/write operations :/

Lets say that you did find a working card, and it works. Don't forget to get your hands on a multi-card reader to read and write to your card (I have this one from Belkin)

Can't find a SmartMedia card? Have fun recording the samples directly into the sampler! That isn't too bad, except for the part AFTER recording where you get to fine tune the length of your sample. Get a manual, because you have to go through a few options in order to change the length of your editing control. If you don't adjust this, have fun trying to crop the sample one frame (1/75 of a second) at a time.

There are a few rules that you need to follow in order to get samples from your PC onto the SmartMedia card in the format that the ES-1 will read:

- The files must be WAV or AIFF files. Lucky for you, most of those sample packs that you pirated will already be in WAV format. Worse case is that you can open up the files in Audacity and convert them from there.

- No other files can be on the SmartMedia card. It's not like you're using this for anything else, right?

- Name the files as follows: 00.wav, 01.wav ... 99.wav. You can't have more than 100 files on the card.

- One last thing... Make sure most of your files are saved in MONO!

To load the samples from the SmartMedia card onto the ES-1:

1. Stick the card, label side up, into the SmartMedia card slot. Only remove or replace the card while the ES-1 is off, otherwise you're likely to end up with a fried card.

2. Turn your Electribe on, and press the Global button.

3. Hold down Shift (the very bottom-left button, under the 1 step key) and press 15. The display should blink and show "Lod."

4. Press 15 again. Now the display will show "[E]". According to the manual, there should be another option here that will let you copy all samples at once, but on my ES-1 all I get is the [E] option.

5. Press 15 again (so that's three times total.) You should see "00." blinking on the display. The numbers correspond to the numbers that you re-named your samples, from 00 to 99.

6. Use the dial to select the sample to load. You can press play to preview the sample. Once you have selected a sample to load, press 15.

7. Now a new number will flash. That is the number for the sample on your ES-1's internal memory. Press "Write" to copy your sample from the SmartMedia card to the selected sample location. If the memory location has a "." on the lower-righthand corner, then the selected internal sample location is empty. Is there is an S (looks like a 5) then that means that you are loading a stereo sample and get to load your sample into one of the stereo slots instead. If you saved your samples in MONO like I suggested earlier then you shouldn't have too many stereo samples to assign in the first place.

The ES-1 can hold up to 99 mono samples and 49 stereo samples. You are going to have to use mainly mono samples because the ES-1 uses double the mono time from its internal memory to store stereo samples. This wouldn't be a problem unless, like me, you find yourself with a "Er3" message while in the middle of saving a new sample onto this device. "Er3" means that the ES-1 is out of memory. Go to Sampler > Memory to view the amount of memory time remaining. Divide that number by two to show how much stereo time remains. In my case I had to delete some older samples and samples that were loaded when I got this device in order to load my new material.

There's another BIG reason why mono is important. When you go to create your sample "pattern" (Basically, a sequence of samples set on the 16-step grid. The step sequencer/pattern system is one of the best reasons to get an Electribe, IMO.) You will notice that you can only assign your stereo samples to samples #s
1 and 3. They are marked with the "/ST" designation on the face of the ES-1. This limitation means that you only get to use two stereo samples at a time per pattern. Everything else has to be mono. Oh, and if you do use a stereo sample on #1 or 3, you can't assign anything to samples 2 or 4. Ugh!

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With that said, this device isn't THAT bad for what you are paying for it. You can get any of this generation of Electribes for under $200 easily, and under $150 if you wait for the right auctions. The ES-1 is really nice for creating drum patterns using mono cymbal crashes and one-off beats. Anything more elaborate, however, is an exercise in frustration that will make you wish you saved up for a Roland SP-404/555 or an MPC-anything instead (or just use Ableton and one of the pad MIDI controllers.) PS: Does anyone know if the Roland SP-404/404sx has these same Mono sample restrictions? How about on the SP-303?

I can talk about the other two Electribes as well, but this post is already dragging on... The ER-1 is great. Easily the best of the three IMO, this drum machine is extremely easy to use, is a bit sensitive. With careful fingers on the knobs you can get some good beats going. The EA-1 is a limited synth. Good for sound effects, really noisy bass, and weird sounds in general. The MicroKORG gets all of my synth attention now, but with some work the EA-1 can make a mean bass or growl.

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Has it really been eight years since I started posting on here?!? I feel old. The funny thing is that this site still looks the same after all of these years, old-school smileys and all

I have been busy with, you know, life, yet whenever I get back on here it feels like nothing has changed. There are still threads about comparing headphones, cds vs vinyl vs digital nonsense (Hint: Choose what YOU like! Stop caring what everyone else thinks on some website) and now the Tiesto bashing is accompanied with Skrillex bashing. Fun.

___________________
Overload (House/J-Pop/K-Pop): Click
No Pants Dance (Funky House/Electro House/K-Pop): Click
Dark Beach (Deep House): Click

Last edited by Dojomaster26 on Sep-04-2012 at 19:17

i had the emx and esx. while it was huge fun they sounded like crap and were incredible limited. i managed to make a few cool tracks raelly fast but the lack of eqs and other efex made it impossible to not sound muddy. i loved it though but it could never get to the point to be releasable soundquality. sold the shit, would love to hear some samples of what u managed to get them to do. im thinking about gettting machinedrum and monomachine and stop using computers forever.

edit: i feel old too.

I had all three of the original electribes at one point.. they are toys. Expect noticeable lag when changing patterns with that ES1 btw


I got the EA1 first, which helped me just wrap my head around basic synthesis, I think they are good for that cause they are such simple machines... good for learning on.. But really they all sound like garbage. The ER1 is almost redeemable except it doesn't have an attack function (really?) so get used to nasty clicks at the beginning of all your sounds

Last edited by meriter on Sep-05-2012 at 00:10

I still own the ES-1 and yes, from a sound point of view, it is a bit crap, but in terms of fun, or enjoyment from jamming on it? Nohting comes close and that's why I doubt I'll ever part with it.

Few pointers:

the msartmedia cards aren't that difficult to find. I've got a 32mb and a 16mb. You can pick them up in weird places like old and outdated computer or camera accessory stores in just about any city for peanuts.

As for loading samples, there's planty of user created batch converter programs out there that do everything for you.

One thing that REALLY sucks that you forgot to mention is that the sample rate of any samples HAS to be 32k. Yes, 32 fucking k. I have no idea why they chose this.

Second really sucky thing: the samples all have to named exactly .00, .01, 02, etc, or they won't be compatible.

At least the good news is the batch convert programs do these steps for you.

The mono thing makes perfect sense; you're loading in individual hits and then panning them. Why would they need to be stereo when you are the one that defines their placement with a stereo field. It makes perfect sense if you've ever recorded real drums - each mic is mono, on a mono track that gets panned in a stereo field.

I think of it more as a rhythm and bass drum sequencer, rather than trying to think it will ever be a full daw or sequencer.

My best advice is to get 100 of your favorite go to drum samples together. Basic stuff, the ones you always love to use but a goo varience of types. These don;t have to be the latest and greatest. (more on why later). Organise them in to say 10 groups of 10 types (with maybe 20 stereo samples in there)

Wipe you electribe completely.

Batch process the samples then upload the whole bank in the electribe.

Hook it up to your daw via midi both ways.

Create an approriate multi track to record the midi and another to record the audio.

Jam on the tribe and record what you create. Remember you can either step program each bar or you can just hit record and jam.

Now go to the midi track recording and in your daw, find the options separate by note. Bang. You have each sample note on a different track.

Load up battery 3, multi output/track version with you bestest new samples and drag and drop those samples on to the according notes for the midi track from the tribe. Drag the tribe recorded midi tracks on to the battery channel lane.

Now you're using the tribe as a control surface for battery, but if you just want to jam on the tribe then swap out sounds later, you can.

Save this as a template so in the future you just have to open the template.

Why the basic range of samples on the tribe? because you can waste your whole life trying to constantly update samples on the unit, but if you have basic sounds that are in the ball park, you can always swap them later with fresh sounds in your daw.

Think of it like composing with general midi to get a melody down, then replacing the GM with real orchestra samples.

If you need all the tools (as well as cool mods like battery packs and even USB mods) join the yahoo electribe user groups. It's a weird place in there but dang do they know their shit and most of them made all the programs and mods themselves.

Let me know if you need any help!

this man released on mistique, and I really want an electribe.

quote:

Originally posted by MSZ this man released on mistique, and I really want an electribe.

I think my man crush on you just got sexual.

I fucking love dark prog like that, and it's those vids that make we want to run home and fire up the 'tribe.

you can grab an album from him very cheap, he released it himself on bandcamp. In case you're interested.

http://olivermorgenroth.bandcamp.com/album/2012

quote:

Originally posted by clay i had the emx and esx. while it was huge fun they sounded like crap and were incredible limited. i managed to make a few cool tracks raelly fast but the lack of eqs and other efex made it impossible to not sound muddy. i loved it though but it could never get to the point to be releasable soundquality. sold the shit, would love to hear some samples of what u managed to get them to do. im thinking about gettting machinedrum and monomachine and stop using computers forever. edit: i feel old too.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of opportunity with these little boxes. My main gripe has been with the ES-1 and its arcane sample-loading process & restrictions. I lost my creative rush when, after hours or cutting and isolating samples from a music video, I found that I could only use two at a time.

Oh, and for some reason my "8" step key plays samples at a much lower volume than any of the other 15 step keys when I assign a sample to it. Its frustrating, to say the least.

quote:

Originally posted by clay I had all three of the original electribes at one point.. they are toys. Expect noticeable lag when changing patterns with that ES1 btw

They're toys, but past their time in some respects. The ER-1 has been a dream, and is exactly what I want in a drum machine. It would be nice to have a few more drum sounds, but there's still plenty of possibilities with just the built-in drums. I'll have to post some tips for creating patterns on that unit, although out of the three Electribes it is the most friendly unit to use right out of the box.

Quick tip: Hold shift and press play while playing a pattern to instantly play the selected pattern from the beginning. You can create a lot of cool variations and effects by doing rhythmically and doubling up on kick drums.

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I think the EA-1 has aged least gracefully, mainly because it is woefully lacking an LFO. It also is a monophonic synth, which means that you are only getting one note out of the thing at a time. The patterns on the EA-1 are separated into two "parts," which you can program separately in order to have pseudo 2-note chords. The parts aren't really designed for that type of programming, however, since they are hard panned to either the left or right channel.

The parts are meant for creating a stereo melody by being able to define where you want your notes to be played. You can imagine that recording synth parts from the EA-1 is a pain, since once you get them in your DAW you may need to re-pan the recording unless you are OK with your melody only working on the far-right or left channel.

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So while I may sound negative about these units, I really do accept them for what they can do in spite of their flaws. The EA-1 absolutely has a sound of its own. A very gritty, low-end sound that probably isn't going to be part of my repertoire, but would be at home in a hardcore, gabber, noise, etc. producer's studio. The ER-1 has a late-80s Detroit feeling to it with the old-school claps and kicks. Finally, all of these units look really freaking cool, especially with the patterns playing, the units in sync via MIDI, and the lights out. Like Rann said, these things are FUN to play!

I wanted to buy hardware from the start because my end goal of this production journey has always been to play out live. The live sets by Daft Punk and The Prodigy, not to mention the old-school Aphex Twin videos where Rich is hunched over an old desktop PC, have been an inspiration. I don't want to be just another guy with a laptop, but I'm afraid that my quest to "stand out" while still sounding cool has only shown me why people have moved on to Ableton and MIDI controllers instead of hardware. Maybe this is the wrong mindset, and I really should just be the guy with the laptop first.

I would <3 to have a new Moog Voyager with the green back lighting, but financial reality lead me to the Electribes. When I bought my first Electribe (EA-1) I wasn't sure if production was what I wanted to pursue. I'm more of a DJ than a producer, but I've always had tracks and grooves of my own floating around in my head. The frustrating part of this whole process is knowing exactly what I want, but trying to learn all of these new things, synthesis theory, music theory, how to play and program all of these instruments and DAWs, and still being lost as to how to get my ideas out of my head and into my ears. I'm sure every newbie producer has the same issue. The MicroKorg, BTW, is an amazing synth, and there is SO much to learn and explore

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN the msartmedia cards aren't that difficult to find. I've got a 32mb and a 16mb. You can pick them up in weird places like old and outdated computer or camera accessory stores in just about any city for peanuts.

I checked pawn shops and flea markets around here, but no luck (yet.) I bet I would have a better shot of finding these in Charlotte, but I have a working 64mb card now, so all is good.

You're right on the batch converter programs. I use a program at work called Rename Master that has been a real help with some of the grunt work. You can choose to rename all files in folder by a series (i.e. 00 - n), replace parts of all file names in a folder, etc. I recommend trying it for any sort of large file re-naming need.

I like your idea about using MIDI to dump the drum "patterns" into NI Battery 3 and then just swap out the drum sounds from there. The ES-1 is actually pretty nifty if you're just trying to use it like a drum machine. I may be biased since the previous owner of my ES-1 loaded the mono samples with lots of nice drum hits, snares, etc.

More info on NI Battery

If I went this route, I would need to buy Battery and a MIDI USB interface like the M-Audio 2x2 MIDISport

However, I am trying to use my sampler in a similar style as this, since I already have a drum machine that I'm happy with:



Your explanation of why mono would be used makes sense. Since I wasn't thinking of the ES-1 as a drum machine that notion didn't come to me. I just thought the mono restriction was more of a technical limitation than a possible design constraint.

That USB mod sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.

Thanks for the help!

___________________
Overload (House/J-Pop/K-Pop): Click
No Pants Dance (Funky House/Electro House/K-Pop): Click
Dark Beach (Deep House): Click