Korg's new Kaossilator Pro.

[RichF]

BTW Rich, you are doing an awesome job keeping us updated on this product, answering all of our questions (most of which are pretty tough) and I have to say thank you for the extra time and effort you are putting into this forum on the KOPro alone.

My pleasure SMK. I'm pretty sure you folks are going to dig it when it comes out, but I know how nice it is to get a little inside info beforehand.

[sipa]

3) It's a shame that when my timing or pitch is off I'll have to lose everything built up in a loop/track to "undo" it
but the Undo function from the plain Kaossilator would pause the whole loop, making it unusable in a live situation anyway.
(It was very handy when building loops on the bus, when a lurch would introduce some baaaad elements -
but the KOPro can't be powered on the bus and won't fit in my coat pocket.)

I have found way around that, just keep it playing but press rec button and then scale button to go to erase mode. Saved look continue to play, but unsaved will be muted and you can remodel that part. Only live problem that cannot be solved is the pause when you fix loop, but i'll be happy to be wrong here.

This needs good sense of timing, but not so hard to pull off.

Cheers
- sipa

[xmlguy]

I'll just have to try it to see how the gate arp really works on the KOPRO. Is the pad multitouch, like on the Kaossilator? If I press on two places at the same time, I get something in the middle. This is a very important aspect of how the pad works, because it allows for doing riffs like triplets and such up and down the scales.

The pad behaves the same way as the original Kaossilator... Touch two spots, and you'll get the exact position in the middle. It's actually a single-touch mechanism, but two touches produces this useful result.

Thanks for the info, Rich! The single-touch mechanism seems different than the Kaossilator though. For example, on the Kaossilator I can do these motions:

Press and hold on left, press and hold on the right, then drag either or both of the fingers, and I first get the note from the left then I get a range of notes in the middle as I move.

Press and hold on the left, press and hold on the right, release the left, and I get a triplet of left note, center note, then right note. The width of the presses determines the interval of the triplet. So I can do an upward triplet by keeping the presses close together, then do left/hold, right/hold, left/release, left/moveup, right/release, repeat. This gives a really great guitar style riff on lead patches.

What I might do is buy a couple more original Kaossilators, then get the KOPRO to handle the overdub looping along with its new programs, and then send the output to the KP3. I'll try KO_1+KO_2+KO_3+DS-10plus+EMX1+R3+QY100+MPC1000+SP404 ==> sub mixer ==> KOPRO ==> KP3 ==> 606 ==> PA. I don't know how many buttons and LEDs that will be, but it will be a _lot_. Then there's the Mega Pixel LED bar I use to light the rig with 384 LEDs. I'd like to leave a spot for the ESX-2 that Korg will release this year - if my powers of telepersuasion can zap the Korg R&D team into fulfilling my deepest desire.

[salamanderanagram]

xmlguy - the kaossilator is single touch. i think the effect you are describing happens because it's a capacitve touch sensor and if two or more places are being touched it gives back an average of all the spots. the kp3 works in the same way.

[xmlguy]

xmlguy - the kaossilator is single touch. i think the effect you are describing happens because it's a capacitve touch sensor and if two or more places are being touched it gives back an average of all the spots. the kp3 works in the same way.

Except that the Kaossilator isn't capacitive - it's resistive. So's the KP3. Touch them with an insulator - they still respond.

I think my concern about the difference in the pads between the two is that the Kaossilator uses a better and more precise mapping of the pad to the notes than the KP3. The KP3 doesn't result in a very accurate mid point when touched on far edges. For example, touch the bottom left corner and top right corner at the same time. You won't get something in the middle, you'll get a point closer to the bottom left, at least that's how it works on my KP3. The Kaossilator seems to have a much higher resolution and accuracy. If the KOPRO is mapped like the Kaossilator, all will be well in the Kaoss world. I don't like or use the KP3 synths at all, since they don't maintain key & scale.

[Hugo]

@ RichF:

Thank you for good and informative answers. Do you know which effects the KOPro feature?

[salamanderanagram]

xmlguy, your kp3 sounds screwy, mine works just like a kaossilator. sure, resistive, capacitive touch screens, whatever, you get the point - it works the same way. it automatically gives an average, but it's not multitouch.

[xmlguy]

xmlguy, your kp3 sounds screwy, mine works just like a kaossilator. sure, resistive, capacitive touch screens, whatever, you get the point - it works the same way. it automatically gives an average, but it's not multitouch.

On your KP3, when you touch the bottom left corner and top right corner at the same time, what position on the grid do you get? There's no center cell on an 8x8 grid. I get the 3x3 position (assuming bottom left is 0x0) lit up. That is rather far from the center. Maybe there's a pad calibration I need to do on it?

[bluemind]

On your KP3, when you touch the bottom left corner and top right corner at the same time, what position on the grid do you get? There's no center cell on an 8x8 grid. I get the 3x3 position (assuming bottom left is 0x0) lit up. That is rather far from the center. Maybe there's a pad calibration I need to do on it?

What happens if you move the finger in the bottom left corner a little towards the upper right corner? If the lights jump to 4x4, I believe you are indeed getting the center position of the pad.

[salamanderanagram]

i think the corner pads specifically transmit values 0-1, so you have to be on the right "half" of the square... i could be wrong. still, several kaossilator patches have 8 notes do they not? what note do they play if you put them thru the same test?

[salamanderanagram]

just confirmed on my kp3 that you can go between the 2 'center' squares by moving my finger back and forth across the right grid (CC values 126-127, i think).

[xmlguy]

i think the corner pads specifically transmit values 0-1, so you have to be on the right "half" of the square... i could be wrong. still, several kaossilator patches have 8 notes do they not? what note do they play if you put them thru the same test?

Most of the Kaossilator programs have 15x15 grid, with 8x8 being a center point, at least on a pentatonic scale. It's very well defined and very precise to get the exact same notes at octave intervals by pressing the edges separately or together, to get a range of -1,0,+1 octave intervals. Some programs have a greater octave range, however I usually avoid them because they're much harder to control the pitch with precision.

[Genesisco Kid]

Believe me, I'm listening, and I've passed along all the comments about wanting to send note data while not in External Control mode. Of course, I can't guarantee any changes, but rest assured Korg knows that this is on your minds.

Again, it's never as simple as flipping a switch or adding another line of code, so it's wrong to assume that it's a thoughtless omission, or even a design choice.

Hello... long-time Korg product user and occasional forum lurker here. So I'm definitely interested in the KoPro, but saw one of the NAMM videos where the demo revealed the unsettling answer to a question I had. The KP3 had an issue where samples would degrade (in pitch) once the BPM/tempo was changed. That was a deal-breaker for me and I returned it since I didn't see any updates resolving the issue.

I wondered if this had been addressed with the release of the KoPro... and according to the NAMM video, it hadn't. The pitch changed as the original tempo was dropped. I'd like to see, purchase, and use this instrument if I create and build some music at, say, 120 BPM... and not have the whole sound get destroyed as I'm adjusting the tempo to 110 or 135 BPM. Is this something that will be corrected before product roll out?

Look forward to some answer. Peace.

[LouisP]

Hello Rich and fellow users, I've been reading this thread with marked interest over the past week and I wanted to thank you for providing so much info and discussion on the product.

As much as I am looking forward to getting a Kaoss Pro, I have a few questions regarding Midi instruments.

Firstly, I know you can plug an external controller such as a keyboard in the midi-in port to play the internal sounds from the Kaoss Pro, but what about controllers plugged in through the usb port, for example a Korg Nanokey? It would be less of a hassle to carry that around rather than an Oxygen keyboard.

Secondly, when I'm playing with an external keyboard controller, how can I tweak the effect on the selected preset (the Y-Axis on the pad)? Is this done through the kb's modulation wheel, an assignable controller, or on the pad itself? Or is it simply not possible?

And lastly, if I turn on the Gate Arp, will it affect the notes input from the external controller?

Overall the product looks amazing and I can't wait to try it out with a Mini-KP.
Once again thanks a lot.

[RichF]

Hi all, here are a few more answers:

Hugo- the KOPro has these audio-in effects: Pitch shifting, grain shifting, delay, filter, and looper.

Genesisco Kid- The pitch changes (not degrades) as you change the tempo, just like on the KP3, and just like a turntable. This is not something that will be changed before release. Just so you know, the KP3 DOES have the ability to change tempo without affecting pitch. It's not part of the global tempo, but a preset effect that's controlled with the X/Y pad.

LouisP-
1. a) Actually, a MIDI keyboard plugged into the MIDI in won't instantly play notes. The KOPro receives MIDI CC messages, but not note messages. So, you'll need to translate your keyboard's notes to CC values if you want to treat the KOPro as a sound module.
b) The USB port is only for communication with a Mac or PC.

2. See answer #1... Once you translate MIDI notes into CC messages, you'll need to assign a different controller to the CC value that matches the Y-axis.

3. Yes. Plus, if you're recording the KOPro into a sequencer, you can automate the Gate Arp's on/off status, speed, and time values.

And now, bonus info...

If you look closely at the KOPro, you'll notice that the GATE ARP button is in the same spot as the HOLD button on the KP3... That doesn't mean that the HOLD function is gone, we've just moved it to the SHIFT button instead.

Here's another cool feature... While the KOPro is playing back loops, you can hold down the ERASE LOOP button, then tap/hold the LOOP BANK buttons to erase part or all of the loop. In addition to that, if you touch the pad while holding down both buttons, you can record onto the loop bank at the same time you're erasing the material that's already there!