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Yeah, actually I think it has to do with genres and also maybe region. I think groovebox devices (maybe step sequencer is better) could be more popular for European genres. I mean things like jungle, DnB, Dubstep, etc. all those kind of styles don't have a big following in America and maybe the step sequencer groovebox works more closely to those genres. Of course those genres exist in America but I mean it's more rare, you will basically never turn on the radio and hear a dubstep song. Also I guess it's personal preference. I mean even dance if it has some kind of jazzy motifs or melodies like Basement Jaxx or Groove Armada you need some kind keyboard that has a good synth engine and basically any keyboard like that is going to have step sequencers, midi control, etc. already.

I think my problem is I bought the esx-1 before I really knew how I liked to make music or new anything about music theory. Maybe I was trying to delay the inevitable of learning to play a synth keyboard by trying to use a step sequencer. For what I want to do I think I'm better off banging out the drums and samples on a mpc then playing the synth and instrument melodies on a keyboard and putting it all together on a daw in the pc.

With the update it too much I think think if you add everything and the kitchen sink it will end up costing about $2000 bucks and probably be huge. I think the appeal of the electribe is it's cheap entry level, light so you can just put it on your lap or toss it on the shelf and if something happened to it you wouldn't be in the poor house. To do everything it would probably weigh like 30 pounds and cost a couple grand sort of killing off it's low end charm....although the more I think about it what they should do...put a touch screen like the jazzmutants but only on the strip where the sequencer buttons are! Then it would still be cheap but you could put down notes at any place on the strip and after you slice a sample you could just drag the sample slices around the strip to rearrange them. Ok, that would be exciting! If they could keep it under $1000 and have both sampling and some kind of synth engine too I would buy one in a second.

personally, i own several full-size keyboards (including *gasp* -- a Roland Fantom-S workstation! ), but they generally gather dust. i much prefer creating everything, including melodies, on my little boxes. at any given time, i have five Electribes, a Yamaha DX200, an FR Revolution, microKORG, and Monomachine all sync'd together. and i can fit all those into the same space as two full-size workstations, which is a huge benefit to these little guys.

jerseykorg, you sound like a perfect candidate for the MPC1000. if you've never used one before, it's got quite a bit more of a learning curve to it than the Electribes, but it is one of the deepest sequencers on the market, and one of the most flexible. it's got those great MPC pads (the newer black model anyway) that were just made for tapping in beats, and you can sequence up to 32 tracks of MIDI (!!!), so you could basically make it the centerpiece of your studio, controlling everything else from it. and of course it samples too. it's just under $1000 at most places online, but if you find one used, you'll pay considerably less.

definitely check it out.

It seems to me that a groovebox/sequencer/drum-machine that offered both MPC style and x0x style sequencing would do well. Let's face it, even the straightest 4x4 track could use a bit of off-beat magic, no? Is the Linndrum II going along those lines?

Yeah, actually I got one of those akai mpd midi pads that I hook up to fruity loops and it's basically same as mpc but I can store, slice and load the samples all from the computer. And since fruity loops already has a step sequencer I never bother to use the esx. For me at least the "workflow" or whatever is drastically improved.

As for the linndrum II I'm sure it will have that. Also it will no doubt have velocity sensitive pads which is another downer on the electribes. On the akai pad devices it changes the volume depending on how hard you tap the pad so you can get even more out of your samples. And with fruity loops and the mpd you can even put different samples depending on how hard you hit it so if you tap it really light maybe its just a kick but if you tap it hard its a loud kick and some kind of synth sound or whatever you want at the same time. The linndrum II will probably do all that but I bet it will cost over $1000 maybe more.

jerseykorg wrote:The linndrum II will probably do all that but I bet it will cost over $1000 maybe more.

you better believe it. i wouldn't be surprised to see it near the $1600-2000 mark.

Before anyone buys an mpc they should know that the pads have a 90% chance of dying on them within the first 4 years of use, maybe even sooner.
Ive done some research, come to find out that AKAI started cutting corners with cheaper materials and lackluster manufacturing starting with the MPC2000XL...I have the 2k and one of the pads went out on me, and what do ya know 2000XL replacement pads have been discontinued!
So basically im up the river on that one.
The mpc1000 for anyone not up to speed is notorious for having the worst pads of all the models.

Whatever though.....if you got the extra cash cop an MPC, just understand some of the things that may go wrong.
Akai customer support is piss poor.

Dj Pound wrote: The mpc1000 for anyone not up to speed is notorious for having the worst pads of all the models.

apparently, the newest black 1000 no longer suffers from the bad pads. buying a used black model is taking a risk, as is buying any of the blue/red model.