Current State of Electribes in terms of bugs/issues

[prokat99]

Hi everyone,

I have been wanting to purchase a new Electribe since I saw the first ad. However, after being burned by countless companies in terms of delivering a solid, relatively bug free product, I pretty much refuse to purchase any device until it hits 1 year of age on the market. With that said, I've been trying to keep an eye on the E2 and ES2 in terms of "fixes" for known issues but it's hard to wade through all the forums, reviews, firmware upgrades, etc....

So, hopefully without starting any fires, I'd like to ask this forum about what issues are still present in either of the units.
Stuff I've heard includes:
-Sunken Pads
-Clipping Samples/"Oscillators"
-no "carry-over" for sounds unless you have same sound on same pad in the next sequence
-something about noise being generated from the LCD....?
-very easy to lose work/no recall or undo when accidentally switching pattterns

If you chose to take the time to answer, please only add confirmed info and please refrain from speculation.

I'm hoping this post could be used as a resource for perspective buyers as well as a place for Korg to see why people may not be buying too.

For the record, it's clear after reading lots of posts that these units are much less sophisticated then high end sampler/workstations. I expect it to be limited in many ways, but I would still like to hear from people who have legitimate arguments about these limitations. The unit has some cool sounding abilities (Live integration, battery power, etc....) but if those abilities are "half-baked," or have serious flaws, that would be helpful info.

Cheers!

[h.vel]

Sorry, but all the issues (and more) you mentioned are still there. It doesn't seem that Korg is interessted to fix them. The last updates have been very small and in my opinion completely useless. For example: Korg tried to fix the noise problem when power safe mode (darker LCD display) and audio in is enabled. But the only thing that has changed is the frequency of this noise, which now feels louder than before.

If you did not buy the E2 because of the issues you've mentioned, you should look for something different.

[Tarekith]

The switching patterns issue is fixed in the latest OS, you can set it up so that you also need to press shift to switch a patterns. Works great.

[captain johnson]

The switching patterns issue is fixed in the latest OS, you can set it up so that you also need to press shift to switch a patterns. Works great.

Is that the new pattern option in Global menu or something else?

[h.vel]

The switching patterns issue is fixed in the latest OS, you can set it up so that you also need to press shift to switch a patterns. Works great.

Ok, I didn't know that with pressing shift it's still possible to change a pattern when it is locked (I thought you just can lock or unlock, which wouldn't be useful for me). But with shift it's really not bad, though that's the way the Electribes always worked: changing a pattern deletes your work.

[captain johnson]

Hi everyone,

I have been wanting to purchase a new Electribe since I saw the first ad. However, after being burned by countless companies in terms of delivering a solid, relatively bug free product, I pretty much refuse to purchase any device until it hits 1 year of age on the market. With that said, I've been trying to keep an eye on the E2 and ES2 in terms of "fixes" for known issues but it's hard to wade through all the forums, reviews, firmware upgrades, etc....

So, hopefully without starting any fires, I'd like to ask this forum about what issues are still present in either of the units.
Stuff I've heard includes:
-Sunken Pads
-Clipping Samples/"Oscillators"
-no "carry-over" for sounds unless you have same sound on same pad in the next sequence
-something about noise being generated from the LCD....?
-very easy to lose work/no recall or undo when accidentally switching pattterns

If you chose to take the time to answer, please only add confirmed info and please refrain from speculation.

I'm hoping this post could be used as a resource for perspective buyers as well as a place for Korg to see why people may not be buying too.

For the record, it's clear after reading lots of posts that these units are much less sophisticated then high end sampler/workstations. I expect it to be limited in many ways, but I would still like to hear from people who have legitimate arguments about these limitations. The unit has some cool sounding abilities (Live integration, battery power, etc....) but if those abilities are "half-baked," or have serious flaws, that would be helpful info.

Cheers!

Right you asked for it.......... happy owner here.

-Sunken Pads - go to the store and ask to see unit first, look at back row of pads, they should be at least half risen to the front row. However you can change the velocity action in the system menu if you find any of the pads difficult to play.


-Clipping Samples/"Oscillators" - not noticeable on E2, dunno about ES2. Using the Amp section helps iron out sound kinks.

-no "carry-over" for sounds unless you have same sound on same pad in the next sequence there are no note tails but you can use same IFX per part or MFX with say a delay which will carry over. I have found this is cool to use but you have to know which part you're effecting. Maybe a future firmware might add the note tails. The effects work around it ok for now though.

-something about noise being generated from the LCD....?
My biggest complaint but is fixed in latest firmware. The LCD was causing components to buzz when in power save mode with audio thru on.

-very easy to lose work/no recall or undo when accidentally switching patterns I have never really had an issue with this as I kinda know where the dial is but I have lost work occasionally. However as stated above there is now a lock to prevent this. or if the pattern hasnt gone through the amount of bars set you can switch it to the pattern you were on.

For the record, it's clear after reading lots of posts that these units are much less sophisticated then high end sampler/workstations. I expect it to be limited in many ways, but I would still like to hear from people who have legitimate arguments about these limitations. The unit has some cool sounding abilities (Live integration, battery power, etc....) but if those abilities are "half-baked," or have serious flaws, that would be helpful info.

The latest firmware is pretty solid for EMX2 imo. However the sound quality and ease of use of unit is the biggest plus for me. Have a go of the unit on some proper monitors and you'll see, it sounds superb. The ability to back up your patterns on a memory stick is awesome, if you ever have to replace your unit just stick in your me stick an you're back where you left off btw you have calibrate the track pad on latest firmware loads of people forget that!

The size and price of the unit are truly great too, does a lot for a little box. However the voice stealing is a pain in the ass. But Korg have defo made it so you either; buy some volcas to go with it or the ES2. I use mine with the a Volca bass and Sample through a little passive mixer into the audio in on EMX2. Sounds great the sync in/out is great too. But I do use the the unit by itself too, it's got some weird an great FX on it. I'm sacking off getting a mixer and just doing gigs from the EMX2 itself, outputs really well. The fact I can go practice anywhere if I throw batteries in it is unbeatable. The build quality too is boss! I had a go of Elektron rytm an A4 and the dials on those things are cheap as f*ck for the price you pay......

Hope this helps for now. Check out my tunes using this set up here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzqrmoXhHdg

This is just the EMX2: https://soundcloud.com/neoluddites/neo- ... sneak-peak

The question I'd ask yourself is what type of music are you looking to make. You can do some fairly complex stuff on EMX2 but probably is conjunction with other gear. But it suits me to do out an out techno or electro.


[/b]

[apapdop]

I have them both and like them both a great deal. But as you are aware, they are not without their quirks and foibles!! I've found that in time, i've found solutions or workarounds to get over these, or even just change the way i do stuff. And i've been happy to change my approach because i enjoy working with them and making a few adjustments to my workflow hasn't been such a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

I'll say one thing though. Or maybe two...

If you approach these boxes thinking "16 parts!! Wow!! I can have 16 tracks playing at once!!", you will be sorely disappointed. I've found that 8 fairly busy parts playing at once is about tops, then you will run into voice stealing. It becomes an optimising game where you have to discover the rules as you go along. Some synth voices/filter models/insert fx use more horsepower than others. Sometimes you run into voice stealing way before you hit 8 parts, then you make a few tweaks to note priority, switch filters/fx off where you don't need them and you gain some voice count. That's how it is i'm afraid. You have to decide whether you like using the box enough to learn your way around it's shortcomings.

It's not particularly deep so you'll learn your way around it soon enough. An example is the clicking. You'll run into this, then discover that changing the part from mono to poly, or setting the attack to 10 rather than 0 and the clicking goes away. It's full of little things like that, solveable if you just spend a little time. But i guess in this day and age of tremendous expectation, they can initially seem a bit... meh... Believe me, they are far from that.

[prokat99]

This is a lot of great info. Thank you all for giving me a good idea where the Electribe stands. It is sad that Korg hasn't addressed a lot of the issues but I think I might still pick one up.

The best thing is that it looks like I don't have to decide between the standard and the sampler now.

Cheers!

[jpeg]

I think both electribes are great fun; loads of limitations loads of missing features but despite all the shortcomings its possible to very quickly and very easily come up with some really grooving beasts fast.

yeas in this day an age there should be more for the money but until then the electribes are worth having for those who just wanna turn it on and start jamming.

defo beings the fun factor to the forefront and that means lots of happy accidents and great sounds with little to no effort.