Electribe Sampler 2 - review (of sorts)

Redmond Barry · Post by **Redmond Barry** » Sat May 30, 2015 5:11 pm

I'm bummed to hear about the menu diving. I feel like I can handle almost any limitations. But I despise menu diving. How bad is it? I am not looking to do much with the ES2 outside of using it as a drum machine.

disconnector · Post by **disconnector** » Sat May 30, 2015 5:57 pm

Ok, I've posted the empty sample bank here:

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=97993

disconnector · Post by **disconnector** » Sat May 30, 2015 6:07 pm

Another thing I've discovered: if your Master FX is the same, from one pattern to the next, the effect WILL carry over.

So, if you have a delay on PATTERN001, and the exact same delay on PATTERN002, things should carry over. If you have, say, a Hall Reverb on PATTERN002, that delay will cut off when you switch.

This, in theory makes sense - there's only one master FX "processor" in there, and it would have to handle two simultaneously to cover the switch. Switching FX is often a noisy affair, so I'd say be mindful of that when applying FX that have a decay element - delays, reverbs, etc.

dutchcow · Post by **dutchcow** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:56 am

disconnector wrote:Another thing I've discovered: if your Master FX is the same, from one pattern to the next, the effect WILL carry over.

This has been default behaviour on the E2. And IFX tails or note decays will be cut off just like that on both boxes. Not really a discovery but ok, I am trying not to add too much extra negativity to this forum

disconnector · Post by **disconnector** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 6:13 pm

Ok, quick update here:

After clearing all the default stuff out of the ES2, I finally have my samples loaded. A few notes on that:

1. Despite having to import things one at a time, it didn't take a terribly long amount of time to do this. There is a danger of overwriting your last imported sample, as it defaults to "saving" to the last written location.

2. You can put them in whatever slot you like, from 500 to 999. This is nice. For example, my current kick drums reside in 500-536. The snares start at 550, so if I add more bass drums, I have 14 more slots.

3. I really, REALLY wish you could assign a "category" to the samples. When scrolling, you have to start at 500, and there's no jumping ahead when hitting Shift. At very least, it would be nice if Shift+Scroll made jumps of 10 or something.

4. These pads, I can't even. Just use the step sequencer for 16th note hats. Playing it will not happen unless you've got fingers like Thor. Granted, most won't do this. I was just finger drumming some stuff, and, blech.

5. All of those gripes aside, FINALLY having my samples in, this thing is sounds light years better than any of the previous Electribes. Should have some samples up soon. I do wish the pads had more than three colors - it would be nice to have individual colors per part. Would make moving between step sequencing and triggering so much easier.

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:00 pm

Disconnector,

What about naming your samples? Is it a tedious process or quick? Is it like naming patterns on the e2 (not sure if you've used one)?

disconnector · Post by **disconnector** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:29 pm

It's the same. You can't (AFAIK) delete a character.

When importing from an SD card (which is how I got all of my samples on there), it'll take the entire file name except for the .wav part. This is useful.

gizmoismogwai · Post by **gizmoismogwai** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:55 pm

disconnector wrote:Ok, quick update here:

After clearing all the default stuff out of the ES2, I finally have my samples loaded. A few notes on that:

1. Despite having to import things one at a time, it didn't take a terribly long amount of time to do this. There is a danger of overwriting your last imported sample, as it defaults to "saving" to the last written location.

2. You can put them in whatever slot you like, from 500 to 999. This is nice. For example, my current kick drums reside in 500-536. The snares start at 550, so if I add more bass drums, I have 14 more slots.

3. I really, REALLY wish you could assign a "category" to the samples. When scrolling, you have to start at 500, and there's no jumping ahead when hitting Shift. At very least, it would be nice if Shift+Scroll made jumps of 10 or something.

4. These pads, I can't even. Just use the step sequencer for 16th note hats. Playing it will not happen unless you've got fingers like Thor. Granted, most won't do this. I was just finger drumming some stuff, and, blech.

5. All of those gripes aside, FINALLY having my samples in, this thing is sounds light years better than any of the previous Electribes. Should have some samples up soon. I do wish the pads had more than three colors - it would be nice to have individual colors per part. Would make moving between step sequencing and triggering so much easier.

Hey disconnector,

Thanks for your ongoing review! So far you've provided one of the best resources for info on this device and that's much appreciated. I'm wondering if you decided to keep it now that you've loaded your own samples. You seem to be warming up to the device more which is promising. I also have some questions that will impact whether I get one and hopefully you can answer them for me if you've got time.

1. You noted that it didn't take long to load your own samples on the device. For drums I wondered if you could speed the process up even further using a method the ESX allows - string all your samples together into one long .wav and then use the Slice function to select individual hits. This would mean you only have to load one sample into the device but get the benefit of choosing from many. Is that still possible? My hope is that Korg or some beautiful human being with coding skills will create an application for administering samples on the device the way Open Electribe Editor does.

2. I would love the ability to plug an instrument into the Audio In and record a loop onto a single part while the pattern plays. If you tried this on the ESX your recorded loop would contain all audio coming out of the device so that obviously isn't ideal. Does the new sampler allow what I'm looking for? And if not, are you still able to resample to a metronome the way the ESX could?

3. Lastly, have you tried to get around the 4 bar limitation? I'm imagining that to get 8 bars the best option is using a tempo that's half of your pattern's original tempo. You probably lose the ability to use 32nd notes since you still only have 16 steps per bar, but you could technically resample your original tempo parts into loops and then trigger them on bar 1 and bar 3 to get a full 8 bars. Then you could technically trigger 8 bar loops from bar 1/step 1 and have them play all the way through. Have you tried this and has it been successful? Is it tedious enough to make it not worth it?

These are all the big deciding factors for me. I just bought an ESX SD that I love and won't get rid of no matter what but I do want something portable for sketching out ideas. That would either be the Electribe Sampler or an MPC 500. So I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

disconnector · Post by **disconnector** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:56 pm

Yet another update. Hopefully you're finding all of this useful.

1. The fact that all of your own samples are saved to the card, and that you HAVE to export/burn save the entire sample set before you shut down, is a major pain in the ass.

2. While the per-part filter is interesting when using this as a drum machine, either having more filters types, or a 3 band EQ, would be so much more useful. There's not much you can do to shape/tame a kick drum. Yes, there are some insert FX, but you're not given much control over those.

3. It's very easy to grab the scroll knob when going for the oscillator knob. As you all know, this can wreak havoc if you haven't saved your patter. WHICH, the ES2 gives you no indication if you've changed it from the last saved state.

4. There are some upsides. While this doesn't have the immediacy of the EMX/ESX series, the sound is much cleaner and true to it's source. Importing into Ableton, everything sounds exactly the same.

5. The overall construction is fantastic. I'd have preferred rubber knobs, but these can easily be swapped for some DJ Tech Tools ones. In fact, a brightly coloured knob for the OSC would help to prevent some accidental scroll knob movement.

6. I did not try sampling from an external source. This doesn't feel like a strength with this box.

7. Being able to customize the length of each part is also interesting for creating some odd rhythms and such.

In many ways, this reminds me of the Waldorf Blofeld. It's capable of quite a bit, if you're willing to put the time and effort into it. There are things from a usability standpoint that are utterly baffling, even coming from years of use with the other Electribes. For some, these hurdles are worth jumping, for others, we'll gravitate toward other tools. For me, I feel like I've got to drag this to where I want to go with it.

A software editor would go a long, long way with this. Auto-saving things would as well (or, at least have an option to save things that way). As it is, it needs to "think" on shutdown - writing out all the current sample data (if you had that option selected) wouldn't be a huge undertaking.

SMK · Post by **SMK** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:05 pm

disconnector wrote:Ok, quick update here:

After clearing all the default stuff out of the ES2, I finally have my samples loaded. A few notes on that:

2. You can put them in whatever slot you like, from 500 to 999. This is nice. For example, my current kick drums reside in 500-536. The snares start at 550, so if I add more bass drums, I have 14 more slots.

I just barely got my ES2. Quick side note: Yes I love this thing!!!! It's awesome. I'll post more in a better review.

Anyhow. I have not used your file to clear out all the default stuff yet. But I can see how everything open sample space starts at 500. So my question is since your set up has no "default" samples, (they're all cleared out) wouldn't your sampling space start at Sample 001? A better question would be; how are the "once default spaces", now, labeled using your special file? Wouldn't they be Sample 001 through Sample 499?

disconnector · Post by **disconnector** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:07 pm

For drums I wondered if you could speed the process up even further using a method the ESX allows - string all your samples together into one long .wav and then use the Slice function to select individual hits.

This is likely possible, however, after years of collecting and trimming my drum sample collection, keeping them as individual files was easier. Plus, the names were all there, just as they are in Ableton/Impulse/DrumRack

I would love the ability to plug an instrument into the Audio In and record a loop onto a single part while the pattern plays.

Possibly? I can't see why you wouldn't, BUT, it doesn't seem like that's the intent with this machine.

Regarding the 4 bar limitation. For me, this would be a machine to use as a sketch tool for drums, and then bring it into Ableton. So, 4 bars is plenty for me. I did mess around with half-tempo parts, and using delays, it's alright, but if you use a lot of 32nd notes, you might have more luck with doing it over two patterns.

There's no song mode, and the mute/solo functionality is very poorly implemented, so let's be real - the ability to use this as a live performance tool is immediately limiting in that regard. That, combined with the abrupt changes from pattern to pattern would be dealbreakers for me.

I would also say that if you're planning to actually PLAY a lot of your parts in, the MPC might be a better bet. I really struggled with getting things to trigger accurately with this, particularly hats. I mean, the pads on the Alesis SR16 were more expressive and sensitive than this.[/quote]

kodama · Post by **kodama** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:56 pm

I played with one for about 30 minutes on Friday. I think there are actually less menus than on the ESX? There just aren't any labels for the menus (holding shift and clicking a pad selects a menu item, or you can use the left/right cursor). The synth osc modes are very limited compared to the E2 (there are 16 types total). There are no VPM or X-Mod ones, for instance.

The whole thing is kind of a head-scratcher for me. I may have to get one at some point to see if I can bond with it. So far it’s not instant love like the ESX or Volca Sample. Some features (vs the ESX) :

+ Active step

+ Sync in/out

+ Battery Power

+ Portability

+ Chords

+ Different end step per track

+ The pads are nicer to hit

+ 16 parts can be anything

+ Can clear motion seq without stopping

+ The effects sound better

+/- Per-channel limited effects Vs 3 master effects

- No song mode

- No roll

- No tubes

- No separate pads for playing/selecting/muting parts vs steps

- Only stereo out

- Combining too many options in one menu knob (osc type or sample, modulation type and destination) is annoying

- A few options that had dedicated buttons (smooth/stepped motion)

(Sorry if that's too much rehashed info, just my impression!)

kodama · Post by **kodama** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:57 pm

Oh one annoying thing, I think if a sample is sliced, it always plays as a slice?

disconnector · Post by **disconnector** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:16 am

Lest anyone think I came here to hate: I have the new Electribe / E2 sitting here, and I love it.

SMK · Post by **SMK** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:24 am

Thanks for this detailed review on installing your own samples, disconnector.