EMX1 vs E2 - techno and ambient. Volcas.

FranciscoArellano · Post by **FranciscoArellano** » Tue May 10, 2016 12:52 pm

Hi there,
I want to buy a e2. In order to make it simple, here are my questions.

Which machine do you think is better for making techno and why?
Which machine do you thinks is better for making ambient music and why?
Which machine do you thinks works better with volcas and why?

Here is my www.soundcloud.com/heliosva so if you want you can check what kind of ambient music I have done (only emx1, kp3+ and sometimes system1). I haven't uploaded any techno though cuz' just recently I'm trying it.

Thanks!

thesigma · Post by **thesigma** » Tue May 10, 2016 4:21 pm

All those questions are really matters of opinion, except maybe that the last one, where the E2 has sync out for Volcas. I think the e2 sounds fine but I'm not a fan of the design choices and limitations. many people think the EMX sounds more "RAW" but the drums are more "modern" on the E2.

Otherwise since you say you want to buy an e2 then just buy it from somewhere with a good return policy and try it out for a few weeks. Ultimately it's your opinion of the machine that matters and since your questions are questions of Taste and not technical things that are concrete, then you will get a variety of opinions that may or may not be inline with yours.

captain johnson · Post by **captain johnson** » Tue May 10, 2016 4:30 pm

good EMX2 techno track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a282ZQJIxEM

good EMX2 ambient track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsEIcrx6aW4

I have E2 and volcas and they work great together!

Pitchblender · Post by **Pitchblender** » Tue May 10, 2016 11:05 pm

Ambient House? I did this Orb cover trying to learn the EMX 2, and it's a long, slow process... Lots of non-intuitive functions you have to just learn. I enjoyed building sounds and rhythms to match what I remembered, and am still exploring with my own stuff. It's a really great way of learning to try and emulate existing music and I'm happy with the sounds, although the lack of song mode is a great way to discipline yourself with creativity...or get a MIDI sequencer...

http://youtu.be/tR_ITT30Vac

The ESX2 I've played with via the EMX2 hack but found the sample memory too low for what I want from a sampler, so use an SP-404SX presently, although its sequencing is terrible...

Take a look at more YouTube videos - Tarekith's are excellent - and you'll start to see that it's got loads of potential if you're willing to put the time in and work around its limitations.

FranciscoArellano · Post by **FranciscoArellano** » Thu May 12, 2016 1:58 am

thesigma wrote:All those questions are really matters of opinion, except maybe that the last one, where the E2 has sync out for Volcas. I think the e2 sounds fine but I'm not a fan of the design choices and limitations. many people think the EMX sounds more "RAW" but the drums are more "modern" on the E2.

Otherwise since you say you want to buy an e2 then just buy it from somewhere with a good return policy and try it out for a few weeks. Ultimately it's your opinion of the machine that matters and since your questions are questions of Taste and not technical things that are concrete, then you will get a variety of opinions that may or may not be inline with yours.

Thank you. You're right. The only problem is that in my country (Chile) return policies are a bit crappy. I think.

captain johnson wrote: good EMX2 techno track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a282ZQJIxEM

good EMX2 ambient track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsEIcrx6aW4

I have E2 and volcas and they work great together!

Both are very cool, the second one I heard it before, I think is awesome! That guy really makes a thing with the e2.

Pitchblender wrote:Ambient House? I did this Orb cover trying to learn the EMX 2, and it's a long, slow process... Lots of non-intuitive functions you have to just learn. I enjoyed building sounds and rhythms to match what I remembered, and am still exploring with my own stuff. It's a really great way of learning to try and emulate existing music and I'm happy with the sounds, although the lack of song mode is a great way to discipline yourself with creativity...or get a MIDI sequencer...

http://youtu.be/tR_ITT30Vac

The ESX2 I've played with via the EMX2 hack but found the sample memory too low for what I want from a sampler, so use an SP-404SX presently, although its sequencing is terrible...

Take a look at more YouTube videos - Tarekith's are excellent - and you'll start to see that it's got loads of potential if you're willing to put the time in and work around its limitations.

Thanks. Have you used the emx1? In terms of pattern creation is it less intuitive?

By the way... I see that the e2 uses a "strange" MIDI connection, can anyone tell me wth is that? I'm used to the 5 PIN MIDI connection

totalcult · Post by **totalcult** » Thu May 12, 2016 9:17 am

FranciscoArellano wrote:By the way... I see that the e2 uses a "strange" MIDI connection, can anyone tell me wth is that? I'm used to the 5 PIN MIDI connection

The Electribes use these ^^ (included) cables for MIDI - so despite the ports looking like headphone jacks, they are actually using 5 PIN MIDI connections.

FranciscoArellano · Post by **FranciscoArellano** » Thu May 12, 2016 1:30 pm

totalcult wrote:
FranciscoArellano wrote:By the way... I see that the e2 uses a "strange" MIDI connection, can anyone tell me wth is that? I'm used to the 5 PIN MIDI connection

The Electribes use these ^^ (included) cables for MIDI - so despite the ports looking like headphone jacks, they are actually using 5 PIN MIDI connections.

Thanks for your reply pal, I'm happy to know that. I was about to buy a second hand one here but it did't bring the cables, so I think I'll buy a new one with them.

thesigma · Post by **thesigma** » Thu May 12, 2016 3:15 pm

just a note if you do buy second hand without the adaptor, arturia also uses a similar adaptor but it IS NOT WIRED THE SAME, so be careful if you go looking for replacements.

FranciscoArellano · Post by **FranciscoArellano** » Thu May 12, 2016 3:41 pm

thesigma wrote:just a note if you do buy second hand without the adaptor, arturia also uses a similar adaptor but it IS NOT WIRED THE SAME, so be careful if you go looking for replacements.

Thank you Mr Sigma. Btw I read u have the nanopad and nanocontrol, how do they work with the emx? Also, have you tried the ms20 mini? Im looking for one of those killer machines also. The only drawback is they only have midi in

thesigma · Post by **thesigma** » Fri May 13, 2016 4:37 am

FranciscoArellano wrote:
thesigma wrote:just a note if you do buy second hand without the adaptor, arturia also uses a similar adaptor but it IS NOT WIRED THE SAME, so be careful if you go looking for replacements.
Thank you Mr Sigma. Btw I read u have the nanopad and nanocontrol, how do they work with the emx? Also, have you tried the ms20 mini? Im looking for one of those killer machines also. The only drawback is they only have midi in

I no longer have the nanopad or nanokontrol, and when I did I never used them with the emx due to them only having USB MIDI. I mostly used them to control lighting software (LightFactory), for which they worked well.

If you didn't mind a computer and MIDI interface, I suppose they would be ok with the emx. IIRC they were capable of sending NRPN, which is what most of the parameters of the drum parts use for control. The synth parts use "normal" CC messages so no trouble there. I believe the drums will respond to velocity but it won't be recorded by the sequencer. Nanopad wasn't the best pads ever, and I had two both bought second hand but one had two flaky pads that would either not trigger, or trigger multiple times. The X-Y pad would be good for two fx Parameters.

Nano Kontrol was good for the money, I think you got 4 pages of controls, and the mapping options were good.

I tried the ms20 mini in a store with crappy headphones, I wasn't impressed but I don't think that's fair, like I said, really crappy store use headphones. I'd like to try one in my studio though. Honestly I'd rather have the larger desktop kit version myself, no use for minikeys myself....but it costs 2 times as much....