EMX1 SM & EMX1 SD = Difference in sound

[filipe santos]

Hi everybody .

I owned an Electribe EMX1 SM back in 2010 to 2012 and unfortunatly i was forced to sell it. This year i managed to get another one back and it wasn't easy since most people sell this electribe for a high price because the electribe 2 came out and korg stopped doing these which i think are way , but way better than the new one. Sad that korg stop supporting the EMX1 in favour of the emx2 which is complete rubbish.

Anyways , i bought a very good condition EMX1 SD but the sound seems to be different and not as good as my other EMX SM which is strange.

I know this one stocks Ruby tubes instead of the Electro Harmonix tubes. Can it be because of the tubes? I'm not sure but this one seems to sound more digital than the other one i had. It also seems harder to mix the sounds because some sounds seem to drown in the mix pretty quick and it's also hard to balance it with the drums. The SM EMX1 wasn't that hard. I'm not sure but i suspect it could be the tubes but can anyone here confirm this?
Is it the tubes or is there a difference in the machine itself from the earlier EMX1 version?
Thanks for your help.

[WestLondoner]

I've also owned more than one EMX1SD and IMO alternative tubes can make a difference to the sound, from what I've heard. So it could be that. The original Harmonix tubes should be not too hard to source, so you could try replacing them and seeing if that helps. Please let us know how you get on, if you do that.

May I ask what headphones are you using? And could it be that you used different headphones when you previously owned an EMX?

When I plug my Audio Technica Art Monitor headphones in the sound is absolutely pure, sublime even, but once I swap for Koss Portapros, the sound takes a leap for the worse - low bass notes become crumbled and distorted - yeuccck! The quality of your headphones, IOW, can make a huge difference to how the electribe sounds.

As for selling and rebuying after experiencing 'seller's remorse', I had a boxed ESXSD which was in perfect condition and in PWO with all manuals, yet I thought two years back that 330 for it was a good price for it... How wrong I was to sell it! Six months later the guy wouldn't take 400 for me to buy it back. It actually took me ten months before I could replace it, even then it wasn't boxed, once I realised my mistake. There is no way I would like to sell the current one. I see these electribes as being irreplaceable - once you get used to working on them they become a bit like your favourite pair of shoes, grandad's cherished pipe etc . And you're totally right about second hand values of both the EMX and ESX - particularly the SD versions: used prices seem to be climbing and climbing, ever higher each year, such is the steady demand for well working units.

[filipe santos]

I've also owned more than one EMX1SD and IMO alternative tubes can make a difference to the sound, from what I've heard. So it could be that. The original Harmonix tubes should be not too hard to source, so you could try replacing them and seeing if that helps. Please let us know how you get on, if you do that.

May I ask what headphones are you using? And could it be that you used different headphones when you previously owned an EMX?

When I plug my Audio Technica Art Monitor headphones in the sound is absolutely pure, sublime even, but once I swap for Koss Portapros, the sound takes a leap for the worse - low bass notes become crumbled and distorted - yeuccck! The quality of your headphones, IOW, can make a huge difference to how the electribe sounds.

As for selling and rebuying after experiencing 'seller's remorse', I had a boxed ESXSD which was in perfect condition and in PWO with all manuals, yet I thought two years back that 330 for it was a good price for it... How wrong I was to sell it! Six months later the guy wouldn't take 400 for me to buy it back. It actually took me ten months before I could replace it, even then it wasn't boxed, once I realised my mistake. There is no way I would like to sell the current one. I see these electribes as being irreplaceable - once you get used to working on them they become a bit like your favourite pair of shoes, grandad's cherished pipe etc . And you're totally right about second hand values of both the EMX and ESX - particularly the SD versions: used prices seem to be climbing and climbing, ever higher each year, such is the steady demand for well working units.

Hi ya. Thanks for your kind reply.
I am using the same headphones as i used with my previous electribe.
My headphones are Audio Technica ATH-M30 , studio monitor .
Yea my friend , i was forced to sell it at the time because i really needed some money and i really regretted it because i had projects made with it and the sound of the emx1 is unique and the mod delay is really unique. It's impossible to replicate this sound with any other instruments or computer virtual instruments.
Because Korg stopped supporting this instrument which i think it was a big mistake , people are chancing themselves and selling it for more than i actually paid for a brand new one and it's hard to get one at a fair price. I sold mine back in 2012 or so for 250 and people nowadays are selling them on ebay for more than 400!
It's crazy but i managed to get one for around 200 for the same price i sold mine which is good and the electribe is in pretty good condition with original box and manuals.
The demand will probably get higher and honestly i will never but never sell this dear electribe ever again! It's getting harder to grab hold of them , the sound is amazing and so easy to edit and the new electribes are nothing compared to the X series!

About the tubes , yea that's the only thing i think that it could be. The Smartmedia version had the electro harmonix tubes and this electribe SD i got has them Ruby tubes which i think they are pretty crap (chinese tubes ...bah!). I feel the sound gets muddy quite a lot , i barely use the tube gain anyways and usually keep it at minimum but still some sounds are hard to pull up , for example the unison OSC gets drowned in the mix pretty easy.
I don't know but i think that changing tubes could be the right answer to this. It just sounds a bit muffled i guess and the drive knob isn't as juicy as it felt in the SM electribe.

Also another weird thing as i usually have my computer on and i turn my electribe on the computer screen although its on , the image goes off and then on mostly everytime i turn the electribe on. I find this weird i don't know , it could be because of this new electribe PSU they did although i never had this sort of problem with my older electribe. I just find this really weird. I'm sure it's nothing but to avoid damage to the screen i just turn it off and then on everytime i turn my electribe on. It could be the new PSU that korg put in the EMX SD causing interference or something...

I mostly use the EMX as a sound module than as a groovebox , although sometimes i like to stay away from the computer and just play with it.
I've done a bit of research around the forum for the best tubes and everybody seemed to recommend them JJ ECC803S as people say the sound becomes clearer so i think i will give those a shot soon as get some money. If the sound still doesn't please me then i will have no choice but to grab those electro harmonix tubes as the electribe SM least that's closest it will sound to the my older electribe. I also calibrated the tubes yesterday and swapping them from L to R but ended up putting them the way they were and calibrated the sound by just using a phase tool on wavelab since i don't have that special calibrating stereo resistor cable.

[filipe santos]

Got the new tubes.

The sound is more defined , clear , brighter and not only it sounds like my old electribe but it sounds much better than with those ruby tubes.
.
JJ ECC803S definatly brought a breath of fresh air to my emx. I'm really happy for them and thanks everybody for recommending these. They are truly excellent. Thank you !

[WestLondoner]

Good job filipe. I'm really glad that that worked for you.

Hope to hear more from you on the forum, but for now, I wish you happy electribing!!!

[filipe santos]

Good job filipe. I'm really glad that that worked for you.

Hope to hear more from you on the forum, but for now, I wish you happy electribing!!!

Thanks buddy. Yeah for now all it's left is to make some songs. I made a full album back in 2010-2012 with my old electribe if you guys wanna hear its over here :

https://gooddancerecordings.bandcamp.co ... of-changes

its mostly acid goa trance and some songs have a x0xb0x aswel which i still have

Cheers.

[filipe santos]

Another thing i forgot to say :
these valves turn your output volume a bit down but i can assure you when you use tube gain almost all the way up it nearly doesn't distort anything.