Noisetheorem

Angela and I hired a lawn service to do the landscaping and mowing. This is a good thing. I have to fess up that I am just to busy and lack the knowledge to do it right, and if we want the property to NOT look like ass…then Ill just have to pay someone else to do it. And honestly, its not that much. The fact that I dont know a weed from just a really ugly bush was just counter productive. The payoff is great, though. Not only does the yard look great, but I have more time to enjoy it.

I can honestly say I tried, though. It was an uphill battle all the way, and I mowed and trimmed and pulled and go really dirty and pissed off and bug-bitten all in the name of suburban sanctuary.

So I am going to go out and have a cup of coffee on the patio and read for a bit and enjoy a well kept yard for once, instead of just looking at an ominous amount of unfinished and poorly done work.

Of a Korg Elective EMX-1. Yeah, the one that doesnt even sample…

Damn. This box is basically my ‘band in a box’. It seems to have suddenly found a niche in being perfect for recreating (and updating) the old tracks from my last band (cryostate) that we are trying to now recover, revamp and eventually release (which never happened). The band name is Different – we lack a drummer (Ryan, why did you have to retire?) and gained a guitar player/synth player but I think we will tap into some new energy.

But this post is supposed to be in praise of the almighty Korg Electribe. I realize that its everything I ever wanted in my studio back in 1995, but in one box.

there is an item on e-bay with a reasonable price for what it is, but unreasonable because I just bought the M3. I do, technically, have the capacity to purchase it on credit (and possible precipitate divorce proceedings against me). I cant….I shant…I….I…

I bid on it. Fuck.

Subject says it all. Unit is in great shape and has its full memory expanded.

I dont have the manual or software CD, but I can burn both to a CD for you. You can get them easily at Roland’s website anyway. Asking $450.00

The only trade I will consider is an even trade for a Korg ESX-1. ESX must be in as close to mint condition as possible.

If anyone is interested, let me know..

I got my first run with the M3 yesterday, and I have to say I am quite happy. Having previously owned a Korg workstation, and Korg being how they are about reusing interfaces, I was able to hit the ground running and get right into doing some patch programming and sampling.

I dont want to write up a full review, but so far my main impression is that she is deep – particularly the Karma stuff. Even doing a simple up/down arpeggio was a bit of a treat, as Karma just *cannot* just play a couple notes between octaves and leave it at that. It *wants* to fuck with the data stream and does so in some very delightful ways. Learning to control this monster is going to be a long winding process

Sampling, on the other hand, was absolutely a breeze. I hooked up the PEK and did a quick sample of a unison 4 oscillator lead. I sampled it at F1 and for kicks looped it and stretched it over the whole keyboard. Surprisingly, despite the rather extreme stretch, the sample is still very playable even at the high end of the keyboard. Usually, a sample will start to sound terrible and metallic at about an octave or two above its root. On the M3, I dont hear this at all.

Other things I want to note is that the Percussion pads arent as nice as those on an MPC or even the ones on the Roland workstations, but they are really easy to setup, and useful none the less. These will be great in live performances for triggering loops and other song changes. In fact, the whole front panel has a nice command and control feel that might make doing some of my improvisational ambient tracks a bit more improvisational (I generally have some stuff pre programmed – usually rhythmic stuff).

I plan to do some heavy sampling of my (dying) MR Rack to help get some non-Korg sample material. I particularly need to sample some Pianos from somewhere. Everything bad you have ever heard about the Korg Pianos is 100% true. Unfortunately, the M3 sounds like it uses the same sample as my Triton did 8 years ago. It sucked then, and it sucks now.

I am sure Ill have more to say about it later. I have to send out my rebate slip to get the Radias board for it, and the firewire board should arrive on Friday. That gives me the weekend to try out the PC integration. I have a feeling thats going to a fun (not).

The NIN show last night was just beyond awesome. It was the absolute best NIN show I have ever seen, probably the best show I have ever seen.

I cant really describe it because my pitiful brain has not yet digested it all. If you have the opportunity to see them on this tour DO IT. Sell your soul to get tickets if you have to.

I got approval from the wife yesterday, and this morning I pulled the trigger..

Coming my way is a Korg M3-61. I was partly swayed by the free RADIAS board Korg is giving away, but was even more swayed by what I found on page 557 of the ‘Parameter Guide’ PDF:

“The WaveSeq Group controls a set of parameters that allow
the waveforms of the M3’s programs to be varied in realtime,
creating popular “wave-sequence” style effects.”

Wave sequencing. With resonant filters. And sampling…SWEET ASS.

Further reading also revealed a number of areas where I was wrong about its feature set, particularly with regards to the EXB Radias Expansion.

First off, the EXB DOES have the Radias MOD sequencers. That was a key feature for me. Also, while you cannot layer 4 programs in a single voice with the Radias, you can have 4 instances of it in the M3’s COMBI mode….which gives you, effectively, the same thing.

What it doesnt have is not insignificant, however. It does loose the Step Sequencer, Arpegiator, and the Synth PCM and Drum PCM oscillator modes. The Drum mode is completely absent, and that I would really miss (and will probably be why I end up keeping it.

So its on its way. I sprang for the extra fast shipping, so I should have it wednesday (No idea where AMS’s warehouse is).

More review to come shortly.