Korg Electribe 2

Ultra-portable, small footprint and low height. Nice feel to the buttons and knobs. Deep rezzy bass sounds, sparkling synth sounds. Mostly analog drum kits, but punchy kicks and crisp snares. Great sound tweaking capability, with multiple dedicated knobs. Fully Ableton Live compatible, import your sounds directly to Live via USB! Has SD card port (if you need one) and MIDI in & out (with included MIDI adapters). Kaoss pad built in! I use this as a studio device, but it would work well stand-alone or in a live setting.

Surprisingly deep and fun. 16 track sequencer can be a DAW replacement or as in my case a hybrid due to the Ableton Live export. You can simply export all 16 tracks as WAV files, record a chain of patterns or record a live performance to an SD card and open it in Ableton. Built in samples are very useful, but the real surprise was the depth of the synth engine. You can use the preset sounds, but it's just as easy to design your own drums, percussion, bass, leads, pads and hits from scratch. Easily the most immediate and productive synth I've owned, and I've owned many. This is now my go to music making tool. Plus service from The Disc DJ Store was superb.

There’s a lot to learn but the creative possibilities seem endless. Quality of sound is what you expect from Korg i.e excellent. First time I’ve used this type of instrument and I’m having fun and I’m impressed. Quality and value for money.

Ive been playing music for 14 years and this is the most useful instrument I have ever owned. I never get tired of it. Track creation is quick, I usually spend about 15 mins start to finish. Lots of synth, drums and hits to choose from.It took me about 2 months to get really intimate with it. There are a lot of sound modulation options and FX to tweek.A good way to learn how this thing works is to dive into the presets and try to recreate them. Then try to recreate a track you heard in the car. About an hour a day for a couple weeks of this and you'll be pumping out some tracks in no time.Cons would be the pads, between music stores and friends. I've been able to play with 4 different electribes. The pads care very inconsistent. Stiffer in some areas, no ... MoreIve been playing music for 14 years and this is the most useful instrument I have ever owned. I never get tired of it. Track creation is quick, I usually spend about 15 mins start to finish. Lots of synth, drums and hits to choose from.It took me about 2 months to get really intimate with it. There are a lot of sound modulation options and FX to tweek.A good way to learn how this thing works is to dive into the presets and try to recreate them. Then try to recreate a track you heard in the car. About an hour a day for a couple weeks of this and you'll be pumping out some tracks in no time.Cons would be the pads, between music stores and friends. I've been able to play with 4 different electribes. The pads care very inconsistent. Stiffer in some areas, no tactile feel in some. Large variations in the amount of pressure used to activate a pad. A few have this issue, I exchanged one for this every same issue. Korg should release a fix video for this.

A great value

Simple to learn but with lots of ways to combine the different tracks and effects. Any track can be a sample, a synth, a drum, or a controller for external audio sources or external gear over midi. It's a lot of fun, and built like a tank. Easy to throw in a backpack and power over 6xAA batteries - though it is picky about rechargables, so either get disposable or buy specialty high-output rechargables for best results.

Electribe 2 second day

Finally got my hands on this and as I suspected it sounds great. But lets talk about what I don't like. The pads are not as responsive as I would like them to be, wish there was a sensitivity adjustment, there is one for velocity. So you have to tap them with a firm hit. The sound programs are now called parts and you can access all the sounds by turning the OSC knob(discovered that part this morning) I did have to update mine to the latest OS and I have not tried it out much more since the update but hopefully some of the cliks I heard in the sounds have been eliminated. The sequence is the main part that I am trying to wrap my head around , I am hoping to replace the MC909 sequencer with the E2's. But the sounds are very sweet, as always Korg has sweet reverbs, ... MoreFinally got my hands on this and as I suspected it sounds great. But lets talk about what I don't like. The pads are not as responsive as I would like them to be, wish there was a sensitivity adjustment, there is one for velocity. So you have to tap them with a firm hit. The sound programs are now called parts and you can access all the sounds by turning the OSC knob(discovered that part this morning) I did have to update mine to the latest OS and I have not tried it out much more since the update but hopefully some of the cliks I heard in the sounds have been eliminated. The sequence is the main part that I am trying to wrap my head around , I am hoping to replace the MC909 sequencer with the E2's. But the sounds are very sweet, as always Korg has sweet reverbs, Roland I think still is king when comes to filters, the 909 has that in ur face filter while the E2 is a gentle smooth filter. The E2 sounds do not sound like they are rompler as the 909 is but rather more synth analogish sound. I will know in a about a week or two if I will sell off the 909 so the E2 can take over as the command center. I really want the portability and I am moving my entire studio from larger boxes to all smaller portable battery powered stuff. I will try to do a part 2 a week down the road

Great unit offers loads of possibilities but with some tradeoffs from previous Electribes.

First and foremost, it is an absolute value for what you get. I recently sold my Electribe ESX-1 as the sounds felt a little dated for my tastes and it was a chore getting the sounds to the computer. In this regards, the new Electribe is a dream! It takes care of most of the work via USB and the sample sounds are a bit better, in my opinion. So far there's only 3 drawbacks to this unit. a) Menu diving! There are many things that require you to use the menu and arrow keys to adjust.. .the Master effect for instance. Turning on the metronome is another example.. you have to use edit > navigate to global parameters > select global parameter > navigate to metronome then turn the knob to 'on'. Apparently there may be a shortcut for this, but its a bit hidden. Anytime I'm ... MoreFirst and foremost, it is an absolute value for what you get. I recently sold my Electribe ESX-1 as the sounds felt a little dated for my tastes and it was a chore getting the sounds to the computer. In this regards, the new Electribe is a dream! It takes care of most of the work via USB and the sample sounds are a bit better, in my opinion. So far there's only 3 drawbacks to this unit. a) Menu diving! There are many things that require you to use the menu and arrow keys to adjust.. .the Master effect for instance. Turning on the metronome is another example.. you have to use edit > navigate to global parameters > select global parameter > navigate to metronome then turn the knob to 'on'. Apparently there may be a shortcut for this, but its a bit hidden. Anytime I'm navigating the menus, I'm not having fun. b) The samples, although i find them better than the ESX-1, they still are a little lacking to me. There's only a few snares, for instance, that I would even use. Others sound processed, thin or.. well.. corny. The fact that you can't add multiple effects to a part doesn't help you 'doctor' the sounds either.. c) Limited effects per part. First of all, I think that it's fantastic that you can add an individual effect to each part. Very cool. The problem is that many times,I'd like to add some distortion or punch as well as a delay and as far as I know.. you only get one. I find that to be a pretty strong limit. You also only get one master track effect.. which will usually end up being a reverb, until you export your parts. Though it may fall short in these areas, the fact that you have 16 individual parts, 24 polyphony, motion recording, easy export and the ability to control external MIDI devices makes it a no brainer for the price!! In the future I wish that Korg would create a new unit (PRO model perhaps), with more knobs, more samples, and multiple effects layers for a price jump of a couple hundred bucks.

Lift your groove to the next level.

I use this for live production and what can I say. This has so many functions to create the perfect atmosphere. The in built sample are fun to use but what takes the Electribe to a whole new level is the ability to create and build your own constantly evolving beats live. Then throw in the Electribe effects you have a party bursting to go. And if that's not enough for you...then my favourite part.. it even has colour changing lights on the under side !

Poor start but amazing little box

I've had this for seven years now. I hardly used it for years due to coming from the EMX-1, it was a major disappointment. But lately I've been getting into it more and have found it to be a great little synth. Good effects and bass sounds too.Although there is a problem that appeared a few years ago that hasn't gone away. The Filter knob seems to keep decreasing the value when you try to increase it. Leave it and it's fine, but try increasing it and the unit starts to fight against you and gradually decreases the value. Not sure if this is a bug or a fault. But it only happens after the unit has warmed up, so possibly a faulty unit?I've passed this onto my son and he loves it.

Review of Korg Electribe Music Production Station

It's been a while since I've used a hardware sequencer/aound module/synth... I could have just written groove box here... and I've found the Electribe 2 to very easy to get to grips with. Within minutes I was creating patterns and sounds and putting them together. Really looking forward to fully exploring this piece of hardware. The manual is a little sparse, but korg have downloads of extra bits so that's nice. Highly recommend from a newbie/returning user.