KORG electribe Sampler With V2.0 Software ESX Red

I got the Korg Electribe Sampler 2 on a whim a while back. I had never used samples much, opting nearly always for synthesizers. This sampler really blows me away. First off, everything you do can be exported as a complete Ableton session onto the SD card and loaded in the computer. Even if you aren't an Ableton user, this process easily creates individual stereo samples of your parts for use in any DAW. Beyond that there are many excellent built in samples to get creative with as well as a few analog oscillators to create your synth sounds. Motion control is probably the most expressive element of the sequencer. Modify most knobs with record enabled and the motion of your knob movement is written to the sequence. The record function even turns off after one full pass of the motion. I did find however that occasionally my motion control wasn't recorded fully at the beginning but I was able to always eventually get what I wanted. I loaded some of my own samples and loops onto this as well and got creative in ways that would have taken much more effort and been less fun in a DAW. The main outputs & headphone outs have a bit of a digital whine to them and really make the instrument maybe unusable as a performance piece. However, with exporting sessions as Ableton projects, there is zero of this noise and no noise floor beyond that in any way. The built in effects are good too, elevating your sound with distortion, delay, and modulation effects among others, all of which can be motion controlled. I found myself making loops with motion control of three-bars against standard four-bar loops to create a much heightened variation to my productions. I did this by making four-bar motion controlled loops and then, in Ableton, shortening the loop length to three-bars. The built in scales and chords are extremely inspiring and allow you to quickly execute ideas and try out melodic content that's beyond your standard way of thinking. Korg has really nailed it with this one.

It is the mobile part of my studio along with my laptop and controller. It works out great since it also works on batteries. I had the last one for 7 years before the screen display could not be seen anymore. Able to make drum beats much easier than our name brand units.

During a non pandemic time, buying speakers probably would not have been a problem.

I would have given this product a five star rating but I gotta be real. It is a top notch groovebox when it comes to sound quality, rugged construction and ease of use. However, I could not get any of my DAWs to see it after loading drivers from Korg's website. People who use iOS say they don't have that problem and that they didn't even have to download any drivers. Also, there are no markings near the triggers to indicate shift functions. Some people create or buy templates to fix that. Other than that, its a lot of fun if you like working with samplers. I listened to the patterns for hours. I love the touchpad and the arpeggiator when its not sticking on. Triggers work well. Used MIDI ports to connect to my synth and that opened even more possibilities. The scales and effects are a blast to work with.

Terrible manual. Terrible online video tutorials. I think this thing could be great and maybe is. But there is seriously no help to learn it. The manual consists of a sentence on each button. Terrible. I returned it, it is not intuitive and their is no online support. If you are a pro sequencer, probably ok. For me not so much, I had to learn from scratch and i am a tech guy and it was not easy.

This product is the centerpiece of my electronic music rig, and I couldn't be happier with it. It's a great product at a great price!!