There have been a few times that I can recall where I came across a piece of music equipment that made the hairs stand up on my arm. The Korg Electribe S mkII is such a device.
One of my buddies, Marc Bauman of House Recording Studios, lent me this device so I could put it through its paces. Marc told me this device was cool but it was not until I had spent some quality time with it did I learn just how COOL it was. Up until now, I had not worked with a beat sequencer and was not really sure what I would be able to do with this device.
So what does it do?
Once you turn this sucker on the magic immediately follows. Basically the Electribe contains about 120 pre-programmed patterns covering the gamut of Hip-Hip and Techno style beats. These patterns serve as a starting point so you can get the feel of what’s its capable of and I gotta say, I have had HOURS of fun just playing with the standard patterns.
After you find a pattern you like you can then start applying effects to each individual sample contained in the pattern. This is cool because you can change the effects in real time and it actually turns your basic pattern into a performance! There are lots of effects too which exponentially increases the coolness.
The Electribe is a beat sequencer and you can modify the sequence of the beats and samples to create new patterns. I have been creating some interesting stuff with minimal effort and for a guy like me, with 800 jobs and limited time, this made the experience all the more enjoyable.
Bottom line, I like this Electrible, alot, I need to make it part of my gear and continue to create fresh beats and samples.