OT: Electribe MX taking over my LIFE

dbolt · Post by **dbolt** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 2:59 am

Question do you guys/gals use the pads like a drum machine or just by using the 16 step seq?

I guess since im not a drummer i tend to use the 16 step seq, but i guess i dont find the shuffle feature to be quite useful. Being that im not a drummer i really like using Impulse to quanitize things like i want and get a better real feel that way.

i guess the people that use it to record midi into LIVE are using this way to quanitize the EMX 1.

Im thinking about using my Akai MPD 16 hooked to the EMX and gets some velocity sens pads out of this thing. Anyone doing something similar?..

Ya gotta love this unit great tool.. All my friends are very impressed with the ARP very interesting and fun to use.....

Later

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

I dont think the pads were ever mesnt to be played really.
Though it is great noise maker, great fun and usefull live I dont even think about integrating it into Live production. It is too limited for that, I would love to be wrong about it, but as live performing instrument it fully justifies its purchase.

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:32 pm

I think the synth parts has potential for production. The filter is excellent and has character, the oscillator types aren't bad. Send the sound through the tubes for some nice distortion. Routing options are pretty limited, but you can always record a riff and then tweak the knobs on the fly while you are recording into Live.

The major drawback of the drumparts is that they don't have velocity. Otherwise, the samples are excellent.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:00 pm

I have a problem with playing the synth from the ext keyboard, somehow MX plays very soft- which is not the case when I "play" the pads ( which are almost unplayable since they are so small), with the same setting, I really have to bang the keys to make MX sound, I tried 3 different keyboards and same problem with all of them ( all of them work perfectly with Live, legacy or Reason) Perhaps I should get a cheap keyboard just to use it with MX

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:25 am

Try setting your keyboard up so it only sends velocity 127 perhps?. I played the pads through Live, recorded the midi and then played it back. That worked fine.

You could also route your keyboard through Live and use the midi velocity plug to set it to whatever you want.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:25 am

Michael-SW wrote:Try setting your keyboard up so it only sends velocity 127 perhps?. I played the pads through Live, recorded the midi and then played it back. That worked fine.

You could also route your keyboard through Live and use the midi velocity plug to set it to whatever you want.

Routing midi through Live is a great idea, I used to control my reason rack sounds like that but since I unrewired it ( because rewire is unreliable for stage) I have those free buttons so can set 5 mdi tracks just for switching on/ off the channels.There are some sounds that are good to play from keyboard, I am still discovering this absolutely insane device.

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 10:41 pm

An additional benefit to playing through Live is that you can just hit record whenever you like, record your midi, and have your synth line start looping.

That leaves your hands free to tweak filters and stuff.

You could then record the the tweaked synth part as an audio loop in Live so you can change patches on the MX or something...

Too much possibilities...my head hurts. But in a good way!

illsub1 · Post by **illsub1** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:04 pm

After reading this thread I went out and picked one up yesterday!! I always said I would buy it when it dropped below 500 bucks. I already knew how to use it as it occupied much of my time when I worked at Sam Ash. I thank you guys for refreshing my memory. Its about one of the most valuable pieces I have now. To have all the classic drum sounds right there ready to go saves me so much time in production its ridiculous!! I always thought the arp was awesome too because I have been playing keys my whole life it allows me to come up with lines I might not otherwise think of. In my tuned room it sounds so much better than it did at the store. I bet this box a a well kept secret for a lot of high profile producers. they just won't talk about it

Thanks for rekindling the flame. Between this and Stylus RMX I can spend most of my time on the melodic elements!! I am surprised this box is not more popular than it is. Soooo fast. Dial in the sound pitch it and shorten it up... enough talk I'm going to go make some more beats!!!

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:15 am

Is it possible to run ext audio, like voice through the effects or it is only audio through and no FX ?
BTW after having MX for over a week it took over all the simple drums duties and more, seems to make timing better used as master, it is ideal for live use in so many ways
It is interesting to actually play using touch pad, easy for those who ever played violin or any other fretless instrument.

elemental · Post by **elemental** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:32 am

you lot are giving me gear lust!!

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:08 pm

rikhyray wrote:Is it possible to run ext audio, like voice through the effects or it is only audio through and no FX ?
BTW after having MX for over a week it took over all the simple drums duties and more, seems to make timing better used as master, it is ideal for live use in so many ways
It is interesting to actually play using touch pad, easy for those who ever played violin or any other fretless instrument.

If you use the oscillator type "external" in a synth part it should take the external audio and run it through the whole chain: Envelopes, filters, effects etc. But you will probably only get audio when that synth part is playing so you have to gate it with a pattern or by pressing the pad.

Haven't tested this though.

thelike5 · Post by **thelike5** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:35 pm

Hey all,

Just another post to the merits of this machine...

I've had mine for almost a week now, and this machine is really a great improv tool. So much fun to use...

In the states, a company called American Musical Supply sells the Korg EMX1 for 499.00 and has a payment plan that charges you 163.00 once a month for three months. No interest!

BTW, they also sell Apple products with in-house payment plans that are interst free. Great thing if you don't want items showing up on your credit card statement for significant others in your life to see!

thelike5 · Post by **thelike5** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:36 pm

[quote"illsub1" I bet this box a a well kept secret for a lot of high profile producers. quote]

I know Ricardo Villalobos uses one, as does Steve Bug in their live performances...

elemental · Post by **elemental** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 3:45 pm

Whats the difference between the MX and the ESX?

thelike5 · Post by **thelike5** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:06 pm

elemental wrote:Whats the difference between the MX and the ESX?

The MX1 (blue box) is a music production machine (drums, synths all onboard sounds, which are amazing...)

The SX1 (red box) is the sampler version with some preloaded samples to start with allready loaded in.) I'm sure having both would be nice but I choose to use Ableton for manipulating the samples and the MX1 to produce the synth drum parts.