Korg EM-1 Electribe

Very easy to use even though I still read the manual but that only took a couple of hours.

What I like about this is it's instant step sequencer.. TO me those creates electronic melodies that you can't play by hand. THe fact that it is controlling my ION and VIRUS A to create those analog basslines is the best. It's perfect for my music and what I need.

I just don't like the Mute feature. I wish there was 2/3 more synth/midi tracks but that's what the EM1X is for I guess. This is my main step sequencer.. Once sequence, I record that into Ableton.. THen do it over again and again.. Layering I suppose.

50 wave sounds - fair enough

THe sounds sound professional.. Really.. I was shocked when I powered it up.. WHat is depressing is I have these two other great synths but the EM1 comes out with sounds that I'm trying to create on the Ion or Virus but much better l.o.l.. I guess it's because it's already compressed .

The sounds are great.. THis is all you need to create electronic music/Dance.. But you need to record track by track though(aka old school)

Very reliable. I take it with me when I'm out of town..

never spoke to Korg.

IF your just starting out why not give this box a try.. You will love it like I do.. I bought it for 75.00 dollars.. Can't beat it.

Yes, this machine is very easy to use. I used to play with Roland stuff (MC303, MC909) an found them stupid complicated. The Korg EM-1 is a simple step-sequenced Drum- and Synthmachine like the Redrum in Reason. Can`t be much easier i guess. I use the EM-1 next to a MPC1000 and its like HipHop meets Techno in my House.

As a standalone this machine would be too little, because only one send effect can be used for all 8 parts and the master effect (mod delay), which is really cool for hihats and claps/snares, even modifies the kickdrum and all other parts. So you better get the kicknsynths somewhere else, if you want to use the master effect.
The whole EM-1 can be played by a external Midi-keyboard (I play it sometimes with the MPC-Pads) but I bought the machine to have a tight dancestyle drum machine, so I mostly use the solid internal sequencer (step and realtime). This job is well done by the EM-1. Even a software editor can be bought, but hey- love the machines for the swing and tightness and get rid off computer beats.;)

It comes with very usefull sounds and patches, only made for House, Techno, RnB and DrumnBass. I use it for every drumbeat now, because I always get a basic flavour of original clubmusic out of it. Although there are only 144 waveforms and no sampler is to be loaded, its a good and simple slave for basic techno and you always know what u can expect from it. Thats what I like. Nearly every patch is usefull. Next to the MPC the sound from the EM-1 is a bit plastic, thin and hollow and the filters are a little weak and trashy, more toy than professional. Together with some outboard effects and other equipment it brings the right flavour to the groove. I often am amazed of the simple effects.
Distortion, Decimator are very good for ill but warm drumsounds. If u make broken beats with it, the kickdistortion sounds like Boards of Canada.The Phaser, Flanger/Chorus and Pitchshifter give you an easy way for jungle-like organic subbasses. A lot of sounds that you know from the clubs can be edited. Its a simple but effective little clubmonster. The overall swing-mode shuffles its way to the dancefloor.

Seems too simple to hang up or be destroyed by hard knocks. Solid.
I would use it on a gig defently.

Never dealt with Korg, but I like Korg for all what they have done for the music-scene. From MS-20 (80s) over M1(90s) to the Electribes of today
and actally with a amazing Softsynth- respect to Korg from here.

If it were lost I would buy a new, its cheap. The new Electribes which cost four times more, are about four times more better. But you got the whole electribe feeling. Machines are much tighter than a computer. You might not hear it at once, but you feel the groove if you dance to it.
If you made some fat bass with it, the kick is too thin and you would like to use the onboard compressor, but the effect unit is already used for the fat bass- so you need to think about rercording the bassline and do the next tracks or you use other equipment for other sounds.
Together and some outboard effect (vintage compressor) this machine brings a lot of clubsound to your home. I only use 3-4 sound of it with one effect mostly and get the rest done by other machines. All in all it lifted up my sound design and the flavour of my tracks.

The presets were not bad. It served as a good graduating point away from my Zoom RT-123. That being said, I later decided that there was a certain hollow, plastic quality.
Editing patches is the simplest thing and can really inspire a youngster's imagination, but in a live scene you won't feel the difference as well as, say, a Roland.

Polyphony was enough for drum parts, but sparse at best for the synth/bass parts. Really, two monophonic synths in tandem. Keyboard action... well, velocity was there, but I'm not sure about aftertouch.
Effects were easy to use and copious in feedback, though a bit powdery in character. No expansion. Midi was all right, but when used with a Roland Keyboard, the control stick held the mod wheel's vibrato at 63, not 0; all my synth patches were wavery. The Midi Filter seemed crude.
As for the sequencer, that was a breeze to input and program. Realtime edit motions are fully recordable in pattern or song mode. You don't really need to write a "song" if you've got another synth besides this; just know what parts to cut off or patch in as the performance plays. My breaking point on that was only 1-4 measures; I operate in odd time scales, like 5 measures and 7 measures, which this could only fake.

The instruments were meant to be post-analog... not really realistic nor as charactered as analog synthesis. There were 50 synth waveforms, and all were usable indeed. Not much real texture or sculptive effect, but there's a few that I wish I still had. Still, you never could get into the sound editing the way you can with say, the Roland Sh-32 or even the Roland D2. The Roland D2 has less ease of use, but far more bang and sonic definition, and more live potential.
The drum sounds numbered in 144 waveforms, each very editable. Tailoring the sounds in duration and pitch was easy to do, and the changes could even be recorded in a pattern... awesome!!! But, sadly, the hihats, cymbals and tambourines had NO treble register at all, and the kicks had no real definition, punch, presence or bottom. The original samples must've but the unit did not. Something must've been lost in recording.

Well, you can depend on it... My unit was a floor model from Guitar Center which held up very well in spite of a year of people banging on it. I would not play it out except for a few synth patches, and some sequenced analog whirrs, loops and frizzles.
Constructionwise... well, it feels light and cheap, but it never had a problem.

Never dealt with Korg's tech support. Never had to. Korg has always been reliable, with one single instance; CF card issues in the Triton Extreme.

I may get it again for some of the sounds, and the ease of use. It was a dream to work with, just not a primary drum source.
I wish it had more oomph to its sound. If they make a Mark 2, they should make it polyphonic and have a fuller register to the percussion. Also, 8 measures, like the Electribe X's. That's not too much to ask; they could even reduce the memory.
Overall... it's a great starter unit, for the teenager user, but not the professional. You can't play out to an 18+ crowd with this thing.

I did not know anything about this machine and after 3 days I made some sequences and programming already. It's really easy to use and very easy to get into as well.

The features are good at this price range. There's analog synth sounds, drum machine and sequencer. Motion sequencer is also very handy if you need to record and trigger a filter movement to some synth part while you are tweaking other synth part at the same time.

Drums sounds are very good and ability to pitch the drum sounds is a good option. Effects are better than I could imagine.

I would use this when playing in a gig. Also a great innovation in the backpanel is the powercord hook, when used the machine cannot be unplugged accidentally.

excellent support, midi information can be found also from korg uk website. I don't know about any warranty because I bought the device second hand.

If someone would stole it, I would bought a new one. Definitely!
I have had em-1 only for a week.
I love the sounds. I don't know what I hate yet.
I compared this to some roland gear and found out them overpriced. I chose em-1 because it's great reviews in music magazine and excellent user reviews in the Internet.
It helps me to be more creative because it's a bit limited into 2 synth parts and drum part. The drum sounds cannot be better than this for this price range.

The EM-1 is SOOO easy to use that I was able to use the sequencer after 15 minutes of playing with it. When I used a Roland MC-303, it was sooo CONFUSING, the manual was confusing too. And the manual for the EM-1 is EASYY to understand. (I just looked up in the appendix!)
IF *I* can figure this thing out ANYONE can>

Not as many features as a software synth but it's easy to use!
and compact!

Nice sounds for drums!!!
I use it for drums all the time.
For what I expected of it, the quality of it is great,

I would use it in a gig any day! (although i'm not a live musician yet)

Never dealt with the company. I have electronics skills and know that the most common problems is with the digital plastic pots and I know how to repair them easily.

I would buy this baby again even if I had to buy it new!
I've been playing for 2 years. The other gear I own is a Juno 106 and a crappy casiotone midi keyboard for using notes/virtual instruments on my computer.
Only thing I wish this baby had was the ability to run on batteries.
It helps me lay out tracks when I am in bed and stuff and waking up.
and i take it along to friends house's that are djs to throw in extra beats.

I also use linux too for my virtual pc studio. If anyone else here uses linux(mandrake) please send me a e-mail!

I've had MANY boxes and synths and this one is the easiest of all

This little thing has everything it needs to lay down the warmest and most complicated sounding drum patterns but so easy. The FX are perfect , the Mod Delay is a fav cause when you add it to a high hat or snar, it add SOOO much to the beat. The drums are all tweakable individually, so you can turn the pitch way down on the bas sand leave the rest the same, or add FX to single drum pasrts

THIS IS AMAZING@

The sounds couldnt have been better, and theres no limit to them because everything is tweak able

Perfect, no flaws, I depend on it for drums 90% of the time

I got an EA1, MoPhatt, Virus A, Waldorf Q,J8080, Nord Mod, anf every soft synth in the worls, this thing is MY FAVORITE peice and its CHEAP. It can do so much with its 3 tracks you'll be amazed. If your thinkin of getting one and dong any kind of dance music get it and thank me never,,,,

This thing REALLY helps make music come together... A good thing I love about it is if you got a drum pattern going and wanna do the break, just save that pattern to another and you got the exact same sounds all tweaked out to workwith on another part

GET ONE!!!

Really easy-just had to view the quick start and play.

This is the electribe that you can do full sound son becasue you have 2 synth parts and drums. Theres are lots of fx. You have to route each part the one martix. You also have an overall global delay that's cool for edits. Eachpart can have it's own automation parmaterest for the matrix and you have and extra automation squence in song mode. Just hit one of the first demo songs and you'll get an idea of what it can do. It's not a beat box or a 303 copy thing. You can actually find out what the porgrammers did becasue you can turn knobs and when you hit the orginal parameter a light will come on. cool to learn on.

Parmeters let you F*ck up stuff beyond belief. Drums and syunths sounds become interchangable when wriritn withthis becasue there is a lot of control. Presets mean nothing with my tribes-you can just tweak beyond belief. There are evelope generator control too-crazy shit.

My EA and Er-1 are still going. This is built the same way.

Never had to ask for help.

An essential part my writn process. It's cool to write a full peice on such a small little box. Wish it ran on batteris so I could take it in a plane. It's cool for now in my lap while chilling in my Lazy Boy.

i admit, this thing looked weird and complicated to me at first. after about a year of playing with it, it is so simple. very easy to get used to and have fun with. manual is a good quick-reference.

its basically like a monophonic synth... the effects are nice, but it sucks that you cant assign one to each part... oh well (one per pattern). the sequencer, i dont think it could get any better... its beautifully set up.

the sounds really arent that realistic at all... so it works perfectly for mostly every genre of electronica. effects are pretty good. i find myself using the mod delay a lot. it definitely is expresive due to its ease of use and its variety of sounds.

i've had this thing for over a year. i even spilled water all over it once... i had to open it up and blow dry it, but it still worked! (phew!) i was scared. i would definitely depend on this.

no problems !

the EM1 and my MicroKorg make thee best pair. i;ve been playing for about 2 years now, and all of the electribes have proved to be great instruments for what i do. the em1 is extremely expressive. the only thing i wish it had was multiple effects to each individual part.. but its limited to help your creativity.

Out of the box, very easy to get some unusual sounds. Presets are typical cheese but can be mangled very quickly

Excellent efx, I wish the delay feed could be assigned to individual parts rather than the whole but that is minor.

Once you edit the sounds, whoa. I could see the application for many different styles of electronic music.

Owned for more than a year, no problems

Dump your Roland groove box and get one of these. Roland gear no matter what you do still sounds too Roland. This device can be used in many ways with more of a cerebral vibe to it. Perfect for industrial sonic evil, minimal berlin style techno, and even wussy house, it's all there. My precious

THis instrument is very easy to use. I was totally new in the "groovy things", but this machine is almost self-explanatory. creating drum and synth patterns works very intuitive. Creating patches is also very easy...choose 1 of the 50 synth waves (144 drum waves) and turn the knobs....
I don't know if there are any patch editors for pc or mac...but I can't imagine it will make editing the electribe easier than it is right now.
The manual is well written and a good reference.

The electribe M offers 12 parts of wich 8 are drumparts and 2 synthparts. The synthparts are both monophonic. The EM has 11 insert effects, that are very good to my opinion. Minor point in this is that just one effect at the time can be used, but for each part you can decide wheter it should be effected or not.
It has MIDI in, out and thru. I connected my CS6x synth and playing the EM with a keyboard wasn't a problem at all. As a matter of fact..I use the electribe often as a stepsequencer on my other gear, just because EM works that easy.
The pattern buttons on the EM are also the keys of the 1 octave "keyboard" . They feel soft and will light up when you touch them. The EM offers up to 64 steps per pattern. Making a song is also easy..just chain the right patterns......

The sounds are good, but you got to take your time for synth patch editing. When you get bored of the presets, the knobs of the EM force you to tweak them and let the sound surprise you.
It is logical to call this unit a typical dance and techno unit. I am not really a techno or dance/house person..the music I like to make is synth music inspired by Jarre and Vangelis. and even then I think the EM is very usefull...at least for me it is.

The EM doesn't offer a touch sensitive keyboard of coarse, but you can assign something called "accent" on each note, wich is just a louder version of the note....works fine, especially for the drum parts. It's also possible to record your knob tweaks with "motion sequence", wich can be very usefull...especially whitj filter sweeps.

The Electribe M has not caused any trouble yet. Well since I'm not a performing artist, I don't know if it is reliable on stage....but I always back up all relevant data of my instruments .

I never had any problems with The EM, so it isn't very relevant to rate this

I use this unit for almost a year now. In august I bought a Roland D2 groovebox. I like this unit for its god sounds, but programming patterns is much easier on the electribe. Electribe is perfect value for what you pay and if it were lost.....well, first to the insurance man...then convince my wife....and then to the store.