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.

After a quick glance at the manual and a few minutes of playing with the knobs and presets, the EM-1 begins to flow like water. hough experience with recording and sequencing is always a plus, this is a great machine for novice users.

The on-board sequencer is very simple to get accustomed too, though it's a shame the polyphony is limited to one note per part.

From vintage analog to organic instrumentation, the EM-1 suits many ranges of modern music. The accent feature is also a plus.

I have yet to drop my EM-1 and I hope such never happens--knock on wood--but the machine seems very sturdy. I look forward to a gig with it.

The EM-1 is a must for any small or bedroom studio. Along side the other Electribes, it's an abolute monster. Classic sounds at an affordable cost.

the presets are cool at first, but then they get annoying after a while.. building your own sounds and drum kits is easy though. its really easy to use. the manual is good to get you started..

the polyphony is only 2 for the synth part which is okay because i use this with korg's x5d and es1. the drums are okay but i wish yu could put more than one effect per pattern.. this kind of sucks. the panning feature rocks though. i use it sometimes as a sequencer with my x5d and i've also connected it to my sampler which makes it useful.. the sequencer rocks. its easy to edit all the steps if you know about pitch and gate time. thats all you really need to know. motion sequencing is definitely a plus+

the instruments.. well.. theyre anything but realistic i think. but if its used for certain types of music..(techno, industrial, etc.) this is a very good thing. i personally like the sounds. they are fun to edit. i'm still not sure what type of music it works best for.. i guess anything really.. i've been trying to make some cool ebm sounding stuff with it and it basically comes down to one thing: the harder you try; the better it sounds. if you want good sounds and sequences with anything youre going to have to sit down with it for a long time to get what you want.........

i was in a band for a while and i brought it to my friends house and it did fine. i would definitely have no problem using it live.. this thing may not look sturdy but for all of the people who say the electribes are plastic crap: i must have dropped this thing twice really hard since ive had it and it still works. i spilled water all over the front panel as well. all i had to do was open up the rear panel and put a fan to it to dry it.. it still works! i love korg.

i never had to talk to them.

black and silver machine. awesome. 400 bucks. buy it now.

I found this unit very easy to learn. Just by watching & listening to the presets you'll get the idea of how it works. The presets are OK, but they needed a lot of help for what I do. (Who wants to use presets anyway?) Sounds are not hard to edit, synth parts are tweakable with basic synth filters. The manual is helpful in the learning process, but after a few days I really didn't refer to it anymore.

The features are pretty cool for the price & size of the unit. I wish it had better polyphony. Synth parts are only mono, but with some editing you can make great rhythm or bass loops. The sequencer is great. It's very easy to come up with new patterns from scratch in a minimum of time. I don't get into MIDI much, but it does work as a good tone generator.

The drum sounds are incredible, that's the main reason I got this unit. It works very well for techno, industrial, synth pop, & it's just awesome for rhythms that have a more spiritual feel to them. The effects are cool & can add a lot of dynamics to your sound, but only 1 effect can be applied to a pattern.

Anyone who takes care of their equipment should have no problem with this unit. I'd use it on the road, no big deal.

Never dealt with Korg.

I would die if something ever happened to this unit. It's really helped to shape my current sound. I've had the thing for almost a year & everytime I pick it up it just come alive. Using this unit along with a good sampler & synthesizer is all you need to make really cool tracks

Super easy to use. Had it up and running in 30 mins and was writing my own patterns. There's a ton of presets, some are cool, a good chunk are pretty lame though, but who wants to play with presets anyway? Overall just a very simple machine to use.

2 note synth polyphony and 8 drum sounds although 4 of them share 2 channels (for open and closed HHs). 11 effects + global delay. You can only have 1 effect on per pattern though and it's either on or off for a part. MIDI In/Out/Through. Good sequencer. No LFO for the synth parts though, but there is enough tweakable features. A great feature is the motion sequencer and it can sequence a lot more motions than the ER and EA models. No chords except the built in chord sets, which kind of sucks. Lots of great drum sounds and the synth sounds are pretty cool. Gains points for the price though since it's pretty much everything you need to make some cool songs

Nice sounds. Some cool drum sounds, with the standards plus also some synth style percussion and indian drums. Synth sounds are cool, but they usually need effects or some tweaking, otherwise they sound a bit flat. Effects are great and the delay isn't bad, too bad it's global. Keys aren't touch sensitive, but you can record level movement or add accents.

Wouldn't want to drop it, but otherwise seems sturdy. hopefully the rubber knobs last a while. My roomate has had his ER-1 for quite some time and it's still holding up so I'd guess it's pretty durable

This is thing is really cool and easy to use. If it were lost I'd probably replace it. This is my first forray into electronic music and so far it has everything I need. Some of the features are a bit limiting, but I'm hoping to get a sampler or a synthesizer of some sort, since that's where this thing is lacking. For the price this thing is great.

i had figured out the basics while still in the music store. the preset sounds are great, but even better when you mess around with them. you can take even the lamest sounds and transform them into something you've never heard before. even further, the cool sounds can be improved even more. the preset patterns are good (though eventually to be deleted) at giving the beginning user an idea of this machine's abilities, and the different techniques in creating patterns. EM-1 is especially friendly to someone new to this stuff.

enough effects to keep you happy and busy, although sometimes it would be nice to use multiple effects (boo hoo). bottom line, more potential for effects than i personally desire. sequencer is cool too, can program by step or performance, both useful. not a limitless machine (only two synth voices), but i didn't buy in hopes to replace a keyboardist, bassist, or drummer(?).

sounds are generally authentic....unless you want it to sound like an acoustic drumset (but why?---i'm a drummer as well, and these machines are a different realm for percussion). nonetheless, for creative "electronic" sounding drum patterns, the EM-1 is a great choice (and AFFORDABLE).

haven't gigged with it....

if i lost it, i would be especially PO'd about losing my patterns...but that wouldn't stop my expanding interests in music technology. i would buy it again (or maybe upgrade). but that's what you risk with this stuff. just take care of it!!! this tool does not help me create music, i still use the old fashioned stuff. nonetheless, it is great for taking your outlines to the next step. if you've realized that we cannot duplicate the rock greats, this tool may help you to find a fresher, and more expressive style. i have played the drums, guitar, and piano for years. have a (not so) strange inability to find and/or work with other musicians....well, music technology has come a long ways, quite worthy of the expression for the computer generation. ok

The preset patterns that come with the EM-1 are your standard generic
techno/dance fare, but the interface is so simple, I had my own original
patterns inside within minutes. The manual is a mere brochure, a far cry
from those daunting Roland "textbooks."

Polyphony is limited, two monophonic synth parts and eight monophonic
percussion parts. The built-in keypad is kind of lame for programming
the synth parts, but using my guitar works out great. It responds to
dynamics well enough through midi. The on board sequencer is super-simple
and great for writing on the fly to an existing midi beat. It does not
accept new cards or sounds but what it has is flexible enough with the
filter and effects, for my purposes.

I love the tablas and hand drums in this guy. You can motion sequence
pitch bends in them as well for realistic effects. I think if used
sparingly, this machine would work for most styles of music. I am using
it for everything from techno-pop to dub reaggae to world music inspired
acid jazz. The effects are nice but would be better if I could assign
different ones to different sounds in the box.
It responds to velocity when using an external midi controller on the
synthesizer section. otherwise there is an "accent" feature.

I have always had good experiences with the other electribes in the series,
and would take this one, as well as any on the road without skipping a beat
(no pun intended)

never had to call Korg, knock on wood. I hear it can be quite a hassle.

This thing is just what I was looking for to do basic backing tracks
live, and I would replace it if lost or stolen, definitley. I have been
playing for over 23 years and own quite an assortment of simular gear.
I love it's simplicity, but it's kind of a drag to not have touch sensitive
pads and higher resolution for the sequencer. I wish it had seperate outs
for the drum and synth parts, and more effects (more different effects
at one time, that is) It is very much a quick and easy way to get
inspiration flowing live or in the studio.
I find it to be the most flexible of the electribes, and I have seen
all of them in action. I find it better than anything else in it's
price range.

fantastically simple to use. i love that within a few movements you can pretty much figure out everything thats happening, which is something you really had to dig for with the Roland dr202.

I'm sold on the electribes. they aren't the end-of-the-search items (i'm a gear junky!), but they do enough that for their price and size i'm perfectly happy. With this plus the es-1 you are set.

there is something that bothers me which occurs throughout all the electribes. you have the ability to select a sound without triggering it. but if you solo anything, you are unable to call up another sound without having it enter the mix (lets say you want to select another sound in order to turn its volume down so that you can then bring it back into the mix and slowly bring its volume back up- its something i like to do when performing live a lot but have to do a dodgy workaround for)

i can bitch also about the limited effects bus, but, well, i can live with it too.

at first i counted off this unit for its preset sounds. but i was/am surprised by its range and depth. i have a virus, and this ain't one, thats for sure. but for a simple monophonic lead or bass, i'm impressed. it kicks the dr202 ass up and down. the sounds have a very good keyboard range (not merely limited to, say, the mid ocataves like the dr202) and are highly flexible when twiddling with the knobs.

the drum sounds are very very good. it pretty much makes my er-1 useless i have to admit. that thing's good for bleeps and bloops, this one is good for slamming kicks and crisp rides.

i wish the sounds could morph like the yamaha series can.

so far i've never had a problem with an electribe (unlike the dr 202). they are solid devices. i would gig without a backup.

i sent in a product for repair under warantee and it took 5 months to get back!! that sucks!

i want 2! they are so much fun!! just sitting twiddling knobs, bringing sounds in and out (best done with 2 or 3 electribes snyc'ed together) is a blast. it makes making music a breeze- find some patterns that you like and throw them in together- i can't wait to turn mine on right now and start playing. i've been using software sequencing for a bit and man, nothing kills my creative juices more than staring at a computer screen moving the mouse millimeters for hours at a time. sure the capabilities are much greater (and cheaper), but the tradeoff....this gets me to make music, and thats what ultimately counts for me. and even if i never played out anywhere, the process is so fun and rewarding that just sitting at home in bed farting around makes the expense worthwhile.

Ok.. Here's the deal. We just picked this thing up today at a Guitar Center for 350 bucks. As far as ease of use is concerned, the only thing that I've ever used that was easier was my DOD TEC-8 effects processor *rip*. Having just picked it up today, we already know everything there is to know about it. I don't see how it can get any easier than this... I'd give it an 11 if it were possible.

As far as features are concerned this thing is lacking somewhat.. But it isn't intended to be your groove-all synth/drum machine. It's intended to do drum and bass grooves (at which is excels), and for 350 bucks, who am I to disagree. For those who are into the composition of electronica, I see nothing better in the price range. This thing has a bad case of the TECHNO MANIA. My only real gripe about it is the lack of effects busses. Only one effect can be used at any given time. :( But I guess that's what external equipment is for. A+ for the price range.. -2 points on the lack of effects.

This thing has a pretty damned decent soundset for a unit of its price. Polypohony is slightly limiting, but not nearly as limiting as the 4 voices on my MS2000. When combines with the MS2000 and good MIDI sequencing software, this thing is absolutely amazing.
A+ for drum sounds. C- for synth sounds, but that's what my MS2000 is for anyway. :) I'll give this category a 7.

Well.. So far it's been reliable, but it's too early to tell. We did, however drop the thing on concrete later in the evening and it's still functional. My friend is jamming away on it now.
A+ for surviving a 4 foot drop to concrete, but no score due to not having it for an adequate amount of time.

Never dealt with Korg, but there is an authorized service center around the corner that said they could fix anything Korg in less than 4 days, so I'd consider that pretty decent. No overall rating because it hasn't happened yet.

This thing is pretty sweet. It can come up with some seriously smooth techno/trance/R&B/Hip-Hop grooves. We're going to try mastering some tracks of it to vinyl for some scratching. Very good bottom end on the sound. Extremely fat. I'd highly suggest using a MIDI controller for any aggressive lead stuff, though ultimately I'd suggest a different piece of equipment entirely if you're going to be going down that route. Overall, I give this unit a 9. The only thing keeping it from being a 10 is the lack of multiple effect routes. That can tend to be somewhat limiting.

I imagine this unit will go nicely with my setup, which consists of a PC running Reason and Fruityloops 3.4, Soundblaster Audigy EX, Korg MS2000, and Electribe. I have all of the capabilities of a full rack of professional equipment using this setup. :)

Nothing is easier to use than an Electribe. The preset patterns are ok, some are quite nice(trance, etc.), but I've overwritten most of them. Editing patterns is easy, though for the synth parts I use a Roland keyboard to enter the notes. Manual is quite nice, esp. for learning motion sequence, etc.

synths parts are ok, good for bass patterns and arppegios(sp). built-in effects are adequate. using delay on the synths helps to fatten them up a bit. the sequencer is fantastic, took me minutes to master.

the drum sounds are good. synth sounds are ok, though of course you can't create your own.

only had it hang up w/ MIDI once. by itself, it is flawless, wouldn't hesitate to use it live by itself.

N/A

for use as a drum machine and bass patterns, this thing is great. i use it along with a roland keyboard(and soon to add a good VA synth), and it fits in great. song building can be tedious, but worth the effort. if you don't really need the synth parts consider the ER-1.

The Korg EM-1 Electribe is pretty easy to use. I had the entire thing down within 2 days of tinkering. It's not hard at all to choose all the different types of drum/synth sounds, and everything is as easy as just spinning knobs around.

Polyphony on the drum side of the machine is great. However, the polyphony on the synth side is still a little weak, as you have 2 monophonic layers going on at once (no chords except for preset pitch-shifted ones). Built in effects are easy to use. MIDI is nice too, I plug my keyboard into the EM-1 so I don't have to use the onboard keyboard, but the keyboard on the EM-1 isn't bad if you don't have a keyboard laying around. Overall the features are great! The only thing that I wish it had were a bigger selection of synth sounds, and polyphonic instruments!

The sounds are great! It doesn't have a touch sensitive pad when doing drumbeats, but you can use a knob to tweak the volume. The expressiveness is great too. This is the strong point of the EM-1. I am very impressed with the sounds it has onboard.

I'm planning on taking it with me to my next gig. We'll have to see on this one.

Overall, if you don't want a drummer in your band then you should consider the EM-1. It's worth the price paid, I think I would buy it again if it got stolen. I really can't complain about the polyphony a whole lot because it would jack the price up. This is a good machine to use, but plan on buying a synth module because the selection is limited on that side. The drums are excellent though.

Heh. If you can count to 16 than you can figure this out.

Generic Roland style sequencer. The manual is okay. Not too great,
but you don't really nead it for much. The presets are bland, but
usable, like somebody else already said in their review... TWEAK TWEAK TWEAK!

The effects are good. Unfortunately you only get to pick one that
works with every part. Shame. I've done stuff like drop out a part
with the effect that I want into audio and synch it so that you can
use the other effects, but that's sorta a pain. There are four knobs
for the drum patches, but one is a volume and one is a pan. The pitch
and the sample length knob are pretty juicy. Specially since you get
a virtual track to store knob tweak movement in. Lo to hi rolls....
easy...

The synth modeler is pretty hip. Sorta basic but a cool introduction.

All the drum patches seem to be culled from popular radio-friendly type
songs, and that's cool... that has it's place...
This was desinged for dance 4 on the floor type stuff, but you can get
it pretty dirty and arhythmic...

Eff... the only thing I had to call them about was something that isn't
covered by the design... I was going to Europe for a month and a half
and wanted to make it battery-operated (not too hard, rc-car battery
and some cable splicin' from RadioShack?...) and the guy just warned
me that that sort of thing was not covered by the warranty. But, it's
pretty sturdy and VERY easy to figure out... so.... not much need for
tech/customer support...

um... I'm about to buy a Darkstar from Red Sound?, so I would have to
see if that covers everything I need from the EM-1...

After about 10 songs, I think you exhaust the sequencer's capabilities
(it then turns into a toy), so I mostly use the mono-synth modeler.

What it should have... AN ANALOG INPUT!!! It only has a headphone jack,
left/mono and right 1/4 inch outs, and midi in/out/thru. If it had an
analog input then you could use it like a 'lil effects box too...
oh yeah! If there was a way to send the sequence out part by part it
would be nice too.... muting.... play/record out... muting....
play/record out.... etc.

I like tha little bugger tho. Good toy.

Most of the presets are different styles of techno that are popular now (Goa/Terror/Tech Step/Blah). I'm not too fond of the presets (boring), but there are a couple of presets I like (check out A03)
You can pretty much learn the basics in one sitting. It's definately not something that will take you months to learn every little feature. I've had this for a couple of months already and I can't remember the last time I opened the manual (manual is very easy to follow if you need it).

2 monosynth parts and 8 drum parts. It features a universal delay and you can choose 1 out of 11 effects to apply to each part, ie. if you choose distortion, that's the only other effect you can apply to the rest of the parts (on or off). The effects are the only thing I really find limiting about this machine, but you can always run it through external effects. The sequencer is very straight forward, especially if you've used any of that roland groovebox stuff. You can use the sequencer to control an external device or use the EM-1 as a tone generator for an external midi controller.

The synth sounds are very dry/boring sounding in their default state, but you really need to play with cutoff/res/drive to make it interesting. The drum samples are very clean, and can be detuned and/or distorted to make interesting new percussion sounds. I recommend playing with the drive setting with various sounds and cutoff settings on the synth parts if you want an EBM/Industrial sound. Although the preset patterns will be outdated in a year or so, I don't think the sounds themselves will be outdated (just tweak the hell out of it)

Seems pretty sturdy, and cool looking to boot. Although it is plastic, I don't think there's much you could do to unintentionally damage it. Haven't noticed any bugs in the synth yet, so that's a good thing.

Haven't had any need for customer support yet.

If it were lost or stolen, I would probably hold out and see what's around the corner from korg :) I was most definately worth the price I paid for it (I bargained with the guy at Guitar Center, make note)
I would recommend this piece of gear to someone that's interested in making some music but doesn't have any equipment yet. It's fairly versatile and you can pound out your ideas fairly quickly.
There's nothing I really hate about it, considering the price. I only wish it had universal reverb instead of delay, but you can run the output through external effects if you need to.

A nice little box... about the closest thing korg has to a groovebox, but it's not. It's more of a groovebox/micro composer mix. Great for creating backing lines to songs.

Super easy to use, everything you need is on the front pannel and many keys double when you hold down "shift" on the thing - No flipping through menu screens and such. LCD screen is pretty low RES, but it's big and you can understand what it's attemting to spell (Like PCH = Pitch). Sequencing is extremely easy to do, particularly if you put the pattern pads into keyboard mode (Yes, you can play it like a cheap keyboard... It's meant as a sequencing aid, not for real performances) and press record to a click track, you'll get some grooves in no time. So the interface it there.

2 notes with a single osc and 2 effects Busses isnt much. Even more is that the unit kinda cheats on the effects busses... You can ONLY choose delay (You can tweek it though) for effect bus #1, and bus #2 gives you one of 11 other effects. So basically, you get 1 non chooseable effect, and 1 chooseable for the entire pattern, not per part (Though you can turn it on or off per part). However, korg kinda makes up for the lack of dual oscs limitation by providing several waves that can only be created by a dual osc or more setup... but still. Drum wise, you get 4 parts that can be used at the same time, and 2-2 parts that have to be used indipendantly (Cant be triggered at the same time), so you have 8 drums. Not that bad of a limitation but could use more. There are 50 synth wave forms covering everything from a saw tooth to funky guitar cords/strikes. They can be run through a 2 part filter (one for each synth part) which contains Cutoff, Resonance, EG Int (Basically Env Amount) and Drive. The drive is particularly interesting and can get so nasty that you wont even need the distortion in the effects section many times. In terms of modulation, there arn't any LFOs or sources/destinations - Instead, you use "Motion sequencing" to do this, and it's actually pretty cool. You also get a very simple Amp controller (ASR), pan, accent, and glide (For bending and portemento on synth lines). So on the synth side of things, I was kinda surprised that the lack of many sound shaping capabilities wasnt so bad and that this little sucker can actually create a decent pallet of sounds - Especially for it's price range. On the drum side, you get 144 waveforms, and shared effects from the synth parts, but no filter. You also get Amp EG, pan, pitch (So you can change the pitch of the drum on a per-note basis) and accent. So you wont really be tweeking the drum sounds THAT much without the filter, but they are still pretty good.

Grade A, Top notch, wonderful. Nearly all of the 190 some patterns are excelent and sound great. The sounds themselves in the patterns are amazing for the price too. 2 notes of poly can actually go along way if they sound good... it actually sounds fat and like there is more going on than there really is. The Motion sequencing and delay helps a lot. Everything in it, from the patterns, to the sounds within the patterns, to the drums are extremely refined and clear. Nice indead sound wise. For those wondering, it's geared towards Dance, D&B, and Hip Hop.

It's been reliable so far. The build quality isnt awsome, but then again it's not suppost to be. The knobs and buttons all seem like they will last a while. Wouldnt want to drop it on the floor though.

Screw them :)

I had a problem with it (And still am), but cant get any help from Korg because the news group and list registration page is all messed up.

You probably shouldnt own this as your only instrument unless your getting it just for fun :) Works great as a background synth, atleast with my Virus Kb anyway. It can do the "Minimal" style pretty welljust on it's own.

If you can get past it's limitations (Lack of poly, modulation, and effects busses), you will find an extremely good sounding, easy to use unit at a bargain price (400 US).

I found this machine very easy to use. From the start as a standalone unit you can chain preset patterns, tweak them, and put together your own new patterns and barely touch the manual. If you want to get a little deeper, say patterning from scratch, editing waves from scratch, you'll need the manual but it's still way easy.

The presets in my opinion are outstanding. I wouldn't use them directly in a song i was releasing, but i use them to build off of. I may change the waves, tweak them, edit the rythym, but they give me a great starting point so I don't have to do it all from scratch.

The MIDI implementation is great, very straigtforward, except the NRPN numbers are not yet available from Korg to sequence the controller changes. So rather than record the notes directly to the Sequencer (Sonar) I just have sonar do patch changes on the EM-1. That way I have to change the patterns on the unit itself, which is very easy, but I also have to keep track of which patterns are which, without the visual ease that computer sequencing offers. It's a tradeoff. I'd rather do it all in Sonar, but that'll happen when the full NRPN implementation is out.

Otherwise, very easy to use. I had a useable pattern set up within minutes of getting it out of the box. By changing presets I had a (preset-based) song going within an hour.

If you really want to get complicated in the playing of this thing, use a controller. I use the CS1X and have no problem. It's really easy though to use the built in keypad, and the transpose keys.

The built in song or pattern chain sequencer is very good, basic 16-step dance sequencer with motion controls. Just stringing patterns together. But you can then step individual notes into it. Cool.

I especially like the BPM delay. James Bernard does this really cool roll effect with it.

The onboard effects are great, but only about half are really useable (at least that I've found). You can make a lot of them fairly subtle, and they come out well.

The overall sound quality of this unit is much higher than the RM1X or my CS1X. It's very clear, though it has a limited number of sample waves to start with (50). But you can program those out in any number of ways, so not a big deal.

I find that I often run the main synth part or the bass part out to my CS1X if I don't like the sound I'm getting for it. PS... That's how you get Arpeggio out of this thing since it doesn't have it built in. Just have it play your synth patch set to arpeggiate. That makes for some cool complex leads or basses that it would take forever to program on the EM-1. PLUS then you still get the original part in it's original patch onboard.

The sounds are definately tuned towards Trance and Breaks. Some of the d'n'b stuff is good, as well as the trip hop. If you want some quick new stuff, try taking a preset, sequencing the notes on the computer, and playing it back then with a different patch on the unit.

I'm relatively new at creating music, so I tend to use the presets to build off of more than a more experienced musician, but I guarantee when I'm done with it you wouldn't think I started from the preset, hearing them side by side. It's that tweakable.

It might be a better unit for beginners or those without much other equipment. Someone else might like to program everything out from scratch. But then again, you can do that with this machine if you don't want to use any presets.

No idea yet. It's not metal or anything, so I wouldn't want to drop it.

I wish Korg had the NRPN implementation online, other than that I've not had to deal with them.

I would replace this unit if I lost it. I actually like it a lot. It provides a great base for the CS1X, and probably for any other synth. It's geared toward 16 step dance patterns, so don't expect it to be good at anything else. I have not used the other electribes so I can't compare it to them. I tried the RM1X and I like the EM-1 better, though if you needed a hardware sequencer I'd go with the RM1X instead.

The sounds on this thing are great. It was made to make dance music, and that's what it does.

Since I didn't know anyone who had this model at the time, I was floored by the complexity of the presets. It really gives you a good idea of what you can do with it. But I warn that they are not all good. Its very easy to set the sounds to the corresponding drum & synth parts. If you are familiar with the electribe series you know what I'm talking about.

The EM-1 has 2 synth parts that can be played at the same time, and 8 drum parts (4 of the of the drum parts share 2 channels). When I asked a salesperson about what its capable of he said "it's basically a combo of the ER-1 & EA-1". THIS IS NOT AT ALL TRUE! Unlike the EA & ER there is pre programmed waves for all drums & synths. So to all the naysayers of the ER1 in particular, you DO NOT have to tweak knobs to search for a sound. This is fantastic. There is 144 different sounds for drum parts & 50 for synth. As for the synth end of things it works just like the EA1, just a little harder to edit notes that you've added. As for the notorious motion sequence, I haven't completely figured that one out yet, but it has more flexability than the other 'tribes. The roll feature is nice but must be used as a motion sequence

As far as sounds go, I have to admit that the reason I got this was because of the clarity of the drum waves used. I must warn that I upgraded from the Boss DR202, and if you know that machine I'm sure you realize that the DR202 has bad sample clarity, and not a wide variety of kicks and snares. I personally do trip-hop & hip-hop, and the EM1 works well as far as I can see, but I'm sure that it's best for trance, because the synth waves programmed into the machine are very trance oriented (just try it and see). The effects offered by the machine are good, but you can only apply one type of effect for all drum parts. (The effect can be turned on or off per drum part). It is also very easy to alter your work on the fly, unless your using a fast BPM (haha to all trance fanatics). However it is not touch sensitive. But out of the drum waves is a good variety of kicks & snares, with more percussion type sounds than I bargained for (congas, bongos, maracas, many types of traditional style drums, and latin)

Haven't used it live when it really counts, but the only thing is that if you change patterns on the fly you will always hear it re-adjust your effects parameters.

Never dealt with them.

If I lost this machine, I would defineltly buy it again. I got the ER1 & EA1 also, which is the only equipment I use. This kicks the pants off of my DR202, and its also $20 cheaper. If your wondering why I'm using the EM1 & ER1 at the same time, it's because I use a wide palette of kicks & snares, and instead of using up its 8 drum parts on any kind of percussion, I use the ER1 for all percussion.