Korg ER-1 Electribe

This little bitch is easy as hell to use. I can't really think of any other little bastard drum machine that's easier.

The uhh drums for it are really neat but a bit limited, for you can only run four fully adjustable drum sounds at once. The MIDI is really confusing but you can still figure it out as long as you're having lots of fun like having sex while doing it.

The sounds are a bit limited. It would be a lot better if there were moans and pleasure screams of women in it to add to the beat. A little "whack-smack" would be nice too.

I can depend on this as well as I can depend on getting a boner with viagra.

I love the customer support. I believe it is at 1-800-FUCK-YOU and the female operator was VERY nice...

If this little whore was stolen I would probably buy a new one. While I can bitch about the lack of sex sounds all day, I really like how capable it is of doing multiple things. It makes great porno music as well.

Easiest drum machine layout ever- if you played any insturment in your entire life you can pick up the beats within minutes.

Although i am still learning everything the features are great. I love the on board delays and Oscillator.

it doesnt put/out to much but that is what amps and mixers are for only 6Db's. Not really a problem for me. The sounds are great but you must be preared to play it loud and have all your full range speakers set up.

never failed yet but i wish the power cord was better connected

never used?

I was questioning the sales person at the Toronto music store about the MC-505 when he suggested I check out the ER-1. I never heard of it. I put on those headphones and started tweaking those patterns right there. I was blown away! I had no idea what I was doing but it all sounded soooo cool. Right off the bat I knew this was something I had to have.

This little box does a lot, especially compared to the price of other similar gear. It's up to the user to make it what it is....

I got into psy trance from TO's underground scene. I was a guitar rocker before hand. Guitar got boring as hell. This little box opened up my mind to new possibilities in sound creation. Its a wicked toy-play with it!

I've lugged this thing in a gym bag all over the place. It's light and portable. I can't believe something so small sounds so cool. If you aren't a complete moron and keep your drugged out and drunken friends away from it- than I think it should hold up well.

N/A - no problemo!

This box rocks. If you take the time to tweak it you can get wicked results. I skipped my college classes for 2 days to play around with it! Be curtious and use headphones if you have room-mates; the bass can be too much for some too handle at loud volumes. The MS 2000 is on the way soon.....

Very easy to use , had it all figured out in two hours.
Found software to edit it (not that s it s really needed)

Midi's up to scratch, poly's fine , sucks that the delay effects all parts.

Oh yeah midi thru is nice for a box this price.

-4 synth parts rock, samples are ok
-low boost is nice , adds distortion when cranked up
-this doesn t even need to be used for drums, makes very nice synth lines

Looks and feels flimsy
my 909's tougher hands down

dunno but the store i got it from would help out interface with the faceless corporate pigdogs

i d get another one if stolen , this machine truly inspires me

is is so simple. the pads give you the timing

it is great for the people thjat are looking for the sounds that cant be made with an average drum machine, or groove box

there is nothing to say, you make your own sounds....enough said

umm....this feature is not as good as i think it should be, but dont let this stop you from getting it

The Electribe ER-1 drum machine was the first of the series that I bought, and perhaps, the best in the Electribe series. For years, I have been a fan of Roland's TR-808, CR-8000, CR-78 etc., so you can imagine I'd dreamt up a wish list of feature which would have been nice to have in those machines. Nothing out there could match the sound quality and flexibility of the TR-808, not even the brilliantly implemented Roland R-8. The sounds were just too static, or too "sampled" for my taste. The Korg ER-1 changed all that. Even the presets were nice, which is about the highest compliment I can make about any machine. For months after having bought the ER-1, I still wasn't convinced this wasn't some cruel gear lust dream I would awake from staring at a (insert crappy drum machine of your choice here). Furthermore, being able to tweak, and re-tweak, and store the tweaks, and record the tweaking is the most amazing development since the invention of drum machines itself. I was also very happy to be able to use good old Roland-style step programming to make patterns.

I'm quite satisfied with the onboard polyphony, never having felt the need for more. However, I would have appreciated the inclusion of a "cymbal-hihat synthesis model" to make my own, but I guess Korg's choices for Hihats and the lone cymbal should please most 909 fans out there.

The synchro delay (also tweakable) is just right for rhythm patterns and I enjoyed being able to make the hihats ping-pong from left to right (or vice-versa). I also enjoyed the "bass-booster" feature, as it gives my sounds that extra bottom distortion guaranteed to shake the room.
Korg were very generous as far as Ring Modulators are concerned, allowing the user to both internal and external sounds with the units dual Ring Mods.
I was also surprised at the wide range of modulation capabilities found on the ER-1, especially since the EA-1 (synth) lacks a proper LFO.
I wish there was a way to control the volume settings for each part from the machine itself without having to select, but I guess for now, I'll have to live with muting and un-muting the sounds...

This box is not intended for recreating jazz brush snare sounds. It is ideally suited for Techno, Hip Hop, Dance, etc. I even created sound effects and textures for a 50's Sci-Fi movie parody using the versatile little beast.
This is the future of drum synthesis, with all the best elements of the past and an open mind for the future.
The purity of the ER-1 is such that I'm willing to say I haven't heard this nice a kick drum since the TR-808.

The ER-1 is very reliable live, and also quite loud.
I would only bring it to gigs along with earplugs.

I've never had to deal with Korg.

If my ER-1 were lost or stolen, I would run to buy another one. In fact, I think I'll go and buy another one right now so I can keep tweaking if this one breaks.

The presets are pretty basic analog stuff, nothing surprising really. They really lack the certain kind of "dick" and sound a bit cheap and toy'ish. The manual seems pretty intuitive, but that's what the ER-1's interface is too, so you won't really need the book. Just take the machine out of the box, make the necessary connections and start playing around with it. It's reeeeally easy. No stupid menu scrolling etc.

There are no effects to speak of. Just the silly global reverb. Dunno about the midi capabilities, and i imagine there's not much use for it either, as it has such a great internal sequencer. Well, you could use midi for timing if you'd want to go live, but I imagine that's about it.

The instruments are alright if you're ready to deal with almost identical drums in every song. This machine works well for techno kind of stuff, you can get goa bass drums outta it if you want to, but it ain't going to be no good for traditional drum+bass or anything else that requires real drum sounds.

Well, I bought mine used, and the paint has flaked off a bit from the buttons. The whole machine is terribly light weighted, and the knobs are like loose nibbles or something. It looks and feels like it's bought from a toystore, and unfortunately sounds a bit like that, too. I'd have to gig with this without backup, because no gig is important enough to pay another 1800 FIM for another one of these.

Haven't contacted them and not going to.

If this were lost or stolen, I'd buy something else. It's just plain silly that it can make only one kind of crash, one kind of hi-hat and one kind of claps. And they're the same stupid samples no matter how much you tweak the knobs, and that's very audible. Looking at the reviews people have written here, I'm ready to believe Korg bribed them in a way or another. This isn't half as good as I thought it would be. And i bought it based on the reviews people have written here. My final statement is: Unless you get this very VERY cheap, don't buy it.

Yes. It it pretty simple and straightforward. The preset patterns
aren't that useful, but you can copy good sounds from them. Changing
patterns while playing is easy, but the data wheel could be a bit
stiffer. Songs are easy to compose and the motion sequence is easy
too.

You can tweak the sounds quite a lot, but the results aren't always
that useful. Of course you can do weird sounds to ring modulate the
two audio input sounds. It has a built in delay that has a lot of
freak out potential to it. I have only one complaint about the
features. This thing can't do any 7/8 9/8 11/8 or things like that.

It does well with any dance/electropop or such. I suggest any ER-1
owners go buy themselves a distortion pedal, so you can do some
serious wild noise patterns.

It looks a bit weak. Only time will tell.

It it well worth the money though I might not buy it again.
With a couple of synths and this one you can do some great party
music. Tweaking it while playing live is a lot of fun.

intuitive-creative-amazing box
in 2 hours you learn what you need, and then yuo'll take your time to go into the sounds and create your own

10 parts + 2 audio in for processing external sounds <- this is great, i mean: with this function you can process external weird noises or melodies with the notes you put on the pads....xperimentation, pure!!!
the delay is global, no single for each part...it's great too: you don't buy an electribe R for real drum sounds, so the 'total' delay can give bizarres effects like Aphex Twin breaks...
the MOTION SEQUENCE!!!!!!! this is the beast: you can record your turns on the switches that will be reproduced cyclic with the pattern...AWESOME
the sequencer is classic xox groove pattern based...solid rock...not terrible things like an RM1-X, but really solid
remember that you can change every note you have put on the pads in real time when you are playing live, and also making motion sequences at that time...

i have to be honest: i LOVE the sounds of the ER-1, specially because you have to make your own, but if you'r looking for a tipical simil-realistic sounding drum box, you have to go away from here!
this box is perfect for tribalcore, tekno, elektro, hardcore, breaks, industrial, but ALL a bit xperimental...come on, you have to wake up and do your own thing and sounds!!!
you can create boomy kick sounds, 808 simil, long synth-drum sounds, noises, echoes tribal patterns, really good electro things...
the switches are really sensitive, so if you turn a little bit the kick sound, it can be tranformed into a square synth or a bell!!!
the box DSP based...at the end really simil-analogue, a sort of a more experimental Jomox one
again: forgot it for rock or simil and more important: TRY IT a long before saying it's crap...if you listen to it for 5 min in a store you'll never discover the big power of this machine

10 again: you can use it perfectly on live without any sort of problem

the support, i think, is very good...i mean: it's KORG!
but i've never been in the situatuion that the ER-1 had to be repared, so i don't give any point.

i use always my ER-1, it's my baby :)
i use also a Yamaha RM1-X that drives all, an ES-1 and an MS2000rack from Korg, an ESI2000 sampler + boss VF-1 and boss MT-2 effects...
i have to say that the ER-1 is the only one that seems to be immune to the effects: i put delays, distortions etc., and it sounds more punch with strange effects, but not really delayed and distorted!!!
it's xperimental also for this reason....(the modulation effects have a better resolution)
i really recommand this box to everyone who likes tekno and also sperimentation to his own audio material, and remember that, when you are playing live, you have to turn really soft the bass-kick controll: you'll burn the PA and make evrything else sound like plastic!!!

Really really simple to use. The manual can even be considered optionnal :o)
But waouh haw great are the sounds you create!

Of course it can appear to be a little bit limited, but huh it s a rythm synthesizer, not a dedicated synthesizer!!!
More seriously, the 4 percussion synthesizer parts are excellent, to create any kind of sound you want.
Great distortion also :o)
The inputs offer also a large panel of possibilities...I own my ER-1 since one year, and I just begin to use this feature :o)

For the 4 percussion synthesizer parts, I give it a 10, no problem.
But the MAJOR PROBLEM comes from the four PCM samples...
Why? Because in fact they share 2 voices :o((((
You cannot choose the samples :o((((
And above all the samples sound no so great... :o(
IMHO it s better to use another machine for hi hats, claps and crash.

I ve nerver had any problem, but huh the knobs do not seem to be very solid...

I don t know :o)

No doubt I would give it a 10 if you had you choice for PCM samples and if you had, let s say 2 more percussion ynthesizers