Korg EXB-PCM-04 Dance Extreme

Very easy to install and use. I use it in my Triton rack

Very well done. Makes good use of on-board effects.

In my opinion the real selling point of this expansion ROM is this:
It can be used for SEVERAL genres of music, not just dance. I do some
dance music, but I do much more than that, and this board is used on
almost every project I work on. In other words, I consider this a
multi-purpose ROM with a focus on dance, hiphop, etc.

The sounds are outstanding. I REALLY like the drum kits. There are
MANY! And, these are not just dance kits. There are some really nice
acoustic kits as well as dance kits. I get many of my percussion sounds
from this ROM.

The pads are excellent as are the basses, leads, etc. HOWEVER, there
are some absolutely useless programs: the rap/voice programs. These
are sampled vocal takes such as "DAMN!", "Break it up!" and Melodic
vocal samples like "Oh Yeah Baby" etc. Useless. Absolutely useless.

Why useless? It would be difficult to do an original professional
project using these patches without someone saying, "Hey, that's Triton preset!"

The other programs, I think are extremely well done. I really like
this ROM and use it a lot. Flexible for many genres, but with a dance
flair to it.

(NOTE: I also bought Trance Attack PCM09, thinking it would have sounds
that could be used for different genres. WRONG. It is a TRANCE board.
PERIOD! It has great sounds, but it is not flexible for different genres.
At least not that I have discovered).

It's a ROM, so it is reliable.

Never had to deal with Korg from a service perspective.

If it were lost or stolen, I would probably get another.

i have this card in a triton pro classic osv2.5
install is very easy . the instructions assume your not an idiot and just get right to the point.
i dint like useing the full install off the floppy because it over wrote a & b banks in combis and programs also so i reinstalled just the banks i wanted with out letting it do its own thing.

for me this was very easy

it features some sounds that are just takeing up space and ill never ever use. ever. they are like those vocal runs the r&b divas think are cool. i might like them better backwards with distortion, but probbly not. really more percussion sounds would have been nice. there are to few drum kit parts for a dance card

the sounds are good. very korg in quality use your own judgement as to what that means.
i could have used some more odd percussion sounds rather than the dozzon or so goofy vocal samples it comes with. a few of the combis are usless to me but not enuff that im dissapointed. actually i concidered just installing the card and not the combi and program presets but i started to use them so i left the d bank installed and the ones i wont use will give me some much needed space for my own custom ones , so the very few stinkers in there wont last to long.
all of the combis axcept maybe 3 or 4 have a drum kit on the arp
thank god the didnt put more strat programs on this one

i started a programing a song with one of the combis about as soon as i found it the song sort of just came right out.

im gonna have to mention they didnt seem to think haveing 808 or 909 samples on a dance card was something they wanted to do. if this is a pride thing or because every one in the world allready has sampled them i dont know. but i havent found a really super deep bass drop in a drum kit yet. guess i'll have to make one for my self im sure there some raw materials in there somewhere. theres now 96mb of sounds on my triton + 64mb for loading samples so its gonna take awile to go thru

the bass for basslines on the triton is THICK and the card does add a few new ones but nothing very different from the stock basses

umm . . . it works , pops right in and there it is all set to go.

the ppl at korg are cool and really seem to know there stuff , its now wonder there doing so well. the web page has great support for current products. now its time for them to start doing some web support for older and vintage products

i like it but its nothing i couldent live without actually. the whole card is some variations on whats allready in the triton for dance styles , not alot to really get excited about actually. altho the new arp patterns are good and absloutly for the dance styles.
at the time i got it it was the only choice besides the future loops card , im not really into loops. now that theres a new one comeing out with simmaler styleing if it exb4 went bad or something i'de go for the newer one

now the moss exb . . . that a whole different story

was it worth the cash ? umm . . . mostly for the conviance of haveing the sounds combis and programs ready to go without haveing to take the time to get a hard drive and load and custom build samples and program all the stuff. just pop it in turn it on and start dancing

Dance?! What's so 'dancy' about this expansion card? I think it's total crap. The combi's and patches don't add anything.
If I want more Dance sounds I rather import Triton LE combi's and Patches which are compatible with 'normal Triton' of course. I wonder if Roland's new SRX05 sounds better, cause Korg did a lousy job on this PCM board.

Why did I bought it? I bought my Triton second hand and it already contained the PCM02 Studio Essentails and PCM04 Dance Extreme. PCM02 is very nice, nice strings and brasses, but PCM04 ...

I want to trade it for EXB-PCM-01 Piano expansion, or better yet buying the new Roland XV-5050 with SRX05 Dance Extreme. I was going to buy the XV-5050 anyway for strings, piano's and classic guitars. The Triton will fullfil the more analog type sounds and MOSS board for the VL engine.

I heard Korg will make new combi programs for Karma + PCM04, I hope those users are more satisfied then I am now.