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Let me preface this my saying that I'm not an "analog slut". I try to keep my mind open and give every piece of gear I play with a fair shake. I'm also a fair believer that gear made for a very specific purpose is best. Enter the EA-1...
I finally bought one after weighing the opinions of the purists and the enthusiasts. I checked web sites and magazine reviews collecting as much information as I could about the EA-1. My conclusion was that this thing was something that would *integrate* very well with my current setup. That is to say it isn't positioned to compete against the do-everything MC X0X and RM1x boxes and shouldn't be compared with them. It is a two-monosynth package that works very well when coupled with other equipment. I couldn't be happier with it.
I played with it for an hour and started to believe what it's detractors were saying -- about it sounding good then wearing off. Then I started to program it myself. This thing is surprisingly flexible when you know how to use it.
The filter input is great fun and can be used to gate external audio and can coax some amazing sounds out of the unit. Try using a beat loop to modulate OSC2. Very cool...
The sequencer needs no discussion. Very intuitive, rock solid, great fun to program. It took me four minutes to throw my own pattern into it and edit events (gate time, etc.) to my liking.
The one piece of advice I would give Korg would be to charge more for it. I sincerely believe it would have been better received with a price tag twice what it is. Sounds silly, but people seem afraid of affordable quality. Bottom line is that if you like the way it sounds, you won't be dissappointed.
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