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Well judging from specifications one would think this it has a severely crippled synth engine, but I think expecting an Access Virus engine in this is really not sensible. It's not a machine that you would approach with a complex sound in your mind and proceed to look for it. This is more of a "happy accident generator". You can get it to sound great, but not necessarily how you planned it to. It has few parameters that can change the sound *a lot* and allow you to make many useful sounds.
Tubes can be useful for individual sounds but the whole mix can sound crappy if you turn them past 20%. I'd rather have payed $100 less. In my opinion they're like chrome on your car. Looks nice, but ultimately it's there for the looks, not the performance or "birdshit proofing".
I think this Electribe follows the philosophy of "make things as simple as possible, but no simpler". With some chrome added ;)
The sequencer is almost the same as in the old Electribes: simple, fast and fun. Don't expect micro editing - dump your patterns elsewhere for that. I think combining the MX (for fast development of ideas) with a more sophisticated sequencer is the way to go.
My nags: -no knob pickup mode - if you turn the knob after switching parts the parameter jumps to where the knob is. *Bad* for any live work. -effect send per part is only on/off! dry/wet mix is determined in the effect parameters, for all parts that are sent to it -LFO can modulate only one parameter at a time (per part) -NO FILTERs for the drum parts. You have to dedicate an FX to filter if you want that or use a synth part for a drum sound/kit.
I'd say it's a unique combination of a simple to use sequencer and synths. It reminds me *a lot* of Quasimidi 309 (knobbed aluminum box with five synths and a step seq), but Korg is ages ahead of it in all aspects.
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