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very true that the es-1 is quite a dodgy liitle box. i don't care so much, though. the knobs are very wobbly. it's cheap feeling, no doubt. however, the sound is quite large. my roomate had one first, and i was pretty amazed at the sounds coming from it. loud, punchy, big bass. this puny thing that weighs two pounds or something is loud! it just sounds great. i think korg was shooting for big bucks here, they made the interface as as cheap as possible to keep the price down. simple math, es-1 costs five times less than a "pro" sampler, but people buy ten times as many of them. as has been stated earlier, many of the "detractors" themselves purchased them. very few "pros" will buy this. no argument there. as mentioned earlier, some such as autechre DO use these, cause it can do cool stuff. my imagination has been opened up by the possibilities of this box. there are many ways to work around the rigid step lenths and other problems. just do some math. i do 9's, 7's, 5 against 4, you name it. sometimes there's extra beats at the end, but who cares? it sounds interesting to have extra beats. i also sample "phrases" quite often and pitch them to fit a loop, or put them in so they go against everything else. that sounds cool too. i also slice some things, which takes a while sometimes to get it right, but once you do it can do some nice stuff. unfortunately the es1 won't let you normalize a slice, so you have to pull the volume down on everything else.
honestly, these are minor gripes. not only is there no other sampler this good for this price, but nothing else out there lets you step sequence your OWN samples so easily.
i listened to the presets for about 5 seconds and thought i would puke. i deleted everysingle thing in there before i even started, then i went on a sampling rampage. i've been generating stuff that fascinates me ever since (over a year ago.) i multitrack live instruments over it. i multitrack two patterns over each other at different time signatures or tempos. it's a lot more than a sampling drum machine. if you take some time, slow the tempo down, you get get it very melodic. then speed the tempo back up to where you want it and have your melodies dancing around and then go wild with the panning pot.
your gear doesn't define you, you define your gear. i think that the real conundrum of electronic music is that most user's imaginations never surpasses the first month of excitement with new gear. after you've exploited a piece of gear's "obvious" operating procedures, you're back online sniffing out the next "new toy." a good instrument is one that can continue to surprise you, but you have to be willing to work for it. it's like love. YOU are responsible for breathing new life into your stuff. selling tons of stuff to buy new instruments is wasteful, and it just goes to show that you're probably not happy with the music you do. if you think you're lagging behind because your gear is outdated, you are quite mistaken. the way that YOU think about your music is not evolving. if you make 4 on the floor techno with your es-1, you're going to get pretty tired of it!
take good care of this sampler and it won't break on you. it's dependable. to the above individual who lamented companies making cheap stuff-------don't take it personally. it's not really an affront the the dignity of musicians everywhere. corporations are very greedy. always have been. sometimes they make cool stuff though. there's lots of very friendly small companies making cool stuff too. you can always but from them. i personally will buy from a corporation if i like the item, and what it can do, if it's got a good price on it.
have a good one) borax
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