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Average rating:
4.7 out of 5
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I had this unit about a year ago before I switched to the EMX. I had both at the same time for a while. Basically a very easy to use machine, very intuitive. My main gripe with this unit however was the sound quality, it basically had little punch compared to the EMX and other toys I've played with,still better than most Roland units but that doesn't say much. I wright DNB, Industrial, breakbeat, etc... and basically couldn't get the low end to sound powerfull out of this unit. I also didn't like the fact that the filter unit didn't have the drive knob that the EMX had(why wasn't this included?) However one good thing about this unit is it's simplicity, if you have ever used an electribe you will get your head around this fast. I wonder however if there isn't a completely different sound engine in this than the emx as far as the D/A convertors or something. I have a tip for this unit as well as the EMX, you can if you want a better sound, switch out the tubes for almost any matched pair of 12ax7's I recommend the Sovtek LPS 12ax7's they sound good. You don't need any electrical experience or anything, you just take off the cover pull the old ones out and put in the new matched set(just make sure to unplug the unit first)
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oh yeah, when you add your own samples they are kinda low sounding and this alarmed me at first, but if you sample somthing turn the input till it clips, you can clip it a little and it doesnt affect the quality. just keep resampling till it sounds ok. then find your start and stop points truncate and NORMALIZE! thats the key. its on the front panel and its a secondary function so you push shift. thats somthing else thats cool about it is its SO easy. i mean granted its not some big super sampler or some shit but its hella sick and every function is on the machine so all you really have to do is look, right? oh yeah the drums are good and the synth is good but erase every thing else including the preset patterns and truncate everything to maximize creativity!
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this machine is very easy to use and sounds great. this is the perfect tool for a live performence drum machine. the pros: you can press record at any time to start and stop recording, even while playing a pattern, tons of knobs to tweak, the lfo is really nice, the tubes are a nice added bonus, even though every body talks shit i would rather have them then not have them, mutable tracks, the arpp is pretty sick for all kinds of stuff from rolls to crazy filter sweeping acid lines.the stretch function is sick (you can stretch a kick drum over 8 measures or more if you wanted to, although quality is at stake, slice is sick, memory is holing up cons: there is no attack, if you set the lfo to modulate the amp just right you can kinda fade in sounds, or record a manual knob turn. only records sixteenths, extremly limited polyphony, you cannot play a chord, you have to load/erase each sample one by one. this is just the stuff i can think of, it is limited but if you know what you want like i did this thing is perfect, right down to its heavy metal case, yeah
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I've been looking at this and the EMX for quite some time now and a few days ago was finally the day. I was amazed how intuitive this box is. Changing beats on the fly is cake. Tweaking the samples and keyboards is just as easy. The tubes make a nice fat warmer sound out of it. I've yet to throw my own samples on there, but I'm sure it'll be tons of fun. I'm in a band and don't even play anything related to dance music and I expect this thing to be a great addition.
My only issue is that it uses Smartmedia Cards. A. It seems they're becoming obsolete and B. they only go up to 128 MB. Otherwise this thing is a godsend to the electronic musician.
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