is the Korg Electribe ES-1 any good?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JacobACL
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Some of the most influential bits of kit ever released were considered toys for a long time.

People laughed at the SH-101. Silly them.

They scoffed at the TR-808 and thought the TR-909 was even worse.
Looks like they were wrong on those as well....

The Prophet was originally an 'educational toy' - it was actually marketed as that.

The mighty TB-303 was the ultimate 'toy'. You couldn't give the thing away. It was a joke. Now those haters are laughing on the other side of their face, eh? (they probably still hate it too, silly, silly people that they are).

The original electribe series are only just beginning to be recognised for the beasts that they are. Give 'em 15 years and they'll be worth a mint.

Toy now = Classic later.:victory:
 
VexaDJ said:
Toy now = Classic later.:victory:
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You hit the nail on the head here. Turntablism evolved because people didn't have access to other instruments and training - the SP1200 owes much of its success to DJs wanting to take what they were already doing to the next level (and the MPC owes its success to being a much better SP1200). The 808 wasn't really picked up by the 'underground' scene (which would later grow into the world-dominating hip-hop scene) until the industry had essentially written it off and decided it was an unrealistic toy.

Likewise, the tools of techno were, for the longest time, considered worthless by the music community at large. Early techno was based on unrealistic sounding, 'outdated' analog gear at a time when the synth industry was trying as hard as it could to produce more & more realistic ROMplers. The style grew out of finding unrecognized capabilities for gear that people were virtually giving away.

I'm fuzzy on the details but I remember, from one of my music appreciation classes in college, the professor said that one of the major factors in the birth of Jazz (or maybe it was the Blues) was the post-war (forget which one) liquidation of used Army marching-band instruments making cheap instruments plentifully available.
 
Mattman04 said:
I supose based on your theory(limited features) that the legendary sp1200 is also a toy?
Hating on the 32khz issue is silly. People that buy it know it samples at 32khz, and believe it or not this will give the sound character.
At least with my Zoom sampletrak numerous times I have opted for the lower 16khz option because it thickens samples, and gives them more character.
Now if I want perfect pristine quality I use my Echo mia to record samples.
If wan't a dirty raw beat I might fire up the Zoom.
Now 32kz is really niether dirty, or clean.
It might lack a little stereo width, and high end, but it's fine for hiphop with rugged samples.
The es-1 has had swing since 2000, by the way.
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You can't even put 1200 and the es-1 on the same sentence..please. SP's sound came from their damn nice sounding 12 bit engine, that's something that E-mu has allways been known for.. good samplers. Korg ain't got **** on that. Now, the es-1 engine doesn't really sound that nice. at all. and if you load a 44khz sample in it, it speeds up and sounds really ****ed, cos the machine can't timestrech automatically. Also, i would like point out to you that Echo mia is pretty much on the low-end market of the music production category and hardly "pristine and clean".

It's just a fun, overpriced toy. hardly a classic by any means. i can't believe some of you are bringin in SP's, 808's or 909's in the same discussion...man.
 
VexaDJ said:
Some of the most influential bits of kit ever released were considered toys for a long time.

People laughed at the SH-101. Silly them.

They scoffed at the TR-808 and thought the TR-909 was even worse.
Looks like they were wrong on those as well....

The Prophet was originally an 'educational toy' - it was actually marketed as that.

The mighty TB-303 was the ultimate 'toy'. You couldn't give the thing away. It was a joke. Now those haters are laughing on the other side of their face, eh? (they probably still hate it too, silly, silly people that they are).

The original electribe series are only just beginning to be recognised for the beasts that they are. Give 'em 15 years and they'll be worth a mint.

Toy now = Classic later.:victory:
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Interesting!!
The es-1 is capable of making some sick beats,it has an easy to use step sequencer and the filters and fx are sick!! The big brother the Esx is even sicker...
Those are on my wishlist for the near future...
And VexaDj,it's crazy how some peeps can be so elitist and narrow minded.
 
1005 said:
Now, the es-1 engine doesn't really sound that nice. at all. .
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Yours are the only ears in the world are they? I'm sure others, with their own ears, would wholeheartedly disagree.

1005 said:
and if you load a 44khz sample in it, it speeds up and sounds really ****ed, cos the machine can't timestrech automatically. .
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If you can't change the sample rate of a sample for yourself, then you shouldn't be using a sampler at all.

1005 said:
It's just a fun, overpriced toy. hardly a classic by any means. i can't believe some of you are bringin in SP's, 808's or 909's in the same discussion...man.
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No, it's not a classic yet, but the fact that even you admit how much FUN it is, makes it likely to be one of tomorrow's classics. And the comparison of TR's and TB's etc is perfectly valid as it was simply to demonstrate that narrow minded people denigrating other people's tools are nothing new.;)
 
I've made some crazy beats on the es-1.. it's not the gear, its the ear.
get over yourself 1005. The sp 1200 sounds like crud, and has.. what 10 seconds of sample time? what the hell are u talking about. You saying the sp 1200 is a better machine than a machine that samples in 16 bit, mono or stereo, has 10 times the sample time!! and costs 1/4 of the price..... you need to get your priorities straight mr.
 
yo the es-1 is sick man. who cares about the sample rate? machines can be limited, yes but the point is, you can make some ill **** if you put your mind to it.
 
VexaDJ said:
If you can't change the sample rate of a sample for yourself, then you shouldn't be using a sampler at all.
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umm.. what's the point of having a portable sampler if you can't edit the samples on deck with the machine, and you need to downsample stuff you want to move from your pc?


And advesary, you're putting es-1's sound over SP's? You just owned yourself, lol.
 
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this is like a parallel universe.. where good quality means bad quality.. the ONLY reason u like the sp1200 is because it was a popular sampler from some of the best producers.. if noone used it.. u wouldnt like it.

The "sound" is distorted and staticy..thats good? the warmth is cool.. but the scratchiness and static is annoying.
 
It's the "punch" of the sound, when samples go through SP's converters... It sound way nicer that es. You ever actually used or listened to an SP and compared to ES? distorded and staticky? depends how hot the sound was driven into it and if from vinyl, in which condition the lp was...same thing in es btw, only thing that the same sample sounds crappier when it comes out of the es.

and you started to comment on the sampletime etc stuff of es..? hell, if jacobal can get es for like less than 200$, it's ok. but for the original price es is wayyyy overpriced. even stuff like mpc500 kills it completely.
 
the original price for the es is only like $250.
What you put in is what u get out with the es-1.. it doesnt change the sample at all.. unless u add the effects manually.if u sample into the es.. your gonna hear EXACTLY what you sampled, EXACTLY how it sounded before u put it in. =)
 
Lol, the sp1200 is a classic because of the sound.
That warm harmonic distortion is why people have been seeking it out for years.

Now not everyone likes that sound, but alot of people do.
I know with my Zoom sampletrak I sample at 16khz just to get a similar sound. Everything warms up, thickens up, and punches harder.
Those old machines had warmer ad/da convertors too.

Like I said everyone is'nt after that sound, but for certain styles of hiphop it's the way to go.

However I'm in the camp that says anything can be used a potentialy "great" tool in the right hands, and the es-1 is no exception.

Heck throw in the Zoom sampletrak,Boss sp202, and 303,Roland ms-1, and Yamaha Su10 while were at it.

There are plenty of cheap late 90's dj samplers out there with a unique sound that can have a usefull place in anyones studio.
 
If you want portable I would definately say to go for an SP-404. Battery power and great workflow. Its an incredible machine. If your looking at spending a little less the sampletrak is a really good option. Dont sleep on that thing...not battery powered tho.
 
juantoo said:
blasphemer!!!!!!!!!!!

the es-1 is a wonderful tool if you really now how to use it... trust
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Brova the korg rmkII and es series are not all that, compared to the mpc series.It has nice sounds and you can tweak your sounds but at the same time it's limited compared to the mpc.
 
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I found my MPC to be limiting compared to cheaper samplers so I ditched it and coped a grip of cheap samplers with the money I made selling it and my beats have never been better :)
 
I started out on a Korg ESX-1. It is actually not a bad machine. It certainly doesn't stack up to the MPC, but in all fairness, it is a very different type of machine.

It is VERY easy to use. You will probably be able to make music on it right away. It allows you to drastically modify your samples. Plus, nobody seems to mention this, but it also has a pretty good auto-slice function that is surprisingly versatile.

It has its downsides, of course. Mainly, it is very limited. You can only use 12 samples (plus 2 synth parts), so resampling is necessary if you want to do anything more complex. Also, it only saves to SmartMedia cards, which I think have been discontinued.

Either way, you might want to check out the ESX. You could probably find a used one for pretty cheap...
 
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