I was just wondering if any of you remember the EMX-1? It was my first groovebox and have so many great memories of it… I was just thinking what if Korg came out with v2? They could use the minilogue sound engine with a really good sequencer, one with song mode and p-locks… They could use the original layout because it was easy to navigate… Would that be cool? I guess I’m just fantasizing about something Korg has no interest in…
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I wish korg was still throwing those vacuume tubes into their electribe. The emx1 and the esx1 were such punchy, great sounding boxes. The newest electribes really are a dissapointment when compared.
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I know, right? I was so excited when I first saw those grey boxes… I had one for about 2 weeks before I returned it… Korg really dropped the ball on that one… I still think a minilogue in groovebox form would be sick though… They could throw in the tubes for some added warmth… There I go, fantasizing again…
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I remember… I actually made almost all my music with the EMX and the ESX together… I never worked with a better combo… The biggest problem was ‘the jitters’ they would all eventually get from the rotary encoders… I think my Digitone really comes close to the EMX in a few ways… Really wish there was grooveboxes out there that had more than 4 bars like the electribes 8…
Pic below is my old setup 
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^Pimp
OMG! 
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The EMX-1 is an excellent groovebox, one I still use often, including as a midi controller with fully reprogrammable cc controls for other devices. The Monotribe was a nice attempt at making an analogue spin-off of sorts from the Electribe series [another one I use frequently], but a new version with the more powerful Mini/Monologue synth would be very nice. But it probably won’t happen any time soon.
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That was a strange era where all sorts of manufacturers were putting a single tube in various types of gear (all that great tube warmth!) that rarely did anything at all, yet people bought into it. In most cases it was a total scam. Those EMX’s were really cool though!
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the EMX is such a fantastic piece, and the oscillator is somewhat revolutionary with its multi functionality, something not seen again until the Mutable Instruments braids. not counting including a waveshaper, FM, Phase modulation, additive harmonic shaping, etc… you can pry mine from my cold dead hands
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I also thought the tubes were ugly, and yes in Korgs case, they were absolutely useless, BUT what you could do is go on ebay and swap them out with some $25 dollar tubes and it really would sound pretty cool… It is just the tubes it came with barely did anything, after swapping, the tubes I would put up the tube gain a lot and turn down the volume and it sounded pretty cool
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EMX-1 was also my first groove box. Wife got it for me for a gift. It was a Godsend because it was the single piece of gear that got me back into making music and started my journey on the hardware / otb path. Sadly I traded it for a Korg MS2000R and that was quickly sold a few months later as I didn’t vibe with the sound. My thinking was that I didn’t need another drum machine because I had my Machinedrum UW. Looking back, I wish I had the EMX-1 to pair with it. That would be lethal!
Awesome piece of hardware, and if you haven’t already, look for MIDERA’s videos on youtube, best use of the EMX
These two boxes will always have a special place in my heart… Korg could go back to a similar design using their current analog tech… It would really create strong competition for other manufacturers… Something, I feel is greatly needed in the groovebox market…
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I pulled my EMX-1 out of storage to see if my 12 year old son would like it, and he messed around with it for about a half an hour before he got bored.
I have been playing it all week, it is very fun.
I had kind of forgotten how cool a box it is. It would be nice to replace the tubes, but otherwise I have been having a great time sitting on the couch and making low tempo grindy drones with the various synths and adding some congas and tablas onto that.
Also some odd FX stacks, like simplistic reverb into compression into grain shifter.
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Funny, I just bought a used EMX, mainly out of nostalgia, waiting for it to arrive next week.
I used to own an ESX but sold it long ago, because the Octatrack could do everything and more.
I think the grey electribe actually is a decent successor to the EMX, despite its mixed reception.
I wouldn’t mind a flagship 2021 Korg groovebox at all.
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Still got mine, can’t believe I bought it over 13 years ago, I think it is a very nice machine, I also have the grey E2 which is as @MichalHo says a fairly decent successor with some +/- the main thing that bugs me about it is the voice stealing which the EMX-1 does not suffer from.
But yeah, good boxes capable of making nice music.
I did have the ESX and the E2S too but did not really enjoy those as much, I think as samplers both were too clunky and a bit vanilla for me.
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bought EMX-1 last year because of my groovebox fetish.
absolutely brilliant machine.
also have E2 synth version, mostly for drum machine duties.
but to speak about imaginary new Korg groovebox — i would love logue platform groovebox that runs user oscillators & FX.
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That would be interesting.
I settled on an Analog 4 as a new instrument as I had been using the EMX-1 heavily for years, and wanted something with a more analogue sound; took me ages to figure out just how very different a thing it was.
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i wanted to bump this and say that while i love the digitone and the analog 4, something in the middle with a digital engine as diverse and useful as this, with the sequencer of the digitone plus the analog components in the AR + A4 would sell like crazy
maybe i should just buy an emx1. some of the used prices out there are 700+. there are a couple floating around for about 400 though. i wonder if it would be worth buying in 2021. i ve only ever used the es1 but i miss it very much
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great machine, but too dated.
won’t recommend unless you collect grooveboxes.
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