Hey crew,
Just picked one up, pretty impressed as a drum machine. Not tried sampling but aftr reading the manual it looks like a complete joke in that respect. So far as a one shot and basic loop player its booting out some nice techno loops.
Anyone got any tips or workflow advice hit me up, hoping this can tied me over until I pick up an OT.
Learn the Shift short cuts. Theyāll speed up your workflow considerably.
Expect polyphony to start dragging at around 7 or 8 tracks, if youāre using Insert FX, motion recording, filters and the amp on most of your active tracks. Donāt loook at it as a 16-track instrument, but an instrument that offers you a patch with sixteen sounds and their internal settings.
Use the Master FX to create tails between patterns. The envelopes get cut, but the fx donāt. Especially the delays mask the ugly pattern cut-offs.
Sampling isnāt a joke. Itās just very limited. But youāll find that sampling is dead easy, sounds pretty good and that re-sampling and then time-slicing those loops, will get you outstanding creative results.
If you do decide to sample, and want perfect loops from another piece of midi gear, use the Audio In Stereo Oscillator on any track of your choice, set each note on that track to the maxium gate value, and use Resample, not Sample. Let the Electribe send its midi out to whatever youāve got connected and when you hit Play, it triggers your external source as well as the sampling process, creating a perfect start point for your loop. Itās a poor manās version of recording trigs on the Octatrack, but it doesnāt get you poor results.
Consider the filter more like an EQ, less like an actual filter. Though it has a few nice sweet spots for filtering, it really works better as a way to just cut or elevate frequencies in the mix.
Forget stuff like parameter locks or step edits. Itās an instrument that requires some live groove, even when youāre recording into the step sequence. But learn to love the Undo feature, and just keep recording till you get it right.
Get into the habit of exporting your samples, as soon as youāve tweaked them. Itās a confusing workflow choice from Korg, but itās not particularly demanding. Itās just there. Accept it and work with it.
Despite the low memory, use it for loops. When resampling, time slicing and applying layers of fx, itās just a great way to get creative with looping in particular.
berfore I nerd out Just want to aplaud your advice 
I was just looking at the unit as a drum machihe, It lacks the mduw mojo '(really miss that) so I am saving up for the OT im confident this will let me only use the laptop as an extreme editing platform etc
thanks for what you said about the es2, I am looking into it but the lack of offline proccesing comming from the rs7000 is āspookyā lol. not that its better that fucking log of a machine was a nightmare to carry about and this machine sounds very nice.
I will try out what you said and grab the OT I know I need thatā¦
I miss the mduw so much 
No worriesšitās a solid piece of gear, it requires some patience but has a lot to offerš
The RS7000 is a tank in comparison. The new red ES2 is actually quite a stylish kit.
Iām thinking more about the ES2 now myself. I need to look into it more, since I stopped paying much attention after it was released and had a lot of detractors, but itās more appealing now. The main thing Iāve heard complained about was the sequencer, but that isnāt an issue for me since I do most of my sequencing from the Pyramid or silver Elektrons anyhow. For what they go for used anyhow, I feel like itās worth giving it a shot now instead of holding out for whatever the DT might bring.
If youāre using an external sequencer, I think the Korg E2S would be a great option. Itās only when you use its own sequencer that you run into the nasty deal-breaking glitches I couldnāt live with: all samples abruptly stop playing when switching patterns, and time-based insert effects hiccup and do all types of unwanted bad sounding things when switching patterns. Otherwise, I actually really liked the effects & filters on that thing.
Those are certainly pretty serious issues with patterns with the ES2, but since theyād be non-issues for me then I think I might snag one up. How did you find it for sample mangling and sound design?
I didnāt delve into it too far, but Iād say itās pretty capable due to the number of effects and usable filter. I canāt remember, but I think you can modulate the starting point; that should give you the ability to do some fun things. I remember thinking some of the overdrive/compressor/limiter effects were usable for certain things like snares and stuff; it can resample too. It should be an easier piece to find at a local music shop to demo Iād think.
Unfortunately, the only place around here to demo one would be Guitar Center, and none of the ones in a 50 mile radius have one. But I might see about just snagging one from GC and returning it if it isnāt for me.
I had an es2 but eventually traded it for a wavestation rack. IMO the older electribes might be a better choice but YMMV as usual.
I think Iād prefer a Roland SP404 over an Electribe E2S to be honest because I like the sound quality and effects of the Roland a lot more. But paired with a Pyramid, you wouldnāt be able to do as much fun stuff with midi (as you can with the Electribeās more extensive midi implementation). I personally like using the SP404 itself to mangle things manually with the knobs, and resample the results. Then, the saved samples can just be triggered using midi.
I need to take a closer look at the SPXXX series. Iāve heard good things about the 404 and 404SX.
What I really need to do is pony up the cash for a V-Station or some eurorack sampling modulesā¦but before I get there Iād like to explore my options more. The ES2 might work for me if I can throw a bunch of midi at it and forgo the sequencer (or play it against the Pyramid sequencer in fun ways), and itās fairly cheapā¦guess itās time to crack open the manual and check it out.
Edited
If you going to spend the money on a Sp or ES2 might as well wait and get the DT. The DT looks to be a great sample manipulation device! 
E2 + iPad + octatrack is a great combo!
but yeah the sampling and storage of samples on the ES2 sucks!
I think Iāll just hold out and keep using software (the way my setup is now, Ableton Live/Push 2 is really capable of covering all those needs) and will start saving my pennies for the new Waldorf Quantum.
The way Iām feeling towards the DT at the moment is that thereās almost no chance Iāll ever be buying one, but maybe once we see a manual and what it can actually do with samples Iāll change my tune. The ES2 held appeal as an inexpensive option since they pop up cheap on the used market, but it isnāt really essential for me at the momentā¦at the end of the day, thereās nothing in it or the DT or most other hardware samplers that I canāt do just as quickly and efficiently on the computer.
There were three reasons I sold my ES2: one, file management is a bit of a pain (not catastrophic by any means); two, samples/fx cutting off between patterns; and three, the midi implementation is such that midi channels 1-16 are hardwired to the 16 pads/voices. Totally screwed up my efforts to sequence it via other stuff. When I found out that you couldnāt change that it was the end for me. Shame because it actually sounds quite good.
Ended up with an Octatrack.
Simpler with Push 2 is hard to beat.
Yeahā¦when it comes down to it, itās probably less hassle and time to sample something into Live and tweak it to oblivion than it is to use a dedicated box with limitations. The only obstacle is the stupid unwillingness to use a computer, and thatās on me.
I totally get it, I suffer from the same issue. The reality is ableton live is the best sampler available. I might start approaching the computer as a sound module/sampler and sequence it with my hardware. Iāll record it with a multitracker and that will eliminate any latency.