Korg KP3 kaoss pad thoughts

andajazz · 2015-07-09T20:04:48.000Z

Hey KP3ers, please tell me:

transition: do I have to hit start and stop on the KP3 perfectly in time for sampling, or is there a quantising to help?

What I want: I have a loop running from the OT, then sample it with the KP, let the KP loop it, and in the background switch pattern/prepare stuff on the OT, then come back in with a crossfade, and all this LIVE for the audience.

Works easily? With KP as Midi Slave? Quantised start and end points?

And what about the sound quality, if it just goes thru the KP3 with no effects on? While the effects are running, I don´t care, but as you are always sending your music thru the KP3, does it affect the sound quality? A/D and D/A any good?

thanks

rgraphic · 2015-07-09T20:35:30.000Z

""andajazz"":

And what about the sound quality, if it just goes thru the KP3 with no effects on? While the effects are running, I don´t care, but as you are always sending your music thru the KP3, does it affect the sound quality? A/D and D/A any good?

thanks

I use my kp3 by sending to it from the aux channel on my mixer. That way i can blend signals from anything connected to the mixer and just feed it back as its own channel. I get some great looping and effects using different blends from the RYTM,A4,Slim phatty. The two things i have yet to get a good grip on is the sampling and recording motions on the pad (it always is out of time bad). Have tried sycing by tap and currently using via midi clock.

De_wouzer · 2015-07-09T21:07:09.000Z

""andajazz"":

Hey KP3ers, please tell me:

transition: do I have to hit start and stop on the KP3 perfectly in time for sampling, or is there a quantising to help?

thanks

there is some kind of quantising.

don’t link… I just set the tempo the same.
So tempo on elektron is 128 for me, I also set the KP3 on 128

I set the amount of beats to record (max 16 x 4 beats) I only press ‘rec sample slot’ and then press play.

It automatically stops after for example 16 x 4 beats. It fits perfect, but sometimes it can be difficult to let it loop 100% smoothly. Sometimes there is some crack at the end/begin of the loop, because the sound doesn’t continue. But, after some experience, you can learn how to do this.

""andajazz"":

And what about the sound quality, if it just goes thru the KP3 with no effects on? While the effects are running, I don´t care, but as you are always sending your music thru the KP3, does it affect the sound quality? A/D and D/A any good?

thanks

Sound quality is less than elektron boxes, but I don’t care, to be honest. I bought this thing 2nd hand for 125 euro, can’t expect elektron quality, and it is not bad at all, but the sound quality is less, and the quality of some fx is poor, but there are some nice fx. Especially the Reverb is not that good, but I start to like the sound, even if it is not good.

De_wouzer · 2015-07-09T21:09:46.000Z

[quote=““De wouzer””]

[quote=“andajazz”]Hey KP3ers, please tell me:

transition: do I have to hit start and stop on the KP3 perfectly in time for sampling, or is there a quantising to help?

thanks

[/quote]

there is some kind of quantising.

don’t link… I just set the tempo the same.
So tempo on elektron is 128 for me, I also set the KP3 on 128

I set the amount of beats to record (max 16 x 4 beats) I only press ‘rec sample slot’ and then press play.

It automatically stops after for example 16 x 4 beats. It fits perfect, but sometimes it can be difficult to let it loop 100% smoothly. Sometimes there is some crack at the end/begin of the loop, because the sound doesn’t continue. But, after some experience, you can learn how to do this.

""andajazz"":

And what about the sound quality, if it just goes thru the KP3 with no effects on? While the effects are running, I don´t care, but as you are always sending your music thru the KP3, does it affect the sound quality? A/D and D/A any good?

thanks

Sound quality is less than elektron boxes, but I don’t care, to be honest. I bought this thing 2nd hand for 125 euro, can’t expect elektron quality, and it is not bad at all, but the sound quality is less, and the quality of some fx is poor, but there are some nice fx. Especially the Reverb is not that good, but I start to like the sound, even if it is not good.

[/quote]
but… transition has never been that easy

amnesia · 2015-07-09T22:02:34.000Z

I had a KP3+ and after a few months sold it. Having the original Mini Kaoss Pad I much prefer the smaller form factor and I dont thing the extra FX are any better than the mini. I kept the mini and sold the KP3+

phesago · 2015-07-09T23:38:03.000Z

i love LOVE my kp3. TO be fair its kind of a POS but its great for what I sue it for

As someone said earlier- p lockin git is cray cray

What I really like doing in combo with that is using it as an aux send. I tend to apply it to the MD b/c randomly with the cheesy digital LFO’s you get crazy effects, or you can mute the MD track while the AUX sned track with the kp3 is going. PRetty rad.

Also for subtle emphasis on stuff you can use it for that too but you have to play with the levels in the box so its not too “in yo face”

ive never used the sampler on mine bc the mic input is fuct(bought it used for 150), but honestly i havent really given a shit about that…

AdamJay · 2015-07-09T23:52:16.000Z

[quote=““De wouzer””]

[quote=“AdamJay”]Have you tested how many bars this stays in sync for?
[/quote]

yes I did.
I think not too long ago we had the same talk…
At that moment I thought it worked endlessly
but… now sometimes, after some time, it is not in sync anymore. it is easily correctable by nudging the synth up or down…
but, I almost never have a problem with it
usually i can let it loop for 5 minutes or more…
let me test it now, for 5 minutes…

after 5 minutes, I needed to nudge the synth one very short moment.
so just a very little bit ‘not-in-sync’. The difference is that small, I am 100 % sure no one will hear it. I think only after 10 minutes, the audience will hear the difference.

I only use the loop for max. 3 minutes. Usually only 1 or 2.
Never had a problem with it.

The more I work with it, the better I can mix from one synth song to the loop, and from the loop to another synth song.The filter 2 helps me a lot.[/quote]
Yea, I remember our previous discussion. I seem to remember you using it over midi sync then though, rather than manual BPM assignment.
Sounds incredibly solid.

When you speak of the Filter 2, are you referring to a filter on the KP, filtering the loop? Is there a High pass filter there? That’d be great for mixing

De_wouzer · 2015-07-10T00:21:44.000Z

Fx on KP3 are master fx, not only one channel or only input channel, the fx are at the end of the signal.

There is a HighPass filter (Filter2) with freq on x and resonance on y, very nice. I use it a lot.

there’s a volume for the loops and a volume for the fx and a volume for the incomming sound.

AdamJay · 2015-08-16T15:38:11.000Z

After a quick listen to your live set, sounds like KP3 is great for transitions.
I think I could use it on the FX loop of my DJ mixer, and use the master high pass filter as a bass kill for mixing out of the loop.

De_wouzer · 2015-08-16T16:04:24.000Z

""AdamJay"":

After a quick listen to your live set, sounds like KP3 is great for transitions.
I think I could use it on the FX loop of my DJ mixer, and use the master high pass filter as a bass kill for mixing out of the loop.

sounds like a good idea to me, don’t expect too much of most of the fx… the HPF is good, the looper is good… rev and del are pretty poor, I think.

AdamJay · 2015-08-16T21:34:43.000Z

[quote=““De wouzer””]

[quote=“AdamJay”]After a quick listen to your live set, sounds like KP3 is great for transitions.
I think I could use it on the FX loop of my DJ mixer, and use the master high pass filter as a bass kill for mixing out of the loop.
[/quote]

sounds like a good idea to me, don’t expect too much of most of the fx… the HPF is good, the looper is good… rev and del are pretty poor, I think.[/quote]
I just watched some videos on the additional FX that are in the KP3+
There are a few gems in there. I think those, plus the warranty I would get with a new KP3+ for $269 is worth it.

De_wouzer · 2015-09-28T15:38:02.000Z

Unfortunately my KP3 doesn’t function correctly anymore. The fader is leaking, the knob is not very stable. It think the reason is that I have been using this thing too much… and the way I am using the fader is too rough.

So, I decided not to buy another one… I bought the octatrack.

I have to think much more while using the OT. I think it will change after a while. But the OT has much better reverbs, delays, etc…

What I learned with using the KP3, is that I only need a master filter fx and volume channels, to mix from one track to the other.

Also, I learned not to put the record trig on the first note of the sequence, but somewhere else. Otherwise you hear the loop, since then the ‘crackle’ is on note #1… then it is annoying. I usually place it on trig 5.

So KP3 helped me a lot, now I just use OT for this, and it is time to learn much more about sampling with the OT.

rgraphic · 2015-09-28T18:57:18.000Z

I’m glad this thread popped up again. I was just looking at my untouched kp3+ over the weekend. Untouched because I havent created enough to mix it up with the KP3. So it got me thinking about how the performance controls work on the A4 and I just started using them (im a slow learner with these things). Anyway it got me thinking that maybe i can get more use out of the KP3 in the way of turning it into a midi controller and using it for example to slide the filter around on one axis and on the other put the overdrive or something similar. Has anyone tried this? My issue with starting somehting like this is that I already have a midi keyboard connected to the A4 and I dont have a lot of midi experience. pretty much enough to sync the clock and start stop etc. basic stuff.

PeterHanes · 2015-09-29T00:59:27.000Z

""rgraphic"":

…

Anyway it got me thinking that maybe i can get more use out of the KP3 in the way of turning it into a midi controller and using it for example to slide the filter around on one axis and on the other put the overdrive or something similar. Has anyone tried this? My issue with starting somehting like this is that I already have a midi keyboard connected to the A4 and I dont have a lot of midi experience. pretty much enough to sync the clock and start stop etc. basic stuff.

If you have a MIDI keyboard already connected to the Analog Four then you have a choice to make. Either:
[ul]
[li]Use the controls on the keyboard to control the AF, or[/li]
[li]Use a MIDI merge box to merge the MIDI signals from the keyboard and the KP3+[/li]
[/ul]

I don’t have a KP3+ or an AF, but what you will need to do in either scenario is this:
[ul]
[li]Find the number of the PERF CHANNEL for your AF[/li]
[li]Activate RECEIVE CC/NRPN on the AF[/li]
[li]Set up the Performance macro as you like on the AF[/li]
[li]Find the CC MSB number for the desired Performance macro in the PERFORMANCE CC table in Appendix D of the manual[/li]
[li]Set the controller keyboard or KP3+ to send MIDI CC messages with the CC MSB number you found in the manual, on the PERF CHANNEL channel number. (you didn’t say which keyboard you have, but the relevant instructions for the KP3+ are given on pages 20 to 22 of its manual.)[/li]
[/ul]

joeyfivecents · 2015-09-29T13:52:19.000Z

I use my KP3 alongside my octatrack by sending the OT cue outs to the KP3 and coming back into the OT either as a stereo input (A/B or C/D) or a thru machine - just depends on what else I have hooked up to the OT. So when I need to apply any KP3 effects, I just cue the appropriate OT track and I can sample what the KP3 has done to the sound or just mess with it live. The traditional effects are not that great sounding but the KP3 really comes into it’s own when you use the loop, tape delay, sampling, and granular effects. I’ve had mine for about 4 years and have used it with Ableton Live, FL Studio, my guitar pedalboard, and now the mighty Octatrack. When you start your sample recording on the KP3, you don’t have to manually stop it. It pretty much quantizes itself and starts looping. The only drawback is if you have 4 samples recorded, if you go back later and try to play them all from the sd card, they will not play in sync. Not sure why Korg did it this way.

pselodux · 2015-11-02T03:33:46.000Z

Finally got myself one of these. It’s very interesting when automated by the monomachine’s MIDI tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/pselodux/pitchy

^ the above is ‘jag filter’ in the first part, and then ‘vinyl break’ in the second part. The vinyl break sound makes for some really nice Autechre-y pitch modulations (cf. Stop Look Listen). This is only scratching the surface really—I’m going to have to try using LFOs to control X/Y as well to get super wacky.

tr909 · 2016-01-30T06:48:22.000Z

so tired of files disappearing from soundcloud

De_wouzer · 2016-01-30T11:36:04.000Z

i sold my octatrack and started to use the KP3 again. Very good for looping, the hpfilter is smooth and the usability with the touch pad, fader and 2 knobs is amazing.

I don’t think but just listen and do… this helps me to make a perfect song transition

the fx are not that good… but yesterday, while playing with it… i loved some. and that’s enough. Cheap and good tool, I think.

tr909 · 2016-02-05T01:26:01.000Z

I tested it for transitions the other night and it seems near perfect to me. The mix I posted at :

https://soundcloud.com/jameshugg/analog-four-kp3-mix-practice

is all a4 with the transitions between patterns handled by the kp3. The looping to my ear was seemless and operation effortless. Sound quality sounds fine to me.

PeterHanes · 2016-07-08T19:59:57.474Z

There is a firmware update (1.04) for the KP3+ out today which claims to fix a bug with MDI clock sync. I haven’t tried it yet.