Electribe 2

I have the E2 synth. At its price point (366 euros from Thomann) I don’t think there is much wrong with it.

It makes a great fifth voice for my A4 as it is particularly good as a drum machine.

I also find it good to MIDI sequence other synths due to the chord, scale and touch pad features.

1 Like

That’s good to hear. I may pick one up new from somewhere with a good return policy just in case.

1 Like

+1 for the sound quality. I sold mine because it didn’t suit my setup (main issue was the fixed midi channel assignments) but there was nothing wrong with the sound.

1 Like

I have a gray one (synth). I can get it sounding very organic and liquidy. The FX sound good too even if limited. The quality of sound is that of professional piece of audio gear(dependent on the user of course).

Rather than seeing it as a 16 part all in one machine, I look at it like a powerful layering loop maker. Export my solo jam loop and plop it on the Octatrack or Digitakt later in the main music making station. Nice to throw some rechargeable batteries in it and go sit outside and make a nice loop to start a song. The audio in let’s you use it like a mixer too for one more piece of gear (like a circuit for example)

Can be operated one handed too so I can use my other hand for a beer to work on my dad bod at the same time (6 month old son now, gotta get in shape).

5 Likes

Did you try connecting it to the iconnecmidi via USB?

yes, I did, it gets recognised but does not work correct.

Loving the E2, despite some of its obvious shortcomings. As some have mentioned, you need some time to learn how to make it sound good and overcome limitations, but that’s half the pleasure. I like being challenged and work with gear that is often bashed upon. The underdog so to say. Allowing myself to share my latest with the tribe https://youtu.be/CiFQR10b7aE

2 Likes

I’m about to get the Sampler version. Should arrive between Wednesday and Thursday. I just have to try this thing myself. Ive read about all the shortcomings and limitations, but as someone who loves his SP404 I don’t see how the limitations can really be that bad. If I really don’t like it I’m just gonna return it and get another DT. Funny though, this seems to do all the things I WISH the DT could do, aside from the Elektron sequencer goodies.

1 Like

Did you get this over the MPC 500?

Just curious…

Over isn’t the best way to explain it would prefer a 500, but for convenience I’m giving it a test drive. I don’t have the greatest expectations, but I figured it’s worth a go. I just can’t find 500’s in good condition for a reasonable price. I wish Akai would bring a newer one out. Like an even more portable Live.

That makes sense :slightly_smiling_face: Yea, that’s 1 issue with used gear (finding what you want in good condition for a decent price). Hopefully the Electribe will work out for you.

I think I already mentioned that I wanted the Electribe Sampler, but long story short, the Guitar Center that said they had it, really didn’t, so I got the synth version instead. I had a lot of fun with it, I gave it to my brother as a “mentor” gift, but he’s stayin with me, so it’s back in my studio. I recently played with it again & it has a lot of great drum sounds (ran them thru the Analog Heat & they sounded amazing, so I sampled the hell out of it).

The Electribe Sampler has some cool features, plus you got the sp, I bet they would go well together! Have fun :sun_with_face:

With respects to the MPC Live, yeah, it’s pretty big for a portable unit, the 500 is tiny! Would be awesome if they came out with like a MPC 500 mkII :sunglasses:

Right?! If they could make it MPC studio sized at most I would drop my money in a heart beat lol.

1 Like

I remember you mentioning that! Luckily I’m a regular at my GC and I got a good deal from a coupon I had and ordered with a trusted sales associate. I’m getting the red one since they didn’t have any of the black model in stock, but I don’t mind the red, honestly. I read the manual already, and I have a bookmark on shift features, so I feel like I can make it work with my SP. If not, I have 45 days to return for a full refund. I’m hoping for the best, but I’m keeping my expectations low just in case, haha.

Oh nice, totally worth it then!
& that’s the way to do it, lower the risk. Not just with money, but your expectations as well :smile:

You’re making me consider one… I love Korg synths. But I feel it’s not easy to make them sound ‘good.’ Unlike a Moog for example

So far so good! It has actually exceeded my expectations. Sampling is a bit quirky, but approaching it the right way is actually very easy. Not as easy as the SP mind you, but still pretty good! The pads are actually very responsive, and the grooves really do loosen up the grid making things much more natural. I also love that I can sample a single piano note and play full melodies and chords on my own. That and the battery power honestly beat the DT in my opinion. DT is great for sequencing, and nothing will beat the Elektron sequencers, but for the price point on this guy it’s definitely worth it. I’m gonna need more time with it to see if I really want to keep it, but so far so good!

Nice! You seem to be pretty open when it comes to gear (I am as well) & it seems like you did your research, so I was thinking you would end up liking it & it would exceed your expectations (even if it isn’t a keeper).

That was the 1 bad thing I heard about the Electribe Sampler, the way it samples & saves samples. Hopefully it plays well with your sp! I would think that it would, they both have different strengths & some features that could help the other. I guess it depends on how well they midi up together & how quick you can sample back & forth… could be cool to use both the Electribe AND sp effects… I think the best way to use it would be to midi them up & plug the outs of the Electribe to the in’s of the sp. That way you could use the Electribe sequencer, Electribe effects AND sp effects. If you want unquantized hits you can make a loop or something on the sp & trigger the loop with the Electribe sequencer.

The sampling definitely could be improved, but luckily I was able to figure out how to get the edits done quickly and easily. It’s super weird because it doesn’t have waveform editing, just a numerical value per sample. I can’t tell what kind either, I believe it’s done in milliseconds but I honestly can’t verify it. But basically you can move to any digit in the value and adjust it from there. I move to a pretty high digit, adjust, then work my way down to the smaller ones till it’s just right. I know there are apps for it but I’m not really a fan of having to introduce a tablet into the equation when this is my computer less set up. I do honestly wish it had a mark system like the SP does, that is always lightning quick and easily adjustable.

Saving samples isn’t the most tedious, but it really doesn’t give a ton of memory to work with so it is a pretty big limitation. Streaming from the SD would be a MAJOR improvement. But then again OG’s back in the day had a 12 second sample limit and had to use Floppies so who am I to complain, haha.

And I’m already thinking of ways to combine my SP, Circuit and Electribe. Circuits new update adds a bunch of new ways to sequence so I’ll be spending a lot of time in the lab experiementing and hopefully I find a dope workflow. And great idea for the Circuit and Tribe! That would be ridiculous and great for sound designing.

The MPC 500 chops the same way (with numbers), which can be daunting at first, but there are ways to speed it up (sounds like you are getting it down). Not sure if the Electribe is the same, but a quick way to chop up a loop with the 500 is to adjust the start point (leave the end point as is), duplicate the sample, then adjust the start point again, duplicate, ect, ect. (hopefully that makes sense… it might be the same for the Electribe). That way you don’t have to listen the beginning of the loop over & over, plus it really speeds up chopping.

Hopefully you find a good workflow with the 3 together! It would be nice to hear how it goes :slightly_smiling_face: