The sound quality is much improved from the other electribes (es1, em1). One thing that I like is the that the sound is not as choppy as the es1. The esx1 provides a rich smoth warm sound because of the tubes that are built inside the machine. My only concern is that I wonder if the tubes will one day need replacing. It does not specify this in the insttruction manual or how to get the tubes replaced if they do need to be replaced.

I liked all of the features and new effects that were upgraded to this machine. The only thing that I would have liked to see different is I wish it had more atleast one more keyboard and more sampling time. Overall the features are great.

The esx1 is built sturdy and will last a long time as long as it is not mishandled or mistreated.

I traded in my es1 and my em1 for this machine. I was worried at first for trading in both of my machines but I found that the esx1 does what the em1 and es1 combined plus more. It is well worth the money.

I had to never deal with Korg, but as far as ease of use I find it much easier to use than the es1. If you already know how to use the es1 you are in good shape. When I first I got the machine I felt overwhelmed with all the new features but once you get use to it you'll find that it is not that hard to use.

The product is built nice and is a nice color. The glowing moving lights helps to perform in the dark.

hip-hop, neo soul, down tempo, drum & bass

It's a sampler. Drums sound full and punchy and the bass end is there. Sampling rate is now 44.1 khz. instead of 32. No down-sampling to save space unfortunately, but there's 245 seconds mono and that's probably enough. (And you can resample through effects for lo-fi sounds and to save polyphony). Effects are not classy- in your face is a better description- but work very well for electronic music. The delays are smooth and the distortion goes from subtle to not. There is also an extra pair of stereo outs.

the polyphony is mono with the ability to layer two keyboard 'parts'. the keypad is allright. not velocity sensitive or pressure sensitive the arpeggiator slider/ribbon controller is a nice touch that i hope gets updated with new os versions, ie being able to use both on the drum parts. the effect are incredible. they aren't the greatest but they sure are powerful and handy. the grain freeze is pretty cool. the distortiond and bit reduction rock and the compression is very usable. they are really simple to use and assign to the samples. it has a smartmedia drive for importing/exporting samples saving or loading patterns and songs wich works without a hitch and is much faster than the es-1. it has midi in/out/thru with a syncable clock wich i have not tried yet. the sequencer is dead easy but it is basically 4/4 16ths with the ability to place the ending step of the pattern and 128 steps. much has improved over the other electribes. great for live use and improv.

it has been reliable, no crashes or hiccups. no problems to speak of. the resampling feature has been improved with the new os. the body is all metal. seems like it could take some bumps. Customer Support: 8

Never called them

If you're familiar with x0x style sequencing or have used the original electribes, the interface will be second nature. It's probably the most intuitive piece of gear I've ever owned.

Life long dedicated Touring musician ,,

From kenny G to Pantera, Roni size to Bach

some effects are a little grainy in parts

this machine is very versitile

I was disappointed here: just bee real careful with the knobs, and you will be ok. I live the design though, the metallic red finish rocks.

Not a bad deal, I will say that. It is in real handy at gigs.

I was having trouble with one of my knobs, and I had a hard time getting a response from Korg.....then I was without it for more than a month because I had to send it back to the factory.

It is attractive, and I would buy it again.

musician

idm, emo, electronica

at first I thought that the vacuum tubes were a gimick untill I plugged the mothersucka into a double stack marshall.

It could use more input options for sampling, but thats nothing an adapter can't cure

built like an ox

for the production capabilities it's a steal

can't really say at this point

the metal chasis keeps the groupies wet

inactive musician

mixed bag (whatever strikes me)

I just got it 2 months ago. Ilike it a lot.

I like it.

producer

hip hop

44.1KHz sampling. Sorted. Nice change from the 33Khz found in the younger brother (ES-1) which I owned prior to buying this. The sound is clear and the tubes deliver wether you want a warm subtle overtone or total burned chicken distortion. The effects deliver too but the reverb is a bit ringy when applied to cetain percussion sounds but all in all I rate the sound.

User friendly is an understatement. Fair enough I used to have an ES-1 which gave me a head start but beginners would have no problems picking up how to use it. Hands on and no need to navigate through endless menus. Everything is at your fingertips and you're not restricted to having to only perform one "tweak" at a time. The selection of effects is a nice mixture and all have great results. Some people may say the effect editing is limiting but the parameters that are covered ar more than enough for what I need it to do. The extra mono outputs are a welcome touch too.

Like I said, user friendly is an understatement.

Built tough. The sleek metal finish is much better than the shiny plastic finish on its little brother. I managed to burn a littl hole below the 3rd step key on my ES-1 (don't smoke kids- bad for you) but I dont need to worry about that with this machine for 2 reasons: 1) its metal and 2) I packed in smoking.

Yeah you get a pretty decent deal for the money I think.

Havent had a single problem so havent had to contact korg.

Both new generation Electribes have got major appeal. Very sexy machines. Blue EMX and red ESX. I even started to fantasize about a green Electribe sampling vocoder but I dont think we'll see one of those with the Microkorg already about.

Producer

Underground dance, Breaks, Ambiend, Experimental downtempo