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Rating And Reviews: Korg microSampler Sampler

Delivers multi-mode sampling, resampling, Pattern Sequencing and over-the-top effects - and all under a fun-to-use intuitive interface.

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Korg microSAMPLER Sampling Keyboard

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"An Inspiring and Fun Tool for Sound Design and Making Loops" submitted January 24, 2011

By a customer from hotmail.com

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Musical Background: Music student and hobbyist

Music Style: Electronica, ambient, experimental

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Sound: The highest sampling resolution is 48 kHz at 24-bit, but you can also sample at 24, 12, or 6 kHz or use the decimator effect to reduce the resolution and/or bit depth. You can get anything from better-than-CD quality to lo-fi dirt. The onboard effects sound pretty good to me; they are much better than the effects on the Korg Electribe ES-1 MKII sampler I used to own. As for the included ROM sounds; they are mostly useless-- some beatboxing one-shots and loops, some keyboard sounds, and a few others miscellaneous ones. Of course, you will mostly be recording/loading your own samples. Feature: The microSampler is great for working with one-shot samples (e.g. drum hits) or loops. The sequencer is simple, but it is adequate for making rhythmic patterns. You can slice a loop using the auto-next or key-gate sampling modes, which is useful if you want to do something like creating a drum kit from a loop. If you want to use the keyboard to play pitched samples, however, the microSampler is very limited. The microSampler cannot do multi-sampling, so most samples will sound crap if you play them more than an octave above or below the root note. Also, the sequencer can only sequence one keyboard part per pattern. You can adjust the decay and release of samples, but not the attack or sustain, which is kind of a strange omission. I would say that the pitched keyboard sampling features are adequate for doing little experiments or putting down a harmonic or melodic idea quickly, but most types of instruments will sound crap on this compared to even the most basic software sampler or rompler. The 21 effects are quite useful and really open up the sound design possibilities-- a multi-mode filter with a dedicated, tempo-syncable LFO, stereo compressor, 4-band EQ, decimator, several delay algorithms, reverb, various modulation effects, etc. You can only control two effect parameters at a time, but you can choose which two to assign the knobs to. Since you can only have 1 effect per bank, the re-sampling feature is tremendously valuable. Re-sampling enables you to apply an effect, re-sample, apply another effect, etc. and even tweak parameters as you are sampling, which makes some really wild sounds possible. The keys are very small, but they are velocity-sensitive and the feel better than a toy casio. No pitch or mod wheels, but you can use a pitch wheel if you plug in an external midi keyboard. The included gooseneck microphone is a really great tool that will let you get started recording your own samples right away. One other great feature is the free software editor that you can use to transfer samples between the microSampler and your computer via USB. It's very easy to use and is a vast improvement over samplers like the Electribe that require you to copy samples to a media card and load them into memory, etc. Because you cannot use media cards, the storage is somewhat limited, but I expect that it should be big enough for most applications. Ease of Use: The interface is simple and intuitive. Everything pretty much works as you would expect it to. Quality: The build quality seems decent. The plastic case seems durable and the knobs and buttons are recessed to prevent them from breaking. The audio ins and outs sound okay, and the backlit LCD screen looks nice. Overall, I think it is a well-built little unit. Value: This product is a great value. It is definitely superior to the other hardware samplers in this price range, and can even compete with the more expensive MPC's. The Wow Factor: It's kind of ugly looking, but the flashing buttons look cool in the dark. To many people, the microSampler (like the other "micro" keyboards from Korg) probably looks like a toy, but this is absolutely a professional-level product that is great at what it does. Overall: If you want to get into the art of creative sampling, this is one of the best tools available. It's also terrific if you just want to make a beat quickly and jam. I could also see this being a great alternative to Ableton Live for live performers who want to trigger loops and have some fun with the effects. It is rather limited compared to software tools such as Live, Kontakt, NN-XT, etc. but it is a really great asset if you are the type of person who finds computers kind of un-inspiring when you are trying to develop ideas. The limitations actually make it easier for me because I don't have 8 million samples, a hundred parameters, and dozens of effects plug-ins to choose from whenever I want to make up a 4-bar loop. If you share this appreciation for the limitations and immediacy of hardware, do yourself a favor and purchase a microSampler. I really think it offers the best balance of sampling features at an affordable price.

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"Untapped potential" submitted April 3, 2012

By Ben J in Chicago, IL

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Musical Background: Guitar, bass, DIY electronics

Music Style: Rock, blues, folk, experimental

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Overall: I've been looking for a way to make circuit bent sounds playable and musical, and I found it. It does everything I needed and way, way more. This thing will do a lot of stuff, for real! What a blast. The only negative is that you might just wind up getting lost playing around with it for hours and not get any work done. That's not such a bad thing. I'm a bit of an old curmudgeon, but I have no trouble using it, so that means it's pretty intuitively laid out. I like it.

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"A small sampler to use but a large one to understand" submitted October 17, 2012

By a customer from sbcglobal.net in Chicago, IL

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Musical Background: Jam at home/Record/Guitar/Synths/Drums Pattersn/FX - since early 70's!

Music Style: Industrial, Techno, Heavy Metal, Electronic

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Overall: I don't know if it's just me but even tho I have an Ensoniq EPS that I've worked with since the early 90's the Korg Microsampler, which by today's standards has more to offer and is supposed to be easier to use, has been a little difficult to understand. It looks easier to operate in the video's supplied by Korg but without watching them closer, step by step, it's not so simple after all. There are certain key commands, settings to be made, and even the software package that's available to use with it that aren't as well explained as I would have preferred. The video's only show so much of what it can do and how to make the setting to do it but it's only the very basics. Everything else that I'm looking for has to be done by my own trial and tribulations. I've had some possibilities when working with a sound and trying to add FX, that are available with the MicroSampler, but along the way some errors would occur. The sound would be lost, deleted, or just not come to be what I was looking for. I like the system but so far, I'm not in love with it. It's just OK. Maybe along the way there will will be more I'll learn it can do that are to my liking but as of now I find it only does a "little" more than my EPS. It's great for someone who wants to sequence some sounds and patterns but when you have a software program that can do the same why would you need it's sequencer. I only want a sampler that can take the sounds I'll load onto it and allows me to manipulate them in the way I want them to be and play them to a track I have mixed already in Cubase. Maybe even to use it for live sessions but mostly for adding to tracks while recording. I figure to some degree it's capable of what I'm looking to do but for some reason... it just doesn't over excite me like I had thought it would. Again, maybe I just have a lot more to learn and understand about it's operations before I can appreciate it as much as it seems other's do. At the same time I purchase the MicroSampler I also purchased the Korg MS2000r and... I love this synth much more!!

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