Kaoss Pad 3 - tips and tricks

[Koe:rade]

I picked one up last time I was in Japan.

Excelent value.. gear is so cheap over there.

Anyway, it's sitting in my studio and I must admit I haven't used it all that much (except for glitching a few drum tracks).

I was wondering if any experienced KP3 users out there would like to share some tips and tricks with me... what's the coolest thing you have done with it, how did you do it, etc.

Whatever really.. I'm just keen to see what people are doing with it (and more importantly, how they are doing it).

[Muzik 4 Machines]

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=21973

Here's a thread for us to share stuff we have learned that may not be in the manual (or it may be less known).

Here are two:

- The program/bpm knobs scrolls faster if you hold down the shift key. So when you want to swoop up from 80 BPM to 220 in one move, hold down the shift key. Works similarly while scrolling programs.

- When selecting a slot to store samples on your card, slots that are already taken show up with a square parenthesis around the number (e.g. [27]) which prevents you from trying to load sample into used slots on the card.

What tips and tricks do you have to share?

Jerry
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ijed



Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 7
Location: melbourne

PostPosted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:47 am Post subject: Reply with quote
BPM and MIDI Clock Sync

I hope this may help a few people with their midi problems.

Here's the best way I've found of synching the kp3 analogue input into Ableton Live (any other DAW should work the same):

Connect the KP3 up to the computer and open up the KP3 editor.

Under the Ext. Ctrl section:
select a button and change it's Assign Type to START.
Change another one to STOP (you can also set one for CONTINUE if you want
(EXTRA TIP: you can change the assign type of the touch pad here - i.e pattern 4 gives 8 midi assignable finger faders - nice! Very Happy ))

What this does is give you transport controls which will stop/restart the KP3 midi clock back at 1.0.0 and send start and stop signals to Live.

transmit these values back to the kp3 (hit receive all first so you don't overwrite any samples or whatever) and close the KP3 Editor

then open your Live set and check you have sync and remote turned on for the input of the kp3 midi driver (in xp shows up as usb audio device)

The green led next to EXT should now be flashing in time with the kp3 midi clock.

Turn on EXT.


Now back to the kaos pad:

if you switch to ext ctrl mode on the kp3 SHIFT+8 then press the button you assigned to START the kp3 midi clock will restart and Live will start together at whatever tempo the kp3 is set to and STOP when you press stop.

press the SHIFT button to switch back to normal kp3 mode

Send audio signal from your decks into the kp3 and press the AUTO BPM button. TAP along in time with it until it settles on the right BPM.
*The Kaos Pad rounds the BPM to the nearest whole number so adjust the decks to a whole number BPM. The display may drift .1 either side of it but the midi clock should be generating a steady bpm.

hit Shift+8 again to be back in Ext Ctrl mode and hit START on the beat you want to bring Live in on.
Everything should now be in good snyc, including all your kp3 effects.
If the kp3 starts to drift return to normal mode (SHIFT) and press the ALIGN button (SHIFT+TAP) at the start of each beat i.e on the green flash of the bpm light GREEN-RED-RED-RED

It's not pefect and sometimes it takes a few goes and the Auto BPM can still go haywire when you change the speed of the record but if you've got a steady bpm you can turn off auto bpm (push down the prog button and set it to the bpm manually).
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Tusker



Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 25


PostPosted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
ijed wrote:
BPM and MIDI Clock Sync

I hope this may help a few people with their midi problems.


Cool
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decrepitude
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Joined: 26 Dec 2006
Posts: 106


PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:00 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
This comes from Electronic Musician magazine (July 07), "Loop Trigger Hack" (pg.87):

"The most confusing thing about the KP3 is the way it handles looped samples. Rather than triggering loops from the beginning when you press a sample pad, it runs the loops continuously in the background."

"If you have four samples of equal length that all start on a downbeat, that design ensures they'll always be synchronized with each other. But it also means there's no way to know which section of the loop you'll hear when you press a pad."

So, we all know that to align playback of samples on the downbeat, you must hold down the 'Shift' key and then press the 'Align' button down on the beat.

OK, but what if you are in a performance situation where you've just loaded up some new samples you want to play along with the current groove? Here's a good way to get around it:

1. First, hold down the Mute button and turn on the sample buttons you want to playback.
2. Then, hold down the Shift button, and simultaneously release the Mute button and press down on the Align button.

I've verified this works like a charm.

(Note: Always make sure you are using the newest firmware update.)
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decrepitude
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:27 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
Record pad movements to sequencer:

Quite useful is that you can record any pad movements to a sequencer track. With some creative surgical editing, control envelopes could be tweaked to give the user very precise control over the finger pad. (At some point I'll post my experiments to try to create chromatic control curves!) Maybe I'll figure out a way to control the Synth programs in a melodic fashion. This would also benefit the Vocoder progs. Oh man, I've had a ton of fun editing my own curves in Ableton Live. (Default CC's: 12[X] and 13[Y] and 92[on/off])
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decrepitude
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:48 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
Draw an EQ curve:

Both EQ programs allow you to actually draw out the curve on the touch pad. Too cool! As opposed to the usual trailing lights, you'll see that the curve you draw out remains lit up on the touch pad until you release your finger.

Furthermore, if you press down the 'Hold' button, you can fine tune the curve.
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decrepitude
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:01 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
Triggering samples in sync with an external sequencer: (Requires the KP3 editor to work. Loops can only be triggered at the beginning of a given phrase.) Please note this is to facilitate a more unattended approach to triggering the samples, perhaps for a section of sequenced music where you have your hands busy doing other things..

1. Load any "looped" samples into the editor and convert each sample to a "one-shot".
2. Note which midi note numbers (or edit them) are designated to trigger each sample. Assuming that you're using the maximum of 16 beats for each sample, record (or edit) each note into a separate sequencer track as one long 16 beat note.
3. Un-mute the sequencer track (for a given KP3 sample) just before the downbeat and the sample you want will be triggered in time with the other material.

If you want to change tempo during the performance, you'll need to establish midi clock sync. One disadvantage to this approach is the inability to trigger the samples during any time other than the beginning of the sampled phrase. But then again, with some planning and creativity, you could get creative with this limitation by re-triggering and slicing up the loop.
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logic_user99



Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 5
Location: Leicester

PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:09 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
ijed wrote:

(EXTRA TIP: you can change the assign type of the touch pad here - i.e pattern 4 gives 8 midi assignable finger faders - nice! Very Happy )).


Please please please can someone help me with this!

I've turned the 'Programme' knob to P.004 and still nothing. I've checked the MIDI send in Reaktor under a MIDI Monitor and there's all kinds of crazy signals going on!

And all I want is the eight faders...

[Koe:rade]

Great thanks alot!

These Korg forums are quite helpful.

[Hovmod]

There's one thing I can't find: how to assign a midi input to the A-D buttons so I can start recording a loop with a foot switch. All the MIDI assignment stuff seems to be one way, even though it says it receives as well as transmits notes on those buttons.

Any idea how to set that up?

[Muzik 4 Machines]

I think you just can't, and it's not been fixed in the new OS yet

[Hovmod]

I think you just can't, and it's not been fixed in the new OS yet

Hm. Really? I can't imagine I'm the only guitar player who finds it hard to press those buttons as I'm playing...

Must be a mistake. Bring on the upgrade!

[Muzik 4 Machines]

I think you just can't, and it's not been fixed in the new OS yet

Hm. Really? I can't imagine I'm the only guitar player who finds it hard to press those buttons as I'm playing...

Must be a mistake. Bring on the upgrade!

no i am too, playing both fk2 and kp3 with my bare feet... and that since the kp1 went out
but look the korg forums, in the kass section there is a thread about the upgrade and what was and was not in it, and i seem to remember that part (my KP3 is in a warehouse so i can't test it but make sure you have KP3_Ver2_Updater this version at least, i'm still hoping that v3 will be the good one

[sloworm]

yes you can. in the kp3 editor in 'external mode' assign the pads(and anything else) to 'note'...

then turn the kp3 into external mode and everything on it is now midi assignable.

[Hovmod]

yes you can. in the kp3 editor in 'external mode' assign the pads(and anything else) to 'note'...

then turn the kp3 into external mode and everything on it is now midi assignable.

Seems one of my problems is that my Vox pedal board doesn't seem to output proper CC messages. I can get it to senr Program change and the KP changes filters, but the CC doesn't seem to work.

[Muzik 4 Machines]

but it still cannot receiive a sample start form external midi:(

[Hovmod]

Yeah - I have (finally) managed to verify that I AM sending out the correct CC # to the Kaoss pad, and it really isn't playng or recording samples.