Korg EMX1 / Korg ESX 1

[DoMath]

Hello guys ,

Had some experience in making electronic music in past.
Nowadays I'm moving from one place to another pretty often. Working in Grape Wine Yard near the city and can not carry my instruments with me. So thinking about these machines . Will be pretty easy to carry with me and make music in free time .

So my question is , are these machines capable of making full tracks on their own? (meaning sound design , arrangement , everything that track needs to be done) and which one you prefer ?

I know that EMX 1 is synth oriented and ESX 1 is sampler , both are very interesting for me but it would be nice to hear your thoughts about this beauties Cause I can afford only one of them at a time.

Cheers

[tapper mike]

Depends on what you mean by full tracks. Honestly you are better off with a full production daw on a laptop.

I've had many of these "groove boxes" through the years. At first they were fun. They have either broken down over time or simply outlived their usefulness.

[sinkmusic]

Yes, it depends on what you mean.
For very simple pattern based music, it might be ok, but really these are more fun instruments for jamming or sketching (and most of the Electribes are dedicated to either beats or synths, so if you try to make them behave like a full music production suite, you may find their limitations quite quickly imho).
With the ESX, you can find workarounds (like loading a bass sound in a sample slot, and a chord into another), but it will not let you do everything you could do with more powerful setups.

The best groovebox allowing you for more "profesionnal" results (better sonic quality, better musical power, etc) would be the Elektron A4 or Ritm, or the Digitakt or the Syntakt... but that's another price level.
The sound engine on the Elektron are much more powerful than on the Korg, the FX are better, the sequencer is much deeper, etc. With the Elektron you will also need some workarounds if your aim is to use only one groovebox to make a full track, but the workarounds on the Elektrons will allow you for a lot more creative potential than with the Korgs.

[Full Bucket]

Maybe check out the Akai MPCs or the Force. I have an ESX and a DigiTakt and love them for what they are, but my Force really could do a "full track".

Cheers, Björn

[DoMath]

Depends on what you mean by full tracks. Honestly you are better off with a full production daw on a laptop.

I've had many of these "groove boxes" through the years. At first they were fun. They have either broken down over time or simply outlived their usefulness.

Laptop is the most practical choice for sure but its not my cup of tee.

I mean by the full track not something complex thats for sure. Drums and some synth lines blending to each other.

[DoMath]

Yes, it depends on what you mean.
For very simple pattern based music, it might be ok, but really these are more fun instruments for jamming or sketching (and most of the Electribes are dedicated to either beats or synths, so if you try to make them behave like a full music production suite, you may find their limitations quite quickly imho).
With the ESX, you can find workarounds (like loading a bass sound in a sample slot, and a chord into another), but it will not let you do everything you could do with more powerful setups.

The best groovebox allowing you for more "profesionnal" results (better sonic quality, better musical power, etc) would be the Elektron A4 or Ritm, or the Digitakt or the Syntakt... but that's another price level.
The sound engine on the Elektron are much more powerful than on the Korg, the FX are better, the sequencer is much deeper, etc. With the Elektron you will also need some workarounds if your aim is to use only one groovebox to make a full track, but the workarounds on the Elektrons will allow you for a lot more creative potential than with the Korgs.

Yes , Elektron machines are beauties. A4 , Octatrack , Rytm .... nice but ....
For me full track meaning is minimal. Experimental simple pattern based staff.
Not anything complex ...

[sinkmusic]

If by minimal you mean you don't need much chords, pads, and synth parts, you can have plenty of fun with an Electribe ESX1 or ESX2s.
I still enjoy my ESX1 a lot, and the specifications of the 2S are great (but i have read bad things about the workflow).

[DoMath]

If by minimal you mean you don't need much chords, pads, and synth parts, you can have plenty of fun with an Electribe ESX1 or ESX2s.
I still enjoy my ESX1 a lot, and the specifications of the 2S are great (but i have read bad things about the workflow).

It will be more clear for you what i mean by minimal if i post you a full track It will be much more clear i guess

[sinkmusic]

Technically, you can sequence such patterns on a ESX1.
But this track relies quite heavily on compression ans reverb, and for such, you're need external Gear.

[DoMath]

Technically, you can sequence such patterns on a ESX1.
But this track relies quite heavily on compression ans reverb, and for such, you're need external Gear.

I'm not into recreating the exact sound , i tried with this track to explain what i mean by the complete track / by the minimal sound.

[Full Bucket]

Here's something you can do with the ESX 1.

[DoMath]

Here's something you can do with the ESX 1.

Thats pretty damn good !