KVR Audio

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:40 am

Anyone here using a Kaoss Pad for non-beat-centric music? Every example I can find on Youtube is beat-y dance-y like.

I'm considering my options for tabletop multi-fx units, wondering how versatile the Kaoss Pad can be. Post some examples of it in use without the beats if you've got 'em.

Similarly, anyone have an AirFX? Are they as toy-like as they seem on demo videos, or can they be put to any good use? They go pretty cheap second hand, so it's an option to consider.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:05 am

I have a KP3 and one of the coolest things about it is the when you take your finger off the pad the effect can either cut out immediately or a delay can be implemented (with adjustable repeats) that will make the effect die out more gradually. There are a good many effects in it that work well for noise and ambient styles. Thought tempo synced the granular effect can create cool textures on top of a distorted bed, there is a decimator effect combined with a HPF that sounds really cool on pads. I'll post some examples in a few minutes.

Muzik 4 Machines · Post by **Muzik 4 Machines** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:51 am

i haave bth a 2 and a 3
i used to use the 2 on the floor on a little stand, barefoot playing on itwhile playing guitar, I used it for wha, the manual phaser, the 15(flanger and LPF) for leslie like tones, and the reason I bought it, 61 gater, was simply fantastic to hear(we were laying to a click track, kaos pad sync'd to hte sequencer)
it was also pretty cool for our noise free for all, guitar in the back just feeding and tweaking delays (tape and dub, nice glide that they kinda removed from the KP3 as everything is tempo based in it) and the FSU fx 49 i f I remember
the band stopped and i went back to housy like music with the 3 but the most fun I have is either just the 2 kaoss and trying to make a song out of them or having someone play gitar in th kp3 while I sample and mangle it

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:14 am

justin3am wrote:I'll post some examples in a few minutes.

I'd appreciate it, and encourage everyone with one to do the same.

Muzik 4 Machines wrote:i haave bth a 2 and a 3

Which do you prefer?

Muzik 4 Machines · Post by **Muzik 4 Machines** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:30 am

both
at first I was redy to sell teh 2
then I realzed they didnt put all the kp2 fx in the 3rd and the messed some(the empo sync all teh timem annoys me for noise as it slide jumps between values instead of just slightly pitch shifting
sometimes I wonder if the 2 is not more sensitive (ie shaking a finger on it firmly held in plade produced variations the 3 doesnt seem to do, seems limited by the 8x8 matrix
so to beat, kp3 rules, but for more free noise kp2 rules(even tho the 3 has the granulizer) so I decided to keep both
but with the zero8 coming, i maybe sell the 3 as it's almost all in there(almost)

my beat setup is esxmkII and the 2 kaoss on the table, and mks50 and tx81 patched into the mfc42 in the side rack
jsut waiting for the damn mixer

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:54 am

Here is a zip file with some examples of the less tempo oriented effects

kaoss demo

each file is named for the preset I used. the original sounds are pads from my v-synth that have not been tweaked. I tried to make the effects as obvious as possible to make what is being done as clear as possible.

3am

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:11 am

Cool, thanks. I'm off now, but I'll listen to them in the morning.

Muzik 4 Machines · Post by **Muzik 4 Machines** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:57 pm

will try to sample mines tonight too

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:10 pm

Thanks, Justin, those are great examples. Regarding the broken modulator, can you avoid the chorus/flange sounds and just go straight to the crackle?

Muzik 4 Machines wrote:will try to sample mines tonight too

If you can, throw in a back to back example of the 2 vs. 3. Other than the glide versus stepped controls, do the effects generally sound different between the two?

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:50 pm

Just came across an interesting video of a guy with a Kaoss pad 3 and mbira (kalimba/likembe/marímbula/thumb piano/etc, so many names for such a simple thing)

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:08 pm

shamann wrote:Regarding the broken modulator, can you avoid the chorus/flange sounds and just go straight to the crackle?

Yeah, the further you move your finger vertically the more broken the sound gets so if you stay near the top all you get is that broken crackle. What I do if I want a smooth fade into that is adjust the "FX depth" to it's lowest value, touch a spot near the top of the pad, press the "hold" button and then slowly bring the depth back up.

The "hold" button is one of my favorite features (I think it's on every model) because you can quickly tap different places on the pad to get a kind of sample and hold effect.

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:12 pm

Most of the KP2/3 effects sound pretty bad, imo. As a live performance tool they're great but if you're hoping to get effects that sound as good as even free vsts you'll likely be disappointed.

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:07 pm

kuniklo wrote:Most of the KP2/3 effects sound pretty bad, imo. As a live performance tool they're great but if you're hoping to get effects that sound as good as even free vsts you'll likely be disappointed.

I'm considering it exclusively for live use, in large part as a substitute for all those free VSTs, so fidelity isn't my priority. I don't have a laptop, and don't really want to get another computer (nor am I really all that eager to do a laptop performance), so I'm working out how to play my stuff live with some samplers (MPC500 and S20), a mixer, a contact microphone (optional, haven't decided if I'll bring one along) and effects (a Jomox filter box and an as yet decided digital delay multi-fx box).

The KP3 has the benefit of being a sampler itself (albeit a limited one), and as such it might reduce my kit list by one by replacing the need to carry along the S20. Killing two birds is desirable for me, will keep everything as portable as possible.

adydub · Post by **adydub** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:19 pm

We use my KP2 mainly as a performance sampler, but back in the studio it get's used for all sorts of mangling purposes. I'd disagree with the comments about the quality/fidelity not being all that, imo you must be doing something wrong if you're not getting comparable results to plug-ins. It is more suited for more extreme fx though.

Muzik 4 Machines · Post by **Muzik 4 Machines** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:38 pm

no he is right the kp2 is pretty lo fi by todays standard, the more complex the effect or the longer teh avail delay time the lower the quality is due to limited processing power.
the KP3 is betterin tha tregard but still sucks with delay+reverb for example.

one thing i really HATE about the kp3 is the way the samples always play in background so they don't start when you press, the jsut open the gate and play from where they are, pretty lame wehn you pressed stop on the sequencer (kpads do not understand play/stop/pause nor does it understand the 1/downbeat sent by the sequencer, so it will sync(usually deciding the green downbeat is beat 2 and you need to re sync it manually)

Kaoss pad in practice