Electribe ESX1 help

[Bassick]

Hello all, I'm in need of some really basic advice: creating entire songs on the electribe. I have gotten as far as creating patterns, but I can't seem to figure out how to link them together to create a song.
I'm fairly new to this type of gear. I come from a DJ/mixing background, and I was in the market for a drum machine when I got talked into getting the electribe instead.
I'm sure that sequencing a song is in the instructions somewhere, but I swear I've read over the manual several times, and I'm still not getting it. If anyone who is familiar with this box could break it down step by step, or at least point me in the right direction, It would really help me out.
I also have a korg kaoss pad kp2 that I use to add effects to my mixes, and I was wondering what sort of things I could do by hooking it up to the electribe.
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appriciated.
Thanks.

[Tweak]

These things have a pattern mode and song mode. First you make patterns, then place them in a song.

[Murahachibu]

As tweak said. First you need to create each individual pattern that you want to use in the song, and then arrange them. Page 78 to 82 in the manual has all of the steps for how to arrange, delete patterns within a song, edit the effects, etc. and save it as a song.

The manuals dry, but all the info is there.

Good luck.

[timw]

Hi, go into song mode, select a blank slot, and then select the pattern you wish to insert in the first place. insert it, click play, when it gets to the end of the pattern, the screen should read END. Scroll down so tis S.02 (i.e. pattern slot 2), and then select the next pattern u wish to string. Continue for all ur patterns. If you wanna record knob movements etc, hit record and play them live.

hope this helps - im eating KFC so apologises for the rushed answer.

[Bassick]

Thanks you for the help, I'm slowly getting the hang of it.
I have another question if you guys don't mind: Is ther a way to copy an existing pattern, instead of building an identical one from scratch?
The reason I ask is it seems like that would be an easier way to tweak certain parts of the song (like creating breaks etc.) without comprimising the continuity of the song. I see that you can copy parts, but I dont see a "copy pattern" function.
I'd also like to thank everyone for the responses, I really appriciate online communities that are not too snobby to answer dumb questions from newbies.
Much Respect.

[timw]

Is ther a way to copy an existing pattern, instead of building an identical one from scratch?

Nope, I dont think you can copy entire patterns. The best you can do is copy each part across one by one. First, make sure a pattern isnt playing, then select a part (i.e. press a part key). Hold shift + Copy Part (Step key 3). Select the Pattern which contains the part you wanna copy (by default, it will already have selected your current pattern). Press Step Key 3 again to copy.

Even though the Electribes are pretty [darn] easy to get into, you do know they give a provide a pretty thorough manual right?

[Murahachibu]

Is ther a way to copy an existing pattern, instead of building an identical one from scratch?

Nope, I dont think you can copy entire patterns. The best you can do is copy each part across one by one.

Simple. Just go to the pattern you want to copy. Press write and choose another place rather than overwriting the pattern you are on. Now you have two identical patterns and can make the changes you need.

[timw]

Wow Murahachibu, that i DID not know!

[Murahachibu]

No worries. It's all trial and error. There are a lot of things I still need to sort out. I wish I had unlimited time to mess around.

[Bassick]

Can the Electribe be used as an effects processor for other devices using the audio in/thru function? I'm wondering if I can use it instead of the Kaoss Pad to process the signal coming from my turtables. Has anyone tried this?

[dank28]

Hey Bassick,

I'm reading the ESX manual right now, as I'm thinking of picking one of these up.

From page 7 of the pdf manual:

You can connectan audio source to the audio in jack, and process that sound using the internal filter and on-board effects.

Looks like it's supposed to do what you want. I'd say hook it up and try...

[timw]

Can the Electribe be used as an effects processor for other devices using the audio in/thru function? I'm wondering if I can use it instead of the Kaoss Pad to process the signal coming from my turtables. Has anyone tried this?

This might be a bit more tedious and time consuming though, id advise you get a Kaoss Pad 2 if you want some good hard effects etc in real-time.