Korg Electribe EA-1

[alterboy]

1. Tell us how much you paid for the unit.

132 on ebay

2. How long have you had it?

almost a month

3. Rate it on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best.

6

4. Things you like about it

This is an amazing sounding box! its got really fat bass and it sounds like a more expensive machine. It has the sounds I love that it has a distortion function. the effects are minimal but are essential in creating your tone. it has distortion, chorus, and delay. easy to use.

5. Things you don't like about it.

to make drastic changes to the sounds you will have to rely on the effects. not the knobs. The box sais "2 part" which would lead you to believe its multi timbral and it is and it isnt. each patch has 2 parts which you can tweak individualy and set to different midi channel, but you pick say patch "A26" on channel 1 and then "B24" on channel 2. your stuck with whatever pair it came with. i dont complain too much because korg for the most part picked pairs of sounds that really compliment each other quite nicley...until you tweak one. it also monophonic which can be limiting at times, but you get what you pay for. 4 polyphony wouldve been nice. hell 2 wouldve been nice.

6. Anything else you wish to add--for example, compare it to other similar gear, tell us your tips, sites with free patches, problems, list your website that has info specific to this piece, etc.

This a great if limited box. if this review was based off sound alone i wouldve given it an 8-9, but its not and its limitations are what drag its score down. it may seem like i had a lot to complain about but in all honesty i dont know why i didnt buy this earlier. if you bought all the electribes you could make some serious grooves and theres no beating its price.

i also own an er-1 which oddly enough seems more tweakable than the ea-1. i'm running all my synths through my pod pro on its tube pre amp setting with the drive set to around 4 for a little bit more of a warmer, grittier, analog sound. It makes a great difference.

[Tweak]

Nice review. Thanks!

[alterboy]

i also forgot to mention one more thing thats reeeeeeeeeeeally important. the ea-1 IS NOT velocity sensitive. doesnt bother me much but i think it would bother a lot of you.

[Dane_Xoth]

I agree with alterboy on this box.

1.>$120 Can.
2.>1 year
3.>6+/10
4.>It is shocking the amount of sound i got out of the limited synth arcitecture!
5.>Tuning seemed a bit inconsistent on mine. Playing note below/above a certain range would cause the pitch to jump/fall. As i play industrial/experimental type, and this is really not main performance synth, i never tried to explore this problem. I kind of like that sort of thing, but it shows where corners were cut.
While the ER-1 can stand on it's own as a cool instrument, the EA-1 needs a little support from the rest of the tribe, me thinks. Still fun.
6.>Great for adding a spice to a track. Also good for mangling external sounds.

FUN FUN

[angura80s]

a question to those who own the Korg Electribes and MicroKorg

i noticed the ER-1 and EA-1 are supposed to be bought as a pair, but what about using the ER-1 with the MicroKorg instead?

Would this be a better combination? If the EA-1 is limited in its analog teakability.. Also as an MS 2000 isnt the MK supposed to be a more serious analog synth compared to the EA-1, plus you get a vocoder..?

In anycase, they are both small and portable..

[Dane_Xoth]

Friend of mine has a MK, and i have a MS2000.

You can use anything with anything really. All is fair play. Right now i'm using a Bass station and the ER-1, For example. It's the late night scartch pad. My larger set up is a Waldorf Attack, KS Rack, A Station Rack, Virus C, Nord 2, SH-32. And Some samplers, 2x S-760, SP808.

The Micro has a far superior arcitecture( to the EA-1), so you will get far more sounds out of it.

Personally not a fan of the micro. Just for aesthetic reasons though. (if i see one more band with a chinese girl playing a micro ...!!!!!) It does sound great, i can't fault that, but tthe interface is not as nice as the MS2000's.

You don't need to match Korg on Korg gear. An Novation A station should cost about the same (nneed a controler keyboard though ++££ )or less that a micro. To me it's more bang for the buck value. IT's got better f/x section, arpeggiator, interface (more knobs), and polyphony.


Keep in touch!

[angura80s]

Dane_Xoth thanks very much for your suggestions! yes you are right the user interface of MK is not good. though felt that this inconvenient interface also (probably inadvertently) gives it authentic retrostyle way of operation in that sense but its the portablity and "funky" factor that got me to buy it.

btw, the new Korg R3 totally beats the MK in many areas, but it is more expensive unfortunately. will have to wait a few more years for that price to come down

some interesting combinations you mentioned! i will look into it!