Bought the KO2 about 3 weeks ago and love it. Plus the online software to backup and restore is working fine with my Macs.
I’d love to see the following updates though -
The ability to send just one or more pads in a group to the FX but not the entire group as you have to now.
USB audio. They added it to the OG OP-1, albeit around 10 years after it was released.
Copy project from one project slot to another. Either on the EP itself or the software.
Ability via the software editor to remove any samples which are not being used in any of the 9 projects. This would enable you to not waste storage with samples that aren’t being used in any of the 9 projects.
Even better, ask if you’d like them copied to their own folder on your computer in case there are samples that you want to keep, just not have them saved on the EP133.
Having the option to use more than 48 samples per project. It seems a shame to have 999 sample slots but only be able to use 48 samples per project. Maybe let samples be “locked” to a group, and others to be “unlocked” and assignable per pattern in each group.
An FX ‘track’ that you can record the punch in effects to
I’d have loved a 4x4 pad layout, that could involve selecting the groups by holding down, say ‘sound’ and one of the group pads, that would also make it harder to accidentally select a group when fi ger drumming. The pressure sensors are in those group buttons, so it’s physically feasible, but obviously there are UI/workflow considerations
Yep it would be great to record the punch in effects. It’s odd that they haven’t already added that as you can do it so easy in the pocket operators. It would be nice to have the choice to make the punch in effects global or applied per group.
Yes and no. Scenes are used to create song sections but pattern chaining is the ability to sequence the scene changes. On the pocket operators you can create 16 patterns, and if you press and hold the pattern select button you can press the patterns you want to play back in order. So if you press pattern 3 6 times and then pattern 1 2 times, the PO will play pattern 3 6 times and then switch to play pattern 1 2 times. You can create long arrangements this way.
Is pretty crazy we have got three updates and no new real features on the device yet… there is a lot the little one can do that is absent on this one…
Still is super dope though and I wouldn’t trade for the other little samplers like the 404v2 or the xt, something about the 133 that is so fun and cool. I love this thing so much I sold my opz as it was pointless when I have this.
How about a way to store MORE samples. I cant seem to get more than 300 or 400, then the memory is full. Why offer 900 spaces if the unti is full at half that? Am i missing something? Is there an easy fix to fill all 900 spaces without getting an error message at 400 samples that says “no more room”?
Hi. You must be hitting the memory limit, which is 64mb. If you reach that then you can’t store the maximum number of samples. Try making your samples mono as a mono sample takes half the memory of stereo samples.
The ko2 can also import MP3 files, although I can’t remember off hand at what bit rate. If I remember correctly, if you convert files to MP3 using the free Audacity audio editor, just go with the recommended MP3 export settings and you’re good to go.
Also regarding mono samples, using mono samples is the only way you’ll get to use 12 voice polyphony, as using 1 stereo sample is equal to using 2 mono samples. If all your samples are stereo then you’ll only be able to play 6 samples at once as you’ll hit the 12 voice polyphony count.
So try to make as many samples as short as possible, and trim any blank space at the end, make as many of them mono, and if you can, try converting some to mp3
Ahhhhhh! That makes sense. I was loading mostly Alesis drum samples from the D4 and DM pro, so stereo/mono isnt a big deal. Thanks for the tip! Of course, it means starting all over with Audacity. Loading up samples is a multi day job, so i might wait a week or two to get started. Got gigs coming up.
Hi, you’re welcome. Good luck getting everything re-sampled. I think audacity can do batch editing or if not there’s apps out there that you can copy all your samples into and the stereo to mono conversion can be done automatically.
there just isnt a stereo image, which makes a difference depending on what you are recording. a big synth chord will sound bigger in stereo than in mono. most drum sounds are fine being in mono. personally i dont care about stereo that much, i find the chorus on the EP133 widens the sound of my mono synth samples plenty for me.
if you are already getting about 400 in there i do not think you will be able to squeeze their sizes down that much without losing sample fidelity. 160kb per sample isnt much.
i think the number of slots is to allow for different, custom kinds of organization, not intended to be filled entirely. unless somebody has 999 64kb samples
There’s no real disadvantage to sampling in mono. All you’ll lose is any panning information. For example, if there’s a sound which is being panned left to right, that sound won’t move around when the sound is sampled in mono. Everything in the loop will be dead centre. With a lot of samplers, the KO2 included, you get the option to sample L+R, which means both left and right channels, which will be summed to mono, Right (R) channel only or Left (L) channel only. These 2 options are handy if you’re sampling a record which has elements hard panned left or right which you don’t want in your sampled loop. Let’s say there’s a part of a record you want to sample, and in the section there’s a sound which has been panned hard left and you don’t want this to be recorded, just select R channel sampling and with luck you shouldn’t hear the sound that was panned hard left. Of course, if that hard left sound was sent to a stereo delay, you will still get a little of it from the delay signal.
Btw, hard left or hard right means fully left or fully right. It’s more noticeable if you’re listening to a song with headphones as the hard left or hard right panning will be more obvious than listening through speakers.
Same for a desktop app or perhaps an iPad/iphone sample manager as well.