I’ve always been on the fence about the monotribe, and damn that video is devastating, I’m trying so hard to resit right now… I don’t necessarily need one, but holy crap is that awesome.
monotribe is great. lots of musical gadgets have come and gone in my search for instruments I gel with. the monotribe is just too hard to part with. so much fun so phat. i added midi to it and sometime ill just use it for simple mono synth jamming.
Yeah, I wouldn’t have but at the price I paid it was worth it (I hope)…total came to a $107. I had some credits built up on Amazon….
I have an unused Monotribe MIDI kit, from Michigan Synth Works. I will let it go cheap, to anyone in the US, if you need one.
Own the Bass and Sample.
Great little devices. Bass is limiting due to the no patch memory, but I don’t use it live anyways.
The way I use mine is to create a selection of patens, and then record them and process them as Drum samples in my O-1. This has proved to work great, as you can trigger the recorded Volca patterns in really unique ways (I use the Endless sequencer) and get away from the monotony of the 16 step sequencer. Plus Spring or CWO on the Volca Bass sounds awesome.
I will also note the Volca Sample has great internal sound (too lazy to look up the sample rate). It’s super punchy/gritty, and the analog filters are great for live performance should you choose to utilize it that way.
31.25kHz @picoVolt and 16-bit. Kinda wish it was 12 >.>
My Sample is basically my Octatrack’s roll dog atm. I can control 8 of its parts with the almighty Elektron MIDI sequencer and plug its audio into the OT via a Thru Machine. If Korg made a Sampletribe out of it that could sample onboard I’d pay monotribe prices for it in a second. The Electribe Sampler seems to be a major let down in the sampling department, too, from what I’ve read at Korg’s forum. Alas…
Not to hijack the tread, but we just got the new Electribes at my work and without reading the manual I found it horribly unintuitive to work with.
I had the new electribe for a few weeks, but returned it to get the electribe sampler. I ended up getting the OP-1 in the meantime and am so glad I did.
I still go back to the forums every so often to see if anyone has figured these things out, but every time I look, I am reminded how much people hate these things. Its quite polarizing device and clearly was not for me (although a lot of people passionately claim their brilliance).
The electribe was confined in a bad way. I know limitations can lead to creative work arounds, but running into wall after wall can become infuriating. ALSO… the six AA batteries last less time than the OP-1’s charge. Portability is expensive with these.
Overall, I made some unique music with the electribe, but if you look at the korg forums for a few minutes you will see a bevy of the same complaints, and no apparent resolution from the developers.
I’m one of those new Electribe defenders. I do get the complaints, but at the same time, I feel like people want a little too much out of a $350-400 machine. I like to think of it as a jack of all trades but master of none situation. It can do a lot of things other devices in it’s price range can’t, but it isn’t the best at any of those things. I like the way it sounds and the workflow works for me.
As far as Korg goes, they have been treating the Electribes very weirdly. I mean has there even been an official Sampler video yet? They did plenty with the Volca Sample.
Anyway, here’s an ambient jam I did on the Electribe the other night.
WOW. That is the most ethereal thing I have heard on the electribe. You clearly know your way around that box.
The lack of videos really concerned me. I remember trying to reach Korg about a few months back and they couldn’t tell me anything about it. The secrecy was more concerning than exciting especially after NAMM and musikmesse had passed with very little info. I had the sampler on pre-order forever before I finally cancelled it.
I think they finally released the manual, I would like to read through it when I get a chance. I know that they had Mistabishi do the videos for the non-sampler, I wonder if they are looking for a sample based artist to head it up in a similar way.
I didn’t mean to bash it by any means. My best friend has an older model and it’s great. I just tried jumping on the new one at my work and was really taken aback that I couldn’t figure out how to use it. I almost never need the manual with synths/sequencers, but I literally couldn’t get anywhere with the new Electribes. I was able to fully make songs on the DSI Tempest the second I read the front panel layout and pressed a few buttons. BUT I also owned a Mopho before stepping up to the tempest, so maybe that accounted for my DSI savvy.
Hey folks, I had posted in here earlier about my love for the Volca Sample. Just thought I would share a track that I constructed entirely using the Sample. Full disclosure: I took some re-sampling from a microGranny 2.0 and did some light EQing in Reason after recording, but otherwise it is all the VS. Enjoy, maybe it will help with a purchase decision 
Isn’t this interesting…
Add MIDI out to your Volca:
http://www.amazingmachines.com.br/products_volcano.html
@KrisM In Korg forum I found that you could use the sync out stereo jack to get your MIDI signal output.
Then you just have to build a jack to MIDI cable : the Volca works/looks the same
@KrisM In Korg forum I found that you could use the sync out stereo jack to get your MIDI signal output.http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=90642&sid=b8681875060cc8119da37de6dfc5d919
Then you just have to build a jack to MIDI cable : the Volca works/looks the same :)
Oh wow, I hadn’t seen this before! I’m definitely going to do this. I already built some jack to MIDI cables for another project so I’m halfway there. I do have the jack to MIDI cable adapters that came with the Electribe, but they did not work on my other project.
One thing I am not totally sure though is if the original sync out signal is preserved through this hack.
Some say yes, some say no.
So one has to be careful to read here and there what is the right way to solder this.
Did read that. I’m not too concerned about losing the sync out. I wonder if there may be a workaround. I’m gonna do this on my Volca Keys this week and I will report back.
I think I will leave my Sample alone since the knobs don’t yet send CC and I have several amazing MIDI sequencers in the OT, MnM, Zillion, and OP-1 (via Oplab).
Leaving the sample alone as well. Wouldn’t be able to send notes either. How is the zillion? I was looking at one a while back