Korg Drumlogue Hybrid Drum Machine - Sonic LAB Review 

No idea why people are negative about the drumlogue, sound is good and deep, sequencer is just different but can do alot and price has dropped. Yes an MPC can do more with samples but its a different machine. Its a good drummachine and fun to use

Love how you fixed that display Nick!

Love the intro! Very reminiscent of some early 2000s game soundtracks I loved.

The good thing about the machine is that it's bound to come down in price very quickly.

"To device" port should be a standard feature in everything. Nice one.

the criticism is well justified. the korg engineers still have some work to do apparently, let's hope they will listen - thank you Nick!

Nick, was wondering how you were getting on with your Opsix? Great review of the Drumlogue by the way.

very dank korg :9 good stuff nick

I think the screen may be being affected by the current draw of the usb device possibly? Or is it like it without the Arturia added?

Hey Nick, nice review! Your OLED display is definitely faulty; my drumlogue does not do this. Re: Memory structure: there's a global setting that you can toggle so that saving a pattern also saves the kit. Sounds like you'd want to turn that on (or off). I've had my drumlogue about a month. It's my first drum machine and I'm still learning how to use it. Just made my first user synth unit, Resonator, now listed on the Korg logue SDK Unit Index! Edit: my Resonator synth unit could be used as a workaround for the sample fade problem while Korg addresses it: the unit can play a sample from start to finish at full volume. Set the feedback parameter to zero to disable the resonating delay loop. Presupposing you weren’t using the multi-engine for anything else, of course.

Korgs answer to the Rhythm Wolf? LoL, good job Korg!

Roland SH-4d for me

I’m with Nick on the “save-to-memory” thing. Is korg turning into roland? Btw, how are the knobs on this? It has “sticky knob syndrome” like on a monologue and minilogue?

Just bought one and I’m excited! 32mb sample memory is good enough for me. My MPC 2000xl has that much and make fire beats on it.

The individual outs are per part - you can't send closed and open hat to the same output. What are korg smoking?

i think all stick to a drumbrute ... they should gave full control over the full drum kit for work flow

Apart from the poly-metric and probability functions.. it's a bit meh.. for me at least (only 8mB more than my E2S!). My DDD-1 has a real song mode, tape sync and a trigger out. Where is the Electribe 3? With the sequencer from the SQ-64 (with a song mode added) and maybe 1 gigabyte of sample RAM and all the functions and FX of the E2 improved (perhaps with master FX send rather than switch).. It would be just what is needed.

Maybe this is more futuristic from Korg. Not sure if it's worth it vs tr8s though. Interesting concept but more sample memory would be a must. I'll wait for the price to come down maybe but not grabbed by this one

Can you load external sound libraries into that Artura keyboard/midi keyboard? like Kontakt player libraries? Could this Korg Drumlogue be compared to the Elektron Analog Rytm, I'm thinking about getting an Elektron, not sure. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Eov9iFyEGc0.html

The range of sounds is pretty impressive, but honestly I would have been happier to see a beefed-up Volca Drum. Four rows of VD (!!!) controls with motion sequencing would be a useful and powerful thing, like the Roland FM drum update but more.

Is this a genuine contemporary alternative to the ER-1? Until now Korg have never bettered that unit, so it'd be great to see a true successor. The addition of the (albeit limited) samples for a more acoustic feel is definitely welcome. One to watch as bugs are fixed...

That shelf looks amazing

You can no longer claim 'I'm old and my beats are not very current' like you did in a previous vid a few years back - your programming/arrangement at 17:40 sounds great!

"The decay of the body." That's dark 🌚

I got one and sent it back, the timing was off when using an external clock - it was lagging behind.

I am more into this than a lot of other people it feels like, it seems very deep but with that comes the weirdness of it being a particular menu diver for being in the Logue series, which doesn't appeal to me as much

Korg's secret weapon is their user plugin. Minilogue XD user plugin is out of this world. And DRUMLOGUE user plugin innovation is why this is worth it.

But doesn't the way the save kits and patterns differently gives you the possibility to change patterns while tweakin sounds? and the tweaked sound will remain when changin pattern? This is something I wanted since the electribes.

Where's the Electribe 3 ?? Lol

This was on my list of possible new devices. But I'm afraid it's not really floating my boat after watching this. Don't really care if the source is analogue or digital, but those kick/snare channels sound a bit underwhelming to my ears. And without much memory to load in your own kits, I think I'd get bored of it within a couple of months. Even if I loved everything about it, I doubt I'd buy one until they'd released a few more firmware updates. Expecting early adopters to be beta testing bug reporters is absolutely criminal for a company of Korg's size and reputation. It's not like they're a small new start-up company who released a product after a successful Kickstarter campaign and need to get it into their customers hands ASAP. Releasing something so slapdash is not what I expect from Korg. (I own some Korg legacy synths, but nothing current. Are their more modern products known to be released with lots of bugs, or is it just this Drumlogue that's available to buy when it looks like it's 95% finished?)

Some chill rap lyrics and beat from 17:47 on

Save your money for the Cheeselogue-I’m certain it’ll ship with finished software and fewer glitches. After wasting my time and money on the SQ-64 and given the software issues with my Prologue, I’m gonna avoid this as if it were a plague. Behringer’s business practices are questionable, but the RD-9 I bought sounds good and causes me no trouble. And it’s easy to use.

I like the design.

a bigger screen would've been nice considering how important the screen is to follow the parameter changes...also they should've implemented more digital voices like the 1010 razmatazz

Great Tutorial!! Thanks!!! >>>> I couldn't find a single video on RU-vid showing how to use the DL with a DAW, which is a shame. Would love to see that. Unfortunately none of the MIDI ROUTING channels of the DL seem to record the full pattern from the DL to a DAW, which is extremely disappointing. Please correct me if i'm missing something. The memory of the DL is extremely small, so importing our own samples is almost a joke. There is also no option to export and save your patterns out of the Drumlogue, like for ex. the Drumbrute has. With such small memory, the user is forced to erase partners constantly to free space, not allowing the user to store their previous works or be able to recall them after. This option should exist to compensate for the lack of memory.

Sounds are good. If it's an all inclusive drum box, they are cutting corners and here's why. I've talked Korg on this one. As much as I love it, it doesn't have a timeline memory. Meaning it won't sync with your daw in Chain mode when you want to edit your song in your DAW you back up from a new cue point and the drum machine doesn't know where to start. LOL. You have to send all the midi to your DAW and edit from there which is pointless.. your'e back in your Comp. We already have drums like this in DAWS. I wonder what happened to this stuff. My EMU XL-7 does it perfectly. You make a song to go along with your midi tracks and if it sounds good or not you can edit it along the way with out guessing where the hell it will need to be in your Drum box and your drum box doesn't get confused. If they really want people to use outboard equip, they need to add these functions. Maybe everyone just farts around with a few loops and that's it or they just switch patterns live and back and fourth. Some of us don't. Song mode or any Chain mode should have this. This just seams backwards to me. Unless every one sends it to the DAW and is happy doing it there.

ANOTHER drum machine with no proper Song Mode?! I really don't know what these companies are thinking.

Given that this isn't a super powerful drum machine + it's price, the new Roland SH-4D looks even more appealing.

Can it do log drum?

Recording notes from the synth voice is via 'motion record' as the drumlogue doesn't record 'midi notes' really.

Regarding the kit / pattern memory system: it might be a bit of a hassle, but I'd love it so much to be able to save kits on my digitakt!

Spent a while trying one of these in store, was really enjoying it until it froze and I lost everything i'd created. Made some good sounds until that point though.

The lack of memory is a huge issue. Why can't designers have at a few gigs in there? Seems like an inexpensive addition, especially given the suggested retail of this box. I was shocked to see $599. It feels like a $350 box to me.

The TR-8s has the same Pattern & Kit saving too, where the Pattern only refers to the Kit. I've got the same problem with the System-8. This always bugs me. Seems to be a Japanese way of thinking. My Nord Lead 4r and Novation Summit have a better solution and the Elektron stuff. The new SH-4d will have the same problem unfortunately. It's good, of course, that you can save them separate, if you want to try out a different Kit with the pattern and vice versa but you could have like a higher level, maybe called project or something which saves all the changes. The kits and patterns wouldn't be affected.

Korg used to have this sort of thing dialled and i was a proper fanboy - those days are gone, now they just can't be arsed - don't worry though, there is a £1700 oddy kit coming soon 🤣

back to the future...welcome ms dos on floopy disk

They should have done one without the analogue drums, had 8 sample/digital voices and then 4 SDK logue slots with some polyphony.. anf then have maybe 2 SDK logue send effect slots. Then it would be open to be massively upgraded by third parties to do all sort of interesting things which would give it a long life

This geezer is somewhat funnier than I thought. But hay you definitely have a good sense of humour 🤣🤣🤣

hopefully Korg brings a Nick edition with the modified screen :)

I'd pick the digitakt over this. Fully digital, but sounds waaay better imo. Yeah i know they are different types machines

I'll keep my DrumBrute... that thing looks like a headache to navigate. Loved the beats you made on it though.

that screen screams "not for old people!!"

Should I even use a minilogue xd anymore?

At 23:00 I have learned that I should send it back unopened...

Thanks for the demo. The midi sequencing flaws and the saving process makes it a no go for me.

A new device in 2022/23 for 600 bucks and sample memory is limited to 32MB 😂😂

Volume 900! Mine only went up to 11.

Thank you for the review. I wasn't impressed. If it were cheaper I may be interested. The much cheaper Roland tr6s has the same features under the hood as it's big brother, including the ability to load samples, plus audio over usb and now with an editor that really opens it up. I love Korg but they have fumbled the ball this time.

>wood panels stained black I don't understand why Korg would make the "logue" series of instruments if their looks are not going to be consistent.

can you sequence midi notes out? ie. control external synths?

I love Korg, I've recently bought the ARP2600m, MS20fs and SQ-1, and will be buying the NTS-2 when available, they really can go that extra mile, with regards to what people really want, and need, - but I can't help but feel that they've really dropped the ball here. In the 90s I had a Korg KR55B, - among other Korg instruments, - which I loved, and personally I would have been quite happy to have seen those characterful circuits resurrected, with some added editing controls, like decay, tuning, tone, etc, and a TR-style sequencer with maybe some drive and compression options, - again I feel they've over cooked this one, but I'm sure some will create amazing pieces of work with this unit. Usually Korg innovate, but this unit looks more like they're trying to compete. love to ALL, feel no hate

In a world of multi use groove boxes I'm just not sure where products like this fit anymore... MPC one is regularly on sale for 500-600$ and has a long list of other features

The consept is good. But the product fail in 2 things: 1. Low memory 2. Not supporthing the original louge code.

Better than bum log I guess :)

Seems like it could have been really good, but they shat the bed somewhere along the way and gave up.

Can you midi control the drums? Or is it just the synth bit?

Expensive

For 399€ maybeeeee 😅

Oof damn pricey for the feature set. 32MB? 64 steps? #Whatyearisit? Like the multiple outs and synth voices. For me it's a pass as it looks a bit clunky and possibly buggy (like my sq64 nightmare). For that money I would want a large memory for user samples, 256 steps, and step per voice.

This is what happened when releasing a semi-finished product and letting users be the testers become a common sense😂

I do not need another drum machine. I do not need another drum machine. I do not NEED another drum machine. I do not.... ah, fuck it.

korg going elektron?

Wish you'd used the Tom's Diner break.

World: Mr Korg The Whole World can't wait for the new Electribe 3 finally addressing all the flaws of the previous Electribe 2! Mr Korg: Very well then ...Enter the DrumLogue!

Nice review but until there's rack ears for it, it's a pass.

Nope, I'll stick with my TR8S.

A drumlogue which is drumlogue.

this reminds me a lot of the electribe 2. gonna be waiting for it to start selling at half price or less for a long time. otherwise no.

Oh dear!.. Korg should not be releasing this with the software side unfinished & buggy. Cheeses me off and loses my interest straight away. Great concept, but saving projects should be like the MPC way, a job lot of data per song. But I guess more storage, memory etc is required too. I remember seeing the drumlogue at synthfest and walking past it lol.. Shame.. Roland seem to have beat korg on this one.. Sorry 🙁

👍I LOVE ! 💙⚪❤

Great demo , on a not so great drum machine.

Using motion sequencing for pitchs on the volca sample I'll accept. On a real drum machine that's a joke

Can’t help but thinking this is a volca beats and a volca sample thrown into one box, with a glorified minilogue sequencer on top.

So a new drum machine in 2023 can't do what a 40 year old sampler can.

can't beat a Digitakt ~

Sounds good. But I expected a better grasp of understanding how these things work from Japanese.

Still have no idea why Korg even release it. Maybe in 2014-2018 slot... but not now. Analog kit sounds like Volca kick and the tiny knobs and miniscule lights with all the menu diving... WHY. For a 3 hundreds - yes.

drumflop

Not too impressed. I could see this one heading to the liquidation bin like the similarly screwy sq 64 or the criminally under-bought opsix.

Sad to say this thing sounds awful, don't kow what they did, but it is missing a lot of punch. They should do a modern take into the 70s beauty the KR-55 was.

i think the new roland groovebox will kill this off ,this product came out too late and i think the kick/snares sound weak in demos ive heard ..real shame i love korg but i think they should have done a grown up korg volca drum instead of this.

there are easier, cheaper ways to do everything this unit does. seems unintuitive.

Not very impressed with this at all. I'm only halfway through the review and already I know I don't want it. It just seems clunky, rushed and unfinished. Almost like Korg management were determined to get this out at all costs whether it was ready or not. So many better alternatives, and for the price this is ? No way. This just doesn't cut it for me at all. Seems like a missed opportunity. Shame.

It really doesn't look very inviting for the price tbh

32MB memory ....... that is an absolute joke...

What's wrong with synth manufacturers man, you can buy a 64gig SD card for like £20, why do they always have such shit memory? I just wanna import my whole sample library into a sampler and have fun but they all have 1gb or something stupid

All these drum machines are sounding roughly the same . Can’t help thinking of bands like New Order , who despite using technology as well as anyone , continue to use a real drummer , a real bass player, a real keyboard player , a real guitar player and a real singer . They have created scores of memorable songs , but who cares about which drum machine or keyboard they used ? You can recreate Blue Monday on a $500 keyboard or in any Daw . But they created it ..they didn’t just fiddle with knobs . End of rant .

I'm unimpressed. For all the hype that surrounded this drum machine it's seriously lacking in a number of places. I won't be buying one myself, if I wanted analog I'd probably get a cheap clone at half the price that delivers that sound or like Nick suggested, spend another ton and get a fully functional digital machine

Bad gear for sure.Not impressed and at that price point,no way.

Wasn't impressed by any of the previous Logs and for 50 bucks more I could care less about if the SH-4d is analogue.