@@subfifthó Audio plz is the best reviewer on here, not even close. Everyone else is either getting freebies or have obvious conflicts of interest, such as working for companies which sell the products they review. For example, how can anyone sit there with a straight face and pretend as if someone could actually use any of those effects in a track ?
That's a really beautiful piece you composed at the end Nick. And well done for another kickass and honest review. Very informative and enjoyable. Pace is right. Everything you want to know (and more) is there :)
Had a go on one in my local shop - it’s great. Went home and gave my NI Machine a good talking too. Told it you need to pull your socks up buddy or it’s EBay for you. KOII is affordable, usable, and sounds brilliant. This will sell loads.
"I have a very low tolerance for obscure workflows... It's kind of almost like working with a looper, but more flexibility and more tracks." - That's exactly how I feel. I don't really like any grooveboxes, but this thing is a good groovebox and an awesome MIDI controller. And it's 100X better build quality than a PO (I have a PO-35 / PO-133, and they both have broken screens, and I've barely touched them). But for $300 it's still uncomfortably bendy. I feel like I need to glue a piece of metal to the back or something. But it's so cool how this thing can play across all 16 MIDI channels from any pad. For controlling external synths, I really like this thing for polyphonic stuff and the Polyend Play for percussion. With this thing and a JV-2080 you could just about make all the music that ever existed.
But for more complex stuff the sequencer doesn't play nice with other sequencers. It doesn't send MIDI start messages. It only sends MIDI SONGPOS and RESUME messages (Bar 2 == SONGPOS 16 I think). So some devices won't start. Some will start at the beginning of the pattern. I think my 707 starts where it last stopped, wherever that is. And it's kinda cool that it sends ALL NOTES OFF whenever the sequencer stops, but that doesn't play nice with my MBase11.
I love mine, and it really does sounds great -(although I ended up wiping all the factory content and loaded in my own samples). I just wish that I could control it properly via midi. Even if all they gave us was putting each group on a different incoming midi channel then that would make it work. Currently I sequence it from a Squarp Hapax, and that limits me to really just using it as a single-group sampler. Of course, if they could also allow us to automate the effects control via CC, and even trigger scene / project changes that'd be the ultimate.
The most fun review of this unit on RU-vid 🙌 I thought about this, but fadergate & owning some very solid older hardware grooveboxes took some energy out of the GAS for me. Maybe at a later date. One question: is there a limit to the polyphony on external MIDI devices, or is that part of the 12 note total limit?
Interesting. I don't have much tolerance for obscure workflows either , and this does look like a smoother experience than other boxes costing much more. It'd be nice if they had some real-time midi based effects to tweak, like one of my older grooveboxes.
When you have it hooked up to a bunch of synths or multi timbral instruments such as a jv1080 it’s a really inspiring tool for building instant song ideas
@ropewalkingelephant oddly enough I had a fully maxed out jv1080 in my studio for years (diff expansion boards, including the brilliant vintage synth board), and would use it with the aforementioned grooveboxes many a time for production work. Good grooveboxes always inspire you to come up with the goods far quicker than using a DAW, imo .
The KO II is really nice but why no LFO or sample looping with control of start and end point. I bought it before the Lofi XT 12 release. I think that the Lofi 12 XT is the only sampler that gives you all the options in an small package and a reasonable price.
Agreed. The "toy" argument is silly imo. I've started saying "everything is a toy and nothing is a toy". The idea that music making tools must be 100% serious and plain - or the opposite, that fun devices can't be used to make music - is such an antiquated mindset bordering on gatekeeping.
One can make "music" with a stick and a rock. "Toy" and "Music" aren't mutually exclusive. Yes, it's a "toy", and yes one can make "music" from it. Nothing in this video changed any of that, or proved anything different.
@@ruffiankick you think that they'd be able to add padder chaining to this very easily with an update. I sure hope they do because the pocket operators did that very well!
In a world full of human infomercial-droids and fanboys. I would love to behold your "very low tolerance" on the Digitakt2 😅 We are many who can’t decide if it’ll be fun or a total headfu*
Just got mine a few days ago and im having a blast with it. Its simple and direct workflow is so refreshing. And I agree Nick, it sounds GREAT - and the new sample tool for backup and restore and loading new samples is very handy. My fingers are crossed that song-mode is in developement, not that its a deal breaker for me - the thing is just too fun to let that get in the way. Great review. 👍👍 BTW... you can get finer tuning of the sample edits by holding shift and turning the the start/end point knobs ( shift works that way on sever other functions, giving you fine control). :-) Cya Wednesday mate!
I see youtube up to its usual tricks then. Been subbed to Sonicstate for years. Wondered why I hadn't seen any videos for a while so search for the site. Only to find I'd been unsubbed! RU-vid REALLY is a disgrace!
Unlike most RU-vid music gear channels, Sonicstate are interested in actual reviews of gear, rather than caring about being 'first' and farming for social media points.
Nice! I ordered one the moment they were available. Unfortunately, mine arrived with a busted fader, so I ended up sending it back in and haven’t repurchased. Might snag another in the future at some point though. I liked it in the short time I played with it, but the broken fader made me worry about the longevity of the device based on build quality.
Damn! You are a very likable and relevant reviewer. But foremost a great musician. Thank you Sir! Love my Ep133, the limitations are as inspiring as when I got to explore my Novation Circuit.
Awesome review. Thanks - I largely wrote this off as a larger version of the PO33, which I don't need - however I somehow entirely missed that it's an easy workflow pad based midi sequencer which as you've shown does CCs as well. Very cool stuff. And still with battery operation, microphone and internal speaker, it's a great little "pick it up off the coffee table and noddle" type device.
its coasts 349 euros. i have mine for 4 months now. its an amazing device. but the first batch had its problems. i needed 3 of these to get one which fully works! 2 had fader isuues and 1 had pad issues. all in all great device to make great music on fly. i use mine as sort of sketchbook.
I bought mine just over a week ago in the UK for 299 sterling from Amazon UK. I’d be surprised if it was 349 Euros on the continent. But hey, it’s a life of surprises.
I feel like people who dont know anything about gear mainly go for looks and then fall for the TE trap. To me its a 300 toy because no sd card and only 64mb memory.
Nick i don't see the boomstar se80 in a while, i remember you saying that it was the only synth that shaked your room and you loved it! have you sold it?
Q. when you change scenes as it's playing it's immediate...do.. how does it work in practice though? Does it jump to bar 1 beat 1 of the new scene or just swap in the middle of where ever you are in the previous scene.. like beat 3 for example?
@@sonicstate yes.. but what happens? 1. launches the next scene at bar1 beat 1 no matter where you were in current scene. 2. launches scene at same bar beat of 'immediate' 3. launches scene at same next bar number ie- bar 3
@19:32 ,noticed no pre-count for record. Okay for a few bars maybe 🤪, just thinking of missing that first beat and waiting to get to measure one again in extended patterns. Any options for pre-count, or even delete & add measures to patterns?
At this point ive no intention of using mine to make songs but rather as a (fairly expensive for my purpose) old school sampler. I must admit it's great fun which has been missing from the last couple bits of kit I picked up.
I got this when it first came out (luckily I had no fadergate on my end) But I realized after a while that I need some way to export stems, so back it went. Every time I see a new video on it I want it again
It's an amazing paradigm-shifting machine that I'd love to see a "pro" version of, with two octaves of offset pads like on OP-1 or Sonicware liven series, resample, reverse sample, more versatile send effects, and plenty of memory. Charge me double the price. If you want to write songs on this one the scenes are cool but it's very silly that you can't chain them. You can write a 99-bar song on a single scene but it's not a very satisfying workaround.
lot of fun, great just to pick up and have a quick jam with. You soon get used to the controls if you don't overthink them, just experiment away. There's been a couple of firmware up dates too
Damn Nick! ....now you've given it a go you just know Florian will be doing another KOII Bad Gear episode! He's already hit us with all the calculator memes already! Maybe you could do the Korg KO I instead Florian?
