The Korg Kaoss Replay...😬 

Let's wait for the Beringer chaos pad for $ 99.95 😅😂

TAETRO - As a dedicated Kaoss Pad user, I agree with you 100%. Your assessment is so correct. The new Kaoss Replay is so offensive to me in many ways.

I commend you on taking the harder path and sticking to your ideals, this sort of respect can never be bought with any amount of money.

1000$+ is crazy . From the video Korg released It was looking like a 400-550$ piece of gear. It also seems very unfinished.

I didn't think it would be possible to make me love my 404 more, but you did it Korg! Congrats!

Great vid man. When I saw the form factor I was genuinely excited. I thought another company was jumping in the ring with Roland and this was going to be some stiff competition for the SP. Sadly not the case. I think they could have hit a much bigger market if they would have included a sequencer and offered it at a better price point.

If only more youtubers that receive sponsored gear be as honest as Taetro. It takes a lot to say “No” to a reputable company and turn down money.

You warned us, but nothing could have prepared me for how goofy the built-in demo song is

Literally yelled "what the fuck" when i saw it requiring two USB cables. What is Korg doing

We need a badgear episode for this ASAP @AudioPilz

You didn't get that Korg money with this video but you gained a subscriber. Thanks for sticking to your values in this landscape, super impressive.

Taetro - THANK YOU for this overview. It really puts things in perspective. I personally think the Replay is way over priced and over complicated for what it is trying to be - and the RCA inputs/outputs are a total game killer for me as well. I've been following you for years - ever since you showed a perfectly presented and easy-to-understand overview of how you do live-looping jams with Ableton (like 8 years ago). Today, i have more respect for you than ever. KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK and good vibes!! Big Ups! 👊❤

This was super helpful. Thank you for your candor, and specificity.

The prices on these new hardware devices are outrageous! Shout out to Roland for making something under 1000$/

Definitely marketed as competition to The DJS-1000, but with less features for not much cheaper… the RCA connectivity is crazy, should definitely have at least two sets of 1/4” inputs

Always enjoyed your videos and really do appreciate that you talk openly and genuinely that certain product did not meet your expectations. I can imagine that there will be people who like it and who need this in their setup.

Respect. Taetro standing on business. That demo song slaps though, idk what you're talking about 😭

Gotta love the honesty and integrity. Much respect.

Now I want to see a 404 with that screen. Would be amazing!

Woof... I had a buddy who bought one of those old Kaoss pads you showed and he was stoked about it for some radio/DJ stuff he was doing but it was just so dated. It's unfortunate to see they made a new one and it still seems like it just isn't up to modern standards, especially for that price tag. You could buy an Embodme Erae Touch for less and set it up to have 20 vector pads and have it do sequencing. Kudos for not taking their money on this one.

Integrity is priceless. The other funny thing Korg is seemingly missing: For the Dj market who love having touch effects, literally every Denon Prime player now has their own XY touchscreen for effects built into the players. The same goes for the newer Pioneer Dj mixers… a mega Kaoss pad that is ONLY a mega Kaoss pad would have made a ton more sense IMHO.

Very nice vid. Very honest. Love your attitude. Subscribed ❤

Korg has really lost the plot as far as pricing goes. Congrats on doing an honest review and mentioning price 👍

Wow... just... wow. I love Korg, so this is even more painful to hear. They made this instead of the Electribe 3? My Electribe 2 blows this out of the water as far as usability. It has an XY pad that functions a lot like a Kaoss pad, and yes, you can record the motions and use to make sequences. It's portable, you can chop loops, individual and master FX sends, has Ableton export... I could go on. Just so happens that my SP-404mkii arrives in the mail today, clearly I'm not going to worry about buying it over the Replay.

This is why I sub to you man, complete & transparent honesty. I was going to get it but no sequencer is a real letdown.

Yeah definitely a miss. Pity, if they'd lined it up as an evolved Electribe (still waiting for Electribe 3!) it looks like it would be sweet!

Thanks for your honest review ❤️

Haven’t seen a video review hit this hard since Tyson dropped Frazier in 86. Stark contrast to another review. Appreciate the honesty, even if this means no more Korg for you. Companies need to do better if they are wanting us to empty our wallets.

Appreciate your honesty, Taetro!

Thing is, people are misunderstanding what this device is for. Like mentioned in this it’s for live performance. It’s not for beat making. After testing it out thoroughly, the ergonomics are correct for someone that is going to use this as their “brain” of live DJ mixing of their set to bring a very dynamic and crisp sound. The effects are a bar above the rest with a modern take to the tried and true kaoss effect algorithms. For my live performances this will be the brain of operations. I love it

If they really make that MPC Live Mini, this is how it should look. This is how i envisioned it.

Taetro, really appreciate your review. This is what all youtubers should do when a product has its limitations considering its specs, purpose and price. Top.

Considering how easy it is these days to get feedback on products, you'd think a company like Korg would organize the design of new products better. Get input from the very people who would want a product BEFORE designing and mass-producing a product, "Hey, we want to make a new performance pad! What features do you need/want?" They probably spent a large sum of money designing and building something that will sit on the shelves.

I watched loopops review before this and didn’t catch the price… I just thought „that’s kinda delightfully old school and quirky“, expecting it to be around 200-300€… when you said the price my jaw dropped. Holy sh*t Korg dropped the ball on this big time

subscribed. but i dont get the end part, what is it about the saxophone?

Thank you for being a ray of honesty in a sponsored world.

The MPC Live II costs $1200 has an x/y pad… And a battery. And built in speakers. And A sequencer, and… Did someone from teenage engineerings marketing dept get hired at Korg? Is that what happened? At $500 I would accept “meh, this isn’t for me…” At $1000 “this isn’t for real…”

What is Korg's problem with power connectors? The non-usb psu's for the Kaoss pads, the Wavestate etc are non standard, and now they're making you use a device specific usb-c psu?

Cheers for the honesty, man!

Nice honest review. Thanks a lot for that! ✌️❤️

Saw this device pop up on my newsfeed. Immediately thought “oh it’s a 404 with a kaoss pad!” Then saw somebody mention in another review to watch your review. I’m glad I did! Subscribed!

@Taetro thank you for an honest review. $1k for this seems absurd. I feel like I can get so much more from other devices for that. What sealed the deal for me is the dated connections and prohibitive price. Appreciate you as always.

Thanks, def saved me money. Surprised other reviewers missed the part that it isnt a sequencer

Good video, thanks. I think the target demographic is DJs a lot more than synth/beat makers. For some reason there’s really nothing on the market that is performative, creative, exciting, effect tools aimed at professionals. If you’re comparing this to like a pioneer rmx1000 (which I feel like is their demographic) this looks reasonable for the price/features, but the rmx1000 also feels way overpriced compared to like an iPad. The RCA jacks make sense in the DJ world for pro gear and according to loopop it’s built sturdy so my guess is it’s aimed at pro DJs. The micro USB it sounds like is just for pc transfer which makes it seem like an afterthought which makes sense if you’re stacking it up against the rmx-1000. My personal live setup would be 100% perfect if I could get a 2-3 channel mixer with 1/4” inputs, a mic channel, live performance time based effects, simple live looping, and a usb interface in a small package. I’ve been debating a blue box for a while, but when I saw this I got excited that maybe this could be what I wanted. It isn’t, sadly, you saved me money, but I can see what they’re going for.

It's good... definitely device able and actually made specific for live Act. You can do sampling and resembling but it's not easy.

I love my Kaossilator pro, probably my most favorite piece of standalone gear... but I would agree with you. Between the micro usb and rca, it seems crazy for something in 2023..

Thanks for your review. I am curious to know, were you ever able to get it to power with a battery? using there cable possibly?

I watched Loopop's breakdown thinking this is up my alley, but it seemed super funky. You've just built on that clarifying why not to buy this. RCA jacks? Micro USB? And the power comes USB-C but requires 5V/3A - USB powering required for power bricks is max 2.4A. Hell, my MacBook Pro can run off a power brick! Thanks Taetro!

Thank you for the honest review. This is refreshing.

Subtle shade with the mk2 playing peekaboo in the corner I c 😂😂😂

Even finding a mini kp is really hard to come by as they have been discontinued a while ago, also just one fx at the time?

rad review, thank you. Subscribed.

Thank you, great and honest review. I was hoping the KAOSS Replay could be the modern stand alone performance machine I was looking for to bring my Stems on stage and sync them via MIDI to my analogue gear. Sadly not the case, although all the potential is there. If this had a basic seqencer for loops, maybe a screen display of the pad content of the loaded bank, a batch import for sample loops, hey, maybe even an editor to prepare a set on the laptop and send it over to the KAOSS Replay and pro stage functions like internal USB power or at least a proper power supply, I'd be happy to spend such a high price for this. But unfortunately not.....

Got to touch this at an exibition today, really respect your honesty. It was so off that I was like just sell me one of those old kaoss pads. Touchscreen sensetivity felt dated which really turned me down, thought $350 would be acceptable but I wouldn't even want it then..

Forgive me for asking. I feel like I have looked around, and I have still yet to find a suitable replacement to the Kaoss pad KP3. While I love just about everything about the KP3, the converters sound terrible, and I feel compromises the quality of anything I send through it. Other than this new Kaoss replay, is there any other hardware device on the market, Korg or otherwise, that is a multieffect with a large XY touch screen, that has better sounding converters than the KP3? Seems like such a crazy hole in the market if nothing else exists. I'm not concerned about sample pads, just the multieffect capability. Thank you.

Good on you Taetro. Respect.

If you like trackers my Polyend Tracker Mini was "only" $700 and my M8 was about $500 when I bought it. Also I could buy a pretty decked out m2 iPad for $1000

Unfortunately you are right. I am a KAOSS fan and own the Mini KP2s and the KO2 (both the small ones and I still use them) and I was seriously waiting for a new KAOSS Pad and I am so disappointed. Especially the price.

I’m going to get one so I can record drum loops I made with my Drumlogue and tweek them with Kaos pad

Awesome review. I am massively interested in this device, but I will admit my use case is SUPER niche. I DJ and want something that is a combination DJ controller and Sampler that I can use with another groovebox. In the DJ world RCA is the norm, so that''s fine. There are very few DJ controllers that will do Midi sync. They do out, but not in, so you are bringing a controller, laptop and some device. This could (potentially) eliminate the controller and laptop as it can play samples up to 30 minutes in lengths across all banks. It has tempo and key sync so it can beatmatch, and it does audio through so that other groovebox can come in. On top of that I can take part of my mix and resample it, have that play on a different channel and then pull up another stem or something similar. Does the 404 have a DJ mode, yes. Do I want to use multiple button combinations to get in and out of DJ mode while also doing other 404 things, no! I will fully admit I am not super familiar with the 404 DJ mode so I might be missing some workflow efficiencies. Again, super niche segment. If I was Korg, I would not have sent this to Synth people as this is NOT A GROOVEBOX. At best I would have sent it to DJs I've seen use samplers and performance machines in their live setup like a Carl Cox or Fred Again and see if this consolidates anything for them. Is it worth $1000.. probably not for 90% of the people that can do this stuff on other devices (like the 404 or Akai force). That's the weird part to me. If this was an indie manufacturer, I would get the niche. The problem is it's Korg and they expect to sell thousands of these and I don't think you have that many DJs going out of their controller setup or that many performance oriented electronic musicians to make that work. Also the song is dumb. Nothing you could have said would have prepared me for it.

KP3 and Kaossilators on ebay starting to look mighty appealing.

Thank you for being honest!!! You just fully cured my G.A.S. Thank you!!!!!!!!

It’s there any modern hardware version of a good softclipper/limiter? I’d like to run it into analogue heat + fx and then overbridge. The heat actually clips but once you use anything other than the distortion it peaks. Could always use newfangled sarturate on the end but I’d like to see what options are for hw. Also don’t think I’d go for the teenage engineering mixer as it technically does have a limiter

Love the honesty! I wouldn’t want to be the guy responsible for this in Korgs boardroom, when the CEO starts pointing fingers!! 🤣

I've been waiting for a new KP, and yes, you probably saved me some bucks. ThXs!

🤣 I'm sending it back to Korg! 😂 Props!

The eyeroll at the end tho - made me instantly subscribe

This is actually the perfect unit for my live looping rig. This + RC505 is perfect for me and is more useful than anything else on market.

That demo track is money

There is one essential combination of features that the korg has, but no competing hardware device can provide: It’s a dj player that has midi out. I have been looking for a dj player with midi out since years as I want to bpm-sync my synths to one or two music tracks that runs alongside. I’m not saying the flaws you mentioned aren’t really, really bad though.

Why does the software look like the Beat Thang?!?!😂😂😂😂

i REALLY like that you were negative.. every critique you had in the review was imo legitimate!

Agree 100%! Great honest review!

As a master effect for a synth rig, possibly worth it. It’s super specialized. This is not a synth or groovebox, it’s something to plug such things into. I have an AKAI Force. This would probably work well with it. Biggest con is price. 1K is pushing it, but maybe in hand it would justify itself.

Hi I'm a genuine user and lover of the korg kaoss / quad pad and kaossilator pro + genre. All the quad pad needed was midi sync. All the kaossilator pro + needed was standalone effects, making you buy the kpad + . How to take genuine classics and seriously underdeliver, with a very pricey unit. Thanks for the cold shower, back to my kaossolator pro +.

sad! korg if you're reading this, just make a kaosspad mark 5, set a reasonable price with some new features and it'll sell easy

I just wanted a new Kaoss Pad, that’s it

It’s wild how many missteps they made here.. and I love Korg!

$1000… errrr mmm… errrrr lol 😮‍💨

Damn, this is such a let down and yet could’ve been competition against the 404 and Octatrack. Thanks for the honesty and transparency with this 🫡

Wow.....thank you!!!!

wow, huuuge respect for telling your honest opinion, I'm so tired of all reviewers praising the gear which sometimes doesn't make sense at all

The review is fair and raises some valid points (PSU, RCA, no battery, price(!!!), etc.), but I think it is wrong to compare it to any SP404 just because of the form factor and the fact that it somehow deals with samples. It simply is a highly evolved chaoss pad, so it is mainly an FX processor and playback/DJ-device (w/o sequencer). Having said this, I believe the biggest issue (obviously) is the price. If it was like 390 quit, it would be a great FX box with tons of high-quality FX, dedicated FX-chain, compression, and some added features like the chaoss pad type sampling, etc. I think a more suitable comparison would have been with the Elektron Heat +FX (which is also not exactly cheap!)!

Korg seem to have utter contempt for it’s potential customers!

If this was selling for $400 it might be worth it but for $700 you can get a MPC One that does so much more

Seems like something that would’ve come out when the KP3 came out 😂

The first thing I noticed on BoBeats's video was the RCA jacks. RCA jacks in 2023, and almost 2024. I've got the last two Kaoss Pads, the KP3+ and the Kaossilator Pro+ and have been waiting a minute for Korg to drop an updated model as these last two came out in 2013. Major disappointment and the stuff that matters can't be fixed with a software update. Fingers crossed for a new Electribe though, if that's coming at all.

The device is so weird, should be straight up featured on Bad Gear. The old KAOSS PAD KP3 still makes so much more sense than this thing.

I have the OG Kaoss Pad from the late 90s. I also have the mini…I like Korg - but in the last decade they’ve been too weird for me. Most of the gear they make doesn’t really compliment my set up outside of the the Volcas and the ____state synths.

Oh lort, I'm in my feelings now. There's shock at the bewilderingly unexpected and frustration with the dumbfounding predictability in equal measure. Quite like a Korg Kaoss release, come to think of it. They make interesting stuff that sort of finds new life somewhere eventually, except for those most people probably never even heard of, but they have been notorious for marketing to the wrong crowd for what they offer since the beginning, from what I've heard. Maybe it's different in Japan, and I'm sure lots of people use them Japan somehow based on long-term email alerts on Ebay, but in the US it's extremely clear that DJs aren't the demographic at all. You'll see a guy build a Kaoss Pad into his guitar before you see a DJ using one, most likely. But that's how they tend to market them, as DJ tools. Personally, I'd think a DJ would want a way better sampler. So it goes. To think, I've been sad before at the thought that we'd never get another one of these from Korg. And to think, they can keep it! I am shocked that they even made another physical device, having focused on mobile software replicating the classic gear for years. I am sadly not shocked that they made this so performance-based/restricted. Keep in mind, that's been a recurring complaint about the Kaoss line at times and especially the last one, the Kaoss Quad. I'm not aware of Korg ever basing any designs on praise or complaints about the Kaoss products, at least not from the US market, so naturally they tend to repeat the same mistakes. Now, I have a ridiculous, perhaps embarrassing Kaoss collection. Off the top of my head, I have 10 physical Kaoss devices for some reason. I even spent $800 on a used, extremely hard to find Korg Entrancer, which is like a Kaoss Pad for video, and by video I mean cheesy 90s rave visuals (got ripped off and never received it, but I'ma cry if I dwell on that). I have to force myself not to buy the even more rare Korg Kaptivator, the Kaoss Pad meets video sampler. Or to not buy even more DJ mixers that offer no advantage over anything I currently own, only ever tempting for the occasional bout of pathological Kaoss sickness. The point is, I weirdly love Korg Kaoss, ever since I first dragged my grubby booger scooper finger across the Kaoss Pad 3. Ooh, the tingles! And that's how I've felt about a lot of it since then. And yet I straight up skipped the Kaoss Quad and don't even care to seek it out on a deep discount, precisely because it's so limited as merely an effects box with a Kaoss pad--and worse yet, even as a "performance box" I don't find it interesting because the number of effects and how you use them is so limited compared to other models. And now, for the second time in the Kaoss line, I'm skipping this product. I should be doing backflips right now, but nah, screw nearly $1K for this especially, And there's just nothing to be excited for, at least that I've seen so far. Even the DJ A and B faders, well, for anyone who isn't familiar with the Kaoss deep cuts, there are four different models of DJ mixers that they've made in the past, two of which I own (one is interestingly a functional DJ software controller too), and this isn't even counting DJ mixers that were made by someone else but were allowed to use the Kaoss pad and effects built in. While none of these DJ mixers are popular from what I've ever been able to tell, it's nothing new or unique. This new one seems to be a rehash of the Korg KM-2 Kaoss Mixer, specifically. I own it and it's nothing paradigm-destroying. It's basically like an older Kaoss Pad but with DJ faders for deck A and deck B. I discovered I actually like DJ mixers for non-DJ things, but YMMV on whether that adds any value for you. But yeah, more of the same from Korg Kaoss, just at the most ridiculous price now. This line of gear has never been about evolving and growing, taking on new features to help people better meet their musical goals, which is why I'm not upset at all, since it's expected. It's the same small handful of ideas fed through a random pad/Kaossilator/mixer generator, with the best arrangements seeming to already exist. I love the Kaossilator Pro and KP3+ combo. I'm also perpetually surprised at how much mileage I get out of the 2S versions of the Kaossilator and Kaoss Pad, a real workflow naturally arising no matter where I take the little beast, especially with the brilliant recording features.

The RCA ins/outs are a deal breaker for me especially when it's $300+ more than an MPC One+. Such a shame too because my KP3s are the heart of studio - just about everything I produce gets manipulated through them & I've been using KP3s since 2010 & been waiting for a an update on it for a while. I thought nthe price would be the same as an MPC One - or even $50 cheaper to undercut the competition, but no, Korg had to a make a subpar mini-MPC touch/SP-404 hybrid more expensive than the competition.

Korg essentially released an unfinished product here, with a lot of things that need to be addressed in firmware updates. As it is, it's not as good as the 404, for double the price. Companies, don't *clap* release *clap* unfinished *clap* gear! Consumers, don't *clap* buy... etc.

fwiw you can also set the screen of an MPC One to be an XY pad for fx...

If my kaoss pad died, I would pay $399 for this as a replacement. $1k? Silly, for all the reasons above.

Great thoughts as always! Seems like a big fumble by Korg. Too bad! I love Korg. I recently purchased a Modwave.. a feature packed synth (also with kaoss pad) but they dropped a mk2 Modwave basically the same unit. Now the value of Modwave is plummeting. sucks to see big mistakes by Korg!

Don't worry, korg will put it on reverb clearance for 200 next year

I’m a struggling novice in this category and I learned so much by watching this. Thanks for being so clear and thoughtful.

Great review. I'll pass on the Korg Kaoss Replay

On the one hand, I don't regret my 404mk2 purchase due to this thing, despite always wanting some kind of kaoss type interface on a sampler. I regret the 404 due to its shoddy drunken external sync

😂 nice end.