KorgKO2S - Updated Kaossilator Microphone Phrase Synthesizer

On first impressions, this device is fantastic; an incredibly expressive synth that pretty much nothing else compares to in terms of ease of use to quality of production. However, upon more use you stumble across a few flaws, 3 of which for me make the device unusable for anything but extremely basic ideas. And sadly, the biggest limitation is completely self imposed by the software:1. No Midi output, would be really nice to have this but to be honest I'd alright without it if it wasn't for...2. No ability to add other instruments. Korg have some really nice samples on here, but everything you see on here is what you get. Without midi output or the ability to add new instruments, the device is purely limited to whats on it. You can export to ableton project files, but its just not enough.3. Finally, the biggest flaw, your limited to 8 bars. So any song you record purely on this device (and of course without midi output that seems to be the intention) can have a maximum of maybe 3 seconds of unique sound before it loops round again. This limits you severly to the complexity of your song and to how many layers you can have; go above 5 and things will start messy.Its also worth mentioning it doesn't even loop If you want an instrument to play throughout the whole 8 bars, you need to take your thing off the pad at EXACTLY the end, too early and you get a horrible cutoff, too late and you override the first bar.Since finding this device, I've been trying to look for similar devices which perform the same functionality without the limitations. I haven't had any luck yet, although Roli's lightpad looks promising.

Compared to the ther 3 kaossilators, this one is a good compromise, the ARP has very good presets, the sounds are good and varied enough and the interface is actually a little easier than the kaossilator pro. I miss the two track control of the previous version, but the exporting to Ableton (or any DAW) really does help the productive side (though a usb port would have been perfect)

I bought this to replace my dented KO-1. There was never a dull train journey with the KO-1, and this box of tricks is generally an improvement all round. The ability to undo tracks is very useful. Also the ability to record to an SD-card (which you *will* need, and is not included). The menu system is a step backwards from the KO-1 in that you cannot change key and scale without flipping through the whole menu. It's still massive fun to make your own music with this, so 5 stars.

All the sounds, kits & breaks you could want to try out ideas on the move. Great portability, good sound but advise buying dedicated power supply because it eats batteries!

An awesome piece of kit for music makers everywhere, you will not be disappointed.

VERY good product, but - BIG BUT if this helps - only CREATES sounds, (the kp2s is the effects applied to input sound thing) the 'instruments' or poorly named 'effects' are played as you tap in different places and drag finger around the trackpad. Korg did good making these separate devices - the kps2 does effects to your input as does kpquad. This makes noises.Little bit fiddly to use as a loop-maker.Pro:- Sounds great- Enhanced my workflow, even if it's a low-tech solution- There's almost nothing to get using it, 10 minutes to familiarize yourself with how to set things, maybe 2 or 3 days getting really familiar.- Arpegiates, customizeable, I think the keys/scales has something to do with it too? see belowCon: (or useful pointers if you can live with the below...)- Little fiddly to get used to combo of buttons to record, took ages to get a natural loop recorded neatly in 2 bars / 8 beats.- Limited to 1 2 4 8 bars or down to 1/16 fraction, the only thing to learn apart from getting around the shallow menu (which is easy) is the record, record for this many bars, overdub, stop, play. Spent an age trying to master those BUT you have to with this as with anything such as a loopstation.- BPM - +/- goes up/down by 1.0 or HOLD DOWN +/- on the slider bar to adjust by 0.1. OR you can tap but I'm sure it's limited to 0.1bpm resolution. No other way to sync. Its batteries or plug in to mains but not pc or midi.- And you have to hold the enable mic button and press VOL up/down to change the mic volume - it can be set under the Utility menu to mono/stereo ext mic input.Great for me is that it deals with keys / scales and blocks out notes not in f# dvorian or whatnot if you so choose. Indibloominspensible!Like a tuner for a guitar is helpful, this helps me work out how to fit in with a jam.Why? Comes with scales / key selection as well as arp setings. Never got "what is d minor?" so the accompanying chart in the minimal paperwork helps and would have saved my life jamming live once. And I don't need the chart its pretty instant to just 'tune' your way to the right key / starting note. Now I can, and am, throwing together tunes on the train, and I finally know or can work out what key my 20 songs are in.You can quickly work out the key of the song you're writing sort of humming it to yourself and playing every note in the dvorian scale in d flat or finally know your major pentatonic from your minor. Really useful however you're working especially if you suddenly have to transpose. When I can't find the tuner it's helped also for voice in that I don't have to plug in the laptop to use a keyboard to match my voice to a given note.All in all indispensible bit of kit to have on hand always just in case (along with couple of others similar price)Enjoy!

two days messing about then no real; use in a set up very limited