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 Post subject: Electribe ESX question
PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:44 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:10 pm
Posts: 158
Location: Framingham, MA
i'm thinking about getting an esx and i have a question. so the samples you basically have 2 keyboard parts, 2 timestretched loops, and 1 chopped sample, is that correct? or do you have any more sample space than that? also for the chops, is there only autochop?


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 Post subject: Re: Electribe ESX question
PostPosted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:00 am 
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Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:42 am
Posts: 952
Damn, are you building an army of samplers at the moment? Got an ESX & I love it. Totally different workflow & design to the SPs, so it works great with them. Hseiken's got one, made some fine music on it too.

You're right about the keyboard part (each pad's monophonic), timestretch is a little tricky but sounds better than an SP's timestretch (IMO, you may prefer the SP). Think of the drums as one-shots, the keyboard as chromatic pitching & slice as mute/unmute in a sampled phrase.

The chop sample mode that I think you refer to, the slice pad, actually works like a series of mute-unmutes on phrase samples with slice poins set. Slicing samples & not using them on the slice pad is my favourite side to the ESX. It's like a Rex file in a DAW. Slice points are non-destructive & saved in the OS, so if you save a sliced sample you can change it later without affecting the sample. Slicing's also a great way to group samples & save extra sounds to the ESX. It has 128 stereo, 256 mono slots for samples so you can lose shit fast in it. Slicing goes autmoatically to peaks in a sample's volume, but can be tweaked before saving. This way you can have a bunch of drums saved to one pad, then open the sample on a drum pad & select the slice to play.

Chopping on it is slow (compared to an SP), kinda like a 203/303/404/555 where you dial in by ear but heaps more precise. No autochop. A workaround is set a sliced phrase sample on a drum pad & modulate the start point. Modulating samples like this often takes away from the quantized feel of ESX tracks too.

Pros- FX loop (send audio to an external device then send it back into the ESX), great for jamming (you can write whole tracks without stopping the sequencer). Great for workarounds, flexible worklfow. No MPC style load-wait times for patterns/songs/saved samples (instant access like an SP).

Cons- limited memory (285 seconds mono, memory cards are for backup only), limited stereo options (2 drum pads & 1 stretch, plus using stereo cuts out the next pad's voice).

Some people don't like the basic sound FX & step sequencer which is fine. For some tips on how to use an ESX like a pro check these tutorials by Sauce, fella's a legend. There's also the ESX Wave Organiser that'll help massively with backing up card saves & importing samples (free!).

But def try before buy. You might hate the sound it carries, can get harsh & super loud with the valves. Hope this helps make your mind up.

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