Korg KAOSSILATOR 2
Boasting a supercharged sound generator, Kaossilator 2 delivers excellent synth and drum sounds spanning a wide range of genres, plus dramatically expanded loop recording. Use the internal mic to record guitar, vocal, or other audio sources--and layer them infinitely. The Organic Electroluminescent (OEL) display provides superb visibility. Add to that a touch slider for ease of use, microSD card data saving, plus a built-in speaker and battery power. All of these features reflect the enhancements incorporated into the sleek and exciting Kaossilator 2.
The unique interface allows melodies and phrases to be played by simply tapping or sliding a finger across the Kaoss touchpad. Horizontal motions control the pitch; vertical motions control aspects of the tone such as filter cutoff, feedback, or modulation depth. When using a drum kit program, multiple sounds can be played simultaneously, and you can even play the touchpad as if it were a drum pad. The intuitive design and amazing flexibility of the touchpad allows users who are not keyboard players to perform easily, as well as creating performances rich with tonal changes.
Korg's acclaimed synthesizer technology has been meticulously packed into this sleek, compact format. The 150 ready-to-play sounds cover a broad range of styles including hip-hop, house, dubstep, new disco, and electro. In addition, the Kaossilator 2 provides a solid set of synth sounds such as synth lead, synth bass, acoustic sounds such as piano or guitar, and even sound effects for DJ use.
PCM sound generation provides drum sounds and drum performances that are more realistic than ever. There are 15 Drum Kits in the Kaossilator 2. Each Drum Kit consists of instruments such as kick, snare, and hi-hat. In addition, there are 25 Rhythm Loop patterns that let you create drum phrases simply by moving your finger. The lineup of sounds covers numerous genres, so you'll be sure to find the drum sounds you need.
Even if you've never played a musical instrument, the Kaossilator 2's Key and Scale features ensure that the notes being played will match the song being performed. Use the Key setting to specify the musical key or "root". Choose any of 35 scales, ranging from popular scales such as chromatic, major pentatonic, and minor blues, as well as unusual scales such as Spanish, Ryukyu, and Raga. By using both the Key and Scale settings to match the song, you can play perfect solos without a single wrong note. In addition, the Note Range allows you to specify the range of playable pitches. You can set this to a narrow range to ensure that melodies will be played accurately as you intend, or to an extremely wide range to allow unexpectedly dynamic and unconventional phrases to emerge.
The fifty built-in gate arpeggiator patterns can automatically generate phrases and beats by simply moving a finger across the touchpad. As a new capability of the Kaossilator 2, you can now edit the arpeggiator's gate time and swing settings so that musical phrases are created exactly as you intended.
The Kaossilator 2's Loop Recording feature can overdub touchpad performance as many times as you like. By adding layer upon layer to a simple phrase, it's easy for anyone to create amazingly intricate tracks. Thanks to the Scale/Key settings, the results will always sound musically appropriate, each and every time.
The two Loop Recording banks can be used alone, or used together for truly dramatic results. By combining the two loop recording banks, you can create new performances that were not possible on earlier Kaossilator units. Different sounds and phrases can be recorded onto each of the two loops. These loops can then be cross-faded or muted, or the loop length can be changed in real time to create dynamic live performances. Unwanted loops can be erased and rerecorded while playback continues, so you'll be able to create DJ-like performances on the Kaossilator 2 without the sound ever stopping.
The Kaossilator 2 offers both an internal mic as well as an auxiliary mic input. This combination allows the loop-recording of nearly any audio source. Plus, you can easily mix different audio sources, so that as a loop phrase created using the Kaossilator 2's internal sounds plays in the background, you can overdub your own rap, vocal, or other external sound, or enjoy a loop recording session with a musical collaborator--such as a guitarist.
A microSD card can be used to save loop recorder data. In addition, performances played on the Kaossilator 2 can be recorded using the master recorder, and stored on the card. Whenever an important musical idea begins to take shape, it can easily be saved, and can even be used later as part of a studio production. This is also a convenient way to share Kaossilator 2 performances on the Internet. The Kaossilator 2 also acts as an audio player, and can play back performances created using the master recorder. Listen to your best performances for comparison, or share them with your friends.
You can use the Kaossilator 2 together with Korg's iKaossilator app for the iPhone/iPad. This allows audio data to be transferred between the Kaossilator 2 and iKaossilator, and lets you use the two devices in a BPM-synchronized performance.
Although iKaossilator and the Kaossilator 2 share Kaossilator name, their sound generator and recording style are completely different. While iKaossilator uses a PCM sound source, the Kaossilator 2 uses a modeling synth. And while iKaossilator provides a five part sequencer that lets you freely insert or remove notes as you perform, the Kaossilator 2 allows unlimited overdubbing as well as recording of external audio input. By combining these two with audio data that utilizes the advantages of each, you can vastly expand your performance possibilities.
