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The Chaos Order

T

here are only two ways in

which the Kaoss design and

technology relate to any Korg

product. It’s either on a future

feature wish list or a major selling

point. That’s it. The Kaoss pads

started as a toolset aimed for DJs

and meant to add an effects box

and sampler to their live rig. The

touchpad interface gave them

a unique control surface where

effects can be manipulated in real

time to twist the internal samples or

streaming audio. The Kaoss pad 3 is

the current series heavyweight and

boasts sounds and effects from the

Radias along with its own custom

suite for a total of 128 programs.

Instead of a swirling touchpad

display, the KP3 uses a backlit 64

cell grid matrix for visual feedback.

The KP3 not only samples but can

chop audio via time-slice and mute

individual parts for new patterns

on the fly. MIDI facilitates tempo

control (both manual and tap) with

the ability to send and receive

clock data. More than that, the

KP3 operates as a MIDI controller

sending information out from the

touchpad, slider and sample bank

buttons. All of your actions can

be recorded as MIDI and stored

in your host for total recall. USB

connectivity adds file transfer and

the software librarian manages

programs and edits samples.

Kaoss over Chaos

This is a lot of power and creative

potential placed in a portable case.

Producers knew that and adopted

the Kaoss pads as filter boxes to add

excitement to dull sounds and add a

new way of working with effects. To

satisfy the demand for more chaos, the

Kaoss concept has been featured in

their new flagship workstation the M3,

more tightly integrated with the live DJ

set with the Kaoss Mixer [a traditional

mixer with Kaoss pad front and center-

XP] and now broken down to two sleek

hand held units.

The Kaoss before the storm

The mini-KP places much of the Kaoss

series power into a battery powered (4

AAs or optional [you gotta buy it -XP]

4.5 V adapter) sampler and effect

processor. It’s the ultra-affordable ($200

USD) carry me along version without

the MIDI and USB. It does arrive with

Korg

Kaoss Series

and the Koassilator

Demo Sounds and

patch preview

Printable template for

accurate grid patterns

AA batteries so you can get to work

right away. It has100 effect programs;

a step down from the KP3 overkill of

128. If you’ve ever had a chance to

spin through the programs in any

Kaoss pad you stumbled across some

presets. I mean sounds. Musical loops

and instruments. It’s nothing new for

Korg to bail its users out with patches

you can use just one finger to trigger

away and keep the groove moving.

Interacting with the touchpad changes

the pattern of the program and switches

to additional variations. Some highly

useable sounds lurk inside the Kaoss

pad series- some great sounds indeed.

What if Korg just focused on just the

sounds and made an affordable Kaoss

pad that specialized in tones while still

being …Kaotic.

Enter the Kaossilator!

Korg strips away the MIDI, USB and

audio-in processing in favor of 100

presets; mostly generated live from

a modeling synthesizer. You’ll find 20

leads, bass and sound-effect patches,

10 Acoustic, chords, drums and an

additional 10 phrases/loops. Again

it’s about quality over quantity. Every

sound works in some musical context

and many are screaming to be the

main juice of a track or icing on top.

The counter balance is lack of any

save features, mixing abilities (mutes,

volume, etc) or deep sequencing. It’s a

single-pattern based affair. You’ll build

up your composition in layers, locking

in your current state and then adding

on more instruments. You can use the

“Fix” function to save the current state

of your pattern, and “Cancel” to return

to that state if you add something you

don’t like. It’s an over-dubbing system

that helps focus your creations. If the

next addition isn’t hot you can’t to push

if off as an optional part to mix in later so

you usually dump it. The limitation here

is 2 bars or 8 beats, but you can layer

indefinitely and that leads to another

reason for producer consideration.

Kaoss on Order

Obviously you can whip up little tracks

wherever you find open time or use it

in a studio setting integrated as a tone

module with a wicked interface. Korg

calls it a Dynamic Phrase Synthesizer,

but I’ve been using it to create samples.

I build up a small phrase (with minimal

percussion) and record it as a loop to

be mangled and flipped in my favorite

apps. The drum kits and prerecorded

phrases favor the electronic slant,

but small taps- triggering only the

beginnings of arps and loops adds

another variety of material to work

with. The Scale Function reduces your

performance errors to just bum notes by

keeping the available pitches sensible

according to the chosen musical scale.

You’ll be using the Gate Arp to create

instant arpeggiator satisfaction to

fill any inspirational holes you might

have been scratching your head over.

Moving your contact point (finger or

stylus) horizontally controls pitch while

vertical axis swipes affect the filters.

With a little practice you can coax

some pretty complex melodies with

the touchpad. You can also jump two

octaves and dial in the tempo directly.

Kaoss Theory in Action

I stopped way short of calling the

Kaossilator a musical toy for non-

musicians. True you don’t need

keyboard chops or music training to

get usable musical phrases. But you

might be a little frustrated by the blank

touchpad screen while you’re working

out a killer melody. It’s always at the

end of that second bar - you get happy

and try and wild out and blow it. I

created an overlay laminate to give an

idea of what notes landed where for

repeatable performances.

The touchpad remains wonderfully

sensitive even when covered by

several layers of paper or plastic. I also

taped the program list card to the back

of the Kaossilator to quickly jump to

patches I use often.

New Whirl Order

In conclusion, Korg has taken the

best preset based features of the

Kaoss series and packaged them

into an affordable joy box. At $200

USD you cannot overlook the idea of

more then 75 usable sounds with a

dynamite interface. If combined with

a mobile recorder like the Korg MR-1,

you’d have everything you need to

create, compose and capture with the

charismatic and colorful Kaossilator.

Later.

Specs at a glance

100 Presets

(10 drum and 31 music patterns)

RCA Stereo Line Outs

Mini headphone jack

DC 4.5V Power supply needed

(4 AA batteries included, lasting ~ 5 hrs)

More info at korg.com