These files are designed to complement my review of the Korg Kaossilator dynamic phrase synthesizer in Electronic Musician magazine. —David Battino
With rich sounds derived from the Korg Radias, the battery-powered Kaossilator is a one-finger party to go. Its onboard looper lets you build two-bar grooves through endless overdubs.
The Kaossilator comes with a hard-to-read yet easy-to-lose card describing its 50 arpeggiator patterns and 32 scales. With Korg’s permission, I scanned the card so I could upload it here. I also added the program listing, which describes how the y- and y-axis controls affect each program. When you print the document, you can scale it up to the size of the page to make it more legible.
The Kaossilator’s 100 preset sounds are divided into seven categories: Lead, Acoustic, Bass, Chord, SE (Sound Effects), Drum, and Drum Pattern. This loop uses one sound from the last six categories; I then play a selection of Lead sounds over the top.
One of my favorite sound-effect patches is #60, Kaoss Drone. The pad’s x-axis controls filter cutoff while the y-axis controls feedback. This clip is an excerpt of a jam session using two Kaossilators and some other gear. (One Kaossilator is playing the drum loop.) I recorded it with a Zoom H2 on a tripod between the speakers. You can hear the Kaoss Drone in the beginning.
The Kaossilator has a walloping big collection of sound effects, ranging from the spooky drone in the previous example to a cutesy Pac-Man gobble (program 74). I asked the sound designer why he included so many sound effects at the expense of more organic sounds.
He explained his goal was to make the Kaossilator more “useful, catchy, and unique,” adding, “most of the sound effects have no pitch, so you can use them over any phrase creatively. This provides lots of ‘spice’ for many applications. For DJs, sound effects are the easiest thing to put over any music. Furthermore, dance genres are leaning towards sound effect-based fills. Lastly, I wanted to do something that keyboards don’t do. Sound effects are the most difficult sort of sound to play with a keyboard. I also wanted to add some ‘chaos’ to the Kaossilator because it’s part of the Kaoss family.”
Fair enough. With that in mind, I stopped skipping past the sound effects and began to find other uses for them. Which brings us to...
You can do far more than simply stir the Kaossilator touchpad with your finger. Try tapping the Rec button as you play to record gated effects, or (conversely) hold it down and tap the Erase button to create rhythmic pauses. Turn on the arpeggiator, select a bass sound, and rock your finger sideways like a violinist to trigger specific notes. (Experiment with different scales to get the notes you want.) Try playing with a computer stylus or guitar pick for more precision. Switch scales between overdubs to better control the current sound. Create unique drum patterns by triggering sound effects with the arpeggiator or a quick tap. Change the loop length during playback for stuttering effects.
I was pleased to find the Kaossilator smooths sustaining sounds across the loop point when recording. Here’s a loop I made with several layers of noise programs.
Because the Kaossilator loses its loop-recorder memory when powered down, I took to carrying a small MP3 player with a line-in jack, a Creative Labs MuVo N200:
Kaoss to go: With a recording MP3 player such as this Creative Labs MuVo, you can capture your Kaossilator loops in the field.
Unfortunately, the MuVo added a lot of digital noise to the signal:
I also tried an Olympus WS-311M stereo voice recorder, but got even more noise. Notice the pulsing on the second example; the 311M was picking up the flash of the Kaossilator's low-battery warning:
Finally, I tried a Zoom H2 recorder, which produced clean sound, although the unit was physically much bigger than the other recorders. Please let me know if you come up with any good alternatives.