In his latest video, synthesist Starsky Carr shares his take on the Korg Electribe EMX-1 – a vintage groovebox that’s loved by many for its combination of ease of use and capabilities.
Video Summary:
“Can a groovebox from 2003 really carry an entire live techno, House or Electro set?
After watching my mate Beau Beaumont play a whole gig out of a single Korg Electribe, I had to find out for myself. In this video I dig into the EMX-1 (the blue, synth-based Electribe) — the sounds, the synth engine, the effects, and the performance tricks that let you play a full live set from one little groovebox. Stick around to the end for a 15-minute live set demo recorded in one take.
The Korg Electribe EMX-1 and its sample-based sibling the ESX-1 came out over 20 years ago, but they’ve quietly become cult live-performance machines. 9 drum parts, 5 synth parts, 16 oscillator types, 256 patterns per song, 3 chainable effects, motion sequencing, and a pair of glowing valves for warmth and grit. By the end you’ll know exactly what it does, what it can’t do, and how to actually gig with one.”
Check out the video and share your thoughts on the Korg Electribe EMX-1 in the comments!
Everybody going crazy for old electribes these days. There is one up on reverb for almost €1500
I just had to laugh. I had the one in this review, the Blue EMX-1 back in about 2012. It was €499 from Thomann. And while it’s fun for a while, it begins to sound old really quick. They don’t do an awful lot and there is very limited scope of sounds it can produce.
The tubes sound like shit too. Apparently you could replace them with better sounding ones. I never tried. When I sold it I honestly didn’t feel like I was missing out on much.
Bought a secondhand Machinedrum instead. Ironically for less than an EMX is worth on Reverb today.
Four tet and Gold panda been Instagramming them.
Two massively over rated producers. Wouldn’t take anything they vouch for with any real seriousness
Hopefully Korg is watching and waiting and going to drop a third version of it
They are fun and it’s tried and true Korg virtual analog. It is hype driving the prices up.
You can enjoy the same with almost every Korg software and virtual analog hardware out there. People didn’t enjoy programming these things when they first came out and now that they hear people with these they are clamouring for it only to discover, like any synth, especially Elektron stuff. You have to read the manual and learn to program your own sounds or you’re stuck with unusable presets.
It’s a bit more than that to be fair. Electribes are made to be played live as an all-in-one device so they’re really well optimised for that. Most modern Korg gear doesn’t cover the range of bases this does.
Shall I continue? No?
Anyway, the arpeggiator in these is fantastic. The workflow is really nice once you’re used to it. The 8 bar patterns was weirdly left out of many internal sequences for too long. The 4 outs and audio thru channel is super flexible when you start using it. Korg’s motion sequencing is better for live performance than Elektron’s p-locks – the motion sequence locks in a value for the rest of the pattern & resets itself when it loops, unlike p-locks which revert after the trigger.
As vintage gear they’re curiosities because they were ahead of their time. These synthfluencers should be fine to show off old & interesting gear. As an ESX owner I like seeing that these things still hold up over the years. I’m never selling mine so I don’t care what the 2nd hand market’s doing.