Review - Korg Kaoss Pad 2 
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The Basics
The Korg Kaoss Pad 2 (abr: kp2) is an effects pad with a built in sampler. It has 90 different effects, including 10 filters, various delays, some reverbs, BPM-linked effects (the bpm can be adjusted using a tap function, manually changing the BPM, auto detection, or midi), pan effects, and mods such as phasers and flangers. Each effect has 3 parameters: a dry-wet control (potentiometer), and an x and a y parameter which are controlled through the touch pad. The touch pad senses the location of your finger, and uses its coordinates to control the x and y parameters. You can also use the "hold" function to remember the location your finger was last at before you let go of the kp2, and will continue to apply the effect with those coordinates. Even more impressively, you can use a switch to record up to about 5 seconds of the movements you made, allowing you to perfectly replicate an effect over and over again. This switch also doubles as a mute switch, cutting off the original sound, playing back only the effect trails.
The built in sampler has 2 sample banks of around 6 seconds. These samples can be played back with the touch of a button, or looped by using it in combination with the hold button. Playing back your samples in this way, you can apply effects over your samples. The alternate way is to select pgm's 90 - 100, which allow you to play back your samples with added functionality, such as looping them and adjusting the out-point, stretching them, panning them, playing them at various speeds in reverse, or even scratching with them. The samples, like the vectors you can save on the switch, are lost once you switch the power off. The only thing that is saved after the power supply is interrupted is the quick index of effects under buttons 1 - 8 just above the screen. You can save effects (program number and dry-wet parameter) on these buttons to get to them quickly when needed.
The KP2 can also be used as a midi controller, but due to my lacking knowledge in this field and the fact that i have never used my KP2 as a midi controller/slave, i will not expand on this functionality.
Personal Opinion
Effects
The manipulation of your effects by the use of a touchscreen (to me) is very intuitive. You don't at all have to be an effects guru to be able to control them; unlike the Pioneer EFX units, its so damn easy to get the basics. However, to really master the kaoss pad does take lots of practice - you won't be a James Zabiela unless you spend hours and hours figuring out which effects sound good, and how you have to manipulate the parameters to blow your audience's minds. But, all the same, my girlfriend even managed to produce a few cute effects when she tried playing with it - and let me tell you; that says a lot. My only complaint about the use of a touchpad is that the resolution isn't that tremendously high, which can be annoying if you're trying to get that delay to fit perfectly over your track. Now i've adressed the manipulation aspect about the unit; a bit more about the effects themselves:
Filters: My kp2 is almost permanently on 00 - the low pass filter. The sound is good, the change of cutoff frequency is neither linear nor logarithmic but what sounds just right to the ear. This applies for all the filters. The band-isolator and the highpass filter also do what they're supposed to do. The only problem with the filter section is that the filters are often combined with seemingly random effects on the Y parameter; for example, the high pass filter is combined with a distortion instead of resonance.
Mods: Flanger, vibrato, phaser, autopan, pitchshifter, slicer, wah... they all do what they're supposed to do. Not much to say about these, except that it is hard to adjust the speed parameter precisely. However, this sin't so much of a problem seeing as most of the effects to which this problem pertains are doubled in the BPM effects section.
Delays: Also do what they're supposed to do, although i don't find much use for them due to the fact that they're not BPM linked. I only ever use them in combination with the mute switch.... Try the dub echo though, its one of my favorite effects - i again applaud Korg's creativity.
Reverbs: Again, not much to comment on. Besides the regular gate and hall reverbs, they've also added some cool stuff like a 3d pan. I never use reverbs so i'll refer from further comments.
SFX: reverse delay - great effect, however useless as its not BPM linked. The ring mod sounds great, which compensates for the useless other effects (example: dual pitch shifter; shift your left and right channel's pitches individually - who the hell would ever use that
). Some of the other sfx sound ok, but they're just cool, i'd never use them in a liveset.
BPM effects: lukewarm. Although the effects are all very nice and well selected (besides the filters the most useable effects on the unit), the BPM can only be set to an accuracy of 1 BPM. This isn't so much a problem for effects such as the flanger, but can make a delay used for longer than a bar or two sound catastrophic. I'm not sure if you can set your BPM more accurately through the use of MIDI though, but if you can, it'd improve the unit's functionality significantly. The automatic BPM counter works descently; not as well as Pioneer or Numark's, but significantly better than those from B-brands.
BPM patterns: WATCH OUT! The gain on these patterns is significantly higher than the other effects. If you have your potentiometer set all the way to wet, you'll get annoyed/surprised looks from the audience at best; and blow your speakers at worst. I don't use the BPM patterns really, they're not that great, but occasionally they're nice to fill up a boring part of a track.
Synths: The synths are also quite cool, despite the fact that their gains are also messed up. They're rather useful for adding to a buildup after a break, or to add some energy to the mix right before you kick in a new track.
Vocoders: Also work well; they sound great if used in combination with a mic, but are useless when used on music. Hence the name vocoder.... I don't see why they also added a pentatonic scale to the vocoder, but it can't do any harm.
Sampler
I'll keep it short: the sampler is (imo) so close to useless its not even funny anymore. First of all, you only have 2 banks of 6 seconds; hardly anything. Furthermore, for some reason it's impossible to set the in and the out points of the sample right when you're recording, and its not possible to (accurately) adjust them. On my CDJ800's i can make loops on the fly, so it isn't me thats the problem here; either the machine takes too long to respond to the push of the button, or something else - I don't know what it is but its quite simply impossible. Due to this, the sampler loses almost all of its functionality, allowing you only to use it for the occasional cheasy clippet to entertain the crowd.
Miscellenious
The unit has several led's behind the touchpad; so the pad actually changes color depending on the effect you select and the parameters. Not functional, but looks wicked none the less. The fact that you can quickly index effects to the buttons above the screen is also a great feature - allowing you to access your effects on-the-fly and to switch quickly between multiple effects. The feature allowing you to record your movements on the pad is also a nice improvement. The RCA connector jacks, although they are gold plated, would not have been my choice; i don't understand why Korg decided to move away from the universal standard of Jack for effect units.
Final Judgement
The Kaoss Pad 2 is a good effects unit, despite its many flaws, at a very reasonable price. Its versatile, but perhaps a bit too much so. Its great for beginners, who want to screw around a bit with some effects "cuz' it sounds cool" (to put it bluntly), or for those that really know what they're doing, especially those that want to integrate the unit into a MIDI circuit. Sadly(?), I belong to neither of those two groups, so i have a feeling i'm not getting everything i can get out of the machine, but don't recklessly go throwing effects through my mix even if they do sound alright. Its for this group of users that the unit isn't all that great. However, due to the low price, you really do get your money's worth - the KP2 has the greatest value for money on the effects market. The Kaoss Pad is a solid effects pad, with only small flaws - but small flaws that render a large portion of its functionality useless. I really look forward to getting my hands on a KP3 to test it out sometime, to see whether they have all been adressed or not. From me, it gets a 6.5/10.
Links
Kaoss Pad in My Booth
Interactive Flash Demo
Specs
Forum Thread (nl)
Forum Thread 2 (nl)
EFX1000 vs KP (en)
KP3 Launch News Item (en)
Wow die review is wat langer geworden dan ik verwacht had :s. Voor de zekerheid even bijzetten:
You may use this text in its entirety or parts thereof without notifying the author. However, give due credit and provide a link to www.djresource.eu if you do.
The Basics
The Korg Kaoss Pad 2 (abr: kp2) is an effects pad with a built in sampler. It has 90 different effects, including 10 filters, various delays, some reverbs, BPM-linked effects (the bpm can be adjusted using a tap function, manually changing the BPM, auto detection, or midi), pan effects, and mods such as phasers and flangers. Each effect has 3 parameters: a dry-wet control (potentiometer), and an x and a y parameter which are controlled through the touch pad. The touch pad senses the location of your finger, and uses its coordinates to control the x and y parameters. You can also use the "hold" function to remember the location your finger was last at before you let go of the kp2, and will continue to apply the effect with those coordinates. Even more impressively, you can use a switch to record up to about 5 seconds of the movements you made, allowing you to perfectly replicate an effect over and over again. This switch also doubles as a mute switch, cutting off the original sound, playing back only the effect trails.
The built in sampler has 2 sample banks of around 6 seconds. These samples can be played back with the touch of a button, or looped by using it in combination with the hold button. Playing back your samples in this way, you can apply effects over your samples. The alternate way is to select pgm's 90 - 100, which allow you to play back your samples with added functionality, such as looping them and adjusting the out-point, stretching them, panning them, playing them at various speeds in reverse, or even scratching with them. The samples, like the vectors you can save on the switch, are lost once you switch the power off. The only thing that is saved after the power supply is interrupted is the quick index of effects under buttons 1 - 8 just above the screen. You can save effects (program number and dry-wet parameter) on these buttons to get to them quickly when needed.
The KP2 can also be used as a midi controller, but due to my lacking knowledge in this field and the fact that i have never used my KP2 as a midi controller/slave, i will not expand on this functionality.
Personal Opinion
Effects
The manipulation of your effects by the use of a touchscreen (to me) is very intuitive. You don't at all have to be an effects guru to be able to control them; unlike the Pioneer EFX units, its so damn easy to get the basics. However, to really master the kaoss pad does take lots of practice - you won't be a James Zabiela unless you spend hours and hours figuring out which effects sound good, and how you have to manipulate the parameters to blow your audience's minds. But, all the same, my girlfriend even managed to produce a few cute effects when she tried playing with it - and let me tell you; that says a lot. My only complaint about the use of a touchpad is that the resolution isn't that tremendously high, which can be annoying if you're trying to get that delay to fit perfectly over your track. Now i've adressed the manipulation aspect about the unit; a bit more about the effects themselves:
Filters: My kp2 is almost permanently on 00 - the low pass filter. The sound is good, the change of cutoff frequency is neither linear nor logarithmic but what sounds just right to the ear. This applies for all the filters. The band-isolator and the highpass filter also do what they're supposed to do. The only problem with the filter section is that the filters are often combined with seemingly random effects on the Y parameter; for example, the high pass filter is combined with a distortion instead of resonance.
Mods: Flanger, vibrato, phaser, autopan, pitchshifter, slicer, wah... they all do what they're supposed to do. Not much to say about these, except that it is hard to adjust the speed parameter precisely. However, this sin't so much of a problem seeing as most of the effects to which this problem pertains are doubled in the BPM effects section.
Delays: Also do what they're supposed to do, although i don't find much use for them due to the fact that they're not BPM linked. I only ever use them in combination with the mute switch.... Try the dub echo though, its one of my favorite effects - i again applaud Korg's creativity.
Reverbs: Again, not much to comment on. Besides the regular gate and hall reverbs, they've also added some cool stuff like a 3d pan. I never use reverbs so i'll refer from further comments.
SFX: reverse delay - great effect, however useless as its not BPM linked. The ring mod sounds great, which compensates for the useless other effects (example: dual pitch shifter; shift your left and right channel's pitches individually - who the hell would ever use that
). Some of the other sfx sound ok, but they're just cool, i'd never use them in a liveset.BPM effects: lukewarm. Although the effects are all very nice and well selected (besides the filters the most useable effects on the unit), the BPM can only be set to an accuracy of 1 BPM. This isn't so much a problem for effects such as the flanger, but can make a delay used for longer than a bar or two sound catastrophic. I'm not sure if you can set your BPM more accurately through the use of MIDI though, but if you can, it'd improve the unit's functionality significantly. The automatic BPM counter works descently; not as well as Pioneer or Numark's, but significantly better than those from B-brands.
BPM patterns: WATCH OUT! The gain on these patterns is significantly higher than the other effects. If you have your potentiometer set all the way to wet, you'll get annoyed/surprised looks from the audience at best; and blow your speakers at worst. I don't use the BPM patterns really, they're not that great, but occasionally they're nice to fill up a boring part of a track.
Synths: The synths are also quite cool, despite the fact that their gains are also messed up. They're rather useful for adding to a buildup after a break, or to add some energy to the mix right before you kick in a new track.
Vocoders: Also work well; they sound great if used in combination with a mic, but are useless when used on music. Hence the name vocoder.... I don't see why they also added a pentatonic scale to the vocoder, but it can't do any harm.
Sampler
I'll keep it short: the sampler is (imo) so close to useless its not even funny anymore. First of all, you only have 2 banks of 6 seconds; hardly anything. Furthermore, for some reason it's impossible to set the in and the out points of the sample right when you're recording, and its not possible to (accurately) adjust them. On my CDJ800's i can make loops on the fly, so it isn't me thats the problem here; either the machine takes too long to respond to the push of the button, or something else - I don't know what it is but its quite simply impossible. Due to this, the sampler loses almost all of its functionality, allowing you only to use it for the occasional cheasy clippet to entertain the crowd.
Miscellenious
The unit has several led's behind the touchpad; so the pad actually changes color depending on the effect you select and the parameters. Not functional, but looks wicked none the less. The fact that you can quickly index effects to the buttons above the screen is also a great feature - allowing you to access your effects on-the-fly and to switch quickly between multiple effects. The feature allowing you to record your movements on the pad is also a nice improvement. The RCA connector jacks, although they are gold plated, would not have been my choice; i don't understand why Korg decided to move away from the universal standard of Jack for effect units.
Final Judgement
The Kaoss Pad 2 is a good effects unit, despite its many flaws, at a very reasonable price. Its versatile, but perhaps a bit too much so. Its great for beginners, who want to screw around a bit with some effects "cuz' it sounds cool" (to put it bluntly), or for those that really know what they're doing, especially those that want to integrate the unit into a MIDI circuit. Sadly(?), I belong to neither of those two groups, so i have a feeling i'm not getting everything i can get out of the machine, but don't recklessly go throwing effects through my mix even if they do sound alright. Its for this group of users that the unit isn't all that great. However, due to the low price, you really do get your money's worth - the KP2 has the greatest value for money on the effects market. The Kaoss Pad is a solid effects pad, with only small flaws - but small flaws that render a large portion of its functionality useless. I really look forward to getting my hands on a KP3 to test it out sometime, to see whether they have all been adressed or not. From me, it gets a 6.5/10.
Links
Kaoss Pad in My Booth
Interactive Flash Demo
Specs
Forum Thread (nl)
Forum Thread 2 (nl)
EFX1000 vs KP (en)
KP3 Launch News Item (en)
Wow die review is wat langer geworden dan ik verwacht had :s. Voor de zekerheid even bijzetten:
You may use this text in its entirety or parts thereof without notifying the author. However, give due credit and provide a link to www.djresource.eu if you do.
User edit by Camino on 29-10-2006 @ 02:56:03 (2%)
What do you think about Review - Korg Kaoss Pad 2 ??
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Well done, 
good work.
good work.Tic Toc
good work:D
Thnx 
. If anyone has experience with the KP2 i.c.w. MIDI, please share it here - i still feel that i'm missing a large part in the review because its an area i really don't know much about :S
. If anyone has experience with the KP2 i.c.w. MIDI, please share it here - i still feel that i'm missing a large part in the review because its an area i really don't know much about :S
Very nice review. I'm sertainly gonna try this one.
22-12-2012: Kratoz @ Shock (Huize Maas Groningen)
Heb op I Love Techno report op Jim gezien wat men met de KP2 kan en da's echt pure klasse...
En ook een mooie review natuurlijk
En ook een mooie review natuurlijk
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Post CommentThat would be 225.6 months
or a whopping 18.5 years
You might consider opening a new topic or reply anyway by pressing the green button...
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