Photo: Marsha Vdovin for CDM.
Remember when electronic sound gear hid in hulking, rack-sized cases? Korg’s Kaossilator series had already begun shrinking the desktop KAOSS Pad gear, but even the first-generation Kaossilator wouldn’t fit in your pocket, given its square shape and corners. (Well, unless you were wearing overalls.) The Kaossilator 2 and Mini Kaoss Pad 2, on the other hand, are scaled perfectly to your hand and would tuck neatly into a pocket in your pants or bag. And while I know some readers were hoping for a new Pro addition to the KAOSS line, these little bundles of joy have added some functionality that could make them musically useful. Being dedicated hardware, they also won’t suffer from a battery sapped by phone calls or the interruption of a Facebook message – and that input jack is built in.
We saw the new models at the NAMM show this month. The highlights:
The Kaossilator 2 is a PCM-based phrase synth, inspired by the original Kaosillator, for improvising melodic lines. What’s new is some handy recording functionality:
- Scale Key and Note Range so every note is “right,” effectively, as on the original
- Drum sounds
- Gate Arpeggiator with adjustable gate time and swing settings
- Loop recording to layer phrases and add as many overdubs as you like
- “Dual Loop Recording banks allow DJ-Style mutes and cross-fades”
- Record using the built-in mic; or use the mic input for recording of external input
- microSD/SDHC, so you can cheaply add up to 32G of removable storage
That crossfader, of course, is entirely new, and Korg does mention “dance music” in the sounds and focus. It’s easy, then, to imagine this as a pocket-able instrument for jamming or something you’d use to make musical ideas on the go, and it does look like a lot of fun. [read]
