I picked up my Korg Kaoss Pad 3 yesterday and I am having an absolute blast. I even recorded a quick song just now that you can listen to from my myspace page (
myspace.com/theswimmingbird)
This thing is fun and deep, so this review may be a little on the long side...
Okay, to start off we are definitely talking about the KP3 -- it has an 8x8 grid of LEDs under a touchpad, four sample banks, computer connectivity, tons of effects, drum synths, synths and vocoders. Also the resolution on the touchpad is very high allowing for vibrato and full chromatic scales on pitch-based effects. It also seems to be sensitive to how hard you press the pad (I first noticed this on the drum synth).
It is really intended for a DJ so it's not possible to switch sounds mid song with both hands full of bass. Similarly, it's next to impossible to sample yourself as you play. Luckily it has midi connectivity, so if one were so inclined, all of the switching and sampling could be done by foot, even to presets with a set pad motion or hold coordinate.
Control is not quite as intuitive as you'd think -- you really have to know exactly what each effect is and what the x- and y-axis do in order to utilize it effectively. That said, the x- and y-axis tend to do exactly the opposite of what I'd expect: down is usually less effect, same with right depending on your axis. Being used to pedals I expect counterclockwise to be "less" (thusly up and left). I'll get over it.
Obviously the effects are at the heart of this, and they are fantastic. It is loaded with many different filters and modulations and delays and everything you'd really want. This includes manual flangers and phasers for fans of the electric mistress (your coordinate on the x/y pad determines the place of the filter notch, so you move it at the speed and in the areas you want -- or just leave it at a tone you like). They also have some of the weirder modulations like ring mod and talk filter, etc. There are also many low pass filters.
About a third of the settings aren't useful because they are mid-pass or high-pass, but that's to be expected and doesn't make much of a difference in anything but menu surfing.
There are also some original effects such as decimator and grain shifter. They're both hard to describe. You can hear the grain shifter in the opening and throughout "Goomba", though I'm using the pad memory to weird it up a little (pad memory is a function that memorizes your hand motions). Notice how it sounds a lot like a Moogerfooger? I've noticed an equivalent on the KP3 to pretty much any of Moog's pedals.
The drums are good, but they aren't drum machines so much as contain a single modifiable beat for each setting. Not to say it isn't useful, but they don't provide the versatility of a drum machine.
The synths are very fun. Control is simple and you can use vibrato. They're all interesting and little weird, but very usable.
Sampling is incredibly simple, as is modifying the lengths of samples by splitting them into eight parts and choosing which ones to play. You can't record with effects on, but you can resample a sample with the effects on and have it work.
Tempo wise, the entire thing (as well as all of your other gear via midi connections) can be controlled a number of ways. The most obvious is the tap tempo button which sets the tempo universally -- that is for effects, samples and all midi devices. You can also have it get the tempo automatically, but that seems more of a turntable thing... I'm not convinced it'll work for live play. Also, there is a knob.
There's only one thing that I can think of that might put a damper on any of your GAS for the KP3: you can only use one effect at a time.
Anyway, the thing sounds great, has a ton of useful and novel effects as well as other useful toys like samplers and synths. If you think you can control it and play, go for it. Especially if you're been gassing for some moogerfoogers, this your toy -- any moog tone I can think of I can get with a maximum of about three button presses and a gesture. One button press if I save it to presets.
I'll take any question you have about the unit.
A note about the song -- it features my entire school board through the Kaoss Pad, not just the bass through a KP3. Oh, and the loops are from my RC-50, not the sample banks. Sorry for the corny sounding synths.
However, I love the loop options, the talkbox, the reverse delay, the slicer and the grain shifters especially. That crazy noise at the beginning of "Goomba" is a grain shifter with a memorized pad motion going.
Seems to be quite a usable and fun little piece of equipment that.
