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This page: Inside the Tribe; Sampling; Effects; Sequencer
Inside the Tribe
Sampling
The Electribe S records samples in stereo or mono through its single stereo/mono input jack (switchable between mic or line level). Once you've recorded a sample, you can set start point, end point, and even fadeout length with the data wheel. The ES-1 offers some useful editing tools: Truncate deletes unused portions of the sample to save memory, and Normalize optimizes each sample's volume without introducing distortion.
The Electribe's efficient front panel is a luminous wonder in the dark.
(click for a close-up)
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Slice is among the ES-1's hippest features. It lets you separate a rhythmic phrase into individual elements; once Sliced, the phrase can be played back at a different tempo without its pitch being affected. In addition, you can alter the sample more dramatically by turning off individual slices and/or assigning each slice its own pitch and filter setting. You can choose whether or not to route an individual slice to the active insert effect; you can even reverse individual slices without affecting the others around it. There are ten levels of slicing sensitivity, and you can choose to have an extended release "tail" on each slice, which is recommended for smoothness at slower tempos. It may take a little tinkering to get the best results (it helps if you know the sample's original tempo before you slice it), but the effort is well rewarded.
The ES-1's resampling features are especially useful because they help make up for one of the unit's shortcomings: the limit of one insert effect per pattern. You can get around this by recording individual sounds dry and resampling them with any of the ES-1's 11 effects added. This frees up the effect for use on other samples. Depending on available memory, you can also resample an entire song or pattern, and the recording will include any knob tweaks you make during playback.
I do have a couple of beefs, however. Sample rate is fixed at 32kHz, and there is no auto-start function for sampling, which could save a lot of time currently spent on setting start points and truncating unused portions of samples.
Effects
The Electribe S offers 11 insert effects, plus a global delay that affects all parts of a pattern equally. For Delay, the Depth knob controls both the volume of the delays and the number of repeats, while the Time knob controls length of time between them.
Only one of the insert effects can be active at a time. You can choose whether or not to route each individual part of a pattern to the effect; a pair of edit knobs to let you tweak the processor to your liking. Aside from the unnatural-sounding reverb, the effects are generally excellent. Unfortunately, the resonant filter is included in the effects section, instead of the part-edit section -- a filter can be applied to individual parts, but without resonance. Other effects include flange/chorus, phaser, ring mod, pitch shifter, compression, distortion, wah, isolator (like EQ), and decimator -- a particularly cool effect that will make your average snare sound like an explosion from an Atari 2600 game.
Sequencer
This is where the Electribe S earns the moniker "Rhythm Production Sampler." The 64-step sequencer lets you create patterns of up to four bars of sixteenth notes, two bars of thirty-second notes, two bars of eighth-note triplets, or one bar of sixteenth-note triplets. Up to 16 songs can be strung together using the 128 available patterns. Unfortunately, patterns are limited to a 4/4 time signature.
Each pattern contains ten sample tracks -- nine for mono samples (such as individual notes, or any other sound you want to play back) and one specifically for sliced samples. Stereo samples take up two tracks, and only two stereo samples can be included per pattern. Tracks 6A, 6B, 7A, and 7B are intended for sounds that cannot be played simultaneously in the physical world -- such as an open hi-hat and a closed hi-hat. Thus, only one of 6A/6B or 7A/7B can sound at a time. There are two additional tracks: One lets you route external audio through the audio input and gate it to your liking -- great for controlling a low bass drone or other noise; another, the accent track, lets you emphasize specific parts of your arrangement.
The Electribe S gives you some interesting tools for altering the audio in pattern mode, including normal functions such as pitch, level, filter, pan, and effect on/off status, plus cool extras like the auto-roll feature (you can set the roll to sound two, three, or four times for each note), and sample reverse. Even better, all these parameters can be motion-sequenced. The swing parameter lets you play with the feel of your pattern.
The ES-1's sequencer is expertly tailored for live performance. Any number of tracks can be muted or soloed during pattern playback. You can restart a pattern from the beginning by holding the shift key and hitting Play, allowing for spontaneous stuttering effects. The Pattern Set function lets you assign 64 patterns to the bottom row of buttons and trigger them instantly -- a great way to improvise pattern order.
Stacking Up
You may be interested to know how the Electribe S rates against the other budget samplers we recently tested. (See Phrase Samplers.) Simply put, the ES-1's sequencer sets it on a pedestal above the rest. Where the others specialized in sample-loop playback (the Zoom SampleTrak does have a simple, one-track sequencer), the Electribe S is a powerful composition tool for creating original beats that even pros should consider. And the Electribe can easily handle simple loop playback as well. You could merely sample a loop (or resample your own pattern) and create a pattern using that loop as its only element. You can then assign that pattern to the Pattern Set where it will play continuously when selected. One strike against it is that the ES-1 won't run on batteries. But then again, you'll probably want to play with it longer than any set of batteries can last.
Next Page: Vital Stats....
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