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The Korg Kaossilator is an ultra-portable pocket synthsizer. It comes with 100 great sounding on-board presets ranging from acoustic instruments through to spiky lead patches and gut wrenching bass. Along the way you will come across chilled out pads, sweeping chords, a variety of percussive sounds and drum loops featuring some nice and dirty granular decay. This little groove box also gives you a comprehensive arsenal of synth effects, including some wicked analogue blips and beeps. The range of sounds available from the Korg Kaossilator belies its diminutive size.
Perhaps the most significant distinguishing feature of the Kaossilator is its lack of a keyboard. The device is played using a touch sensitive control surface, a characteristic of Korg's range of Kaoss Pad effects processor units. The Kaossilator's touch pad has a two octave range, with pitch controlled along the x-axis. The y-axis provides an additional dimension of control which varies from on preset to another. Similar to the control surface on the Kaoss Pad range, the y-axis on the Kaossilator touch pad often controls a filter, or changes the timbre of the sound produced. For other presets the y-axis can be used to add layers to the basic sound, or degrade it with nice, crunchy, granular distortion.
But it's not just about the sounds. The Korg Kaossilator is stuffed full of other features that make it the miniature musical monster that it is. The pitch and tempo are fully controllable from 20 to 300 bpm, and across a two octave range. Tempo can be dialled in manually, or entered using the "tap" feature. The device also has a gate arpeggiator which boast 50 different programs, controlling the way the current preset is played. The gate arpeggiator setting range from a regular LFO style standard rhythm tied in to the Kaossilator's tempo setting, to intricate syncopation across three or four bars.
The Korg Kaossilator also has 39 scale modes, which include some rather esoteric options as well as the more well known chromatic, major and minor blues and pentatonic. The scale mode allows the Kaossilator's touch pad to be locked into an appropriate scale for any compositions, effectively eliminating bum notes.
The real fun from the Kaossilator is its ability to record up to four bars of output in its internal memory. Holding down the Loop Rec/Play button will record what is currently being played into the Kaossilator's two bar memory loop. This two bar limit can be extended using the undocumented Kaossilator four bar hack. In loop mode layer upon layer of sound can be recorded to build up a repeating groove. Once your happy with your composition, spin down to one of the lead or acoustic presets, and improvise over the top to your heart's content.
The Kaossilator runs of four AA batteries, or a 4.5v adapter. The unit features audio out from line level left and right RCA phono jacks, or a standard 3.5mm stereo mini jack on the base. The original model released in late 2007 comes in canary yellow with aluminium front plate. A limited edition pink model was announced by Korg in early 2009.
Quite simply the Korg Kaossilator is a must have gadget for any musician. It's play-anywhere portability, rugged construction and ease of use make it the most addictive musical fun you can have for around $200 / £120.
For more information about the Korg Kassilator visit http://www.korg-kaossilator.com - a comprehensive online resource packed with Kaossilator hints, tips and tricks.
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