The next oldest piece of hardware that I own is the original Korg Electribe S, the ES-1. It is still a lot of fun to mess around with–there is proto-parameter locking with motion value edits–but, the not great sound quality is a lot more apparent to me as all of my gear has improved over time.
Two things I still love about the device, though. First, the compressor effect can squash the shit out of drum beats. Second, the decimator effect (bit crushing) is a lot of fun in its ugliness. It is the sound I think of first when I think of bit reduction.
So, I ran my nice analog drum machine, the Drumbrute Impact, through the ES-1’s garbage audio and made lots of noisy knob turns. It was fun…and since I keep saying that this Novembeat, I think I am succeeding in my goal to have a good time with these jams.
