With the drumlogue, Korg presents a state-of-the-art drum machine with hybrid sound generation and a sophisticated sequencer. In the robust metal housing with dark wood side panels, the drum computer shows its best side and comes visually valuable. The clear control panel with the OLED display in combination with the well-known TR sequen cer promises an intuitive operation, which is also kept in practice! The instrument is 11-voice respectively eleven tracks are programmable at the same time, which is more than sufficient for varied patterns. The small knobs are used to adjust the volume per track, the large knobs on the left of the control panel are permanently assigned to the most important parameters of the analog and sample tracks. Far more parameters for the tracks are hidden a short way between the display, page buttons and the four knobs below the display. There is hardly a genre in which the drumlogue could not be at home, after all, the range of sounds on seven tracks can be exchanged and expanded at will.
The hybrid sound generation
The analog sounds are composed of the four tracks Bass drum, snare, Low Tom and High Tom; the most important parameters are directly accessible via the large knob. Already here one can attest the drumlogue assertiveness, individuality and character, because no TR classic is deliberately copied. Six further digital tracks are assigned to the instruments Closed HiHat, Open HiHat, Rimshot, Clap, Sample 1 and 2. For these tracks, Drumlogue offers a wealth of sample-based drum sounds ex works, covering all styles. It is also possible to import your own samples via USB. The most important parameters are also directly editable. The eleventh track refers to the Multi Engine, which can be assigned with noise, VPM (Variable Phase Modulation) or a User synth. The noise can be shaped extensively by means of filters and envelopes and is also a great addition to the analog drums. The User synth comes with the NANO plug-in from Sinevibes installed. NANO is a virtual analog synthesizer with two oscillators, ring modulator, resonant filter, envelope and LFO. Basses, leads and even percussive sounds can be created in no time. There is room for a total of 24 plug-ins in drumlogue. These are based on the SDK platform and can even be designed by experienced users. The same applies to drumlogue: Effects are the salt in the soup! Reverb and delay are designed as send effects and can be mixed in individually for each track. There is a master effect that also uses the SDK platform and contains 24 (exchangeable) effect plug-ins. All sound settings including effects can be saved in kits, of which there are 128 in total.
The step sequencer
The sequencer convinces with familiar functionality, because the beats & grooves are primarily programmed in the TR grid. The memory holds 128 patterns, which have an individual length of 1-64 steps and can be provided with different time signatures. In addition, microshift and trigger probability are programmable for each step. If you are looking for inspiration from the machine, the randomizer can provide new steps at the touch of a button. Shuffle adds a certain funkyness to the beats or turns the pattern into hard Chicago House at higher values. A song mode is not implemented, but there is a practical chain mode, with which several patterns live can be chained together. A special loop mode intervenes step by step and repeats the desired section until it is released. Since the first Electribes, the motion sequence, which records controller movements in real time in the pattern, has become indispensable at Korg. This creates very lively patterns that are much more sonic than the selected sound of a track would initially suggest.
Ways out
On the connection side, drumlogue offers everything necessary to be versatile in modern DAW-based setups and hardware-only setups. Besides the Stereo L/Mono output there are four individually assignable single outputs. The audio input allows feeding an external signal and sends it through the effects chain if desired; very practical especially for live sets! The sync inputs and outputs allow synchronizing devices Korg Volca series or other instruments with this connection. Connection via MIDI is most likely to be useful in hardware setups, USB to Host is recommended for connection to a DAW, sending and receiving MIDI data only, no audio. The USB to Device connection can be used for external USB controllers to make the operation even more practical and/or performant.
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