Create Digital Music » Korg Kaossilator 4-Bar Loop Hack

Korg Kaossilator 4-Bar Loop Hack

Intrigued by the Kaossilator, but annoyed by hearing two bars over and over and over and over…?

Our friend David Battino has the solution, and while it’s a simple trick, it wound up being the deal-maker for buying Korg’s cute little “dynamic phrase synth”:

What loosened my credit card was a secret hack Korg revealed during fact-check: If you power up the Kaossilator while holding down the Tap and Loop Rec buttons, the loop memory doubles from two bars to four. That may not sound like much, but it gives you time to set up tension and release; I find four-bar loops just breathe better.

Video and step-by-step instructions at O’Reilly Digital Media. Now, how can I do polyrhythms and larger phrase cycles? Hey, where’d everyone go?

Got other Kaossilator tricks? Let us know in comments.

Related: hacks, Hardware, how-to, kaossilator, Korg, looping, Loops, mobile, synths, tips, tricks & more.

8. By Peter.

2008-Aug-12@12:22.

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8 Comments

tb

loop doubles BECAUSE it uses the second(overdub) loop memory, so there is no fixing in 16 beats mode, and reducing loop lenght makes glitchy things not heard in normal mode

August 12, 2008 @ 12:59 pm

David Battino

@TB: You’re right about the bonus glitching; in the article, I link to more detail on that. For me, doubling the loop time was well worth the tradeoff of giving up Undo.

August 12, 2008 @ 1:07 pm

Downpressor

Played with this weeks or months ago. Didnt find it musically useful.

August 13, 2008 @ 1:51 am

*Some* songwriters have actually found that 16 or 32 bar loops are even MORE musically relevant. And *some* classical composers found that the 144+ bar fomat allowed for even *more* tension and release… just a thought if you, you know, what to make more complex music.