Stephen Kay gave his website a new face. Now under version 2.0 you can find not only informations related to KARMA and the karma-lab forum but also karma-lab wiki and many more.
Stephen Kay’s karma-lab Webseite hat seit kurzem ein neues “Gesicht”. Nebst Wissenswertem zum Thema KARMA gibt es weiterhin das karma-lab forum, das auch mit einer deutschsprachigen Unterseite aufwartet. Besonders möchte ich aber auf das seit kurzem verfĂĽgbare und im Aufbau befindliche karma-lab wiki hinweisen, das zu einer Wissensquelle rund um Korg Synthesizer und KARMA avancieren soll.
User GEs and GE Creation/Editing:
12 Banks of 128 User GE locations (1536 User GE locations) are now provided, along with the ability to save and load .KGE files containing KARMA GEs and Template Data. GEs may be created, edited, and uploaded to the keyboard using the KARMA Oasys Software (PC/Mac), available separately from us here at Karma-Lab. The price will be $169.00, and delivery date after October 15, 2007.
Display of GE’s RTC Model in the GE Selection Dialogs:
When selecting GEs in the GE Category or Bank Select Dialogs, the GE’s RTC Model is now displayed (for reference), giving you an indication of how that particular GE will be mapped to the Control Surface, and some idea about how it is intended to operate.
Quantized/Delayed Scene Changes:
Scene changes may now be quantized to various metric divisions, including 1 bar, 2 bars, and 4 bars (previously all scene changes quantized to the next 16th). When set to the larger values, this allows the selection of a scene change well in advance of the desired time, so that it will then occur later with perfect timing. This provides less chance of a mistimed scene change during live performance, in addition to allowing scene changes to be selected ahead of time, so that you can be playing with both hands when it actually occurs.
The new “Scene Change Quantize Window” parameter is available on the Scenes side tab of the GE RTP/Scenes tab (page 7-5d) along with the Scene Matrix display, in Combi and Seq Modes. In Program Mode, a Scenes side-tab has been added to Page 7-5 where you can find the new parameter. In addition, a new display area named “Scene Status” beneath the Scene Matrix shows any pending Scene Changes that have been selected, but not yet completed. When using the Scene Matrix in Combi/Seq Modes, all five layers of the Control Surface can be independently changed while using this new feature, and the Scene Status area shows which layers have pending scene changes.
Adjustable Quantize Window per Module:
Previously, all Modules that had the Quantize Trigger setting turned On would be quantized to the nearest 16th note. While this allowed intricate DJ-style triggering to be performed, it could also make it difficult to trigger Modules in perfect time during normal performance, especially at faster tempos. Now, you can select a Quantize Window independently for each Module – for example, use a Quarter Note or Eighth Note value for less chance of a timing error, or a Sixteenth note when fancier retriggering effects are desired. Triplet-based values are also provided for retriggering triplet-based grooves “off-beat”. The new parameter is available on page 7-5 Trigger, and also shows up as a destination in the Perf RTP page, so the parameter can be assigned to the Control Surface for real-time control. For example, you could change it during live performance to allow quick retriggering in a breakdown section, then set it back to a quarter note for more relaxed triggering during the rest of the song.
Current Scene/Initial Scene displayed on KARMA GE Page, Change Module Control using labels:
On page 0-6 KARMA GE, the Current Scene and Initial (stored) Scene are now displayed in section 0-6c “CCs/Notes Activity”. In addition, you may now touch the labels in that section [M, A, B, C, D] to change Module Control Layers of the Control Surface, and the layer that you are viewing and editing on the screen.
Copy Note Maps:
It is now possible to copy the Custom Note Map from any Program, Combi or Song into the current Program, Combi or Song. Furthermore, you may copy any of the Global Note Map Tables into the Custom Table, and use it as a starting point for further modification. For example, you could copy one of the sidestick/ride note maps for your drum kit, but then edit the kick to be mapped to a different kick. This new feature is accessed from the Page Menu on the Note Map Page (7-9).
Note Map Display shortcut and enhancements:
From the KARMA Control tab (7-3), you may now touch the small Note Map Display to jump to the Note Map viewing and editing screen on Page 7-9. The Note Map can be changed here using the “Table” parameter (previously, this only selected a map for viewing but did not assign it to the Module.) Furthermore, on 7-9 a new parameter “Display Module” allows the Note Map for each Module to be viewed and changed if desired. (See above diagram).
Improved timing when changing scenes:
Previously, sometimes a slight hesitation might be felt when changing scenes, especially in Combis, depending on the Combination and the moment at which the scene was changed. This has been greatly improved in KARMA 2.1.
It seems that these features will be included in a future update for Korg’s M3 too.
Stephen Kay wrote the following:
“One thing I should mention, hopefully I’ll put up a video showing how it’s done within the next few weeks: there is a feature I spent a lot of time on, where you can simply capture 2 or 4 bars of a phrase or drum groove from the OASYS’s sequencer, via sysex, and instantly turn it into a completed GE, with Real-Time Controls all assigned and everything. This also works with .MID files exported from a computer sequencer like Logic or Sonar. So unless you want to learn all the nuances of GE creation, this feature makes it pretty simple to get a finished GE with all the usual KARMA variability all hooked up and ready to experiment with.”
“The MOD-7 comes with some 90 new GEs, (most of them the additional GEs that were created for the M3), perhaps the EXs3 will come with some more, and future releases from other sound companies may also include new GEs. People who do use the software may freely distribute GEs they have made. ”
As you probably meanwhile know… I am big fan of Daz’s iRandom software. Somewhere here you can find already an audio example and here comes another one:
iRandom Xsample II
The ambience consists of iRandom sounds only.
The “melody” sound is my favourite at the moment - a very expressive MS-20 solo sound. Unbelievable how you can influence the sound by just using the Pitch Bender together with the Ribbon. Completely forgot what the MS-20 is capable of!
In the short intro comes a kind of “synth chor” sound that reminds me a little bit on “Gina X”. By the way, now I know why Mr. Daz names himself a “Victim of LFO Abduction”. The chor sound is followed by a karmafied MS-20 program which is moving thru the stereo field. Last but not least comes the STR-1 “bass”.
…. and that’s how it can sound together with some KARMAfied drums - for some probably to much KARMAfication on the drums;).
iRandom Xsample II + KARMA
oops.. forgot - everything was performed “live”. Which means I looked for a fitting drum kit, for the right KARMA, pressed the record button of dp5.1 and triggered the drums. During playing I switched “a little” around, jumped between drum patterns, moved the faders… everything in real time. I did NO editing afterwards, no quantization, etc. as you can hear easily at the end of the file, where the drums are getting a “little” chaotic, sorry for that. That is what can happen within 30mins when you start playing on the OASYS and dig into KARMA.
Added the following two files to audio demos category
tricky drums
Although I did not really dig into the depths of KARMA (big mistake, I know!), in this audio file two GEs were “used”. One for the drums (one of the many great factory sounds) and another one for the STR-1 guitar. You can hear once more the Synth Sax Solo and of course a HD-1 pad sound.
dark aquarell
No multitracking - OASYS’ pads were used for the bass padsound which is a modified sound from KAROs Philharmonic Strings. Switch, joystick and sustain pedal were used for the solo sound, which is a modified factory sound.
Viewed 7713 times by 1955 visiters
KARMA Oasys Software (PC/Mac) – Create/Edit/Import GEs
