Kaossilator pros and cons

[Bluesberry]

I wish I knew more about electronic music, midi and controllers are things I know nothing about.

I just know I love old analog synth sounds.

I am feeling the same way Davo, I love those old analog sounds.  

The kaossilator is a really fun thing to play around with and you can easily get a lot of really good synth sounds out of it with no keyboard skills required, just your finger (or any other body part).  I found it very limited and after a few months I was fully smitten with synth sounds and I ended up buying a real synth (Roland SH-201), so I probably should have just got the synth in the first place (these kaosillators are not cheap).  Of course with a real synth you have to learn to play keys, but that part is really rewarding for me so I am glad the kaosillator led me to buy a real synth.  If I was to do it over I would just buy a reasonable priced synth like a microKorg or SH-201 or similar price range.  My kaosillator does not get much action nowadays, my son plays with it more than I do.  

[Davo]

Bluesberry I hear you-I like those synth sounds enough to try to play keys.  I sometimes plug a distorted guitar into the input of my Casio SK-1 and sample it.  Then I play on the keys, its kinda cool.  I also have "synth" effects on my GT-8 but they are not the same.

[cuthbert]

Davo, if you're a bit short of cash but still pining for that sound, then consider some of the analog synths out there that aren't as much in demand as a vintage Moog or Oberheim.

I've got a Roland JX-8P that was very reasonable - around $200, as I recall. It doesn't have all the twiddly knobs of the older analogs (in fact, sometimes I'm not so crazy about the membrane buttons and the menu system), but it does have (digitally-controlled - meaning stable tuning) analog oscillators that can sound very fat. There are Korgs and Oberheims that are similarly inexpensive. Most of them have pretty good MIDI implementation, if you think you'd be into that at some point. Of course, since it's used gear the caveat is that it's possible you're buying a headache, but I've had mostly good luck so far.

I haven't tried the newer systems the BB is referring to myself, but I've heard some good samples of them here, and I'm sure they offer great value for the money.

[SenhorLampada]

The KO is a nice musical toy! But you CAN punch really good stuff out of it!
Check this guy's youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bicAnW0onMs

The SK-1 is nice! I wanted to buy one, but it's hard to find it nowadays!
Seems my next buy would be Korg's MicroSampler (if I have the money)
Nice stuff!

[The Reverend 48]

The KO is a nice musical toy! But you CAN punch really good stuff out of it!

It is true the Kaoss has its limits but you can program any scale/mode in any key
and with some very cool voices particularly brass and strings is a great addition to many songs...................
I really believe it is a useful tool to enrich music

[Ferryman]

There are no cons to the Kaossilator, the only possible one being that it eats up your spare time! It's cheap, easy to use, full of great sounds and very versatile. And as Bluesberry says, it may spur you to greater things keyboard-wise. Nothing wrong with that, it's so cheap it even has value as an occasional toy.

Cheers,

Nigel

[tony]

There are no cons to the Kaossilator, the only possible one being that it eats up your spare time! It's cheap, easy to use, full of great sounds and very versatile. And as Bluesberry says, it may spur you to greater things keyboard-wise. Nothing wrong with that, it's so cheap it even has value as an occasional toy.

Cheers,

Nigel

And that comes from the man whose Kaosillator version of Debussy is still on rotation on my iPod.  Take it seriously folks.

Sometimes, when the wind is in the right direction, I have a notion that little electronic devices like this are the C21 equivalent to the C19 piano and we are at the beginning of a new parlour music.  Some want to make it in the music business but others want something to do instead of watching TV or playing computer games. These new instruments, Kaosillators and the like, are really putting music performance back in the home - and that's where it was before the jukebox.  Watch out because there will be an iBand coming down your street soon.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh0VX74alwk

It's sort of attractive, isn't it?

[SdC]

....., it's so cheap it even has value as an occasional toy.....

Cheers,

Nigel

well, that does it for me

[Bluesberry]

Lets hear it for the Kaosillator, great little piece of gear.  I am so glad I got mine, it started me on my synth journey, before the Kaos I was strictly a guitar and bass kind of guy, now my musical horizons are opened up because of that little, very addictive, little yellow box (any body part will work folks, how fun is that?).  I really love and so glad I got my kaosillator, I don't play mine nearly so much because of the other stuff I have bought since that is taking my attention away at the moment, but it is always there and so fun to play with I will always go back to it at times for the fun that it is.  And I usually fit it into most of my songs somewhere so it is not really sitting idle.

[godinqc]

Yes .. it's after listening to some of the songs in this forum that I got more curious about synth sound .. (This forum is great .. it opens up a new world of technology that I would not be aware of) . I looked at the Kaossilator and it looks like a very interesting instrument but I opted for the NanoKey just to get me started with Synth sounds .. Of course there's a lot of limitation since it's ony a 25 key midi controller .. but so far that's all I need .. maybe later I will look up the Roland SH-201
.
Now I have to find time to record a song using this little gadget ..

Salut !