The Tech Side of Music!

     As technology advances and the masses demand more and more, different avenues of technology have received the overflow of benefits.  One of those avenues happens to be music.  Music has integrated itself with tech from amps, to synthesizers, to computer software, but with the rising popularity of DJ's, techno, and electronica in general, some products truly show how intuitive they really are.  One of these products happen to be the KP3 (KAOSS Pad).

     This piece of equipment has conjoined sampling with amazing effects that allow you to alter tracks as a DJ, program and record with an interesting twist, or completely change a song played live.  Most of this can be done with other equipment, but what makes the KP3 (rather the entire line of KAOSS Pad products) is the touch screen display.  Manipulating music becomes nothing more than setting up samples, synth loops, and anything else you can put on an SD card, then dragging your finger across the pad to create an amazing breadth of different sounds.  New effects algorithms give it originality when using the built-in synth settings and  a new pad lighting system sets 64 individual LEDs in an 8x8 grid under the pad to track what is being manipulated/ what patterns are currently being played.  Many bands have picked up the trend of this amazing piece of equipment and have brought out the possibilities of what can be done with it.

     An example is my band (shameless plug insert here).  Follow the link and have a listen here!
 
     Other bands have used this product and have shown that it isn't limited to the electronica genre.  Having personal experience with the KP3 live and in the studio, I have to say it is an upgrade from previous KAOSS Pads and is truly a unique item among the knobs and buttons most offer.   This is a definite buy for serious musicians, but at a solid $400, it might not be for the casual musician, although Korg does have smaller versions for around 100-300.  Enjoy!