Isla Instruments KordBot

[oldgearguy]

Anyone have any experience with Isla Instrument's Kordbot?

I'm always looking for ways to change up and improve my music theory and chord progressions. The KordBot looks pretty fun! I love my Omnichord and this little thing looks like it would take what I do with the Omnichord to the next level.

I missed out on the Kickstarter but am thinking about buying one of these.

Isla Instruments KordBot

I have beta testing and current experience with it. Here's my completely honest suggestion: Do not waste your money.

also an early adopter and current user. My take - an absolutely brilliant concept wrapped in the cheapest hw shell possible. The underlying logic and management of notes and chords is great. I've been using it a lot to either play chords into a real sequencer or to generate and manipulate arpeggiations in real-time.

The OS part that deals with file management is abysmal. They recently added to ability to quickly set all MIDI channels which is a godsend since the current OS does not remember your settings on power down. It's a perpetual 'Frosty the Snowman' experience every time you power up.

The buttons are the typical cheap rubber sheet w. contacts so if you press down firmly on one, the other move as well. As mentioned, velocity response is poor. I have the velocity offset set to something like -86% to give me some variation while controlling the dynamic.

The encoders don't feel like top quality, long-lasting versions and it's very easy to accidentally change a value while pushing down, which matters since the menus rely on both turning and pushing to do stuff.

After playing with it for a while, I would have gladly paid an extra $100 for a better quality hardware environment and a better sw library to deal with the menus and such.

The start/stop/sync have improved, but now all the other issues are on hold until they finish the sequencer implementation.

[finn]

I was a kickstarter backer, waited almost 2 years for delivery. Never really used it since i got it, im still waiting for that magic moment to happen.

[HakonSoreide]

mOBiTh

I suggest you send it back to me, Matt. For a full refund.
If you have such disdain for my device then why keep it?

I'm just thankful that Sonicstate, MusicTech and close to 1500 other people don't share your opinion.

seems you want an effin porsche designed product for $279 out of my garage.

That's not a particularly courteous way to respond to a dissatisfied customer, is it? The Kordbot was on my shopping radar, but after reading that you're now in my black books. I've been working in retail for almost 15 years, and as far as I am concerned, it doesn't matter how dissatisfied a customer is, if you don't treat them with respect, you really don't deserve to have any customers. Disdain and arrogance aren't particularly good marketing strategies.

[gosh]

Yes, I’ve been ejected from his facebook user group for a similar suggestion that he should be nicer to customers. He regularly flames people publicly for asking fair questions (albeit they could have been asked more courteously too). His response is always he doesn’t care. It’s his business, he’s not in it to make money and he doesn’t want any customers who have any negativity at all towards his products. Fair enough, it is his business and he can do what he wants. He certainly lost me as a potential customer. There is no way I’m giving money to someone who treats his clientele like that, not when they’re asking decent questions and challenging things that need challenging. It’s not like he has a five star rating when it comes to existing customer/product feedback.

[science]

So I just got one of these recently, and am trying to figure out whether I got a bad unit, or is it normal for the buttons to require an abnormally high level of force, and the encoders to be incredibly uneven/strange/cheap feeling?

[bwhittington]

So I just got one of these recently, and am trying to figure out whether I got a bad unit, or is it normal for the buttons to require an abnormally high level of force, and the encoders to be incredibly uneven/strange/cheap feeling?

Reading this thread, several other users have expressed similar opinions of it. I only just noticed this product on Isla's website the other night and was curious about it. The temptation is gone now, though.

[science]

So I just got one of these recently, and am trying to figure out whether I got a bad unit, or is it normal for the buttons to require an abnormally high level of force, and the encoders to be incredibly uneven/strange/cheap feeling?

Reading this thread, several other users have expressed similar opinions of it. I only just noticed this product on Isla's website the other night and was curious about it. The temptation is gone now, though.

Bummer if that's how they all are. It seems like a really cool device otherwise, but the overall feel and button press force makes it incredibly frustrating to use. Got about an hour into messing with it before I put it away assuming/hoping I had just received a problematic unit.

[PAC Systems]

mine had a poor build quality: the display glass fell out with no help from me, i wasnt using it. sold it but would buy an s2400!

[syzygywell]

mine had a poor build quality: the display glass fell out with no help from me, i wasnt using it. sold it but would buy an s2400!

They occupy different ends of the spectrum in price and build quality there is no doubt about it, but that is a comparison of 270-300 to 1700. The Kordbot is Brad's first outing and he learned a lot about manufacturing dos and don'ts from that project. The S2400 is a magnificent machine. It is one of my favorite samplers.

[PAC Systems]

yep its true. was not comparing, just added the s2400 part to keep from sounding a hater.

[syzygywell]

No I mean it was a valid concern that came up early days when the S2400 was in the process of being built. A lot of people didn't preorder because of previous experience with the Kordbot. The Kordbot also suffered from a string of developers who didn't or couldn't give the device the attention it needed. Due to Mickey coming on board for the S2400 Brad was able to finally utilize his skills on the Kordbot after the massive amount of firmware updates the S2400 had gone through had slowed down. There were valid issues and bugs that required addressing. I don't own one myself but I understand that those have finally received the attention they deserved.

The S2400 however feels like an old Akai MPC level tank. The build is incredibly good, It's a really great tactile and visual experience which I find lacking in a lot of modern gear.

[PAC Systems]

good to know. yeah the s2400 looks a killer, but im just not that fond of old sampler sound that i need a very expensive clone even though it has astonishing features. im fine with force, asrx-pro, s-760 and reapers sample player running on my custom linux module. oh and the samplers in cardinal if i need it. i wish sampling was special these days but its everywhere. love my asrx-pro tho! very tweakable with thick sound and amazing program customization. i think it will be my legacy sampler for a while. i had it heavily modded too. i love doing that kind of stuff

[syzygywell]

I know they aren't the exact same but I love the ASR10 sound. That said I actually considered the fact that the S2400 sounds close to a SP1200 to be a bonus but it wasn't the main draw for me. What I wanted was a hardware sampler with a quality build, an easy to use interface with modern connectivity. I've been wanting this exact thing since the mid 2000s. I actually use the S2400 in hifi mode most of the time. I rarely use the classic engine except on some percussion or maybe a rhodes sample. I also don't even use the analog filters on mine. I bypass them since I'm using the USB audio outs instead of the 8 channel outs. I will say it definitely has its own character and adds some glue to mixes.

I think you are right about sampling having lost something. A lot of it is how quick and easy it is to find any kind of music these days. The hunt is more or less dead and rarity of a thing means a lot less when it only only takes one person uploading it. I'll always admire a great sample flip though no matter how easy it was to find, that part is still hard to do really well.

[Katherine Alicia]

Does anyone know the polarity of the 9v wall warts it uses? is it center pos or neg?

[Multi Grooves]

Anyone heard of this thing?

http://www.artificialnoise.ca/key_control.html

I ordered one cause it looks neat and simple to use. I have the problem of always making songs in the same key, hopefully this will help me break out of that.

Plus your circles of 4th/5ths..

[Multi Grooves]

mOBiTh

I suggest you send it back to me, Matt. For a full refund.
If you have such disdain for my device then why keep it?

I'm just thankful that Sonicstate, MusicTech and close to 1500 other people don't share your opinion.

seems you want an effin porsche designed product for $279 out of my garage.

That's just like your opinion, maaaan..

[Multi Grooves]

Yes, I’ve been ejected from his facebook user group for a similar suggestion that he should be nicer to customers. He regularly flames people publicly for asking fair questions (albeit they could have been asked more courteously too). His response is always he doesn’t care. It’s his business, he’s not in it to make money and he doesn’t want any customers who have any negativity at all towards his products. Fair enough, it is his business and he can do what he wants. He certainly lost me as a potential customer. There is no way I’m giving money to someone who treats his clientele like that, not when they’re asking decent questions and challenging things that need challenging. It’s not like he has a five star rating when it comes to existing customer/product feedback.

"...There is no TE1 Spacecas Intellijel Tornado...sometimes the hardware will be vaporware.."

- some dude

[Katherine Alicia]

Further to the question I had a few posts ago...
I had to take my KordBot apart this morning because no one got back to me about the wall wart polarity and there`s no info out there either, which is a bit bad really, a girl shouldn`t have to take her gear apart just to work out which is the right adaptor to use! turns out that it`s 9V center Pos, the barrel is Neg and connects directly to the SD card sheild and the GND pin on the 74xx series chips that are on the board, maybe this will help someone in the future

[fastlanestranger]

Further to the question I had a few posts ago...
I had to take my KordBot apart this morning because no one got back to me about the wall wart polarity and there`s no info out there either, which is a bit bad really, a girl shouldn`t have to take her gear apart just to work out which is the right adaptor to use! turns out that it`s 9V center Pos, the barrel is Neg and connects directly to the SD card sheild and the GND pin on the 74xx series chips that are on the board, maybe this will help someone in the future

Katherine you’re rather amazing. You’re someone I wish I knew in real life. Whether that feeling would be mutual, who can say, but you’ve got a fan over here.

[Katherine Alicia]

Awww thanks! that`s a lovely thing to say

[richielg]

mOBiTh

I suggest you send it back to me, Matt. For a full refund.
If you have such disdain for my device then why keep it?

I'm just thankful that Sonicstate, MusicTech and close to 1500 other people don't share your opinion.

seems you want an effin porsche designed product for $279 out of my garage.

That's not a particularly courteous way to respond to a dissatisfied customer, is it? The Kordbot was on my shopping radar, but after reading that you're now in my black books. I've been working in retail for almost 15 years, and as far as I am concerned, it doesn't matter how dissatisfied a customer is, if you don't treat them with respect, you really don't deserve to have any customers. Disdain and arrogance aren't particularly good marketing strategies.

Yeah i'm a bit gutted coz I wanted to buy this for work to save me looking at the screen with scalar 2. But as the saying goes you know if you go into a restaurant and all the waiters and waitresses are rude then the food is probably shit you know? Why you ask? Because he's probably had this same conversation a thousand times.