At the 2013 NAMM Show, Korg introduced the latest member of its Kaoss Pad family, the KP3+.
The KP3+ contains a total of 150 programs – 22 more than the KP3. In addition to the 108 effects carried over from the KP3, which include filters, spatial-type effects such as delay and reverb, a grain shifter that freezes tiny pieces of sound and repeats them, and a vocoder, there are 42 new or improved effects, including effects that were developed for the Kaoss Pad Quad, such as the Looper, Vinyl Break, and Ducking Compressor.
Highlights:
- Use the touchpad to control effects in real time
- A total of 150 effects ideal for DJ mixing and sound design; 42 new types including:
- Vinyl Break simulates a turntable
- Ducking Compressor emphasizes the backbeats
- Newly-designed looper lets you freely manipulate loops
- Effects you can use for breaks
- High-spec sampling functionality
- Numerous functions to make your performance even more expressive
- FX Release function controls the reverberation to produce a more natural decay
- Mute function cuts the input signal and outputs only the effect sound
- Pad Motion function records and reproduces your effect usage
- Practical functions that are easy to use during live performance or production
- Eight program memories let you switch effects instantly
- Hold function sustains the effect sound
- Set the tempo with auto BPM, tap tempo, or the BPM knob
- Pad LEDs ensure high visibility even in the dark
- Highly expandable for even greater potential
- USB MIDI allows for use as a powerful MIDI controller
- Store sample data on an SD/SDHC card
- Dedicated editor software for centralized management of sample data and settings
The Korg KP3+ is expected to be available April 2013 for US $349.99.
So is this just an OS update.. or the same thing for the same price all over again?
To be fair… they have been busy with some other “new” products…
I don’t think their engineers are spread quite that thin!
🙂
I had one KP3. It’s a great gadget for real time playing but IMHO they should improve the sound quality in the place to add more effects.
Update – ….? The original kp3 has the worst vocoder ever now the new one has a better one – did they fix the tempo slip ?
Rather uninspiring video for a product which seems to offer very little over it’s predecessor. Tbh a used KP3 seems like waaay better value for money than the cost of a new KP3+. Could have increased the loop length, possibly added loop banks, improved fx quality, color changing LED’s because who doesn’t want a blue Kaoss Pad :).
Also – Beardyman could’ve sold a KP Mini better than this video.
sync start now avaible 😉 ???
Still unimpressed. I’ve been trying to sell my KP3 for over a year, probably one of the most useless pieces of gear I ever bought… I may have some setting on it wrong, but it suffers from some crazy latency when using it as an effect send. It’s just not worth it to me, so I want to sell it towards Push/Live9 update.
An OS update would rock AND help sell me on a KP3+. Two Kaoss pads is a great combo and this would let me “demo” the new effects.
The KP3 was fun. To a someone shopping for a gadget, it seems impressive. There’s a long list of effects and functions.
But the KP3 can only give you a single effect at a time. Many of the effects are slight variations on the same basic sounds. Sync will drift. The knobs and slider were only mid-quality. The inputs and outputs are VERY noisy and not good enough for studio use. Sounds are right on the edge of audible aliasing at all times. The processor does not have enough power to provide a proper reverb. The sampler is nice when used by itself, but to integrate with other gear is a pain, and only can provide 4 voices.
The Kaoss Quad had no sampler and was plastic, but far more flexible by being able to deliver 4 effects at a time – but had to share the same XY pad for control, effectively hampering control.
I expected by 2013 there would be a new Kaoss product. Frankly, the whole touch surface thing feels a little lacking when we’re in the world of IOS and tablets. It was novel 10 years ago, but now my phone has better xy input.
What I would like Korg to do is to make a true modular approach to building effects patches – 4 effects you can order in any combination, even feeding 4 reverbs into each other. Stud it with knobs to control more than what an XY could do, maybe a ribbon control style pad, VU and a pair of valves, and real sampling, OLED displays, etc. Zoom’s G3 is a good lesson how you can assign an effect to a slot and then use that slots knobs and screen to control the sound, and that thing is cheaper than the KP3+.