Korg Drumlogue Hybrid Drum Machine

Powerful and feature packed.

Actually a great machine

The first one I ordered had issues, but the folks at the Raleigh store replaced it without any hassle. I'd edit my last review if I could; I think I happened to get a defective one that time. But the machine is a lot of fun, and sounds great. I'm familiar with the 'Logue series, and this one has a lot of tricks with an intuitive architecture like the others. The basics are easy to pick up and the deeper features are fairly well explained by the user manual download. The analog sounds are robust, and the sampled instruments add plenty of variety - although a little more drive on the snare might be nice. The digital mono synth is a great feature, which can be played with a midi keyboard and recorded with the sequencer. Individual outs are routable with each ... MoreThe first one I ordered had issues, but the folks at the Raleigh store replaced it without any hassle. I'd edit my last review if I could; I think I happened to get a defective one that time. But the machine is a lot of fun, and sounds great. I'm familiar with the 'Logue series, and this one has a lot of tricks with an intuitive architecture like the others. The basics are easy to pick up and the deeper features are fairly well explained by the user manual download. The analog sounds are robust, and the sampled instruments add plenty of variety - although a little more drive on the snare might be nice. The digital mono synth is a great feature, which can be played with a midi keyboard and recorded with the sequencer. Individual outs are routable with each instrument, so pedals and effects can be added to individual tracks. I'd love a port for a start/fill/stop pedal, but that seems rare. Some tom samples might be a nice addition down the road, and hopefully some gate or spring reverb. I'm looking forward to exploring it more!

Great if it worked right

I love the sounds and the interface isn't difficult. But among a few minor bugs, the program storage in mine is unstable - several custom programs I made self-deleted on different occasions, even after a factory reset and firmware upgrade. Plus, the thing gets pretty hot after using it over half an hour which may be a related issue. Perhaps the earlier runs have problems that hopefully will get fixed. It is a great unit, if it works right.

Korg Drumlogue

intuitive drummachine

Plenty of room for improvement, but still a lot of fun.

I've had a Drumlogue for a little bit, and it's my first drum machine (not counting the Electribe Sampler 2 I owned for about a week - I never could get out of the starting blocks on it and it felt VERY unpleasant to use - or a few Pocket Operators.) I am having a lot of fun with it thus far. Without looking at the manual I feel like I had the basics down after about 15 minutes, and have lost track of time enjoying poking at it for multiple hours. For what it's worth, I have no experience with anything (but also no pre-conceived notions or habits) and I find it really intuitive. I'm using it in conjunction with a Minilogue XD and a Line 6 Helix as sort of a looping / practice / idea generation station. The things I really like about it are: * The amount of stuff you ... MoreI've had a Drumlogue for a little bit, and it's my first drum machine (not counting the Electribe Sampler 2 I owned for about a week - I never could get out of the starting blocks on it and it felt VERY unpleasant to use - or a few Pocket Operators.) I am having a lot of fun with it thus far. Without looking at the manual I feel like I had the basics down after about 15 minutes, and have lost track of time enjoying poking at it for multiple hours. For what it's worth, I have no experience with anything (but also no pre-conceived notions or habits) and I find it really intuitive. I'm using it in conjunction with a Minilogue XD and a Line 6 Helix as sort of a looping / practice / idea generation station. The things I really like about it are: * The amount of stuff you can do without menu diving. There are a lot of shift functions but they all make sense (to me at least.) * Easily supports odd time signatures and can do some fun polyrhythm stuff. * Going from touching a part / step to editing parameters for that thing seem to be well thought out and intuitive (to me at least) and there are shortcuts to get around that make sense. * I think it sounds really good! Good enough for my purposes. Lots of variety in there. * The options inside the "groove" menu are really fun to explore and can make some really great feeling beats. * I feel like the DL does the right amount of stuff for me, and feels more like an instrument to me. I've never been able to jive with any grooveboxes or samplers I've tried to play with, and watching videos on the various Elektron things do not spark joy. You really need to approach it as a drum machine that can do a couple other things vs. a groovebox, though. I think there are a couple of hardware things I would have liked to seen done differently (more legible labels and buttons, use something other than the Volca knobs or do something to make them a little more sturdy, have a slightly wider screen so the parameters line up with the knobs, and use pads instead of buttons for the bottom row) but none of them are dealbreakers for me. Everything else I'd like to see get fixed is a software fix and I don't feel like they're anything that crazy: * Setting to turn off the tempo knob moving in .5 BPM increments. This should also make the tempo knob less sensitive to changing if you breathe on it. * Tap tempo somewhere (this one is really weird to not have!) * Setting to control how long the menus stick around after touching a knob * Show feedback on the screen when you adjust a parameter via MIDI * Ability to set a sample as a one shot or loop vs. treating it as a percussion sample, letting it play through full length / full volume without applying an envelope to it. * Figure out how to get existing 'Logue SDK stuff to work on the Drumlogue. No idea why the existing Delay and Verb units weren't compatible out of the gate, at least, but being able to load Oscillators would be *killer.* (There are some interesting synth instruments being worked on, though.) The big thing that I wish it did better, and that I think everyone wishes it did better, is the user sample handling. 32mb is so small and it would have been so easy to include a MicroSD card, but that's also 4x what a Volca Sample 2 has and this thing is perfectly functional and enjoyable without uploading a single user sample. That said, there desperately needs to be an update (and I have faith that there will be) that at least lets you trigger full length one-shot samples, loop them, etc. (Of course, at that point the 32mb limit will start to be a much bigger issue.) I knew the sample handling was a weak spot and the way I envision my setup I do want to have the ability to trigger longer things, so I had also ordered a Volca Sample 2 at the same time as everything else. I sent it back unopened, though, as the Drumlogue can do almost everything I'd want it to and if I find I *really* need something more I can just run my iPad into the audio in until they come out with an update (or something like a new Electribe Sampler.) I dunno. It's the first hardware drum machine I've owned, so perhaps that's why it works for me and doesn't work for people who have experience with other things, but I am really loving the Drumlogue and it was immediately usable for me in a way that nothing I've ever tried before has been, while having a significant enough feature set to dig into. If it doesn't get any updates past where it is now I'll still get a lot of use and enjoyment out of it but it would be a huge shame & miss on Korg's part if they don't address the common concerns - I think there's so much more potential in here.

Review of Drumlogue

Crazy versatile drum machine. I’m able to make beats I’ve never even dreamed up - it’s a mentally expressive machine.