Explaining the EP-133 + Sampling to a COMPLETE Beginner

[@LiamKillen]

Distribute your music with DistroKid - 7% Discount Link: ►distrokid.com/vip/liamkillen Interested in purchasing some of the gear mentioned in this video? Support this channel while you're at it by using the affiliate links below: USA (Perfect Circuit): ►bit.ly/3uEpdrM EUROPE (Thomann): ►EP-133: bit.ly/3Tb5xpw UK (Gear4Music): ►EP-133: tidd.ly/3Rm88vG

[@samhughesprogressive]

Wow. The 1 shots on this are fantastic

[@LiamKillen]

They are ! They're all from The Kount - check him out, he's dope.

[@samhughesprogressive]

@@LiamKillen Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll definitely check it out

[@funkb0x]

I thought the sampling was limited when I 1st purchased the KO2, but it's so tight, with awesome effects. It needs practice & pairing with a keystep to find the treasure. The 99 Bars, scene abilities & adjustments is insane. I can image what this gadget will do after a few months jamming. Keeping it simple, seems the way to go & milking the effects.

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah I’m with you about keeping it simple for sure

[@Jack655321]

Dr Dre in the 90's and early 2000's wished he had 64mb of memory lol. Same goes for Wu-Tang, Dilla and most of your classic hip hop artists. So yeah, you can absolutely make songs on this, this just pushes you to actually finish your songs and record them instead of keeping a gazillion unfinished tracks and unused samples on the device. People can hate on Teenage Engineering as much as they want, but at least you're having fun and being creative while making music when you use their products, instead of staring at endless menus and computer screens all day.

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah I see where you're coming from - it's just up against TODAY'S competition, 64 MB is starting to feel like not enough. SP-404 / MPC are the first that come to mind where you just have so much more space to work with. I'm sure dre today dabbles with modern MPC. This is a good discussion to have over in my discord though, if you're interested :-) discord.gg/xj8J2xJuBP

[@kathleencoveny3860]

" Creativity is intelligence having fun " - Einstein .. Great minds think alike ... cheers to you gentlemen ...

[@LiamKillen]

Xo

[@electrosonicnebula]

While it's a flawed machine, what the machine actually is and is meant to be appears to be not fully understood here. You can absolutely make Dr Dre beats on it, with the same sound quality and all the groove. Except for the ridiculous lack of resampling on this, the earliest samplers were also limited. Also, it's just bizarre to spread drums on all four groups, almost as if the groups are not understood, and a "complete beginner" needs to know it's not just a drum machine and what the groups are good for on this and all traditional samplers. If you were to explain sampling to a beginner this would be a good machine to do it with but too little explanation of what you can do with sampling actually goes on. For example the difference between one-shots and loops is not actually explained even though it comes up. EDIT: very cool channel anyway

[@poco_a_poco_music]

Yeah I love the channel. But that wasn’t quite the video I was expecting. I made it about halfway through. The KO 2 is not nearly as limited as he makes out.

[@electrosonicnebula]

@@poco_a_poco_music Yeah the KO2 is not for people who are power users of any or all of the more powerful samplers such as the ones on this channel. It's not even that good for playing live. It is cool for musicians who don't need the power of the the pricier machines, but it comes way short on memory for sure (maybe that's why it's called a toy here). It would be a great interface for something that does have plenty of sample time and is not just a one-shot machine. Also for the 300 bucks it's just too good to be true. The time stretching is perfect to turn one-shots into gorgeous sounding polyphonic keys. And it has the best onboard sample set I've heard, including better than my Circuit Rhythm which I love. I would love a 500-dollar machine based on this paradigm but without the silly limitations. SplTrk would be the natural solution, but too miniature and fiddly compared to this. Still holding out for the sampling/groovebox that strikes the right balance

[@LiamKillen]

Yes you can use longer samples- my point is that you have a very very short 64 mb sampling limit which hinders you from getting deep with it.

[@LiamKillen]

It’s the sampling limit that hinders the unit more than anything else- that’s my point :-)

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah that’s the thing I should have maybe articulated more, that in comparison to many more powerful samplers, this does feel kind of like a toy.

[@Genshi]

A couple of points of contention to an otherwise very good video.... the very first thing “What is a Sampler” you should have started with “A sampler like the K.O. II lets you record sounds by using the built-in Mic or attaching an instrument or audio device to sample from…” instead you describe the K.O. II as merely a sample playback device that you dump premade samples into. The whole fun of the K.O. II is actually recording your own samples (see my first video on the K.O. II where I sample objects from around my house to build my own drum kit. THAT is a sampler!) And as for the 64 MB limitation… we should all know by now that “Limitation Breeds Creativity” is not just a saying, it’s actually true. Those early Hip Hop pioneers back in the day used the mighty flagship (and very expensive) Akai MPC 60. And do you know how limited that was? The Akai MPC60 sampler has 750 KB of memory and 720 KB of FD storage. With 750 KB of memory, the MPC60 has a total sampling time of 13.1 seconds, but each sample is limited to 5 seconds (as opposed to the 20 seconds the K.O. II gives you). 1.5 MB of memory gives the MPC60 a total sampling time of 26.2 seconds, but each sample is still limited to 5 seconds. In other words, yes by today’s standards, the K.O. II may seem limited, but by no means is it unusable or “just a toy”. It’s perfectly capable of making music and is especially suited as an addition to live performances. I still have my MOC 2000 which used to be the brains of my studio, and even that only had 2 MB of memory for samples, upgradable to a whopping 32 MB which is half of what the K.O. II offers (and my MPC was five times the price!)

[@LiamKillen]

All opinions are welcome! 🍻

[@Genshi]

​@@LiamKillen I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh. It was definitely a knee-jerk reaction... after watching the rest of the video, you showed good aspects of what the device can do and I do appreciate your presentation in general.

[@nottaller1993]

This was actually cool to watch, because a lot of times I get stuck and avoid adding too much in fear that it'll sound way too busy. But what you guys put together on the fly sounds super dope - inspired to plow through!

[@LiamKillen]

Thanks for watching!

[@SocialClubMisfits]

this was the most helpful video thank you!!!!

[@LiamKillen]

Always glad to help! If you'd like even more help in my Discord server for tech stuff - join up :-) Here's an invite: discord.gg/xj8J2xJuBP

[@88Fitzy88]

My name is jamie and new to KO2 thanks for personalizing this video for me

[@LiamKillen]

Lol well thank you for watching 😊

[@fa8ster]

finally …we been waiting f0r u bro

[@LiamKillen]

I dropped a week one review as well comparing it to other samplers!

[@LiamKillen]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bni2nYNtidWFaLcsi=hqd4gK93DR6f1HYu Here it is 😊

[@EVILJAMARR]

I like your cousin, he seems bright and conceptual which is great for a student!

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah he’s a great listener 😊

[@tonysmith5878]

LIMITATIONS....IT HAS. THAT WILL BE A BONUS FOR ME, I'VE ALREADY GOT IDEAS ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

[@LiamKillen]

The all caps is super aggressive my guy

[@cresshead]

cool video - nice exploration

[@LiamKillen]

Thx for watching ! Any EP-133 related questions you hit up my Discord ! discord.gg/xj8J2xJuBP

[@Knypsterino]

Great stuff. Would love more on how to sample from records and make it fit in your beat. Thanks 🎉

[@LiamKillen]

Noted! Thx for watching 😊

[@chrissender7152]

This is a cool ' video concept'... showing it to a beginner. 😃 I think you can have fun with the KO II. But the limited sample spaces and less functions, make it less useful in my eyes. I'm searching for a sampler. On the other hand, the Roland SP 404 looks to complicated to me. Is ther anything between these two devices?

[@LiamKillen]

Hmmm you might be interested in an MPC which on the surface may be a bit easier! But once you dig in, it’s ultra complex

[@chrissender7152]

@@LiamKillen Thank you! But the Akai MPC is not an option for me. 😬

[@ZRV13]

What are your thoughts on the yamaha seqtrak? Are you gonna pick one up?

[@LiamKillen]

I’m not familiar with that one!

[@PaulMcElroyWasHere]

So they apparently designed this during the chip shortage. What I'm curious about is what you think should be upgraded in a product refresh?

[@LiamKillen]

i think they actually just did drop an update about a month or so ago !

[@salmon_tag]

Hurry and click that perfect circuit link USA folks! It's available right now and it'll sell out again in a flash. (This is not a paid sponsorship, haha)

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah it’s crazy how hot the ep 133 is!!

[@AJHenson-ey6oq]

Wait so does this mean I can sample from my iPhone into this instead of a computer? If so, what do I need and how would I connect it since it’s a lightning adapter…?

[@LiamKillen]

i'm not 100 % sure if you can sample via usbc but if you have a usbc -8th inch adaptor, then you can def sample into it. ALSO! If you find yourself having lots of tech / music creation questions like this - hit up my Discord. I find that having a community of people helping rather than just me is more helpful in general and we'd love to have you. Here's the invite incase you're interested: discord.gg/xj8J2xJuBP

[@TheMicroaggressor]

The short quick start manual that comes with the unit even tells you can sample from a phone or a turntable. So far I used a simple 3.5-3.5 cable to sample from a music player, Nintendo Switch and SteamDeck, and I used a camera kit and a DAC adapter to sample from iphone and ipad.

[@recycl0ps890]

I watched a bunch of tutorial and this has been helpful. Hearing someone explain to someone else versus going over the conceptually helped. I’m looking into buying this… I was wondering if bugs has been worked out. Also what Is your thoughts on the medieval version of this?

[@LiamKillen]

This video is probably close to a year old now I think - so there's a good chance those bugs have been worked out. And thank you for watching ! :-)

[@ReadMoreSayLess]

Thanks for this. Zero music experience over here. Work in investment banking...but, interested in channeling energies within foreign realms like music sampling in hopes of dissolving blocks and/or overall business creative expansion. This might be the perfect device. Appreciate, fully. #LiamKillen

[@LiamKillen]

Thanks so much for watching! And i'm glad to help :-)

[@Prodkibis]

How much sample time if you delete all the stock sounds?

[@LiamKillen]

Not sure but it’s 64 mb total

[@iShredStreets]

Nobody knows. It seems.

[@poco_a_poco_music]

I feel attacked. And heard. Thanks LK

[@LiamKillen]

Thank you for watching 😊

[@TheRealMrLaserCutter]

Would this be a good machine for making silly little songs with my kids. I need drums some built in samples like the bass, keys. I guess the limit here would be recording vocals and guitar. How long can the samples be?

[@TheRealMrLaserCutter]

Quick google search suggests that there is 32mb left available after accounting for the stock samples. Someone suggested this Is about 3 mins of audio.

[@LiamKillen]

Yeah- I mean 3 mins is still quite a bit but it’s still limited

[@LiamKillen]

3 mins but if you clear the stock samples more!

[@TheRealMrLaserCutter]

@@LiamKillen Thanks, the stock sounds are what draw me to this unit. Looks like fun and sounds great.

[@TheRealMrLaserCutter]

I think it should be enough. @@LiamKillen

[@tonysmith5878]

I'M TRASHING THE MANUAL, AND I WON'T BE GOING TO THESE VIDS FOR HELP....SALUTE FELLAS! I MEAN NO DISRESPECT BY THESE COMMENTS. I JUST THINK SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER TO DIVE INTO THINGS FREELY, AND NOT BE SHACKLED BY LIMITATIONS SUCH AS THOSE.

[@LiamKillen]

🤔

[@damianwebzyx6613]

It sounds like a old PC keyboard … klack klack klack .. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@LiamKillen]

pretty much lol

[@CrazyLazyDave]

17min into this....i feel like you haven't explained sampling or samplers at all. So far this is just being used as a drum machine. Hopefully the video is actually going to get around to sampling. I sent a link to this to my kid before i watched it. If this is all....he is still gonna have no clue how he can use this thing for sampling or what sampling is.

[@CrazyLazyDave]

Watched to the end. No explanation of sampling or how to use samplers. Been making beats with samples for decades at this point. None of that is in this video. This is all drum machine stuff. Could have at least sampled even a single sound used in the video 🤷‍♂️. Or put literally anything melodic on the beat. As much as it doesn't sound like it. I do actually appreciate what you did here and intended to do here 👍.

[@LiamKillen]

🤔

[@LiamKillen]

yeah i'm using drum *samples* on a *sampler* to create grooves. I explained in the beginning of the video what a sampler is and what it's capable of doing. I also mentioned that, in my opinion, the EP-133 is geared to be more of a one shot machine because it has such a small *sampling* memory. In any case - I appreciate you watching. Thanks.

[@sweatycrabthailand4262]

the bug. "its kinda cool". noooooooooooo its not. it makes it unusable! i think ive yet to see a video that doesnt show a bug on this thing. i think i will never get a teenage engineering product.

[@LiamKillen]

There are for sure bugs- they just released a firmware update though

[@Wild_D]

I think this thing is a waste of money and it just gets views on KZbin

[@suninmyeyesyes]

I would say that's true of most TE products, but not this one. Pretty reasonably priced for how much it can do.

[@jjtaylor1073]

It wasn’t maid for you and it’s okay.

[@LiamKillen]

I disagree completely! It’s actually a good drum machine

[@LiamKillen]

Exactly

[@LiamKillen]

Exactly