Drum Machines Have No Soul

Sampling rhythm workstation

Korg ES-1 mkII

The ES-1 mkII turns recorded fragments into a kit you can play and rearrange. Its sampler sits inside the Electribe’s pattern-based world: collect a sound, give it a part, then work the rhythm from the front panel.

New performance instruments →
Korg ES-1 mkII: factory panel illustration from the owner manual.Undated · KorgSource & credit ↗

Korg introduced the ES-1 mkII Electribe Sampler at Summer NAMM in July 2004 with a US$599 MSRP. It carried the Electribe idea into a compact sampler built for patterns, hands-on editing and immediate rhythm construction.

Sources (8)
  1. ES-1 mkII Owner’s Manual E1 ↗
  2. NAMM Update: Korg Introduces ES-1mkII Sampler ↗
  3. Korg Releases ES-1 mkII ↗
  4. ES-1 mk2 Electribe S: product description and customer review ↗
  5. ES-1 mkII: Big Job Head user review ↗
  6. [ Dimensions ]: production notes and credits ↗
  7. ES-1 Service Manual, provisional revision 1.00 ↗
  8. Electribe EA-1 / ER-1 family brochure ↗

The machine in the record

Cover artwork for Auxcide — [ Dimensions ].
Dimensions introduces Auxcide’s ES-1 MKII setup for the original first four tracks; the cover identifies the release, not an individual sound source.

Auxcide / [ Dimensions ].

Auxcide names the ES-1 MKII in the original setup for Astral, Oversoul, Spirit and Dimensions. The credit gives the sampler a direct place in the album’s first shape, before those tracks acquired any later history.

Read [ Dimensions ]: production notes and credits ↗

More records in the archive

The machine keeps turning up.

Avi Bortnick — Clean Slate album artwork
Avi Bortnick — Clean Slate: retained release artwork for Bortnick’s account of making the album with his ES-1 setup; the cover supplies release context, not a hardware image or individual-track allocation.

Avi Bortnick / Clean Slate and his work with John Scofield

Bortnick says he made Clean Slate with the setup that included a Korg ES-1, then continued using the ES-1 with John Scofield for its input processing and rhythmic possibilities.

Read Avi Bortnick and the Korg ES-1 MkII ↗
Cover artwork for Argiflex — Summer Is a Relative Term II.
Argiflex — Summer Is a Relative Term II: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Argiflex / Summer Is a Relative Term II

Argiflex says a Korg Electribe ES-1 mkII sampled and rearranged the Yamaha RX-7 drum material for Summer Is a Relative Term II.

Read Argiflex / Summer Is a Relative Term II ↗
Cover artwork for Mixedcases — Lost In The 8-Track.
Mixedcases — Lost In The 8-Track: retained release artwork gives the documented machine credit a record-world context; it does not depict the hardware, a session, or an individual track allocation.

Mixedcases / Lost In The 8-Track

Mark West’s rescued 2000–05 recordings were made without a computer, using a Korg ES-1, JP-8000, guitars and a Fostex DMT-8vl.

Read Mixedcases / Lost In The 8-Track ↗
01 // Standard

A sampler for the Electribe table

The ES-1 mkII brought sampling into Korg’s compact Electribe format. It is a small machine for taking a fragment of sound, placing it in a pattern and turning that pattern into something playable before the original idea has gone cold.

Sources (2)
  1. NAMM Update: Korg Introduces ES-1mkII Sampler ↗
  2. ES-1 mkII Owner’s Manual E1 ↗

02 // Standard

Make a kit from whatever is nearby

The ES-1 mkII starts with samples rather than a fixed drum set. A found sound can become a kick, a snare, a voice, a bass accent or a piece of atmosphere; the step sequencer gives each one a place in the groove. It is an inviting way to make a personal rhythm vocabulary without a computer in the middle.

Sources (2)
  1. ES-1 mkII Owner’s Manual E1 ↗
  2. ES-1 mk2 Electribe S: product description and customer review ↗

03 // Standard

A 2004 production companion

Korg announced the ES-1 mkII at Summer NAMM in 2004 with a $599 MSRP. It belonged to the period when a tabletop sampler could be both a fast sketchpad and a small stage instrument: modest in size, but capable of holding a complete idea.

Sources (2)
  1. NAMM Update: Korg Introduces ES-1mkII Sampler ↗
  2. Korg Releases ES-1 mkII ↗

04 // Standard

The pleasure of a short path

Users and artists have continued to value the same direct sequence: sample it, cut it into a rhythm, alter it while it runs. The ES-1 mkII keeps composition close to the hands, where an accident can become the best part of a track.

Sources (2)
  1. [ Dimensions ]: production notes and credits ↗
  2. ES-1 mkII: Big Job Head user review ↗

MUSIC HISTORY

In the market

  • 2004-07-27: USD 599 — US launch-period MSRP in Summer NAMM announcement. ES-1 mkII; bundle contents not specified in price statement Source ↗

On record

  • Auxcide — [ Dimensions ] — original versions of Astral, Oversoul, Spirit and Dimensions. Artist names ES-1 MKII in original-production setup. Source ↗
  • Avi Bortnick — his work with John Scofield. Bortnick says he continues using an ES-1 sampling drum machine with John Scofield for its input processing and rhythmic possibilities. Source ↗
  • Argiflex — Summer Is a Relative Term II. Argiflex says a Korg Electribe ES-1 mkII sampled and rearranged the Yamaha RX-7 drum material for Summer Is a Relative Term II. Source ↗
  • Mixedcases — Lost In The 8-Track. Mark West’s rescued 2000–05 recordings were made without a computer, using a Korg ES-1, JP-8000, guitars and a Fostex DMT-8vl. Source ↗

Sources

  1. ES-1 mkII Owner’s Manual E1
  2. NAMM Update: Korg Introduces ES-1mkII Sampler
  3. Korg Releases ES-1 mkII
  4. ES-1 mk2 Electribe S: product description and customer review
  5. ES-1 mkII: Big Job Head user review
  6. [ Dimensions ]: production notes and credits
  7. ES-1 Service Manual, provisional revision 1.00
  8. Electribe EA-1 / ER-1 family brochure

The visual archive

Further visual evidence.

Sources for images shown earlier (5)
Additional visual sources (2)

Original publications and related image sources.

Machine Museum image viewer

Period image shown in the dossier.