Learning Native Instruments Kore: First Steps
I’ve really only just starting learning Native Instruments Kore… I’m in that zone where you can’t be bothered to consult a manuel.. yet your life would be so much better if you could be so bothered.. I’ll tell you that Kore is a very cool thing… from my limited experience of it. I suppose some of that might be just where I’m coming from but.. Kore ends up being something like a cockpit by which you control your space shuttle.. I’m very much used to controlling things via mouse and keyboard… I’ve grown used to this kind of thing.. and I’ve never really had a good solution for controlling software via any other means… And I can tell you Kore offers a very good solution.
It helps that I’m a Native Instruments Komplete user in the first place.. by which I mean Kore is built in such a way that.. the Komplete Library is instantly a part of Kore.. without you having to figure out how to make Kore work with.. whatever it is you wanna make Kore work with…
You gotta understand that Kore, among other things.. it has a little LCD screen.. and on that screen pops up the name of whatever it is you’re editing / controlling… So you’re software has all these controls… and if you touch one of the rotaries.. or whatever.. its going to tell you what you’re messing with.. as you mess with it.. so one assumes.. in the process of making instruments and effects play well with Kore.. that you must tell Kore what the parameter names are.. but then I really haven’t messed with Kore enough to have any idea…
The interface is not always 100% intuitive in all places.. There are lots of places where its just a pain in the ass to try and figure out.. though I must say, so far, as soon as I get so I understand how something works.. it makes good sense to me, and I find myself loving how it works.
The experience, I must tell you, is absolutely awesome. It turned an old classic synthesizer, one that I just haven’t been all that into, into a synthesizer I love.. just because of how you find your self interfacing with the software.
You have to understand the limitations of the one point interface thing.. by which I mean everything you do on a modern computer is done via the manipulation of one mouse.. one pointer.. with which you navigate the interface. This has a lot of implications.. but the implication I wasn’t expecting is how this effects the way you think…
In working with music production you are always playing with audio effects.. Generally.. the way most of us approach effects, when approaching them for the first time.. we start out with pre programmed factory presets.. from there you get into the business of playing around with an effects individual parameters.. But the thing is.. via a mouse.. you can only play with one parameter at a time..
But with Kore.. you got 8 rotaries and 8 little buttons.. and it’s just like.. you can think about programing that effect unit in a very different way.. Your thinking much more in terms of parameter interrelationships then you are programs.. It’s very cool.. .
and I’ll just leave it at that for tonight.