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“Tapping Into Your Creativity with the Korg PXR4” …by Rob Math Greetings
fellow musicians, songwriters, and producers, get ready to
blast off into a completely new dimension of high quality
“portable” digital recording. Imagine recording and
producing your next “hit” on a digital multi-track
recorder small enough to hold in the palm of your hand! The
PXR4 from Korg’s award winning ToneWorks division makes
this a reality! A revolutionary new design in “Portable Digital
Multi-Track Recording” In the
“elusive world of creativity,” inspiration can strike at
any time, so being able to capture and develop your ideas
immediately is essential. With the PXR4, this is a piece of
cake! Its size makes transport a cinch, and because it
features a high-quality internal condenser mic, as well as
an easy user interface, laying down those great melodies of
yours couldn’t be any easier! The PXR4
also comes equipped with Korg’s award winning REMS
modeling effects, and tons of high-quality PCM drum patterns
for you to go crazy with! This makes getting into the
“groove” effortless. Guitarists can plug in and
instantly dial up a killer tone rivaling their “heroes”!
If you’re searching for your own unique sound, you can
mix-and-match any of your favorite REMS modeled heads and
cabinets to create a custom “rig” for even more
“Guitar Tone Heaven!” And if that
isn’t enough, you also get ultra-realistic microphone
simulations, spacey reverbs and delays, psychedelic
modulation effects, and mastering and final effects to give
your mixes that polished, “CD-ready” sound. One of the
key tools to production and elements in the creative process
is the ability to “freely” edit and arrange your music,
just as if you were a painter-painting on a canvas. The PXR4
gives you this kind of freedom! Another ultra modern and
asked-for function is Time Compression and Expansion
- very useful for changing the tempo of previously recorded
audio without changing its pitch. You can use this feature
to learn those lightning fast runs by slowing them down, or
even to change the tempo of your favorite drum loop to fit
in your next hit tune. The PXR4 has these great features,
and much more! WARNING!!!
Please don’t let your singer leave the session until you
have at least 10 vocal tracks to choose from and edit! If
that’s the case, you’ll be glad to know that the PXR4
provides 8 virtual tracks per track, giving you a total of
32 recordable tracks! Ok, let’s
get back to talking a bit more shop before we actually plug
in and go crazy. (Hey… always save the good stuff for
last!) , The PXR4 records to SmartMedia®
cards and has a built in USB port for easy file transfer or
playback on a Mac or PC. In addition, the PXR4 will convert
your song to an MP2 file that can easily be transferred to
your computer via USB. You can back
up your files to your computer, play your songs in programs
like Windows MediaPlayer® or
ITunes®, or
email your next “smash hit” to your grandma, publisher,
A&R Exec or that Grammy-winning producer! Why MP2 and
not MP3 you may ask? Simple - MP2 files are less compressed
and sound better than MP3s. Because they will play in
Windows MediaPlayer or ITunes just like an MP3, why not go
with a higher quality format? So whether
you’re a shredding rock guitarist, award winning film
composer or plan on being the next front man for Van Halen,
hang out for a bit and let me take you through a step by
step process of “capturing the magic” with your PXR4!
Let’s start jamming! Note: To listen to audio examples in the following
section, simply click on each song or track reference: Space Jam Listen to Space Jam by Rob Math Are ya ready
for an up-close tour through the recording process of Space
Jam? Well, pay close attention because what you’re about
to find out is that through the use of clever bouncing and
virtual tracks, the amount of musical ideas one can mix
together is endless… The first
step in the recording process was to set up a rhythm groove
to jam to. Easy enough, right? First I chose rhythm pattern:
40 “Big Beat 1”. Next, since my buddy just lent me his
bass, I was dying to plug in and jam with some of the cool
Bass programs, so I dialed up Program 26 “B chorus”
under guitar effects, armed a track for recording and
thumped away. Low and behold inspiration struck and I came
up with a pretty cool riff! After writing a B-section, I was
now ready to track that baby. It only took one or two takes
and we were golden! I now had a cool bass line and song
structure to build off of. Now I wanted
to change the drum groove. Since the drums were virtual at
this point, and not recorded to tracks, as long as I kept
the same BPM (112), I could audition different internal drum
patterns with my pre-recorded bass line, allowing me to see
which sounded the best.
It didn’t take long before I auditioned and found
that pattern “Rock 05” gave the groove just the feel I
was looking for. Next, I
plugged in my TRITON Classic keyboard, and started
experimenting with layering different drum loops on top of
pattern “Rock 05” by flying them in live. I
found something that worked great, but wondered how I was
going to pull this off? The first
thing I needed to do was record the (Virtual) drums from the
PXR4 onto tracks 3 and 4. (I did this by using a stereo mini
1/8th inch plug connected from the PXR4 line out
to the line in). After recording the drums to tracks 3 and
4, I copied the Bass from track 1a; to virtual track 1b, in
order to open up track 1 for recording. I then recorded the
TRITON drum loop onto tracks 1 and 2. Tracks 1 and 2 TRITON loop Virtual track 1B Bass Tracks 3 and
4
PXR4
Drums It was now
time to bounce these guys together to make a stereo drum
track that included the drums from the PXR4 (tracks 3 and
4), and the TRITON loop (tracks 1 and 2) mixed together. After a
successful bounce, I recorded the bass on track 1B back to
1A, so my track layout now looked like this: Track 1
Bass Tracks 3 and
4
PXR4
DrumsW Triton loop Next, using
my TRITON, I recorded a spacey synth line on track 2. My
track layout now looked like this: Track 1 Bass Track 2
Spacey
Synth Line Tracks 3 and
4
PXR4
DrumsW Triton loop Of course
there were more parts that I wanted to add, so I bounced 4
to 2 again on tracks 1 and 2. I then saved the Drums/Triton
loop to virtual tracks (Just in case!) and erased tracks 3
and 4 leaving them open for recording. My session
now looked like this: Tracks 1 and 2
PXR4
DrumsW Triton loop
, Bass, Synth (TRITON LpBassSynth) Now that
tracks 3 and 4 were open for recording, I plugged in my
guitar and cut a percussive/ futuristic wah part we’ll
call “ Percussive
ooh Wah” on track 3, and then recorded
another TRITON synth part on track 4. I never stop hearing parts! I
still had more parts that I wanted to lay down! So I bounced
4 to 2 onto tracks 1 and 2 again, using Master Effect
program 62 - “ Now I was in
business - I had a stereo mix on tracks 1 and 2 and tracks 3
and 4 once again open for recording! Tracks 1 and
2
StMixLeftRight (PXR4 drums,
TRITON loop, Bass, Percussive wah, Synth line 1, Synth line
2) Last but not
least I recorded the main guitar melody “Trem
Melody” using
preset program 03 - “60’s” on track 3, and then
tracked a Solo using
preset “2001” on track 4. Whew!
Finished! Now I mixed the final song, adding Master Effects,
and then I used the Convert function to make a stereo MP2
file. So
there you have it, the secrets have been unleashed, and you
can see that the possibilities are endless with the PXR4! It’s
true – recording and producing your next “hit” really
can become a reality on your PXR4!
Now
it’s your turn: Getting Started with the PXR4: Step 1 “Getting Started” Ok… grab
your PXR4 and turn that baby on! Just flip the switch on the
back. If you click it to the left once you’ll turn on the
PXR4, click it twice and the back light will come on. The
first thing that we want to do is create a new song. (Please
note: If using the included 16MB card, either one or both
demo songs will have to be deleted in order to record.)
Click the >> key and the display will read Make New!
Now you’ll see the letters “Std” blinking in
the right hand corner. The PXR4 is asking you at what
quality would you like to record. (Standard “Std”,
Economy “Eco” or High quality “Hig”). Standard mode
will give you the best balance between recording quality and
memory use. Economy mode will give you the maximum amount of
recording time, and High Quality will capture your best
performances with impeccable quality. For now, choose
“STD”. Do you see the little arrow > in the display,
pointing to the right? Click the Cursor > right button
once. The display will now read “New Song”. In the right
hand corner you’ll see a number next to a letter. This is
telling you what song number on the SmartMedia card, and the
recording mode that you are using. “EX 1.S” (song #1,
Standard mode).
Grooving with the Drum Patterns The first
thing that I like to do is set up a rhythm pattern or
metronome click to jam to, so let’s get a drum groove
happening by accessing the rhythm page. Do you see the SHIFT
key? Great, hold that down and hit the rhythm key at the
same time. This will access the rhythm page. (Note: any key
with a highlighted function such as Rhythm, Assign, Bounce,
and Undo requires you to hold down the shift key in order to
access that function…got it?) The
display will read “Rhythm”. In the right hand corner you
will see “Off” blinking. Use the wheel/dial and turn it
clockwise. The display will now read “Metronome 01
<>”. Now use the DIAL to scroll through the rhythm
patterns. If you Cursor right once, you can adjust the
rhythm level (using the DIAL). Cursor left, and you can
specify what time signature you would like to play to. (3/4,
4/4, 5/4 etc...) Cursor to the left once more and you can
adjust the BPM (tempo). Easy enough? Let’s choose beat
“#40 Big Beat 1”, and then adjust the tempo to
“100”, and the rhythm level to “25”. Now if your
screen reads “Big beat 1” which it should, hit the
“Exit” key twice - this will take you back to the main
menu and the drum groove will stop. Arming a track for recording Do you see
the buttons just above the faders? Hit the button above
fader number one. Congratulations! You’ve just armed track
one for recording. Easy stuff, huh? Now on the right hand
side there’s a switch that allows you to specify what type
of input you are using. For a guitar or bass or any other
mono source, choose guitar and plug in to the mono 1/4 inch
jack. For keyboards and stereo sources such as a CD player,
set the switch to “Line input” and plug into the stereo
1/8th “ line in. For use with the great
sounding internal microphone, set the switch to, you guessed
it “Mic”! I told you this was simple! Setting Your Levels Now comes
the fun part, so go ahead and plug your guitar in! Before
setting your levels, bring the Master fader up to “8”. Now let’s begin
setting your Pre and Post fader levels. Press and hold the
SHIFT key, and then press the DISPLAY key (above the MASTER
fader) until you see “PRE” under the DISPLAY box in the
LCD. Play your guitar, and watch the track one meter level
in the LCD. Using the trim level on the front edge of the
PXR4, set the level so that it just hits below CLIP. Great,
now on to the Post level. Press and hold SHIFT again, and
press the DISPLAY key until you see POST under the DISPLAY
box. Use the track one fader to set the meter level so it
reaches just below CLIP. Got it? Good. Now let choose an
effect! Killer Guitar Sounds Using the Amazing REMS
Modeling Effects! The first
thing you need to do is to assign the correct effect type,
that you will be using under the Effect Assign box.
If you’re
a guitar player or bass player this will be “Guitar”.
Hold down the shift key and hit “assign” (remember the
shift key?). If you keep
hitting “assign,” the display will take you through the
four separate effect types, Guitar, Insert, Master, and
Final. As we’re going to lay down a guitar track, we’ll
select…you guessed it…Guitar. Now hit the
assign/effect key once to take you into the effect program
page and use the DIAL to scroll through the effects
programs. Let’s choose program “2001” and then hit
“exit” once. Now, arm track 1 for recording and you will
hear your guitar with the effects. If you would like to
audition more effect programs while listening and playing,
hit the effect/assign key and this will take you back into
the effect program menu where you can change the programs. Setting
up a count in
Ok so
we’ve chosen a drum pattern, armed a track for recording,
set our levels, and chose an effect program. Well It sounds
like were ready to go. Whoops one
last trick and then you’re on your own. Before
recording let’s set up a count in.
How about two measures.
This way you have plenty of time after you hit
record, to get ready to play and come in strong!! Ok press
the system key once, twice keep going until the display
reads “System”. (Exactly five times) Now curser over to
the right once so that the display reads “Mixer System”
and curser down once until it reads “Record”. Curser to
the right once more and it will say” count in”. Use the
dial and select “02” measures. Hit Exit 3 three times to
take you back to home base and your ready to rock! The
Main
Event!
Recording! Make sure
track one is still armed for recording!! Hit the record
button. You’ll see “REC” blinking in the display, now
go ahead and hit play and your in. That’s it! You have 2
measures upfront before the PXR4 will record. If you decide
not to use the count in function set the count in to
“00”. Well I hope you’ve gained some insight into the incredible PXR4 and are now ready to create some music. After all that’s what this is all about! Good luck, and may the PXR4 be with you.
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