The legendary Kaoss Pad gets rebooted as part of Korg’s customisable Nu:Tekt range. Greg Scarth checks out the next chapter of the story.
Korg’s Kaoss Pad range launched in 1999 and quickly established itself as one of the most popular effects series on the market. The concept is remarkably simple: audio is processed in real time and effects are controlled by a touch-sensitive pad. If that sounds basic, the context does matter; that type of hands-on control of audio wasn’t at all common back then, and still isn’t really widespread today. The new Korg NTS-3 Kaoss Pad arrives as part of the Nu:Tekt range, which is designed to allow users to customise firmware and develop their own take on the hardware platform.
Announced at this year’s NAMM show, the NTS-3 version of the Kaoss Pad came as something of a surprise. We’ve already seen synths, utilities and effects as part of the Nu:Tekt range, but the NTS-3 is the first time that Korg have really applied the Nu:Tekt philosophy to an existing part of their range.
For those who aren’t already on board with the Nu:Tekt concept, a quick refresher: these are self-assembly devices, which is to say a very basic bit of DIY is required to get started. Everything you need is included in the box, and there’s no soldering or any particular technical knowledge required. In the case of the NTS-3, assembly is a simple matter of fitting together printed circuit boards along with side panels and a few screws.
The NTS-3 unit itself is fairly small compared to the original models, coming in at just over 10 centimetres square, with the touch pad measuring up around 45 x 65 millimetres. Power comes via USB-C and there are audio in and out sockets plus sync in and out.
With the unit assembled, what we have here is familiar enough to those who’ve used a Kaoss Pad before but of course you don’t need any previous experience with a Kaoss device in order to get started and be creative. In use, the NTS-3 ticks off those same characteristics which made the originals so popular: from basics like compression, filtering and delays through to much more esoteric effects, the NTS-3 delivers the kind of immediacy, hands-on control and inspiring creativity which defined the Kaoss series. The XY pad combines with the vertical FX Depth ribbon strip to give control over three effect parameters in an intuitive way.
Four effects can be used simultaneously in series or parallel, meaning that nice combinations can be found with quite different effects. Combinations of delays and filters, for example, allow you to add instant modulation and depth to melodic synth sequences. Combine more extreme effects like distortion, flanger and slicer and you can warp drum loops into glitchy new territory. The oscillator options, meanwhile, allow you to play old-school FX or dub-style sirens.
If you want to get even more creative, the Nu:Tekt concept is aimed at those who like to experiment. Korg’s ‘logue SDK’ (software development kit) allows you to create your own firmware and modify the device to meet your own personal taste. There’s a second factor there which is also noteworthy: the existence of the SDK means that third-party developers can also develop and share their own effects and programs for the NTS-3. A healthy little community of developers already exists for other logue instruments like the Minilogue XD and NTS-1 digital kit synth, meaning that it’s highly likely some very good ‘units’ (Korg’s term for individual pieces of custom content) should be available for the NTS-3 in due course.
Fundamentally, the NTS-3 maintains the spirit of the original Kaoss Pad and opens up lots of new creative avenues. The DIY approach and admittedly unusual appearance of the finished item might not appeal to everyone, but the NTS-3 breathes new life into a series which has been around for a quarter of a century. If the NTS-3 can go on to be even half as successful as that original model, mark that down as a gigantic success.
Greg Scarth
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