Korg MPS-10

Korg’s MPS‑10 is a compact percussion instrument with hidden depths.

Korg may not be the first name that springs to mind when it comes to electronic drums and percussion, but they actually have a great history of creating innovative and interesting percussion instruments, such as the classic DDD‑1 from the 1980s, the Electribe R Analogue Modelling Rhythm Synthesizer and, of course, the iconic Wavedrum.

It’s not exactly a prolific output, but Korg have often been thought‑provoking and challenging of the status quo, and their entry into the sampling multi‑pad market, the MPS‑10, is no exception. Boasting an impressive 32GB of RAM, 2350 assignable instruments and more than 3000 high‑quality samples, the MPS‑10 also features ground‑breaking Continuous Controller Pads that give you real‑time control over internal effects, depending on where the pads are struck. A powerful four‑track looper also adds to a package that is an intriguing and slightly different proposition from the usual suspects.

If Looks Could Kill

At first glance, the MPS‑10 has a familiar look, with its six square pads and a further four ‘shoulder’ pads placed across the top of the unit. A rubber covering extends across the whole of the top surface of the unit, almost as if each of the individual pads have been carved out of it. The covering wraps around the edges of the unit, giving it a rugged feel and creating the impression that you could safely hit the MPS‑10 anywhere without damaging it — although, ironically, Korg have chosen to locate the control panel and screen between two of the pads. While hardly radical, this placement does set the MPS‑10 apart and reduces the overall footprint of the unit but, depending on how many times you end up hitting the screen while playing, it could either be a stroke of genius or a design disaster. Only time will tell...

In a nod to the new Roland SPD‑SX Pro and the Alesis Strike MultiPad, coloured LEDs sit below each of the pads, but there is no option for setting your own colour configuration. Three preset colours are offered, depending on the sound type that’s assigned to the pad: red for a one‑shot sound, blue for a repeating sound or loop, and green if no sound is assigned to the pad.

Boasting an impressive 32GB of RAM, 2350 assignable instruments and more than 3000 high‑quality samples, the MPS‑10 also features ground‑breaking Continuous Controller Pads that give you real‑time control over internal effects, depending on where the pads are struck.

As I mentioned above, the control panel sits neatly between pads one and two, and stretches the width of the two pads above it, making it smaller in terms of real estate than its competitors. This results in a slightly smaller colour LCD display than I would have hoped for.

To the left of this LCD are Main Volume and Phones Volume controls, along with a knob to alter metronome tempo, which incorporates push‑button on/off functionality and two small LEDS either side, as visual tempo indicators. To the right is a large data‑entry knob, alongside dedicated Edit, Write and Exit buttons.

Two large +/‑ buttons are provided to advance through the kit presets (pressing the data‑entry knob also ‘engages’ it as an alternative way to quickly scroll kits), and an equally large Sound Off button offers an immediate way to silence the unit. This can come in very handy when using loops and long samples.

Dedicated buttons that take you directly to the Kit, Instrument, Sample and Utility screens are located beneath the LCD, along with a second row of buttons that control the looper functions: Looper FX, Record and Erase. The SW Mode button switches the functionality of the four large Track buttons between controlling the looper tracks and enabling the CC Pads. All the buttons are clearly backlit, making it very easy to read their labels on a dark stage. However, none of the knobs offer the same visual assistance.

At the rear of the unit are a single quarter‑inch stereo headphone socket, a left and right Main output, and an additional stereo Sub output pair, both on quarter‑inch mono jacks. A stereo quarter‑inch line input and mono quarter‑inch mic input are provided to connect external signals, which can be processed by the MPS‑10’s effects engine or used as a source for the sampler and looper. The mic input features a preamp and can be configured as a balanced or unbalanced connection, but it is worth noting that you can’t use the line and mic inputs simultaneously.

Round the back we find a host of quarter‑inch jack sockets for headphones, main and sub audio outputs, line and mic input, trigger inputs and footswitch and expression inputs. There’s also a MIDI out port and USB ports for an external drive and connection to a computer.

Two ‘dual’ triggers are provided on stereo quarter‑inch jacks, so four individual trigger inputs can be achieved using Y‑splitter cables. While you could use two dual‑zone pads with these inputs, there’s no option to select combination ‘Head & Rim’ triggers within the MPS‑10, so you’d have to assign samples to both head and rim individually if you were using this type of trigger.

Alongside the triggers are two footswitch inputs, which can be used to control various functions of the MPS‑10, such as kit advance and looper start/stop, and an expression pedal input that can be assigned to looper volume, filter cutoff, reverb mix, pad decay and pad pitch. I had hoped that the expression pedal would allow for open and closed hi‑hat control, but it appears that this is not possible.

Two USB ports are provided: one for connection to a USB flash drive for backing up data or importing samples, and a second that allows both MIDI and audio information to be sent to and from a connected computer. Four channels of audio can be sent from the MPS‑10, that correspond to the physical main outputs (1+2) and sub outs (3+4).

A little surprisingly, the MPS‑10 only has a MIDI Out socket and no MIDI In. While many people these days will use USB MIDI communication, in my own hybrid drum setup I send MIDI Program Changes and MIDI Clock to my SPD‑SX Pro via a good old‑fashioned 5-pin MIDI cable, something I couldn’t do with the MPS‑10.

Play For Today

The MPS‑10 includes 100 preset kits and a further 100 user locations to store your own creations. The presets cover a very wide range of genres and styles, combining one‑shot drum samples, loops, tuned percussion and sound effects that demonstrate the MPS‑10 very well.

The Funk Kit is a great example of a regular acoustic kit, and many of the instruments in this preset utilise both round‑robin samples and velocity switching to great effect, giving the kit a natural and realistic sound. As you play the 14 x 5‑inch steel snare harder, it opens up with a wonderful metallic rim shot. One particularly nice touch is that Korg have added a bass drum sample to some of the cymbal and hi‑hat instruments, which is triggered at a specific velocity. You can easily play a bass drum with a crash or, with careful dynamics, add a kick‑drum pattern to a hi‑hat part using a single pad.

As you might expect, electronic styles are well catered for with a host of hip‑hop, trap, dubstep and techno kits, many of them featuring percussion loops and musical phrases alongside 808‑style kicks and EDM snares. Percussion presets span everything from traditional cajons, bongos and congas through to more exotic Middle Eastern and melodic instruments and, again, use round‑robin and velocity‑switching samples that enhance realism.

...the MPS‑10 employs SST (Smooth Sound Transition), which allows instruments, loops and effects to continue playing when you switch to a new preset.

As you switch between kits, the MPS‑10 employs SST (Smooth Sound Transition), which allows instruments, loops and effects to continue playing when you switch to a new preset. This enables seamless transitions and allows you to access different kits while loops, samples and effect tails...