Korg Pandora Mini Multieffects Processor
By Jon Chappell_1 |
The latest in Korg’s miniature multi-effects makes all the right moves by delivering both better sound quality and a smaller footprint
$225.00 MSRP, $99.99 Street
By Jon Chappell
The latest in Korg’s miniature multieffects for guitar and bass makes all the right moves by delivering both better sound quality and a smaller footprint. At just over 3-3/8” wide and 2-1/8” inches high, the Korg Pandora Mini’s silhouette is almost exactly that of a credit card, about as thick as a tin of Altoids, and is available in either black or white. It is impressively miniature, but still easy to view, navigate, and control. The Pandora Mini accommodates either guitar or bass and has 158 different effects that can occupy six effects blocks, with 200 user-writeable and 200 preset memory locations.
THE MINI TOUR
The front panel consists of a large LCD (with an option for backlight on/off), two sets of four pushbuttons and a large rotary knob (the Value dial) for changing data parameters. The ports are all labeled on the front panel, making it easy to see all the I/O connections at a glance and without touching the unit. There are two 1/4" jacks on the front edge for guitar in and out and a thumbwheel for controlling output volume (including the headphone out). On the side edges are two 1/8" stereo mini jacks for headphones and aux in, a mini USB port (which powers the Pandora when plugged into a computer, preserving battery life), and a three-way On/Standby/USB switch (“Standby” is Korg’s weird terminology for “off”) for the Pandora’s different operating modes.
The distribution of the buttons is logical with the Play/Edit, Utility, Rhythm, and Tap/Tuner together and across the top (see Fig. 1). The bottom row of buttons (A, B, C, and D) is for changing programs. You can use the Tap button to set either the delay time (for rhythmic repeats) or to dial in the tempo for the rhythm patterns in Rhythm mode. The Rhythm button both puts you in that mode and starts the pattern playing. Pressing the button repeatedly cycles you through the pattern selection (where you can select among the 100 pre-programmed patterns), tempo (40-240), pattern volume, and reverb level. The Play/Edit button either puts the unit back in normal (Play) mode, or opens up the menus for effect and rhythm editing. This scheme works well enough, except that a rhythm pattern always plays once you enter the Rhythm mode, preventing you from switching patterns in silence. Having a silent memory location would help, but the patterns are not editable. Utility allows you to set the backlight option (very handy for practicing in the dark!), set the pitch shift of the aux input (for tuning playback tracks up or down to your guitar), and view the battery type (alkaline or NiMH rechargeable).
Figure 1. The Pandora Mini is well laid out, with a backlit LCD, large buttons, and a gigantic data wheel for quick adjustments. (Click images to enlarge.)
The lettering of the effects blocks’ labeling is a little small for reading at a distance, but you quickly realize that the blocks’ positions in the chain are fixed position (e.g., Cab is always in the third spot from the left), so you don’t really even need to read the labeling after you get the hang of it. The block is either on (appearing) or off (a space where a block should be.) Though Korg includes a helpful and well-written manual, you don’t really need it to navigate the unit. The manual becomes helpful (but not necessary) when you delve deeper into the editing functions.
THE SIGNAL CHAIN
The PM has six effects blocks representing the typical stages you’d encounter in a multieffects for guitar or bass: Dynamics, Amp, Cabinet, Modulation, Delay, and Reverb. Additionally, there is a noise reduction circuit (NR), which is variable and storable as part of a program. An overall level control helps to create a consistent output between programs, if you want to normalize, say, a clean acoustic sound with a metal lead one. Fig. 2 shows a schematic of the blocks. Where there are multiple block entries (Amp, Delay), it means that there are additional pages to scroll through. It’s a simple and intuitive way to keep the menu navigation linear.
Figure 2. The Pandora Mini features 6 effects blocks, some of which have multiple parameter pages.
Assigning a program to a front panels A-D switch is easy. After selecting a preset program from spinning the big Value dial, or by working in Edit mode and crafting an original sound, simply press and hold one of the four program switches to assign your edited sound to a button—similar to programming a car radio. Assigning to a big button is independent from saving your work to one of the 200 user-programmable locations.
THE EFFECTS BLOCKS
Four of the 6 blocks have just a single adjustable parameter, but in some cases (Modulation) the function of that control changes. Fore example, in a Filter, the parameter is width; for Intelligent Pitch Shifting, it’s the key (all 12 tones of the chromatic scale). As mentioned, two of the blocks have multiple parameters: Amp has four—Gain, Treble, Middle, and Bass. You use the Gain in combination with the output Level to effect the amount of distortion at a given volume. Each EQ knob offers 30 discrete steps in its range. The Delay block is the other multipage block, featuring FX Level in addition to Time, which has a range of 0 to 2,000ms in 20ms intervals, allowing you to craft the repeat distance to a fairly precise value.
I GOT RHYTHM
The Rhythm Mode has 100 non-editable patterns, including several metronome sounds. You can change the tempo, overall volume of the pattern (in relation to your guitar and aux input sounds), and reverb level. The reverb program, while selectable, is shared by the program effect. But there’s nothing to stop you from setting up different program effects with reverbs matched to the rhythm sound instead of the guitar sound, if you’re getting your ambience from, say, the modulation and delay. It’s nice to have a plethora of rhythm sounds to stand in for a boring metronome, but even the metronome sounds have variations, with shuffle and 16th-note subdivisions. This is very helpful as a teaching aid when you’re trying to get students to understand different grooves and feels. You can either dial in or tap in the tempo. As well, you can still switch programs (via the A-D switches) while in Rhythm Mode. Very handy and well-integrated.
Even the Tuning mode operates in two ways: Bypass (where the straight, unaffected signal is sent out of the PM) or Mute, where no audio signal exits the PM and enables silent tuning. Audible tuning (in Bypass) is useful for teaching situations as well as providing other musicians with a sounding pitch to tune to. Nice.
THE SOUNDS
I was really impressed with the quality of the Pandora Mini. I was expecting harsh and fizzy sounds, but there was none of that here. Some of the core quality is quite complex, and the gradation provides smooth and natural-sounding progressions through the range of the controls. To be sure, the sounds in the Dynamics section won’t replace your favorite and dedicated stompbox, but for effects like Delay, the Pandora Mini is every bit as good as a dedicated effect (just with fewer parameters). Considering the total sound, or the combined effect of the six effects blocks, the Pandora Mini yields a sound that is not only good enough for rehearsal, but in many cases, good enough for the gig and for recording.
SOFTWARE EDITOR
It’s easy enough to edit from the front panel, but it’s even easier if you have a computer nearby, as it allows you to see all the parameters at once, instead of scrolling through them one at a time. This is especially true of effects that have more than one parameter (like Amp, which has four, or Delay, which has two) because it requires your having to remember what the previous (and now invisible) value was.
The editor lays out all six effects blocks plus any internal parameters, along with the Noise Reduction and overall output Level on one screen, for at-a-glance viewing. Korg has proven itself good at providing supporting editor/librarians for their hardware processors, and the Pandora Mini is no exception. After downloading and installing the editor and plugging in the Pandora Mini, I was loading and offloading (saving to disk) several presets with ease. Fig. 3 shows the main screen.
Figure 3. The software editor/librarian makes it easy to see all the parameters at a glance, on a single screen.
CONCLUSION
Even before you consider its chief attributes—miniaturization and sound—the Pandora Mini strikes you as a very well designed multieffects that is easy to use and program. In an era when smartphones can provide effects processing, tuners, and drum beats, they still can’t beat a dedicated hardware unit like the Korg Pandora Mini. Korg keeps pushing the envelope on this series, and it definitely shows here. No smartphone can replace what the Pandora Mini offers. This is clearly an evolved product, as evidenced by its great sound, multiple features, and transparent operation.
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Jon Chappell is a guitarist and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has contributed numerous musical pieces to film and TV, including Northern Exposure, Walker, Texas Ranger, All My Children, and the feature film Bleeding Hearts, directed by actor-dancer Gregory Hines. He is the author of The Recording Guitarist: A Guide for Home and Studio (Hal Leonard), Essential Scales & Modes (Backbeat Books), and Build Your Own PC Recording Studio (McGraw-Hill), and has written six books in the popular Dummies series (Wiley Publishing).
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