dude Posted March 27, 2009 Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 Recently I've become very interested in the KAOSS mod that's been floating around for the past few years. I think it stems originally from Matt Bellamy's famous Manson-made KAOSS guitar(s). While I admit I am a Muse fan, I have to say the pad's capabilities intrigue me beyond the ability to make me sound "just like Matt." If you're not familiar with KAOSS Pads, they are a line of DJ effect tools with many built-in digital effects which are controlled by an x-y midi pad. Essentially, you use a touchpad to mess with your guitar's sound (or your turntable's sound if we're being proper). If you're not familiar with the mod, it's basically a transplant of the pad portion of a KORG KAOSS Pad (and a button or two) into the body of a guitar so that the player can control the pad's effects on the guitar while playing. A cable is run back to the KAOSS unit with the leads for the pad and buttons. The result is very similar to the Manson KAOSS guitars (with the exception that Manson's guitars use an actual midi connection rather than an extension of the original pad's circuit). It functions the same, anyway. A very helpful man named Phil put together a tutorial and a few demo videos a while back (links below). He may have come up with the cannibalization mod, too. If you haven't seen them before, I highly recommend checking out his demo vids - they're pretty cool. Phil's tutorial (with demo video links right at the top. You can't miss them, I swear): http://www.unmaintained.com/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=43 Anyway, on to business. I am considering trying out this mod, but I'm a little hesitant to drop $150 on a used KP-2 without knowing more. Basically, what I'd like to know is if anyone has ever used, built, or otherwise experienced a KAOSS guitar (or a guitar with a KAOSS pad. I understand the mini-KP is a bit more guitarist-friendly)? Any and all of your thoughts on this topic are deeply appreciated. Thanks in advance! -dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donovan Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I've seen this on youtube.com a few times. I do think it is very cool as well. There are a few different kaoss units available now. Some are cheaper than others and they are not uber-expensive. I'd looked into the mod myself, but fell out of love with it once I realized you need to keep the base unit as part of it. I'd be more interested in being able to use the pad as a stand-alone with my normal effects setup. Hooking up a similar touch pad to an output that could control a pitch bender or stereo fader would be sweet as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude Posted March 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I'd looked into the mod myself, but fell out of love with it once I realized you need to keep the base unit as part of it. What I find particularly interesting about that part of it is that on Manson's KAOSS guitars, he installs a midi-controller xy pad into the guitars, rather than an extension of the base unit. There's a midi input on most KAOSS pads and he can then just plug it into there (or theoretically any other midi-controlled unit. on one demo video they even mention controlling lighting). So far, I haven't been able to find a single xy midi pad for sale or otherwise. I guess he must have them made specially for him by KORG. I emailed his public email to ask. No response yet (and at this point I'm not expecting one. He's a busy guy after all). I'd be more interested in being able to use the pad as a stand-alone with my normal effects setup. Hooking up a similar touch pad to an output that could control a pitch bender or stereo fader would be sweet as well. There is another KAOSS pad (the newest one, in fact) that might suffice in this area. The KP-mini is pretty darn small and it's battery operated (with an optional DC plugin). it shouldn't be too hard to strap one onto any guitar without even cutting up the body. I bet you could even mount it in the body without too much trouble. The only issue is that it has RCA connections for the input and output. This is easy enough to remedy with converter cables, but if you want to put the unit in your effects loop rather than between your guitar and amp, you need to run 3 different cables to your guitar. That seems a bit cumbersome. I might still give it a try though (hooray for zip ties). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donovan Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 There is another KAOSS pad (the newest one, in fact) that might suffice in this area. The KP-mini is pretty darn small and it's battery operated (with an optional DC plugin). it shouldn't be too hard to strap one onto any guitar without even cutting up the body. I bet you could even mount it in the body without too much trouble. The only issue is that it has RCA connections for the input and output. This is easy enough to remedy with converter cables, but if you want to put the unit in your effects loop rather than between your guitar and amp, you need to run 3 different cables to your guitar. That seems a bit cumbersome. I might still give it a try though (hooray for zip ties). I'd be interested in following your progress and lending some support where it's within my abilities. I hadn't seen that model. At $150, not bad, considering the list of effects. If I were considering this (which I would at some point, too many projects of other interest going as of right now), then I would probably gut the unit, install electronics/pad in the guitar with just the pad visible and screen/controls in the pickguard, run the guitar signal in (with a bypass switch of course) then run out, both channels, through a stere jack. That way, I wouldn't have a need of making it look like a Franken-guitar with a bunch of extra cabling, which is really not ideal. The salient question is, the dimensions of the unit itself, if they could be crammed inside a guitar. Anyway, what you'd have would be quite a specialty guitar. To many, the idea does not excite the imagination, but I've said it recently, I am a sucker for a novelty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 im doing one for someone - got a spare screen from korg and found someone to program the midi controller. its programmed for kaoss pad and digitech whammy. theres a knob to select from the presets in the kaoss pad and by clicking it you select between the kaoss and whammy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude Posted March 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 got a spare screen from korg and found someone to program the midi controller. that is VERY interesting. Sounds like an ideal solution to me. Any chance you'd be willing to share the midi secrets? How reproducable is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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