Your First Beat on the KO II

Go from silence to a looping beat on the EP-133 in about five minutes.

1. Set your tempo. Hold TEMPO down and, while keeping it held, turn the large orange knob until the screen reads about 90 BPM. Let go of TEMPO to lock it in. (While you hold TEMPO the screen shows a BPM number that climbs or drops as you turn the knob. If nothing changes on screen, make sure you are still holding TEMPO while turning, not turning the knob on its own.)
2. Open your drum group. Press GROUP A once. This is the bank where the built-in drum sounds live, so it is your starting point for any beat. (GROUP A lights up to show it is the active bank. If a different group is lit, just press GROUP A again.)
3. Find your sounds. Tap pads 1-9 one at a time to audition the built-in drums. Listen for a kick (low thump), a snare (sharp crack), and a hi-hat (short tick), and remember which pad number each one is on. (Each pad you tap plays a distinct sound. If a pad is silent, check that VOLUME is turned up and that you are still on GROUP A.)
4. Start the loop recording. Press RECORD to arm recording, then press PLAY to start the loop rolling. The sequencer now captures everything you tap. (RECORD and PLAY are both lit and you can feel the loop cycling. If only RECORD is lit, press PLAY to actually start it moving.)
5. Play your beat in. Finger-drum live on your pads as the loop turns: kick on beats 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, and sprinkle the hi-hat in between for movement. (You hear each hit join the pattern and repeat the next time the loop comes around. If a hit lands slightly off, ignore it for now, you can fix or rerecord it later.)
6. Lock it in. Press RECORD again to stop recording. PLAY stays lit, so the loop keeps playing back exactly what you just performed. (RECORD goes dark, PLAY stays lit, and your beat loops back to you hands-free. If everything stops, you pressed PLAY by mistake, press PLAY again to resume.)