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If you save out individual Gadget tracks as audio it appears to bypass the global reverb and also I think it ignores your global faders and just outputs everything at max volume.
Bit annoying!
However, saving out the master track means it renders everything through the mixer and reverb.
Beware differences in automation curves between scenes.
Go in and check each curve in each scene if you are getting nasty jumps on your automation sweeps accross scenes.
You have to actively record automation on a per scene basis (every scene) otherwise a scene may not have any automation and 'jump' to the 'default' state of the patch (which, by the way, I believe is the last position you manually move the knob to).
It's a bit of pain.
Often I record automation live accross the whole entire track on a per knob basis as a final step - holding onto and moving the knob in every scene. Then you can ensure smoothness accross the whole track.
Also - beware that a 2 bar clip in and 8 bar scene is going to repeat its automation 4 times. So for a smooth automation sweep across the 8 bars you're going to need to make that 2 bar clip into an 8 bar clip.
Pheonix - vintage sounding analog squelch and richness. Great for basses. Great for messing with the pulse width. Best all round Gadget synth for quality of sound I think.
Wolfsburgh - most options for both effects (you have 2 insert effects) and modulation. This is where to go to make your most complicated patches and for most of your noise based weirdness and FX patches.
Keiv - if you want something different sounding (since its vector synthesis of 4 samples). It has a insert effect plus amp and filter envelopes so it's pretty powerful. Obviously for pads. But I also use it for weird and changing (if you automate) percussive sounds now.
The 'pitch' knobs on each and every independent sample in Abu and Bilbao are amazing for experimentation.
They work in real time and are automatable. So after a sample has been triggered you can slow down the final part of it (for example) producing a 'record stop' type effect.
You can also automate the start and stop position of any sample in Bilbao in real time.
This allows you to really mash up a single sample.
Combine these two techniques together with, say also automating the delay amount (and even time) in Bilbao's insert effect and you have some really crazy power over what you can do with just a single 5 second YouTube sample - totally controllable in Gadgets automation lanes.
You have 16 samples in just one instance of Bilbao!
I'll leave you with an opinion...
One of the biggest strengths of Gadget is its automation capabilities.
Every single knob on every single Gadget is automatable via the extremely fine control Gadget's automation lanes give you.
That gives you huge possibilities for doing some seriously interesting things with your sound. And tweaking until it sounds JUST RIGHT.
(You can even automate a change in the type of insert effect on the gadgets that have the insert effects module.)
Phoenix in Gadget is pretty flexible and I hope Korg will add more IFX to the mixer channels to spice up the sounds.
One neat thing about Gadget is the integration of iM1(Darwin) and Module for additional sounds.
AbuDhabi and Bilbao add spice too but are still quite limited compared to fully featured samplers.
ChiangMai can be seen as two parallel 2OP FM-Synths.
The trick in Gadget is to familiarise oneself with what the different synths are capable of instead of focusing on what is missing in each of them...
Sure It would be nice to have osc-sync, x-mod and more effects in Phoenix as an example, but 'Berlin' does 'Sync-Type Sounds' and 'Miami' does X-Mod type sounds. Wolfsburg is classic Virtual-Analog but doesn't offer Pulse Width Modulation but has more effects. And 'Helsinki' could use an additional LFO for filter-modulation...
Thankfully the more recent versions of Gadget have made 'zooming' a lot easier.
Starting playback from any bar works as long as 'Link' is disabled.
Just select the bar(s) and double-tap under the area under yellow marked bars to start playback.
I need to really get into programming long, interesting, modulating sounds in iM1 and then saving them to Gadget. It's just that Korg doesn't make this all that easy!
Yah, the integration could be taken a step further, like 'fullscreen iM1 Gadget' with full iM1 editing.
Then again, I'm still hoping Korg will give us HD1/WaveStation with Sampling for iOS. Now that would be something special!
So @Samu - how much can one really design sounds in iM1 versus it just being a sample player?
Can you really get creative with it and design some unique new patches?
I had a bit of a look but got a bit confused with the language on the controls (eg 'MG init' etc...). Felt a bit old fashioned.
Wow you totally read my mind about starting a thread like this! I was just thinking about it during my morning commute. Thanks! Anyway, I have one tip and one question.
Tip: If you're automating parameters over several bars it's easier to create a longer track than to line up the automation on shorter tracks. For example, in my last few songs, I've used up to 16-bar tracks for automation. Gadget only shows 8 bars at once, but you can easily scroll across the bars.
Question: If I have a 1 bar track that I want to copy to 8 bars, is there an easier way than to hit Function, Copy, Paste from 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7 and 1-8?
Check out my latest Gadget songs at http://www.soundcloud.com/chisel316
Peace \/
chisel316
MIster Matt| Very generous share there.....much appreciated.
This is precisely why I never bother making or saving any patches for Gadget synths. In the course of a few bars, I’ll probably sweep through every possible setting in every possible control combination, for each gadget (except London).
More tips... (geared towards dance music)
layer your sounds
Layer your gadgets to create a full, rich sound. In my Abbie And Crane trance mix, I use three gadgets for the pads, three gadgets for the bass, two gadgets for the lead and nine gadgets for the drums. Which leads me to my next tip...
one sound per channel
Separate all your sounds. This goes for drums too. You may be tempted to fill all 16 slots of Bilbao with drum sounds, but then you're limited to one effect, eq, compressor and reverb send level for the whole kit. This may be fine for the type of music you're composing (i.e. hip hop), but when I'm working on a trance production, I load one sample per Bilbao so I have complete control over the above parameters for each drum sample. It also makes it easier to visualize the arrangement. For example, I can easily see where the hand clap is muted because it's on a separate channel and not hidden within a single kit channel.
workflow
I compose the main part of the song in one scene. Then I mix (level, eq, compression, reverb, effects) all the parts until I can easily hear them all and I'm happy with how it sounds. Then I duplicate this scene multiple times, add automation, mutes, transitions, etc... until I have my final arrangement. I usually work with 8-bar or 16-bar tracks so I can have variety between scenes (i.e. dropping the kick drum for the 8th bar or adding a snare fill).
start from init
I almost always start each gadget with the init preset. Most of the gadgets are focused and non-cluttered to the point that it's very easy to learn how each parameter affects the overall sound. Also, by starting from scratch, you're more likely to create something that sounds original. Of course, there is nothing wrong with using presets. Sometimes you can get what you want just by tweaking an existing preset.
Hope this helps!
Peace \/
chisel316
I slogged through the owner’s manual decades ago. Trying to muster the attention span to go through it again…
iM1 for iPad Owner's Manual - KORG
https://google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0ahUKEwidr4KP8rDMAhUKNiYKHS4EDqsQFggvMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.korg.com%2Fdownload%2Fglobal%2Fkorg_im1_for_ipad%2FiM1_OM_E.pdf&usg=AFQjCNErckwXR6GEXozPdspM3YLT79mRUQ&sig2=doAF4TTxhExMzQRpyglt-Q&bvm=bv.120853415,d.cWw
Thanks - although I hate reading manuals
I’ve just taken a look through the manual above. I don’t actually have iM1 (it’s not my sort of thing, and if I wanted that sort of thing I’ve got a Korg 05R/W in a box in the attic).
iM1 differs usefully from the original physical M1 in that it now has resonant filters. The originals didn’t.
It is a fairly straightforward subtractive synth architecture. The sounds come from what they’re calling an oscillator, but is actually a sample player, and what they call multi sounds are multi-sampled sets of samples (i.e., a sample for a restricted range of notes, then another for another range, and another for another range and so on). I presume most of the samples are set up so that they ‘consist’ of one-shot attack portion and continually sustaining loops. There’s also drum sets, treated differently. So that’s the source of sound – your oscillators, which track the midi notes. You can have one multi sound, or two at the same time (as if it were two VCOs).
The modifications to sound are the filter and amplifier (VDF and VDA) (presumably meaning value-dependent filter and value dependent amplifier, I may be incorrect in that, you may as well think of it that way), then a big healthy set of effects which wash glossy reverb and chorus over everything, to make you buy an M1 when you try it in the shop.
The control elements are pretty standard, the keyboard itself (and midi), envelope generators, and LFOs (called modulation generators here, or MGs). The keyboard has too many scaling parameters, but is also a complex source of modulation control. The envelope generators have almost too many parameters (later in the 90s, synths would grow frankly far too many envelope parameters, this one isn’t too bad — although the ‘s’ isn’t a sustain level, it’s a slope, which is a bit strange). The mod gens (LFOs) have too many parameters, but everything you’d expect is in there somewhere (except enough detail in the manual - lacking somewhat in this area). The manual frequently (sixteen times) points you at the original M1 manual for some reason.
Then there’s the “because we can” multi program thing, where you can stack eight multi sound oscillators. Then put them all through VDF and VDA (which by the way would presumably be polyphonic, not paraphonic).
All in all, quite a comprehensive synth, in the “normal” synth mould, but with samples instead of raw oscillator waveforms (presumably it has a set of those as well), and a contemporary baffling barrage of too many parameters and numbers, for absolutely every parameter they could expose.
Thank you @u0421793
Very useful... and much appreciated.
I'm really interested in getting some nice granular type sounds so I guess layering a few samples and moving along and between the samples in interesting ways.
I'll go and have another play when I get a chance.
Here are some resources I found that may be useful:
https://www.facebook.com/korg.iapps/
https://support.korguser.net/hc/en-us/categories/200046380-Korg-Gadget
https://twitter.com/korg_iapps
https://support.korguser.net/hc/en-us/community/topics/200037165-Korg-Gadget
https://ask.audio/articles/5-tips-for-korg-gadget-for-ipad
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=58
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Korg.Gadget/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=korg+gadget+tips+tricks+tutorials
One thing I do when my scenes are completed and I'm ready to make them in to a song is add a new instrument track with no notes and just use it to set the scenes to certain number of bars.
Eg. If I have a 4 bar intro I want to loop twice I'll make the new blank track 8 bars long. It's a big help keeping things organized when scenes are different lengths but you want DJ friendly changes every 16 or 32 bars, just use the blank track to standardize their lengths.
Another way to loop a scene is to tap Function, then tap on the "4/4 x 1" for the scene you want to loop. It will open a window where you can set the number of loops.
Anyone know of a trick to adjust (transpose) the pitch in Bilbao by semitones (snap to semitone)? I know you can do a vertical swipe to move it in 0.10 semitone increments, but it's super finicky, even when zoomed. Abu Dhabi has the option to tap above/below the +/- on slices in pitch mode in order to adjust by full semitones.
Relatedly, there's no way to get a visual indication on semitone transposition in the automation graph, right?
@parallaxobject I don't think there's a better way in the Bilbao's instrument panel, but you can mess with pitch in the automation pane. You can draw the pitch on the fly, while recording, for each individual pad, which may prove a quicker way to find the pitch you want.
Just loop a section and set the quantization so that you can adjust pitch for each hit. There is no numerical feedback on what you're doing, strangely, so you'll just have to follow your ears— so powerful, but hobbled at the same time.
Thanks!
This is something I requested over at the Korg forums long time ago to have visual guide-lines in the automation editor and 'snap' to semi-tones for pitch related automation. I also requested options to copy & paste automation data. (Think making chip-arps (controlling coarse-tuning without re-triggering the note at 1/64th note) and copy&paste that over a few bars).
But before all that I'd love to see a proper keyboard-sampler with sampling and editing integrated into Gadget.
Korg knows how to do this right for touch-screens (look at Triton and Kronos).
And also an option to use/share all Gadget factory and user samples in all Gadgets that support samples would be nice but this would require Gadge to get proper file-management built-in).
(Think of this as a way to use user-samples in Kiev, London, Bilbao, AbuDhabi and Marseilles for starters).
Gadget does so many things right and there is huge potential for feature additions...
More IFX per channel for starters. Include all the effects available in the app as IFX options.
Copy 'frozen' tracks to Bilbao or AbuDhabi or 'File-Managear' for integrated re-sampling and usage in other Gadgets.
Gadget will only get better with time
Great points! The flexibility with the user samples would be great, and help fill major hole in iOS world. Even just the option to set samples into keyboard mode, like Korg's Microsampler, or even iMaschine and Beathawk, but with Gadget's sequencing and automation, would be big help.
That's why I've been trying to push these ideas over at the Korg Forums hoping that they will some day listen
Shameless plug here. If you own Modstep i have posted 15 midi cc templates for various gadgets so you can do crazy modulations both in realtime via the xy pads or by drawing modulation in the pianoroll. you can grab them here:- https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/13332/modstep-midi-cc-templates-for-korg-gadgets
I call that a very generous plug. Thanks so much!
Didn't know about that, thanks for the tip!