5 Tips for Korg Gadget for iPad

Korg's Gadget suite is a fun and surprisingly powerful collection of dedicated synths and beatboxes running on iPad. As well as providing instant music-making enjoyment it has some hidden tricks up its sleeve that can help you make great tracks. Read on to find out what they are…

1. Use the Function button

At the bottom left corner of the Transport area is a Function button. In either Scene or Song mode this allows access to some useful tools. Here in Scene mode for example it lets you change the number of bars in the scene, the play mode of this particular scene, and the grid that is used to snap notes. It also provides shortcuts to deleting notes and automation data. In Song mode it can be used to copy and paste data between tracks as well as deleting parts.

2. Explore automation

In a scene, if you tap on the automation lane you can expand it to reveal all the automatable parameters for that particular gadget. These will vary depending on what controls the module has, but there will always be things like level and pan, plus some specific to the gadget. Use your finger to paint in automation data as the scene plays back. Some data is stepped based on the pattern resolution and other types are simpler on/off switches. Draw it out to delete it.

3. Choose FX within gadgets

Most gadgets have some effects that can be tweaked to alter the way they sound. A few like Amsterdam have a range of selectable effects that you can access by tapping on one of the four effect slots. This reveals a grid from which you can choose any slot 1 to 4 and then choose from a wide range of different effects. Each one can then be further tweaked using the smaller controls on the effect slot itself.

4. Use the Select tool

In Scene mode you will be accustomed to using the default Draw tool to enter notes into the grid. If you switch to using the Select tool you can drag with your finger to draw around multiple notes and then using the controls that appear underneath the grid, edit them all at once. These controls let you delete the selected notes or alter their velocity or pitch in steps using the plus and minus buttons.

5. Export your finished projects

When you have built up a track from multiple gadgets and scenes and created a whole song, you can export the resulting project in a number of ways. Click on the File button at the top left and choose the Export option to see your choices. The GadgetCloud button will export a mixdown of the track to Korg's own special online gallery, powered by FaceBook and SoundCloud. Audio File will create a local copy that can be accessed via the File Sharing tab in iTunes. Dropbox allows you to send a mixdown to your linked Dropbox account, and AudioCopy makes the file available to be pasted into another app that supports this, which many mobile DAWs now do.

Learn more about Korg Gadget here:

http://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_gadget_for_ipad/