'KORG Gadget Le'. Experience Next Generation Musical Technology. Now you can try these exciting new technologies and give life to your own next-generation music experiences. Listen and Enjoy Demo Songs. View All Tracks. Huge Sound Collection and Intuitive DAW. In 2017, Korg expanded Gadget’s range by introducing an identical version for Mac OS, bringing its intuitive approach to the desktop. The full install of Gadget for Mac is bundled with more than 30 plugins, including the recording gadgets Zurich and Rosario, as well as a virtualized collection of their most iconic hardware synths. Though many of Gadget’s synths are so immediately.
Korg standlone VSTs are $49.99 on iOS they are $29,99 so probably everything more or less doubles on MAC OS. Gadget app will be $99.99 and the VST plugins 49.99 BUT if the have same price policy as on iOS they will launch everything at 50% introduction price. KORG Gadget 2 for Mac Operating Requirements Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan or higher (latest update) Intel Core 2 Duo or better (Core i5 or better recommended) 4 GB RAM (8 GB or more recommended).
Synthesizer Studio Software
Gadget for Mac combines the two views from the iOS version.
Korg have created a synth production studio that works on all your devices. Could this be your new second DAW?
Korg Gadget is one of the most successful music apps on the iOS platform, and the only one that I’ve used routinely over the last few years. The appeal is that you can dip into Gadget and noodle with the eclectic instruments, and also generate useful ideas that you can use later via Gadget’s ability to export to various formats, particularly Ableton Live. Korg have now ported Gadget to the Mac, not only bringing the app to the desktop, but also turning all the Gadgets into VST/AU/AAX plug-ins, with the promise of seamless transition between your mobile and studio platforms.
In Gadget
Gadget for Mac closely mirrors the iOS version: it’s a collection of musical ‘Gadgets’ within a sequencing and mixing environment along the lines of Ableton Live’s Session view. The feature-set is exactly the same on the Mac version, as is the look, except that the interface has room to spread out and relax in the extra screen space. The only significant difference is that Gadget For Mac comes with the complete set of Gadgets while the iOS version provides a starter pack and then offers others as individual in-app purchases. This goes some way to explaining the difference in price between the versions.
The seductive Gadget Browser. Starting a new project, I was slightly sad to see that Gadget For Mac doesn’t have the automatic song-naming feature from the iOS version, which has blessed me over the years with such wonderful songs as ‘Flat Expression’ and ‘Vertical Crab’. You are, however, presented with the same palette of colourful renders from which to choose your first Gadget. Type and Tag filters help you narrow down your choice here from among the various synths, drum machines, sampled instruments and audio recorders. When you’ve made your selection you find yourself with one track in a combined mixer and scene arranger view. Each Gadget lives on a mixer channel, above which are stacked clips associated with that device. Horizontal rows of clips represent Scenes, from which you can create an arrangement playlist that progresses downwards. In the iOS versions you flip between this view and another page that houses the control panel of the selected Gadget along with a clip recorder/editor. On the Mac you can blow up either of these pages, or show both views at once for constant access to all four working areas. The only time you’re not in this unified view is when choosing sound sources from the Gadget browser.
In the default ‘Easy’ MIDI mode, whichever track is selected receives MIDI from all inputs and drops into record with the main transport. An Advanced mode allows for specific MIDI input assignments and multitrack recording. Clip length is set ahead of recording, with the longest clip determining the Scene length. With Loop engaged, a single Scene repeats; otherwise playback automatically progresses through the Scenes, obeying any Repeat times you’ve specified per Scene. A neat trick compared to other scene-based DAWs is how you can record across Scene boundaries into separate but contiguous clips. If you’re recording with Loop mode disabled, new clips pick up recording where the previous ones left off as playback moves to another Scene.
The one round-trip road block: tracks made on the Mac need the same Gadget on your phone to play.MIDI editing follows familiar piano roll conventions, with Draw and Select modes, velocity stalks, and clip-based automation curves. (Automation is also captured live any time you move a Gadget or mixer parameter during recording). There’s an innovative and fast way of moving and duplicating sections within a clip, using source and destination buttons for each bar. Another novel approach to editing is Function mode, which gives you access to project management actions in the Scene/Mixer view. Toggling into Function mode overlays every section of the UI with operations that can be applied to it. For clips this includes copying, muting, etc., and for mixer channels includes freezing and re-ordering. This comes directly from the touch UI on the iPad/iPhone versions and allows you to quickly make multiple changes without using menus.
Go Go Gadget
Despite the move to the desktop, Gadget For Mac is still unusually well set up for mobile use using just a laptop. The single, flexible window is well suited to MacBook displays and supports retina resolutions. Pinch to Zoom is supported from the trackpad in the clip edit area, which, combined with two-finger scrolling, makes for one of the best screen-navigation systems in any DAW. I enjoyed the extensive Touch Bar implementation, which includes keys and drum pads to play the Gadgets, audio waveforms and even little thumbnails of the Gadgets when in the browser.
At all times the whole QWERTY area of the keyboard is dedicated to playing notes, starting from C2 (C1 in regular money) on the Z key and working upwards along the rows. This always puts drum machine triggers within easy reach on the bottom row, but the positions of other notes varies by scale. The Scale setting filters which notes are present on the Gadget panel, Touch Bar and QWERTY keys, but doesn’t transpose existing recorded clips in the song; external MIDI keyboards are unaffected. One minor note (sorry): on such a beginner-friendly DAW I’d have gone with ‘Major’ and ‘Minor’ rather than ‘Ionian’ and ‘Dorian’. There’s also an Arpeggiator with multiple modes and rhythms. The Chord mode is very simple with no options (you get an open 7th that conforms to your scale), but combines nicely with the Arp for instant gratification. For some reason the Chord player didn’t work when playing my external MIDI keyboard, but the Arp did. Talking of MIDI controllers, Gadget has ‘native modes’ for Korg’s NanoKey Studio, NanoKontrol Studio and NanoKontrol2, giving them integrated, pre-defined functionality. For other controllers there’s no MIDI learn functionality, but each Gadget’s CC assignments can be displayed in a pop-up.
The Tokyo analogue drum module.While Gadget is predominantly focused around its internal Gadgets (there’s no support for other plug-ins), you can record and import audio from other sources. This is achieved via two Audio Track Gadgets: Zurich and Rosario. While a cute concept, you’re not really recording ‘into’ the Gadgets as such: they’re signal processors on dedicated audio tracks with input selectors and waveform displays. The Zurich-based track option is for general-purpose recording and audio file playback. It looks like a reel-to-reel tape machine, but is there to give you gain controls and a choice of 25 insert effects. As with other tracks, you set the clip length ahead of time to determine the length of the recording, which can then be set to Loop or Single Play mode. As with MIDI, though, if you’re not in Loop mode you can record a continuous performance spanning a multi-scene arrangement. Sadly, there’s no audio warping to enable the importing of loops in time with your song. The second recording Gadget is Rosario, which is a guitar effects processor and amp/cab simulator. This is surprisingly good, with a range of genuinely usable tones, and a generous collection of effects.
There’s no MIDI equivalent to Zurich, so you can’t sequence external MIDI sources via Gadget, but you can at least sync with the wider world. Ableton Link allows beat locking with other people using Gadget, Live, and many other Link-capable systems. Alternatively, Gadget can sync to incoming MIDI clock, but can’t generate it.
Handoff
Gadget can sync with both iCloud and Dropbox to keep your creations available on your computer and mobile devices. Any user-imported samples can also be shared in this way. Songs I’d made on my phone and iPad opened up on the Mac version and were, as far as I could tell, identical. This really is the killer feature for me: to be able to take work done on a mobile music app and use it unchanged on my Mac. The fact that you can go in both directions makes it even more compelling, but there is a limitation. If you use Gadgets on your Mac that you don’t own on the iOS version you won’t hear all the tracks. Freezing these tracks on the Mac doesn’t help. Ideally the mobile app should open these tracks frozen while keeping them live when on the Mac. The good news is that, unlike some systems, round-tripping does not strip the unavailable instruments from the song file, so everything is still there when you come back to your Mac.
Gadget VSTs allow render-free song transfer to Live.
One of the reasons I’ve found Gadget so useful in the past is the Ableton Live project export. This recreates your Gadget project in Live’s Session view with a remarkable degree of accuracy, including mixer settings. Previously, each clip was bounced to an audio loop, and that is still available from both versions. But now there’s an even better option: you can export as VST or AU, resulting in a Live session with MIDI clips and all the Gadgets replaced by their plug-in versions. Even parameter automation within the clips is present, and tracks using the Zurich audio recorder and Rosario guitar processor are converted to clips on audio tracks.
Conclusion
We have to talk about the pricing of Gadget For Mac, which is curious. $299, compared to $39.99 for the iOS version, takes it out of the zone of most ‘casual’ users. The economies of scale are certainly different between desktop and mobile apps, and there’s no doubt a lot of development time has gone into the various plug-in versions; but another explanation is that the Mac version includes all the add-on purchases available for the iOS app. If you were to buy all of those you’d spend $245, plus another $100 to load up on the Module expansion packs. The desktop app has a large inherent value in terms of Korg IP, especially as it’s also a VST/AU/AAX plug-in bundle: you’re getting the M1, Wavestation and Odyssey as plug-ins for a start. But I can’t help thinking Korg would be giving the Gadget platform a better chance in life if they offered the same model of add-on purchases to bring the cost of entry down. And remember, if you want full round-trip compatibility with your phone/iPad you’ll need to buy all the Gadgets you use on the iOS version as well...
Gadget For Mac is lots of fun, and you get a lot of intriguing synth toys to play with alongside some more grown-up instruments. Nothing ever gets very deep; you usually have just enough to get things done. It’s not trying to replace the major-league DAWs; in fact Korg are marketing it as an ‘ideal second DAW’. More compelling is that it’s the first truly device-agnostic production package (well, Apple device anyway), where you can freely move between your computer, tablet and phone, working on the same song sketches. And when you see your song open in Live with everything being reborn as VST it definitely feels like a glimpse of the future.
Alternatives
Apple’s GarageBand comes close to Gadget in terms of iOS/MacOS parity and you can open songs in Logic, although transfer is one-way only. Maschine also makes for a good ‘second DAW’, with import to your main package via its plug-in incarnation, which is not limited to Ableton Live. The iMaschine app gives you a mobile sketchpad component, but is a one-way street again.
Gadget Inspector
Of Gadget’s 29 instruments, around half are synths, with the rest split between drum/beat machines and sample-based ‘keyboards’. Some are quite simple and geared towards quite specific sounds/genres, while others are deeper synths and workstation-style sound banks. Occasionally there’s some overlap between the basic Gadgets that come as standard with Gadget iOS or LE and the high-end add-ons, but overall it’s a large range. There’s plenty of beat-making potential and the cream of the drum machines, Bilbao, and the Abu Dhabi loop slicer both let you load your own samples. The Tokyo analogue drum module is also a favourite. There are analogue-style synths such as the Prophetic Phoenix, and Dublin, which is somewhere between an MS10 and MS20, complete with patch cables. Wolfsburg and Kiev offer versatile modern synth sounds. Some quirky gems are the Kamata drawable wavetable synth and Kingston chip-tune king.
![Gadget Gadget](/uploads/1/1/6/8/116817605/973831348.jpg)
It’s not all about synths though, there’s plenty of sample-based acoustic instrument modelling on offer. Individual Gadgets take care of piano, electric piano, vintage organ, electric bass, and acoustic drums. Then there’s a top layer of Gadgets that pack some serious Korg heritage. Glasgow and Darwin are ‘Gadgetised’ PCM sample and synthesis workstations: varied sound banks with just enough controls to tweak the sounds and effects a bit. Darwin is a simplified M1, with every M1 and T1 ROM ever! Works for those of us who are rendered moist with nostalgia at the twinkling ‘Aah Of The Universe’ patch, but I imagine my kids will quickly want to head back to the Miami wobble bass generator. The two jewels in the crown are an uncompromised and awesome-sounding Arp Odyssey (Lexington), and Milipitas: a fully loaded Korg Wavestation with a lovely colour interface.
Pros
- All instruments work as stand-alone plug-ins.
- True round-trip workflow between desktop and mobile.
- Complete project and Gadget transfer to Ableton Live.
Cons
- Price likely to put off casual users.
- No audio warping.
- Frozen tracks not available on iOS if you don’t own the original Gadget.
Summary
An addictive and surprisingly capable music package with complete parity across desktop and mobile devices, and also a big collection of Korg synth and drum machine plug-ins.
information
$299 including VAT.Korg Gadget 2
Korg UK +44 (0)1908 304600
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus isan award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you useyour other music apps together. Chain effects on your favouritesynth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app likeGarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface outputfor each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive asynth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDIkeyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear.And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Korg Gadget Vst
Comments
Korg Gadget For Mac
- @Noirflux said:@nick said:@Noirflux said:@vpich said:
Would love that but would be a wierd step back in terms of marketing. They have succeeded in pushing a closed environment. They won. Why would they open up the au thing?I agree. They want people to buy into their app ecosystem. They can definitely get away with it because they are top quality. At the same time, it would be awesome if they did lolWhy would that be a step back? you can already record individual Gadgets into DAWs via AudioBus or IAA. So Gadgets as Audio Units would only be the next step. And another selling point for the more expensive Gadgets.I was talking about from Korg's perspective. Gadget as an app, is closed compared to an app like Auria that encourages multiple app usage from different developers (AU, IAA etc;). Gadget can be used in other scenarios but only approved Gadget synths can be used within the app. I agreed with the earlier point made in that they spent the past few years keeping it closed. To all of a sudden go the AU route would be shocking in my head. However, stranger things have happened as seen on the best show in NetflixI was also talking from KORG's perspective
I was trying to point out that while they have kept Gadget closed (sounds can only be created with Gadgets, not external synths) they have not been so closed about using the sounds outside Gadget -- and making Gadgets into audio units would be a continuation of that. It would not hurt the Gadget system and would be an added value to IAP Gagets.
If on the other hand they supported au or IAA within or into Gadget, that would indeed be a complete reversal of their philosophy. - @nick said:@Noirflux said:@nick said:@Noirflux said:@vpich said:
Would love that but would be a wierd step back in terms of marketing. They have succeeded in pushing a closed environment. They won. Why would they open up the au thing?I agree. They want people to buy into their app ecosystem. They can definitely get away with it because they are top quality. At the same time, it would be awesome if they did lolWhy would that be a step back? you can already record individual Gadgets into DAWs via AudioBus or IAA. So Gadgets as Audio Units would only be the next step. And another selling point for the more expensive Gadgets.I was talking about from Korg's perspective. Gadget as an app, is closed compared to an app like Auria that encourages multiple app usage from different developers (AU, IAA etc;). Gadget can be used in other scenarios but only approved Gadget synths can be used within the app. I agreed with the earlier point made in that they spent the past few years keeping it closed. To all of a sudden go the AU route would be shocking in my head. However, stranger things have happened as seen on the best show in NetflixI was also talking from KORG's perspective
I was trying to point out that while they have kept Gadget closed (sounds can only be created with Gadgets, not external synths) they have not been so closed about using the sounds outside Gadget -- and making Gadgets into audio units would be a continuation of that. It would not hurt the Gadget system and would be an added value to IAP Gagets.
If on the other hand they supported au or IAA within or into Gadget, that would indeed be a complete reversal of their philosophy.I agree, it could make sense. You can already use iM1, iWaveStation, ARP ODYSSEi and Korg Module in other apps, as well as in Gadget.By making all the built in Gadgets available as AU and IAA instruments they expand their potential customer base for Gadget considerably, without loosing anything: Gadget users get more versatility and non-gadget users suddenly have a REALLY compelling reason to buy Gadget, even though they may never use the DAW part of it.The other way around (opening Gadget) does not make sense, since that would allow Gadget customers to buy 3rd party synths instead of the Korg ones, which is not in Korgs interest ;-) - @Peter321 said:@nick said:@Noirflux said:@nick said:@Noirflux said:@vpich said:
Would love that but would be a wierd step back in terms of marketing. They have succeeded in pushing a closed environment. They won. Why would they open up the au thing?I agree. They want people to buy into their app ecosystem. They can definitely get away with it because they are top quality. At the same time, it would be awesome if they did lolWhy would that be a step back? you can already record individual Gadgets into DAWs via AudioBus or IAA. So Gadgets as Audio Units would only be the next step. And another selling point for the more expensive Gadgets.I was talking about from Korg's perspective. Gadget as an app, is closed compared to an app like Auria that encourages multiple app usage from different developers (AU, IAA etc;). Gadget can be used in other scenarios but only approved Gadget synths can be used within the app. I agreed with the earlier point made in that they spent the past few years keeping it closed. To all of a sudden go the AU route would be shocking in my head. However, stranger things have happened as seen on the best show in NetflixI was also talking from KORG's perspective
I was trying to point out that while they have kept Gadget closed (sounds can only be created with Gadgets, not external synths) they have not been so closed about using the sounds outside Gadget -- and making Gadgets into audio units would be a continuation of that. It would not hurt the Gadget system and would be an added value to IAP Gagets.
If on the other hand they supported au or IAA within or into Gadget, that would indeed be a complete reversal of their philosophy.I agree, it could make sense. You can already use iM1, iWaveStation, ARP ODYSSEi and Korg Module in other apps, as well as in Gadget.By making all the built in Gadgets available as AU and IAA instruments they expand their potential customer base for Gadget considerably, without loosing anything: Gadget users get more versatility and non-gadget users suddenly have a REALLY compelling reason to buy Gadget, even though they may never use the DAW part of it.The other way around (opening Gadget) does not make sense, since that would allow Gadget customers to buy 3rd party synths instead of the Korg ones, which is not in Korgs interest ;-)No I can't see it opening up, but as a AU/VST to load inside another host, like Maschine and FLStudio, maybe. - @nick said:@Noirflux said:@vpich said:
Would love that but would be a wierd step back in terms of marketing. They have succeeded in pushing a closed environment. They won. Why would they open up the au thing?I agree. They want people to buy into their app ecosystem. They can definitely get away with it because they are top quality. At the same time, it would be awesome if they did lolWhy would that be a step back? you can already record individual Gadgets into DAWs via AudioBus or IAA. So Gadgets as Audio Units would only be the next step. And another selling point for the more expensive Gadgets.If they only provided them for purchase through the gadget app it wouldn't hurt their sales at all...you buy gadget, you buy a gadget IAP and you get to use it as AUv3....would be one way to do it. - @AndyPlankton said:If they only provided them for purchase through the gadget app it wouldn't hurt their sales at all...you buy gadget, you buy a gadget IAP and you get to use it as AUv3....would be one way to do it.That would be the only sensible way to do itI mean Korg does have a certain 'sound' to their stuff that is used all over the place and having all their stuff in one 'container' would be very handy indeed.
- edited January 2017@Samu said:
I'm hoping Gadget will finally get a bigger on-screen and pads with possibility to enter/play notes with different velocities.+1
I want this more than any other addition. - If they do AUV3 on iOS it would be game over for everyone else seriously
- @realdavidai said:
If they do AUV3 on iOS it would be game over for everyone else seriouslyI doubt that...
There are still many, many synths outside Gadget...
What would 'shake' the playground would be if Gadget allowed us to host other AUv3's with full automation. - @realdavidai said:
If they do AUV3 on iOS it would be game over for everyone else seriously@realdavidai said:
If they do AUV3 on iOS it would be game over for everyone else seriouslyMaybe. But Gadget's overall elegance allows me to forgive some pretty large limitations in the various Gadgets. I'm not sure I'd pay extra for any of them outside of Tokyo, London, Bilbao, Lexington. I love being able to load up Kingston or Helsinki, but that's maybe because they are free and integrate so beautifully. - @db909 said:
Is it just me or does that button on the top right in some of the screenshots look like a Kaoss pad toggle switch? I HOPE SO!I suspect they rolled the configure utilities (currently a separate Mac/PC program) for nanoKEY Studio and nanoCONTROL Studio hardware into the gadget app. Hope so, it's a good idea! - I think Gadget on the big screen of a computer will help us rediscover this soft. As I know Gadget on IOS it will be awesome !! Even want to tweak the knobs with a mouse, to be more precise (don't have a IPad Pro...).Anyway, it's the first time that Korg, as a major company, is adapting a program from IOS to Mac OS and not the other way around! It's a great honour and I think Korg is reserving good surprises for this launch, both ways.(I hope so).Don't think it will be totally free though, but would appreciate a good offer.
- I'm expecting some giving with one hand and some taking away with the other (even if that 'taking away' is more by way of omission than anything else...)
- @JohnnyGoodyear said:
I'm expecting some giving with one hand and some taking away with the other (even if that 'taking away' is more by way of omission than anything else...)I'm a bit out of the loop on this - are they announcing new iOS Gadgets as well as the OSX stuff? - @MonzoPro said:@JohnnyGoodyear said:
I'm expecting some giving with one hand and some taking away with the other (even if that 'taking away' is more by way of omission than anything else...)I'm a bit out of the loop on this - are they announcing new iOS Gadgets as well as the OSX stuff?Everyone is hoping that the new gadgets spotted in the screenshots of the Mac version will be coming to iOS....
No official word on anything yet....we just live in hope at the moment. - @AndyPlankton said:@MonzoPro said:@JohnnyGoodyear said:
I'm expecting some giving with one hand and some taking away with the other (even if that 'taking away' is more by way of omission than anything else...)I'm a bit out of the loop on this - are they announcing new iOS Gadgets as well as the OSX stuff?Everyone is hoping that the new gadgets spotted in the screenshots of the Mac version will be coming to iOS....
No official word on anything yet....we just live in hope at the moment.I'll check down the back of the sofa, to see if I can find any coins... - I am full of hope and anticipation for this - shouldn't be too long now...
- edited January 2017I wonder how much deliberation (if any) Apple/GB put into releasing their latest on the Wednesday before the supposed Korg update?
- @JohnnyGoodyear said:
I wonder how much deliberation (if any) Apple/GB put into releasing their latest on the Wednesday before the supposed Korg update?Not a coincidence, on the eve of NAMM too. - edited January 2017@JohnnyGoodyear said:
I wonder how much deliberation (if any) Apple/GB put into releasing their latest on the Wednesday before the supposed Korg update?They did the same last year. If I recall correctly GB iOS was updated with AU Instruments support the day before NAMM started - edited January 2017After the 'no GB Alchemy on Air 1, please sign the upgrade program', my eyes are on you Korg
- Has anyone with an Air 1 tried to run alchemy or does it just not appear?
- @Tritonman said:
Has anyone with an Air 1 tried to run alchemy or does it just not appear?Is not available in Air 1 - @Ivan_Dj said:@Tritonman said:
Has anyone with an Air 1 tried to run alchemy or does it just not appear?Is not available in Air 1Suddenly this thread converted from Gadget to Alchemy ;-)I'm really looking forward to see today's announcement from Korg on NAMM..,
Soooo excited! - @Tritonman said:
Has anyone with an Air 1 tried to run alchemy or does it just not appear?Oops, wrong thread, sorry. - Me too
- I hope Gadgets are not AUV3.... because if so I would definitely lose my job.
- I have a feeling they might be, as incentive for people to by module, iwavestation, etc.Korg's strategy they've taken with this is impeccable.