Recording - April 2018 - 46

IOS
MUSIC
TOOLS

SOUNDWARE

FOR THE
SONGWRITER
REVIEWS BY MIKE METLAY AND DEVON BRENT

Korg iWavestation
$29.99 ($4.99 in-app purchase for sound expansion);
www.korg.com
Originally released in 1990, the Korg Wavestation brought
together vector synthesis and wave sequencing in one platform.
Vector synthesis, a technique originally used in the Sequential
Prophet VS and later in Yamaha's SY22/SY35/TG33, allows up
to four sound sources to be blended and crossfaded, usually using a
front-panel joystick, with some versions letting joystick movements
be recorded. Wave sequencing, unique to the Wavestation, allows
46

RECORDING April 2018

multiple waveforms to be sequenced together and played one
after another, synchronized to MIDI clock and with each step
having individual control of waveform, pitch, playback, etc.
Over the last 27 years, Korg has released two keyboard and
two rack Wavestations plus a plug-in version, gradually adding more
presets and new features like a resonant filter. Now there's
iWavestation for iOS, which is offered as a standalone app for
iPhone and iPad, and Korg Gadget owners can also open it as
a Gadget called Milpitas (with a restricted user interface; you'll
do serious sound design in the standalone app).
Included with this version are 1500 preset sounds, more than
700 waveforms, and the original 55 effects. The presets come
from the fully-expanded Wavestation SR rackmount module,
but the presets and sounds from the six Korg sound expansion
cards and the KLC card can all be added as a single in-app
purchase. If this still isn't enough preset goodness, iWavestation
has the ability to randomly generate presets, and it can import
SysEx (.SYX) preset banks. This means any of the Wavestation
banks from the various vendors and hobbyists over the last 20+
years are all available to be imported into iWavestation.
Parameter for parameter, iWavestation's synth engine is still
identical to previous versions (minus the hardware's lousy D/A
converters and poor signal-to-noise ratio!). However, the user
interface is completely redesigned, with rich graphics and multitouch-friendly controls that feel quite fluid and natural on my iPad.
The main page is broken up into three sections: WaveSeq,
Mixer, and Effect. The WaveSeq page is further broken up
into 5 subsections-Wave, Level, Loop, Pitch, and Param. The
Wave page allows you to modify which wave is played in
each step of a wave sequence. Tapping on the wave name, it
allows you to either change to another preset sequence, or you
can edit the overall sequence. The Level, Loop, and Pitch pages
control exactly what their names imply. Finally, the Param page
holds the filter and ADSR adjustments for each wave
sequence within the patch.
For those who want to go even deeper into wave
sequence editing, you can do that as well. Tapping on
the Wave name will allow you to either select the option
of Change or Edit. By selecting Edit, five more pages of
Morph, Wave, Tone, Output, and Mod appear. Morph
allows you to draw a path for the vector mixing of the
four sound sources that will be stored and used with the
preset each time you press a key. Wave allows you to
control the wave sequencing itself in fine detail. Tone
controls the pitch and the filter with two modulation
sources. Output controls the ADSR envelope for the
wave sequence itself, effects bus routing, and panning. Finally,
Mod controls the filter envelope and two LFOs.
The Mixer page is quite simple, with controls for the mix
level, bus routing, delay, scale tuning, and key for every part
within the preset.
The Effects page controls the two independent effects processors.
As on the last hardware models, you have 55 effects to choose
from, with a wide variety of reverbs, delays, chorus, flangers,
phasers, rotary speakers and more. Each effect selected
provides appropriate controls for the type of effect. The effects
processors can be run in either serial or parallel configuration.

http://www.korg.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2018