Korg musical instruments

Playing and editing Programs

Keyboard

Velocity

Velocity is a measure of how hard you play a note on

the keyboard. This can be used to modulate many

different aspects of the sound, such as volume,

brightness, or the character of the attack.

After Touch

The keyboard can also measure how hard you press

down after you play a note–hence the term “after

touch.” You can use this to shape notes over time,

controlling (for instance) volume or vibrato amount.

Note Number

Sounds can be programmed to change in character

based on the note being played. As you play higher or

lower on the keyboard, the note number can modulate

the timbre–such as becoming brighter as you play

higher. Envelopes may also become faster or slower;

the volume may change; and so on.

Foot Pedals and Switches

Damper Pedal (Sustain)

The damper pedal is also sometimes called the sustain

pedal. It acts like the similarly-named pedal on an

acoustic piano; when you hold down the pedal, notes

will continue to sustain even when you lift your hands

off of the keyboard.

Damper Switch vs. Half-Damper

You can use either a standard footswitch (such as the

Korg PS-1) or a special half-damper pedal (such as the

Korg DS-1H) as the Damper.

If you use a footswitch, it will work like a normal

synthesizer sustain pedal: notes will sustain forever, as

long as the pedal is held down.

A half-damper pedal is a special type of continuous

foot pedal (normal foot pedals won’t work properly for

this application). It offers more subtle control of

sustain, which can be especially useful for piano

sounds.

The off and full-on positions of the half-damper work

just like the footswitch, but intermediate positions

modulate the release time to increase sustain without

making it inﬁnite.

The OASYS will automatically sense when a half-

damper is connected to the rear-panel DAMPER input.

For proper operation, you will also need to calibrate

the pedal, using the Calibrate Half-Damper command

in the Global page menu.

Damper and MIDI

The Damper Pedal is sent and received as MIDI CC

#64. In Combi and Sequence modes, you can “ﬁlter”

CC# 64 so that it only affects some of the sounds in the

Combi or Song.

Assignable Foot Switch

This lets you use a simple footswitch, such as the Korg

PS-1, as an assignable controller. The footswitch can

perform a wide variety of functions, such as:

• An assignable source for modulating sounds and

effects

• Portamento on/off

• Program select up or down

• Sequencer start/stop or punch in/out

• Tap Tempo

• KARMA on/off, Latch on/off, or Scene select

• Duplication of many front panel controls, including

the modulation joystick, ribbon, value slider, Real-

Time Knobs, SW 1/2, the drum pads, KARMA

sliders, or KARMA switches

The switch’s function is set in Global mode (on the

Controller tab of the Controllers/Scales page), so that

it always works the same regardless of the current

Program, Combi, or Song.

For more information, please see “Specifying the

function of the ASSIGNABLE Switch and

ASSIGNABLE Pedal” on page 149.

Assignable Foot Pedal

This lets you use a continuous controller pedal, such as

the Korg EXP-2 foot controller or Korg XVP-10

EXP/VOL pedal, as an assignable controller.

Like the Assignable Foot Switch, described above, the

Foot Pedal can be used for many different functions,

including:

• Master Volume

• Channel Volume, Pan, or Expression

• Assignable sound modulation, as several different

AMS or Dmod sources

• Effects Send level control

• Duplication of many front panel controls, including

the modulation joystick, ribbon, value slider, Real-

Time Knobs, or KARMA sliders

The pedal’s function is set globally (on the Controller

tab of the Controllers/Scales page), so that it always

works the same regardless of the current Program,

Combi, or Song. For more information, please see

“Specifying the function of the ASSIGNABLE Switch

and ASSIGNABLE Pedal” on page 149.

Drum & Chord Pads

There are eight velocity-sensitive trigger pads below

the LCD screen. These look like drum machine pads,

and playing drum sounds is certainly one use for

them.

However, they can also play up to eight-note chords on

any sound–not just drums. The pads even remember

the velocities of the individual notes within the chord,

as well as the notes themselves.

In addition to playing sounds directly, the pads are

also used to select chords for Chord mode. For more

information, see “Using Chord mode” on page 49.