Instruments on pads · Koala Sampler guide

6.1IntermediateNeeds Samurai

Put the Quokka synth on a pad

A pad doesn’t have to hold a sample. With Samurai it can hold an instrument, and Quokka is the synth built into Koala. It’s handy when a track needs a bass line or a lead and you don’t have a sample that fits. Inside are one oscillator that blends between waveforms, a filter, an LFO and a pair of envelopes, and it plays either polyphonically or as a single mono voice.

Load Quokka

Tap SAMPLES and go to the MORE section.
Tap QUOKKA SYNTH, then either tap LOAD or drag it to a free pad.
With the pad selected, tap EDIT to open the Quokka editor.
You can now play it on the pad itself, through the keyboard modes or over MIDI.

OSC tab

SHAPE: Sweeps through the oscillator’s waveforms: saw, then square, sub and noise.
MORPH: Reshapes the waveform further.
OCTAVE: Moves the oscillator up or down by octaves.Range 2 octaves up or down
MONO: Swaps polyphony for one monophonic voice.
GLIDE: Sets the portamento time: how long the pitch takes to slide from one note to the next.

FILTER tab

Filter mode: Chooses how the filter behaves.
CUTOFF: Sets the frequency where the filter starts to act.
RES: Resonance: how much the filter emphasises the frequencies around the cutoff.
DRIVE: Pushes the filter harder.

ENV tab

A, D, S, R: The amplitude envelope: attack, decay, sustain and release. It shapes how the volume of each note moves over time.

MOD tab

TIME: Sets the time of the second envelope.
TARGET: Chooses what the second envelope modulates.Range PITCH, SHAPE, MORPH, CUTOFF, AMP
DEPTH: Sets how strongly the envelope acts on its target.

LFO tab

Shape: Chooses the LFO’s wave.Range Sine, square, triangle, saw, ramp, random, noise
SPEED: Sets how fast the LFO runs.
Tempo sync: Ties the LFO to the tempo.
TARGET: Chooses what the LFO modulates.
DEPTH: Sets how strongly the LFO acts on its target.
Retrigger: Decides whether the LFO starts again with every note.

Use presets

Tap PRESETS.
Choose from the FACTORY presets or your own USER ones. The arrows move you from one to the next.
To keep what you’ve made, tap SAVE and give the sound a new name.

In the preset menu

EXPORT PRESET, EXPORT ALL USER PRESETS and IMPORT PRESETS take your sounds from one device to another.
DELETE removes a user preset.
RESET TO DEFAULT is here too.

On a Quokka pad, volume, pan and pitch behave as they do on a sample pad, and you can automate every synth parameter: see Record and edit automation.

From the community

Quokka Tutorial
elf audio
The developer’s 12-minute tutorial on Quokka, the synth that comes with Samurai.

6.2AdvancedNeeds Samurai

Play external gear from a pad

A MIDI-OUT pad doesn’t play anything itself. It sends MIDI notes out to a piece of hardware or another app, which lets Koala’s sequencer run your drum machine or synth. You play and sequence it like any other pad.

Set up a MIDI-OUT pad

Tap SAMPLES and go to the MORE section.
Load MIDI-OUT onto a free pad.
In the pad’s editor, set DEVICE and MIDI CHANNEL to match your gear.
Tap the pad and check the display. You should see the message it just sent, such as NOTE ON C3 (60) CH 1 VEL 110.
Now use it as you would any pad: tap it, play it chromatically through the keyboard modes, or record it into a sequence. Notes in the piano roll keep their pitch and velocity when they go out.

In the pad’s editor

DEVICE: Chooses where the notes go: one connected MIDI output, or all of them.Range A connected output, ALL
MIDI CHANNEL: Chooses the channel the notes go out on.Range 1–16

From the community

Koala Midi Out Tutorial
elf audio
A quick look at sequencing external MIDI hardware from Koala, which needs the Samurai add-on.

Samuraielf audio — What the Samurai add-on unlocks: time stretch, piano roll, auto-chop, 3-band EQ, the Quokka synth and MIDI out.

6.3AdvancedNeeds Mixer

Load plugin instruments onto pads

If you already own synths or samplers in plugin form, you can play them from Koala’s pads. This section covers instruments, which sit on pads. Effects sit in mixer slots instead: see Use third-party plugins as effects. What you can load, and whether you need to pay for it, depends on your platform.

What each platform can host

Platform	Formats	What you need
iOS	AUv3	The Mixer add-on
macOS	Audio Units, CLAP, VST3	Nothing: it’s built in
Windows	CLAP, VST3	Nothing: it’s built in
Android	None, as there’s no native plugin format	–
Linux	Koala’s manual doesn’t say	–

Load a plugin

Tap SAMPLES and go to the MORE section.
Once Koala has scanned your plugins, open the section for a format your platform supports, such as AUDIO UNITS, VST3 or CLAP.
Sort the list A-Z or by COMPANY if that helps you find what you’re after.
Tap the plugin you want and put it on a free pad.
With the pad selected, tap EDIT and choose how you want to control it.

Two ways to control a plugin

OPEN EDITOR: Shows the plugin’s own interface.
CONTROLS: Lays out the plugin’s parameters as generic Koala knobs. You can MIDI map and automate them, as you can other controls.

To keep Apple’s built-in Audio Units out of the list, switch on Hide Apple Audio Units in the EXTRAS settings. The settings offer it on iOS and macOS.

From the community

Shrink the sidebar and you can drag an AUv3 straight onto a pad. This is an unofficial tip, from a viewer comment credited in the notes to Gavinski’s video. via Gavinski’s Tutorials, May 2026