Build sequences · Koala Sampler guide

7.1Basics

Record and play a sequence

A sequence is a recording of what you play on the pads, and Koala gives you 32 slots to keep them in. You build one live: start recording, hit your pads in time, and go round again to add more. Because every slot holds its own sequence, you can keep a groove in one and a breakdown in another, and jump between them as the song runs.

Record your first sequence

Go to the SEQUENCE screen and tap a free SLOT.
Set how long it should be with BARS. See Change a sequence’s length.
Set the tempo if you need to, in the tempo menu, and switch on METRONOME if you’d like a click.
Tap REC to start recording into that slot.
Play your pads. Everything you hit goes into the sequence as it runs.
Tap REC again to drop back to playback and hear the result.
Tap PLAY to stop.

Recording always adds to what’s already in the slot, and doesn’t replace it. That means you can lay down a kick on one pass and hi-hats on the next.

Gestures

PLAY: Starts the sequencer, or stops it if it’s running.
REC: Starts recording into the selected slot. A second tap goes back to playback.
Tap SLOT: Switches to that sequence, even while the song plays.
Tap SLOT: Carries the recording on in that sequence, with no gap.While recording
Swipe SLOT sideways: Moves between the four pages of slots. The arrows beside the slots do the same.

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7.2Basics

TEMPO sits next to PLAY and REC on the SEQUENCE screen. Double-tap it to open the tempo menu, which holds the timing settings for your song: how fast it runs, how many beats fill a bar, and how notes and sequences behave against that grid. Use METRONOME if you want to hear the beat.

Gestures

Double-tap TEMPO: Opens the tempo menu.
METRONOME: Turns the metronome sound on or off.
Drag inside TEMPO: Nudges the tempo up or down. Move carefully for decimal steps, or quickly for whole numbers.In the tempo menu
- or +: Moves the tempo by 1 BPM.In the tempo menu
Tap TAP repeatedly: Sets the tempo from the speed of your taps.In the tempo menu
Tap the BPM number: Lets you enter the exact tempo by typing.In the tempo menu

Also in the tempo menu

BEATS PER BAR: How many beats make up a bar. This is how you change your song’s time signature.
QUANTIZE: Whether the notes you record line up with the grid. See Tighten the timing and add swing.
SEQ SNAP: How soon a newly chosen sequence takes over. See Decide when sequences change.
SWING: How much swing your notes play back with. See Tighten the timing and add swing.

Two related settings live elsewhere: Metronome volume in Set up audio input and output, and Count in in Set how pads and recording behave.

7.3Basics

Tighten the timing and add swing

Quantising pulls the notes you record onto a grid, which helps when your timing is close but not quite there. Leave it off and Koala keeps each note exactly where you played it, for a looser feel. Swing, in general terms, gives a straight rhythm more of a shuffle. All of these settings are in the tempo menu: double-tap TEMPO to reach them.

Quantise your recordings

Double-tap TEMPO to open the tempo menu.
Switch on QUANTIZE. Notes you record now land on the nearest 1/16 note.
Switch it off again when you want notes kept just as you played them.

Unlock other divisions and live quantise

Tap MENU, then SETTINGS, and go to the EXTRAS settings.
Switch on Advanced Quantization Options.
Open the tempo menu. QUANTIZE is now a menu rather than a switch.
Choose a division.
Switch on LIVE QUANTIZE if you also want pads quantised at the moment you play them.

Gestures

Drag inside SWING: Raises or lowers the amount of swing.In the tempo menu

Timing settings

QUANTIZE: Without the advanced options, a plain switch. On moves recorded notes to the nearest 1/16 note, and off leaves them where they fell.Range On or off
Division: With the advanced options on, this is what the QUANTIZE menu chooses: how fine a grid your notes go to.Range 1/4 to 1/64, with triplets
LIVE QUANTIZE: In the same menu. Applies quantising in the moment you hit a pad, as well as to what gets recorded.
SWING: A bar you drag inside. It affects how your notes play back.

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7.4Intermediate

Decide when sequences change

When you choose another sequence while one is playing, on screen or over MIDI, SEQ SNAP decides two things: how soon the new one takes over, and where in it playback picks up. It’s the difference between a hard cut in the middle of a phrase and a clean handover at the end of one.

Choose a setting

Double-tap TEMPO to open the tempo menu.
Open SEQ SNAP.
Pick one of the settings below.

What each setting does

Setting	When the new sequence takes over	Where it starts
`OFF`	Straight away. The note’s ending goes into the recording where you played it, and then the switch happens.	At the playhead’s current position, so it can come in partway through.
`1 BEAT`	When the beat now playing finishes.	At its beginning, every time.
`1 BAR`	When the bar now playing finishes.	At its beginning, every time.
`SEQ END`	When the sequence now playing finishes.	At its beginning, every time.

Playing slots in a row

AUTO-PLAY: Tick this in the SEQ SNAP menu and each sequence hands over to the next slot when it finishes, so you hear a row of slots back as a song. It holds off while you’re working on a sequence in the grid.

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7.5Basics

Change a sequence’s length

Each sequence has its own length, counted in bars. Sequences in different slots don’t have to match, and those mismatches are part of the fun when you switch between them. Set the length before you record, or grow it as the idea grows.

Change the length

Select the sequence’s SLOT.
Tap BARS to open its menu.
Choose an option from the list below.

In the BARS menu

+: Makes the sequence one bar longer.
-: Makes the sequence one bar shorter.
DOUBLE UP: Makes the selected sequence twice as long, and repeats all of its notes and settings in the new half.

On a computer keyboard, = and - add and remove a bar, and _ doubles up. See Play Koala from a computer keyboard. Dragging one sequence onto the end of another also makes it longer: see Copy, combine and colour sequences.

7.6Basics

Copy, combine and colour sequences

Once you’ve got a few sequences, you’ll want to rework them without starting again: take a copy to change, stack two into one, or join them into something longer. It all happens by dragging slots around on the SEQUENCE screen.

Copy a sequence

Drag a recorded SLOT onto a free one. The free slot now holds a copy.

Combine two sequences

Drag a recorded SLOT onto one that’s already in use.
Choose what should happen from the popup.

Gestures

Drag SLOT onto SLOT: Copies to a free slot. If the target is in use, it offers to mix, add to the end or swap.
Hold SLOT: Opens the slot’s menu, where you can set its COLOR.

What the popup offers

Option	What you get
`MIX`	The two sequences layered into one. The result is as long as the longer of them.
`ADD TO END`	The one you’re dragging joined on after the other. The result grows by the length of the one you dragged.
`SWAP`	The two sequences trade places.
`CANCEL`	Backs out without combining anything.

Taking it further

To play slots in order as a song, tap through them live or tick AUTO-PLAY. See Decide when sequences change.
To bring notes in from elsewhere, drop a MIDI file on a slot. See Bring in MIDI, songs, packs and maps.
To print a sequence onto a pad, see Turn a sequence or selection into a pad.

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7.7Basics

Clear a sequence

When a take isn’t working, you can wipe the whole sequence and go again. If only one part is wrong, you can remove that pad’s notes and keep everything else.

Clear one pad’s notes

Select the sequence, and make sure the pad whose notes you want gone is the current pad.
Hold CLEAR and tap KEYBOARD.

Gestures

CLEAR: Clears the selected sequence.
Hold CLEAR + KEYBOARD: Clears only the current pad’s notes from the sequence.
Drag SLOT up to the trash: Clears that sequence.