Korg Wavestate Drum Programming Tutorial

The Korg Wavestate is very well-suited for ambient soundscapes, but it also can serve as a drum sequencer. In this tutorial, we explore the basics of drum programming within the Wavestate, going from sample selection, to programming our tempo, to making variations, to playing with phasing between the timing and sample lanes. Future tutorials will cover more advanced generative techniques through modulation routing for algorithmic percussive patterns.

0:00 - Initializing

0:25 - Changing samples

0:44 - Soloing a step

0:55 - Loading kick sample

1:19 - Auditioning kick samples

1:40 - Loading snare sample

2:30 - Intro to changing the timing

3:15 - Two parameters to change for percussion sequence

3:25 - Why you don’t want xfade for percussion

3:35 - Two ways to turn down the xfade

4:50 - Using time values for rhythms

5:24 - Changing the timing lane to “Tempo” mode

5:38 - Adjusting tempo value for step A1

6:00 - Expanding our timing lane to two steps

6:25 - Changing value of A2 for triple meter

6:39 - Looking at perform to see the lanes

6:50 - Adding more elements

7:00 - Expanding our sample lane to 16 steps

7:30 - Changing loop end

7:50 - Adding hats

8:00 - Changing octave of snare for hat-ish sound

8:13 - Loading a hat to A3

8:30 - Auditioning hi-hat sounds

9:04 - Copying/pasting steps to fill out our drum pattern

9:25 - Copy/pasting kick

10:03 - Copy/pasting snare

10:36 - Copy/pasting hat

11:30 - Changing timing values to 1/16ths

12:05 - Swapping out samples

13:21 - Values to change for the sample (octave, semitones, sample offset)

14:05 - Changing the timing lane

14:54 - Changing the loop end times for phasing between sequences

15:47 - Future directions