Koushion User Manual
Contents
1. It plays steps from the active scene in random order Hey what s electronic music without a little experimentation every now and then Note that Chain and Simul modes are the only modes in which the scene you have selected for viewing editing can be controlled independently of what scene is actually playing Changing the active scene in any other mode will also change what scene is being used for playback 2 3 LAYER SETTINGS 15 The remaining layer specific settings are found in the settings popover Key Koushion can adapt the grid of notes to any major minor or pentatonic scale Pentatonic scales are particularly good for improvisation or for creating music with a bit of an eastern vibe A chromatic scale is also available for additional flexibility or drum machine programming Addi tional scale types i e Dorian Aeolian etc as well as custom scales are planned for a future release To apply a key that you have selected hit the Apply Key to Current Layer button and it will be instantly applied to the current layer If you want to apply it to all layers you can do so using the Apply Key to All Layers button CC Smoothing Glide By default control changes are triggered in distinct hard jumps whenever the sequence advances to the next step How ever you may wish to smooth the transition just as if you were moving a physical knob on a controller The CC smoothing glide setting lets you enable this behavior When enabled the CC2. of the same pitch being repeated 2 or more times Koushion will automatically tie the notes together so that the pitch is sustained 11 12 CHAPTER 2 MAKING MUSIC WITH KOUSHION Tied notes are denoted in shades of orange Note that the gate parameter is ignored for all steps in the chain except for the last 2 1 2 Layers If all you could do was play a single scene or pattern of 16 steps Koushion would not be a terribly useful app Fortunately Koushion has 16 ayers which multiply its usefulness You can think of a layer as analogous to a synth voice or sequencer track in reality a layer is a bit more flexible but hopefully the analogy is helpful Each layer contains 8 scenes of 16 steps for a total of 128 steps per layer All layers in Koushion are tied to the same master clock and are played back simultaneously There is no option to disable a layer or a scene at this time Koushion has a number in the upper right hand corner of the screen that shows you what layer you are viewing editing The up and down arrow buttons above and below the layer indicator let you view different layers 2 2 Step Settings There are currently 4 settings that can be applied on a per step basis mute control change gate and velocity Mute Underneath each step is a green button Tapping this button will toggle whether the step is enabled or not The entire step column will appear greyed out to indicate that it is muted Notes and CC value chang
3. value will movie in a lin ear fashion evenly from the current step value to the next step s value throughout the duration of the step Note that even when Koushion is not reliant on an external clock source to preserve consistency inter mediate CC values will only be sent on each clock tick This has the side effect of decreasing the resolution of the intermediate steps added for smoothness which may lead to a stair stepping effect Scene MIDI Channel Assignment Each scene in a layer can be mapped to a different MIDI output channel With 16 layers of 8 scenes each a total of 128 unique scenes each with its own MIDI channel you ve got plenty of flexibility to control multiple channels While you generally won t need that much flexibility Koushion lets you assign each individual scene in a layer to a different MIDI channel to give you ultimate flexibility Layer Channel Sync Most of the time you ll want to change the channel for every scene in the entire layer at once The Layer Channel Sync setting when activated will automatically update all channel mappings in the current layer to the same channel whenever a channel change is made 16 CHAPTER 2 MAKING MUSIC WITH KOUSHION 2 4 Global Settings The remaining settings in the settings popover apply to all layers globally These settings are saved automatically whenever they are changed and au tomatically loaded when the app is launched Quantized Switching Enabling this opti
4. Koushion User Manual v4 3 lan Wagner August 26 2015 Contents Preface 5 1 Setting Up 7 1 1 Connecting via a MIDI Cable 7 1 2 Mac Wireless Setup o o e 000 8 1 3 Using Koushion with Other iPad Apps 8 1 4 Notes on Wireless Performance 9 1 5 Setting up MIDI Clock with Your Production Software 9 2 Making Music with Koushion 11 2 1 2 44 2 24 11 2 1 1 Steps Scenes and The Grid 11 ate MES aaa A ee ee eee eS 12 22 SENOS na Be ae A AAA a 12 23 Layer Senne as an a Era 14 24 Global Settings rw A hr 16 25 Saving and Loading your Work oc uc be ees 17 Closing Thoughts 19 CONTENTS Preface Congratulations You are about to be a member of the elite few who have actually read a software manual Being the author I m probably a bit biased but think the information contained in this short manual will be extremely helpful in ensuring that you get the most out of Koushion First a bit of history Koushion was created from my personal desire for an extremely flexible step sequencer that didn t cost a fortune The iPad had just been released and began contemplating whether it would be a viable option for my MIDI setup After playing with several toy sequencers both online and on the iPad Beatwave provided hours of entertainment the idea for Koushion was bo
5. T preserved when loading a project during play back but is reset Therefore it is generally not advisable to load a project dur ing playback unless you re feeling lucky and a bit over confident in your ability to time things perfectly Unlike a CDJ Koushion doesn t let you bend time at least not yet Koushion 4 0 supports Tunes file sharing for easy backup or transfer of your project files There are no special tricks required to use the feature simply connect your iPad to your computer running iTunes and copy project files to and from Koushion New files will be automatically recognized by Koushion the next time you tap the Load button CHAPTER 2 MAKING MUSIC WITH KOUSHION Closing Thoughts hope that this manual has been helpful to you If you have any additional questions feature requests bug reports etc please use the in app feedback system or the Koushion Facebook page to send me an message read every email and try to respond in a timely manner All feature requests are consid ered and many of Koushion s best features are a result of the ideas submitted through the feedback system so please avail yourself of that Special thanks to Chris Stack and Bryan DeChaine for testing Koushion for me and for giving me LOTS of feedback that has shaped its development 19
6. editing modes to adjust the velocity of each step Velocity ranges from 0 to 127 to reflect the underlying MIDI velocity values 14 CHAPTER 2 MAKING MUSIC WITH KOUSHION 2 3 Layer Settings The following settings are applied on a per layer basis First here are the layer specific settings that are accessible from the main screen without going into the settings popover All layer level settings are saved or loaded when you save or load a project Octave The layer octave buttons transpose the range of the layer up or down by an octave Quantization The value of a step is controlled by the quantization of the layer it belongs to The default value is to make each step an eighth note but it can be changed to be anywhere from a whole note to a 32nd note assuming 4 4 time Playback Mode Each layer has its own playback mode setting which will cause the layer to behave as follows Single Loops over the active scene the scene that is currently se lected Simul Plays all 8 scenes in the layer simultaneously Chain Loops over each scene in the layer in order until all remaining scenes are blank i e if you have notes programmed in scenes 1 2 and 4 Chain mode will loop over scenes 1 4 repeatedly Rebound Loops over the active scene backwards and forwards as if playing a game of ping pong Note that the first and last step of the sequence is NOT repeated by rebound mode Random Random mode does exactly what it sounds like
7. es will not be triggered for muted steps Control Change All 120 non reserved MIDI CC parameters can be sequenced by Koushion as of the 4 0 release CC sequences are created on a per scene basis just like notes and cannot be independently moved or copied When you use the scene manipulation functions both notes and CC automation are copied moved or swapped together You can think of the CC sequencer as another dimension of the grid that is triggered at the same time and in the same order as the notes on the grid To toggle CC editing mode tap the MIDI CC button When in CC editing mode the note grid will appear slightly greyed out and each step will act like a fader Drag your finger vertically over the grid to adjust the CC values for 2 2 STEP SETTINGS 13 Gate each step To facilitate mapping using MIDI learn or similar functional ity of your DAW when playback is stopped dragging CC will trigger CC changes in real time You can switch which CC is being edited by tap ping the CC 0 button which will update its title to show you the current CC you are editing The CC selection popover will show unused CCs those that are currently a blank slate as greyed out Blank CC se quences do not trigger any MIDI CC messages However as soon as at least one CC fader in the scene has a value the previously blank fader values for that scene and CC become zeros To return a scene to its ini tial state where it does not trigger a
8. ine though and recommend this adapter if you are on a tight budget and want to use the CCK rather than an iPad MIDI adapter In my humble opinion un less you already have a USB to MIDI cable or a Camera Connection Kit lying around your money would be better spent on a commercially supported so lution such as the iConnectMIDI currently do all of my production work with an iConnectMIDI 2 which think is a great bargain In addition to an iPad connection Lightning or 30 pin iConnectMIDI units also have DIN ports and can act as an audio output for your iPad which greatly simplifies the recording process if you work with a DAW such as Ableton Live 7 8 CHAPTER 1 SETTING UP 1 2 Mac Wireless Setup NOTE While the latency is more tolerable with CoreMIDI Network Sessions on Mac than on the third party emulations available for Windows strongly suggest that you use a MIDI cable whenever the option is available 1 Enable CoreMIDI networking on your Mac by opening the Audio MIDI Setup utility in your Applications Utilities folder In the MIDI Studio win dow double click on the Network icon make sure that it is enabled and that it has at least 1 session configured click the plus button to create one if necessary 2 Connect your iPad to the same wireless network as your Mac and launch Koushion 3 In the MIDI Network Setup window you should see your iPad appear in the Directory pane Click on your iPad and then click Con
9. l show you the canonical names for MIDI Continuous Controllers However these mappings are more or less suggestions and every synthesizer manufacturer does things differently and of course most DAWs have a MIDI learn feature that gives you infinite flexibility If you find these names distracting feel free to hide them using this switch 2 5 SAVING AND LOADING YOUR WORK 17 MIDI Clock Settings Koushion synchronizes with your other MIDI gear via MIDI clock pulses Koushion can be configured as either a master or slave sender or receiver You can toggle this mode by tapping the internal external button The text of the button shows the current state i e if it says external then Koushion is a slave listening for a MIDI clock start signal on the MIDI bus When Koushion is the master internal sync you can set the tempo from 60 to 180 BPM by either changing the slider or tapping a tempo with your finger on the tap button NOTE The stop play buttons send a MIDI CC message when in slave mode which you can map to your start and stop transport controls in your DAW Only in internal sync mode are the stop play buttons guaranteed to start and stop the sequencer 2 5 Saving and Loading your Work At the bottom of the main screen you will see save and load buttons which can be used to save and load your work All non global settings are saved loaded when you use the save load project mechanism Note that the sequence playback state is NO
10. le to keep it running in the background 1 4 Notes on Wireless Performance When using a wireless network there is always the possiblity that timing packets will be dropped or delayed It can happen at any time based on other wireless traffic and the quality of the router If you are experiencing issues you may want to try creating an ad hoc network to bypass the wireless router and reduce lag see the link below Any time that there is an air gap then you significantly increase the likelinood of lag If timing is important then you should use a MIDI cable Apple Support 1 5 Setting up MIDI Clock with Your Production Software While can t provide directions for every piece of audio production software out there here are links with information on setting up MIDI clock sync with some of the most popular music production applications Ableton Live Cubase Reason Not all music production software is able to send MIDI clock signals Rea son is one example of this In this case you will need to install a program that sends MIDI sync signals or use Koushion s internal clock One such program 10 CHAPTER 1 SETTING UP for Windows users can be downloaded from http midiclock com For Mac programs that lack a MIDI clock feature such as GarageBand used to recommend the midiO AudioUnit However the developer s site seems to be down as of this writing so am unaware of a Mac MIDI clock solution aside from using
11. nect Your computer and iPad should now be connected 4 Configure your music production software to accept input from the net work session it will show up just like any other MIDI device in your audio software consult your program s documentation on how to configure it to receive MIDI 5 Recommended Configure your music production software or other clock generating device to output MIDI clock signals to the network session you created this process will vary by program so consult your program s documentation 1 3 Using Koushion with Other iPad Apps Koushion being a MIDI step sequencer and controller is not a standalone tool but rather a controller for your existing software and hardware synthesiz ers drum machines etc While the most common setup is to integrate with other MIDI hardware or a software based DAW such as Ableton Live Koush ion is quite capable of interacting with other iPad apps as well via the shared CoreMIDI bus or Virtual MIDI ports 1 4 NOTES ON WIRELESS PERFORMANCE 9 Using either internal or external clock sync Koushion will broadcast MIDI notes to all CoreMIDI compatible apps that are running in the background For example you can start Sunrizer Synth a very popular synth app that highly recommend press the Audio BKG switch to enable background mode and then switch to Koushion to control the synth Koushion also has its own Background MIDI switch in the settings popover which you must enab
12. ny MIDI messages press the Clear button while editing the CC sequence you want to erase While a single CC message can only support a 7 bit range some synthesizers such as the Moog Voyager allow controllers 0 31 to be paired with controllers 32 63 to create 14 bit values from 2 messages Note that this behavior is not supported by most synthesizers or software Koushion has a 14 bit switch to facilitate sending high resolution CC messages but Koushion does not determine how your devices handle the messages If a device does not know about 14 bit messages then it will just see them as 2 normal 7 bit messages Warning If you sequence a particular CC in 2 different scenes that use the same MIDI channel and play simultane ously the later scene in order of iteration will override the values from earlier scenes You can re use CCs but you should do so on a different channel or the behavior will not be what you expect The gate button toggles gate editing mode which uses faders just like the CC editing mode The gate value ranges from 0 to 200 and controls how long each step is held for It is a percentage value so gate setting of 0 causes the note to be released immediately A value of 100 causes the note to be released exactly when the next step is triggered and a value of 200 causes the note to be held until the end of the next step Velocity The velocity button toggles velocity editing mode which uses faders just like the CC and gate
13. on delays scene switching so that it happens in rhythm In modes other than chain mode switching scenes will change what is playing back and in most cases you want this to happen at the end of the currently playing loop This option may be disabled when you want to switch scenes instantly Monophonic Drawing Normally Koushion will let you trigger as many notes as you want on a single step Turning on monophonic drawing only al lows one note per step This is great for quickly programming a lead especially while improvising live Dark Theme Enabling this option switches Koushion to a dark color scheme Many users find this to be easier on the eyes especially when perform ing in a low light environment Background MIDI Koushion can keep running in the background so that you are free to experiment with synth parameters set up an effects chain etc Flip this switch to enable background operation However you may want to forcibly quit the app or just switch this setting off when you re done as running in the background will slowly drain your battery Show MIDI Pitches Koushion normally shows you human friendly pitch names because that s what you usually want to see However as there are com peting standards for naming pitches many MIDI units particularly drum machines also give you the raw MIDI note values for reference Just flip this switch on if you want to see the raw pitch values Show CC Names By default Koushion wil
14. rn Now over 3 years since the first release it has evolved into a mature sequencer that provides a great deal of flexibility while still maintaining the familiar interaction paradigms of hardware units If you have already purchased Koushion you have my sincere thanks If you are checking out this manual before purchasing hope you find the information you re looking for in evaluating your purchase Feel free to contact me via the Koushion Facebook page or the in app feedback mechanism if you already have the app The majority of Koushion s new features are added based on user requests and how many people request each feature Thanks for reading and look forward to helping you make music CONTENTS Chapter 1 Setting Up 1 1 Connecting via a MIDI Cable Koushion can be connected either wired or wirelessly However due to the lag that is often present in wireless connections a cable is highly rec ommended Koushion can be integrated with any MIDI setup using an iPad MIDI adapter such as iConnectMIDI or via a USB to MIDI cable and the iPad Camera Connection Kit Note on the Camera Connection Kit In theory any USB to MIDI cable should work with the CCK However in testing discovered that certain cables such as the M Audio MIDISport Uno only support clock in one direction USB to MIDI but not MIDI to USB which is no good since Koushion will never be able to receive clock messages found that the E MU Xmidi 1x1 works f
15. the Koushion built in clock Chapter 2 Making Music with Koushion 2 1 Organization 2 1 1 Steps Scenes and The Grid Koushion is a MIDI step sequencer that can be used to arrange notes on a timeline much like a roll used by a player piano The smallest unit of time ina sequence is known not surprisingly as a step AS you can see upon opening the app you can view and edit 16 steps at a time A group of 16 steps is known as a scene A scene is analogous to a pattern in most other sequencers For historical reasons Koushion calls this the basic loopable unit a scene The 8 circular buttons in the upper right hand corner of Koushion control which scene is active In most playback modes the active scene the one that is currently selected and visible is the scene that is being played back whenever the sequencer is running See Layer Settings for more details Your main interface to Koushion is via the main editing area known as The Grid To enable a pitch for a particular step just tap on it To disable it tap again You can quickly enable multiple notes in a single swipe This is very useful for performing live The Grid is fully multitouch capable so you can easily add chords to a sequence Your manipulations to the grid are not com plete until you release your finger as Koushion can t predict the future of what you re planning to write yet If you enable a series of notes in the course of a single swipe that consists
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