Korg Forums

Is there a basic tutorial on bow to use korg ims20. I've tried but I just don't get it. Where do u start to make a new song. The complexities of the app are very off putting for someone like me, who found thumbjam, nanostudio and xewton very user friendly.

1. Search YouTube for the keywords ims-20 tutorial.

2. If you want to go deeper, spend $3 and get Simon Cann's ebook "How to Make a Noise: iPad Synthesizers Edition." You can read it on your iPad using iBooks or the Kindle app. I bought it from Amazon and posted a review there.

dswo wrote:If you want to go deeper, spend $3 and get Simon Cann's ebook "How to Make a Noise"

are you serious?

does such a book exist?

And is it "deep"? No, wait: "deeper"?

You are serious.

oh my god, you ARE serious.

Thanks. I might look into the nook as the manual is just way too detailed and complex. I wish I could get my money back cos at the mo I'm never gonna use korg.

Honeycroft wrote:Thanks. I might look into the nook as the manual is just way too detailed and complex. I wish I could get my money back cos at the mo I'm never gonna use korg.

You'll be looking at the nook for a long time if you're trying to find any synth on it. Good luck with that hopeless task.

Go to youtube and lookup ms20 and ims20. There are a number of tutorials.

Blaming the manufacturer for your own lack of knowledge and experience about synths is not a good way to improve your skills. It's not Korg's job to teach you synthesis, or Moogs, or DSI's, or Clavia....

There's very little about the iMS-20 or MS-20 that is unique or special compared to modular analog synths. In fact, it's far easier to learn. So if you really want to make progress, you can learn analog style synthesis from many sources. There's lots of great youtube tutorials using the free Synth1 VST software that you can find with google. You'll only need a free VST host, which you can find with google too.

Honeycroft wrote:Is there a basic tutorial on bow to use korg ims20. I've tried but I just don't get it. Where do u start to make a new song. The complexities of the app are very off putting for someone like me, who found thumbjam, nanostudio and xewton very user friendly.

Question:

Do you know how to synthesize?

The iMS-20 is insanely straightforward... if you know what you'd do with a real MS-20.

And the sequencing is annoying but still easy...

tpantano wrote:

Honeycroft wrote:Is there a basic tutorial on bow to use korg ims20. I've tried but I just don't get it. Where do u start to make a new song. The complexities of the app are very off putting for someone like me, who found thumbjam, nanostudio and xewton very user friendly.

Question:

Do you know how to synthesize?

The iMS-20 is insanely straightforward... if you know what you'd do with a real MS-20.

And the sequencing is annoying but still easy...

Never used a real MS 20. I thought the app would work like other music making apps.simple and user friendly.

Honeycroft wrote:Never used a real MS 20. I thought the app would work like other music making apps.simple and user friendly.

As you discovered, the iMS-20 isn't designed to be a user friendly music making app. It's a software version of a real synthesizer. It's like if you wanted a bookshelf, you can buy a premade one from IKEA in a box that only requires light assembly tasks and comes with instructions, or you can buy a tablesaw and woodworking tools. Both can result in a bookshelf, but the IKEA box mostly is designed to allow anyone to assemble one specific bookshelf, while the tablesaw and woodworking tools require skill and knowledge to use, and can create a much wider range of finished goods than merely the bookshelf.

xmlguy wrote:

Honeycroft wrote:Never used a real MS 20. I thought the app would work like other music making apps.simple and user friendly.

As you discovered, the iMS-20 isn't designed to be a user friendly music making app. It's a software version of a real synthesizer. It's like if you wanted a bookshelf, you can buy a premade one from IKEA in a box that only requires light assembly tasks and comes with instructions, or you can buy a tablesaw and woodworking tools. Both can result in a bookshelf, but the IKEA box mostly is designed to allow anyone to assemble one specific bookshelf, while the tablesaw and woodworking tools require skill and knowledge to use, and can create a much wider range of finished goods than merely the bookshelf.

Good comparison and I hate DIY. LOL