Korg Gadget 3 is a major update of its beginner-friendly music production software featuring two new Gadgets, effects, and iOS AUv3 support.
The Japanese developer Korg makes both hardware and software. The company has a lot of support for its iOS apps. Korg Gadget is particularly popular. It’s a simplified form of a DAW that allows anyone to make music using a wide range of sweetspot gadgetized synths, drum machines, and effects.
A longstanding weakness of Gadget is the lack of AUv3 support on iOS. A format that is becoming a must-have on iOS and allows musicians to use plugins from other developers in DAWs. With the introduction of Logic Pro on iOS and Cubasis, AUv3 has become indispensable for mobile musicians.
It took a long time. Korg Gadget 3 is out now, and oh, wonder, with AUv3 support.
Korg Gadget 3
NAMM 2024 is around the corner, and it’s the music tech show at which Korg always shows new products. The first is Korg Gadget 3. It is a major update for the iOS, macOS, and Windows versions. However, the Windows version still only consists of the plugins. No standalone app.
Gadget in version 3 remains true to the popular concept. A simplified form of a DAW packed with small synthesizers, effects, etc., better known as gadgets.
Version 3 introduces two new gadgets. Santa Ana is a new sample-based rhythm guitar virtual instrument, and Sydney is a flexible loop sampler with time stretch. Then, you work with five new effects (IFX), including 8-band EQ, transient shaper, stereo image, auto pumper, and a pitch shifter.
The biggest news for iOS users is AUv3 support. This major new feature unlocks the Gadgets instruments from the Gadget ecosystem and makes them available in other apps.
For example, owners of all Gadgets will get 40+ new virtual instruments that they can now use not only in KG3 but also in apps such as Logic Pro, AUM, and others. That’s a big step forward. Important, apps that are gadgetized versions of its big version like iPolysix, MS-20… are not available yet as AUv3.
Korg also promises that the new Gadget 3 workflow is easier and more intuitive, thanks to optimizations. A new Play page also brings an easy-to-use arpeggiator and a chord function.
Besides this, you can explore a new sound browser that lets you select Gadgets by the timbre you want. If you unlock the complete Gadget Instrument collection, it gives you access to over 6,000 sound programs.
Further, you get a new genre-select function that allows you to create songs from your favorite patterns. So, basically, it is a song mode that is built in now Gadget 3. A great addition, making it more flexible for composing.
First Impression
Finally, it took a long time for Korg to release the next app with AUv3 support. Hope this is the start of updates to your other popular synth apps. The new Gadget 3 update has many nice additions, especially the new effects are good to see.
The new gadgets look interesting. But they don’t trigger the purchase button directly for me. Either way, a nice update for Gadget. Glad to see the project continues. One downer, the update price from Gadget 2 on Mac/PC is perhaps a bit too high.
Availability
Korg Gadget 3 is available now for an introductory price of $249 instead of $299. It runs on macOS. The Gadget 3 plugins are available for an intro price of $149 instead of $199 and run on macOS and Windows. Upgrades are available for $99 for existing Korg Gadget 2 and plugin users.
The iOS version of Korg Gadget 3 is available now for an intro price of $19,99. The new instruments are available via an in-app purchase for an intro price of $9,99. The update from 2.0 to 3.0 is free of charge for existing users on iOS.
More information here: Korg
On iOS it is nice that the Korg gadgets are now available for use as AuV3 plugins in other apps. Except… that Korg has decided to populate my AuV3 plugin directories in those apps (including AUM) with all of their gadgets, including those that I have not purchased. Bad form on their part. No one else does this.
Thanks for the news! Read it this morning and got really enthusiastic about the prospect of finally (!) having those Gadgets as AUv3 plugins in AUM and Logic Pro (allowing for roundtripping).
A couple of things to note…
*3 Audio/MIDI gadgets such as Zurich, Rosario, Durban, and Taipei do not support AUv3. Also, gadgets that work with the KORG apps, such as Salzburg, Montreal, Alexandria, Firenze, Glasgow, Fairbanks, Darwin, Memphis, Lexington, Warszawa, Montpellier, and Pompei will not support AUv3. Please wait until the respective apps support AUv3.
(Was really disappointed that Milpitas and Darwin weren’t available as AUv3. In fact, they don’t mention Milpitas in this relatively long list. Hope it’s part of the “such as”.)
Several gadgets which were bundled with Gadget before are now paid, on iPadOS. Yes, I did try the “Restore” button. No go.
Gladstone, Otorii, Madrid, Kamata, Vancouver, Lisbon, Ebina
Which means that a KG2 project using these won’t play correctly in KG3 without purchasing the missing gadgets. Rather strange decision to make, honestly.
These gadgets are currently on sale for 13CAD (10USD). Though that makes things even worse, in a way.
Other gadgets are available as IAP (according to the App Store page) and are available in my instance of KG3 (along with their AUv3): Bilbao, Abu Dhabi, Stockholm
Strangely, while Sydney is an IAP, I’m able to load it in AUM (without any content).
Sounds like Module and Electribe Wave haven’t changed. (They were already available as AUv3, from purchasing the apps. The Electribe Wave plugin’s a reduced version of the app.)
In the end, here are the new gadgets I have in AUM, without paying for anything:
Bilbao, Abu Dhabi, Wolfsberg, Tokyo, Sydney, Recife, Stockholm, Phoenix, Marseille, London, Kingston, Kiev, Kamata, Helsinki, Dublin, Chicago, Chiangmai, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Miami.
I did buy the upgrade from KG3 for Mac. That gives me ARM-native version of all the plugins, as VST3 and AU. At the beginning of the “Black Friday Sales”, I had already bought Korg Collection 4, because I was tired of waiting for an updated version of the plugins. That was another 200USD, which I now regret.
Altogether, I have 61 separate Korg VST3 plugins on my M1 MacBook Air. Loaded all of them at once (which took less than a minute). Even with all the GUIs open and with apps running in the background, I only reached a moderate percentage of my CPU (at 96kHz, 256 samples). Of course, that’s before playing any note. Still, many plugins are incredibly demanding in CPU just for their (largely skeuomorphic) GUIs. And I know from experience that these plugins remain really CPU-friendly under heavy use.
I’m mostly interested in Wavestation (Milpitas) and M1 (Darwin). The rest… I have plenty of plugins which emulate “vintage analog” gear. And I don’t really need many ROMplers (though I do get interested in some of them). I do like the chord mode in Lisbon, which actually works with other gadgets as “Lisbon Major” and “Lisbon Minor” scales. A cool thing about that mode is that the chords’ voicings are such that there’s voice leading involved, instead of only having parallel chords as is typically the case. (Then again, I have Scaler 2 for that kind of thing on both iPadOS and macOS. Tonality’s Chord Pads also do some voice leading, on iPadOS.)
Altogether, I remain “cautiously enthusiastic” about the whole thing. Hope my optimism about “Milpitas” making the cut isn’t misplaced. For some reason, it’s a kind of sound that I really enjoy. I have a similar reaction to the D-50. I think some of it is just nostalgia (the way so many people wax poetic about a specific subtractive synth which sounds somewhat similar to all the other “VA” synths out there).
Because I’m weird this way, here’s a list of the 45 gadgets with availability.
Name IAP Bundled AUv3 App Module Origin
AbuDhabi TRUE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Alexandria FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE Hammond B3
Amsterdam FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Berlin FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Bilbao TRUE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Brussels FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Chiangmai FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Chicago FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Darwin FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE M1
Dublin FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Durban FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE (Audio FX)
Ebina TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE Darius arcade
Fairbanks FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE Hybrid
Firenze FALSE TRUE FALSE TRUE TRUE Clavinet
Gladstone TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Glasgow TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE PCM
Helsinki FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Kamata TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Kiev FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Kingston FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Lexington FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE ARP Odyssey
Lisbon TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
London FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Madrid TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Marseille FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Memphis FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE MS-20
Miami FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Milpitas FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE Wavestation
Montpellier FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE MonoPoly
Montreal FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE Electric Piano
Otorii TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE SEGA
Phoenix FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Pompei FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE Polysix
Recife FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Rosario FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE (Audio FX)
Salzburg FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE Piano
Santa Ana TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Stockholm TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE Dr. Octo Rex
Sydney TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Taipei FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE (MIDI)
Tokyo FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Vancouver TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Warszawa FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE Electribe Wave
Wolfsburg FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
Zurich FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE (Audio FX)