How do you design your own sounds on the Korg microKORG?

The answer, in full

Korg microKORG Presets and Sound Design

microKORG warm evolving ambient pad design

Ambient pads live and die on slow movement and a soft filter, and the microKORG has exactly the tools for it: two virtual patch routes into cutoff and pitch plus a lazy amp envelope. Let's build one from a clean starting point so nothing fights you.

Steps

1. Start from a blank slateInitialize a program so you're not fighting an existing sound's routings, then build up from there. On a fresh init you get a plain saw with no movement, which is the ideal canvas for a pad.
2. Set the oscillators wide and thickTurn EDIT SELECT to the OSC and MIXER sections. Detune OSC2 slightly against OSC1 for a slow beating chorus, and bring OSC2 up in the mixer so both are audible. A small amount of noise level adds air.
3. Open the amp envelope for a slow swellIn the AMP EG section, raise Attack and Release well up and keep Sustain high. That gives the note a soft fade-in and a long tail, the core of a pad.
4. Soften the filterIn the FILTER section pull Cutoff down to taste and add a touch of Resonance. Push resonance high enough and the filter self-oscillates, which you can use as an extra sine-like layer if you want.
5. Route LFO2 to cutoff for the 'wah' breathingIn PATCH 1: SOURCE = LFO2, DEST = CutOff, and set MOD INT to a modest amount. Set LFO2 slow. That's the classic slow tonal sweep that makes a pad feel alive.
6. Add a second, subtler movement and saveIn PATCH 2: SOURCE = LFO1 or EG, DEST = Pitch or OSC2 Tune with a tiny MOD INT for gentle drift. Then Write the program or it's gone at power-off.

Ideas to try

Two LFOs at odds — Point PATCH 1 (LFO2 to CutOff) and PATCH 2 (LFO1 to Pan or LFO2 Frequency) at different rates so the movement never repeats the same way. Using LFO2 Frequency as a destination makes the filter sweep itself speed up and slow down, which reads as 'evolving' rather than looping.

Filter as a third oscillator — Crank resonance to self-oscillation and treat the cutoff pitch as a pure tone layered under the saws. Modulate that cutoff slowly with an EG or the MOD wheel and you get a breathing sine that swells inside the pad.

Feed real sound through the filter — Set an oscillator to Audio In and run a source into AUDIO IN 2 LINE (or a mic into AUDIO IN 1). The microKORG filters and shapes that instead of an oscillator, so a field recording or drone becomes the pad's body while OSC2 harmonizes with it.

Play it hands-on live — Once saved, ride the MOD wheel to push cutoff or vibrato in real time. Assigning MOD wheel to Cutoff in a spare patch route lets you open and close the pad by hand for slow builds.

Watch out

• Edits are lost when you switch programs or power off unless you Write them, and reselecting the same program snaps parameters back to the saved values. Save before you move on.