AKAI SynthStation Studio Quick Start Guide

AKAI SYNTHSTATION STUDIO

QUICK NOTES

On almost every page of SynthStation Studio, you can find the MENU button in the
upper left-hand corner and the TRANSPORT tab in the upper right-hand corner.

MENU: Opens the Main Menu where you can select any page within the app.
TRANSPORT: Reveals the transport controls (touch anywhere outside the

TRANSPORT tab to hide it again):

BACK: Scans back through the current Song/Sequence.
STOP: Stops playback of the current Song/Sequence. You can "double-tap" the

STOP button to jump to the beginning of the current Sequence.

PLAY: Starts playback of the current Song/Sequence.
FORWARD: Scans forward through the current Song/Sequence.
DRUM / SYNTH 1 / SYNTH 2 / SYNTH 3: Selects that part of the

Song/Sequence for playback/editing.

Note: When the DRUM part is selected, certain features in the app will be
disabled because they do not apply to the drums. These include the Synth Edit
Page controls, the X/Y controls, and inapplicable faders on the Perform Page.

To adjust the position of sliders/faders, touch anywhere along the fader line to make
it "jump" to that point or touch and slide a fader to adjust it.

To adjust the position of knobs, touch the knob and slide up or down. Double-tapping
a knob will either reset it to the center position (if that is its default position) or make it
jump to the maximum level.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAIN (The Main Menu)
SONG/SEQ

PERFORM
SOUNDS (Selecting Sounds for your Synths)
MIXER
X/Y (Using the X/Y modulation controller)

(Songs and Sequences)
Playing a Song
Assigning a Drum Kit to the Drum part of a Sequence
Selecting Sounds for your Songs and Sequences
Creating a Sequence
Creating a Song
Naming a Song/Sequence
Recording a song as a WAV and MIDI file
Deleting recorded files

(Using the keyboard-style performance editor)

(Mixing your levels)

SYNTH EDIT (Editing modules in your Synths)
GRID EDIT (Using the grid-style editor for your Sequences)
TEMPO (Adjusting the tempo)
DRUM KIT (Selecting & previewing Drum Kits)
DRUM EDIT (Editing Drum Kits)
EFFECTS (Selecting & adjusting Effects)
MORE INFORMATION (Help & support)

MAIN

The first screen of the SynthStudio app provides shortcut buttons to other areas of the
app as well as additional menus:

MENU: Opens the Main Menu where you can select any page within the app.
HELP: Opens this Help file.
ABOUT: Opens a page indicating the current software version.
1st panel: This is a shortcut to the Kit Select Page.
2nd panel: This is a shortcut to the Perform Page.
3rd panel: This is a shortcut to the Mixer Page.

SONG/SEQ

The Song/Seq Page lets you create, edit, play, and record Songs or Sequences.

In SynthStudio, a Sequence is a 1-, 2-, 4-, or 8-measure-long phrase consisting of Drum
and Synth parts. Several Sequences can be chained together to form a Song.

To enter the Song/Seq Page, touch MENU then SONG/SEQ.

Playing a Song:
(1) On the Song Grid, touch any number from 1 to 16 to select a preset Song. Touch

any number from 17 to 32 to select a Song you have already recorded.

(2) Touch TRANSPORT to reveal the transport controls.
(3) Touch PLAY to play the Song. As the Song plays, the currently playing Sequence

will be shown.

Tip: During playback, you can jump to another Sequence within the song by tapping the
Sequence you want to play next. That Sequence will then be occupied by a blue cursor.
Once the current Sequence is done playing, the blue cursor will turn gray, indicating that
it is currently playing.

Assigning a Drum Kit to the Drum part of a Sequence:
(1) Touch MENU.
(2) Touch DRUM KIT to enter the Kit Select Page.

(3) Scroll through the available Kits by touching and sliding the list up or down. Select

one by touching it. You can preview the Kit's sounds by tapping the pads on the right.
(4) If you want to adjust the pitch, level, or panning of the drum pads of a Kit, touch the
DRUM EDIT button at the top of the screen and make whatever adjustments you like.

(5) When you are finished, touch MENU to go to another page.

Selecting Sounds for your Songs and Sequences:
(1) Touch MENU.
(2) Touch SOUNDS to enter the Sounds Page.
(3) Touch TRANSPORT to reveal the transport controls.
(4) Touch the Synth part (SYNTH 1, SYNTH 2, or SYNTH 3) whose Sound you want to

assign. Touch anywhere outside the TRANSPORT tab to hide it again.
(5) Touch a number on the 64-number grid below to assign that Sound to the selected
Synth. The Sound's name will be displayed on the left. To select a different number,
touch another number or touch PREV or NEXT to move through the Sounds
sequentially.

(6) When you are finished, repeat Steps 3-5 or touch MENU to go to another page.

Creating a Sequence:
(1) On the Song Grid, touch any number from 17 to 32 to select an empty Song ("new

proj").

(2) Touch MENU.
(3) Touch GRID EDIT.
(4) Touch BACK or FORWARD to select a Sequence to create. The Sequence ("S") is

displayed on the left.
(5) Touch the part of the Sequence you want to create (DRUM, SYNTH 1, SYNTH 2, or
SYNTH 3).
(6) In the grid, the horizontal axis represents one measure of the current Sequence,
divided into 16th notes. The vertical axis represents the range of notes used in the
Sequence. (You can shift the visible section of the keyboard by touching and sliding it
up or down.) To place a note on the grid, touch an empty square. Touching any
occupied square will delete that note. (When creating Synth parts, you can touch and
slide your finger to extend the note.)
(7) When you are finished with your current Sequence, touch BACK or FORWARD to
select another Sequence, or touch MENU to go to another page.

Note: SYNTH 1 is polyphonic (multiple notes can sound simultaneously) while SYNTH
2 and SYNTH 3 are monophonic (only one note can sound at a time). When creating
mono Synth parts (SYNTH 2 and SYNTH 3), you can make legato notes by creating an
sustained note (as mentioned above) then creating another note above or below the
gray bar.

Creating a Song:
(1) On the Song Grid, touch any number from 17 to 32 to select an empty Song ("new

proj").

(2) The Sequences of the song will – by default – be arranged sequentially (the first
Sequence will be "Sequ-01," the second Sequence will be "Sequ-02," etc., unless you
named them differently). You can arrange and rearrange the order of your Sequences
by touching and holding your finger over a Sequence until a menu appears:

SAVE: Saves the Sequence.
COPY: Copies the Sequence.
PASTE: Pastes a copied Sequence over the current one.
CLEAR: Deletes the Sequence.
CANCEL: Closes the menu.

Tip: To use the same Sequence repeatedly, instead of copying and pasting it several
times in a row, you can tap the Sequence you want to repeat then touch MEAS. The
MEAS button will turn the selected Sequence into a 1-, 2-, 4-, or 8-measure phrase of
that Sequence, depending on how many times you touch the button. (The Sequence
"cursor" will be divided into that many equal parts to indicate its length.)

(3) To play the Song, touch the TRANSPORT tab to reveal the transport controls and
touch PLAY. (Touch anywhere outside the TRANSPORT tab to hide it again.)

Tip: Touch the CHAIN button to activate or deactivate Chain Mode. When Chain Mode
is on, the CHAIN button will be lit and playback will advance through the Sequences
(and loop the entire chain of Sequences) until you deactivate CHAIN or touch STOP.
When not in Chain Mode, only the currently selected Sequence will loop until you
activate CHAIN or press STOP.

(4) When are you finished with your Song, touch and hold your finger over it until a
menu appears. Touch SAVE to save it or CANCEL to return to the previous screen
without saving.

Naming a Song/Sequence:
(1) On the Song/Seq Page, touch a Song/Sequence number to select it.
(2) Touch the blue box on the left of its grid where the name is displayed.
(3) Using the keyboard that appears, enter a name for the Song/Sequence. When you

are finished, tap "Done."
(4) To save that name to that Song/Sequence, touch and hold your finger over it until a
menu appears.
(5) Touch SAVE to save the new name or CANCEL to return to the previous screen
without saving.

Recording a song as a WAV and MIDI file:

Note: The SynthStation Studio recorder will capture all audio played by your
iPhone/iPod touch. This includes the effects of changes you make on any of the other
pages during recording, allowing you to use the app's controls in real time. (The app will
continue recording even if you exit the recording page.)

(1) Connect your iPhone/iPod touch to a local Wi-Fi network.*
(2) Connect your computer to the same Wi-Fi network.
(3) Touch the RECORDER button in the bottom right-hand corner.