Korg monologue

Lesson 6: Saving, naming and managing programs

Goal: never lose a sound you like. The monologue doesn’t auto-save: edits vanish when you select another program or switch off.

What a program stores

Unlike the Volca Beats, everything is stored. Each program holds the panel settings, the PROGRAM EDIT settings (portamento, slider, microtuning, key track, velocity, LFO BPM Sync, level, name) and the program’s own sequence, including tempo, step length and motion sequences. Only GLOBAL EDIT settings sit outside programs.

Save

Press WRITE. It blinks and the display asks “Where to write?”
Turn PROGRAM/VALUE to the destination slot. Use 081 to 100 for your own sounds.
Press WRITE again. The display shows “Complete”. EXIT instead cancels.

Don’t switch off while a save is in progress.

Name it

EDIT MODE > PROGRAM EDIT > button 9. Names are up to 12 characters: turn PROGRAM/VALUE to pick a character, press button 1 to move to the next position, then WRITE to save the program with its new name.

Starting from scratch

Initialise: PROGRAM EDIT > button 11, turn PROGRAM/VALUE until “Press WRITE” shows, then WRITE. This resets the current program, so do it in a user slot.
Panel Load: SHIFT + PLAY in Play mode makes the sound match every knob and switch as they physically sit. This is Korg’s recommended way to build from scratch.
Clear the sequence: SHIFT + REST in Play mode deletes the program’s notes and motion sequences.

Program Level

PROGRAM EDIT > button 8 > Program Level (−25 to +25) evens out volume between your programs, useful once drive and resonance have made some patches much louder than others.

Back up and restore

Sound Librarian: Korg’s Mac and Windows software, downloadable from the Korg support page (version 1.2.0) manages and backs up programs over USB.
SysEx dump: PROGRAM EDIT > button 12 sends the current program; GLOBAL EDIT > button 15 sends everything, over USB (about 10 seconds) or MIDI (about 30 seconds).
Factory reset: hold WRITE + EXIT while switching on. Choose PRESET (programs 1 to 80), GLOBAL, or ALL (which also erases 81 to 100), press WRITE, select Yes, press WRITE again. Copy any edited presets to user slots first.

A slot plan

Twenty user slots go quickly. One layout that works: 081 to 085 basses, 086 to 090 leads, 091 to 095 sequences and arps, 096 to 099 effects and percussion, and 100 as a scratch slot you’re happy to overwrite.

Exercise 6

Save your three Lesson 5 patches to user slots with sensible names. Then initialise slot 100, Panel Load, and rebuild the pluck from memory in under five minutes.