The Korg Keystage is a brilliant MIDI 2.0 controller for controlling hardware and software synthesizers, especially Korg’s own Modwave and Wavestate. With MIDI 2.0, there is bidirectional transmission of data, so you get real-time display of the synth’s patch name and its parameters.

On the front panel of the Keystage is a rotary control that you can use to scroll through the synth’s patch names. When you hook up the Keystage to Korg’s Wavestate or Modwave, scrolling through the patches with the dial at first seems like it’s going in a random order. It doesn’t go through the patches in the order that they are listed on the patch list of the synth, and to a new user, it can be a bit confusing.

Actually, it’s really simple. The dial goes through a Set List in sequence. You can have multiple set lists and select the active one on the synth. With the Wavestate and Modwave Librarian software (or directly on the Native versions), you can easily create and edit set lists.

In this video, I show you how to create your own set lists and use them with the Korg Keystage.

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