Ableton Forum

UPDATE:
I asked Korg support and the answer was

"This is the specification of the Darwin, as well as other gadget plugins when the "CHORD" function is enabled inside a DAW:
The chords can be played via interface, but the plugin will only respond normally (note-by-note) when receiving midi data.
(If you are inside KORG Gadget instead of another DAW, you can play the chords by using the computer keyboard letters.)“

which makes little sense to me but it is what it is i guess. So case closed


I just purchased gadget 3 and started the play around. I then realized that some modules such as the M1 synth have a “chord” function button on the left of the keyboard initiating which results in chords when hitting a single note. So far so good. The issue is that when I initiate this button but trigger the synth via my keyboard then the chord function is not triggered.. only when I click with the cursor on a note of the plug-in own keybed , does it trigger a chord

What could be a reason for this? Unfortunately, the plug-in does not have midi settings and similar..

Also notivced that when i use an external Keyboard be that the laptop keys or an external midi keyboard the Notes velocity sound like it is
triggering half or a third as loud as hitting a key on the plugin itself.

Very strange behaviour. What am i missing?

Just to be sure: your plugin's chord feature only triggers the chords when you play a note from the plugin's interface?
When it receives midi only the actual midi note is played instead of the chord, right?

[jur] wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 14, 2025 4:45 pm

Just to be sure: your plugin's chord feature only triggers the chords when you play a note from the plugin's interface?
When it receives midi only the actual midi note is played instead of the chord, right?

Hey there.

Exactly as you describe it yes.

Then that sounds like either a limitation of the plugin, or a bug (in the plugin).
Did you contact Korg's support already?

This is definitely a thing on the Korg side of things. It’s unfortunate, because there are some convenient functions in the interface keyboard layout. I think one nice thing though is that Lisbon has a nice arpeggiator that still works with keyboard input.

The Gadget series itself was designed initially for touchscreen (multitouch in fact). It is just that the plugins were so handy that they eventually released them as a plugin collection, even though they weren’t entirely ‘meant’ for that. If you have a touchscreen, it is also frustrating because from the past I’ve noticed that keyboard pressed don’t work unless you press and nudge your finger first. … anyway… (on an iPad or iPhone they work very normal and fluidly though).

The velocity of the keys in the UI is probably one specific velocity, whereas using a qwerty has the option to increase or decrease velocity, resulting in a very different result sometimes.

So yeah. Definitely on Korg’s end. I’d be surprised if they put in the effort to resolve it.

yur2die4 wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 15, 2025 2:43 am

This is definitely a thing on the Korg side of things. It’s unfortunate, because there are some convenient functions in the interface keyboard layout. I think one nice thing though is that Lisbon has a nice arpeggiator that still works with keyboard input.

The Gadget series itself was designed initially for touchscreen (multitouch in fact). It is just that the plugins were so handy that they eventually released them as a plugin collection, even though they weren’t entirely ‘meant’ for that. If you have a touchscreen, it is also frustrating because from the past I’ve noticed that keyboard pressed don’t work unless you press and nudge your finger first. … anyway… (on an iPad or iPhone they work very normal and fluidly though).

The velocity of the keys in the UI is probably one specific velocity, whereas using a qwerty has the option to increase or decrease velocity, resulting in a very different result sometimes.

So yeah. Definitely on Korg’s end. I’d be surprised if they put in the effort to resolve it.

I came to a similar conclusion, as i once asked them if they are ever going to update the gadget 2 plugins to Vst3 and never heard back until version 3 came out. I think they are a bit more of the Unflexible side in this aspect. Like a slow giant.

"on an iPad or iPhone they work very normal and fluidly though)“ you mean together with an external Midi keyboard? Cause my problem is that i cant trigger the chord function via external keyboard and-or laptop keys

Weirdly enough i tried it on another one. I believe the Polysix or Monopoly cant remember anymore, but i tried the same and there the chord works
when triggering midi from my laptop keys.


"I’d be surprised if they put in the effort to resolve it“. me too. Now i at least know that it is the plugins fault and dont need to loose more time searching for this to work.

Thank you for chipping in

[jur] wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 14, 2025 9:49 pm

Then that sounds like either a limitation of the plugin, or a bug (in the plugin).
Did you contact Korg's support already?

No i did not yet. I wanted to first see if others have the same experience cause sometimes users have smart solutions to issues like this

[jur] wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 14, 2025 9:49 pm

Then that sounds like either a limitation of the plugin, or a bug (in the plugin).
Did you contact Korg's support already?

I did contact them and got an answer. I added the answer to my initial question on the top of this thread

spanktron wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 14, 2025 9:54 am

which makes little sense to me but it is what it is i guess.

Agreed, this is a limitation no one would expect in 2025.