MS
12

Quick Manual

MS-12 — 12-bit sampler & sequencer

MS-12 is a sampler and step sequencer with the essentials covered. This manual walks through each screen in the order you would use it to build a track.

About the free version This manual describes the app in full. In the free version some of what follows is limited — you get Bank A only, one 1-bar pattern, two effects, and microphone sampling up to 10 seconds per pad, and saving, loading and exporting are reserved for the full version. A single purchase unlocks everything.

GETTING STARTEDMaking a pattern

The basic route from an empty project to a finished track.

Sample a soundRecord an external source or the app's own output on the Sampling screen.
Edit the sampleShape the waveform and, if you want, chop it into slices on the Edit Sample screen.
Assign it to a padPut the sample on a pad and set how it plays — tune, ADSR and so on — on the Assign screen.
Record a sequencePress REC on the top screen and play the pads along with the pattern.
Edit the sequenceAdjust step positions, velocity and pitch on the Edit Seq screen.
Add effects (optional)Apply effects such as delay to individual pads on the Effect screen.
Balance the mixSet level and pan for each pad on the Mix screen.
ExportBounce the finished pattern to a WAV file.

SCREENTop screen

LCD: Shows the name of the pattern currently playing, the playback position and the BPM. Projects are saved and loaded from here.
Function buttons: Take you to the editing screens — sampling, sample editing, sequence editing and the rest.
Pad bank, mute and solo: Switch pad banks, and mute or solo individual pads.
Multi buttons: Multi Level and Multi Pitch spread a single pad across the grid in 16 steps of velocity or tune, so you can play it expressively.
Transport: Record and play the sequence. The home button brings you back to this screen from anywhere.
Pads: Press a pad to play the sample assigned to it.

SCREENSampling

Record an external source, or the audio the app itself is playing, and bring it in as a sample. Open it with Sampling on the top screen.

Audio Input / App Audio: Choose whether to record an external input such as a microphone, or the sound the app is currently playing.
Input device: Pick the microphone or audio interface to record from.
Level meters (L / R): Show the incoming signal in real time.
ARM: Puts recording on standby. With ARM on, recording starts by itself the moment sound arrives.
Manual Recording: Starts and stops recording by hand, from the moment you press it.
REC GAIN: Sets the input level for recording, from 0% to 200%.
Sound Manage: Opens the list of samples you have recorded or imported.

SCREENSample Edit

Edit a sampled sound on its waveform. Open it with Edit Sample on the top screen.

Waveform: Shows the sample. The icons at the top right zoom in and out.
Start / Select Range / End: The start, length and end of the current selection.
Sample name: The sample being edited. Tap it to switch to a different one.
Edit: Opens the editing menu — slice, reverse and the rest. See the next section.
Save as New Sample: Saves your edit as a new sample, leaving the original alone.
Preview: Auditions the result before you commit to it.
Apply: Commits the edit.
Pad row: Selects which pad's sample you are editing.

Opened from Edit on the Sample Edit screen. Each operation applies to the range you have selected.

Slice: Splits the waveform across several pads. Covered in the next three sections.
Reverse: Plays the waveform backwards.
Normalize: Raises the level so the loudest peak sits at maximum.
Silence: Silences the selected range.
Fade Out: Fades the level down towards the end of the selection.
Fade In: Fades the level up from the start of the selection.
Time Stretch: Changes the pitch without changing the length, or stretches the length itself.
Trim: Keeps only the selected range and discards the rest.

SLICEBasics

Splits one sample into several sounds and puts each on its own pad. Open it with Edit → Slice.

Sample name: The sample being sliced.
Slice: Opens the slice menu.
Save as New Sample: Saves the unsliced sample as a new one.
Manual: Add slice points by hand while watching the waveform.
Auto: Analyses the waveform and slices at the transients automatically.
Preview / Apply: Audition the result, then commit it.

SLICEManual slicing

Choosing Manual lets you place markers on the waveform yourself.

Markers (M1, M2 …): The dividing lines you have added. The leftmost pad plays the sample; the other pads add a new marker at the point playback has reached.
Slice End: The end point of the slice currently selected.
Marker list: Lists the time position of every marker. The × icon deletes one.
Pad Assign: Assigns the slices you have made to pads.
Temporary Add: Adds the slices to the temporary list. The count is shown on the button.

SLICEAuto slicing

Choosing Auto analyses the changes in level and finds the slice points for you. Every detected point appears as a marker on the waveform.

Sensitivity: Move it right to catch smaller changes in level, which produces more slices.
Candidates: How many slice points the current sensitivity has found.
Auto Slice: Runs the analysis and places the markers.
Save as New Sample: Saves the result as a new sample.

SLICEAssigning to pads

From Pad Assign, the slices you have made are placed onto pads in one go.

Assignment summary: Shows how many slices were found and how they will be laid out. If there are more slices than the 16 pads in a bank, the remainder continues into the next bank.
Bank assign: Chooses the bank to start from. The slices are placed in order across that bank's pads — A1, A2 and so on.

SCREENAssign

Puts a sound on a pad and sets how it plays. Open it with Assign on the top screen.

Sound: The sample on this pad. Sample Select swaps it for another.
Tune: Shifts playback pitch in semitones.
Poly / Mono: Poly lets notes overlap; Mono plays only one note at a time.
Mute Group: Pads sharing a group number cut each other off — the usual way to set up an open and closed hi-hat.
Pad Link: Sets another pad to sound at the same time as this one.
ADSR: Shapes the level over the life of the note. Attack is how fast it arrives, Decay the initial fall, Sustain the level it holds, and Release the tail after you let go.

SCREENSequence Edit

Edits a recorded pattern step by step. Open it with Edit Seq on the top screen.

Timeline: The steps recorded for the pad you have selected.
Step / Velocity / Tune / Target: The position, level, pitch and target pad of the selected step. All of them can be adjusted here.
Pattern: Chooses the pattern to edit.
Apply: Commits the change.
Event Insert / Delete / All Clear: Adds or removes a step, or clears the whole pattern.
Move / Previous Event / Next Event: Nudges the selected step, or jumps the selection to another one.
Pad selection: Switches which pad — which track — you are editing.

SCREENSong Mode

Chains patterns together into the running order of a whole track. Open it with Song on the top screen.

Song Playback / Loop: Plays the song you have built. With Loop on it repeats.
Convert / All Delete: Convert turns the whole song into a single pattern. All Delete clears the arrangement.
Pattern list: Every pattern in the project. The + button adds a new one.
Song arrangement: Drag patterns over from the list and order them to build the song.

SCREENEffects

Applies effects to the sound of individual pads. Open it with Effect on the top screen.

Pad Select: Tap the pads you want to affect. You can select more than one.
Group Select: Selects a whole group of pads at once.
Effect Settings: Sets the effect type and its parameters for the pads you selected.
Sound Type Settings: Sets the sample rate and bit depth character applied to the pad.
Effect Order (Effect 1 / Effect 2): Chooses two effects and the order they run in.
Parameters: The detailed controls for the chosen effect — for a delay, time, feedback and mix.

SCREENMix

Balances the level of every pad. Open it with Mix on the top screen.

Pad bank: Switches which bank you are adjusting.
Reset: Returns the faders in the current bank to their default.
Pan: Places the sound left or right.
Volume faders: Set each pad's level, from 0% to 150%.
Play button: Auditions that pad.

SCREENSound Management

Lists and manages the samples you have recorded and sliced. Open it with Sound Manage.

Temporary list: Every sound you have made so far, with the count shown.
Bulk delete: Removes several sounds, or all of them, at once.
Play button: Auditions a sound from the list.
Pencil icon: Renames the sample.
Duplicate icon: Makes a copy of the sound.
Trash icon: Deletes it.