Introducing POKO: A Pocket Groovebox for iPhone
Say hello to POKO, a pocket-sized groovebox for iPhone. It's a beat maker, a synth, a sampler and a song-writing tool in one playful little instrument, and it's out now on the App Store.
POKO is built to be picked up and played, not configured. Tap a pad, make a sound, build a loop. The deeper features are there when you want them, but you can have a beat going in seconds.
Seven engines, every sound made on device
POKO doesn't ship a single sample. Every sound is synthesized right on your phone, which keeps the app tiny and means there's nothing to download. There are seven engines to play with:
- BEAT is a punchy drum machine with ten voices and kits from clean to 808, acoustic and metal.
- CHIP is an 8-bit chiptune voice with chords and an arpeggiator.
- TONE is a melodic synth with saw, square, supersaw and sine waves through a resonant filter.
- ACID is a 303-style bassline with that squelchy filter sweep.
- FM does bells, electric pianos and metallic plucks.
- VOX is a vocal-style formant synth for vowel, choir and robot tones.
- CHOP is a sampler: record through the mic, or load a sound from a file, and play it across the keys or chop it into slices.
Layer them in a rack and they all play together, locked to one tempo.
A sequencer with real depth
Under the simple surface is a proper 16-step sequencer. Give a single step its own sound with parameter locks. Add movement with step probability and ratchets so a loop never feels mechanical. Loosen the groove with global swing, and keep every melodic engine in tune with scale lock.
Perform, mix and arrange
Punch in effects live: stutter, gate, filters, bit-crush, drive, reverse, roll and more, and record those moves into the pattern. Balance the whole groove on the built-in mixer with level, pan, mute and solo per engine, plus a master reverb. Then chain your patterns into a full song in arrange mode.
Make it yours, then take it with you
Sample anything through the mic, or import an audio file and pick the exact clip you want. When you've made something you love, bounce your loop or song to a stereo WAV and share it anywhere, or share the whole project as a file so a friend can open your beat and take it apart.
Free to start, more when you want it
POKO is free to play with the BEAT and CHIP engines, two pattern slots and all of the effects. POKO Pro unlocks the other five engines, song mode, unlimited patterns and projects, WAV export and the live recorder. It's available as a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase.
Available now
POKO is out now on the App Store for iPhone.
Make a beat while you wait for the kettle.