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POKO: The Complete Guide

POKO is a playable pocket groovebox: seven swappable engines, a 16-step sequencer, punch-in FX, song mode and live recording, with every sound synthesized on device. This guide walks through everything, including the gestures that are easy to miss.

POKO is designed to be played, not configured. Most controls are tap-to-arm: tap a function button and the 16 pads become that function; tap a pad to act. Many powerful features also live behind a press-and-hold, and each of those now has a visible button twin, so you can reach everything either way.

Getting around: the three tabs

A bar across the bottom switches between POKO's three surfaces:

  • PLAY: the instrument. One engine at a time: its display, sliders, function buttons and the 16-pad grid. This is where you build and perform patterns. POKO opens here.
  • RACK: the mixer. Every loaded engine in one place: a level fader, mute/solo and FILL per engine, the master transport and tempo, and the cards to turn engines on/off. SAVE / LOAD lives here too.
  • ARRANGE: the song. Your eight pattern slots and the chain that strings them into a full track.

The PLAY screen

  • Display (top-left): the engine name and model (e.g. PK-1 BEAT), the BPM, the run/stop state and the pattern that's playing.
  • A / B sliders (top-right): the two sound-shaping controls for the current engine (e.g. TONE and DECAY). They're the heart of parameter locks (below).
  • Page dots (top, centre): one per loaded engine; swipe left/right to move between them.
  • M / S: mute and solo the current engine (also on the RACK mixer).
  • Function strip: SOUND, FX, PATTERN and engine-specific buttons. Tap one to turn the 16 pads into that function.
  • Mode banner: names what the pads are doing right now. When you're in a function (not the step grid) it lights up in the engine's colour and shows a ‹ STEPS chip to jump back.
  • 16 pads: the step grid by default; they become whatever function you've armed.
  • Transport (bottom): Play/Stop, Record, and Clear.

Engines and the rack

POKO has seven engines: PK-1 BEAT (drums), PK-2 CHIP (8-bit), PK-3 TONE (synth), PK-4 CHOP (sampler), PK-5 ACID (303-style bass), PK-6 FM (bells and electric pianos) and PK-10 VOX (formant vowel, choir and robot tones). Each is a full instrument with its own pattern.

  • Use SOUND to pick the voice or note, and VAR to swap the sound flavour: drum kits on BEAT (clean, 808, acoustic, metal and more), waveforms on TONE (saw, square, pulse, supersaw, sine), channels on CHIP (pulse, triangle, noise, PWM, sync), EPIANO/BELL/CLANG on FM, and the vowel characters on VOX.
  • On PLAY, swipe between the engines you have loaded. They shrink into a card as you swipe.
  • On the RACK tab, the cards at the bottom turn engines on/off. Everything that's on plays together in sync. This is how you layer, say, drums + bass + a melody.
  • Play is global: it starts and stops the whole rack at once, from any engine or the RACK transport.

The mixer (RACK)

The RACK tab shows every loaded engine as a channel strip so you can balance the whole groove at a glance:

  • Level fader: set each engine's volume in the mix. Levels are saved with the project and baked into exports.
  • Pan: place each engine in the stereo field with the slider under its level. It snaps to centre, and a double-tap on the readout re-centres it.
  • M / S: mute or solo any engine from here.
  • FILL: seed a starting pattern for that engine in one tap (a drum groove for BEAT, a musical run for the others), a fast way to get something playing.
  • Tap an engine's name to jump to it on the PLAY screen.
  • The header carries the master transport, the tempo (± to nudge the BPM), the current pattern number, and the live record button. SWING and SCALE live here too (below).

Swing and scale lock

Two global controls sit on the RACK header, under the transport:

  • SWING: drag the slider to shuffle the off-beat 16ths. A little gives a loose, human feel; a lot gives a heavy bounce. It applies to every engine at once.
  • SCALE: tap OFF to engage scale lock, then pick a key and a scale (major, minor, dorian, mixolydian and pentatonic). While it's on, the melodic engines (TONE, ACID, FM and the sampler's keys) are retuned so everything stays in the same key. Leave it off and each engine keeps its own built-in tuning.

Making a beat

  1. On the BEAT engine, tap SOUND and pick a drum (kick, snare, hat…). The 16 pads now edit that drum's row.
  2. Tap pads to place hits. Tap SOUND again (or just pick the next drum) to switch rows.
  3. Press Play. Drag the A / B sliders to shape the live sound.

In a hurry? Hit FILL on the RACK mixer to drop in a starting pattern, then tweak from there.

Parameter locks: give one step its own sound

This is POKO's secret weapon: a single step can have its own settings.

  • Tap LOCK in the step banner, then tap a step to select it (or simply press and hold a step, a ring fills under your finger to confirm). The sliders relabel to LOCK n.
  • Move the A / B sliders. That step now plays with those settings instead of the engine's, a brighter hat here, a longer kick there.
  • A locked step shows a small corner dot. Tap CLR LOCK to remove it.
  • Locks are per sound: a lock on the kick's step 5 doesn't touch the snare on step 5. Switch sounds with SOUND and each one keeps its own locks.

Probability and ratchets: make a pattern breathe

Two more per-step tricks live next to LOCK in the step banner, and they keep a 16-step loop from sounding mechanical.

  • PROB: tap PROB, then tap a step to cycle its chance to play, 100, 75, 50 or 25 percent. A step below 100% rolls the dice every loop, so the pattern shifts under you. The step shows its chance in the corner.
  • RTCH (ratchet): tap RTCH, then tap a step to cycle a retrigger count of 1 to 4. A step set above 1 fires that many times in a row, a roll or a stutter baked into the step. It shows a small ×N marker.

Like locks, both are per sound and saved with the pattern, so each engine and each voice keeps its own conditions.

The BPM (easy to miss)

On PLAY, drag the BPM number on the display up or down to change the tempo, the number itself is the control. You can also nudge it with the ± buttons on the RACK mixer.

Patterns and songs

  • On PLAY, tap PATTERN for a quick pattern picker. Tap a slot to switch to it (it queues to the next loop while playing, or switches instantly when stopped). A pattern captures the whole rack at once, every engine's steps, locks and chords.
  • Open the ARRANGE tab to build a song. EDIT lets you tap slots in order to build a chain; SONG runs the chain end to end on loop; COPY duplicates the current pattern into the next slot you tap, handy for making variations.
  • While a song plays, the chain highlights the pattern currently sounding.

Punch-in FX

Tap FX to turn the pads into effect pads: stutter, gate, low/high-pass filters, bit-crush, drive, drop, reverse, roll, build and half-speed.

  • Tap a pad to engage its effect live; tap again to release.
  • Turn on WRITE (in the FX header) to record your FX moves into the pattern, so they play back every loop. A ● REC AUTOMATION marker confirms it's armed.
  • CLR FX (next to WRITE) wipes the recorded FX automation.

The chip engine (8-bit)

CHIP is chord-aware, with five voices: bass, arp, lead, blip and stab. Its extra functions wrap onto two rows.

  • CHORD: pick the base chord everything is built around.
  • ARP: choose the arpeggiator direction (up, down, up-down, down-up). Note the arp is its own track: select the ARP sound and program steps on it; each lit arp step plays the next note of the chord, so you need a few steps to hear it move.
  • PROG: paint a chord progression onto steps, so the chord changes through the pattern.

The acid engine (ACID)

ACID (PK-5) is a 303-style bassline: one squelchy, resonant voice that defines a whole genre. Program a bass line on the step grid and shape it live:

  • CUTOFF (slider A) sets how bright the note opens up, and RES (slider B) sets the resonance and how hard the filter dives, that squelchy "wow" on every note.
  • VAR switches between a SAW and SQUARE oscillator.
  • It sits low for a reason. Pair it with BEAT for an instant acid-house or techno backbone, and use scale lock to keep it in key with your melody.

The FM engine (FM)

FM (PK-6) is a two-operator FM voice: bells, electric pianos, mallets and metallic plucks, a different palette from the analog-style engines.

  • RATIO (slider A) tunes the relationship between the two operators, from harmonic and musical (electric-piano-like) to clangy and inharmonic (bells and metal).
  • FEEL (slider B) sets the FM depth (how bright and biting the attack is) and the note length.
  • VAR picks a starting character: EPIANO, BELL or CLANG.

The vox engine (VOX)

VOX (PK-10) is a formant synth, a vocal-style voice that sings vowels, choirs and robot tones, built from scratch like every other sound in POKO.

  • VOWEL (slider A) morphs the vowel shape, sweeping from an "ooh", through "aah", to an "eee".
  • LENGTH (slider B) sets the note length.
  • VAR picks the character: AAH, OOH, ROBOT (monotone and metallic) or TALK (the vowel moves as the note rings).
  • It's melodic, so program a line on the step grid and use scale lock to keep it in key with the rest of your track.

The sampler (CHOP)

CHOP has 16 slots; each holds one recorded sound.

  • Record a sample: in SLOT mode, tap REC (or press and hold a slot) to record from the mic. Playback pauses while you record so the mix can't bleed in.
  • Load a sample from a file: tap LOAD in the slot header to import any audio file from Files. Short files drop straight in; for a long file, a clip picker lets you grab the section you want first, which then lands in the slot and trims like any other sample.
  • SPREAD / SLICE: each slot is either spread (the sample pitched across a musical scale) or sliced (chopped into 16 pieces). Toggle it in the slot header.
  • TRIM: open a slot's waveform and drag the edges to set exactly which part plays. Tap PLAY to hear your selection on a loop while you drag the handles. It's non-destructive, so the original take is kept and you can re-trim any time.
  • Per-slot character: scroll the slot header for REV (play the slot backwards), LOOP (repeat it to fill the note), and - / + to transpose the slot up or down in semitones.
  • KEYS: tap KEYS to play the selected slot, pitched notes for a spread slot, slices for a sliced slot.
  • Per-step pitch: tap PITCH (or hold a step) and the pads become the KEYS picker. Tap a key to set that step's pitch or slice; the step shows a small marker. This is how you sequence a melody from a single sample. Use BASE to clear a step back to the plain sample.

Recording and exporting

  • Record (the red button) captures your live performance, pattern/song playback, FX punches, slider tweaks, mutes, straight to a WAV. Hit it again to stop, then save or share the file.
  • Export (in SAVE / LOAD) bounces a clean render to WAV: either the current pattern tiled to a chosen length (1/2/4/8 bars) or the whole song. Mixer levels are baked in.

Saving your work

Open SAVE / LOAD on the RACK tab to save the whole project (all engines, patterns, mixer levels and the song) under a name, and to load or delete saved projects later. Your work and recordings stay on your device.

POKO Pro

POKO is free to play with the BEAT and CHIP engines, two pattern slots and all FX. POKO Pro unlocks the five other engines (TONE, CHOP, ACID, FM and VOX), song mode, unlimited pattern slots and projects, and WAV export plus the live recorder. It's available as a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase, and you can restore purchases at any time.

Quick reference, the hidden shortcuts

  • LOCK, then tap a step (or hold a step) → parameter-lock that step's sound with the sliders; CLR LOCK removes it.
  • PROB / RTCH, then tap a step → cycle that step's play chance or its ratchet count.
  • PITCH, then tap a step (or hold a step) on the sampler → set that step's pitch or slice.
  • REC in SLOT mode (or hold a slot) → record a sample; LOAD imports one from a file; TRIM opens its waveform.
  • Drag the BPM number (or use ± on the RACK mixer) → change tempo; the SWING slider adds shuffle.
  • SCALE on the RACK header → lock every melodic engine to one key.
  • WRITE in FX → record FX automation into the pattern.
  • FILL on the RACK mixer → seed a starting pattern for an engine.

Need a hand?

If something isn't behaving as you expect, or you'd like to suggest a feature, reach out via our contact form.