Panel controls

The Instruments section

Instrument selector

Click the Instrument name selector to bring up a menu of the available instruments - and then select the desired instrument from the menu.

Alternatively, click and drag up/down in the display above the selector to scroll through the instruments.

Depending on the instrument size (in MB), it could take a short moment before the entire instrument is loaded into RAM.

Also note that the note ranges of the instruments extend outside their “natural” ranges, which could produce nice artificial effects.

The available instruments are:

•	Alto Glockenspiel

The Alto Glockenspiel was played with hard mallets and was recorded with close mics (stereo) in a large hall, slightly wet. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Alto Glockenspiel library.

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Bamblong

This instrument is also known as a bamboo log drum, from Indonesia. It was played with rubber mallets and was recorded with close mics (stereo) in a studio, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Bamblong library.

•	Circle Bells Mallet

This instruments is also known as Blossom Bells. It was played with rubber mallets and was recorded with close mics (stereo) in a studio, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Circle Bells library.

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Cylindrum

This is an experimental instrument built from large diameter plastic piping, also known as a tubulum. It was played with rubber paddle mallets and was recorded with close mics (stereo) in a studio, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Cylindrum library.

•	Imbibaphones

These are wine glasses played with rubber mallets. They were recorded with close mics (stereo) in a studio, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's "Imbibaphones" library.

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Kalimba

The Kalimba is also known as an mbira or thumb piano, from Africa. It was recorded with close mics (stereo) in a studio, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Kalimba library.

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Music Box

This is a music box recorded with close mics (stereo) in a studio, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Musique Box library.

•	Noah Bells

The Noah Bells from India are played with the fingertips and were recorded with close mics (stereo) in a large hall, slightly wet. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Noah Bells library.

•	Steel Tones

This instrument is also known as a hank drum or propane drum. It was played with felt mallets and was recorded with close mics (stereo) in a room, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Steel Tones library.

•	Whale Drum

The whale drum is a wooden box slit drum from Africa. It was played with rubber mallets and was recorded with close mics (stereo) in a studio, dry. The samples were taken from Soundiron's Whale Drum library.

S. Start (Sample Start)

Turn the S.Start knob to set where in the sample the playback should start.

Note that the effect could be different depending on the selected instrument.

Oct

Set the octave transposition for the instrument.

Range: 5 (+/-2) octaves.

Note that the note ranges of the instruments can be transposed far outside their “natural” ranges, which could produce nice artificial effects.

Semi

Set the pitch in semitone steps.

Range: +/-12 semitones (two octaves).

Fine

Set the pitch in steps of 1 cent.

Range: +/- 50 cents (down or up half a semitone).

The Filter section

Filter On/Off

Click the On/Off LED button to switch on/off the Filter section.

Filter Type selector

Click and drag up/down on the Filter Type selector to select one of the available filter types - or step through the filter types by clicking the Up/Down arrow buttons.

The available filter types are:

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LP

This is a lowpass filter with 12db/octave slope.

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HP

This is a highpass filter with 12db/octave slope.

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BP

This is a bandpass filter with 6db/octave slopes.

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Comb

This is a comb filter for phaser/flanger type of effects.

Cutoff

Set the cutoff/center frequency with the Cutoff knob.

The cutoff parameter sets where in the frequency range you want the resonance and attenuation to appear.
Range: 20 Hz to 25 kHz.

Reso

Set the resonance amount with the Reso knob.

The resonance parameter amplifies the frequencies at, and around the cutoff/center frequency.

Env

With the Env knob you set how much you want the Filter Envelope (see below) to affect the Cutoff frequency.

Range: 0% to 100%.

Filter Envelope

The standard ADSR type envelope controls the filter cutoff frequency modulation over time. The ADSR envelope characteristics are described in detail in “Amp Envelope”.

Vel

Turn the Vel knob to set how much the cutoff/center frequency should be modulated by Keyboard Velocity.

Range: 0% to 100%.

Kbd

Turn the KBD (Keyboard Track) knob to set how much the cutoff/center frequency should track incoming MIDI Notes.

Range: 0% (no tracking (constant frequency)) to 100% (1 semitone per key).

The Amp section

Vel

Turn the Vel knob to set how much the amplitude should be modulated by Keyboard Velocity.

Range: 0% to 100%.

Amp Envelope

The Amp Envelope is a standard ADSR envelope which controls the amplitude of the signal over time. The picture below shows the various stages of the ADSR envelope:

The ADSR envelope stages.

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A(ttack)

When you play a note on your keyboard, the envelope is triggered. This means it starts rising from zero to the value set with the Master Volume knob. How long this should take, depends on the Attack setting. If the Attack is set to “0”, the Volume value is reached instantly. If the Attack value is raised, it will take longer time before the Master Volume value is reached.

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D(ecay)

After the Master Volume value has been reached, the level starts to drop. How long this should take is governed by the Decay parameter.

If you want to emulate the volume envelope of a note played on a piano for example, the Attack should be set to “0”, the Decay parameter should be set to a medium value and the Sustain level should be set to “0”, so that the volume gradually decreases down to silence, even if you keep holding the key down. Should you want the decay to drop to some other value than zero, you raise the Sustain parameter.

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S(ustain)

The Sustain parameter determines the level the envelope should rest at, after the Decay stage. If you set Sustain to full level, the Decay setting is of no importance since the volume of the sound is never lowered.

If you want to emulate the volume envelope of an organ, you theoretically only really need to use the Sustain parameter set to full level, as a basic organ volume envelope instantly goes to the maximum level (Attack “0”) and stays there (Decay “0”), until the key is released and the sound instantly stops (Release “0”).

But often a combination of Decay and Sustain is used to generate envelopes that rise up to the Volume value, then gradually decreases to finally land to rest on a level somewhere in-between zero and the Master Volume value. Note that Sustain represents a level, whereas the other envelope parameters represent times.

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R(elease)

The Release parameter works just like the Decay parameter, except it determines the time it takes for the volume to drop back to zero after you release the key.

The Delay section

This is a stereo delay which affects all voices globally.

Delay On/Off

Click the On/Off LED button to switch on/off the Delay section.

Time

Set the time between the delay repeats.

If Sync is active (see below), the Time parameter controls the time divisions.

Feedback

Set the number of delay repeats with the Feedback knob.

Sync

Click the Sync button to sync the delay time to the main sequencer Tempo.

When active, the Time knob (see above) controls the time divisions.

Ping Pong

Activate this to get the delay repeats alternating between the left and right channels.

Note that this also doubles the delay tempo.

Damp

Raise the Damp value to gradually cut off the high frequencies of the delay repeats.

Amount

Set the delay amount with the Amount knob.

Note that the Delay effect is routed as a “send effect”, with the Amount knob working as an “effect return” control. This means that if you play a short note with the Amount knob set to zero, you might still get a delay effect if you turn up the Amount afterwards (depending on the Feedback setting, see “Feedback”).

The Reverb section

This is a stereo reverb which affects all voices globally.

Reverb On/Off

Click the On/Off LED button to switch on/off the Reverb section.

Time

Set the reverberation duration time.

In practice this sets the “size” of the reverberation “chamber/room/hall”.

Pre-Delay

Set the pre-delay time of the reverb.

Range: 0-200 ms.

Hi Damp

Raise the Hi Damp value to cut off the high frequencies of the reverb and thereby create a smoother, warmer effect.

Lo Damp

Raise the Lo Damp value to cut off the low frequencies of the reverb signal, to make the reverb effect less “muddy”.

Amount

Set the reverb amount with the Amount knob.

Note that the Reverb effect is routed as a “send effect”, with the Amount knob working as an “effect return” control. This means that if you play a short note with the Amount knob set to zero, you might still get a reverb effect if you turn up the Amount afterwards (depending on the Time setting, see “Time”).