About Key Zones and samples

Loading a Sample into an empty NN-19

1.	Create an NN-19 device and select “Reset Device” from the context menu or from the Edit menu.

2.	Click on the Browse Sample button.

This is located above the keyboard display to the left.

When you browse samples, you can preview them before loading using the Play button in the Browser. If you select the “Autoplay” function, the samples play back once automatically when selected.

3.	Select a sample in the Browser and click the Load button in the Browser to load it.

Alternatively, drag a sample file from the Browser and drop it on the NN-19 device in the rack.

The panel is dimmed in blue and a Sample Replace symbol appears in the center.

When you load the first sample into an empty NN-19, this will be assigned a key zone that spans the entire range of the keyboard, and the default Init Patch settings will be used.

Below the keyboard, the range, sample name, root key, tuning, level and loop status of the current key zone is displayed, each with a corresponding knob.

The light blue strip above the keyboard indicates the currently selected key zone, which is in this case the full range of the keyboard.

The inverted note on the keyboard indicates the “root key” of the sample. All samples contain a root key, tuning and level setting. If NN-19 is empty, a sample will have its root key placed on the middle “C” (C3) key.

4.	If desired, click on the keyboard to change the root key.

You can audition a loaded sample patch or sample by holding down [Option] (Mac)/[Alt] (Windows) and clicking on a key in the Keyboard display. The mouse will take on the shape of a speaker symbol to indicate this.

Loading SoundFont samples

The SoundFont format was developed by E-mu systems in collaboration with Creative Technologies. It is a standardized data format containing wavetable synthesized audio and information on how it should be played back in wavetable synthesizers - typically on audio cards. The SoundFont format is an open standard so there is a vast amount of SoundFont banks and SoundFont compatible banks developed by third parties.

The samples in a SoundFont are stored hierarchically in different categories: User Samples, Instruments, Presets etc. The NN-19 allows you to browse for and load single SoundFont samples, but not entire soundfonts.

1.	Click the Browse Sample button, select a SoundFont file (.sf2) in the Browser and open it.

The Browser opens the SoundFont and displays the folders within it.

2.	Select the folder “Samples” and open it.

This folder contains a number of samples which can be loaded like any other sample.

3.	Select the desired sample and load it by clicking the Load button in the Browser.

The sample is loaded and assigned a key zone range that spans the entire keyboard. You can now make settings for it as with any other sample.

Alternatively, drag a sample file from the Browser and drop it on the NN-19 device in the rack.

The panel is dimmed in blue and a Sample Replace symbol appears in the center.

Loading REX slices as samples

A slice is a snippet of sound in a REX File.

1.	To import a REX slice, click the Browse Sample button (see above), browse to a REX file and open it as if it was a folder.

The Browser will then display the slices as files inside that “folder”.

2.	Select the desired REX slice and load it by clicking the Load button in the Browser.

The REX slice is loaded and assigned a key zone range that spans the entire keyboard. You can now make settings for it as with any other sample.

Alternatively, drag REX slice from the Browser and drop it on the NN-19 device in the rack.

The panel is dimmed in blue and a Sample Replace symbol appears in the center.

In the rest of this manual, when we refer to importing samples, all that is said applies to REX slices as well.

Creating Key Zones

A “key zone” is a range of keys, that plays a sample. All key zones together make up a “key map”.

To create a new key zone, the following methods can be used:

Select “Split Key Zone” from the Edit or context menus.

This splits the currently selected key zone in the middle. The new zone is the upper half of the split, and is empty. The dividing point has a “handle” above it, see “Setting the Key Zone Range” below for a description.

By [Alt]/[Option]-clicking at a point just above the key zone strip, a new empty key zone is created.

The point where you click becomes the lower limit (or boundary) for the original key zone, and the upper limit for the new key zone.

The new empty key zone gets selected upon creation.

Selecting Key Zones

Only one key zone can be selected at a time. A selected key zone is indicated by a light blue (as opposed to dark blue) strip above the keyboard in the display. There are two ways you can select key zones:

By clicking on a non-selected key zone in the display.

By activating the “Select Key Zone via MIDI” button.

Playing a note belonging to a non-selected key zone from your MIDI keyboard, will select the key zone it belongs to.

Setting the Key Zone Range

Key zones cannot overlap.

When you adjust the boundaries of a key zone, the surrounding boundaries are automatically adjusted accordingly.

You can change the key zone range in the following ways:

By dragging the “handle(s)” which divides the key zones, you can change the range of the selected key zone.

In the case of having two key zones split in the middle, you could thus change the lower limit for the upper (new) key zone and the upper limit for the original key zone.

By using the “Lowkey” and “Highkey” knobs to set a lower and upper range, respectively.

Deleting a Key Zone

To delete a key zone, select it and then select “Delete Key Zone” from the Edit menu.

About Key zones, assigned and unassigned samples

When you load samples and rearrange your key mapping, you will often end up with samples that are not assigned to any key zone. In the following texts we refer to the samples as follows:

•	Assigned samples are samples that are currently assigned to one ore more key zones.

•	Unassigned samples are samples that reside in the sample memory, but that are currently not assigned to any key zone.

Adding sample(s) to a Key Map

If the sample hasn’t been loaded yet

1.	Select a key zone.

This can be empty, or contain a sample - it doesn’t matter for now.

2.	Use the Browser to add one, or several (see below), sample(s).

The following will happen:

If the zone contained a sample prior to loading, this will be replaced, both in the zone and in the sample memory, unless the sample was also used by another key zone, in which case it will be kept.

If you loaded several samples, one of the samples will be assigned to the key zone, and the other samples will be loaded but remain unassigned.

If the sample is already loaded but unassigned

1.	Select a key zone.

This can be empty, or contain a sample - it doesn’t matter for now.

2.	Use the Sample knob to dial in the sample you want the key zone to play.

The Sample knob.

Setting the Root Key

Once you have defined a key zone, and added a sample, you should set the root key for the sample.

Select the key zone the sample belongs to, and click on the key you wish to set the root key to.

Which key to select is normally determined by the pitch of the sample. For example if the sample plays a F#2 guitar note, click on F#2.

Note that it is possible to select a root key outside the key zone, if required.

Removing sample(s) from a Key Map

To remove a sample, select the zone it belongs to, and then select “Delete Sample” from the Edit or context menus.

The sample is removed from the zone and from sample memory.

To remove a sample from a key zone/map, without removing it from memory, you can either select “No Sample” with the Sample knob for that zone, or simply replace it with another sample in the same way.

Removing all unassigned samples

To remove all samples that are not assigned to any key zone, select Delete Unused Samples from the Edit menu.

Rearranging samples in a Key Map

There is no specific function for rearranging or trading places between samples and key zones. Simply select a key zone and change the current sample assignment with the Sample knob.

Setting Sample Level

For each key zone you can set a volume level, using the Level button below the display. If the transition between two key zones causes a noticeable level difference, this parameter can be used to balance the levels.

Tuning samples

Sometimes you might find that the samples you wish to use in a key map are slightly out of tune with each other. This parameter allows you to tune each sample in a map by +/– half a semitone.

Select the key zone(s) that contains the out of tune sample(s), and use the Tune knob below the keyboard display.

If all samples originate from different sources, and all or most of them are pitched slightly different (a not uncommon sampling scenario), you could first tune them so that they all match each other, and then, if necessary, use the Sample Pitch controls in the Osc section to tune them globally to the “song” you wish to use the samples in.

Note that if all the samples were slightly out of tune by the same amount in relation to the song you intend to use the samples in, it would be much simpler to use the Sample Pitch controls in the Osc section directly.

Looping Samples

A sample, unlike the cycles of an oscillator for example, is a finite quantity. There is a sample start and end. To get samples to play for as long as you press down the keys on your keyboard, they need to be looped.

For this to work properly, you have to first set up two loop points which determine the part of the sample that will be looped, and make this a part of the audio file. You cannot set loop points in the NN-19, this has to be done in the Edit Sample window (see “Looping samples”) or in an external sample editor.

All included samples already have set loop points (if needed).

For each sample (or key zone), you can select the following Loop modes by using the Loop knob below the keyboard display:

OFF

No looping is applied to the sample.

FWD

The part between the loop points plays from start to end, then the cycle is repeated. This is the most common loop mode.

FWD - BW

The part between the loop points plays from start to end, then from end to start, and then repeats the cycle.

For samples without any loop points, the whole sample will be looped.

About the Solo Sample function

The Solo Sample button will allow you to listen to a selected sample over the entire keyboard range.

Select the key zone the sample is assigned to, and then activate Solo Sample.

This can be useful for checking if the root key is set correctly or if the current range is possible to extend etc.

For Solo Sample to work, “Select Key Zone via MIDI” must be disabled!