User manual FXPANSION DCAM SYNTH SQUAD

[. . . ] Contents 5 5 Credits About this manual 6 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 1 1 1 1: Introduction 1:1 Welcome to DCAM: Synth Squad DCAM:SynthSquadataglance Anoteoneffects 1: Shared aspects of all instruments 1: Interface basics Loadingpresets:presetpickers OtherPresetpickercontrols Presetbrowser Controllingparameters:initialvalues(Mainview) Finecontroloverparameters Controllingparameters:TransModmodulationdepths TransModslots Rotaryselectorsanddrop-downmenus Numericaltext-boxes Buttons IndicatorLEDs Parametercontextmenu Snapping/unitoptionsfortuningandfiltercutoffcontrols On-screenkeyboardandperformancecontrollers 7 7 7 7 7 8 9 9 9 0 0 0 1 1 4 4 4 4 4: Cypher's oscillators in detail 4:1 Introduction to audio-rate modulation Basicsofaudio-ratemodulation Audio-ratemodulationimplementations 4: Frequency modulation OscillatorFMinCypher FilterFM EnvelopesandLFOs Programminghints 4: Wave modulation ContinuouswaveshapeofCypher'soscs Audio-ratewaveformmodulation 4:4 Audio-rate sample and hold Usingaudio-ratesample&hold 4:5 Variable-depth oscillator sync Mainusesofoscsync Variable-depthoscsyncinCypher 4:6 Beat detune UsingtheBeatcontrol BeatratesasTransModmodulators Usagewithotheroscillatorfunctions 1 1 1 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 17 17 18 2: Strobe :1 Overview Strobehighlights : Oscillator section Oscillatorcontrols Waveformmixingcontrols PulseWidthcontrols Directmodulation : Filter section Filtercontrols Directmodulation :4 Amp section :5 Other functions :6 Modulation Gateablemodulators Glide Keytracking(modulationfromkeyboardpitch) :7 Strobe signal flow 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 40 40 40 40 41 41 41 4 5: Amber 5:1 Overview Divide-downsynthesisexplained Implementationsofdivide-downsynths Stringsynthsinpopularuse Amber:thenextstepindivide-downsynthesis 5: Master tuning controls 5: Synth section Paraphonicoscillatorcontrol Filterstage(polyphonicmultimoderesonantfilter) 5:4 Ensemble section Paraphonicoscillatorcontrol Formantfilterstage 5:5 Ensemble section chorus stage 5:6 Mixer / Amplifier stage 5:7 Perform controls 5:8 Other functions 5:9 Modulation Paraphonicarchitectureandpolyphonicmodulation Gateablemodulators SynthandEnsembleEnvelopes Glide Keytracking(modulationfromkeyboardpitch) 5:10 Amber signal flow 19 19 19 19 0 1 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 3: Cypher :1 Overview Background ProgrammingwithCypher : Oscillator section : Shaper section :4 Filter section: shared controls :5 Filter section: individual controls for filters 1 & :6 Amp section :7 Other functions :8 Modulation in Cypher Gateablemodulators Glide Keytracking(modulationfromkeyboardpitch) OscillatorsasLFOs BeatingratesasLFOs :9 Cypher signal flow Oscsection Shaper-Filter&Ampsections 4 4 4 4 4 44 45 45 46 46 46 46 47 47 47 47 48 48 49 50 50 6: Common synth functions 6:1 Arpeggiator (Strobe and Cypher only) ArpeggiatorandLFO ArpeggiatorandKeyingcontrols Arpeggiatorcontrols 6: Keying controls 6: Glide controls 6:4 Settings 6:5 Preferences panel Oversampling Perf. Controls(Performancecontrollers) Managingsettings 6:6 Visualizer scope LockingandunlockingtheScope Parametervaluedisplay 6:7 FX versions of synth plugins 6:8 MIDI Learn and host automation MIDILearn Hostautomation 6:9 Program change panel UsingthePCpanel 51 51 51 5 5 5 5 5 54 54 54 54 55 55 55 56 57 57 57 58 58 59 60 61 6 6 6 6 6 6 64 64 64 65 65 65 66 67 7: Modulation 7:1 Introduction to modulation in DCAM: Synth Squad TheTransModsystemexplained 7: TransMod system overview Mainview TransModSlotviews BasicTransModsystemoperations Scaling 7: Using the TransMod system Settinginitialvalueofcontrols(Mainview) Finecontroloverparameters SettingTransModmodulationdepths Managingmodulationwiththeparametercontext-menu ManagingTransModslotswiththeslotcontextmenu Mouseoverindicatorsandslothighlighting LoadtoModSlot 7:4 Velocity and Performance controllers Velocity Performancecontrollers 7:5 Gateable modulators Typesofgatingbehaviour(Gateparametersettings) Envelope LFO Ramp 7:6 Glide, voices and unison Glide VoicesandUnison 7:7 Tracking the keyboard Pitchkeytracking Keyboardzones 7:8 Summary of TransMod sources Monophonicsources Monosourcesub-menu Perfsourcesub-menu Polyphonicsources Polysourcesub-menu Randomsourcesub-menu Synthsourcesub-menu 68 68 68 68 68 69 69 69 69 69 70 70 70 70 71 71 7 7 7 7 74 74 75 75 75 75 76 76 76 78 8: Fusor 8:1 What is Fusor?FuseMod 8: Interface Overview FusorLCD Macrocontrols Editpagebuttons Editworkspace Keyboardandperformancecontrols Statusdisplay 8: Global page Deviceandpresetpickers EditandPowerbuttons MIDIchannels Synthchannels AuxFX, Mixer&MasterinsertFX 8:4 Input device pages KeyMappage MonoModpage Animatorpage 8:5 Synth channel pages Synth1, Synth2andSynth3pages FX1, FX2andFX3pages 8:6 Aux FX and Master FX pages AuxFXpage MasterFXpage 8:7 Fusor FX suite Overview Effecttypes X4QuadFX 80 80 80 80 80 81 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 84 84 85 86 86 86 86 86 87 87 87 87 87 88 88 88 89 89 89 89 90 90 90 9 9 9 94 8:8 Modulation in Fusor FuseMod Devicesthatcanbemodulated UsingtheFuseModsystem FuseModmodulationsources UsingFuseModmodulationwithinsynths'TransModslots 8:9 Animator: global controls Architectureoverview Presetpickers Engineselector Enginetype Clocking Importantnoteaboutclockingandtriggering DrivingdeviceswithAnimator AnimatorGrapheditor Graphlanes AdvancedenginetypeGraphmodulation 8:10 Animator: Arpeggiator engine type Destination Arp/Seqsection Graphssection Triggeringsection UsingtheAdvancedenginetypeasanarpeggiator 8:11 Animator: Note Sequencer engine type Destination Arp/Seqsection Graphssection 8:1 Animator: Modulation Sequencer engine type Destination Graphssection 8:1 Animator: Advanced engine type Introduction UsingtheAdvancedenginetypealongsideothertypes Destination Patternmemories Graphoffsetcontrolsandmodulation Triggeringsection Arp/Seqsection KeyInputsection OctAdvancesection 8:14 Fusor signal flow 95 95 95 96 96 96 97 97 97 98 98 98 99 Appendix 1: Standalone application & plugin usage Usingthesynthstandaloneapplications I/OSettings UsingSynthSquadasRTASpluginsinProTools7. x UsingSynthSquadasAUpluginsinLogic7. 2orlater UsingSynthSquadasAUpluginsinLogic8 UsingSynthSquadasVST/AUpluginsinAbletonLive UsingSynthSquadasAUpluginsinDigitalPerformer UsingSynthSquadasVSTpluginsinCubase4 UsingSynthSquadasVSTpluginsinSonar UsingSynthSquadasVSTpluginsinFLStudio UsingSynthSquadasVSTpluginsinReaper Potentialproblems 100 101 10 10 10 10 10 Appendix 2: Strobe filter modes Appendix 3: Cypher waveshaper modes Appendix 4: Fusor ­ Overloud Breverb algorithms BreverbHall BreverbInverse BreverbRoom BreverbPlate 104 104 105 107 108 Appendix 5: Host automation parameters Strobe Cypher Amber Fusor 4 Credits DSP Programming AndrewSimper A ngusHewlett SteveBaker PaulChana SKoTMcDonald CalebReach S teveBaker RhiannonBankston-Thomas A lexAkers SteveBaker AngusHewlett RusBrockman AndreasSchnetzler MayurMaha RoryDow R obBantin AndrewVernon Peter`Mod'Slotwinski R yanSellers RoryDow AlexVolmer AndrewVernon ClareO'Brien T erryHardin DanielWilkinson Preset design PatchenPreston Kickflip DJSubject DaveBlakely Bobule MichalGarstecki JanisChaffin FrancescoSilvestri DanielStawczyk RoryDow AngusHewlett Peter`Mod'Slotwinski Tasmodiatasmodia. com RaphaelS. electric-himalaya. com BrianLeexenossoundworks. com DerikWhitedustedwilliamsounds. com SoundsDivinesoundsdivine. com Additional Programming Project Co-ordination Interface Design Artwork/Packaging Design Web Programming Manual/Copywriting Video Production QA Beta testing M arkWilliams, SeanAhern, AndrewCapon, RobertSfeir, AshleySmith, MikaelAdle, MurrayMcDowall, JordanChillcot, Christopher Reis, AndyReaburn, AnthonyWebster, Paul Sureno, AndrewShantz, JoostGransjean, Scott McGrath, KrisGiampa, RoyQueenan, Andreas Beisler, AliceBernier SpecialthankstoZimonDrakeat FrenchKissFilms:frenchkissfilms. com Preset design and QA Support Artist Relations FXpansion USA www. fxpansion. com About this manual Itisbeyondthescopeofthismanualtofullyexplaineveryconceptofsynthesisindetail. AlotofbackgroundinformationisgiveninorderforyoutofullyunderstandDCAM:SynthSquad'sfeatures, butsomeprior knowledgeofsynthesisandaudioprocessing/mixingfunctionsisassumed. Suggested further reading TheSoundOnSoundmagazinearticlesdatabaseincludesanexcellentresourceofsynthesisinformation, particularly thecomprehensive`SynthSecrets'series. Therearealsoarticlesonmixing, effectsprocessingandotherrelevanttopics whenusingDCAM:SynthSquad: http://www. soundonsound. com/articles/Technique. php Thereisalsoanexcellentbookaboutsynthesisavailableforfreeviewingontheweb(orasadownloadablePDFfile), called`AdvancedProgrammingTechniquesforModularSynthesizers'byJamesJ. Clark. ItiswrittenfortheNordModular DSPsynthesisenvironment, butitsinformationisrelevantforallkindsofsynthesis, nomatterwhatequipmentyou're using: http://www. cim. mcgill. ca/~clark/nordmodularbook/nm_book_toc. html Printing this manual Fullpermissionisgrantedtoprintthismanualforpersonal, non-commercialuse. Manualrevision1. 01 5 1: Introduction 1:1 Welcome to DCAM: Synth Squad DCAM: Synth Squad at a glance DCAM:SynthSquadcontains4individualdevices: Strobe ·souped-upperformancesynth ·designedforeasyprogrammingofclassicsubtractiveanaloguesynthsounds ·centredaroundasimple1-oscillatorarchitecture ·includesabuilt-inarpeggiator Strobeisinstalledasaninstrumentandasaneffectforprocessingaudiothroughitscircuit. Cypher ·3-oscillator, complexsynth ·FMandotheraudio-ratemodulation ·severalotherspecializedoscillatorfunctions ·adual-filter/waveshaperarchitecture ·abuilt-inarpeggiator Cypherisamorechallengingenvironmentforprogramming­ifyourequireatraditionalanalogue-stylesound, you'll achievequickerresultsusingStrobe. [. . . ] ThefirstoftheseisMIDIkeyvelocity, withtheotherstypicallybeingtwoofthefollowing: ·modulationwheel ·aftertouch ·expressionpedal ·breathcontroller Velocityandperformancecontrollersarearrangedasfollowsinallpresets: TransMod slot 1 TransMod slot TransMod slot OnVel+:Key-onVelocity Perf1+:Performancecontroller1 Perf2+:Performancecontroller2 Velocity ThisisprobablythemostimmediatecontrolavailabletoanyonewithaMIDIkeyboard. Itrequiresnoextrafeaturesor hardware, andisavailablewith`digitalpiano'keyboards, whichusuallylackevenamodwheel. Itisalsopolyphonic!TheTransModsystemallowsyoutomodulateanyparameterwithvelocity, meaningthatincredibly dynamicsoundsarepossible. Ifyouscaleitthrougharandomsource, perhapsusingtheLoadtoModslotfunction, you cancreatesomeincrediblychaoticeffects. Velocity Glide Thisisaspecialtypeofglidefunctionthatsmoothstransitionstothemodulationdepthsdefinedinslotsdrivenbythe OnVel+source(thissourceisassignedtoslot1bydefault). Velocityglideisanadditionalwayofcreatingglideeffects usingaveryaccessiblepolyphonicperformancemodulator­keyboardvelocity. Seesections6:3and7:6formoredetails. Performance controllers Performancecontrollersaremonophonic­theyareappliedtoallvoices. Theyarerepresentedontheinterfacetotheleft oftheon-screenkeyboard, buttheyareintendedtobeassignedtohardwarecontrollers. Performance controllers1&2 Bydefault, theperformancecontrollersareassignedasfollows: P1 (Perf 1) P (Perf ) Modwheel(MIDICC#1) MnPress(monopressure, orchannelaftertouch) Youcanchangetheseassignmentstoanyothersourcesuchaspitchbend, breathcontroller, expressionpedalorany MIDICC. Inthepreferencespanel, selectfromadrop-downmenuofpossiblesourcesforeachofthe2performance controllers. Seesection6:5formoredetailsofthepreferencespanel. Youcanalsoassignperformancecontrollersusingthebuilt-inMIDILearnsystem. Seesection6:8fordetailsofhowto useMIDILearn. Theon-screencontrolsrepresentingthePerf1andPerf2controlsareshowntotheleftofthekeyboard andtotherightofthepitch-bendwheel. ChangingtheP(Perf )assignmentusingMIDILearn. Ifyouchangetheseassignments(usingeithermethod), itisrecommendedthatyousavethepreferencessettingsas defaults(usingtheSave as Defaultsbuttoninthepreferencespanel)sothattheyremainactiveforfuturesessions. The preferencesareuniqueforeachsynth, soyoucanhavedifferentassignmentsfordifferentsynthsifyouhaveasuitable arrayofhardwarecontrollers. Fusor'sownassignmentsoverridethoseofthesynthswhenhostingthem. 57 7:5 Gateable modulators Theterm`gateablemodulators'inDCAM:SynthSquadreferstoLFOs, RampsandEnvelopes. LFOsandRampsare actually`triggered'ratherthangatedforavariableduration­theyarecalledgateablemodulatorshereinordertosimplify theinterfacesofthesynths. Gateablemodulatorscanbegatedortriggeredwithanumberofselectablegatesources, andevenwitheachotherto createverycomplexmodulationeffects. Whilesomegateablemodulatorsfeaturedirectroutingsanddepthcontrolsforcommonlyusedparametersinsomeofthe synths, theyareallavailableasTransModsourcestocreatemorecomplexsounds. Invertedenvelopesandrampsare alsoavailable. Types of gating behaviour (Gate control settings) NotethattheGatecontrolisnotlabelledontheRamp modulator. Poly Thissettingrepresentsnormalpolyphonicgatingmode. ThegatingbehaviourdependsonthestateoftheRetrig buttonineachsynth'sGlidecontrolssection. PolyOn ThisgatingmodedisregardstheRetrigbuttonsettingentirely. Whenusingthismode, agateablemodulatorisalwaysgated ortriggeredbykey-oneventsforeachvoice. Mono Inthismode, agateablemodulatorisgated/triggeredbythe firstkey-onwhenallnotesareoff­subsequentkeysthatare playedwithoutreleasingallkeysdonotre-gatethemodulator. Thismodeisespeciallyusefulwhenusingthearpeggiator, to useanenvelopeorLFOoverthesequenceofnotesratherthanSettingtheGatesourcefortheLFOinStrobe. oneachnote. ItcanalsobeusedwhenyouneedanLFOto modulateparametersofallvoicestogether, ratherthanmodulatingeachvoiceindependentlyoftheothers. Song ThemainfunctionoftheSonggatetypeisforprovidinga`free-running'LFOwhichisnottriggeredbykey-oneventsor othermodulators. Whenplaybackisstartedinyourhost, theLFOistriggeredandrunsfreelyafterwards. Thisallowsfree-runningbehaviour butwith repeatability­eachtimeyouplaythroughyoursongitsoundsidentical. Whenplaybackisstoppedinyourhost, theLFOsimplyrunsfreely, continuously. Insuchasituation, itbehavesjustlikea standalonesynththatfeaturesafree-runningLFO. YoucanusethisgatetypeasagatesourcefortheRamp, ModEnvandAmpEnvmodulators. Thisistoachieveanumber ofpurposes­forexample, whenusingloopedenvelopesassubstituteLFOs, youmaywantthephasetobedictatedby songplayback. Itcanalsobeusefulforcreatingverylongenvelopesfordronesoundsoverthelengthofasong. Other gateable modulators Eachofthegateablemodulatorscanbegatedortriggeredbyeachother­thegatingortriggeringoccurswhenthegate sourcereachesavalueof1. Forexample, ifyousettheModEnvtobegatedbytheLFO, theModEnvisretriggeredeverytimetheLFOreachesits highestpoint(1). 58 Envelope Anenvelopeallowsyoutoshapeasoundovertime, fromits beginningtoitsend. Itissometimescalleda`contour'. TheAmpEnvelopeisdirectlyroutedinternallytotheAmp parameterinStrobeandCypher. Thisistoavoidneeding tomakeadedicatedmodulationconnectionbetweenthem purelyforengagingtheampsothatnotescanbeheard. Amber'sparaphonicarchitecturemeansthatitdoesn'thave aconventionalampenvelope, butdedicatedSynthand Ensembleenvelopesthatdictatetheamplitudeshapeof eachparaphonicnote. Theseenvelopesarespecialcases, andareexplainedinsection5:9. ModEnvelopes, meanwhile, canbeusedforavarietyof purposes. Theyaresimilartothesecondenvelopetypically foundonmanymonophonicandpolyphonicsynths, which wereusuallyroutedtothefiltercutofforoscillatorpitch. The TransModsystemallowsyoutorouteModEnvelopestoanysynthparameter. [. . . ] hoosetheappropriateoutputconfiguration­thesynthsarestereo, whileFusorhasadditionalstereooutputs. C 3. fthe`MIDISource'checkboxwasnotleftcheckedinthedialogbox, youneedtocreateaMIDItrackandrouteitsoutputtothe I plugin. Ifyouencounteranyproblemsperformingthestepsabove, pleaseconsultyourhost'sdocumentationorcontactthe manufacturer'stechsupportchannels­theDCAM:SynthSquadpluginsoperateinthesamewayasanyotherinstrument plugins. Recording the output as audio TodothisyoumustSonar'smixdownfunctions. Using DCAM: Synth Squad as VST plugins in FL Studio Launching a plugin 1. heDCAM:SynthSquadpluginsmaynotbedisplayedinthepluginlistbydefault. Tomakethempartofthelistselect`More. . . ' T topopupalistofallavailableplugins. Fromthebottom-rightofthiswindowclick`Refresh'then`FastScan(recommended)'. [. . . ]