Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Piano Thor
NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Developed by
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Operational Manual
The information in this document is subject to change without
notice and does not present a commitment by Sound Magic Co. Ltd.
The software described in this document is subject to a License
Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this
publication may be copied, reproduced or recorded, for any purpose,
without prior written permission by Sound Magic Co. Ltd. All
product and company names are trademarks of their respective
owners.
Sound Magic Co. Ltd
http://www.supremepiano.com
http://www.soundemon.com
206, Min 4, People Daily, ChaoYang, Beijing
P.R.China
Version 1.0
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Index
Artificial Intelligence Assistant Tool 4
Quick Start 8
Registration 9
Dynamic Setting 10
Design Setting 13
Mixer Setting 14
Reverb/Environment Setting 16
Using Presets 17
MIDI Automation and MIDI Learn 18
Stand-Alone Mode 19
Using Add-ons 20
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Artificial Intelligence Assistant Tool (A.I)
Artificial Intelligence Assistant Tool is provided as VST plug-in and standalone
version. To run it under standalone mode, just run Artificial Intelligence
Assistant Tool.exe. To use it as a plug-in, just try to find Artificial Intelligence
Assistant Tool under your VST instruments.
Test your pedal support
In this test item, A.I will test your hardware pedal support to the four pedals of
Supreme Piano 2.
Especially for sustain pedal, A.I will also test whether your pedal support half
pedaling. To run the test, simply press your pedal and A.I will detect the signal
and hold the results.
Test your Keyboard Dynamic
This test will test your keyboard dynamic response with your playing
preference.
Step 1: Press the button named click here to calibrate to start the test
Step 2: Follow the on screen instruction. You have to play 9 notes with different
velocities. These 9 notes could either the same note, or different notes.
Start from FFF (The maximum velocity, 127), then ff, f, mf, m, mp, p, pp, ppp
(The minimum velocity, 1)
After you played the 9 notes, result will be shown on screen, telling you which
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
velocity curve is best fit for your situation.
Step 3: Press the button named click here to finish calibration to stop the test
You also have to notice that this test also test your max and min velocity and
will warn your if they are too soft or hard.
Test support of piano legato
After you play any note, the result will come out. Thus we suggest you can run
this test together with Keyboard Dynamic Test. No need to do this test
separately.
Forge your Freeform Velocity Response Curve and Pedal Controllers.
One feature of A.I is to let you forge your own freeform velocity response curve
and pedal controllers.
To forge your own curve, you have to click on the curve first, then a point
shown. After that, you can drag the point to your desired location.
To setup your own pedal controllers, just select your desired controller number
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
from down drop list.
After you make adjustment, you have to turn Revise MIDI Signal? Button on.
You can also test keyboard dynamic with your own curve setting again to see
whether it works.
Get suggestions on Softness, Brightness and Warmness
You can see the suggestions on softness by click the button named softness,
then a slider will appear, move the slider to your appreciate degree; you will
have a detailed suggestion on softness.
Select the right piano for specific music style
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
On this screen, you can select piano by click their tags, then a description of
their timbre and music style suggestion will appear on the same screen.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Quick Start
Piano Thor is easy to use. Here are some quick steps to getting Piano Thor
running.
If using as a VSTi:
Run your DAW host program (such as Cubase). Most host programs will
automatically find any new plug-ins, including Piano Thor. If your host does not
automatically locate Piano Thor, seek the Preferences for an option such as
"Find New VST Plug-Ins," or take a look at your owner's manual.
Piano Thor should show up as Piano Thor on your DAW ’s VST instrument list.
If using in Stand-Alone mode:
Run Piano Thor, either using the Piano Thor desktop icon, or selecting the
Start Menu in Windows and choosing All Programs-> Piano Thor.
By default, Piano Thor in stand-alone mode can be controlled by any MIDI
input. It will use your default audio device. To adjust your audio device and
latency settings, select Devices->Wave.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Registration
Piano Thor must be registered before it could sound.
You have to enter keycode into the text box.
First, please find the text box named Enter Your KeyCode Here
Then paste the keycode into the box
Press Enter, you will see Authorized to XXXXXXXX
If the text box still shows the keycode, it means the keycode is not correct, You
need to contact customer service to get a new keycode.
What if YOU enter the keycode incorrectly?
The only solution for this problem is for the customer to delete the Windows
Registry Entry.
Click "Start" on the windows desktop.
Click "Run" and type in 'regedit' then press enter. A window will appear.
Click the 'Edit' tab and select 'Find..." and type in "SupremePiano2"then press
enter.
Right click on the folder highlighted in the Left window and select 'Delete' and
click 'Yes' to confirm to delete this item.
Close the window.
Load the VST and it should show " *Enter Your KeyCode Here * "
If it does not show this message you should follow the above procedure again
taking care to follow every step.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
When you click a knob and hold the mouse, the readout will appear.
Dynamic Setting
Max Vol: The Maximum of Volume - the higher the setting, the louder the
sound in MAX velocity. Moving the slider upwards will make the sound louder
while downwards will make the sound quieter.
MIN Vol: The minimum of Volume - the higher the setting, the louder the sound
in MIN velocity. Moving the slider upwards will make the sound warmer, but it
will lose dynamic if you move it upwards too much. Moving the slider
downwards will make the sound more dynamic, but it will make the low velocity
too low in volume when you move it too much.
Vol DIFF: The Volume difference Between A0 and C8 at MAX velocity. Upward
will sound harder while downward sound warmer.
Vel curve: Different response curve of Velocity. You should click the arrows to
switch or click on the middle and a drop-down list will appear. Velocity Curve
also means the relationship between Velocity and Volume.
Linear: This type of response means the Volume changes with constant rate
as Velocity changes.
Exp: this type of response means Volume changes slowly first and then gets
faster as Velocity increases.
Inv. Exp: This type of response means Volume changes fast first and then
gets slower as Velocity increases.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Exp2: This type of response means Volume changes more slowly at first and
gets faster as Velocity increases.
Root: very close to Exp type, but with a smoother changing curve
Inv. Root: very close to Inv. Exp type, but with a smoother changing curve
Exp+Root: very close to Exp2 type, but with a flatter changing curve
S_Crv: This type of response means Volume changes as an “S” shape as
Velocity changes. It changes more slowly in both ends and gets faster while in
the middle range.
S_Crv2: This type of response means Volume changes as an “S” shape as
Velocity changes. Changes are slowest in both ends and fastest while in the
middle range.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Inv.S_Crv: This type of response means Volume changes as an inverted “S”
shape as Velocity changes. It changes fast in both ends and gets slow while in
the middle range.
SR VOL: The amount/volume of Sympathetic Resonance.
REL VOL: The volume of Release sound.
Hi Decay: The volume of hi notes decays, Hi notes often decays faster than
bass notes
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Design Setting
Sustain: The amount of sustain resonance effect. The more, the longer or
larger sustain feeling it has. This setting affects the sustain pedal down sound
much and give it more reverb feelings.
Soundboard: soundboard can influence how long a piano sound can last and
how quick it will decay in Volume. The higher this value, the longer the sustain
and decay the piano will have.
Lid Position: The position of the lid. Highest value means the lid is fully open
while lowest value means the lid is closed.
Soft Pedal: This control determines how much the soft pedal will influence the
volume. The highest value means no influence on volume while lowest value
will have an obvious influence on volume.
Harmony: controls the harmony content of the piano. Increasing or decreasing
harmonic will result in a different sound. You may even turn the piano into
another piano completely through this control.
Overtone: controls the harmonic slider’s mode. When in off (black) mode the
Harmony knob is used to adjust main harmony content (mostly the 2nd
harmonic). When in (red) mode, harmony knob is used to adjust higher
harmonic content (3rd harmonic and above).
HD Velocity: When on, the piano will have up to 65536 velocity layers and
every notes sound unique. HD Velocity will also response to CC#88 controller.
Humanize: How much humanize in velocity variation. Under the most
humanize, it will be very hard to play the same velocity for the variation jumps
too much.
Release: The release time of the sound, range from 0.3 seconds to 2 seconds.
Hammer: The Hammer hardness decides whether the piano sound hard or
soft.
Tuning:Tuning is the act of making minute adjustments to the tensions of the
strings of a piano to properly align the intervals between their tones so that the
instrument is in tune. In all systems of tuning, every pitch may be derived from
its relationship to a chosen fixed pitch, which is usually A440. Tuning can
adjust fixed pitch ranging from 415Hz to 466Hz.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Scala Tuning System:On the left side of tuning there is a button called mode
which could let you choose default or tuning by clicking it, if you choose tuning,
a new window will appear to let you choose Scala file. Each Scala file saves
one temperament and you can choose 4 temperaments through list box on the
left
Tunings - Displays four slots that can receive tunings for the current synth
patch. Click a radio button to select a target slot for one of the button actions
Load, Clear, Settings - Get/Save
Browser - Shows the contents of a .scl file selected by the Browse button
from a normal Windows file navigation screen. The contents of the browser
pane can be edited to rename a tuning or adjust a scale. Clicking the Load
button runs an internal process that translates the scale to cents and places it
in the selected tuning slot of the current patch. After a tuning has been loaded,
clicking its radio button will show the cent values for the tuning in the Browser
pane.
Per Tuning Settings - Click the Settings Get and Save buttons to control
the following parameters independently for each tuning:
Start Key # - Midi keyboard key number (1-127) of the first note of the
selected tuning.
Start Pitch (Hz) - Starting pitch in hertz of the first note of the selected
tuning.
Key Intervals from Tuning # - Specifies which tuning among the 4 slots of
the current patch is the source of modulation intervals for the selected tuning.
Say the selected tuning is slot 1 and slot 3 has a thirteen note scale that spans
a little over an octave. Saving a setting of 3 for the slot 1 tuning means that
modulation intervals for the slot 1 tuning are derived from the thirteen steps of
tuning slot 3. (If a new tuning is loaded in slot 3, slot 1 modulation is taken from
the new tuning.)
Global Settings - These settings are shared by the four tunings at the
patch level, although it is probably more useful to treat them as unchanging
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
from patch to patch. They specify the midi channels and key number center
points for signaling key or scale changes in real-time. So if the key change
channel is 16 and the center point is midi key # 60 (middle C), playing note #63
modulates to the 3rd scale degree of the modulation source tuning. The
number of scale degrees in the modulating tuning is applied as a modulus, so
for a twelve note scale starting at key #60, pressing key #80 plays sets the new
root to the pitch of scale degree eight of the modulating scale (80 - 60 = 20,
and the remainder of 20/12 = 8). Playing below the center point descends from
the top degree of the modulating scale.
Key Noise: The amount of mechanical noise of the piano keys and hammers.
It could change the piano sound from bright to dark.
Pedal Noise: The noise sound when you press the sustain pedal. Increasing
the value will let you hear the noise sound louder.
Piano Legato: The range of piano legato, the more rightwards, the more
effective of the aftertouch influences the legato length.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Mixer/Microphone Positions Setting
In this category, you can adjust three microphone positions. Player, Audience
and Reverb/Room
Player: Adjusts the volume of microphones in this position. The microphones
are placed in the pianist’s position. In this position, the piano sounds like
exactly the same as when you sit and play it.
Audience: Adjusts the volume of microphones in this position. The
microphones are placed behind the pianist’s position, closer to an audience
position. In this position, the piano sounds like you are sitting in the 1st or 2nd
row while the pianist is playing.
Reverb/Room: Adjusts the volume of microphones in this position. The
microphones are placed far away to capture the room reverb. In this position,
the piano sounds like it is very far from you. This control also determines the
volume of reverb/environment effects.
SR Attack: The attack time of the sympathetic resonance
Rel Attack: The attack time of release sound
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Reverb/Environment Setting
Please note the amount of environment effects is determined by reverb/room
slider in microphone position. So if you want environment effect, do not forget
to bring up the room slider.
R.Size: The size of the whole space
Damp: Dampening is any effect that tends to reduce the amplitude of the
sound.
Predamp: This dampening happens before the sound enters the dampening
unit.
Decay: Decay time of the reverb tail sound in seconds
Diffusion: The Diffusion of material of the environment
Density: The density of environment. It controls how much air the material can
absorb.
Spatial: Adjusts the spatial density of the Room Reflections (1=Unity)
Reverb Type: Different type of environment, such as medium halls, large halls
or vocal halls.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Using Presets
There are a total of 16 factory presets for users to customize. Just click the
black box and a down drop list will appear, choose your prefered presets by
clicking on it.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
MIDI Automation and MIDI Learn
All sliders and controls can be assigned to MIDI controllers individually. You
just need to right click on it, and at the popup menu choose Edit.
Also, MIDI learn and unlearn can be activated by choosing from the popup
menu.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Stand-Alone mode
Record to wave file
In Stand-Alone mode, you can record performances into wave files. To do this,
you need to click the record button as shown below:
Then when you want to save to the wave file, you need to click the stop button:
A dialog will appear:
Click the yes button to save your wave file.
Adjust tempo/Speed
Clicking this icon will bring up speed/tempo menu.
You can set your tempo here.
Switch presets
Click on the arrow to switch presets one by one.
If you want to choose a preset quickly, you can also use the menu:
PlugIn->Programs 0-15 and choose the presets you want to load.
Sound Magic Piano Thor – NEO Hybrid Modeling Horowitz Steinway
Using Add-ons
Add-ons are provided as separate VST plug-ins which can work together with
the piano. Different add-ons have different features. To choose your add-ons,
please visit our add-ons store on supremepiano.com. The address is below.
http://www.supremepiano.com/add.htm