Spectrum Operation Manual Version 1.0

Steven Heath, Matthew Fudge, Daniel Byers WAVE ALCHEMY

Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2

Install Instructions ................................................................................................................. 2

Installing the Kontakt Snapshots ........................................................................................... 3

System Requirements ........................................................................................................... 3

Spectrum .............................................................................................................................. 4

SYNTH Page ................................................................................................................. 4

SEQ Page ...................................................................................................................... 8

FX Page ....................................................................................................................... 11

Credits ................................................................................................................................ 13

Introduction Thank you for purchasing Spectrum – our ground breaking multi-sampled hybrid waveform

synthesiser for Kontakt 5.

Spectrum has been a true labour of love from the very beginning… with the recording,

editing and looping of thousands upon thousands of multi-sampled waveforms which are

creatively brought together to form the core of this fantastic synth.

At the heart of Spectrum lies a beautiful, versatile collection of synth patches; each designed

from the ground up using a vast array of iconic analogue and digital synthesizers:

Moog Minimoog Model D, Roland Juno-60, Roland Juno-106, Arp Odyssey, Korg MS-20,

Roland JX8P, Moog Source, Roland Saturn 09, Roland SH-09, Moog MG-01, Korg Minikorg,

Korg Poly-800, Future Retro XS and Yamaha DX5.

Over 18 months in development, our goal with Spectrum was to bring together under one

roof the iconic sounds of the most sought-after analogue and digital synths in existence, with

the ability to layer, blend and creatively transform patches, tones and timbres into fresh,

organic, evolving sounds…

4 powerful oscillators are loaded with 175 characterful multi-sampled ‘waveforms’, which can

be layered simultaneously and transformed into oblivion with Spectrum’s ground-breaking

editing and processing parameters!

Spectrum is about layering, shaping and transforming the classic sounds from the analogue

and digital synths of yesteryear into the sounds of tomorrow…

We hope you enjoy creating new sounds with Spectrum as much as we have enjoyed

creating the instrument itself.

The Wave Alchemy Team

Install Instructions You must have a full registered version of Native Instruments Kontakt 5.5.1 or higher to use

Spectrum.

This (non-licenced) Kontakt instrument does NOT work with the free Kontakt Player.

1. After purchasing Spectrum, fully download all 6 RAR files to the same location on your

hard drive.

2. IMPORTANT - Only double click the first RAR file to unpack the library files. (You cannot

unpack part 2 by itself for example)

You should now have a folder named 'wa_spectrum'. Put this somewhere safe on your hard

drive.

TO LOAD THE INSTRUMENTS IN KONTAKT:

1. In Kontakt, open the 'Browser' on the left (the folder Icon at the top).

2. Locate the "wa_spectrum" folder.

3. Double click the 'Spectrum.nki file' (or drag it into the main Kontakt window) to load the

instrument.

Installing the Kontakt Snapshots Snapshots, introduced as part of the Kontakt 5.4.1 update, offer a way of saving variations of

any Kontakt instrument for easy recall.

You can access the snapshot view in Kontakt via the ‘camera ico’n in the instrument header.

You can switch back to the familiar Info view by clicking the 'i' icon.

Spectrum ships with over 250 uniquely designed custom presets in Kontakt snapshot format.

To install the snapshots; copy the folder named ‘Spectrum’ from the main 'wa_spectrum'

folder to the root folder of the following location:

On Mac OSX:

Macintosh HD/Users/Your Name/Documents/Native Instruments/User Content/Kontakt

On Windows:

C:\Users/Your Name/My Documents/Native Instruments/User Content/Kontakt

Please Note: If you do not see a folder named ‘Kontakt’ in the aforementioned location

(Native Instruments/User Content/), simply create a new folder called ‘Kontakt’

To load a snapshot click the camera icon and open the drop down menu in the instrument

header (see below).

You will now be able to see and load any of Spectrum’s factory snapshots/presets.

System Requirements Full version of Kontakt 5.5.1 or above (this instrument does not work with the free Kontakt

player).

11GB free hard disk space.

We recommend a minimum of 4GB of Ram to smoothly run Spectrum

Windows

Windows 7 or Windows 8 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit), Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon

64 X2, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)

Mac

Mac OS X 10.7 or 10.8 (latest update), Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)

Spectrum SYNTH Page To load Spectrum double click on the ‘Spectrum.nki’ file in the main root folder. Alternatively

you can drag and drop the file onto the main Kontakt window.

The first page you will see is the SYNTH page which can be thought of as the heart of the

instrument. Here you can load any of the 250+ factory presets which are saved as Kontakt

snapshots (See Installing the Kontakt snapshots above)

A preset consists of up to 4 patches which are layered using the WAVE slots provided. Each

of the WAVE slots can load 1 of 175 available patches which have been designed on a

collection of sought-after Vintage Analogue and Early Digital hardware synthesizers.

Each WAVE slot has identical editing parameters. To create a new preset from scratch,

choose a WAVE slot and load a patch using the patch selector below the waveform view.

You will see the waveform change as you toggle through the patches (using the red buttons)

or click and select patches using the drop down menu.

Dice Mode – Spectrum’s Dice Mode is an extremely powerful feature allowing you to

automatically create new and inspiring sounds instantly, in a single click, with hundreds of

millions of unique combinations…

Clicking the Dice icon to the left of ‘Wave 1’ will randomize all 4 waveforms. Holding Alt/Opt

and pressing this button will randomize just the currently selected waveform.

Here’s a breakdown of the editing parameters for each of the WAVE slots:

WAVE1…4 – These buttons select the WAVE slot to be edited.

The red LED lights to the left of each of WAVE buttons turns on/off the corresponding

waveform slot. Holding Alt/Opt and clicking an LED will solo the selected waveform.

L / R – Adjusts the Pan of the currently selected WAVE.

TUNE – Adjusts the course tuning of the currently selected WAVE with a range of +/- 36

Semitones.

FINE – Adjusts the fine tune of the currently selected WAVE.

PREVIOUS WAVE – Selects the previous WAVE.

WAVE SELECTOR – Selects the WAVE (patch)

NEXT WAVE – Selects the next WAVE.

ATTACK – Offsets the currently selected WAVE’s Amp attack.

RELEASE – Offsets the currently selected WAVE’s Amp release.

S.START – Adjusts the start position of the currently selected WAVE.

RND START – Increases the random modulation of the currently selected WAVE.

S.VELO – Adjusts the WAVE start position by key velocity.

PAN MAP – Increases the pan by keyboard position of the currently selected WAVE.

WAVE VOLUME – Adjusts the volume of the currently selected WAVE.

Here’s a breakdown of the synthesis parameters on the SYNTH page starting with the amp

section:

LEVEL – Adjusts the master volume of the instrument.

ATTACK – Adjusts the instrument amplifier Attack Envelope.

DECAY – Adjusts the instrument amplifier Decay Envelope.

SUSTAIN – Adjusts the instrument amplifier Sustain Envelope.

RELEASE – Adjusts the instrument amplifier Release Envelope.

UNISON – Increases the Unison Level of the instrument.

DETUNE – Increases the detune of the instrument Unison.

WIDTH – Increases the Stereo Width of the instrument Unison.

STEREO – Increases the Stereo Width of the instrument between 0% (mono) and 200%

(wide).

LPF FREQ – Adjusts the Low Pass Filter Frequency.

LPF RES – Adjusts the Low Pass Filter Resonance.

LPF DRIVE – Increases the Low Pass Filter Drive.

LPF ENV – Increases the Low Pass Filter Envelope Modulation.

LFO LEVEL – Increases the Low Pass Filter LFO Modulation.

LFO RATE – Adjusts the Low Pass Filter LFO Speed.

LFO FADE – Increases the Low Pass Filter LFO Speed Fade in Time.

HPF – Adjusts the High Pass Filter Frequency.

LADR2 – Enables the LADR2 Filter Mode.

LADR4 – Enables the LADR4 Filter Mode.

DAFT – Enables the Daft Filter Mode.

AR4 – Enables the AR4 Filter Mode.

LVL – Increases the Tune Envelope level.

ATTACK – Adjusts the Tune Attack Envelope.

DECAY – Adjusts the Tune Decay Envelope.

LFO SHAPE – Selects the LFO Waveform (Triangle, Square, Sawtooth and Random)

LVL – Increases the Tune LFO amount.

RATE – Increases the speed of the Tune LFO.

FADE – Increases the Tune LFO speed fade in time.

>>> - Enables the Step Sequencer on playback.

SYNTH – Selects the SYNTH page view.

SEQ – Selects the SEQ page view.

FX – Selects the FX page view.

VOICES – Sets the amount of voices which can be played at once.

VEL VOL – Increases the Volume via Velocity Modulation.

VEL FLT – Increases the Filter via Velocity Modulation.

VEL PITCH – Increases the Pitch via Velocity Modulation.

NOISE – Adjusts the Noise Level of the Sampler Engine.

BIT D – Adjusts the Bit Depth of the Sampler Engine.

S RATE – Adjusts the Sample Rate of the Sampler Engine.

SEQ Page Spectrum boasts a powerful 9 lane sequencer, allowing you to creatively program ‘step

locks’ and sequences independently for the following parameters:

Pitch, Velocity, Note Length, Pitch LFO Depth, Filter Cut-off, Filter Resonance, Filter

Envelope Depth, Filter Envelope Attack and Filter Envelope Decay.

The sequencer can have up to 32 steps, allowing 32 ‘step locks’ per lane. Here is where

Spectrum really comes alive!

The sequencer can be a bit tricky to handle at first with so many steps and options available.

Our advice is to and keep it simple to start by using fewer ‘step locks’.

Or alternatively you could go the full mile and twist your sound into oblivion! Either way you

will soon get the hang of it and realise the true power of Spectrum’s sequencer.

The sequencer playback button (shown above) can be found at the bottom left of Spectrum,

and is visible on all pages. Clicking this button will enable the sequencer on playback.

The first sequencer lane controls the note pitch for each of the 32 steps. To edit the note

pitch for each of the steps, click and hold either below or above the white line to enter note

values between +/- 12 semitones.

RATE – Sets the Speed of the Sequencer between FREE (variable) and 1/4, 1/8/ 1/16 and

1/32.

FREE – When set to ‘Free’ this knob determines the variable speed of the Sequencer.

Just to the right of the RATE control you will see a green play/pause button. This enables or

disables the sequencing of Pitch of note events (or when clicked on another sequencer lane,

enables / disables the sequence for that selected lane)

The next two sequencer lanes control the Velocity and Note Length for each of the 32 steps.

SHUFF – Sets the shuffle value of the sequencer groove.

DIV – Sets the length of Note Events to a predefined value.

The next lane sequences the LFO Tune Depth for each step of the sequencer.

> % < - Sets the intensity of the sequenced LFO Tune Depth.

PAGE1 – Selects Sequencer Page 1 Edit Controls.

PAGE2 – Selects Sequencer Page 2 Edit Controls.

CHORD – Displays Spectrum’s powerful the Chord Memoriser Function.

SEQUENCE – Selects the Current Pattern Sequence which saves the values for each lane

of the Sequencer.

COPY – Copies the current sequence to the next selected sequence.

CLEAR – Clears the current sequence and resets all parameters to their default position.

SAVE – Saves the current Pattern to an external .nka file.

LOAD – Loads a sequence saved as a .nka file to the current Pattern.

Spectrum features a very powerful chord memorizer function. This is found at the bottom

right of the SEQ page. When the CHORD button is enabled you will see a new page

showing the the chord memoriser function along with instructions for using both the Easy

and Advanced modes.

LEARN – Toggles learn mode for the chord memoriser. When active the Chord memoriser

listens to the midi input to learn a chord to memorise.

CLEAR – Clears the learned chord from memory.

SAVE – Saves the learned chord as a .nka file.

LOAD – Loads saved chord .nka files

ON – Toggles the Chord Memoriser between On and Off.

EASY/ADV – Toggles the Chord Memoriser between Easy and Advanced mode. See

descriptions and instructions for each mode on the Chord Memoriser page.

FX Page Spectrum’s FX page is where you can add movement to your sound with a modulation effect

(selectable between Flanger and Chorus).

You can add further depth and definition to your sounds by using Spectrum’s in-built reverb

module, delay modules and channel strip.

MOD – When selected the Mod FX will be output on Aux 1 in Kontakts output router.

DLY – When selected the Mod FX will be output on Aux 1 in Kontakts output router.

REV – When selected the Reverb will be output on Aux 1 in Kontakts output router.

MODFX – Adjusts the Mod FX (Chorus or Flanger) Send Level.

DELAY – Adjusts the Delay Send Level.

REVERB – Adjusts the Reverb Send Level.

COMP – Increases the Compressor Peak Reduction.

LOW – Adjusts the Low EQ gain.

HIGH – Adjusts the High EQ gain.

ATTK – Adjusts the Transient Shaper Attack level.

TAPE – Increases the Tape Saturation level.

RELS – Adjust the Compressor Release Time.

FREQ – Adjusts the Low EQ Frequency.

FREQ – Adjusts the High EQ Frequency.

SUST – Adjusts the Transient Shaper Sustain Level.

OUT – Adjusts the Output Level of the Channel strip.

MOD DEPTH – Adjusts the depth of the Chorus / Flanger Effect.

MAD PHASE – Sets the Phase for the Chorus / Flanger Effect.

CHR – Sets the Mod FX to Chorus.

FLG – Sets the Mod FX to Flanger.

MOD RATE – Adjusts the speed of the Flanger Effect.

MOD COLOR – Sets the Colour of the Chorus / Flanger Effect.

FEEDBACK – Adjusts the Feedback of the Flanger Effect.

RATE – Adjusts the Time of the Delay Effect.

WIDTH – Adjusts the Stereo Pan of the Delay Effect.

FEED – Adjusts the Feedback of the Delay Effect.

FILTER – Adjusts the Output Filter of the Delay Effect.

OUT – Adjusts the Output Level of the Delay Effect.

PRE – Adjusts the Pre-Delay of the Reverb Effect.

COLOR – Adjusts the Colour of the Reverb Effect.

SIZE – Adjusts the Size of the Reverb Effect.

FILTER – Adjusts the Output Filter of the Reverb Effect.

OUT – Adjusts the Output Level of the Reverb Effect.

Kontakt’s keyboard shows the MIDI trigger notes for sequences 1-16 (pink) along with the

MIDI notes that trigger the synth (blue).

Ranges are controlled with the parameters above.

Credits Concept –Wave Alchemy / Matthew Fudge

Sampling / Sound Design – Matthew Fudge

Programming / Scripting – Divergent Audio Group

Graphic Design – Divergent Audio Group

Audio Demo Creators

Donny Walls ‘Spectrum’ - Produced by Donny Walls

www.soundcloud.com/donnyw

Spectrum Chords – Produced by Danny Taurus

Circular Shades - Produced by Moduler

www.soundcloud.com/moduler

GilJ ‘Spectrum’ – Produced by GilJ /Sheel R

https://www.facebook.com/mevsyouspace

Victory Lap – Produced by Peter Godziszewski of Atomzero

www.atomzero.com

Augmented Ambience, Datacenter Raid, Full Spectrum Incursion, Funking Is Fun, Neon

Nippon Magic, Petrichords, Pure Exploratory Fun, Robot Truck Driver, Self-Aware Hologram

and Symphonic Cognition - Produced by Torley Wong

http://torley.com/