virtual instruments vol. 02 no. 06

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THE WORLD OF SOFTSYNTHS AND SAMPLERSTHE WORLD OF SOFTSYNTHS AND SAMPLERS

Reviews:

Steinberg Cubase 4 DAW

Native Instruments FM8 synth

RME Fireface 400 interface

Modartt Pianoteq synth

Big Fish Electro Magnetic Fury and Madahi: African Rhythms

Breakthrough: 7 Gigabytes of samples loaded on one Mac!

Akai EWI 4000mElectric Wind

Instrumentbreathes life into

your synths

Very Deep Clinic:

Inside Ableton Operator

Akai EWI 4000mElectric Wind

Instrumentbreathes life into

your synths

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V I R T U A L I N S T R U M E N T S 5

From the

Virtual Instruments is published bi-monthlyfor $16.95/year, $26/two years by VirtualInstruments, Inc., 3849 Ventura Canyon,

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Editor

Editor/publisher: Nick Batzdorf

Art director: Lachlan Westfall/Quiet Earth Design

Advertising manager: Len Keeler

Production manager: Laurie Marans

Web designer: Denise Young/DMY Studios

Contributors: Jim Aikin, Jason Scott Alexander, Thomas J. Bergersen,

Peter Buick, David Das, Peter Dines, Doyle Donehoo, Gary Eskow, Jerry Gerber,

Paul Gilreath, David Govett, Ashif “King Idiot” Hakik, Mattias Henningson,

Mark Jenkins, Michael Marans, Monte McGuire, Orren Merton, Chris Meyer,

Dave Moulton, Zack Price, Frederick Russ, Bruce Richardson, Craig Sharmat,

Lee Sherman, Dietz Tinhof, Jesse White.

Advertising contact: Len Keeler 818/590-0018. [email protected]

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Since the last page of this issue is a look forward—what our writerssee happening in 2007 and beyond—it’s only fitting that we begin

with a superficial look back at the year that’s almost past. Quite a fewmajor products came out, and there have been some pretty importantdevelopments…and the following is by no means a comprehensive list,just a few that come to mind. In no particular order:

First, the big libraries. East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestragot a big update (the XP version), but for me the company’s show-stop-per is EWQL Symphonic Choirs—an absolutely gorgeous library with itsown utility program for making the choir sing phrases you construct outof syllables. Now, you’re not going to pull off Mozart’s requiem with it,but it can do a lot, and even vaguely Latin syllables are a big stepbeyond oohs and aahs (which are also cool, but not the same thing).

SONiVOX, the company formerly known as Sonic Implants, comple-mented their string section with the rest of the orchestra. Sonic ImplantsSymphonic Collection is a really nice sounding library, and now thereare three major orchestral libraries (soon to be four when AudioImpressions comes out with theirs in January). In addition to theGigaStudio version, SISC is now available in Kontakt 2 format with itsscripting engine (about which more later).

The other big orchestra, Vienna Symphonic Library—probably thehighest-end music software product in the world—came out with one oftwo products that have really advanced the field of sampling: the ViennaInstruments player. Of course, the huge update to their sample librarythat goes with it is also no sneezing matter! But this brilliant playermakes it easy to play, program, and manage their gargantuan library bysensing what you play and in many cases switching articulations auto-matically. It’s certain to be influential.

The other product to change sampling’s face is Native InstrumentsKontakt 2, specifically its add-on scripting feature. Among many othertricks, of a sudden you can add very good legato to any library. There’sa lively discussion section about K2 scripting on the VI-Control forum(www.VI-control.net), and it’s well worth stopping by to see what’sgoing on—and to see the latest scripts you can download.

On the hardware front, the big news is of course Intel Macs that canswitch between Windows and Mac OS on the same machine. How longcan it be before both are happily running different music software at thesame time?

Season’s greetings and Happy New Year from all of us at VirtualInstruments magazine.—NB

Distributor: Rider Circulation Services, 3700Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90065.

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Standard disclaimer: Virtual InstrumentsMagazine and its staff can’t be held legallyresponsible for the magazine’s contents or

guarantee the return of articles and graphicssubmitted. Reasonable care is taken to ensure

accuracy. All trademarks belong to their owners.Everything in here is subject to international

copyright protection, and you may not copy orimitate anything without permission.

© 2006 Virtual Instruments, Inc.

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8 V I R T U A L I N S T R U M E N T S

54 MIDI MockupMicroscope: NathanFurst by Frederick Russ

In this installment of our series on composers and how theydid their MIDI programming, talented composer NathanFurst discusses “Heart of the Baja Part 2” and “Shark Attack.”Download these cues at www.VirtualInstrumentsMag.comand follow along.

V E R Y D E E P C L I N I C : Operator on the Line by Jim Aikin

The add-on synth in Ableton Live 6 is a lot more than just FMlite

Letters

Launch

Introductions, updates, news

10

20

Bent Clicks by Paul Gilreath

One of the most overlooked aspects of a good sequencedperformance is the tempo. Here are some pointers.

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December/January 2006/7

V2.N6

Voltage Control by Michael Marans

Let’s Make Some Noise!?Part B in our series on using yoursynth’s noise generators to create drums, percussion instru-ments, and sound effects.

38 Sequencing Samples by Thomas J. Bergersen

One of the world’s true masters at MIDI programming startsa new series. This issue: balance.

26 7 Gigs Loaded on One Mac by Nick Batzdorf

Accessing 7GB of samples on a single Mac.

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V I R T U A L I N S T R U M E N T S 9

VIcontentsNativeInstruments FM8by Lee Sherman

The second coming of the DX-7 getsa major update.

RME Fireface400 FireWireAudio Interfaceby Nick Batzdorf

This little half-rack box houses a 24-bit/192kHz audio interface with 18ins and outs. But that’s just thebeginning, because it can also routesoftware tracks all around the room.

Akai EWI 4000s by Nick Batzdorf

Do you play a wind or brass instru-ment? The Electric Wind Instrumentis a wonderful controller for playingsynths. Its latest incarnation of thisfabulous instrument now includes abuilt-in synth and some new MIDIcontrol features—and it comes in athalf the price.

ModarttPianoteq modeledacoustic piano by Jason Scott Alexander

This surprising piano only uses sam-ples for things like pedal noise—it’sactually modeled from the groundup. As a result, every behavior of areal piano is accounted for.

Loop Librarian by Chris Meyer

Loops loops loops and libraries.Reviewed: Big Fish Electro MagneticFury and Mahadhi: African Rhythms.

SteinbergCubase 4 by Mark Jenkins

A look at the update to this massivesequencing package.

December/January 2006/7

V2.N6

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VIreviews30

40

48

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52

randomtip

Importing DX-7 sounds into NativeInstruments FM861

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1 0 V I R T U A L I N S T R U M E N T S

Waveguide synthesis, they’re using a differentvariation of the Karplus-Strong plucked stringmodel, which uses a noise generator followed bya filter with a delay feeding back into it.

Circling around your original question somemore, some instruments actually do model thevarious circuit components of the product beingemulated. Universal Audio does that in theirplug-ins, for example. Whether a given softsynthactually models the oscillator from the synth it’semulating is another question, but to meabsolute purity isn’t what makes a productvalid—it’s the bottom line sound.

Is FM synthesis physical modeling? Whoknows. What I do know is that a softsynth ver-sion of the VL1 would be fantastic, because Istill consider it the pinnacle of synthesis in manyways.

High praiseI just recently picked up your magazine

and am very excited about it. I am a policeofficer that has patrolled the [withheld] areafor many years. I recently was injured and willno longer be able to do police work. Musiccomposition has helped me through my reha-bilitation in many ways, and your magazinehas given me so much information on theemusic world.

I know your mag is not necessarily aimedat novices such as me, but please know that itis making a difference for me. Even though Idon’t have any of the highspeed soft synths (Iuse Cakewalk Sonar with its stock instru-ments), with your help I am learning to getthe most out of what I have, and that is excit-ing. I have a long recovery ahead that will notbe easy, but emusic is playing a big part inkeeping me positive and keeping my head onstraight, and your magazine is a big help.

Keep up the good work you are doing andI can’t wait for the next issue.

Chris Watsonvia email

This is one of the nicest letters we’ve received,Chris. Thanks so much, and we wish you all thebest with your rehab.

The synths in Cakewalk Sonar are absolutelynothing to sneeze at, by the way, in fact wehave a Very Deep Clinic about them in theworks And we certainly hope novices will enjoythe magazine too. Our “First DAW” series has-n’t gone away!

VIl e t t e r s

Letterswrite to:[email protected]

Physical modelingWhile I understand completely the notion

of physical modeling as it applies to tradition-al instruments (i.e. representing the length ofa trumpet, the materials of which it’s made,differential equations of the wave motion,etc), I have never understood what it meansto do physical modeling of an analog synthe-sizer (for example, Yamaha claimed such forthe An1X).

What exactly is being physically modeled?It seems to me that to do physical modelingof an analog synth, you have to model suchthings as the behavior of transistors, resistors,capacitors, i.e. the electronic equivalent of thelength of the trumpet and its materials.

But I don’t get the sense that that’s what’s

happening—it seems like they are just “mod-eling” the OUTPUT of oscillators and so forth.And if that’s the case, then the Yamaha DX7was doing this kind of thing a long long timeago.

David Jamesonvia email

As your letter points out, it’s not a very pre-cise term. And let’s face it: it’s very difficult tomarket a product just by saying it sounds goodand some rock star—who you’ve just eliminatedas a potential customer by making him or heran endorsee—uses it. It’s far more interesting tobe able to talk about the technology. “We werevery careful to do an excellent job recording thissample library using good mics” isn’t going toturn a lot of heads.

So yes, we have seen “modeling” used fairlyliberally as a selling point. That was especiallytrue in the mid-’90s, when it was the buzzword.

Having said that, if the definition of PM isusing equations and algorithms to simulate thebehavior of a physical sound source, then whatYamaha does did in the VL1 Virtual Acousticsynth (which may have been the first commer-cial synth to use PM) absolutely is physical mod-eling. The VL1 uses Digital Waveguide synthesis,which actually uses varying delay lines, andKorg used it, and at one point Technics used itin their WSA-1 synth.

Applied Acoustic’s Tasman synth and I’mguessing Apple’s Sculpture (one of the synthsthat comes with Apple Logic Pro, althoughApple only touts it as “component modeling”)are two current PM softsynths that come tomind. Modartt PianoTeq, reviewed in this issue,uses PM to create its pianos, but the actualtechnique is a closely held secret. My educatedguess is that if they haven’t licensed Digital

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VIl e t t e r s

Digital puzzle[Please see the fab diagram George included

with his question.]What does someone do if they want to use

the SPDIF outputs on multiple hardwaresynths simultaneously? Most sound cards andinterfaces have only one SPDIF I/O, so onlyone of these things can be connected at atime.

I’ve done a bit of research. There are a fewproducts out there (M-Audio makes one) thatwill let you connect multiple ADAT devicesand provide a master clock and connection toyour DAW/soundcard. I also ran across aseries of product called “digital detanglers”by Z-Systems Audio Engineering, but theseseem to be simply format converters...andtrès expensive.

I’m looking for something in the “pro-sumer” space that will allow me to hook upthree or four SPDIF sources (e.g., V-Synth XT,

to the distribution amp’s in, and then from twoof its outs to the synths’ S/PDIF inputs. Put thesynths on digital sync (a.k.a. external sync) andthat’s solved. Be sure to use 75-Ohm cables,though, or the system may not be reliable.

Your other problem, finding an audio inter-face with multiple S/PDIF inputs, is a little moredifficult. MOTU used to make a 308 box fortheir PCI-324 and -424 cards, if you can findone. Lynx AES 16 is another, and in fact it fea-tures asynchronous I/O, meaning that it canresample the digital inputs that aren’t clockedtogether.

You don’t want to use USB, but adding aninexpensive USB interface that has S/PDIF I/Omight be the most practical solution. There aresome very inexpensive ones, actually.

I also see that you’re also using NativeInstruments Kore—or maybe not using its con-troller as an interface? It has S/PDIF out but noin, so that rules it out as a place to stick yourhardware synths’ digital outputs. But you couldmake it part of an aggregate device if you want-ed to use it for more analog inputs. (Aggregatedevices are seen as one larger audio interface byMac OS X software.)

If you go into the Aggregate Device editor inAudio MIDI Setup, you’ll see a checkbox forwhich device to use as the clock master, andthen there are options to resample the inputs.That’s what you want to do with Kore, since itcan’t be clocked externally.

Suggestion boxAn article for a VI issue that would be very

valuable to me, and to many others as well,would be a step by step overview of runningV.I.s on an external Mac and connecting it toa host computer. I know far less about thisthan I would like to; it is time consuming tohunt up the information; and there are manyusers, particularly in the Mac community,who are using second computers as V.I. hosts.

If such an article could address things likethe network feature in Audio MIDI Setup inOSX, ways to bring a laptop/Traveller combi-nation or similar rig into the main set-up,avoiding conflicts with dual installs of thesame plug/V.I., etc, it would be very muchappreciated.

Any chance this might happen soon?I’m enjoying the publication, thanks for

your continued innovation. Been readingyou since Home & Studio Recording [whichlater became Recording] back in the day.

Robert R. Martin, PhDVictoria B.C., Canada

Absolutely, great suggestion. You shall haveit, Sir, and thanks for the compliments.

This letter is here as an example of what wewelcome from you readers. Please let us knowwhat you want to see:[email protected]

Virus TI, etc.) and pipe them into my singleSPDIF I/O on my Firewire 410. I can’t be theonly person out there that wants to do this,can I?

Any ideas would be a help. Thanks.George Napiervia email

First of all, thanks very much for including thediagram of your studio. It’s actually moreinvolved than necessary to answer your ques-tion, but it’s always interesting to see peoples’rigs. This is technically a hardware question, ofcourse, but since you’re integrating the hard-ware with V.I.s as well… :)

There are two issues here: digitalclocking/sync and where you’re going to stickthe S/PDIF outputs. As to clocking, every devicein a digital audio system has to be referencingthe same digital clock, or you’ll get clicks andpops. Both the VSynth and the Virus haveS/PDIF inputs, so the obvious answer would beto use the clock from your FireWire interface.

But the FW410 only has one S/PDIF out, andyou need two. It so happens that RCA S/PDIFdigital signal uses 75-Ohm video cable, so youcan create multiple outputs using a standardvideo distribution amp. Radio Shack makes onefor $50 that should work fine, but there’s a widerange of models on the market.

Just run S/PDIF cables from the FW410’s out

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LaunchIntroductions, updates, news

VIl a u n c h

Native InstrumentsKORE 1.1, Kontakt 2.2universal binary

This free update to NI’s KOREUniversal Sound Platform can now runwithout its controller/audio-MIDI inter-face hooked up to the computer. Othernew features include a new SingleSoundformat; integration with NI’s newMassive synth and the latest updates totheir other instruments; and a pre-listenfeature for auditioning sounds beforethey’re loaded.

The most important new feature inv.2.2 of their Kontakt sampler is that it’snow a universal binary, which means itworks on Intel Macs as well as PowerPCs.

www.native-instruments.com

Millennia MediaOrchestral RecordingDiscussion #1

If you’re interested in learning abouthow to improve the production of yoursampled orchestral sequences, this dis-cussion about large ensemble acousticrecording is sure to help. MillenniaMedia makes some of the best analogrecording processors (mic preamps, etc.)in the world.

www.mil-media.com

M-Audio NRV10 Analog Mixer/FireWire Audio Interface

This $899 unit combines an 8x2 analog mixer with a 10x10 Pro Tools M-Powered-com-patible audio interface. Among other features, the unit features a built-in effects sectionwith 16 effects that run on its hardware. It also comes with Mac and Windows control soft-ware that adds dynamics processing plus two VST effects slots to each channel.

www.m-audio.com

VSL Saxophones and ElementsVienna Instruments libraries, update

Vienna Symphonic Library’s 24-bit/44.1kHz SaxophonesCollection ($475) features 35GB+ of soprano, alto, tenor, bari,and bass saxes, intended for both legit and jazz use.Articulations for jazz and big band are included: tongue slaps,growls, screams, extended harmonics, key clicking, and more.There are also long and short downward ending phrases trig-gered as release samples.

Elements ($365, updates $45) is an 18GB expanded versionof the Horizon Series Glass & Stones library, featuring all kinds ofmallet and percussion instruments such as glass bells, musicalglasses, glass harmonica, verrophone, and lithophone. New tothe library are such mainstays as bass waterphone, and flutter-tongued blown bottle.

Both come with the Vienna Instruments player, which was justupdated to v.1.1, which among other things: loads more quicklyand has some user interface improvements. This player featuresPerformance Detection algorithms that that switch articulationsautomatically by analyzing the intervals, repeated notes, pat-terns, and speed of your playing in real time.

www.VSL.co.at

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V I R T U A L I N S T R U M E N T S 1 5

VIl a u n c h

McDSP UpdatesMcDSP has been

producing some ofthe best Pro Tools-compatible plug-ins for a long time.Their latest updatesto the Native andHD product linesinclude support forIntel Macs,improved RTAS effi-ciency, faster inter-face updates and

loading times, and Pro Tools HD Accelcard optimizations. The ML4000 ($495)is a high-res brick wall look-ahead limiterand a multiband dynamics processor.Analog Channel LE and ML4000 LE arenew additions to their $495 ProjectStudio bundle.

www.mcdsp.com

Alexander Publishing“How RavelOrchestrated: MotherGoose Suite”

This edition includes a book, score, andCD, designed for learning orchestration.The analyses that follow each movementinclude electronic scoring insights.

www.professionalorchestration.com

Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini

$329 list now buys you aUSB interface that has bothphantom powered mic andline inputs, and line and head-phone outputs. The softwarebundle starts with Pro ToolsLE, and then it includes theXpand! sample playback/syn-thesis workstation, severalBomb Factory plug-ins, about38 DigiRack DSP plug-ins(dynamics, reverb, EQ, pitch shift, delay, and on and on)…and then the fun starts. It alsoincludes several lite versions: Ableton Live Lite 4, Propellerhead Reason Adapted,FXpansion BFD lite drums, IK Multimedia SampleTank SE, IK Amplitube LE, IK T-Racks EQ,Celemony Melodyne Uno, and more.

www.Digidesign.com

Garritan Stradivari Solo Violin 2.0The update to this solo violin now comes in a Native

Instruments Kontakt 2 Player, so you don’t need Kontakt to play it.The Garritan Strad features “Sonic Morphing,” which crossfadesacross dynamic layers; lets you control the onset, rate, and speedof vibrato; and shape vibrato in real time without the phasingproblems you get when crossfading normally. $199, upgrades $29+ s/h.

www.garritan.com

MPC Lockbox, Big FishDrummerPacks forDrumCore

The SonicEmulations MPC Lockbox looplibrary ($59) is a new expansion pack forSubmersible Music’s DrumCore loop librari-an/player. This new DrummerPack featureship-hop/DJ-type loops and single hit drum andpercussion sounds, ready to play by MIDI.

Big Fish’s “Brain: One Stroke Done” (reviewedin our 10-11/06 issue) and “Roots of SouthAmerica 2” libraries ($79 each) are also nowavailable as DrumCore DrummerPacks. This packis also available in loops—which are ready to bedrag/dropped into a DAW—as well as individualhits to be triggered by MIDI.

www.drumcore.com, www.bigfishaudio.com, www.bandmateloops.com

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VIf e a t u r e


Let’s Make Some Noise!—Part II in our series onusing your synth’s noise generators to create

drums, percussion instruments, and sound effects.

Voltage more

onlinewww.virtualinstrumentsmag.com

by Michael Marans

Ooh, Baby, I Got an Itch…We’ll start off with two versions of the now

ubiquitous “record scratch,” only we’ll beusing virtual vinyl.

In Synth1 (see Sidebar, Downloading Synth1and the Example Patches), call up program 45,Simple Click. Play any note, and all you’ll hearis a plain old ordinary click?and a ratherunmusical one at that.

It’s instructive to analyze the origins of theclick, so give the Synth1 front panel the once-over (Fig. 1). You’ll notice that the Attack,Decay, and Sustain parameters of both the fil-ter and amplitude envelopes are set to theirminimum values. Since these values essential-ly shut off the filter (i.e. no harmonic contentpasses through) and the amplifier is “closed,”all we hear is the click of the electronics turn-ing on for a brief moment when a key ispressed. But no “real” sound is actually beinggenerated by the synth engine.

Last issue we concentrated on building a standard

trap kit. This time around we’ll look at creating

complementary percussion instruments and immerse

ourselves in some really bad weather. (We would say,

“So grab your Macs,” but the pun would be way too

obvious, and we’re not that desperate….)

Let’s open the amplifier by setting theDecay control to its halfway position. Stillnothing. Why?

Look at the filter setting. With LP12 select-ed (a lowpass filter with a 12dB per octaveslope), no sound is passing through the filter,so the settings of the amplifier envelope liter-ally have no effect on the sound. Toggle toLP24 and play a note; same deal: no sound.

Now select HP12æa highpass filter with a12db per octave slope. Hey! That almostsounds like a thick hi-hat hit!

If you’ve been following these VoltageControl articles for a while you’ll immediatelyknow why. First, a highpass filter allows allsound higher than the filter cutoff frequencyto pass through and be heard. So with our fil-ter closed down to 0Hz, we’re allowing all fre-quencies higher than 0Hz to pass throughunfiltered.

Second, Oscillator 2, set to generate noise,is the only oscillator sounding (note the fullyclockwise position of the Oscillator Mix knob).As we pointed out last time, hi-hats and cym-bals are comprised entirely of noise (all fre-quencies playing at equal amplitude) and theamplifier envelope is the primary tool used toshape that noise into a recognizable sound. Inthis case the amplifier’s Decay setting is creat-ing the shape of a medium length hi-hat hit.

Now back to our regularly scheduled pro-gramming: record scratches. Starting with ourboring click, let’s start molding the sound intosomething resembling the mistreatment ofvinyl. We’ll begin by selecting LP12 for the fil-ter. Now turn up the filter envelope’s Attacktime to about one-third and play a note.You’ll hear that we have a rough approxima-

Control

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add a bit of automated panning using an LFOto animate the sound’s stereo image.

(Turn on LFO1 and note that the soundimmediately travels across the stereo sound-stage, in accordance with the fairly rapidspeed of the LFO. Slowing down the speedallows you to move the sound across thestereo soundstage with each successive key-on. Click on LFO1’s KEY button to retriggerthe sound from the exact same stereo posi-tion with each note-on.)

Our final version of a basic scratch, whichutilizes all of the above, is stored in Program46, Record Scratch 1. Program 47, RecordScratch 2, builds on the core sound to createa “double scratch” by adding filter velocity,and using a stereo delay to split and doublethe sound across the stereo soundstage.

One of the highlights of the patch: LFO2,assigned to Filter (try assigning it toAmplitude as well), can be used to add multi-ple scratches by increasing the value of thespeed control and varying the note-on veloci-ty. Truly complex rhythms can be createdthrough the use of this control and a bit ofkeyboard dexterity.

Perking upThe high-pitched strike of a Clave, the clas-

sic Latin percussion instrument (Program 48,Clave F3), can be created using a combina-tion of noise and filter self-oscillation. A bit onthe latter: when the Resonance parameter ofthe filter is set to maximum, the filter cutofffrequency is so accentuated that it actuallyproduces a tone (generally a pure sine wave).

The pitch of that tone can then be con-trolled by adjusting the filter’s cutoff frequen-cy. (Note that if you want the tone to trackthe keyboard, you need to turn the Filter’strack control [TRK] to its maximum position,which,on most synthesizers will produce theproper voltage to play properly intonated 12-tone scales.) By combining the tone producedby filter resonance with the tone(s) producedby the oscillators carefully, you can createnoise-based timbres with distinctive pitches.

In creating our Clave sound, we used twonoise sources. OSC2 is producing pure whitenoise. OSC1, set to a sine wave, has its FM(Frequency Modulation) control set to aboutthe 50% mark (64 on the MIDI parametervalue scale). The sidebands (harmonic fre-quencies)) created by feeding the complexnoise waveform of OSC2 into the pure sinewave generated by OSC1æwhich is what theFM control is doingæare wild and “random,”thereby generating a sound heavily predomi-nated by noise. (See Fig. 2.)

To hear OSC1 on its own, turn both theFilter’s RES knob and the OSC MIX control to0 (fully counter-clockwise). Note that byincreasing or decreasing the value of OSC1’sFM parameter, you can add as little or asmuch noise to the sound as desired.

Reselect Program 48 so that you’re back tothe original Clave patch. If you listen closely,you can hear the sound’s noise characteristics,though the dominant timbre is the short,

pitched strike that’s created by filter resonance.Last tweak: toggle between the LP12 and

LP24 filter settings. You’ll note that LP12allows for more low frequency noise content.Our preference (strictly personal) is for the“cleaner” LP24 sound, played between C3and F3. As always, experiment with differentkeyboard ranges and filter settings.

Give yourselves a handThe analog handclap, popularized by

Simmons way back when (yes, there wereearlier incarnations, but Simmons is creditedfor creating the handclap that slapped you inthe face), makes use of several key synthesistechniques. Programming a basic handclap is

VIf e a t u r e

tion of a simple scratch, but the sound cutsoff rather abruptly.

Time to enlist the filter’s Decay control.Bring it up to about one-third, and you’llnotice that you now have the basis of a fairlyconvincing quick scratchæalbeit one that’sawfully thick. Adjust the filter Attack andDecay parameters to taste, using Attack tocontrol the speed of the scratch’s onset andDecay to control how long it lasts. You mightfind it helpful to think of the word “Wow”while adjusting these parameters.

Now about that thickness. Please say helloto the Bandpass filter (BP12 on Synth1). Abandpass filter allows a specified band of fre-quencies both above and below the frequen-cy cutoff point to pass through and be heard.This type of filter lets us maintain the coretimbre of the sound while simultaneouslyattenuating unwanted frequenciesæthat is,those that are too low and too high.

So select BP12 and play a few notes. Noticehow this thinning out of the sound really helpshome in on the tonality of a scratch.

The next steps are all “tweaks,” and subjectto personal preference and musical applica-tion. First, try increasing the filter cutoffand/or the resonance to thin the sound fur-ther and give it the perception of having ahigher pitch. (Remember that pure, unfilterednoise has no pitch, so accentuating higher orlower frequencies will make the sound appearto be pitched higher or lower, accordingly.)

Then add compression (Effect > Comp, onSynth1) to make the sound fatter and moreconsistent in volume from start to finish.Unison mode and filter SAT (Saturation) canthicken the sound considerably, and you can

Fig 1: The vinyl “record scratch” patches created in this article began life as a simple, uninspiring electron-ic click. Worse, the click was really nothing more than the sound of Synth1 trying make sound, but the 0(minimum/off) settings of the envelope generators make playing a purposefully-generated sound next toimpossible. Turning the click into record scratches required selecting the proper filter, adjusting the filter andamplitude envelopes, setting the filter cutoff point and resonance, modulating the sound with LFOs, andadding effectsæin other words, using a variety of voltage controls to turn the plain and the boring into thebad and the beautiful. See the main article for details.

Let's open the amplifier by setting the Decay

control to its halfway position. Still no sound. Why?

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pretty easy; making a knock-you-over-deadclap is a multi-step process.

We’ve programmed two claps. Program49, Small Handclap, relies almost exclusivelyon basic filter and envelope settings to createthe core sound. A highpass filter is used tonail the timbre, which if you listen closely hasmany of the spectral characteristics of the hi-hats we constructed last time around.

To see for yourself the dramatic effect a fil-ter has on a sound, toggle through the otheravailable modes. Once you leave HP12 (thehighpass filter) our clap becomes lifeless andsounds more like an unwelcome strangerknocking at our door.

Now go back to HP12 and enable TempoDelay. Our settings double the sound andspread it across the stereo spectrum. Next,enable Chorus/Flange, which thickens thesound. For fun you can enable Effect A.D.1,which gives you an interesting percussivesound, but out of the realm of the clap.

Now Select Program 50, Big Handclap.This is essentially the same program as SmallHandclap, but when we enabled Effect A.D.1,we changed the filter to BP12 (bandpass).Doing that allowed us to retain the basic clapsoundæby cutting out much of the high fre-quency content we heard in the A.D.1 experi-ment in the previous paragraphæwhile at thesame time thickening the sound considerably.

Deep into the (Rain) forestWhile a completely different type of instru-

ment from the hi-hat?and certainly not metal-lic in any way?the decidedly primitive rain-

stick has a soundthat contains a num-ber of the samespectral compo-nents. The primarydifference betweenit and a hi-hat is inthe shape of theenvelopes (both fil-ter and amplitude).So even though therainstick is about asorganic an instru-ment as one canimagine, the bitsand bytes of our vir-tual analog synthe-sizer can do a veryconvincing job ofemulating it.

Let’s start by call-ing up Program 51,Medium Hi-Hat. Thisprovides our basictimbre. (For those ofyou not usingSynth1, our exampleMedium Hi-Hatsound is createdusing noiseprocessed through ahigh pass filter witha bit of resonance

added to give it a metallic edge. The filterenvelope is used to fine tune the timbre, butthe amplitude envelope provides the majorityof the hat’s “sharp hit” characteristic.)

We now need to tweak the envelopes toeliminate the hi-hat’s sharp attack and createthe trademark rainstick sound of “grains”(rice, small pebbles, etc.) falling through thehollow stick. Start by increasing the amplifier’sAttack time to a bit more than halfway-up.Play and hold a note. Notice how this simpleadjustment has a dramatic effect on thesound, and has taken us quite far toward therainstick emulation.

Now we’ll adjust the Amplifier Decaytimeæincreasing it to about three-fourths ofits throwæto create the long, smooth soundof the grains continuing their journey throughthe stick.

Okay. We’re pretty close to the basic shapeof the sound, but it’s not definitively a rain-stick. To go that extra mile, we’ll need toenlist a number of other parameters.

Call up Program 52, Rainstick, and play anote. You’ll notice that the sound is nowmuch more refined timbrally (it’s not justpouring rain anymoreæwe can hear the indi-vidual “droplets”). We’ve done this by makingsome minor changes to the filter envelope,but more significantly we’ve enlisted the aidof the LFOs.

LFO1 is set to a noise (random) waveformwith its output routed to the filter, causingthe filter cutoff point to change rapidly overthe course of a held note. This rapid random-ization of the frequency content helps to dis-

tinguish the “droplets’ ” individuality. LFO2uses a high-speed random sine wave assignedto amplitude, which further serves to defineindividual droplets. Finally we adjust the FRQ,RES, and SAT controls for the desired tonalcoloration.

Uh-oh…bad weather aheadMother Nature is pretty good at creating

impressive noises, and it just so happens thattwo of the most common?lightning strikes andthunder?are comprised of ingredients readilyavailable on basic analog subtractive synthesiz-ers. If you’ve been following this series, youknow that we always break down sounds intobasic components, i.e. their core tonality(waveform), harmonic content (filter), andamplitude (VCA, or Voltage ControlledAmplifier), and then apply various voltagesfrom modulation sources, such as envelopesand LFOs, to manipulate the core ingredients.So with those basic principles in mind, let’s donour raincoats and call in the thunderclouds.

A lightning strike usually consists of a sharpcrack, followed by thunder. The particularincarnation we created here (Program 53) hasthe lightning striking right on top of us. Inother words, the thunder happens simultane-ously with the initial strike.

The lightning sound starts with OSC2 setto noise, and the filter parameters set to cre-ate a medium length “crack.” (You shouldexperiment with the filter envelope values tosee how they affect the sound. Hint: Decayand Sustain are critical.) Synth1’s filter SATparameter has been used to fatten the crack.LP12 is the filter selection, since it allows botha great amount of high frequency content topass through for the initial crack, while at thesame time providing enough filtering for usto create the rumbling thunder that follows.

Now check the settings of the Amplitude

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Downloading andinstalling Synth1and the examplepatches

As with our past articles, we’re usingthe freeware Synth1 for our examples.Instructions for downloading andinstalling Synth1 can be found at MoreOnline atwww.virtualinstrumentsmag.com. Thereyou’ll also find the Synth1 patch exam-ples used in this article, as well as thoseused in our last three installments. Youcan use the synth of your choice, sincethe controls we refer to are common tovirtually all software synths (at leastthose of the analog subtractive variety).

Fig. 2: Frequency Modulation (FM) is a type of synthesis (popularized byYamaha’s DX series) in which one wave (a modulator) is fed into another (a carri-er) to generate a timbre that is harmonically rich. When the modulator and carrierare sine waves, the harmonics produced are predictable. In Synth1, the output ofOSC2 is the modulator, and the carrier is OSC1. Since both of these oscillators areusing complex waveforms in the Clave patch, the resulting timbre produced whenusing FM comprises hundreds of frequenciesæwhich, due to their number andamplitude, are a form of noise. Try raising and lowering the FM amount to hearthe effect on the “noise” portion of the Clave patch.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 62)

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VIv e r y d e e p c l i n i c

Operator on the Line

The add-on synth in Ableton Live6 is a lot more than just FM liteby Jim Aikin


The first part of this clinic is for those whoare new to FM synthesis. It introducesOperator’s FM features briefly, and shows

how to explore the tone colors available withFM. After shining a spotlight on a few ofOperator’s other features, we’ll tackle someexpert concepts—both FM programming andways to use Operator in conjunction with Live6’s new Racks and expanded modulation rout-ings.

While working on this article, I interviewedace remixer and sound designer Francis Preve(www.fap7.com). Francis designed many ofthe factory presets for Operator, and has hadtracks on Top Ten dance remix CDs. In addi-tion, he’s the author/editor of The Remixer’sBible (Backbeat Books). You’ll find his insights(uncredited) scattered throughout this article,and a few specific tips in the sidebar. ThanksFran!

FM 101FM (frequency modulation) synthesis was

first made popular by Yamaha in the 1980s.In FM, complex sounds are created by havingone simple waveform modulate another.Often the waveforms being produced by theoscillators are sine waves, which are about assimple as an audio signal can get. The oscilla-tor producing the sound we hear is called thecarrier, and the oscillator being used to

When I first heard that Ableton had released a 4-operator

FM synth called Operator as an optional add-on for Live, I’ll

admit I glanced at it and yawned politely. As much as I like

FM, how could four operators hold their own against instru-

ments that have six?

When persuaded to take a closer look, though, my opinion

ratcheted upward. The multimode filter and the useful list of

waveforms open up a lot of sound design possibilities that

aren’t apparent on the surface. The new version of

Operator available with Live 6 contains in itself only a few

small refinements—but the more flexible architecture of

Live 6 boosts Operator to a whole new level, as you’ll dis-

cover in this clinic. If you like synthesizers, this little mon-

ster will truly chop wood and carry water for you.

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FM discovery step-by-stepLet’s walk through the process of creating a

basic sound in Operator. Launch Live and fol-low along:

1. Drag Operator from the Browser into anempty MIDI track. Don’t drag one of theexisting presets—we want to start from

scratch, so select Operator itself in theBrowser.

2. Click the In button in the MIDI track andplay your keyboard to verify that Operator isoperating. You should hear a sine wave.

3. Looking at the panel, you’ll see that thedefault patch uses algorithm 1, in which allfour operators are stacked. (It’s visible in thelower right area.) But you’re only hearing asine wave, because the levels of operators B,C, and D are set to –inf dB. Turn up the Level

of operator B while playing the keyboard.You’ll hear the sound gradually acquire moreovertones. This is the core of FM synthesis.

4. After setting the Level of B to a reason-able value, such as –15dB, try adjusting theCoarse frequencies of A and B. You’ll discoverthat each ratio of A to B produces a distinc-tive combination of overtones.

5. Return A and B to Coarse settings of 1and 1. Then click on the Fine tuning knob ofB, hold down the computer’s Ctrl key to allow

change the tone of the carrier is called themodulator.

A standard FM synth has at least four oscil-lators, and many have six. These can be con-figured in various ways. For instance, withfour oscillators we might have twocarrier/modulator pairs, or we might have

three modulators, all operating on a singlecarrier. The configuration of oscillators iscalled an algorithm. Operator offers a choiceamong 11 algorithms, as shown in Fig. 1.

Two key factors affect the tone of the car-rier: the relative frequencies of the carrierand modulator, and the amplitude of themodulator. Cranking up the level of themodulator adds more overtones to thesound. While the ratio of the frequencies ofthe carrier and modulator controls whichovertones will be heard, the formula thatdetermines the exact combination of over-tones produced by a given frequency ratio isnot simple, and not interesting either. Thebest way to work with FM is to try differenttunings for the carrier and modulator, andlisten to the results.

To give the user control over these factors,each oscillator has its own coarse and finetuning knobs and an output amplitude knob.In addition, each oscillator has its own ampli-tude envelope, which you’ll see in the centerpanel when you click on one of the oscillatorsin the left column. Unlike an analog-typesynth, where one amplitude envelope is oftencalled on to contour the entire sound, FMsynths give us separate amplitude controlover each oscillator.

The combination of an oscillator and anamplitude envelope is called an operator—hence the name of the synth. (Memo toAbleton: when Antares named their filterplug-in Filter, it was not a trend you want toemulate. Calling Live’s amazing new samplerSampler... well, maybe all the good nameshave been used up.)

smaller adjustments, and move the Fine valueup to between 3 and 6. You’ll hear the tonebecome animated as the two oscillators aredetuned from one another.

6. With operator B still selected, drag theenvelope sustain level down to zero. Nowoperator B is producing an attack transient.Adjust the decay time shorter or longer tochange the length of the attack transient, andtry adjusting the Coarse tuning of B tochange the harmonic character of the tran-sient. Leave the envelope set at a mediumdecay length, perhaps about 3 seconds.

7. Click in the algorithm panel (lower right)and select algorithm 7. In this algorithm threemodulators all affect one carrier. The soundwon’t have changed yet, because we’ve onlyturned up operator B. So turn up operator Cto –15dB, turn its envelope sustain down tozero, and set the decay time to a much short-er value, in the 40-60ms range. Turn itsCoarse tuning up to about 7. This will giveeach note a very percussive attack. FM syn-thesis is especially good at tuned percussionsounds like the one you’ve just created.

8. Turn up operator D to about –50dB,change its Coarse tuning to 8, and give it anenvelope with a 4-second attack, a 32-seconddecay, and a –15dB sustain. This will producea slow swell containing new overtones as thenote sustains.

9. To hear the contribution that each oper-ator is making to the composite tone, clicktheir colored boxes to mute them one byone. Muting operators is extremely usefulwhen you’re developing an FM sound.

10. Add velocity response to some or all ofthe operators to make your new preset moreplayable.

Three important featuresOperator is sometimes compared to the

Yamaha TX81z, a popular 1980s-era rack-

mount synth that also produced its tonesusing 4-operator FM. But Operator has somepowerful features that go well beyond whatwas possible in those early days.

Filter. Operator’s multimode resonant filteris a vital sound-shaping tool. In Live 6, the fil-ter has been enhanced with a choice between12dB and 24dB per octave rolloff slopes. The24dB options produce a more definite filter-ing action, while the 12dB options are moregentle.


Fig. 1: The algorithms in Operator. The box or boxes on the bottom row of each icon are carriers, andthose above them are modulators. Algorithms 6 (right end of the top row) and 10 (highlighted) are new inLive 6. At first glance 9 and 10 might seem almost identical, but if you click on 9 and look at the “wires,”you’ll see that in 9 the modulator affects all three carriers, while in 10 it affects only carrier C.


The formula that determines the exact

combination of overtones produced by a given

frequency ratio is not simple, and not interesting

either.

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In the filter’s control panel (see Fig. 2),check out the Freq<Vel and Freq<Key parame-ters. Use these to modulate the cutoff fre-quency from velocity and the MIDI key num-ber. Assuming you’re using a lowpass filtermode, Freq<Vel will cause notes that areplayed harder to sound brighter, emulatingthe characteristics of an acoustic instrument.When Freq<Key is active, the cutoff will rise asyou play up the keyboard, ensuring that lownotes don’t have too many overtones andhigh notes aren’t too muted.

Waveforms. A nice set of waveforms isavailable for Operator’s oscillators (see Fig. 3).These include square, sawtooth, and trianglewaves—the types found in analog synthesiz-ers. In fact, Operator can be used very effec-tively as a pseudo-analog synth: dhoose algo-rithm 11, which has four parallel carriers, andchoose a suitable waveform for each ofthem—preferably not a sine wave but some-thing that has more overtones. Then shapethe tone with the filter envelope.

Operator lets you use any combination ofwaves in FM synthesis, not just sine waves.The results tend to have a lot of overtones.But by turning down the level of the modula-tor and choosing your waves with care, youcan achieve many timbres not possible withsine waves alone. For the technically minded:

The advanced courseA book could be written about sound

design in Operator. Here are a few ideas toget you started.

Modulation routings. Live 6 handlesreal-time MIDI modulation input much betterthan earlier versions. You can now apply asingle source, such as the mod wheel on yourkeyboard, to any number of destinations, andset the minimum and maximum values thatthe MIDI controller willhave. This means youcan do complex, coor-dinated sweeps ofnumerous Operatorparameters with a sin-gle physical move-ment. But your con-troller routings won’tbe saved with theOperator preset, whichmeans if you load thepreset into a differentsong you’ll have torecreate them fromscratch. What to do?

This is where Live6’s new Racks featurescome to the rescue:

1. Create anInstrument Rack andinsert an Operator intoit.

2. Assign all theparameters you wantto modulate to one ofthe Rack’s Macroknobs.

3. Assign your modwheel to the Macroknob (see Fig. 4).

4. Save the Rackpreset.


when you do this, the result is the same as ifeach overtone in the modulator was modulat-ing each overtone in the carrier separately.

Tip: a standard technique in analog synthe-sis is to set three oscillators to the same pitchand then detune one slightly flat and anotherslightly sharp. Operator’s Fine knobs can becranked only up, not down—but there’s aneasy solution: for the oscillator that you wantto detune flat, set the Coarse knob an octavelower (for instance, 0.5 rather than 1, or 2rather than 4) and then turn Fine up to 995or so.

Envelope looping. Operator’s sevenenvelopes (one for each oscillator, plus pitch,filter, and LFO amount) can loop. By settingthe loop modes to Sync and selecting differ-

ent rhythmic subdivisions for variousenvelopes, you can create pulsating, percolat-ing rhythms. For the most striking results usefairly quick decay times and low sustain levels.Unfortunately, there are still no dottedrhythms for the Repeat value, but with a judi-cious combination of 16ths, eighths, quarters,and half-notes, you can generate some ear-catching patterns.

Tip: after setting up a patch in which theenvelopes are synced to the beat, start thetransport. Play notes in a chord in variousrhythms, holding all of the notes down sothat the looping has a chance to work. Bytriggering notes at various points in the meas-ure, you can change the pattern in hypnoticways.

Fig. 3: The pop-up menu for Operator’s wave-forms. The square and sawtooth waves are mostoften used in emulations of analog synthesizers,but depending on modulator levels and other fac-tors, they can be used effectively in FM synthesis aswell.


Fig. 2: The Operator panel. The filter is selected,and its Freq<Vel parameter is being edited in thecenter window.

The sound pallette of FM is deep and wide,

and as the song says, there's mild and honey on

the other side.

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• When using the filter with FM sounds, program the FM section first, before turningon the filter. In other words, use the filter to enhance a sound that’s already good,not to fix problems.

• The Spread knob in the pitch section doubles the CPU load of a patch. If your CPU ishitting the wall, turn the Spread down to zero.

• When starting work on a new FM sound, choose algorithm 8 (two carrier/modulatorpairs). It’s a good basic choice, and you can later change if you need something spe-cial. When you add the second modulator to a carrier, it’s easy to end up with toomany overtones.

• The pitch envelope can be routed to some oscillators but not others, which makes ituseful for subtle detuning effects and adding accents in envelope loop patches.

• Unless you know what you’re doing, do not tune a carrier to any Coarse valueexcept 0.5, 1, 2, 4, or 8. Those are the octaves of the fundamental. If you tune a car-rier to 7 and a modulator to 14, for instance, you’ll get a tone that’s difficult toretune to concert pitch even with the aid of the Transpose knob.

• If you’re using Operator with an arpeggiator, check to make sure the R button isswitched on. If it’s off, the arpeggio will chew up your polyphony while adding CPUload.

• In an FM patch, apply the mod wheel to one or more modulators’ Coarse tuningknobs to create PPG-style stepped wave sweeps.

• Using two Operators in an Instrument Rack will give you 8-operator FM. Whendoing this, choose complementary algorithms to make the most of the compositesound.

• If you need an extra modulator, use the LFO. Set it to a high frequency range, set itsRate<Key to 100% so it will track the keyboard, and hold down the Ctrl key to tuneits Rate precisely.

Francis Preve’s Quick TipsNow when you load the Rack preset into a

different song, you’ll only have to make onemodulation routing—mod wheel to theMacro knob.

Also note that individual envelope seg-ments can be modulated using MIDI or aMacro knob. This lets you do tricks likechanging the sound of the note attacks froma MIDI slider in subtle and highly controllableways.

Additive synthesis. Load fourOperators into an Instrument Rack, choosealgorithm 11 (four carriers) for each of them,and tune the oscillators to Coarse values of 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on up to 16. Leave thewaveforms all set to sine waves. Now youhave a 16-sine-wave additive synthesizer.

Give some of the operators envelopes thatdecay quickly to zero, and give others slowattacks so that the tone swells. Adjust theLevel of each oscillator to get a pleasingblend. Try detuning some of your additiveovertones slightly.

FM with a low-frequency carri-er. When you click the Fixed button on anoscillator, it no longer tracks the keyboard.This feature has at least three important uses.First, if you tune a modulator to a high, fixedfrequency (above 2kHz or so) and keep it at alow level, it will mimic the sound of a fixed-frequency formant filter. Second, percussiveattack transients, such as the sound of a mal-let hitting a xylophone, are pretty much fixedin frequency no matter what note you play,so using a couple of fixed-frequency operatorsto produce mallet attacks works well.

The third use of fixed frequencies is lessobvious. If you tune a carrier to a low, fixedfrequency, perhaps a Freq setting of between30 and 70Hz and a Multi (multiplier) knobsetting of 0.01, it will add a chorused qualityto the tone of the modulator. This sound is a

staple of FM synthesis, and very pleasing tolisten to. If you use Operator’s square wavesfor both the modulator and carrier with thistype of patch, you can get some nasty rasp-ing tones that sound a lot like pulse widthmodulation in an analog synth.

The operating tableCreating your own sounds with Operator

(or any other FM synthesizer) takes a littlemore dedication than triggering samples orusing an analog-style instrument, because theoperators can interact in so many ways. The

sound palette of FM is deep and wide, and asthe song says, there’s milk and honey on theother side.

Jim Aikin writes about music technology forvarious publications. He’s also a cello teacherand a hobbyist computer programmer. You canvisit him online at www.musicwords.net. VI

Fig. 4: An Instrument Rack with four Operatorsin parallel. Several parameters have been assignedto Macro knob 1, which I’ve renamed Mod Wheel.Note the small pink dot next to the Level knob foroperator C; this indicates that it is now under thecontrol of a Macro knob.


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VIr e v i e w


Native Instruments’ FM7 has become astaple of modern music production. Ina way this is the second coming of the

famous Yamaha DX-7, which dominated theworld in the early ’80s when it came out.

While the FM synthesis technique theseinstruments have in common is capable ofcreating some of the cheesiest sounds everrecorded, it’s also capable of creating somewonderful, unique sounds. As a result it’snever really gone out of style. Among otherthings, FM synthesis can produce a metallicsheen that’s fantastic for clanging bells, lushpads, glassy electric pianos, and tight basses.It’s as welcome as ever in today’s music.

Recreating the sound of the original hard-ware is a lot easier when the original hard-ware was a digital synthesizer. But what’s real-ly important is whether the software hasimproved upon the original.

Indeed, FM7 not only delivered the soundof the DX-7 (you can even import all of theold patches—see Random Tip: Loading origi-nal DX sounds into FM8 [which works thesame way]), it went some way towardimproving the arcane process of program-ming FM sounds. We’ll explain FM synthesisin the next section, but FM7 also provided anadvanced sound architecture that includes a

free-form FM matrix, additional waveforms forthe Operators (the original only had sinewaves), graphical envelopes with nearlyunlimited stages, host-syncable looping, andchorus and delay effects.

While FM8’s considerably revamped userinterface no longer resembles the panel of aDX-7 (it’s now a soothing gray-on-white colorscheme), the biggest changes are due to thesoftware’s integration with NativeInstruments’ Kore softwarehost/controller/interface. FM8’s own patchbrower is similar to Kore’s, and its sounds usethe Kore Single Sound Format.

If you do open FM8 within Kore, you canuse complex layers of FM8 and NativeInstruments programs. KoreSounds can takeadvantage of the new morphing technologyand multi-effects chains, making for sometruly massive sounds.

A tabbed navigator along the right side ofthe software’s main window lets you switch

Native Instruments FM8, $339;

upgrade from FM7, $119.

www.NativeInstruments.de

System requirements: Mac OS X

10.4, G4 1.4 GHz + or Intel Core

Duo 1.66 GHz +, 512MB RAM;

Windows XP, 1.4GHz Pentium or

Athlon, 512MB RAM.

Formats: Stand-alone, Audio

Units, VST, DXi, RTAS.

Copy protection: online authori-

zation using included utility to man-

age all Native Instruments auths.

Native Instruments FM8The second coming of the DX-7 gets a

major update

Review by Lee Sherman

Fig. 1: FM8 now includes the intuitiveKoreSounds Browser. This allows you to search forsounds and filter them according to instrument,genre, synthesis type, and musical attributes suchas timbre and articulation

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VIr e v i e w

quickly between the Browser and Attributesview, expert and novice programming modes,access the new arpeggiator, or bring up theeffects rack. The Attributes view lets you filteryour sounds according to instrument, genre,synthesis type, and musical attributes like tim-bre and articulation.

Like all NI instruments, FM8 runs stand-alone or as a plug-in on both Macs andWindows XP machines in all the standard for-mats. It is now a universal binary, meaning itworks on Intel-based Macs.

Smooth operatorsIn FM synthesis, sounds are created by

modulating one waveform with another, pro-ducing a more complicated waveform.Waveform generators are called Operators; anOperator that’s modulating another one iscalled a Modulator, and one that’s being pro-ducing actual sound is called a Carrier. AnyOperator can act as either a Carrier or aModulator, and it is the arrangements ofthese waveforms that form the buildingblocks of FM synthesis.

In FM8, up to eight Operators can be freelymixed in any combination, and you canchoose from a wide variety of waveforms—unlike the DX-7, whose Operators producedonly sine waves and were arranged into 32set configurations (called Algorithms). OtherDX-series instruments had four Operators.

The last two FM8 Operators are special andaren’t found in Yamaha’s implementation ofFM synthesis. Operator X adds noise andwaveshaping, while operator Z is an analog-style multimode filter with a filter envelope.Also unique to NI’s version of FM are multi-stage envelopes that can be edited graphical-ly. The next step would be the ability toimport your own samples as you can on theYamaha SY77/99; perhaps that will come inFM9?

Instead of only allowing you to view a sin-gle Operator at a time as you did in FM7,FM8’s Expert window now provides an at-a-

glance view of thekey parameters forall Eight Operatorsall at once.Alternatively, youcan choose to drilldown into themore advancedparameters forindividualOperators by click-ing on labeledbuttons in thenavigator or theFM matrix. TheFM Matrix pro-vides an intuitiveview of operatorrouting.

If you’re not interested in dealing with thecomplexities of FM, an Easy/Morph page canbe used to tweak an overall sound quickly.Here you can route LFOs, adjust the ampli-tude envelope, apply effects, and more.

FM7 was limited to a pair of fairly standardeffects: chorus and delay; FM8 now has a fulleffects rack that includes 11 high-qualityeffects including talk, wah, phaser andflanger, tremolo, reverb, pitch-able delay,tube amp, overdrive, and EQs seeminglydrawn from NI’s Guitar Rig. Why should gui-tarists have all the fun?

The smooth workflow and visual approachto parameter editing remains a huge advan-tage over the old hardware, while the high-resolution audio engine in FM8 sounds evenbetter than its predecessor and far better thana real DX7 (due to better D/A convertors,oversampling, multi-stage EGs, and the built-in effects).

Motion sicknessSince it takes some work to master FM pro-

gramming, FM8’s sound morphing featuresare particularly welcome as a serendipitousmeans of coming up with new sounds. Thesound-morphing feature provides a 4-waymatrix onto which you drag and drop soundsfrom the browser.

By clicking and dragging across the matrix,you canmorph yourcurrent soundwith the tim-bres of theadditionalsounds. (Inorder toensure thatthe originalsound is stillplayable, onlythe correctparametersmorph.) ARandomizebutton gener-ates new

sounds for use in the matrix. The 4-waymatrix is reminiscent of waveshaping synthslike the Sequential Prophet VS and the KorgVS software but much easier to program. Itmade me wish for a joystick to control it with.Fortunately all movements can be automated.

Additional movement comes from the pro-grammable arpeggiator, with its 32-stepmatrix that’s reminiscent of a classic analogstep-sequencer. It’s the arpeggiator thataccounts for the many on-board patternsyou’ll find in the browser. DJs, dance produc-ers, and musicians of all kinds will find newinspiration from the groove presets.

One of the great things about FM7 hasalways been the wide availability of additionalpresets. You could purchase one of NIs soundpackages, choose from hundreds of FM7 pre-sets available online, or import patches fromthe DX-7 family (most of which are readilyavailable on the Internet).

FM8 ships with 960 preset sounds for allstyles and genres, including both originalFM7 patches, the complete FM7 Sounds Vol.1 and Vol. 2 libraries, as well as 200 newsounds—enough programs that you may notever need to know what an Operator is. Plusthere’s the above-mentioned KoreSound for-mat.

Is eight enough?At a time when most new virtual instru-

ments seem to play tribute either directly orindirectly to their hardware forbears, its grati-fying to see Native Instruments extend theDX-7 legacy. FM8 sounds better, it’s easier toprogram (the interface improvements aloneare worth the upgrade price), and its soundmorphing and on-board arpeggiator go farfor updating digital FM synthesis for today’smusic. VI

Fig. 2: FM8’s new Expert window provides an at-a-glance view of Operator parameters.

Fig. 3: The new arpeggiator looks and acts likean old-school analog sequencer, bringing life tosounds

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Meanwhile, for Mac users it turns outthat an old solution to the problemthat never worked reliably now does

work: running stand-alone software samplerson the same machine that’s running a DAW.This allows each program to have its ownmemory allotment, solving the problembefore all our software gets adapted to workon 64-bit operating systems.

But first let’s start with some background.Those of you who just want to find out howto access 7GB of RAM on a G5 or Mac Promight want to skim over the next couple ofsections.

Why RAM is your friendHaving a healthy percentage of the sam-

ples and programs in these libraries cued upand ready to play is the name of the game,and it’s always required way more RAM (ran-dom access memory) than any single com-puter can access. For a good percentage ofour subscribers—about a third of you, to beprecise—the solution is to use multiple com-puters.

The reason for needing all these samplesloaded is simple: you want to them ready toplay even though you won’t actually use all ofthem in a given piece of music; it would be

A breakthrough solution to the problem that’splagued sample library users for the past few

years, and an explanation for beginners aboutwhy it’s been a problem.

7 Gigs Loaded on One Mac

The great thing about modern sample libraries is

that they’re huge; the problem with modern sample

libraries is that they’re huge.

Being huge means they require lots of computer

memory to run, even if they stream samples off

hard disks (because they still need a head-start

memory buffer). We’re on the verge of getting new

64-bit operating systems from Apple and Microsoft

that will allow virtually unlimited memory access—

unlike today’s 32-bit operating systems.

by Nick Batzdorf

www.Magesy.com


deadly to have to stop and reload programsevery time you wanted to, say, switch violinbow directions. This is no different from anartist sitting down to draw with a box of pas-tels containing dozens of colors; he or shecertainly won’t use them all in a single pic-ture, but who wants to go fishing in closetsfor a lighter shade of green.

Now, the first logical question is why youcan’t just install, say, 32 Gigabytes (GB) ofRAM in one computer—more than you’relikely to need—and be done with it. Theanswer is that there’s a finite number ofmemory locations our present 32-bit operat-ing systems can address; they only haveenough bits to map out 4GB of RAM. Thattranslates to a real-world maximum of 3GB oreven slightly less.

Getting even more real-world, somewherearound 1.25GB of RAM is about all you canaccess in a stock Windows XP machine with2GB installed. However, on p. 26 of our 6-7/05 issue, Mattias Henningson describedhow to access almost 3GB of RAM using “The3GB Switch” tweak. Before the 3GB switchthere was no reason to install more than 2GBin a Windows machine; considering that the

tweak more than doubles a single machine’sRAM access—potentially standing in for twomachines—that’s quite a leap forward.

Another limitation is that Windows itselfcan’t recognize more than 3GB installed in acomputer. However, PowerMac G5s under OSX 10.3 or higher can recognize up to 8GB ofinstalled RAM, depending on the model(some G5s only have slots for 4GB). The newIntel Mac Pros can hold up to 16GB of RAM.

But note that there’s a difference betweenrecognizing the installed RAM and actually

being able to access it for loading samples.While Mac OS X will hold and recognize upto 8GB of RAM in a PowerMac G5 or 16GB inan Intel-based Mac Pro, its 32-bit operatingsystem “only” allows each program to accessa real-world maximum of about 3GB.

Part of the reason that only 3GB of the the-oretical 4GB allowed by 32-bit OS X comes towork, as we explained in the June/July issue, isthat system frameworks and libraries (extracode used by programs) take some of it. ThenOS X itself will use about .5GB outside anyrunning programs, plus it needs some RAMfor caching. Without that RAM for cachingthe system will go to virtual memory—mean-ing it will pretend the hard disk is RAM—andthat’s not good for our real-time applications.

However…That’s 3GB of RAM access for each

program, though. Unlike Windows, twoloaded-to-the-gills programs in Mac OS X cantheoretically access a combined 6GB…exceptthat things get unstable when two programsare that full.

In practice—before the solution offered inthis article—the previous functional loadingrecord for a G5 with 8GB of RAM installedwas between 5 and 5.5GB. That record wasset running Apple Logic Pro with about 3GBplus an additional 2GB in the VSL ViennaInstruments player plug-in, which behaveslike an external program running outside thehost DAW and has its own memory space.(Normally instrument plug-ins’ memorycomes out of the host DAW’s RAM budget.)

Now there’s a way to push that conceptfarther. Mac users can take advantage of OSX’ ability to allot each program its own mem-ory space to run—are you ready for this—about 7GB of RAM in a G5 with 8GBinstalled. You can actually load a little morethan that, but again, things become unreli-able.

This may well work on Intel Macs that haveup to 16GB of the (very expensive) RAM theyuse installed. We haven’t had a chance to testthat yet, and not all the software is compati-

Fig. 1: 7GB on one machine, and it’s running reliably. This Activity Monitor screen dump shows 6.96GB ofmemory access in a G5 with 8GB loaded. The VSL-Server program is listing samples loaded into the plug-inversions of the VSL Vienna Instruments player running inside Logic Pro, which is accessing 1.38GB. (Logic isalso running other programs, including Spectrasonics Stylus RMX.)

Four stand-alone copies of the Vienna Instruments player (all named differently, which you don’t see) arerunning outside Logic. In addition, Native Instruments Kore is running several instruments, includingToontrack’s EZ-Drummer (a sample-playing instrument).

While the sequence isn’t playing here, you can see from the idling percentages that the CPU hit isn’t goingto be outrageous. That’s what’s changed recently to make this possible.

Fig. 2: It’s necessary to make renamed copieswhen you’re running multiple instances of the sameprogram. This is handled automatically by the MacOS.

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ble as of this writing anyway, but it should bepossible.

The only caveat is that you also have tokeep an eye on the processing power. If yourun too many programs, you can easily runout—in fact that was the factor that prevent-ed this trick from working in the past; someof the latest programs have quietly becomemore efficient when running outside a DAW.

By the time you read this, the 64-bitWindows Vista will probably be out, and thefull 64-bit Mac OS X will be imminent.Hopefully it won’t take too long for all themusic software developers to come out withversions that feature 64-bit memory access.And hopefully the RAM used in the newestcomputers such as the Mac Pro won’t be asexpensive as it is right now (about $250 perGB as of this writing, vs. $100 per GB for thePC3200 memory in the G5 in this article—which is up from $75 at the time we filled itwith 8GB).

Meanwhile, 7GB of RAM access (as shownin Fig. 1) is far from shabby. What’s more,running samplers outside the DAW can actu-ally be advantageous: you don’t have to waitfor them to load when you fire up a new cuein your sequencer.

(which includes Kontakt 2 Player and alsoembedded libraries such as East WestColossus); with the VSL Vienna Instrumentsplayer; and with Synthogy Ivory Grand.

All of these instruments have stand-aloneand plug-in versions, and you can run both ofthem simultaneously. What’s more, you canrun multiple instances of a stand-alone sam-ple player if you make duplicates of the pro-gram and give each a different name. Justhighlight the program icon in the Finder andhit command/D as shown in Fig. 2; the copywill be called “copy of” whatever it is.

You can also run stand-alone hosts outsidethe DAW. We were able to run NativeInstruments Kore outside Logic Pro with pret-ty good stability. The one fly in the ointmentis that not every program is happy when yourun stand-alone and plug-in versions at thesame time, or when you run plug-ins in twohosts; you’ll have to experiment with whatgets loaded where.

This trick seems to work best if you loadthe DAW first, then the stand-alone pro-grams—although we’re going to stop short ofmaking that a blanket statement, since wehaven’t tested every combination of softwareon the planet. Anecdotally, the system alsofeels more reliable with a greater number ofstand-alone program instances, each loadedwith a moderate amount, than to run fewinstances all loaded to the gills.

MIDIThe way you send the stand-alones MIDI is

to use IAC, the inter-application communica-tion feature built into OS X’ Core MIDI. Ifnecessary, go into Audio MIDI Setup program

Loading 7The 7GB trick isn’t complicated: load your

DAW up as usual, then launch stand-aloneversions of the sample-playing programsyou’re going to run outside your DAW. Wetested the trick with Native InstrumentsKontakt- and Kontakt 2-family instruments

Fig. 3: The IAC Driver in Audio MIDI Setup.Make sure you have enough ports to send MIDI toall the stand-alone programs running outside yourDAW.

Fig. 4: Enabling IAC bus 1 in this Kontakt 2Player (running SampleLogic AIR).

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and click on the IAC driver. Makesure it has enough 16-channel portsenabled, as shown in Fig. 3.

The IAC driver is just anotherMIDI interface as far as all partiesare concerned. Simply assign theappropriate IAC port and channel asthe output of your sequencer trackand the input of your stand-aloneinstrument, as shown in Figs. 4 and4A. Kontakt 2 and its relativesreceive 64 MIDI channels, so youcan just keep creating IAC bussesuntil you have enough.

AudioThere are a few ways to route the

audio from the stand-alone pro-grams into your DAW’s mixer.Which one you choose depends onthe stand-alone program and onyour audio interface(s).

RME’s interfaces have a “loop-back” mode for their onboard mix-ers that let you route software out-puts back to inputs. Apogee is about to intro-duce the same feature with the Maestro soft-ware for their Symphony cards. The hardwaredoes the routing.

In our last issue we had a Very Deep Clinicon Soundflower (free download fromhttp://www.cycling74.com), an inter-applica-tion audio routing utility. That works verywell; simply select a Soundflower input as theoutput for the stand-alone and the input toyour DAW’s mixer.

You’ll want to create an aggregate device

consisting of Soundflower and your audiointerface(s) in Audio MIDI Setup. Aggregatedevices link multiple audio drivers so theyappear to software as one big interface withlots of inputs and outputs. Fig. 5 shows aslightly over the top Aggregate device usingMOTU PCI-424 hardware, an RME Fireface400, the Mac’s built-in stereo optical digitalI/O, and 16 Soundflower I/Os.

You can also just make a physical connec-tion between outputs and inputs on youraudio interface. That can be a sacrifice if youdon’t have a lot of I/Os, but it’s a perfectlyworkable solution if you have extras.Connecting a TOSlink cable between theMac’s digital output and input would giveyou a stereo path into your DAW’s mixer.

Sometimes it’s necessary to use more thanone driver. For example, the stand-aloneVienna Instruments and Ivory Grand playersdon’t let you select individual outputs—theyjust uses the default pair for the driver it’susing. So if you’re running more than oneinstance and you want separate outputs intoyour DAW, you’ll need to use more than onedriver. Soundflower + the built-in audio wouldbe one solution.

On the other hand, the Native Instrumentsstand-alones can be directed to any or all out-puts of the selected sound driver. Note thatall programs can use whatever driver (includ-ing aggregate ones) they want.

Alignment of the starsOne final disclaimer: we’ve tested a few

combinations of programs and come to theconclusion that 7GB is a reasonable estimateof the amount of RAM you’ll be able toaccess. Please don’t sic your attorney on us ifit turns out you can only work with 6.75GBon your rig—although you might also be ableto get better results.

Bear in mind that there are many combina-tions of hosts and instruments, all of whichmay or may not perform well together. Alsobear in mind that these are computers; we’redealing with the occult. VI

Fig. 4a: Just assign each program its own MIDIchannel as you would with a physical MIDI inter-face.

Fig. 5: Creating an Aggregate Device so thatSoundflower becomes a virtual audio interface. Thisis one way of looping the stand-alone instruments’audio back into your DAW.

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RME Fireface 400, $1199

www.RME.com, distributed by

Synthax (www.Synthax.com)

There’s not much to say about mostaudio interfaces. They have a certainnumber of ins and outs, hopefully they

sound good and work reliably, and some ofthem have no-latency monitoring features.And some—not the RME Fireface 400 beingreviewed—come with nice light-version soft-ware bundles, an important a consideration ifyou’re first getting started.

The RME Fireface 400, on the other hand,is a higher-end FireWire interface than mostpeople will start out with, and it has a lot totalk about. There’s some pretty serious analogand digital engineering packed into this littlehalf-rack box; while it doesn’t have a lightsoftware bundle, it comes with some prettysophisticated Windows and Mac OS X mix-

ing/routing/metering software to control it.It also has a few features and characteristics

that make it function exceptionally well inV.I.-based set-ups.

The ins and outsRME calls the Fireface 400 a 36-channel

interface, and indeed it has 18 ins and outs:eight analog I/Os, 8-channel lightpipe in andout, and stereo S/PDIF—plus 2 x 2 MIDI. Butcalling it an 18 x 18 interface doesn’t tell thestory of its onboard no-latency mixing androuting features, because you can also route18 software outputs to any or all physical out-puts at the same time the 18 inputs are get-ting routed to the software.

What’s more, it has a Loopback mode that

RME Fireface 400FireWire Audio Interface

This little half-rack box houses a 24-bit/192kHzaudio interface with 18 ins and outs. But that’s

just the beginning, because it can also route software tracks all around the room.

Review by Nick Batzdorf

www.Magesy.com

Fig. 1: The Fireface Settings controlpanel. Note the AutoSync clock mode,which automatically locks to an incom-ing digital signal. Combined with theunit’s SteadyClock circuitry, whichremoves the jitter from incoming clockso what goes out is very clean. Thiseffectively lets you run your whole rigfrom any input without having to worryabout its quality.


lets you route the software signal assigned toan output back to same-numbered input(where it can in turn be routed further). Thisallows you to send the output of one softwareprogram—such as a stand-alone sampler—into another one—most likely your mainDAW—without cables. That’s the first featurethat could be very useful for V.I. rigs.

The interface can operate at up to 24-bits/192kHz…or to be precise it can operateat anything between 27kHz and 200kHz dueto the way it’s engineered. Quad speed sam-ple rates (192kHz, etc.) are sent out theS/PDIF port—which is also an AES/EBU port—and the Fireface supports the S/MUX protocolfor transferring four channels at 96kHz overthe ADAT connections.

All the Fireface 400’s analog I/Os are bal-anced 1/4” TRS, with two exceptions: frontpanel mic/line/instrument inputs 1 and 2 areon Neutrik combination XLR/TRS jacks; andoutputs 7 and 8, also on the front panel, can

drive headphones or line-level out-puts. Front panel inputs 3 and 4can accept line or instrument-levelinputs; all the other analog I/Os areline-level jacks on the rear panel.

400 vs. 800The 400 has much in common

with RME’s Fireface 800, which hasbeen out for a while. Apart fromthe 800’s full 1U size, the main dif-ferences are that the 800 has anextra 8-channel lightpipe I/O; itisn’t bus-powered like the 400; ithas more mic inputs (but still eightsimultaneously active analog ins); itcan take advantage of the fasterFireWire 800 bus; and its line inputs

have lower noise and distortion specs.Those noise specs come with an asterisk,

however, because one of the first things younotice about the 400’s software is that theinput level readouts are bouncing around atabout -109dB with nothing connected.Translation for the less nerdy: it’s quiet.

One spec that does make a difference isthat the 400’s mic inputs have 65dB of gainvs. the 800’s scant 50dB. That extra 15dB ofgain means you can use the 400 comfortablywith low-output dynamic and especially rib-bon mics.

In case you were wondering whether thebus provides enough power for mic inputs tosound good, that’s not a concern. For one, itcomes with a switching power supply, so youdon’t have to use the bus. But FireWire hasno problem delivering upwards of 25 volts,and these mic preamps sound quite transpar-ent and solid; I heard no difference runningthe unit bus-powered or plugged in. As amatter of fact, the Fireface gets enough juicefrom the bus to get warm to the touch.

The Fireface 400 is a very nice-soundinginterface. You really do hear an obvious soundquality improvement over garden variety lower-priced units. The difference is especially notice-able when you play something like acoustic gui-tar recordings through it—the sound becomesdetailed and solid rather than harsh.

Fig. 2: RME’s TotalMix software front end to thebox’ onboard digital mixer. The top row is thephysical inputs, the middle row is the softwaretracks’ outputs, and the bottom row is the physicaloutputs. Outputs 3&4 are in Loopback mode,which routes their signal to inputs 3&4 so you canrecord or monitor them inside your DAW. Amongother applications, this allows you to record andmonitor the output of one software program intoanother—for example if you’re running a stand-alone software sampler outside your DAW.

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If you run the 400 at 4x sample rates(around 192kHz), the ADAT lightpipe inputsdisappear, since they max out at 2x (around96kHz). It’s hard to run V.I.-intensive sessionsat anything other than 1x (441.kHz or 48kHz)sample rates anyway, so that’s probably not aconsideration for our purposes; regardless,the word clock output can be set to singlespeed when the interface is running at 2x or4x speed.

That means you can continue to use theFireface as a master clock for your whole rig ifyou’re running slave computers and otherdevices at 44.1 or 48kHz.

DigitalThe Fireface 400 has an important feature

called SteadyClock that in addition to lockingup quickly, removes essentially all the jitterfrom incoming digital signals. That means theunit should actually sound the same whetheryou clock it with a dedicated diamond-stud-ded word clock generator that costs morethan the unit itself or from the biggest pieceof digital garbage you can find.

To see whether SteadyClock really is allthat, I burned some music onto a CD andlocked the Fireface 400 to an old and cheap

CD player’s optical S/PDIF digital output. Ifthe CD player wasn’t jittery to start with, opti-cal connections—whether S/PDIF or ADATlightpipe—are fine for carrying audio, butnotoriously jittery as clock sources. That’sespecially true over longer runs, so I used a12’ lightpipe cable.

Lo and behold, I really couldn’t hear a dif-ference between the music coming downthat lightpipe and the hard disk file with the

Fireface running under internal sync. That wastrue when monitoring through the Firefaceand when monitoring through my usual set-up, which means that the clock leaving theFireface is equally clean either way. RME takesthis farther with an AutoSync feature thatlocks to an incoming digital signal when youturn it on.

This digital clocking scheme can save a lotof switching around in set-ups with multiplecomputers or devices that have digital outs

but no digital input to clockto. It’s really well thought outand implemented.

SoftwareYou can operate the Fireface

400 stand-alone without acomputer. Its last-saved rout-ings and functions are active; itcan convert formats, act as amic preamp, send digital clock,and so on. All the settings youchoose in the Fireface Settingsutility (for Mac or Windows;see Fig. 1) are remembered.

The other included pro-gram, the Fireface Mixer (Figs.2 and 3), controls the 400’sTotalMix onboard digitalmixer/router. When everythingis being displayed, the top rowhas faders for all physicalinputs (which you can name)and the middle row is for upto 18 software channels head-ed for the 18 physical outputs.These two rows can beassigned to any or all of the 18outputs, which is what thebottom row of faders control.

You can group and pairfaders, and they’re scaled. So if

you move one fader in a pair or group, theothers—which can be at different levels—change by the same percentage rather thanthe same number of dB. While this mixerdoesn’t have dynamic automation built in, itcan be controlled by MIDI using standardMackie Control protocol and automatedexternally. It also has eight factory and eightuser preset snapshots, recallable by MIDI pro-gram changes.

TotalMix’ interface is slightly different fromthe way most mixers work. Each fader on thetop two rows can only control/display thelevel going to one output pair at a time,selected from a pop-up button. So it’s possi-ble for Input 1 to be showing its level goingto Outputs 3 and 4, Input 2 to be showing itslevel to Outputs 1 and 2, and so on.

That’s what you want when inputs are sim-ply routed to different places; once the rout-ings are set up, all you’re concerned with is the

Fig. 3: In addition to being passed directly to thehost oomputer, any input can be assigned to anyor all outputs. That applies to physical inputs and“returns” from software tracks. The TotalMixMatrix, with inputs on the horizontal axis and out-puts on the vertical one, shows this (along with thelevel of each bus).

The unit should sound the same whether you

clock it with a dedicated diamond-studded word

clock generator that costs more than the unit itself

or from the biggest piece of digital garbage you

can find.

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level balance. But this can be confusing whenchannels are routed to multiple destinations, soTotalMix has a Submix mode (see Fig. 4) inwhich all the input/software output fader dis-plays move to the currently selected output.That lets you adjust the total balance going toyour main monitors, or headphones in arecording situation, and so on. (Submix modeparallels what MOTU does in CueMix, the soft-ware that controls its built-in digital mixers.)

Now, rather than providing 17 aux sendknobs plus the main fader for each channel,RME created a convenient routing matrix (seeFig. 3). This overview screen makes it easy toassign inputs to multiple outputs and seetheir levels right away.

The big advantage to having a digitalmixer built into audio hardware is that it pro-vides “no latency” monitoring, avoiding thefew milliseconds of delay a signal incurs goingthrough a computer. (“No latency” meansthe delay is defined by the digital converters,and it’s a couple of milliseconds like on a digi-tal mixer.)

That means you’re using the softwaremixer in your DAW and also adding a secondone built into the audio hardware to controlthe routing around your studio. Switchingbetween software and hardware monitoringto avoid latency is somewhat of a nuisance onMacs—although the TotalMix preset snap-shots make this much easier than it could be.

The Windows version of TotalMix supportsASIO Direct Monitoring, in which the switch-ing is handled by “remote control” from theDAW. Given that lots of interfaces have nolatency monitoring these days, it would begreat if Apple incorporated a similar standardin its systemwide Core Audio driver.

The Fireface 400 also comes with a DIGI-check, a Windows-only audio analysis pro-gram. DIGI-check displays levels, informationabout the phase and spectrum, and bit statis-tics and noise. All this is calculated in theunit’s hardware—as is all the metering inTotalMix, on Mac as well as Windows.TotalMix’ meters are very useful, showingboth average and peak levels, plus they havea numeric readout.

PerformancePCI slots provide a more direct path to the

computer, so all things being equal, FireWireis always going to have a little more latency.Furthermore, on its PCI systems, RME is ableto use hardware to help stream audio in bothdirections, reducing the CPU load. This isexplained in the impeccably detailed manual,which has a lot of interesting technical infor-mation.

However, the performance of this FireWireinterface is still very good. At a 128 buffer—atwhich the latency is subjectively not an issuewhen you’re playing V.I.s (at least for me)—

the test dual 2.5GHz G5 registered 35% ofone CPU when playing a stereo audio track.By comparison, the MOTU PCI-424 card inthis machine registered 30% at the samebuffer setting. That’s not a significant differ-ence.

Furthermore, FireWire has the advantage ofbeing more obsolescence-proof than internalcomputer cards. With PCs you can swap outmotherboards for one with the PCI slots youneed, but you can’t do that with Macs. AppleComputer has gone through several differentPCI varieties just in the past three or fouryears—and this isn’t the first card changewe’ve seen. While each generation has legiti-mate technical improvements over the previ-ous one, a lot of musicians express frustrationover having perfectly good hardware ren-dered “legacy” so quickly.

It also should go without saying that thebus-powered Fireface 400 is intended to workwell as a portable recording unit.

In your FirefaceThis is a very well-engineered, good sound-

ing interface with a lot of features that makeit work especially well in virtual instrumentsrigs. It costs more than an entry-level inter-face, but you really do get more. VI

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Part 1 in our new series on the art of MIDIprogramming: balance

Sequencing

The problem often starts at the samplelibrary level (lack of proper/naturaldynamic relations between the various

layers, particularly often in the case of cross-fading patches) and works its way into com-positions through peoples’ careless handlingof MIDI CC#11 (expression) or CC#1 (modwheel) data.

In this article I’ll offer a few pointers thatcan help you out if you’re fighting theheadaches of improper volume relationsbetween your orchestral instrument samples.

BasicsAll commercially available libraries have

normalized sample pools (meaning that everyinstrument, from solo bass flute to four hornsin unison, is set so its loudest point is as loudas possible). So the first step is to make sureyour template is balanced properly. This is arather long and tedious process, since youneed to rebuild the natural volume relationsbetween the patches.

I’ve split this process into two phases:1. Find the proper relative balance between

each articulation of an instrument in yourtemplate. Essentially this means you shouldfind the proper volume relations betweenyour staccs, sustains, runs, tremolos, trills, etc.

Start with the loudest articulation (top layerof aggressive staccs, or sustains for strings)and measure the volume of your other articu-lations against this. Flautando patches, sulponticelli, sul tasto etc. will all be relativelyquiet in the real world, so make sure thesepatches are lower in volume. Just how muchyou need to lower them is hard to say, butuse your ears— the mids/low mids are gener-ally good indications. If you go too loud, themids become too prominent and balancebetween the other articulations is lost. Do thisfor each instrument separately.

Without doubt the most

common beginner

mistake is lack of

attention to natural

balance among the

instruments at play. This

is a problem even in

experienced peoples’

mockups, and it’s the

result of an improperly

balanced orchestral

template.

by Thomas J. Bergersen

2. Now it’s time to find proper balancebetween the various instrument groups. Atthis stage I like to have a classical recordinghandy, just to benchmark against. The record-ing you’re benchmarking against has to berecorded with a simple A/B mic setup (nospot mics—simple stereo pair over the con-ductor) and the piece has to be dynamic. Itneeds a triple forte tutti passage, since this ishow you find the maximum sound level foreach instrument group. I recommend anyrecording of Gustav Mahler’s 5th from the1990s.

Begin with the first instrument in yourscore, the piccolo flute. Find a part in yourbenchmark recording where it’s playing at fullblast. Approximate the level in yoursequencer/orchestral template and make sureall the articulations of this instrument retaintheir relative balance.

Configure any pan data too at this point ifyou want to. Move on to the next. Repeatuntil you’ve done this for all the instrumentsin your template. This could take a few days,but it is well worth it.

If you’re meticulous in your approach, theend result will be an almost properly balancedorchestral template that is the basic startingpoint.

AdvancedAdding to the long list of what I consider to

be problems with commercial sample libraries,we have the normalization issue, which effec-tively kills the natural relation between dynam-ic layers. A good example is the flute, which inthe real world is an instrument of great dynam-ic variation through its register; you can’t playloud in its lower register and you can’t play softin its higher register.

Due to ruthless normalization, the flute’slow range is as loud (in dB) as its high range,

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1 voice: CC#11 - value 127

2 voices: CC#11 - value 114




the horns’ lower range is as powerful as itsmid/high range, and so on. It’s not possibleto reconstruct the proper natural relationsunless you know all the instruments very well.

So if you really want to create a properlybalanced orchestral template, you’ll have tohire a musician for each instrument andrecord them all performing a controlled chro-matic scale at ppp, mf and fff! Then you ana-lyze the sound wave and find the approxi-mate dB differentials between notes in eachpart of the instrument’s various registers.

Finally, you transfer these relations to yourorchestral library—not exactly a cakewalk, buttruth is without proper balance, even withinan instrument itself, you can never go by tra-ditional orchestration rules or guidelines.There are too many discrepancies betweenreal orchestras and today’s orchestral libraries.

Another technique I use when dealing withsamples of ensembles in homogenouslyinstrumented harmonies (such as a stringtriad comprised of three notes with a 12-vio-lin ensemble sustains patch) in order to avoida buildup in volume is to use CC#11 to atten-uate the output as more and more voices areadded.

Fig. 1 is a chart based on my own customsamples (your results may vary), and thesehave proven themselves pretty accurate withTASCAM GigaStudio’s linear handling ofCC#11. Again, your results may differ

depending on your library and the instrumentin question.

But in general I would lower the volumefrom 127 to around 100-110 when playingtriads with a sustain patch. That’ll make sureyou retain some of the balance in the orches-tra.

Orchestra sizes and MIDIThere are distinct disadvantages and

advantages to working with orchestral sam-ples. The obvious advantages are the cost,perfection (tuning and intonation amongother things), and flexibility.

When you’re working with sample librariesthat have large sections of instruments, suchas 12 violins or 10 celli, you are stuck withthese sizes. The act of dividing these groupsinto smaller sections (called divisi, or div. (It.))is impossible, and thus you are stuck with thissize on single notes.

Here the advantage is that you can easilyachieve a huge sound without much effort. Ahuge soaring string line in 1st, 2nd violins,and violas is easy to achieve with single-notesustains for each section. A triad will sound

like 36 violins and a 4-part chord will soundlike 48 violins.

Or at least this is the general consensus.Theoretically speaking this practice is obvious-ly wrong, especially when you consider theimproper balance that is obtained throughoutthe orchestra once you accumulate all theseinstrument groups.

In reality, however, the result is a bit differ-ent. While the effect certainly is something tobe on the lookout for, it is usually not some-thing people will perceive as “a bad thing.” Ifoverdone, it can lead to the dreaded “organ”effect” so much of the frequency range isoccupied with sounds of similar timbre andcharacter that the sense of space between thecolors is lost. This

is akin to the effect a painter experienceswhen he or she mixes colors carelessly, result-ing in a brown mess. This is a typical resultwhen layering different samples from variouslibraries. Vibrato is partially to completely lost,and it becomes akin to a thick synth pad.

There are ways to avoid this problem ifyou’re using sample libraries that offer wideselections of solo instruments, or sampleddivisi strings. In the case of solo instrumentsamples, it involves layering multiple tracks ofvarious similar articulations to form thedesired section size.

The upside is that you have complete con-trol over each individual musician’s perform-

ance; the downside is that this is a lot ofwork. It becomes more difficult to keep trackof your work, and the playing techniques,intonation, recording techniques, and reso-nance issues all become very apparent veryquickly. In the case of pre-sampled divisi sam-ples you’re obviously going to enjoy a morecomfortable work procedure.

Brass instrument sizes in libraries are usuallywithin reason: 3-4 trumpets, 3-4 trombones,and 4-8 horns. It is common that the libraryalso offers solo instruments for each section,and obviously a tuba. Some specialized sam-ple libraries offer a piccolo trumpet, Wagnertuben, euphoniums, Bb and C trumpets,Viennese horns, bass trombones, and evencontrabass trombones. There are certainlibraries that even offer horns in different sec-tion sizes from pairs of 2 to 6 in unison.

With brass I advise you to use solo instru-ments in harmonies of three notes or more. Acertain synthetic sound becomes increasinglyaudible with larger harmonies consisting oftwo or more instruments in unison per sample.

The exception is horns: their mellow tonelends itself better towards large sections in

complex harmonies. It’s not uncommon tosee two horns per note in a triad (comprisinga 6-horn section), although the traditional useof the horn section (consisting of four horns)is one horn on each note in a 4-part chord.

Some people prefer a large horn section,others like the space that a more modesthorn section gives. Experiment with chordsusing both section and solo samples, butkeep in mind that there are different rules inthe digital orchestration domain.

Sampled woodwind instruments are diffi-cult to deal with. If you have too many instru-ments of the same timbre playing in unison,the personal character of that instrument istransformed into a more authoritative but lesscharming by-product. I really recommendsolo woodwind samples in place of ensemblesamples, especially in the digital domainwhere balance can be corrected very easilyusing volume control.

Experiment both with solo and ensemblesamples of the same instrument and find outwhat you like the most. A solo instrument willprovide more nuances and a higher level ofdetail to your orchestration, while ensemblesprovide a slightly more sterile yet smoothedge—flute ensemble doubling violins forexample.

Woodwinds have a tendency to blend bet-ter in the real world than with samples. This isoften because the intonation and tuning inorchestral samples are too perfect, resulting ina battle for the same exact frequencies.Consequently the distinct woodwind colors intraditional orchestration are easily lost.

Finally, don’t be afraid to crank up the vol-ume of your instrument sections to let thembe heard, especially when using woodwindensemble samples. Because of their smoothnature they tend to disappear in between thestrings and the brass if the orchestration doesnot offer them their rightful space.

Fig. 1: As you add voices, lower the volumeusing MIDI CC#11. This chart was put together forTJ’s custom library, but it’s pretty close for all thecommercially available ones.


All commercially available libraries

have normalized sample pools, so the first

step is to rebuild the natural relationships

between the patches.

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VIr e v i e w

Akai Pro EWI 400s Electric

Wind Instrument, $1000 list

(street price about $700)

www.Akaipro.com

Akai EWI 4000s ElectricWind Instrument

Review by Nick Batzdorf

Do you play a wind or brass instrument? The Electric WindInstrument is a wonderful controller for playing synths. and the

latest incarnation of this fabulous instrument now includes abuilt-in synth and some new MIDI control features.

It’s hard to believe that the EWI (ElectricWind Instrument) has been around for aquarter of a century, and its EVI (Electric

Valve Instrument) brass counterpart evenlonger. What’s more, it’s hard to believe—andreally great—that Akai has come out with anew EWI model about eleven years after theintroduction of the previous 3020 model.

The big thing about this new EWI, the4000s, is that it’s self-contained—there’s noseparate rack unit. It has its own built-in mod-eled analog digital synth, effects processing,and MIDI I/O. You can use an optional exter-nal power transformer, but it’s normally pow-ered by four AA batteries. It even has a built-in 1/8” headphone output so you can justwalk around and play.

The 4000s maintains the identical highquality feel of the previous model, but it addsa lot of features and has a street price notmuch more than half the price. While therewere reportedly 15,000 EWIs and EVIs floatingaround as of 1998, hopefully everything willconverge with this new model to bring windcontrollers more to the forefront. They cer-tainly deserve it.

It would also be great if more peoplelearned to play the EWI, because it’s really nota difficult instrument to pick up. Anyone whoplays a wind instrument can pretty much playit already, brass players aren’t all that far

behind, and like everything else in music itpays back ten times what you put in. Themost mundane synth patches can come tolife when you play them with a wind con-troller.

History and overviewFor those of you not familiar with this won-

derful instrument, we’ll start with some back-ground.

The original EVIs and then EWIs were builtby inventor (and virtuoso trumpet player)Nyle Steiner starting in the pre-MIDI mid-’70s—Steinerphones. Early versions of theseinstruments became popular in sessionsaround the early ’80s, in fact Steiner himselfused to play EVI in the studios. If you remem-

Fig. 1: The EWI 4000s is now self-contained withno rack unit. It has a built-in modeled analogsynth, and MIDI out for controlling other instru-ments. While it’s considerably thicker than itsmodel 3020 predecessor, cutouts on both sides (likethe one above where it says EWI 4000s) make itfeel just the same when you play it. The basicdesign has been around for 25 years, and it’s amature, solid instrument. Anyone who plays a windinstrument can just about pick it up and play, brassplayers can adapt pretty easily, and it’s not a diffi-cult instrument for beginners either.

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ber the St. Elsewhere TV series, for example,Nyle’s EVI playing was a big part of the soundof JAC Redford’s terrific scores. Since thenmany big-name jazz musicians have adoptedthe instrument, including Michael Brecker.

The original EWI/EVI sent out control volt-ages to an analog synth that was part andparcel of the system, in fact even the 3020msynth, which was part of the rack brain of theEWI 3020, is digitally-controlled analog. (Akailater came out with a 3030m module thatused samples.) Originally, MIDI’s 128-step res-olution seemed to be a problem for synthesiz-ers under wind control, but that got sortedout and MIDI was added pretty early on soyou could use it as a controller.

A lot of professionalwind players would usethe EWI with an OberheimMatrix-1000 synthesizer inthe early days—an experi-ence we can now dupli-cate using softsynths(arguments about soft-ware models aside). Later(around 1994) theYamaha VL1 AcousticModeling synth camealong, and it and its lesserrelatives became verypopular as sound sourcesfor wind controllers.

Akai took over manu-facturing and distributingthe EWI and EVI about 20

years ago, and sometime around the sametime Yamaha came out with the first of theirmore sax-centric WX series of wind con-trollers; other companies have introducedtrumpet-like controllers more recently. Therehave been several iterations of the EWI, and Iunderstand that Nyle Steiner was still involvedwith the design of the 4000s.

Steiner himself makes a custom instrumentcalled the MIDI EVI, but as a widespreadinstrument it seems to be in limbo. However,a lot of EVI players are reportedly flocking tothe 4000s.

So the EWI has been a mature, solid instru-ment for a long time, and I personally havehad a longstanding and passionate love affairwith it.

Why wind control?The obvious answer to that question is

Because it allows someone who plays a windor brass instrument to use his or her tech-nique to play synths and samplers. But there’smore to it than that.

When you trigger a note on a keyboardcontroller, it follows its programmed enve-lope; you use a slider or other physical con-troller like the mod wheel to modify thesound after the initial attack—a playing/pro-gramming technique that’s obviously 100%valid. Wind controllers augment keyboards inV.I. studios rather than replacing them, formany reasons, most notably that the vastmajority of sample libraries are set up for key-board control… never mind that only key-boards let you play independent notes witheach of your ten fingers.

However, wind controllers have some greatadvantages. When you play a note with awind controller, it follows your breath (if pro-grammed to do so, of course). Innately that’sa very physical, human connection, and itgives you continuous and total control overthe sound without even thinking about it—just like an acoustic instrument.

Blow progressively harder and the soundshadows your performance, getting louder,brighter, and possibly more distorted withlouder overtones. Tongue the note (“ta”) andit has a sharper attack; play connected notes

in the same breath without tonguing themand they’re automatically connected; playsuccessive notes and they all sound differentbecause your breath pressure and attack willbe different.

Put another way, wind controllers areextremely expressive instruments. That’s whatalways overwhelms anyone who tries one forthe first time.

FingersBecause of its maturity, it’s hardly surprising

that the basics of the EWI 4000s haven’tchanged. While a lot is new, its essential feelis pretty much identical to its predecessor.

Rather than the mechanical keys mostwoodwind instruments have, the EWI usescapacitance-sensitive buttons like the onesyou find on some elevators—you just touchthem and they’re “on.” The instrumentcomes with a neck strap, and you also sup-port it by resting its grounding strip on yourright thumb.

Some wind players find the lack of keys todepress a difficult adjustment, so much sothat at one point Akai offered add-on fauxkeys. Coming from a background playingrecorder, I didn’t even notice it, in fact after acouple of days I actually felt more comfort-able on EWI than on recorder.

The instrument can use the Boehm fingeringsystem used by clarinets and saxes, or you canuse a simplified recorder fingering in whicheach finger is only responsible for one key—itnever moves to cover other ones. This finger-ing is really easy, for example all fingers ongives you a C, and then you step up the majorscale by lifting successive fingers in order.

Then you determine the octave you’replaying by placing your left thumb betweenany two of a series of eight rollers (see Fig. 2),giving the instrument a 7-octave range (pluspitch-shifting). Every octave is fingered the

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Fig. 2: Fingerings are the same in every one ofthe instrument’s seven octaves, so once you knowone you know them all. Then you select whichoctave you’re playing in by putting your thumbbetween two of these rollers—a very natural andintuitive interface. The bar at the tip of the thumbis the Glide strip, one of the instrument’s continu-ous controllers. Normally the Glide strip turns port-mento on and off, but the more thumb it feels—theharder you squeeze—the higher the value it sendsout.

Fig. 3: The EWI 4000s next to the 3020, theprevious model. (Normally the 3020 is white—thisparticular one has been painted black.) Not shown:the 16” deep 2U rack unit you need to operate the3020. Cool-looking instrument, eh?

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same, so once you know one you know themall. Some musicians coming from other windinstruments have a hard time avoiding glitch-es when they go over an EWI octave break,but again, I personally didn’t even thinkabout it when I first learned the instrument.

In practice, people new to the instrumentare likely to start with the simplified recorderfingering and then gradually incorporatealternative fingerings and most likely someextra keys to make given passages less awk-ward. Using alternative fingerings for trills isroutine on wind instruments; the difference isthat on the EWI they’re in tune.

What makes the EWI 4000s accessible tobrass players is a new valve mode designedby Matt Traum of Patchman music(www.patchmanmusic.com, where you’ll findlots of info and wind-oriented soundware)that makes the fingerings brass friendly andreverses the octave rollers. The EVI uses some-thing like a can that you rotate to switchoctaves, and the reversed roller directionmakes more sense to someone used to theEVI. Very clever.

Since human beings don’t coordinate theirfingers and breath with 100.000% precision,the instrument has an adjustable key delaythat produces fewer glitches, i.e. it waits a lit-tle while before determining which keysyou’re touching. A setting of maybe 25 mil-liseconds lets you play as fast as you wantwithout generating false triggers.

LungsA lot of kids start off on recorder as their

first instrument because it’s so quick to learn.The EWI is even easier. That’s partly becauseyou can play it with an even simpler finger-ing, but mainly because you don’t need todevelop much breath control to keep theinstrument in tune and sounding even.

You make noise by blowing into themouthpiece, which directs the air to a pres-

sure-sensitive transducer. By definition any-thing you blow into has an embouchure, butthe EWI doesn’t require a special one—it’s justa matter of blowing into it. That’s anothercharacteristic that makes it an easy instrumentto learn. (Embouchure = the way you holdyour mouth when playing a wind or brassinstrument.)

Early EWIs were closed without any airventing, so you had to let air out the sides ofyour mouth; like the previous model, the4000s’ air system has a small vent, but lettingair out is still part of the playing technique.I’ve read complaints from some wind playersthat this is hard to get used to, but here yetagain, I personally have never even been con-scious that I was doing it.

The breath pressure sensitivity is adjustablewith great precision over a very wide range.You can set it so light that just the air pres-sure in the room makes it play—i.e. it’s on allthe time, like bagpipes—or at the otherextreme you have to blow so hard that youreyes bulge and your saliva glands hurt.

ControllersIn addition to the breath sensor, which in

the version 2 software can send out MIDIBreath (cc2), Volume (cc7), Expression (cc11),Aftertouch, and Velocity—any or all ofthose—the EWI has several physical controlsthat affect the 4000s’ internal synth and alsogo out over MIDI. (Unlike previous models,the 4000s’ firmware can be updated via MIDI,and Akai has already added a considerablenumber of features in version 2.)

First, there’s pitch bend up and down,which you trigger by sliding your right thumbup or down from its normal resting point onthe grounding plate onto Pitch Up and PitchDown plates. Then there’s a Glide strip on thefar side of the pitch rollers (you can see it inFig. 2). This is normally set to control port-mento—press it with your left thumb and

notes…well, glide from one to another.The Glide strip senses how much of your

thumb is making contact with it, so it sendshigher values when you feel like you’resqueezing it harder. In V. 2, both the pitchand Glide controllers can be assigned to MIDIcc numbers (cc = continuous controller; theMIDI spec has room for a lot of them).

The mouthpiece incorporates a bite sensor,which sends a pitch or breath “blip” to trig-ger vibrato. Unfortunately the opportunity toseparate this control from the breath or pitchinformation was passed by in the new 4000sEWI; while pitch blip vibrato is a very goodfeature, this really begs to be a discrete con-trol in my opinion. (Windworks Design’sBrainBox and upcoming CV-Midi Pro controlinterfaces for the 3020 do allow you to sepa-rate the blip and the continuous control,although you can also combine them the tra-ditional way.)

The four controls we’ve mentioned so farare identical to the ones in the 3020. If itsounds like using them requires a lot of coor-dination, bear in mind that you’re only usingthem while you’re sustaining notes; they’reactually quite easy and intuitive. The onlypossible exception is that it can be hard toavoid triggering the Glide strip by mistake.For that reason I always set its sensitivity verylow so it only gets activated in response to avery deliberate squeeze.

There are two additional controls on the4000s: Octave and Hold. These on/off but-tons also function as up/down switches whenyou’re tweaking EWI 4000s settings andpatch change up/down buttons when youmove your right thumb onto a metal screwon top of the Pitch Up plate.

But while you’re playing, they’re lightedon/off toggles that you engage with yourright middle and index fingers. The bottomone, Octave, causes the instrument to doublethe note you’re playing an octave (or any

other interval you set) below. Ared light makes it easy to seewhen either button is engaged.

Normally, the Hold button sus-tains the first note you play sort oflike a sostenuto pedal on thepiano, so you can then othernotes over it. You can set it to sus-tain until you attack another notewith your breath (the default) oruntil you disengage the button,regardless of what you do withyour breath. The Hold button canalso send cc64 (sustain pedal) infoover MIDI.

Fig. 4: The UniQuest editor for the4000s’ built-in virtual analog synth.Notice that breath control takes theplace of envelopes for the oscillatorsand the multimode filters for the oscilla-tor and noise generator. But whatmakes this synth come alive is that it’sso responsive to the EWI.

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It doesn’t take long to get comfortableengaging and disengaging the Octave andHold buttons on the fly. The Hold buttonespecially is a lot of fun, opening up all kindsof possibilities. You can jam over notes, playdouble stops on string patches, and so on.

The new bodyTo accommodate all the extra circuitry, at

26-1/4” the EWI 4000s is 4-1/2” longer thanthe 3020. (See Fig. 3) It also has a largerperimeter, but due to cutouts in the body thekeys feel to your fingers like they’re in thesame locations. Actually, the right pinky keysare the same distance apart from one anoth-er, but it turns out that they’re 1/4” closer tothe adjacent one on the 4000s, a subtle butnoticeable difference that I personally findmore comfortable.

Though black rather than white, the stylingis essentially the same as the 3020’s, with ahigh quality plastic body and metal sides. Atjust under 2 lbs. the 4000s is quite a bit heav-ier, but it’s still very comfortable, and it feelsreassuringly solid.

Getting around the EWI 4000s’ functionsis straightforward. You simply hold down

the Setup button at the top of the instru-ment, use the Hold and Octave buttons toscroll through parameters, release the Setupbutton on the parameter you want, andthen use the Hold and Octave buttons toselect the value.

There’s a dedicated button to transpose theinstrument to any key, which you programthe same way: hold, and use the Octave andHold buttons to scroll up in half-step incre-ments to Eb or down to E. Two other buttonslet you set the global and individual programoutput levels; and the level of each of thethree effects: reverb, delay, and chorus—alsoglobally and for each program.

What you’re doing is reflected in of thoseearly ‘80s-style 7-segment LED displays (twoof them). You know, when everything is lit upit forms a boxy number 8 or letter B, if themiddle bar is off it’s a 0 or letter O, etc.

Initially I was concerned that all the writingon the black body is molded, so you can onlysee the button labels when there’s a lightsource from the side, but there are only fourof them. It would be good if the Glide, Pitch,Breath, etc. knobs (accessible under a remov-able plate near the to of the instrument) were

painted, but these adjustments are prettymuch set and forget.

You can use a wireless MIDI transmitterand/or wireless guitar system with the EWI,since it’s self-contained and runs on batteries.That’s a great feature for performance, and a lotof players will gravitate to it just for that alone.

But the other side of the sword for studiouse is that you can now end up with as manyas four cables attached to the EWI: MIDI inand out, audio out, and power (although thefour 9V batteries do last a long time). The sin-gle wire clip on the 3020 only has to hold asingle multi-pin cable. On the 4000s, thatsame clip can only hold one cable with threeothers tied to it—not the most elegant solu-tion. Furthermore, you need to loop the wiresto avoid strain if they don’t have right angleplugs.

This instrument really wants a dedicatedcable to carry all that. If you don’t ground theMIDI connections (which makes sticklers madbut in practice works fine), you’d only needto wire up eight conductors (4 x MIDI, 2 xaudio, 2 x power). And you’d need to locate


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However, playing without the click isn’talways possible or necessarily evendesirable with the sample libraries we

have today. Especially the larger ones are setup to be “programmed” as much as playedcompletely in real time.

So we’re going to analyze why, when, andhow to program these tempo changes intoMIDI compositions after the fact. We’llassume the music was recorded to a staticclick track or step-entered with the transportstopped.

WhereSlowing down (ritardando) or speeding up

(accelerando) can make a phrase more musi-cal or expressive. These deviations from thepiece’s set tempo can fit in many places with-in a phrase, such as: where the melody is par-ticularly touching; where the most tensionoccurs, often right before it resolves; and justbefore an emphatic downbeat (where thetempo usually resumes. Ritards often markthe ends of phrases, sections, and pieces aswell.

Obviously some pieces want more variationthan others—an orchestral march will have amore rigid tempo than perhaps a waltz or amore delicate piece; it’s usually just a matterof interpretation.

Tempo tracksMost MIDI sequencers have two playback

modes: using a fixed tempo setting, or fol-lowing a variable tempo track that you’veprogrammed. The fixed tempo setting maybe a working mode that you only use whilerecording the parts. It’s easy to evaluate vari-ous tempi, or perhaps slow down the piece toplay a difficult line.

Bent Clicks

by Paul Gilreath

Using the tempo track to enhance performances

It’s curious how someone can spend countless

hours choosing articulations and tweaking individual

notes, while ignoring one of the most essential

elements of a living, exciting musical performance:

variations in tempo. Sometimes it can take a little time

to introduce these tempo variations, but it’s very

easy and well worth it.

When any musician plays without a click track, slight

variations in tempo occur naturally throughout the

course of the piece. If your performance skills are up

to it, you may be able to simply turn off the click and

play; those variations will be there by default. After

that, different sequencers have different ways of lining

up their beats and barlines to coincide with your

freely-recorded performance.

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The tempo track has various names withindifferent sequencing programs—it’s theConductor Track in Digital Performer and ProTools, the Tempo Track in Cubase, Nuendoand Logic, and the Tempo View in Sonar. Inall four programs, changes can be incorporat-ed using a graphic editor (where the tempochanges are shown linearly and can be drawndirectly on the track) or an event editor(where the changes are shown numerically ina list form just like MIDI note data).

The following examples use SteinbergNuendo, but the technique is exactly thesame no matter which software package youuse.

How it’s doneDifferent musicians work different ways,

but programming changes is one of the lastthings I do before mixing. Working one sec-tion at a time, I go through the piece to“spot” where the changes should go, drop-ping markers as I go. Then I work phrase byphrase.

My preference is to use the graphical editorto make changes. This editor plots tempo onthe y-axis against time on the x-axis (in eitherseconds and minutes or bars and beats), so apiece with no tempo changes would be rep-resented as a single straight line. (Fig. 1)

To implement a change, you simply draw anew point on the timeline. If you draw a sin-gle point, you will get an abrupt change; ifyou want a gradual change (as in a ritard oraccelerando), you will need to insert severalpoints.

Let’s look at a couple of examples. First,let’s apply an abrupt change. Decide on thenew tempo (in this case 90 BPM), insert apoint with that value, and you have a com-pleted tempo change from 60 BPM to 90BPM. (Fig. 2)

Now let’s look at the more commonchange, a ritard. Usually you’re going alongat the set tempo, the music slows down, andthen the originally tempo is resumed. Weneed to insert points on the tempo editorthat correspond to these three events.

First, we define where the original tempoends, going into the ritard. In this example,there’s a tempo insert point at bar 14 beat 3(Fig. 3a) at the original tempo. Next define theend point of the ritard where the originaltempo will resume. This is done by placing asecond tempo insert point at bar 15, beat 1(Fig. 3b), again at the original tempo.

Finally, we place a tempo insert pointsomewhere between these points to programthe ritard. This point will represent the lasttwo instructions: how much change happensand how quickly it occurs.

Usually the tempo gets slower and slowerduring the ritard until just before the event isover and the first (or primo) tempo resumes.Consequently, you’ll see the point enterednear the end of the ritard as shown in Fig. 3c.Notice that I’ve changed the curve option toramp instead of jump. This allows the tempoto change gradually between the points

Fig 1. Graphical tempo editor with no tempo change and tempo at 60 BPM

Fig 2. Graphical tempo editor with change from 60 BPM to 90 BPM

Fig 3. Graphical tempo editor with end point of first tempo bar 14, beat 3 (15.4b)

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one at beat 4.1 andone at beat 4.3. Thismakes it possible tocreate a ritard thatslows slightly frombeat 3 to 4.1, slowsmore from beat 4.1 to4.3, and then slowsthe most from 4.3.0 to4.4.87. When plottedagainst time (Fig. 4b),the start of bar 15now occurs at 56.724”instead of 57.446”

from above. That means the ritard occurredslightly faster than the one in example 3.Thus this technique can be used to perfectyour ritards and it can be used to alter hitpoints when working with media.

In our next example, let’s insert a final ritardfor a big finish. To create a dramatic flare, Iwant the second to the last measure (#104),which includes sixteen 16th notes in theaccompaniment, to really slow down starting


Fig 3b. Fig 3c.

Fig 3d.

Fig 4b.

instead of changing immediately (like it doesin Fig. 2). Also, when I change the x-axis todisplay time rather than beats, the last pointof the ritard occurs at 57.446” (Fig 3d).

The next step is to listen to see if the ritardworks with the music. In general, the fasterthe tempo, the more successful the single-point ritard will be; conversely, this type ofritard does not work as well in slower pieces.

In slower pieces, success usually depends

ending of the present ritard at the point justbefore where the 16ths should slow more. I’llinsert this on the existing curve just before thesecond 16th note of beat 4 (Fig. 5c).

Next, I can either insert another point justbefore my point at beat 4.4.045 or I can justmove that point to a slower tempo, which isthe option I choose: lowering the tempo to15 BPM (Fig. 5d). This results in the perfectritard.

For the final example, let’s enter someevents that represent unintentional tempochanges. Very few human beings have perfectmachine-like time. To simulate that, the goalis to change the tempo slightly every so often.Subtlety is mandatory for this to work\

The easiest way to do this is just to insert atempo change every 6-10 bars. It’s not neces-sary to place these changes at the beginningof the bar, but they certainly can go there.The values of these points need to be close tothe original tempo, perhaps within a range of+/- 1.5% (total 3%) of the main tempo. Andthe changes need to be in increments of only

Fig 4.

on beat 1. As before I draw a point that repre-sents the end of the primo tempo and a pointthat represents the end of the ritard and begin-ning of the first tempo (although this stepmight not be necessary since this is the end ofthe piece) (Fig. 5a). Finally, I insert three pointsas shown in (Fig. 5b).

The result is a very dramatic ritard, but let’sassume that the last few 16th notes soundtoo fast. Up to that point the ritard soundsgood, so I just need to insert a few morepoints. First I draw a point that represents the

on the accompaniment and in particular therhythm of the accompaniment. If the meas-ure contains only slow moving notes, a sin-gle-point ritard may work fine. However, ifthe measure is filled with a lot of activity, youmight find that the music really drags towardthe end. This can make eighths or 16thssound strange and out of context, like amusic box running out of power. When thishappens you need to add more points to thetrack to obtain the desired result.

In Fig. 4a I have added two more points—

about 1% of the main tempo.So if the main tempo is at 90 BPM, then

the overall range of the tempo changes canbe about 1.5% faster and 1.5% slower, result-ing in a range from 88.65 to 91.35 BPM (butyou don’t need to get out the calculator—we’re just being precise for this article). Thechanges shouldn’t be greater than about .09BPM. Insert the changes slowly and you cango back and forth between values—like 90 to89.1 to 90 to 89.5 to 88.65 to 89.5 90.2 to90.9, etc. (Fig 6.)

VIf e a t u r e

www.Magesy.com


Clicking heelsTempo changes don’t have the immediate

wow factor of great sounds or a well-writtenpiece, but they can add an incredible amountof realism to your sequences.

Paul Gilreath has composed music for featurefilm, television, documentarie,s and videogames. He is the author of the best selling book,The Guide to MIDI Orchestration, 3rd edition, a700-page book detailing how to achieve maxi-mum realism when producing orchestral emula-

When the Rit Won’t Groove

If you just can’t program a ritard to sound natural, this is a simpletechnique that help. It works best when the accompaniment has alot of movement rather than just consisting of sustained note:Record a piano performance (MIDI only) of the problem area with-

out using a click. Analyze the MIDI events to see how you play thenotes naturally. Translate that timing into your main sequence.

You’ll need to mute everything you’ve recorded from the pointwhere the ritard starts on, which you can do by automating the pianotrack’s solo button to mute everything else or by cutting all yourtracks temporarily at that point and sliding them forward out of theway (you’ll put them back afterwards, of course). Be sure to playalong with the recorded tracks before they drop out, and if the musicresumes its tempo after the ritard, keep going to ensure a naturalmusical transition.

At this stage you can look at the graphical or event editor to seehow your performance lined up against the bar lines. Or you can useyour software’s audio to tempo conversion function (Cubase’s BeatCalculator, Digital Performer’s Adjust Beats, Sonar’s Extract Timing/SetMeasure/Beat At Now, Logic’s Beat Mapping) to help automate theprocess.

Typically I do this manually. The way to do this is to write down thetimes in your new performance where each quarter or even eighth notefalls. Then mute the piano line and go to the tempo track, viewed astempo plotted against beats and measures instead of linear time.

Enter two tempo points, one for the beginning of the ritard andone for the beginning of the measure that follows it if there is one;these points will of course be at the original tempo. Now enter apoint at the first eighth note after beat one.

Lower the tempo until this eighth begins at about the same time itdid in the piano performance. Insert a point at beat 2 and pull itdown like you did for the eighth, then the next eighth note and soon until you reach the end of the ritard.

The result should sound almost exactly like your piano perform-ance. You can use this technique for problem phrases or for thewhole piece.

Another tool that can be useful is your DAW’s Tap Tempo function,which lets you “conduct” the tempo by playing a note on your key-board, which you record and use to build a tempo track. You canthen go in and tweak the map using the techniques we’ve discussedin this article.

Fig 5a. Fig 5b.

Fig 5c. Fig 5d.

Fig 6.

tions using samplingtechnology. Gilreathlives in Atlanta withhis wife Channie andhis two children,Quintin and Birdie.More informationabout Gilreath andthe book can befound at www.music-works-atlanta.com.VI

VIf e a t u r e

www.Magesy.com

VIr e v i e w

Modartt Pianoteq $249.00 ?

(about $315 at press time)

Formats: Windows VST;

Mac VST, Audio Unit.

www.modartt.com

Copy protection: online serial

number

Modartt Pianoteq modeled acoustic piano

Review by Jason Scott Alexander


The idea of physically modeling acousticpiano is nothing new. We first saw proofof concept in the mid 1990s with

Yamaha’s Virtual Acoustic technology, togeth-er with promises of polyphonic hammeredstring models that, unfortunately, were neverreleased. Many terrific electro-acoustic modelshave emerged in the ten years that have fol-lowed, but still no practical solution for a trulymodeled acoustic piano has been found—upto now.

In what its French creators at Modartt callthe “fourth generation of the piano” (first:Cristofori’s pianoforte in 1698; second: elec-tro-acoustic in 1929; third: sampled in 1984),Pianoteq is the very first commercial pianoapplication where the sound is entirely com-

puted from discrete models without the useof samples whatsoever. (The exception is thatit uses small samples for acoustic noises suchas the pedal mechanism.)

Creating a realistic sounding math-basedacoustic piano emulation is no small task,though, what with all the psycho, acoustical,physical, and mechanical variables present.Pianoteq tackles each of these variables headon.

Look Ma, no samples

Fig. 1: Modartt Pianoteq as it appears when firstopened. The photos hide “advanced” parametersfor tweaking the model and changing the soundradically.

www.Magesy.com


The grand schemeAll the complex factors that make piano a

truly vivid instrument, such as the interactionbetween strings, use of pedals, cabinet reso-nance, position of the hammers, time andspace within a given room, etc. are taken intoaccount. In fact Pianoteq is the first virtualpiano factory, if you will, in that it can pro-duce entirely new “brands” as well as copiesof historically poignant instruments. It doesthat all in real time.

The plug-in opens to a clean, compact,and rather attractive user interface that’sdivided into six main sections (Fig. 1).Physical modeling is in the top half, whereyou click on photo depictions (Fig. 2) to editTuning, Voicing, and Instrument Design.

In the lower half of the display you find vir-tual pedal board controls, along with anequalizer with a graphical display and amediocre reverb unit (which you can bypass ifyou prefer to use higher quality plug-ineffects instead). You can also adjust the veloc-ity curve in quite some detail to suit yourplaying style and controller keyboard.

When conjuring up a new piano sound, theVoicing section will likely be your first destina-tion. This is where you find the SpectrumProfile editor, with sliders similar to organdrawbars for adjusting the first eight over-tones to define your instrument’s timbre, tonecolor, and ultimately character. You can adjustthe “ringiness” of a piano very subtly; manyearly piano manufacturers used to avoid astrong seventh overtone, for example. Moreexperimental synthesists can easily turnPianoteq into a harpsi-organ or piano-clavinetwith just a few mouse strokes.

Hammer hardness, another extremelyimportant parameter, determines how bril-liant the piano sounds. You set the hardnessfor p, mf, and f dynamic levels, and also the

amount of hammer noise and soft pedal.These parameters together are timbral and

percussive adjustments rather than changesto a layer of samples. The result is very realis-tic—not only do you feel how close the pianois to you, but the mechanical behavior of thehammer assembly itself. Then there’s theCharacter parameter, which essentially con-trols the irregularity of overtone intensity;increasing this may surprise you with a dis-tinctly organ-like sound.

Modartt even points out in their literaturethat this is pretty heady stuff, and under-standing of basic piano behavior will help youadjust Pianoteq. Thankfully they’ve includedexcellent pop-up help floaters for each in the

myriad of parameters available. The Design portion of Pianoteq features

three soundboard controls that can also affectthe character of overtones directly: imped-ance, cutoff, and Q. Though impedance candrastically alter the length of the piano sound,adjusting the piano Size (or harp/stringlength) parameter naturally affects both vibra-

tion time as well as timbre. A short stringlength produces greater inharmonicity, whichmeans a very bell-like sound.

A Global Resonance control governs thewhole instrument, including strings, sound-board and cabinet, while SympatheticResonance adjusts the weight of the stringresonance between individual notes. If youpress and hold a few notes (slowly so theydon’t make a sound) and then play someshort notes with the other hand, you canactually hear the held notes ringing. Anyonewho has played a piano will appreciate howrealistic this.

Likewise, the Quad Effect slider adjusts thelevel of that distinctive overtone ping an

octave higher when play harder. Both thisand the Global Resonance are really wellthought out and implemented features.

Sitting on the benchI have to admit, when I first played

Pianoteq I wasn’t immediately sold on itssound. There seemed to be no getting pastthe fact that its presets sounded boxy and lesspresent, and certainly lacking the same stereoedge that live sample recordings have.

While it was certainly impressive that thiswas all coming from a model and not sam-ples, I wasn’t going to trade in my gold stan-dard GigaStudio collections Granted, I’m apretty harsh critic of piano recordings, pianosample libraries, and now virtual pianos;piano is the instrument I grew up on.

As it turns out, comparing the presets side-by-side to my favorite Steinway, Bosendorfer,and Yamaha libraries was actually the down-fall in my initial evaluation. You see, Pianoteqdoesn’t come with “branded” presets, and itdoesn’t directly attempt to emulate any ofyour favorite piano flavors.

Instead it comes out of the box fairly neu-tral sounding, or hybrid as it were. Particularlyin the middle registers, Pianoteq has a ten-dency to sound a little “honky” to me, notunlike the way some digital pianos soundwhen played softly.

Fig. 2: Absolutely every the characteristic of areal piano is accounted for.

Creating a realistic sounding math-based

acoustic piano emulation is no small task, what

with all the psycho, acoustical, physical, and

mechanical variables.

VIr e v i e w

www.Magesy.com


It wasn’t until I began exploring the voic-ing and design provisions in greater detailthat I began appreciating Pianoteq for its truestrengths flexibility. After increasing hammerhardness for more overtones on the attack,adjusting the hammer hardness and pedalresponse at each velocity level to suit myKorg Triton Pro X controller, tweaking thetone color with the spectrum profile, andadding presence through string response andsome creative tuning adjustments, I was ableto get very close to my favorite samplelibraries.

In fact I was able to get the entire key-board range to sound absolutely stunning,and I don’t use that term lightly. The dynam-ics are extremely convincing.

You can also get creative. For instance, theability to increase the length of the pianoincrementally means that you can take it fromA size to D size, or even create a 33-footgrand if you like. Yet because with the har-monics change as the piano is lengthened,the bass notes remain incredibly solid andbelievable. Conversely, I boxed up my perfectSteinway D emulation into a respectablesounding apartment-sized Heintzman piano,detuned Coldplay-esque stage piano, detunedhonky-tonk, and even a tinkering toy piano.

But creative sound design is only half ofPianoteq’s bag of tricks. Its playability is sec-ond to none.

The amazing tuning section gives you allthe possibilities typically done only by pianotuners. For example, you can set diapason(415-466 Hz), different kinds of tempera-ments (from equal to well tempered), unisontuning (for changing the timbre or color ofthe sound), octave stretching, and directsound duration. Pianoteq also features a pro-

gressive sustain pedal, allowing partial pedaleffects such as quarter and half-pedaling; aSostenuto pedal; harmonic pedal; and unacorda (“one string,” i.e. soft) pedal.

Pedal play on glissandos sounds incrediblylifelike—it’s as though you have your headhanging over the harp. Pedaling in general isspot-on. And it doesn’t just consist of the arti-ficial thunking in a lot of sampled pianos. Iwas especially impressed by the ability of

Pianoteq to catch a flurry of staccato noteswith intermittent presses of the sustain pedaland treat them accurately.

Because the plug-in operates with 32-bitinternal resolution at rates up to 192kHz,there’s absolutely no funny digital noise, plusthe instrument produces a real progressivevariation of the timbre at 127 MIDI velocities

per note. A phase/repetition variation schemeensures that the hammer strikes the stringsslightly differently with each note, and thanksto the wonderful math going on behind thesympathetic vibrations algorithms, chordslarge and small truly sound like chords playedon a real piano as all the individual stringsinteract.

Left me tickledI really like Pianoteq. Its sound is pure,

vivid, alive with responsiveness, and withoutquestion the most flexible of any “acoustic”piano instrument on the planet today. Thanksto its rather modest system requirements,Pianoteq will run on any reasonably currentdesktop computer with next to no impact onthe processor, and the extremely small 8MBsize and negligible RAM requirements meansit can run on any modern laptop. (A stand-alone version with studio-grade compression,EQ, and reverb would be useful for “straightout of the box” stage use—and in fact thedevelopers are working on a stand-alone ver-sion; they also plan a free update this spring.)

With more likely to come, there are cur-rently two free add-on presets available forregistered Pianoteq users at the Modartt web-site. These include dynamic model construc-tions of an 1812 Pianoforte Schöffstossrecorded at Schloss Kremsegg inKremsmünster, Austria and a JohannEvangelist Schmidt pianoforte, circa 1790,recorded at Handelhaus in Halle, Germany.The presets are meticulously modeled withauthentic tuning (well tempered) along withall its charms and artifacts.

Though it may not capture one hundredpercent of the image that a stereo sampledpiano will, it’s the subtle real-time details thatmake Pianoteq sound leaps and bounds morerealistic for solo work—and win you overevery time. VI

The interaction between strings, use of pedals,

cabinet resonance, position of the hammers, time

and space within a given room, etc. are all taken

into account.

VIr e v i e w

www.Magesy.com

www.Magesy.com


VIr e v i e w

Electro Magnetic Fury $99.95

Big Fish Audio

(www.bigfishaudio.com)

platform: 16-bit 44.1 kHz

AIFF/Apple Loops, WAV, & REX2

files

license: May be used in the

licensee’s own “derivative” live

performances or recorded com-

positions, but not in a sample or

music library.

Loop Librarian

Review by Chris Meyer

Loops loops loops loops and libraries

Ilike the idea of industrial music, but rarelydo I find an industrial sample library thatlives up to the promise of the genre. It

seems that many try too hard to be abrasive,clever, or obscure, while providing isolatedloops that give you too little variation to buildan entire, cohesive song around. The promomaterials for this collection—promising it was“downright dangerous” and would “blowthrough your speakers” with “punishingdrums and beats” and “ear-shattering FX”—made me assume we had another entrant inthe too-abrasive category.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised tohear that this library hews much closer to theintelligent industrial mindset, combiningambient and exotic elements with a pulsinggroove.

As is the case with most Big Fish looplibraries, Electro Magnetic Fury repeats itscontent in AIFF (Apple Loops), WAV, andREX2 flavors. The AIFF version weighs in atjust over 1.5 gigs of 44.1kHz 16-bit stereofiles.

There are 95 construction kits listed bytempo and occasionally key. The kits each

contain a 30+ second demo plus from threeto 16 component loops, ranging from two to12 bars in length (four being the most com-mon). Typically, one part is presented in twoor more variations, and there is usually anambient loop among the components.

Although these kits are intended primarilyto be rhythmic backing tracks, there are oftentonal (dare I say melodic) elements, includingpitched drums, vocoded rhythms, processedtraditional instruments, and the occasionalsequencer. Tempos range from 67 to 200bpm, focused around the low 100s. In addi-tion to the kits, there is also a folder of 17“atmospheres”: lovely 30 second to twominute droning, ambient, mostly tonal bedswith an occasional rhythmic pulse that wouldmake great intros or bridges

As I hinted in the intro, what struck memost about this library was that the atmos-phere wasn’t nearly as harsh and monodi-mensional as I expected. There is indeed anabundance of strong grooves and distortion,but some pieces are downright ambient,while others wander into house or evenlounge territory. There is also more of a feel-

Big Fish ElectroMagnetic Furysound library

www.Magesy.com


ing of understated mystery, dread, or powerthan pure chainsaw mayhem. Many kitsthrow in surprising elements such as Africanchants, Middle Eastern percussion, Far Easternstrings, military snares and toms, ambienthits, and a lot of bandpass-filtered beats.

The only thing I can hold against this col-lection is a lack of variation, as most compo-nents are only presented in one version. As a

Let’s set the record straight from thestart: This is not a pristine set of careful-ly recorded solos and grooves per-

formed in isolation to a click track by well-paid session musicians in high-end studios,preserved in 24-bit 96 kHz fidelity. The vastmajority of the loops were recorded in mono,close-miked with varying degrees of fidelity inlive ensemble performance situations, com-plete with some mic bleed and the occasionalgrunt.

And you know something? It’s great. Myleft brain says it shouldn’t be, while my rightbrain says shut up and dance.

All loops are available in AIFF, WAV, andREX2 formats; I tested the AIFF versions,which weigh in at just over a gig. There are27 construction kit folders labeled by tempo.These include from five to eleven subfoldersthat break out each song by instruments, plusa minute-plus 24-bit stereo demo that illus-trates various combination of instruments.(Don’t be fooled, though, as most compo-nents are 16-bit mono.)

Each instrument folder contains anywherefrom one to 47 mostly 2-bar looped phrasesin 4/4, tallying up to over 1800 loops total.With the exception of the occasional kalimbafolder, you get just the percussive instru-ments, although you can hear through themic bleed that a full ensemble includingsingers was actually performing at the timethese were recorded.

As noted, sound quality varies: the congaand djembe have particularly nice transients,plus the bembe and ogenne have appropri-ately present rattles and buzzes, but the shak-ers and kalimba suffer from exaggerated

proximity effect by being miked too closely,while the talking drum sounds a bit muffled.This can make you cringe while listening toloops in isolation, but it becomes far less ofan issue when mixed into a track.

Someone used to a steady diet of Westerngrooves might listen to real African rhythmsand hear just a cacophony of competinginstruments, assuming there’s no way that thetiming is tight or would line up against asteady Western pulse—hey, even I did at first.In reality, all those mad percussionists arecleverly hitting in-between beats and placingemphasis on notes other than The One.

As a result, these loops work surprisinglywell as layers mixed in with straight-aheadWestern drum kit grooves, as they hit thespaces in-between, rather than fighting overthe accents. Although the occasional grooveneeds some timing correction to bring it backto a metronomic beat, the vast majority areactually in the pocket.

Another nice thing is that most of theloops are closer to backing grooves with vari-ations rather than solos, again making themwork well as layers supporting other rhythms.Stripped of their melodic instruments, the“songs” come across more as moods or fla-vors, also resulting in them being more flexi-ble than anticipated.

Honestly, my initial impression of thislibrary was not good, but now I expect to useit quite a bit for texture and spice. Whilerecording live like this might have caused thefidelity to suffer, the flip side is that the per-formances are exuberant, and authentic emo-tion is all too hard to find when it comes tosamples. VI

VIr e v i e w

Mahadhi: African Rhythms

$99.95

Big Fish Audio

(www.bigfishaudio.com)

platform: 16-bit 44.1 kHz

AIFF/Apple Loops, WAV, & REX2

files

license: May be used in the

licensee’s own “derivative” live

performances or recorded

compositions, but not in a sample

library.

Big Fish Mahadhi: African Rhythms loop library

result, quite often you will need to createmovement by switching elements on and off,rather than being able to pull up evolutionsof the existing parts. Many who create musicin this style are already used to working thisway. For those outside of this genre lookingfor additional spices and flavors, I think you’llfind a surprising number of useful layers andelements to include in your own work. VI

www.Magesy.com

VIi n t e r v i e w


Tell us about your rig and your sam-ple libraries.

That’s a crazy thing. It’s always in a state offlux. I envy the people who run out and buy,say, four or eight Vision computers [custommachines from www.VisionDAW.com] andthen don’t touch their systems for anotherfour years. I wish I could live like that. Ican’t—it drives me insane.

So it’s constantly changing. Currently Ihave just taken four computers out of rotationbecause they have been causing too manyproblems, or they don’t hold enough memo-ry, or whatever it is. I just built three comput-ers—myself actually. I went to Fry’s, bought amotherboard, bought a CPU, bought one ofthose metal rack chassis that look like theVision computers, and just built it. So I havethese three new machines.

I’m currently starting a project, and I’mgoing to be using four PC farms, with a fifththat kind of floats in there if I need it. I havetwo G5 dual 2.0s. One of them I don’t usethat much; it basically sits in the backgroundas a potential node and a potential [NativeInstruments] Kontakt 2 secondary.

M I D I M O C K U P M I C R O S C O P E

In this installment of our series on composers and how they did theirMIDI programming, talented composer Nathan Furst discusses “Heart of

the Baja Part 2” and “Shark Attack.” Download these cues atwww.VirtualInstrumentsMag.com and follow along.

At only twenty-eight years old, Nathan Furst has

already begun to carve out a niche for himself as one

of Hollywood’s elite young composers. Nathan has

developed a reputation for blending world instruments

and electronica soundscapes seamlessly with the

strength and elegance of a symphony orchestra. He

has composed themes and underscores for over 20

film and television projects. This signature style has

earned Nathan three nominations for his outstanding

original film and television compositions.

by Frederick Russ

moreonline

www.virtualinstrumentsmag.com

www.Magesy.com


For the most part, it’s just sitting there as aback-up computer. I try to keep it as near tomy original G5 as possible, so if my first G5goes down I take the first one to the shopand slide the second one over and keep work-ing. I got bit once where I had a Version 1 G5and I was in the middle of a deadline, andthe computer went down and I didn’t knowwhat to do. So I literally bought a new com-puter.

I kept going, but of course there wasanother hump to get over: installing the soft-ware. Meantime, my deadline is coming upon me. Ever since, I try to keep a secondarysequencing machine that is near to my firstone in case it goes down.

So right now I am using four PCs, which ispared down—I originally had six. And then Ihave a dual 800 Mac that does nothing butrun Pro Tools.

Which Pro Tools systems is that youare running?

It’s just a basic Pro Tools Digi 001. WhileI’m writing, Pro Tools runs all my video. I liketo keep video off my main machine.

Whatever sequencer I’m writing in, Iinevitably bring it to its knees, because I’mwriting these gigantic orchestral things. Imight have Space Designer [the convolutionreverb in Apple Logic Pro] and a couple of[Spectrasonics] Stylus instances on there—plus I try to work at a low latency.

Logic sends MIDI Time Code to Pro Tools so Ican go to bar 40 and the picture will followalong—as if the video were in the sequencer. Atthe very last stage when all my MIDI tracks areplaying simultaneously, I just bust the mastersout to Pro Tools, using it as a tape machine. Itlocks perfectly in sync, and I go into Recordmode, and that’s how I have my sends that getdelivered to the stage. It’s instant—it’s so fast, Ican almost mix in real time.

Many times on a film they want the per-cussion track separated or they want the choirseparated. Having the Pro Tools system andworking it this way allows me to do that.

What kind of monitoring system doyou use?

Probably not the best one! I just do whatworks best for me. I’m a big fan of keepingthe room as lean as possible, and I like that Ihave successfully driven out any real world

audio (by soundproofing it).There’s nothing that enters the real world

except for what’s coming out of my MOTU2408 interface to my monitors, which are cur-rently Mackie HR824s. I like them. A lot ofhardcore engineers call them the “composers’monitors” because they argue that it is not atrue flat sound and that it makes everythingsound good. They claim there is a lot ofsweetening in the monitors—which is proba-bly true, but I don’t care because I like it.

Are you using a mixing controller?I have a short-lived Logic Control. It’s a

great little box, but I have to be honest, Idon’t go to it that much. I’ve been usingLogic for 12 to 15 years.

Let’s talk about “Shark Attack.” From0:01 to 0:05, how did you get the brassto sound that way?

VIi n t e r v i e w

Fig. 1: Nathan Furst has come up with a very clever way of navigating his huge orchestral template (34tracks just for violins alone), as shown in this Logic screenset. See the shrunken window with the colored barson the left? That’s a second Arrange window saved as part of this screenset, and the bars are folders.

All his string tracks are packed inside the dark grey Strings folder, the Woodwind tracks are packed insidethe sage green folder, and so on. Clicking on (in this case) the Strings folder opens up the main Arrange win-dow to all the string tracks.

The reason this works is that the main Arrange window is Linked to the same level, meaning that it jumpsto whatever is being selected in any other window. That’s the little yellow chain link icon at the upper left; toprevent the shrunken Arrange window with the folders from scrolling to the current location, it isn’t linked.

Also note the locked markers corresponding to different events in the show he’s scoring.

www.Magesy.com


Actually I wrote that in, I think, the sum-mer of 2002. At the time I think I had onemachine that had the Sonic Implants stuff onit and SAM Horns.

And those cool trombones?That would have been me custom re-pro-

gramming the SAM stuff, layered withMiroslav Vitous.

How did you do that? I grabbed the original files and I basically

built, like a 20-key keyswitch program.Everybody thought I was crazy, but now it’slike the norm. At the time, EXS [the samplerbuilt into Logic Pro] was really the only instru-ment that allowed you to go that deep. Iwould just go in, grab the original files, andremap them.

Usually I would have a starting point tosuccessfully convert, say, an E-mu patch, justso I would get the key mapping done correct-ly. And then from there, just start making lit-tle tweaks with the filters, adding buzz, and

playing a lot with reverb tones and roomsand sort of just discovering how I was goingto fit these things into the same space.

That’s the way I started, which is essentiallythe way I work today—basically having one“pre-delay” sort of room reverb on a buss, andthen everybody gets that buss send. It’s pre-fader. So essentially every single instrument hasits own mix to do, it has its own wet fader andits own dry fader. Obviously the trumpetswould get a lot more wet and almost none ofthe dry signal—that kind of a thing.

So you’re approaching it like you’restanding there—the trumpets are far-ther back, so you’re kind of thinkingabout how the reflections go?

I was basically thinking What should itsound like? I don’t know if this is “right” ornot; I wasn’t thinking of how it would soundif I was standing there, because that is sort ofirrelevant. If you’ve ever heard a cue or anorchestra in a recording studio, if you walkback and forth from the stage while they’re

playing, and then in themiddle of the cue walk tothe booth, it sounds verydifferent.

So I don’t really think interms of Sonically how itwould sound if I was physi-cally standing there, I thinkin terms of production.How do I produce this cueusing my favorite com-posers and my favoritesscores as a standard?

So you’re listening tothe orchestra and notnecessarily trying toemulate it?

Oh absolutely emulatingit, absolutely. Some of thoseguys have a great sound. Iwas absolutely trying toemulate the productionsound. Not necessarily anyone in its entirety—not onlya John Williams sound, oronly a Don Davis sound,but sort of taking the things

I love from all of them—then take what youbelieve you do, and incorporate all of that.

You have a lot of clarity in this cue.For me anyway, some of that is the writing.

I try to write—orchestrate—in the sense ofthinking of it as a spectrum of light.Everybody sort of gets a space. And absolute-ly, somebody can cross over to the other per-son’s space, but I try not to do it at the sametime. That helps create a sense of separation.

You like panning wide, I’ve noticed.Like with the custom library you’reworking on, everything is pannedwide—the violins are way to the left.

Definitely, and maybe a little too much—maybe. I’ll say I naturally go a little wide. Forme it helps me to hear the orchestration a lit-tle bit better, and also when things are reallywide, inevitably in almost every score I dothere is some sort of, shall we say, a specialtyelement.

Lately I have been hired to do a lot ofworld scores—big orchestra, but there isalways a sort of a Mideastern or world ele-ment. That stuff tends to hang in the center alittle more, and the orchestra is off harderpanned. I feel I’m able to make sense of whatis happening a little bit more, as opposed to ifeverything is generally hanging around themiddle.

I’m not really re-inventing the wheel, I’memulating my favorite scores and my favoriteproductions. I guess I am re-inventing thewheel for myself in the sense of making ithappen completely in the room with nomoney and no recording schedule, or what-ever. You’re basically faking it, but absolute-ly—create real estate and create space.

Fig. 2: This is the part of the same screenset shown in Fig. 1 that’s displayed on a second monitor (as youcan see behind Furst in the photo with this article). One of the things it shows is the wonder of remote accessover ethernet.

At the same time that clicking on the Strings folder brings up the string tracks shown in Fig. 1, on the sec-ond monitor it brings up an “adaptive mixer” with channel strips for every track that’s being used in theArrange window.

Note that there’s room in the screenset for two remote computers to be displayed above the mixer. Themachine at the left is a G4 Mac running Pro Tools LE, which Furst uses as a mixdown machine for recordingstems (since Pro Tools is usually the delivery format); the one at the right is a Windows XP machine runningNative Instruments’ Kontakt 2 sampler (you can see the ethernet address 192.168.0.13 at the top of thewindow).

Clicking in either remote computer window activates it for keyboard and mouse control just as if it wererunning on the local machine. The response over a network is noticeably more sluggish than a wired moni-tor, but it’s perfectly fine for recording stems or just loading sounds into a soft sampler running on a slavemachine.

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Do you remember what you wereusing back then for ambience?

Yeah, it’s terrible. Now I can’t stand it, it’sway too much ambience. It’s way too washy. Iwas basically using the Waves Gold stuffbecause that was what I had available at thetime— the TrueVerb plugins for the room andusing a separate hall verb for the hall. [AudioEase] Altiverb was out, but I didn’t have itworking then.

I had made my own TrueVerb preset foreach section. The strings had one to representthem being in the front of the orchestra,woodwinds a little behind that, and the hornswere way in the back, as were the trumpets.It was an experiment, shall we say.

Now you’re using convolution reverb.I just use Space Designer [the convolution

reverb built into Logic]. I like Space Designera lot.

This is sort of my little rule. To me there areway too many options. So if it requires extrathings that are unnecessary, like hardwaredongles or if you load one instance and itsoaks up half your CPU, we’re done. Thereare too many amazing options happening outthere to have to tolerate things that are littleannoyances.

I realize that it is an older piece, butit still sounds cool to me. So “SharkAttack” is from “Christmas Vacation

2”—what is that, a movie?Yes, it was originally a TV movie, like a spe-

cial event. It was aired on NBC around the 23of December. If I were to guess, it’s about 80minutes of music—maybe 90. From spot todelivery was about four weeks.

Oh my goodness. So you were averag-ing...

…a few minutes a day. I find two minutes aday to be very comfortable—I can hang out, Ican write the music I want to write. I canorchestrate it and experiment with theorchestration if I am on a two minute a dayschedule. If I am on something worse, whichtends to be happening more and more—likeif I have to come up with four minutes a dayor more, then I am just writing it the best Ican. So pretty much when it’s done, it’s done.

You don’t have time to second guessyourself.

No, there is no time to second guess your-self, let alone experiment. On a creative level,and also on a practical level, I work a lot withthemes—I try to create themes because I findthat is an appropriate tool as well as a usefulone to be able to recall characters’ themes con-stantly and consistently throughout the film.

So when I’m writing music, I can create amood with my orchestration, and what ishappening in certain sections rhythmically—sort of sneak around and play with the theme

and keep incorporating it. The theme helpsme to be able to write four minutes a day.

On top of that, some of my favorite scoreswork that way. There’s a sense of consistency.

You have some interesting ideasabout creating realistic performances.

When I am playing something like fast stac-cato stuff, I also like to layer it with half notetrills and bury them—anything that will helpme create bad intonation. Because if youwere to have string players playing those pas-sages, there is no way in hell they are goingto hit the tone. It’s going to be a mess.

So even though it’s a fast staccato passage,I’ll double it with the trill pass and bury it, soyou don’t hear perfect intonation. If you aretrying to create a sense of realism, I think it’sa common mistake to try and write runs instaccato, or to write runs with a short notepatch of some sort. I prefer to write minewith legato, doubled with trills, doubled withtrem. I find that for me, those are the mostsuccessful runs.

I had rebuilt some of the runs in that cuefrom the old Roland libraries. For things likethe woodwind runs that are happening inthere, those are probably not performed—byme. They are probably just runs I grabbedfrom a library and reprogrammed in EXS. ButI will play with the runs.

So if it is a woodwind run that just goesup, I will double it myself by, say, playing apiccolo with it. Inevitably I’m not fastenough, and that produces the sound I want.I strive for imperfection.

I want to talk about breathingstrings and breathing life into strings.You have a small cue here—“Heart ofthe Baja, Part Two.” You’re really emot-

ing.That would have been

a combination of manythings, including anothercustom library. But for methe real trick is that withthe exception of staccatoor short notes—even withmarcato stuff—I never usea velocity-sensitive patch.To me that is not what itwould sound like. The firstthing I tend to do when Iload a string sample, I dis-able any response tovelocity.

Then I rebuild it withcrossfades only on themod wheel to help meget in and out at the verytail end of it, almost likeyou can’t really discernwhen it went away.Always, everything goingin and coming out is a

Fig. 3: While note-on velocity has been recorded in the sequencer (as evidenced by the orange and rednotes in Logic’s graphical Matrix editor), Furst turns off the velocity response in all his sample programs,instead relying on MIDI continuous control changes to create dynamics. The blue pane shows the fairly radi-cal mod wheel riding that shapes each note in this passage.

This screenset also has a notation editor open; Logic’s windows are interactive, so changes in one areimmediately reflected in all the others.

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Steinberg Cubase 4, $999.99

Cubase Studio 4, $499.99

www.Steinberg.net, distributed

by www.Yamaha.com

Formats: Mac OSX 10.4 (G4 or

better) including Intel Macs, and

Windows XP Home/Professional

Copy protection: USB dongle

(comes pre-licensed; upgrade

requires online update)

Steinberg Cubase 4A look at the update to this massive

sequencing package


Steinberg’s Cubase digital audiosequencer is especially popular in itsnative Europe, but it also has a lot of

users in the US. The program has undergoneconstant development for a lot of years, andthat shows in the depth of its features andrefinement.

The last version of the massive Cubasesequencer was SX3, but now the SX prefixseems to have been quietly dropped, so thenew revision is referred to simply as Cubase 4.There’s also a Studio version with a stripped-down feature set, a much lower price point,and an upgrade path to the full version.

The fact that Cubase (as we’ll simply callCubase 4 from now on) runs on both Macand PC offers some flexibility, and a SteinbergUSB key—omitted from some of the compa-ny’s simpler packages—is included. You’llneed a DVD drive to install, followed by aninternet licensing procedure.

As always with major revisions of complexsequencers, the manufacturer lists scores ofupdates (as well as updates to the way it han-dles scores), but the basic look and feel ofCubase has not changed very much in this

revision. The same large Project window (Fig.1) handles audio, external MIDI, and internalvirtual instrument tracks with absolute equali-ty, and can be made as plain or as multi-col-ored as you wish. A large Transport windowcan be positioned anywhere, helping to makethe package ideal for use with dual monitorset-ups.

But beneath the hood Steinberg claims 50or more major revisions, and there are cer-tainly many new virtual instruments andeffects included, offering thousands of newsounds. Let’s take a look at some of theseadditions and revisions in more detail.

Mixing and editingCubase was always pretty flexible as

regards final mixdown, but the addition of anew Control Room Mixer window (Fig. 2) willhelp interface the package better to the out-

Fig.1: The main Project window in Cubase 4handles audio, external MIDI, and internal virtualinstrument tracks with absolute equality. It can bemade as plain or as multi-colored as you wish.

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side world. Now there’s a Talkback and aHeadphone buss, External Inputs and ControlRoom Monitor busses, assuming of courseyou have the external hardware to takeadvantage of all those.

With up to four Studio Send busses peraudio channel, the whole cosmetic appear-ance of the mixer (Fig. 3) has been sharpenedup so it’s easier to read, and insert plug-inscan be copied from one channel to another

simply using drag anddrop. The individual pre-set name of the plug-ineffect is also now visible(like “BigFlange6” ratherthan just the name of theeffect).

Some editing functionsare also improved. In ear-lier versions of Cubase itwas difficult to edit con-troller data alongside therelated notes, so forexample if you movedsome notes you mayhave lost contact withthe vibrato that accom-panied them. Now notesand controllers can beedited together, which isa huge improvement.

There’s a new TrimTool to trim start and endpoints for multipleevents, which is going tobe useful for complexcues. A new Preferencessetting allows event

selection to select the relevant Track automat-ically.

In fact there’s a whole new type of tracktoo: the Instrument Track, combining a MIDIinput and an audio output for VST instru-ments into a single track and mixer channel.One of the most confusing points of the oldCubase up to SX3 was that a lot of the mixerchannels were doubled—for a virtual instru-ment you’d have one for its MIDI activity andeffects, and one (often far removed from it)for its audio output and audio effects.

This made it hard to pin down exactlywhere an instrumental sound was comingfrom, and made for big mixer displays toowide to fit on one or even two monitors. The

introduction of this new track type is a hugeimprovement.

MIDI and VSTThere’s little change to the way the new

Cubase handles MIDI except in the area ofscoring. The settings dialog has been simpli-fied and the score editor now has clearericons. There are two new score fonts—”Jazz”and “Classic”—and song lyrics can now beimported from a MIDI file.

In fact there are several improvements inthe area of file and preset handling. MP3Surround (which is compatible with MP3stereo) can now be imported and exported,and a new media management system calledMediaBay makes it much easier to search forand modify files and preset sounds within VSTplug-in instruments via the “SoundFrame”Universal Sound Manager.

In other words, Cubase now accesses andsearches the preset list of any virtual instru-ments in use, and also adds a preview func-tion that if you select a looped sound, plays itat the current project tempo. The MediaBaybrowser can help search for audio loops andclips, MIDI Files, video files and entire Cubaseproject files on your system too.

The greatest excitement though probablylies in the new Cubase VST (Virtual StudioTechnology) instruments and effects. In factthe standard has now been revised to VST3,and some 17 original plug-ins having beenupdated accordingly. VST effects now includemono, stereo, and ping-pong delays, nine dif-ferent dynamics controllers including com-pressor and expander plus vintage and multi-band compressors, nine modulation effectsincluding chorus and autopan, an octaver andtuner, plus mono-to-stereo and stereoenhancer routines.

Fig. 2: The new Control Room Mixer featuresTalkback and Headphone busses, External Inputs,and Control Room Monitor busses, all without hav-ing to leave the software.

Fig. 3: With up to four Studio Send busses peraudio channel, the whole cosmetic appearance ofthe mixer has been sharpened up so it’s easier toread, and insert plug-ins can be copied from onechannel to another simply using drag and drop.The individual preset name of the plug-in effect isalso now visible, rather than just the effect.

Beneath the hood

Steinberg claims 50 or

more major revisions,

and there are certainly

many new virtual

instruments and effects

included.

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While most of these are familiiar, the VSTinstruments are completely new. Prologue(Fig. 4) is an analog-style synthesizer, Spector(Fig. 5) is a spectrum filter synthesizer, andMystic is an impulse/comb filter synthesizer.These are all based on individual pages of theflexible Steinberg D’Cota softsynth, and offervarious numbers of oscillators and sound syn-thesis techniques together with hundreds ofpreset sounds, promising much greater syn-thesis power than the simpler A1 and otheranalog-style synths built into earlier version ofCubase.

Halion One in contrast is a stripped-downversion of Steinberg’s Halion sample playbacksoftware. This is a very simple instrument withenvelope attack and decay, filter cutoff andresonance settings, however its “ROM”sounds come from the Yamah Motif key-boards. This helps put Cubase 4 more on apar with Apple Logic 7, which offers the pow-

erful EXS24 sample player built in.These new VST instruments have more

than 1,000 instrument sounds, drum kits, andeffects to offer, so it’s becoming increasinglypossible to compose entirely using internalinstruments rather than having to spendmore money adding plug-in instruments.Steinberg obviously still has other soft instru-ments available—their high-quality SteinbergGrand piano for example—but particularly atthe price of a package like Cubase 4, it’s onlyreasonable to expect to find a wide range ofpowerful instrumentation included.

ProgressionSteinberg has made a lot of progress with

Cubase 4. A full printed handbook is nowsupplied, not just a set of PDF files on disk,and between this clearly written 600-pagemonster and the 75 pages of Getting Startedinfo, Cubase 4 is not going to be difficult tounderstand. The cosmetic appearance haschanged, but not all that much (the new VSTinstruments look pretty sleek though, andrather similar to their Apple Logic equivalents)and some major annoyances such as the split-ting of mixer channels between the MIDI andaudio facilities of virtual instrument trackshave been eliminated. Most importantly,Cubase 4 is Universal Binary/Intel Mac OSX-

compliant, meaning that it runs on PowerPCand Intel Macs.

New additions such as the Control RoomWindow and the Media Bay/SoundFramebrowser (Fig. 6) combination for searching andaccessing the presets of VST instruments andeffects running within Cubase should speed upthe work process considerably. On the subjectof speeding workflow, for those who like to usekey commands as much as possible and avoidthe use of the mouse, Cubase 4 has a com-pletely revised set of key commands;Deactivate All Solo and Unmute All are goingto be particularly useful, as are being able toselect altenative mixer views and open theControl Room, MediaBay, SoundFrame, andLoop Browser windows quickly.

And if you want to limit the budget a little?Cubase Studio for around half the cost offersmany of the new improvements. It comeswithout the Spector and Mystic instruments,Surround facilities, or full MediaBay searching,and it has fewer VST effects. But it includesthe Halion One sample player and Prologueanalog-style synth, and it has similar multi-tracking and scoring abilities.

Score?Cubase works smoothly and reliably with-

out any needing any settings in the back-ground, and many of the layout aspects thatwere less than perfect—such as the channelsplit between MIDI and audio facilities of vir-tual instrument tracks—have now beenremoved. The new VST instruments in Cubase4 are powerful and flexible, and having abuilt-in sample-playing instrument is a mas-sive bonus.

Users on a limited budget can readilyupgrade from Cubase Studio, while users onan unlimited budget can one day upgrade tothe even more audio/visually-orientedSteinberg Nuendo. Cubase 4 is a strong can-didate for either Mac or PC users as the cen-ter of any recording studio. VI

Fig. 4: The Prologue analog-style synth. Fig. 5: Spector is a spectrum filter synth, one ofthe new instruments included with Cubase 4.

Fig. 6: The Soundframe browser, which is func-tionally much like Native Instruments’ Kore, makesit easy to manage and categorize large libraries ofsound by name.

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It’s hard to imagine anyone who worked withmusic technology in the 1980s and didn’t owna Yamaha DX-series instrument at one time or

another, most likely a DX-7. That means manyof us have old projects that use those sounds.

It also means that billions of people wereprogramming sounds for DX instruments, and alot of those sounds are still very good (nevermind that a lot of them are also still very bad).Native Instruments FM7 and FM8 have a greatfeature: the ability to import DX-series soundsand play them back at 2006 sound quality.

Fortunately getting those sounds into FM8(or FM7) is a lot easier than choosing whichones to import. FM8 can accept SystemExclusive (SysEx) Data from Yamaha’s DX7,DX7II and DX200 synthesizers and convertthem into its own parameter format.

There are two approaches; which one youchoose will depend on whether or not youalready own a DX series synthesizer.

A. Connect your DX-series synthesizer to yourcomputer via a standard MIDI interface. Instand-alone mode (rather than using it as aplug-in) FM8 will automatically receive anyMIDI SysEx data, in other words the sounds justgo in over MIDI. Single Presets go into the editbuffer and you must save them manually; Banksare converted into .ksd files and are saved auto-matically. It’s not possible to receive SysEx datavia MIDI when running FM8 as a plug-in due tothe current limitations of the plug-in standards.

B. Load SysEx data from a file. To do this,simply click on the Import SysEx button in theFile menu, navigate to a compatible SysEx file,and open it. Note that SysEx files will have a.syx extension under Windows. On the Mac, it’susually a good idea to add this extension to thefile before attempting to import it. VI

ImportingYamaha DX-seriespatches intoNativeInstrumentsFM8

1. First choose “Import SysEx” from the File menu

2. FM8 converts a DX7 SysEx bank to the .ksd format

3. The converted DX7 SysEx bank appears in the KoreSounds browser for use in FM8.

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two parts at a time. Say, I’ll play a couple ofparts on the cello and just move the bottomnote that I played down to the basses. Mostof the samples at that point are going to bein combination of VSL [Vienna SymphonicLibrary], a different custom library, and SonicImplants.

And I love, love, love Sonic Implants. It’sgorgeous and it’s interesting because it’s actu-ally very “under-programmed.” Most of thepatches have no velocity layers, it’s a singlething. If there are multiple velocity layers it’sonly one or not very many—it’s not heavilyprogrammed. They got the timbre right whenthey recorded it. To me it’s a gorgeoussounding library.

I also use a lot of SAM. I love everythingthat Maarten Spruijt does.

What about brass?Same thing. I always, always, use con-

trollers 1 [mod wheel] and 11 for virtuallyeverything, all the time. Sometimes this pro-duces a very noticeable, dramatic effect, andsometimes very subtle. I find that the instru-ments sound the most real when they havesmall fluctuations in dynamics—which trans-lates into layers as well as the timbre of aninstrument when going from ƒƒ to mƒ andthen back again.

I mostly do this as I go. Very rarely do I goback and add more CC info the next day orsomething. I can’t move on to the next bar ifthe legato line doesn’t have the delicate tailout that I want to hear. OCD I guess! VI

NATHAN FURST(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 57)

VOLTAGE CONTROL(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18)

combination of sample layer crossfading onthe mod wheel and controller 11 to sort ofduck in and out. To me that’s the best chanceyou have to making your strings sound real.

“Though None Go With Me”—that’s amore recent piece, isn’t it?

Yes, that was another TV movie I did prob-ably ten or eleven months ago. I can’t say it’sthe best example of my MIDI productionwork. That score is about 100 minutes ofmusic, and I scored that in two weeks.

I play in the line I am using in the violins,and just quickly flesh it out. Because I think interms of intervals, sometimes I have to play

Envelope; they’re essential in the creation ofthis sound. Though the filter envelope con-trols the timbre of the sound, it is the amplifi-er envelope that truly shapes the sound,allowing the crack to happen immediately atsignificant volume, while the thunder gradual-ly fades to silence.

The settings of the Release segments ofboth envelopes allow the sound to be playedin two different ways. Strike a key and imme-diately let go, and you’ll get a crack followedby thunder. Hold the note and you’ll get acrack that gradually turns into rain.

Also note that the Compressor is enabled,which helps fatten the sound. Stereo Delay isalso used; the setting doubles the sound andspreads it out over the stereo soundstage. Ifyou’re looking for something less dramatic,simply turn off the delay.

The Program 54, Rolling Thunder, uses thesame basic approach as Lightning Strike, butthe Attack time of the Amplitude Envelopehas been increased to eliminate the crack andthe LP24 filter is used to deepen the sound. Inaddition, the two LFOs are enabled, eachrouted to the filter, but programmed with dif-ferent speeds and amounts. This is what cre-ates the “rolling” effect as the thunder playsthrough.

One final note: Filter Tracking, which raisesthe filter cutoff level as you play higher up onthe keyboard, is enabled. This allows you toplay deep, low rumbling thunder at the lowend of the keyboard, and thunder thatevolves in howling wind at the top.

Stop the noise!Two full-blown articles later, we’ve only just

begun to explore the possibilities noise offersus for sound design. Everything from gun-shots to flutes to jet planes to A-bombs to

drum kits to ethnic percussion to wild andwacky sound effects can be generated usingthat annoying stuff we spend so much timetrying to eliminate.

So the next time someone asks you aboutthe signal-to-noise ratio of your system, puffout your chest, crack a big smile, and tell themyou’ve got the noisiest system on the plan-etæand a host of great sounds to prove it.

Michael Marans, often accused of being over-ly noisy, wishes to inform VI readers that no ani-mals were harmed in the creation of this article.However, several windows were shattered andhis earthquake insurance premiums were raiseddramatically. VI

right-angle MIDI plugs, which aren’t all thateasy to find.

The synthThe EWI 4000s contains your basic mod-

eled analog synth. As you can see in Fig. 4,the screen dump from the included UniQuesteditor for Mac and PC, it has two identicaloscillators, each with faders for sawtooth, tri-angle, and square waves. It also has a noisegenerator, which you can use for breath noiseor just for noise in the traditional way.

Notice that in place of envelopes, the oscil-lators and filters are controlled by breath.There’s also a formant control for the oscilla-tor filter with woodwind and string settings.

The delay/chorus/reverb (in that order, notthe way it appears) effects section is quitebasic, but it’s fine for what seems to be its pri-mary application: live performance. What you

don’t see in the screen dump is that all theparameter settings are shown when youmouse over them, so for example what lookslike a totally rudimentary delay can be set in10 millisecond increments up to 1.27 sec-onds.

But the reverb is what it is—you controlthe time, density, and high frequency damp-ing, and of course the level, but nothing assophisticated as, say, the type of room. You’llwant to use a studio-grade reverb with lessgrain for recording applications; this is a verymono reverb for a mono instrument,designed for live use.

While the sound of this synthesizer is good,there are some nice factory presets, it’s a lotmore versatile than you might gather fromlooking at the screen, and it’s great havinggood sounds built right into the instru-ment…and the last thing I want to do is sell itshort…this is really a pretty traditional synththat wouldn’t turn too many heads if itweren’t attached to an EWI.

And that right there is precisely the point:attached to an EWI, it doesn’t take muchmore than a sine wave to sound really good.We have at least one article in the works onprogramming instruments for wind control.It’s the way to go.

Also, it’s worth pointing out that the built-in synths in previous EWIs were also quiteconventional. About the only thing the 4000sdoesn’t have is an external input for control-ling other synths alongside the built-in one.

ConclusionAfter 25 years and several generations with

all the glitches worked out, the EWI is atremendously satisfying instrument to play.This latest one has a lot of new things goingfor it, not the least of which is that it’s nowdown to a more accessible street price.

The EWI is an instrument that opens up awhole new world of synthesizer control. Ican’t recommend it more highly. VI

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TRENDS(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 64)

SEQUENCING SAMPLES(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39)

Naturally, an intelligent orchestration willoffer the best results, but it is not “wrong” togive particular boosts to certain instrumentsor instrument groups. When doing so it’simportant to give a slight EQ boost in the

high frequency range of that instrument/instrument group, and pull down some of themids in order to make it appear slightly closer(without saturating the mix) as well.

Join us next time for some exclusive tips ondynamics, including how to sequence acrescendo properly.

Thomas J. Bergersen ([email protected]) Bergersen (25) still lives in Norway.He is a composer working in the media musicindustry. His credits include hundreds of produc-tions in film, TV, trailers, radio, and videogames, as a composer, orchestrator, andarranger. VI

Peter Dines:1. Linux will make greater inroads into

computer music with the release of Energy XTfor Linux. This will spur more developers—smaller, more agile ones at least—to try crosscompiling their products. However, Linux sup-port from sound card and MIDI controllervendors will continue to be abysmal.

Peter Buick:1. Computers will continue the trend of

being more powerful for less money. But I see64 bit as a (fairly poor) interim to the real deal.To gain/retain a unique edge in music produc-tion, the elite will invest more in DSP cardpower and tactile hardware controllers. Themass will remain unimpressed with the delugeof “me too” alternatives out there already, butstill refuse/be reluctant to learn how to makemore out of what they already have.

Apple Garage Band and the like willbecome even more powerful (and includevideo) and ultimately allow end user listenersto be interactive, instead of passive, as finallya multitrack mp3 format (probably includingvideo) standard is defined. People will be ableto do Acid-style re-mixes on their mobilephone (okay, by 2008 then).

By the way, my New Year’s resolutions: Iwill index my sample library (likely to be bro-ken). I will listen to more other artists’ music(including socio/eco sites like garageband andmyspace), especially music from other musicalstyles and cultures. I will limit myself to makemore out of what I already have by havingone half day programming session per weekwhere I will not start a song, no matter howinspired I am by my tweak. I won’t eat toomany mince pies at xmas (likely to be bro-ken). I won’t use presets 1-10 any more.

2. Technology will go full circle and we’llreturn to “people” interacting —on-line, withmore virtual studios, rehearsal rooms andgigs. Several real-time sharing sites haveemerged recently, and more are about to. It’stime people stopped playing with themselvesin their bedrooms. Even the porn industry letspunters interact with models (i.e. web cam,text instructions) in real time.

IMHO I think the single-wire studio is a fal-lacy—what people want is one single boxthat’s powerful enough to do all. We only tol-erate multiple boxes because that promise isnowhere near true yet—nor is it with 64 bit.

David Das:I think 2007 will shape up to be the Year of

Unlimited Processing.The strides that have been made in this

direction are just starting points compared towhat they will evolve to be. Things to consid-er:

• Apple Logic Pro’s nodes (which offloadprocessing to remote computers on the net-word). They only work for Logic plug-ins atthe moment, but wait until Apple evolvesthem and/or other DAW companies go onboard with stuff like this. I bet other compa-nies will come along and do it better thanApple. Soon the only limit to your plug-incount will be how many computers you canafford—and they’ll all work perfectly integrat-ed. (Okay, okay, honestly, this will probablynot see ultimate fruition in 2007; it’ll belonger than that. But it makes for nice copy.)

• The popularity of powered plug-ins likeUAD, TC, Waves’ new hardware boxes, and(half-finished but always in the race) MetricHalo [also SSL Duende]. Prices of these boxesare coming down too. Now anyone can addboutique plug-in power to a native worksta-tion. And they (mostly) sound really good.

• Apple’s switch to Intel chips, which are amore universal platform and more hackable.We’re already seeing isolated reports of hack-ers swapping 8-core chips into a Mac. If thisgoes further—like seriously mainstream andpeople start hot-rodding real DAWs that canactually take advantage of it—there’s anotherspeed limit gone right there. Intel chips arereadily available to end users.

I remember back when the first version ofAltiverb was released and it was famous forbeing the first plug-in (nothing else cameclose) that would bring a then-state-of-the-artG4/400 to its knees with one instance...

All this to say that the bottleneck—CPUpower—for plug-in fans is being abolished,and I bet 2007 will be a banner year for this.

Jason Scott Alexander:1. Definitely! 64-bit is going to be a big

thing—I’m just not so sure if it will hit fullstride any time imminent (on the PC that is).First we must get MS to roll out Vista in a bigway. Third party softs won’t be far behind, Idon’t think.

2. The whole concept of “chip farms,” ormotherboards with many (not just two)processor sockets. According to the chipmak-ers, they will only be able to cram so many“cores” onto a single processor before theyhave to resort to multiple physical processors

to quench our thirst for power. We’ll start see-ing mobos with rows of processor socketssimilar to the way we currently see PCI-X orRAM module sockets. Then you’ll simply addprocessing power either in series or in paral-lel.

Another cool concept that’s already in useat the enterprise system level (mainframes,servers, etc.) is hardware virtualization: takinga single physical computer system and,through its OS, breaking it up into discretelyoperating and appearing systems. A singlesuper duper high-speed processor could oper-ate discretely as a very high-end signalprocessor, with drivers to work specificallywith its own memory and a certain piece ofhardware I/O, while another “part” of thatsame processor could be told to operate as adiscrete high-end sampler, again addressingits own memory and I/O.

Just like old studios with lots of hardwareboxes, this is highly reliable (if one crashes,the others don’t) and highly powerful (nosharing of resources and much lower systemoverhead for each one). The effects processordoesn’t need all the crap that Windows runsin the background, and it could run on a verylean and mean OS that is different from theneeds of the sampler.

A final really cool idea to chew on (and thiseludes to your everything-down-one-pipeconcept) is that of companies designingbreakout DSP that streams extremely highbandwidth data directly off the PCI bus tooutside hardware. Need more? Just addanother DSP box. Latency and conflicts won’tbe a problem anymore.

Frederick Russ:Someone will develop a virtual instrument

player à la Vienna Instruments that it will beuniversal and work with all libraries—SonicImplants, Project SAM, etc.

Virtual Instruments Magazine will quadru-ple in size and scope, will be available in allstores, and go monthly. VI

www.Magesy.com


Thomas J. Bergersen:I. have to agree. :)2. More famous hardware units turned into

software plug-ins (more a wish than a predic-tion), even more bloated software and samplelibraries, new cross-platform plug-in standard,new higher resolution MIDI interface standard(more wishful thinking rather than a predic-tion, though :), tougher copy protection fol-lowing the Vista OS.

Orren Merton: 1. Slowing down of exact hardware emula-

tion V.I.s. I think we’ll start to see fewer andfewer models of Moogs, Arps, Prophets, andother classics, and more VIs that try to cap-ture the zeitgeist of many different analogsynths, put in a new interface without thelimitations of hardware.

More hardware-based copy protection.Piracy is absolutely ravaging the smaller play-ers, and we’re going to continue seeing moresoftsynths using dongles, integrated con-trollers, and other related hardware.

2. Hardware synths will all offer VI frontends. We’re already there with the Virus TIand the Roland SH-201, but as time goes on,all hardware synths will need to offer a VIfront end for integration into the DAW.

Lee Sherman:1. The few remaining classic instruments

that have yet to be emulated will find theirway into software form.

2. We’ll see entirely new virtual instrumentsthat don’t just mimic classic hardware butinstead go off in exciting directions madepossible by today’s user interface paradigmsand processing power. NI’s Massive is a prom-ising first step in this direction.

Gary Eskow:Obviously, 64 bit computing, although the

only place it seems necessary to me is withmy VSL Vienna Instrument samples... I’m per-fectly happy with the processing I’m gettingon my dual Opteron pre-64 bit right now.

More and more fantastic classic synth mod-els.

VI t r e n d s

TrendsVI writers stir the tea leaves

Just for fun we sent a very simple note toour writers, asking them two questions(with leading answers just to get the

crystal ball rolling):1. What predictions do you have for the VI

world in 2007? [NB’s example: 64-bit com-puting—which you are free to agree with ornot.]

2. How about for the future in general?[NB’s answer: everything will be connectedby a single wire. We’re almost there with pro-grams that send audio and/or MIDI overGigabit ethernet, but in a couple of yearsFibre Channel or something else should makethis the norm.]

Chris Meyer:1. Sound libaries will continue to grow to

the point that once we've installed them,there won't be room on our internal drives toinstall the next major upgrades to MacOS orWindows next year.

(Which really brings the need for licensingschemes to easily accomodate them beinginstalled on external drives that we can movebetween our studio towers and live perform-ance laptops—not—currently the case.)

2. Um, see parenthetical aside above. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 62)

Jim Aikin:1. 64-bit computing—who really cares?

Not musicians, that’s for sure. Manufacturers,you betcha. The more people they can suckerinto upgrading, the more money they make.

The trend I’m seeing in synthesis—and Iexpect this to gather steam in 2007—is a shiftin emphasis away from the filter and towardthe oscillator. For many years, the sound qual-ity of the filter has been considered a make-or-break deal for a synth, but by now theproblem of how to make good-sounding digi-tal filters seems to be pretty much solved.

Meanwhile, advances in computing powerhave made it practical to do waveshapingwithin the oscillator itself in complex andgreat-sounding ways. Three instruments that Iknow of illustrate this: Cakewalk Z3ta+, NIMassive, and u-he Zebra2. I expect othershave appeared that I don’t know about, andstill more will show up before too long.

I predict that Steinberg’s announcement ofVST 3 will get a lukewarm response, and thatsupport from other manufacturers for thenew spec will be spotty, at least until Q2 of2008.

2. Wire? Why do you need a wire? The fullywireless studio is only a matter of time.(Thanks to Dave Smith for suggesting thisutopia to me.) Walk into the studio, plug in apower cord, and your hardware can talk toanybody else’s hardware wirelessly. Audiochannels, MIDI, all configured automagically.

You know what I’d like to see, but don’texpect to see anytime soon: a resurgence ofenthusiasm among the general public formusic made with electrons. It seems to methat the problem of how to make amazingsounds with computers is totally solved. If Inever installed another plug-in, it would takeme a couple of hundred years to explore themusical potential of the stuff that’s on myhard drive today. But the career opportunitieslag very far behind the technology. What weneed is... I don’t know, a Keith Emerson forthe new millenium, I suppose. Somebodywho captures and ignites the public imagina-tion by jamming with a laptop.

www.Magesy.com

www.Magesy.com

virtual instruments vol. 02 no. 06

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