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The Tassman Builder

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3

The Tassman Builder

The Tassman Builder is used to create instruments. Constructing instruments is very easy and
straightforward. One first drags modules from the Modules section of the Browser and then con-
nects them together in order to create a patch. Modules are units that either produce or transform
sound in a particular manner. They each have a certain number of inputs and outputs which are
used to transmit signals from one module to another and which can be interconnected by using
wires . The Player view is then displayed to play instruments that have been made with the Builder.

The different modules of the library are just like building blocks that can be connected to other

blocks any way you desire. The only limit is your imagination! Of course creating instruments
implies a certain amount of experimentation, but that is part of the fun! You can start with simple
instruments, trying them right away with the Player, and then come back to the Builder to modify
the patch. Very rapidly you will be able to construct the instruments you have always dreamed of.

And that’s not all! The architecture of the Tassman is entirely modular, which makes it a

powerful evolutionary creation tool. As you create patches, you can save them as sub-patches and
then reuse them in another patch just like any other elementary module. Very rapidly your library
will expand and contain many different types of instruments and synthesizers.

When you save an instrument, the Builder creates an entry in the Browser under the Instruments

folder describing the patch you have just made. This information contained in this file is used by
the Tassman to generate the instrument front panel and the computation code necessary to simulate
the instrument. These instrument files are very light and can be exchanged with other users (using
the Export/Import command) via e-mail. Check the Applied Acoustics Systems website often for
new instruments to download.

3.1

The Builder area

The Builder is divided into two different areas: the construction area and the help area. The
Browser contains the module library.

The library area

The module library, included in the Browser, contains the different modules of the library. The
modules are divided into eleven categories: EffectsEnvelopesFiltersGeneratorsIn/Out,
LogicMixersResonatorsRoutingSequencers and Sub-patches. The different sections are
selected by clicking on the corresponding folder in the Browser, to open a section, click on the sign
at the left of the folder, this will display the list of modules contained in the folder.

The construction area

The construction area is where you build your patch. After dragging modules from the module
section of the Browser, you connect them with wires using the mouse.

Summary of Contents for TASSMAN

Page 1: ...USER MANUAL ...

Page 2: ...Printed in Canada Program Copyright c 2000 2004 Applied Acoustics Systems Inc All right reserved Tassman is a Trademark of Applied Acoustics Systems DVM Inc Windows 98 2000 NT ME XP and DirectX are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Macintosh Mac OS QuickTime and Audio Units are registered trademarks of Apple Corporation VST Instruments ASIO Cubase and Cubasis are ...

Page 3: ... 25 2 3 Tutorial 3 Using a Sequencer 34 2 4 Tutorial 4 Playing with Acoustic Objects 39 3 The Tassman Builder 45 3 1 The Builder area 45 3 2 Creating an instrument 46 3 3 Setting MIDI Links 49 3 4 Making Polyphonic Instruments 50 3 5 Using Sub Patches 50 4 The Tassman Player 52 4 1 Introduction 52 4 2 The Tassman Player 52 4 3 Tweaking knobs 53 4 4 Audio Device Settings 54 4 5 MIDI Settings 54 4 6...

Page 4: ... for modules 64 6 1 ADAR 64 6 2 ADSR 65 6 3 After Touch 66 6 4 And 66 6 5 Audio In 67 6 6 Audio Out 67 6 7 Bandpass2 68 6 8 Beam 70 6 9 Bowed Beam 71 6 10 Bowed Marimba 71 6 11 Bowed Membrane 72 6 12 Bowed Multimode 73 6 13 Bowed Plate 76 6 14 Bowed String 77 6 15 Breath Controller 77 6 16 Comb 78 6 17 Compressor 80 6 18 Constant 80 6 19 Control Voltage Sequencer 81 6 20 Control Voltage Sequencer ...

Page 5: ...4 6 34 Level 94 6 35 LFO Low Frequency Oscillator 95 6 36 Lin Gain 96 6 37 Lowpass1 96 6 38 Lowpass2 96 6 39 Mallet 97 6 40 Marimba 98 6 41 Master Recorder Trig 99 6 42 Master Sync Input 100 6 43 Membrane 101 6 44 Mix2 Mix3 Mix4 and Mix5 102 6 45 Modulation Wheel 102 6 46 Multimode 102 6 47 Multi sequencer 104 6 48 Nand 107 6 49 Noise 107 6 50 Noise mallet 107 6 51 Nor 108 6 52 Not 108 6 53 On Off...

Page 6: ...6 68 Recorder 124 6 69 Recorder2 125 6 70 Reverberator 126 6 71 RMS 128 6 72 Sample Hold 129 6 73 Sbandpass2 130 6 74 Selector2 Selector3 and Selector4 131 6 75 Shifter 131 6 76 Single Gate Sequencer 132 6 77 Single Gate Sequencer with Songs 134 6 78 Slider 135 6 79 Static Delay 135 6 80 Stereo Audio In 135 6 81 Stereo Audio Out 136 6 82 Stereo Chorus 136 6 83 String 138 6 84 Sync delay 139 6 85 S...

Page 7: ...VADAR 148 6 94 VADSR 149 6 95 Vbandpass2 149 6 96 VCA Voltage Controlled Amplifier 150 6 97 VCO Voltage Controlled Oscillator 151 6 98 VCS 153 6 99 Vhighpass2 154 6 100Vkeyboard 155 6 101Vlowpass2 156 6 102Vlowpass4 157 6 103Volume 158 6 104Xor 158 7 Quick references to commands and shortcuts 159 8 License Agreement 163 ...

Page 8: ... sounds depending on the driving signals it receives For example different sounds will be produced by a plate of a given geometry and material depending on the strength of the mallet impact and its impact point It will behave differently again if you hit the plate when it is at rest or when it is already vibrating Physical modeling takes all these parameters into account naturally since it reprodu...

Page 9: ...128 Mb RAM 800 x 600 or higher screen resolution Direct X or ASIO supported sound card MIDI Keyboard recommended This computer configuration will enable you to play fairly elaborate instruments Keep in mind that the computational power required by the Tassman depends on the complexity of the patch you are playing and the number of voices of polyphony Although it is not absolutely necessary it is s...

Page 10: ...nge your computer s hard drive or upgrade your operating system Once you have registered you will not have to do so again unless You reformat or upgrade your hard drive on PC You change or upgrade your operating system on PC You uninstall the program Mac and PC If the machine you have installed on is connected to the internet Enter your email address and serial number and click next The registrati...

Page 11: ...le to assist you in the registration process Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm EST You may contact us by phone at North America Toll free number 1 888 441 8277 Outside North America 1 514 871 8100 Fax Number 1 514 845 1875 Email support applied acoustics com 1 4 Getting started There s no mistaking it Getting a new piece of gear is an occasion for excitement At a time when music technology is getting fa...

Page 12: ...lecting Preferences General Settings This menu allows you to select whether exported folders from the browser contain the contents of any sub folders located in their branch of the browser tree i e when you export a synth its presets and sub patches will be included in the export with it if this option is selected For more details on import and export functions please refer to the browser section ...

Page 13: ...cause you have twice the processing to do As a result of this 96 kHz support is only recommended for PIV and G4 processor based systems running at 800Mhz or more Exploring the Factory Instruments and Presets The Tassman comes with 50 factory instruments and around 1000 presets right out of the box which amounts to a huge range of sounds before you ve even turned a single knob As you d expect the b...

Page 14: ...oes one of the included instruments contain some of the elements of the idea you have in mind You can easily duplicate groups of modules used in one synth in another using the Copy and Paste menu commands If there is a group of modules you find you re using quite frequently in your constructions copy and paste it to a new instrument add the necessary inlets and outlets from the In Out folder of th...

Page 15: ... as a DXi plug in Start Sonar Select DXi Synth Tassman from the Insert menu The Insert DXi Synth Options dialog will appear click OK The Tassman window will appear Opening Tassman in FL Studio as a DXi or VST plug in Start Fl Studio Select More from the Channel menu Click the refresh button and select Fast Scan Recommended Double click on Tassman either from the VST plug ins or DXi plug ins catego...

Page 16: ... an Audio Units plug in Start Logic Create or open a project In the main window of Logic select an audioinst track by double clicking on it This will bring up the mixer Choose the track you want to appear on hold click on the I O button and select Stereo Audio Units Applied Acoustics Systems Tassman Opening Tassman in Steinberg s Cubase SX as a VST plug in Select VST Instruments from the Devices m...

Page 17: ...plied acoustics com community htm 1 7 About this book This User Manual begins with a tutorial to help you learn quickly how to create and play instru ments with the Tassman Four examples are included in the tutorial and every patch presented in the tutorial has been pre constructed for you You can find the corresponding files in the Tu torial folder of the Tassman browser The Tassman comes with a ...

Page 18: ... contains three different parts The main section of the Builder is the construction area on which you will make your patch The Browser at the left contains all the folders needed in Tassman You will find the Imports Instrument Modules and Sub patches folders The different modules that you can assemble appear on the left in the Browser and are listed under the different headings of Effects Envelope...

Page 19: ...dio Out input and the two modules will be connected as shown in the following figure Figure 1 Tutorial 1 step 1 Playing To play and hear the instrument you need to display the Tassman Player view In the View menu choose the Show Player command which will switch to the Tassman Player view You can now see the playing interface of the two modules you have connected in the Builder You can turn off you...

Page 20: ... will use the output of a LFO Low Frequency Oscillator to modulate the input of the VCO A LFO is an oscillator which generates sine triangle square and random waves with a frequency varying between 0 1 Hz and 35 Hz The frequency of a LFO signal is so low that it cannot be heard a LFO therefore is not used to produce sound but rather to generate control signals which modulate other signals In our p...

Page 21: ... signal is the sum of the two inputs The third input signal modulates the pulse width of the pulse wave relative to the setting of the PW knob Try connecting the output of a LFO to this input and then vary the frequency of the LFO to hear the change in the waveform Step 3 Adding a Filter Description Filters are important elements of synthesizers They are used to color the sound by altering its har...

Page 22: ...t and then slowly tweak the frequency knob you will hear the different frequency components of the sound come out as the cutoff frequency is equal to these frequencies Try changing waveforms and playing with the frequency knob to hear the differences in harmonic content between all waveforms If when working with a sine wave you adjust the cutoff frequency close to the signal frequency and then inc...

Page 23: ...two signals modulated by their respective gain values Step 5 Adjusting default module parameter values Description You have probably noticed that when you switch to the Player the different modules appear with their panel controls adjusted to specific values In this example we will change the default cutoff frequency the name of the Vlowpass2 filter and the location of its control panel on the Pla...

Page 24: ...two last modules to our patch a Volume and a Level meter These modules do not produce sound but are very useful for monitoring the output from a synth and they appear in practically every instrument made with the Tassman Construction Select the Level module from the Output folder in the In Out section of the Browser and the Volume module from the Envelopes section and then place them in the constr...

Page 25: ... you want your instrument to have and click OK A new instrument with the name you wrote will appear under the Instrument section of the Browser You can open an instrument by double clicking on its name in the Browser If you want to work again on your instrument in the Builder hit Ctrl T Apple T 2 2 Tutorial 2 Playing a Synth with a Keyboard The synthesizer we have constructed in the preceding tuto...

Page 26: ...l Double click on it in the Browser this will open the instrument in the Player view hit Ctrl T Apple T to switch to the Builder view If you did not save the preceding synth open the Tutorial1 Step6 in the Tutorial folder of the instrument section Select the wire linking the LFO to the VCO and delete it In the module library section select the Keyboard module from the MIDI folder in the In Out sec...

Page 27: ...of the VCA The gate signal is simply a signal that indicates whether a note is pressed or not its value is 1 when a key is pressed and 0 when the key is released In this way if we connect a second signal to the VCA the output of the VCA will produce no sound when no key is pressed and will be equal to the second input signal when a key is pressed Construction Select a VCA module in the Envelopes s...

Page 28: ... note has been released Construction Choose an ADSR module from the Envelopes section and place it in the construction area Delete the wire that connects output 1 of the Keyboard gate signal to input 1 of the VCA Pull a wire from output 1 gate signal of the Keyboard and connect it to the input of the ADSR Pull a wire from the output of the ADSR and connect it to input 1 of the VCA input 2 remains ...

Page 29: ...les we already have First we ll have the Keyboard modulating the Vlowpass2 which will cause the Vlowpass2 to change the cut off frequency according to the notes played on the Keyboard This enables one to change the harmonic content of a sound with the pitch of the note played which is a behavior found in many acoustic instruments piano for example Second the ADSR will also modulate the Vlowpass2 s...

Page 30: ... a MIDI controller Description Knobs on the Player interface can be tweaked with the mouse although this is not the most natural way to play a synth This method has the further limitation of allowing you to tweak only one knob at a time Tassman however allows you to link all the controllers on the front panel of the Player to any hardware MIDI controller such as a modulation wheel sustain pedal br...

Page 31: ...n for a knob Set the Maximum value parameter to 0 75 Click OK and the link appears in the list of controllers linked to this VCO module Click OK again to confirm the change and to leave the edition window Playing While you are playing move the modulation wheel of the keyboard to control the amount of mod ulation of the LFO on the VCO As you move the wheel observe that the mod2 knob also moves on t...

Page 32: ...ing the output of the VCA filter to the input of the Volume module Select the Polymixer module in the Mixer section and place it in the construction area between the VCA and the Volume module Pull a wire between the VCA output and the Polymixer input Pull a wire between the output of the Polymixer module and the Volume input Double click on the Polykey module and set the number of voices to 4 in t...

Page 33: ... down arrow located in the lower left corner of each module The presets you save for a given module can be loaded by all other modules of the same type Playing We now conclude this tutorial by playing some presets that we have made for you To try them load the following presets from the tutorial folder in the Browser patch2 6 1 Our first preset gives a classic analog sound The ADSR modulates the f...

Page 34: ... played the synthesizer we constructed with a keyboard It is possible how ever to use a sequencer instead A Sequencer is a module that records note patterns and then plays them automatically In this tutorial we will use the same synth again as this will give us the oppor tunity to create a sub patch and to include it in the Tassman module library There are combinations of modules that you will be ...

Page 35: ...the Browser Select and delete the Polykey module Select and delete the Polymixer module Select and delete the Volume module Select and delete the Level module Select and delete the Audio Out module In the Inlet folder of the In Out section of the module library area select the Inlet2 and place it in the construction area In the Outlet folder of the In Out section of the module library area select ...

Page 36: ...n the construction area Select a Multi Sequencer module in the Sequencers folder and drag it in the construction area Pull a wire between the fourth output of the Multi Sequencer module a gate signal and the first input of the Sub patch module Pull a wire between the fifth output of the Sequencer module a pitch signal and the second input of the Sub patch module Choose a Level and Audio Out module...

Page 37: ...ow in the lower left corner of the Sequencer module this will take you the Multi Sequencer module in the Browser You can now select sequences on the keypad of the Multi Sequencer module You can change them as you want The Sequencer is always in loop mode unless the once button is pressed so the sequence keeps repeating itself When the end of the current loop is reached the new sequence will start ...

Page 38: ...t on If you want to stop it press on the stop button on the front panel Repeat the same operation clicking on the gate button and selecting an F3 with steps 5 9 13 You will now hear four Fs playing on quarter notes In the pitch display of step 5 select G3 In the pitch display of step 9 select G 3 In the pitch display of step 13 select C4 You are now hearing a very simple melody played by the Multi...

Page 39: ... together the acoustic modules exactly as we have done so far with the electronic modules Furthermore you can combine electronic and acoustic objects without any restrictions Of course you might need to experiment a little while inventing new instruments but that is part of the fun In this tutorial you will learn to Use acoustic modules Play acoustic modules Create sympathetic instruments Step 1 A...

Page 40: ...he stiffness knob to hear the mallet change For now the two little knobs at the bottom of the module are not connected to anything so they have no effect on the sound Step 2 Add a plate Description We will now add a Plate module and listen to the sound it produces when hit by a Noise Mallet Construction In the Resonators section of the module library select a Plate module and place it in the const...

Page 41: ... damping and reduces the decay time Damping is characteristic of the material of an object In wood for example damping is high and the decay time is short in steel on the other hand a lower damping results in a longer decay time But damping also varies for a given material depending on how the object is used or connected to other objects As an example the response of a gong is longer than that of ...

Page 42: ...let Switch to the Tassman Player Figure 16 Tutorial 4 step 3 Playing You can now trigger the mallet from the keyboard Since the Vkeyboard sends a note signal to the Plate module the pitch of the sound it produces can also vary The pitch variations are controlled by the modulation signal entering the third input of the module the higher the amplitude of the signal the higher the pitch In other word...

Page 43: ...of this second plate fixed so that it will have a different behavior depending on the note played on the keyboard Construction Select and delete the wire linking the Plate and the Volume module Select a second Plate from the Browser Select a Mix2 module from the Mixer section Select a second Volume module Pull a wire between the output of the first Plate and the second input of the second Plate an...

Page 44: ...te has a very short decay time so you only hear it on the initial thump of the sound The second Plate on the contrary has a long decay time so you hear it resonating for a longer time Note the difference in the settings of the damp frq knobs on the two plates patch4 4 2 In this example the damp frq knobs of the two Plates are set in their center position The first Plate has a short decay while the...

Page 45: ...en reuse them in another patch just like any other elementary module Very rapidly your library will expand and contain many different types of instruments and synthesizers When you save an instrument the Builder creates an entry in the Browser under the Instruments folder describing the patch you have just made This information contained in this file is used by the Tassman to generate the instrume...

Page 46: ...g on its front panel please consult the reference section of this manual or its online version which can be opened from the Tassman Help menu 3 2 Creating an instrument Choosing modules The first step in creating an instrument consists in adding the modules it will be made from To add a module drag it from the Browser to the construction area it will appear at the specified location If you want to...

Page 47: ...either horizontally or vertically To stop pulling a wire after clicking on an output right click PC or double click Mac anywhere in the construction area Hitting the Escape key on your keyboard has the same effect Editing wires Once a wire has been drawn it is possible to change its layout To select a wire click on it To deselect a wire click anywhere in the construction area To delete the wire se...

Page 48: ...e Edit menu or its shortcut Ctrl V Apple V keys to paste the last copied modules You can also use the Duplicate command from the Edit menu or its shortcut Ctrl D Apple D To place a module in a precise manner on the construction area select it and use the arrow keys to move it on the construction area Adjusting module default values Most of the module parameters can be adjusted on their front panel...

Page 49: ... T shortcut 3 3 Setting MIDI Links Every control of every module that appears on the module front panel of the Tassman Player can be linked to an external MIDI controller To link a control to a specific MIDI controller choose the Edit MIDI Links command from the Edit menu A Midi links dialog for the current patch will appear To add a link click on the New button which will open the Edit MIDI Link ...

Page 50: ...mixer in an instrument You can choose any number of voices for your instrument but keep in mind that the computa tional load of a patch increases with the number of voices you choose Basically adding a voice is roughly equivalent to adding another copy of the polyphonic modules in your patch The number of voices you will be able to run depends on the complexity of the patch you are currently using...

Page 51: ... 12 depending on the number of outputs of the new module Use the Save or the Ctrl S Apple S shortcut or Save As command from the File menu Since you have at least one Inlet or Outlet in your patch the Builder will automatically save this patch in the Sub Patches folder in the Browser It might be useful to document a sub patch so that you will have a reminder of its purpose or functioning when you ...

Page 52: ...ommand from the View menu or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl T Apple T 4 2 The Tassman Player The Player area is displayed as a rack into which you mount rows of modules The front panels which appear in the rack correspond to the modules you have used to make your patch in the Builder The name appearing at the top of each module is the one you chose when constructing the instrument in the Builder...

Page 53: ...s by selecting them and using the arrows The Page Up and Page Down keys give the same result but the knobs then move a little faster To move a knob or switch directly to a given position place the mouse at this position and Shift click PC or Option click Mac For the knob or switch to reach this position slowly do the same but use the middle button of the mouse PC only Knobs with a green LED above ...

Page 54: ...e convenient than using the mouse especially if you want to move many controllers at once For example you can map the motion of a knob from a knob box to that of the modulation wheel from a keyboard or link a switch to a sustain pedal As you use the specified MIDI controllers you will see the controls move on the Player area just as if you had used the mouse MIDI links are set in the Player but ca...

Page 55: ...ant the resonance to increase as the cutoff decreases Click OK and the link appears in the list of controllers linked to the control Click OK again to confirm the change and to leave the MIDI links window Note that the Minimum Value and Maximum Value of a MIDI link can also be set by right control clicking on the corresponding control and selecting the Set MidiLink Mini mum Value or Set MidiLink M...

Page 56: ...y them Within the Player you can control the amount of latency introduced by the Tassman Choose the Latency Audio Control Pannel command from the Configuration menu Adjust the buffer size The total latency is equal to the number of buffers multiplied by the number of samples per buffer divided by the sampling rate You can also choose the sampling rate and the audio format 16 24 32 bits in the Late...

Page 57: ...drag and drop a preset directly from the Browser without clicking on the arrow on the module When you load presets for a module all the presets saved under the module will appear in the browser This means that settings saved for one module can be loaded by another module of the same type This is very helpful when you have several identical modules in an instrument and you want to set them all exac...

Page 58: ...ng in the display four steps representing a quarter note The feedback knob is used to adjust the amount of signal re injected from the output of a line into the other one while the cutoff knob controls the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter applied to the signal in each line The pan knob is used to adjust the panning of the echoes between the left and right position Finally the mix knob contr...

Page 59: ...ormance consists in a specific Synth Preset combination a given setting of the different effects of the output stage and a MIDI map Performances enable the grouping of presets from different synths in the same folder and therefore to rapidly and efficiently switch between different sounds To save a performance choose the Save Performance or Save Performance As command from the File menu The curren...

Page 60: ...d on the different synthesis techniques used and instrument types Increasingly specific categories can be found within by expanding each folder Opening an individual instrument folder reveals the instrument file and by expanding the individual instrument you ll find its presets To play an instrument sim ply double click on the instrument icon piano keys or any of the preset icon blue knob in order...

Page 61: ...ding a synth Many basic module configurations have been saved as sub patches 5 5 The Import folder The Import and Export commands found in the File drop down menu allow one to easily exchange synths with other Tassman users or decrease the number of synths in your Browser by archiving older or rarely used instruments elsewhere on CD R or a second hard disk for example While one can export sub patc...

Page 62: ... patches directory in separate folders with the sub patch directory or within an instrument file Presets May appear within an instrument sub patch or module file While this all may seem a little convoluted on paper the Tassman s browser performs in very much the same way as various other programs you use everyday The most important thing to consider when organizing your synths sub patches and pres...

Page 63: ...to simplify the browser view you can apply different filters from the drop down menu at the top of the browser in order to view only certain categories of objects depending on what you are currently doing with the Tassman The list of filters is as follows Show All Show Performances Show Modules Show Modules and Sub Patches Show Instruments Show Performances and Instruments Show Imports ...

Page 64: ...ime the signal takes to go from 1 to 0 Volt is the decay time and is adjusted using the decay knob In attack release mode the shape of the output signal is different since a sustain state is added The output signal is held to 1 Volt until the gate signal falls to 0 and the release is then triggered Finally the lin exp switch is used to determine the shape of the different segments of the envelope ...

Page 65: ...e Decay knob The sustain level set by the Sustain knob is then held until the input signal drops to less than 0 1 Volt The output signal then decreases to 0 Volt during the time set by the Release knob The red LED beside each knob indicates the current phase of the output envelope Finally the lin exp switch is used to determine the shape of the different segments of the envelope which can be eithe...

Page 66: ...put the after touch signal It outputs a value ranging between 0 and 1 volt This module has no front panel Typical Use The After Touch module can be used to control modulation inputs on a VCO or a VCF 6 4 And The And module performs an AND logic operation The one output of this module is either 1 true or 0 false depending on the values sent to the two inputs To deliver 1 at the output the two input...

Page 67: ...o output The input is converted to an analog signal by the sound card and is sent on the left and right channels of the sound card the same signal on both channels Before sending the input signal to the analog converters of the sound card the Audio Out applies a saturation curve to the signal similar to that of an analog amplifier Figure 4 in order to avoid undesirable digital saturation at high a...

Page 68: ...ut signal Tuning the filter The center freq knob tunes the center frequency of the filter to the desired level The resonance button is used to adjust the resonance of the filter around the center frequency as shown in Figure 6 Note that as the resonance is increased the am plitude of the filter response increases while the bandwidth of the filter decreases Typical Use Bandpass2 filters can be used...

Page 69: ...uency Amp dB Figure 24 Frequency response of a Bandpass2 Hz Filter 1 Filter 2 Filter 3 Resulting Filter Frequency Amp dB Figure 25 Response of the parametric equalizer shown in Figure 26 Figure 26 Parametric equalizer made with a Bandpass2 Note See also Vbandpass2 ...

Page 70: ... The second input signal is the force signal exciting the beam the output from a Mallet module for example The third input is a pitch modulation signal Typical Use See Multimode module The default value of the following parameters is set during construction Length the length in meters of the beam Frequency fundamental frequency in Hertz of the beam when there is no pitch modulation signal or when ...

Page 71: ...rresponds to the middle C C3 of a piano keyboard This setting is convenient when controlling a Bowed Beam module with a Keyboard module Decay proportional to the decay time of the sound produced by the beam Number of Modes number of modes used to simulate the object As the number of modes is increased the number of partials in the sound increases but also inevitably the calculation load Excitation...

Page 72: ...te the object As the number of modes is increased the number of partials in the sound increases but also inevitably the calculation load Excitation point x coordinate in meters of bow from the extremity of the beam Listening point x coordinate in meters of listening point from the extremity of the beam To obtain proper functioning the excitation and listening points should be the same Note For mor...

Page 73: ...nate in meters of bow from the lower left corner of the mem brane Excitation point y y coordinate in meters of bow from the lower left corner of the mem brane Listening point x x coordinate in meters of listening point from the lower left corner of the membrane To obtain proper functioning the excitation and listening points should be the same Listening point y y coordinate in meters of listening ...

Page 74: ...he object This param eter is adjusted using the decay knob on the front panel When the knob is turned left the damping is strong and the decay time short damping is light and decay time is long when the knob is turned right The damping is characteristic of the material of the object For example damping in wood is strong and the decay time is short knob turned to left and in steel damping is weaker...

Page 75: ...on The variation of the damping with frequency is characteristic of the material of a structure and is adjusted in a Multimode object with the damp frq knob on the module front panel In the left position the decay time of low frequencies is shorter than that of high frequencies in the right position the opposite holds As a rule of thumb steel and glass are found in the left position nylon in the c...

Page 76: ...uency is independent of the size of the plate The software automatically calculates the physical parameters necessary to obtain the required fundamental frequency The default value of this parameter is 261 62 Hz which corresponds to the middle C C3 of a piano keyboard This setting is convenient when controlling a Bowed Plate module with a Keyboard module Decay proportional to the decay time of the...

Page 77: ...essary to obtain the required fundamental frequency The default value of this parameter is 261 62 Hz which corresponds to the middle C C3 of a piano keyboard This setting is convenient when controlling a Bowed String module with a Keyboard module Decay proportional to the decay time of the sound produced by the string Inharmonicity detunes the partial toward higher frequencies with respect to the ...

Page 78: ...signal into a variable delay line The output of this delay is then re injected in this delay line with a gain factor depth 0 99 depth 0 5 depth 0 frequency gain 3f 2f f Figure 28 Frequency response of a Comb filter Tuning The coarse and fine knobs and the range switch are used to tune the resonance frequency of the filter The variations in resonance frequency caused by changes in the modulation si...

Page 79: ...ise Finally the feedback knob is used to fix the amount of wet signal re injected into the delay line Typical Use The Comb filter can be used to obtain a vibrato effect on a sound source In the example of Figure 11 the output of the LFO modulates the resonance frequencies of the Comb filter When the feedback knob is adjusted in the left position and the mod1 knob is opened the frequency of the fil...

Page 80: ...ession unit The threshold button sets the level above which the gain reduction occurs while the ratio knob is used to adjust the ratio of compression to values ranging between 1 1 and 1 30 The attack and decay knobs set the amount of time it takes for the unit to respond to the variation of the control signal The attack time is used when the control signal is above the threshold while the decay ti...

Page 81: ... first input is a sync signal which controls the tempo from an external source the second is a start stop input which will start the sequencer when it goes form 0 to 1 volt and stop it when it goes from 1 to 0 volt The signal can come from another sequencer or a Keyboard The third one is a reset input which will restart the sequence from beginning when it goes from 0 to 1 volt The first three outp...

Page 82: ...empo or an external source ext such as another sequencer or a Sync Lfo The swing knob will introduce a swing feel to the rhythm of the pattern The loop buttons are used to set the length of the Pattern from 1 to 16 steps It is possible to draw across the bars by holding down the Shift key Windows or Option key Mac OS Also by holding the Ctrl key Windows or Apple key Mac OS the value of every bar w...

Page 83: ...with Songs Dual Gate Sequencer and Dual Gate Sequencer with Songs 6 21 Damper This module is used to receive signal from a MIDI sustain pedal MIDI controller number 64 It has no input and one output the damper signal which is equal to 1 when the sustain pedal is depressed and to 0 when it is released This module has no front panel control Typical Use The following patch is used to reproduce the be...

Page 84: ...ack loop values between 0 and 1 If the on off switch is in the off position the module passes the input on with no effect The following figure shows the effect of the Delay module on a pulse signal with a2 a1 feedback gain delay a1 a2 delay with feedback a2 a1 time time gain gain Figure 34 Effect of Delay Module Typical Use The Delay module is used to produce an echo effect when the delay is long ...

Page 85: ...rst three outputs are the same as the inputs sync start stop reset and are used to control other sequencers The fourth and fifth outputs are gate signals which can be used as control sources to trigger other modules This sequencer has 2 sets of 16 gate buttons Each has its own gate output that will generate a square pulse of 1 8 of a quarter note for each active gate buttons The two sets of 16 shi...

Page 86: ...te button must be clicked green light on You have two sets of gate buttons one for each pattern The loop buttons are used to set the length of the Patterns from 1 to 16 steps Note that the loop point is set for both patterns at the same time The shift knobs delays the output of their respective gate Typical Use In this example one Dual Gate sequencer is used to control two Player modules Figure 35...

Page 87: ...dule is to introduce rejection in the spectrum of the input signal at frequencies located at odd harmonic intervals of a fundamental frequency as shown in Figure 37 The location of the fundamental frequency f0 and the spacing between the valleys and peaks of the frequency response is determined by the length of the delay line f0 1 2delay the longer the delay the lower is f0 and the smaller the spa...

Page 88: ...e 0 dB Amp Frequency f0 2xf0 3xf0 4xf0 5xf0 6xf0 Light effect mix 0 1 Medium effect mix 0 25 Strong effect mix 0 5 Figure 38 Effect of the mix between wet and dry signal on the frequency response of a Flanger module 0 dB Amp Frequency f0 2xf0 3xf0 4xf0 5xf0 6xf0 Feedback 0 9 No Feedback Feedback 0 5 Figure 39 Effect of the amount of feedback on the frequency response of a Flanger module ...

Page 89: ...and in the right position only wet signal is sent to the output Typical Use The output from a LFO module can be used to control the filtering of a signal the output of a VCO for example with a Flanger module Different type of effects can be obtained with different settings of the Flanger module A chorus effect is obtained by using a delay of roughly 60 ms a feedback value of 0 4 a low frequency mo...

Page 90: ...so has the same range C3 to G5 This module has 3 inputs and one output The first input is a gate signal generally that from a Keyboard The second input is the driving pressure signal and is generally connected to the output from an ADSR module the output from a Breath Controller module or the gate signal from a Keyboard module Finally the third input is a pitch signal generally connected to the pi...

Page 91: ...1 module is a first order high pass filter 6dB octave Its one input is the signal to be filtered its one output the filtered input signal Tuning the filter The cutoff frq knob tunes the cutoff frequency of the filter to the desired level The default value of the following parameter is set at construction Cutoff frequency value of the filter cutoff frequency 6 29 Inlets 1 12 These modules are used ...

Page 92: ... Typical Use A sub patch is created with an Inlet or Outlet module or both The inputs of the sub patch are determined by connecting them to an Inlet module In the example of Figure 24 a stereo reverb sub patch having two inputs and two outputs is created Figure 42 A reverb sub patch Note See also the Outlet 1 12 modules 6 30 Inverter The Inverter module has no front panel control It has one input ...

Page 93: ... calculated with respect to the C3 key middle C which outputs a value of 0 Volt This means that for example the C2 key signal is 1 Volt and that of the C4 key is 1 Volt The stretch knob on the interface is used to simulate stretched tuning used on instruments such as pianos Turned to the left low notes will be tuned higher and high notes lower inner stretch turned to the right low notes will be tu...

Page 94: ...0 and 2 6 33 LESS The LESS module performs the comparison between its two inputs The one output of this module is either 1 true or 0 false depending on the values sent to the two inputs The output is true 1 if the first input is lower than the second and false 0 otherwise 6 34 Level The Level module is a VU Meter used to show the RMS root mean square value of a signal 1 Volt full scale This module...

Page 95: ...he output frequency The wave shape is set by the wavetype switch Waveforms include triangle square random and sine The amplitude of the output signal is 1 Volt Typical Use The LFO is often used to generate tremolo amplitude modulation as shown in Figure 27 or vibrato frequency modulation as in Figure 28 Two LFO modules with a Sample Hold can be used to generate a random signal as illustrated in Fi...

Page 96: ...s the cutoff frequency of the filter to the desired level The default value of the following parameter is set at construction Cutoff frequency value of the filter cutoff frequency Note see also Lowpass2 Vlowpass2 and Vlowpass4 6 38 Lowpass2 The Lowpass2 module is a second order low pass filter 12dB octave Its one input is the signal to be filtered its one output is the filtered input signal The cu...

Page 97: ...pact is also shown in the same figure strength 0 2 strength 0 5 strength 1 stiffness 50 stiffness 500 stifness 5000 time time amp amp Figure 48 Effect of stiffness and strength knob on Mallet output This module has one output the impact signal and four inputs The first input triggers the mallet every time a low to high transition is encountered in the input signal This input is usually connected t...

Page 98: ...0 and 2 Stiffness default value of mallet stiffness value between 1 and 20 000 Note see also Noise Mallet 6 40 Marimba The Marimba module simulates sound production by marimba bars of different material and sizes This module reproduces the characteristic tuning of marimba bars overtones obtained with the deep arch cut of the bars This module which constitutes a special case of the Beam module firs...

Page 99: ...e Master Recorder in the output stage of the Player Its one input expects a gate signal such as the start stop signal from a Sequencer When the switch of the Master Recorder is in the gate position recording will start whenever a low to high transition occurs in the gate signal it will stop when a high to low transition is received In the trig position the recording will start when a low to high t...

Page 100: ... is set to ext the clock signal will be that from a host sequencer when the Tassman is used as a plug in or in standalone mode the clock signal received on the MIDI channel selected in the Player toolbar When the int source is chosen the clock is adjusted in beats per minute in the green tempo display of the Sync module The second output is a gate signal equal to 1 volt when the play button of the...

Page 101: ...lly connected to a Constant module to obtain undamped motion or to a Damper module or the gate signal from a keyboard in order to vary the damping while playing The second input signal is the force signal exciting the membrane while the third is a pitch modulation signal The default value of the following parameters is set at construction Length the length in meters of the membrane Width the width...

Page 102: ...under Bandpass2 In Figure 35 under Damper a Mix2 module is used to perform a logical OR function of two gate signals output is on when either input is on in order to reproduce the behavior of a piano damper pedal 6 45 Modulation Wheel This module is used to receive signal from a MIDI modulation wheel MIDI controller number 1 It has one output the modulation wheel signal which lies between 0 and 1 ...

Page 103: ... time of the sound produced by the object This param eter is adjusted using the decay knob on the front panel When the knob is turned left the damping is high and the decay time short damping is low and decay time is long when the knob is turned right The damping is characteristic of the material of the object Damping in wood for example is high and the decay time is short knob turned to left and ...

Page 104: ...er position and wood in the right position Typical Use These modules are often used with a Mallet or Noise Mallet module as shown in Figure 51 The different Multimode modules can be cascaded to simulate coupling between structures as illustrated by the following example Figure 51 Cascading of Multimode objects Note see also Beam Bowed Multimode Marimba Membrane Plate and String 6 47 Multi sequence...

Page 105: ...andom sequence Random 2 RDN2 plays the pattern randomly changing the random pattern when looping The sequencer will loop each time a pattern ends To make the sequencer stop at the end of a pattern the once button must be clicked The tempo display will adjust the speed of the pattern The ext int switch will determine if it is the internal clock int that sets the tempo or an external source ext such...

Page 106: ...p must be selected by the primary loop point parameter This parameter has 3 values none start S and end E Selecting start sets the return point of the loop to a given event and activates the primary loop times parameter which can be set from 1 to 99 Selecting end E in any subsequent event will make the sequencer return to the start event until the number of loops is reached Note that placing a pri...

Page 107: ... It can be used to create percussion sounds or special effects 6 50 Noise mallet The Noise Mallet module can be used as an alternative to the Mallet module This module outputs the same signal as the Mallet module but in addition to the impact noise it also generates white noise The force of the impact is adjusted with the strength knob while the stiffness of the mallet related to its material is v...

Page 108: ...rameters is set at construction Strength value of the impact force value between 0 and 2 Stiffness value of mallet stiffness value between 1 and 20 000 Note See also Mallet 6 51 Nor The Nor module performs the inverse of the OR logic operation The one output of this module is either 1 true or 0 false depending on the values sent to the two inputs This module has no front panel The following diagra...

Page 109: ...an be used as a mute button or to create modulation matrices Figure 52 On Off switch used to mute the output of a VCO module Note See also Volume Slider Gain Selector 6 54 Or The OR module performs an OR logic operation The one output of this module is either 1 true or 0 false depending on the values sent to the two inputs To deliver 1 at the output either one or the two inputs must receive a valu...

Page 110: ...n the jet blows exactly in front of the pipe labium Typical Use This module is generally played with a Polykey module as shown in Figure 53 Figure 53 An Organ module controlled with a Polykey Note This module is designed to be played with a Polykey or Polyvkey module Although it works with one voice you will hear clicks with note changes as the output switches abruptly from one pipe to the other F...

Page 111: ...tween the two outputs in such a way that the power remains constant i e IN1 2 OUT1 2 OUT2 2 When there is 0 Volts on the second input or when the mod knob is set to zero the pan knob alone controls the distribution of the input signal over the two outputs When the pan knob is turned to the left all the signal goes to output 1 left turned to the right all the signal goes to output 2 right and in th...

Page 112: ...t signal is sent into a variable fourth order all pass filter This wet signal is then mixed down with the original dry signal A feedback line allows the resulting signal to be re injected into the filter The effect of the Phaser module is to introduce rejection in the spectrum of the input signal depending on the tuning of the filter The all pass filter modifies a signal by delaying its frequency ...

Page 113: ...fect mix 0 25 Strong effect mix 0 5 250 Hz 2435 Hz Figure 57 Frequency response of a Phaser module Effect of the mix between wet and dry signal on the frequency response Tuning The location of the first notch in the frequency response of the module is adjusted with the fre quency knob and is displayed in Hertz in the counter next to the knob This frequency can be modulated by using the second inpu...

Page 114: ...obtained by using much feedback This has the effect of increasing the peak in the frequency response located between the two notches in the curve In these conditions the module acts as bandpass filter The default value of the following parameters is set at construction frequency frequency in Hertz of the first notch in the frequency response of the filter 50 2000 Hertz feedback coefficient 0 1 det...

Page 115: ...ickup relative to a signal source as shown in Figure 6 59 The pickup can be posi tioned precisely in front of the source by adjusting the symmetry knob in the center position green LED on The position of the pickup determines both the amplitude of the signal transmitted by the pickup and the amount of distortion applied to the input signal Distortion occurs because the distance between the vibrati...

Page 116: ...dule reads the signal from the pitch wheel of a keyboard The output signal lies between 1 and 1 its value depending on the position of the pitch wheel The output signal is equal to 0 when the pitch wheel is not moving This module has no input and no front panel control The default value of the following parameter is set at construction MIDI channel MIDI channel used by the pitch wheel 6 61 Plate T...

Page 117: ...btain the required fundamental frequency The default value of this parameter is 261 62 Hz which corresponds to the middle C C3 of a piano keyboard This setting is convenient when controlling a Plate module with a Keyboard module Decay proportional to the decay time of the sound produced by the plate Number of Modes number of modes used to simulate the object As the number of modes is increased the...

Page 118: ...ill keep on doing this until the stop button is pressed The Player first starts to play an empty sound file One can select a given file by pressing on the select button located above the play button which will make a browse window appear on the screen Sound files can also be drag n dropped on the Player module The name of the file currently playing appears on the module front panel while its forma...

Page 119: ...sted with the mod1 gain knob The greater the amplitude the greater the stiffness This modulation input is used for example when a variation of the stiffness of the plectrum with the note played is desired When the knob is adjusted in its center position and when this input is connected to a pitch signal the stiffness exactly follows the pitch variation so as to ensure that the spectral content or ...

Page 120: ... on the complexity of the patch one is playing and on the computer processing power The Polykey module has no input and two outputs which are similar for every voice to that of a Keyboard module The first output is the gate signal It is equal to 0 Volt when no key is played and 1 Volt when a key is played The second output signal is the pitch signal The pitch signal varies by 1 Volt per octave whi...

Page 121: ...d by inserting modules between a Polykey or a Polyvkey and a Polymixer Tassman will automatically reproduce the modules appearing between the Polykey and Polymixer module one time for each voice requested during construction in the Polykey or Polyvkey module edit pop up menu The output of the Polymixer module is the sum of the outputs of the different voices of the polyphonic patch The front panel...

Page 122: ...ng the knob to the right results in a slower velocity curve The default value of the following parameters is set at construction pitch wheel range determines the range of pitch variations that can be obtained with the pitch wheel The convention is 1 Volt octave maximum value is 2 Volts A semitone is equal to a 0 08333 value MIDI channel MIDI channel used by the keyboard number of voices number of ...

Page 123: ...e 65 Portamento triggered by gate signal Typical Use The Portamento is often used to create a glissando effect between two notes Figure 45 shows a complete example of a Portamento triggered by a gate signal when the on off switch is off The Portamento is frequently inserted between a Keyboard module and a VCO to smooth the note output of the Keyboard as shown in Figure 46 It is then switched on or...

Page 124: ...the file being written onto is displayed above the select button The file format is determined by the settings in the browse window The recorded signal is not compressed so that it can be reloaded again without any loss How ever when the amplitude of the signal is too high it will be clipped according to the Soft Clip selector on the panel When clipping occurs during a recording the red clip LED i...

Page 125: ...l make a browse window appear on the screen The name of the file being written onto is displayed above the select button The file format is determined by the settings in the browse window The recorded signal is not compressed so that it can be reloaded again without any loss How ever when the signal s amplitude is too high it will be clipped according to the Soft Clip selector on the panel When cl...

Page 126: ...ile the remaining of the response is the effect of the room which can itself be divided in two parts Following the direct sound one can observe a certain amount of echoes which gradually become closer and closer until they can not be distinguished anymore and can be assimilated to an exponentially decaying signal The first part of the room response is called the early reflexion while the second is...

Page 127: ... of the listener The farther we are from the sound source the quieter is the direct sound relatively to the room response The ratio between the direct sound and the room response is adjusted with the mix knob which in other words is used to adjust the perceived distance between the source and the listener In its leftmost position only the direct sound is heard while when fully turned to the right ...

Page 128: ...odule can be used to extract the envelope of a signal as in the following example Figure 70 RMS Module Used to Extract Volume In the example of Figure 51 Root Mean Square modules are used to make a vocoder The RMS modules are used to extract the envelope of different frequency bands of an audio signal from a Player typically a voice recording which is then used to modulate the amplitude of corresp...

Page 129: ...e high for amplitudes above 0 75 Volts while it is considered to be low for values below 0 25Volts The signal of the first input must drop again below 0 25V before it can trigger another sample This prevents minor variations less than 0 5V in the gate signal due to noise from triggering a new sample The hold button on the front panel is used to manually sample the input signal independently of the...

Page 130: ...le is a static second order band pass filter 6dB octave It is the same as the Bandpass2 module but without the playing interface The center frequency and resonance are static and set at the time of construction Typical Use See Vocoder example Figure 71 under RMS module The default value of the following parameters is set at construction Center frequency frequency of the middle of the passing band ...

Page 131: ...itch is used to choose the modulation signal for the cutoff frequency of a Vlowpass2 filter 6 75 Shifter The Shifter module is used to change the pitch of an audio sig nal It functions similarly to analog hardware where a magnetic tape is scrolled in front of a two head system In this way the pitch of the signal is changed without affecting the duration of the signal unlike the effect obtained by ...

Page 132: ...e fine and range knobs and selectors The gain of these modulation signals are controlled with the mod1 and mod2 knobs The total modulation signal is the sum of the two inputs each multiplied by the gain corresponding to its respective mod knob When the knobs are in the center position green LEDs on the gain equals 1 and the pitch variation is 1 Volt octave This position is used to play an equal te...

Page 133: ...A B C D and numbers 1 to 8 on the front panel giving you a total of 32 patterns The sequencer will loop each time a pattern ends To make the sequencer stop at the end of a pattern the once button must be clicked The patterns can be played following 5 play modes using the mode control Forward FWD plays the pattern incrementally Backward BWD plays the pattern decrementally Pendulum PEND plays the pa...

Page 134: ... Gate Sequencer and Dual Gate Se quencer with Songs 6 77 Single Gate Sequencer with Songs This module is the same as the Single Gate Sequencer but with song mode added To read more about song mode please refer to the Multi Sequencer module documentation Note see also Multi Sequencer Control Voltage Sequencer Control Voltage Sequencer with Songs Single Gate Sequencer Dual Gate Sequencer and Dual Ga...

Page 135: ...to be delayed and its one output is the delayed signal The delay time is adjusted with the delay knob on the front panel The delay can have a maximum length of 5 seconds To get a longer delay time simply cascade multiple Static Delay modules Typical Use The Static Delay will often be used to delay the gate signal triggering an ADSR module Note See also Delay Sync Delay and Sync Ping Pong Delay 6 8...

Page 136: ...the Panpot modules Figure 77 Use of Panpot module and a Stereo Audio Out to obtain a stereo output Note See also Audio Out 6 82 Stereo Chorus The Stereo Chorus module implements a wide range of stereo effects such as flanging chorusing and vibrato This module has three inputs and two outputs The first and second inputs are re spectively the left and right audio signals to be filtered while the thi...

Page 137: ...e amount of modulation depending on the adjustment of the depth knob In the left position there is no modulation and the delay lines remain fixed while in the right position with a modulation signal varying between 1 1 Volt the delay lines varies between 0 and twice the value set with the delay knobs Note that the modulation on the left and right channels can be set out of phase by pressing the in...

Page 138: ...value lowers or raises dampers on the structure When the input signal is equal to 0 dampers are lowered on the string thus shortening the decay time of the sound produced by the structure When the signal is greater than 0 dampers are raised Note that this damping adds to the natural damping of the string itself If this input is not connected to any other module the default value is set at 0 which ...

Page 139: ... string Listening point x coordinate in meters of listening point from the extremity of the string Note For more details on this module and especially the front panel controls see the Multimode module 6 84 Sync delay This modules is a simple delay line Its main feature is that the delay time is adjusted in steps relatively to a sync input The first input of the module is used to plug the sync inpu...

Page 140: ...ignal by the number of steps indicated in the display When the ext int switch is set to ext the internal tempo controls have no effect Typical Use Two Sync LFO can be linked to create double synced modulation source for other modules 6 86 Sync Ping Pong Delay The Sync Ping Pong Delay is a module which generates echoes that can be panned in order to regularly alternate between the left and the righ...

Page 141: ...ll only be fed into the left delay line and one will hear clearly defined echo first from the left channel and then from the right channel and so on In its rightmost position the behavior will be similar but with the first echo coming from the right channel These two extreme position correspond to the standard ping pong effect but a a less extreme behavior can be obtained by choosing an intermedia...

Page 142: ...ne wheel will play the note corresponding to the signal received on the pitch input of the tone wheel usually connected to the pitch output of a Keyboard module convention is 1 Volt octave When the 16b utton is pressed the output is one octave below The other buttons 5 1 3 4 2 2 3 2 1 3 5 1 1 3 output a note a fifth an octave a twelfth 2 octaves 2 octaves and a major third 2 octaves and a fifth an...

Page 143: ...reproducing drawbars on hardware organs Figure 82 A simple polyphonic organ 6 89 Tremolo This module has one input and two outputs It applies a tremolo effect to the input signal and outputs the resulting signal on the two outputs A tremolo effect consists in modulating the amplitude of a signal with a low frequency wave The speed and depth knobs of the front panel is used to adjust the speed and ...

Page 144: ...h and termination A tube with open extremities has resonances located at harmonic intervals i e located at 1 2 3 times any fundamental frequency as can be see in Figure 83 When an extremity is closed the tube only has resonance for odd harmonics of its fundamental frequency A tube can be tuned by adjusting its length in order to obtain a given fundamental resonance frequency When the tube is open ...

Page 145: ...a closed termination is used The decay time in the tube can also be adjusted with the decay knob on the module front panel Typical Use The Tube module can be used to introduce delay in a patch Tubes can also be used as sympathetic resonators as illustrated in Figure 62 In this example the output of a String module is sent into an array of three tubes each having a different length The tubes enhanc...

Page 146: ...decay knob controls the decay time of sound wave traveling inside the resonator l1 l2 l3 2r3 2r4 2r2 2r1 l4 source position mic position Figure 85 Tube4 module geometry Typical Use Tube4 modules can be used to obtain reverb effects When the total length of the tube is long the module will introduce delay in the patch The discontinuities in the resonator filter the input signal depending on their r...

Page 147: ...nected together the output of each tube is also distributed to the other tubes which results in interesting reverb effects This module has one input the source signal and its one output is the signal that would be measured by a microphone located at the tube connection point mic position source position l2 l3 l1 2r1 2 r 2 2 r 3 Figure 86 A reverb made out with three tubes Tuning the reverb The rev...

Page 148: ...e For more details on the filtering effect of tubes see the Tube module See also Reverber ator 6 93 VADAR The VADAR acts exactly like the ADAR module except that the VADAR has two additional inputs for controlling the attack time and the decay time It also has two more knobs to adjust the gain of those two inputs The modula tion signals affect the duration of the attack and decay stages the higher...

Page 149: ...de envelopes through a VCA or spectral envelopes by modulating the frequency of the filter modules The modulation entries can be con nected to the velocity output of a Vkeyboard or a Sequencer Note See also the ADAR ADSR and VADAR modules 6 95 Vbandpass2 The Vbandpass2 module is a voltage controlled second order band pass filter 6dB octave This module has one output the filtered signal and three i...

Page 150: ...w an equal temperament scale The modulation signal of the second input can be inverted by pressing the inv button This can be useful when generating bass sounds for example where one wants to close the filter with an upward going envelope such as during the attack of a note Typical Use A Vbandpass2 and an ADSR module can be used to obtain an auto wah wah effect In this example the center frequency...

Page 151: ...ation is involved the order of the inputs is not important For the same reason if one of the two input signals is null the output will also be null 6 97 VCO Voltage Controlled Oscillator The VCO module is an oscillator used to generate signals of different frequencies and waveforms This module has 3 mod ulation inputs and 1 output The sum of the first two inputs controls the pitch of the out put s...

Page 152: ...he center position green LEDs on the gain equals 1 and the pitch variation is 1 Volt octave This position is used to play an equal temperament scale when connecting the output of a Keyboard module to a modulation input of a VCO The frequency variation with the modulation signal can be increased or decreased by turning the modulation knobs clockwise or anti clockwise Waveform The wavetype switch sw...

Page 153: ...and range are used to tune the output frequency or pitch to the desired level The variations in output pitch caused by changes in the modulation signals are relative to this level When the two knobs are in their center position green LEDs on for the coarse knob the range knob is in the left position and there is no modulation signal the playing frequency has a value of 261 6 Hz which corresponds t...

Page 154: ...quency modulation applied by the modulation signal is controlled with the FM knob Typical Use The FM synthesis technique can be reproduced by using VCS modules connected in cascade as in the following example Figure 93 FM synthesis with VCS modules 6 99 Vhighpass2 The Vhighpass2 module is a voltage controlled second order high pass fil ter 12dB octave This module has three inputs and one output Th...

Page 155: ...ale The modulation signal of the second input can be inverted by pressing the inv button Typical Use A Vhighpass2 can be used as a filter to reduce the low frequencies in a signal as shown in the following example Figure 94 Use of Vhighpass2 to reduce low frequencies 6 100 Vkeyboard Similar to the monophonic Keyboard module except that there is an additional output proportional to the velocity wit...

Page 156: ...n knobs mod1 and mod2 respectively The output is the filtered signal Tuning the Cutoff Frequency The cutoff frq knob tunes the cutoff frequency to the desired level The varia tions in the cutoff frequency caused by changes in the modulation inputs are relative to this level The resonance knob is used to emphasize the frequencies near the cutoff frequency as shown in the following figure res 1 res ...

Page 157: ...by turning the resonance knob up clockwise This gives the filter a more drawn out response a longer transient and generates a sound at the cutoff frequency as shown in the following example Figure 97 Use of Vlowpass2 to generate Sound 6 102 Vlowpass4 The Vlowpass4 module is a voltage controlled fourth order low pass filter 24dB octave This module has three inputs and one output The first input is ...

Page 158: ...of the volume gain value between 0 and 2 6 104 Xor The XOR module performs an XOR logic operation The one output of this module is either 1 true or 0 false depending on the values sent to the two inputs To deliver 1 at the output To deliver 1 at the output only one of the two inputs must receive a value of 1 otherwise the output will deliver a value of 0 This module has no front panel The followin...

Page 159: ... Close the current patch Save Instrument Ctrl S Apple S Save the current patch Save Instrument As Save the current patch under a new name Save Preset Apple Option S Save the current preset Save Preset As Ctrl Shift S Save the current preset under a new name Save Midi Links Save the current MIDI links Save Midi Links As Save the current MIDI links under a new name Save Performance Save the current ...

Page 160: ...le D Duplicate selected item Info Ctrl I Apple I Edit information about a selected item browser Module Settings Alt Enter Apple J Edit module settings builder Learn MidiLink Enter MIDI link learn mode player Forget MidiLink Drop a MIDI link player Set MidiLink Minimun Value Limit the value of a MIDI link to a minimum value Set MidiLink Minimun Value Limit the value of a MIDI link to a maximum valu...

Page 161: ...Mac OS Description Align Left Edges Alt Left Align the left edges of the selected modules builder Center Horizontally Shift F9 Align horizontally the selected modules builder Align Right Edges Alt Right Align the right edges of the selected modules builder Align Top Edges Alt Up Align the top edges of the selected modules builder Center Vertically F9 Align vertically the selected modules builder A...

Page 162: ...ow Hide the help panel builder Locate Ctrl L Apple Select and make visible in the browser the current instrument or the module currently selected in the builder Previous Patch Ctrl Shift Tab Apple Walk forward in the list of opened instruments Next Patch Ctrl Tab Apple Walk backward in the list of opened instruments Help Menu Command PC Mac OS Description Manual F1 Display the user manual About Ta...

Page 163: ...ate derivative and or com petitive products based on any portion of the Software iii provide use of the Software in a network timesharing interactive cable television multiple CPU service bureau or multiple user arrangement to users not individually licensed by AAS other than as expressly permit ted by the terms of this license and iv to use the TassBuilder for commercial purposes in cluding but n...

Page 164: ...S LICENSE THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WAR RANTIES AND OR THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS NOT PERMITTED IN SOME JURISDICTIONS AND SOME OR ALL OF THESE EXCLUSIONS MAY THEREFORE NOT APPLY 6 TERMINATION This License also shall extend to the Software and any updates or new releases thereof obtained by the Licensee if any subject to any changes to this License made by AAS from time to time and provided to t...

Page 165: ...e agreement between AAS and the Licensee relating to the Software and i supersedes all prior or contemporaneous oral or written communications proposals and representations with respect to its subject matter and ii prevails over any conflicting or additional terms of any quote order acknowledgement or similar communication between the parties during the term of this Agreement except as otherwise e...

Page 166: ...tant 80 98 101 117 138 construction 45 control voltage sequencer 81 control voltage sequencer with songs 83 dac 18 damper 83 98 101 102 117 138 default preset 57 delay 57 84 144 146 static 135 sync 139 sync ping pong 140 distortion 116 dual gate sequencer 85 dual gate sequencer with songs 86 echo 84 144 146 effect 57 envelope 25 28 64 65 148 149 151 equalizer 68 export 61 filter 21 bandpass 68 com...

Page 167: ...ig 99 master sync input 100 membrane 97 101 103 MIDI device 54 settings 54 MIDI configuration 12 MIDI controller 54 MIDI links 25 30 31 49 54 MIDI links range 55 MIDI map 55 MIDI program change 55 mix 102 modulation 18 21 modulation wheel 102 modules 45 61 connecting 18 47 default value 48 default values 23 deleting 18 editing 47 inputs 45 outputs 45 selecting 18 monitoring 24 multi sequencer 104 ...

Page 168: ... voltage 81 control voltage with songs 83 dual gate 85 dual gate with songs 86 multi 104 programming 37 single gate 132 single gate with songs 134 using 37 shifter 131 shortcuts 159 single gate sequencer 132 single gate sequencer with songs 134 slider 94 135 static delay 135 stereo audio in 135 stereo chorus 136 stereo out 136 string 97 103 119 138 sub patch 35 61 91 110 creating 34 importing 36 p...

Page 169: ...INDEX 169 vkeyboard 26 155 vlowpass2 21 156 vlowpass4 82 157 vocoder 129 volume 24 68 80 158 wah 114 wah wah 150 wire 45 editing 18 47 xor 158 ...

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