E-Mu Classic keys, Operation Manual

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STEP-BY-STEP
83
REVERSING THE SOUND
A simple concept. The instrument sounds
can be played in reverse. This will nor-
mally make an instrument sound quite a
bit different. It also virtually doubles the
number of raw instruments you have to
work with, and it’s fun.
REVERSE SOUND
pri:Off sec:Off
You’re probably getting the idea by now.
Remember not to change presets or the
preset will return to normal. If you want
to save your creation, select the last
screen in the Edit menu and select a
destination preset location for your
masterpiece, then press Enter. That’s it.
The previous examples were offered solely
to pique your curiosity. By all means, go
ahead and experiment with any of the
other functions. Some of the best sounds
have been discovered by accident. If it
sounds good ... Do it!
SOUND SPLICING SYNTHESIS
Oh, no! Not another form of synthesis to
learn. Relax. It’s easy. Sound Splicing
Synthesis is actually just a form of
additive synthesis. Only, instead of
building a sound from simple sine waves,
Classic Keys starts with complete sampled
sounds or complex waveforms and
combines all or part of these together to
form a new sound. The process is illus-
trated below.
The envelope generators controlling the
DCAs (digitally controlled amplifiers) can
be used to fade between two instruments
(primary and secondary) during the
course of a note. This powerful technique
allows you to combine elements of
different instruments together to form
completely new sounds. New sounds that
are totally natural, because they are based
on natural sounds. Classic Keys also
contains many digitally generated wave-
forms that can be combined with other
digital waves or with sampled instru-
ments in order to change the character of
the sound, perhaps to add a digital “edge”
or add more bottom. In addition to the
envelope generators, parameters such as
Delay, Sample Start, and Crossfade allow
you to further control the blend of
primary and secondary instruments.
Portions of two sounds are dynamically crossfaded in order to produce a new sound containing elements
of both.