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Native Instruments Absynth 5, Reference Manual

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Native Instruments Absynth 5 Reference Manual Download Page 126

ABSYNTH 5 Reference Manual – 126

You can activate the remote control of a Breakpoint by clicking on the colored Control switch 
at the top-right of the Envelope Window. There are no global Macro Controls for the envelope 
(other than the start and stop functions in the remote control). Clicking on a Breakpoint dis-
plays the following Breakpoint-specific features:

 

•

Time CC menu

: In this menu you determine which Macro Control is responsible for con-

trolling the temporal positioning of the Breakpoint. The Time CC menu offers the follow-
ing sources of navigation: 

 

▪

Not assigned

:

 

No Macro Control is assigned.

 

▪

Macro Control 1 to 16

: If you select one Macro Control from the list, this will be the 

one that navigates the parameter. 

 

▪

Velocity

: The MIDI-Velocity-information is evaluated for the navigation of the parameter.

 

▪

Pan LR (Left/Right)

: The left and right-axis position of the stereo-panorama is evalu-

ated for the navigation of the parameter.

 

▪

Pan FB (Front/Back)

: The position of the front and back-axis of a surround-panorama 

is evaluated for the navigation of the parameter. 

 

▪

Time Scale control

: Defines the strength of the time scale. The signal coming from 

the Macro Control relates to temporal positions from zero to the graphical value of the 
Breakpoint. Positive values of the Time Scale control will move the time position of 
the Breakpoint forward when the Macro Control value goes up, while negative values 
will reverse the polarity of the control signal.

 

▪

Amp CC

: With this you can determine from which Macro Control the amplitude of the 

Breakpoints will be controlled. The list of the possible options is identical with the 
list of options from parameter Time CC. 

 

▪

Amp Scale control

: Strength of the amplitude scale. Negative values lower the ampli-

tude while positive values boost the amplitude: For a value of -100, the signal coming 
from the Macro Control relates to amplitudes from zero to the graphical value of the 
Breakpoint; for a value of 100, the signal from the Macro Control relates to amplitudes 
from the graphical value of the Breakpoint to the maximum amplitude.

To create playable sounds, you can control the amplitude of the Oscillator Envelope or the 
Attack Time of a Filter Envelope via Velocity. 

Summary of Contents for Absynth 5

Page 1: ...REFERENCE MANUAL...

Page 2: ...ation may be copied reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded for any purpose without prior written permission by Native Instruments GmbH hereinafter referred to as Native Instruments All produc...

Page 3: ...rlin Germany info native instruments de www native instruments de USA Native Instruments North America Inc 5631 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles CA 90028 USA sales native instruments com www native ins...

Page 4: ...ontrol Elements and Areas 16 2 1 Windows Pages Panels and Tabs 16 2 2 Buttons and Switches 17 2 3 Menus and Selectors 17 2 4 Value Fields 18 2 5 Sliders and Knobs 19 3 Application Menu Bar 20 3 1 File...

Page 5: ...5 Patch Window 36 5 1 Signal flow in the Patch 37 5 1 1 Combining Modules in the Channels 37 5 1 2 Channel Level controls 38 5 1 3 Surround Pan Switch 38 5 1 4 Master Channel 39 5 1 5 Mono Mode and P...

Page 6: ...ode 62 5 5 Filter Module 63 5 5 1 General Functioning 63 5 5 2 Filter s Panels and Tabs 64 5 5 3 Feedback Loop and Feedback Panel 64 5 5 4 Lowpass 67 5 5 5 Highpass 68 5 5 6 Allpass 69 5 5 7 Bandpass...

Page 7: ...p 92 6 4 1 Parameters 93 6 5 Echoes 94 6 5 1 Parameters 95 6 6 Resonators 96 6 6 1 Parameters 96 6 7 Aetherizer 98 6 7 1 Master Section 99 6 7 2 Grain Cloud Parameters 99 6 7 3 Aetherizer Display 103...

Page 8: ...ide Switch 118 8 2 4 Free Sync Switch 118 8 2 5 Sustain Release Marker 119 8 3 Envelope Modes 119 8 3 1 Release Mode 119 8 3 2 Sustain Mode 119 8 3 3 Loop Mode 120 8 3 4 Retrigger Mode 120 8 3 5 Contr...

Page 9: ...3 Controller Section 138 10 Perform Window 139 10 1 Global Features 140 10 1 1 Global Settings Bar 140 10 1 2 Master Envelope 141 10 1 3 Audio In 141 10 2 Automation in ABSYNTH 5 Macro Controls 142 1...

Page 10: ...Mutator 166 11 3 1 Basic Operations 167 11 3 2 Mini Patch View 168 11 3 3 Mutation History 169 11 3 4 Finetuning Controls 170 11 3 5 Mutation Controls in Other Parts of the GUI 171 11 4 Defining Attri...

Page 11: ...Column 185 13 6 Examples 186 14 Appendix B Attributes Reference 191 14 1 Instrument Categories 191 14 1 1 Instrument 191 14 1 2 Source 193 14 1 3 Timbre 195 14 1 4 Articulation 196 14 1 5 Genre 198 14...

Page 12: ...ory Library containing more than 1700 fine shaped presets in the KORE SOUND format Moreover the new Mutator feature allows you to create whole new sounds based on a favorite and the attributes you cho...

Page 13: ...ilter This filter type extends the capacities of the Comb filter still avail able using some of the characteristics of the Resonators and Pipe Delay effects New feedback loop for many filter types LPF...

Page 14: ...ation For an comprehensive introduction to ABSYNTH 5 please refer to the ABSYNTH 5 Getting Started guide which is both copied to the ABSYNTH 5 folder on your hard drive during the installation and ava...

Page 15: ...tions and hints given there if applicable This light bulb icon indicates that a note contains useful extra information This information may often help you to solve a task more efficiently but does not...

Page 16: ...s in ABSYNTH 5 There are eight Windows on the ABSYNTH 5 user interface Browser Attributes Perform Patch Effect Wave Envelope and LFO They can be accessed via the Navigation Bar at the top of the appli...

Page 17: ...y areas in ABSYNTH 5 They contain lists of available options Menus can be recognized a small triangle pointing downwards Edit menu button available in all Windows In order to choose an option or a com...

Page 18: ...tion of the parameter you will see one two or three diamonds next to its value field The leftmost diamond has the biggest range and the lowest resolution use it to change the value roughly Use the oth...

Page 19: ...s using the Wet Level an Dry Level controls Wet Dry knobs in the Effect Window The global Master Envelope also uses knobs to define its four steps Attack Decay Sustain and Release To adjust the value...

Page 20: ...esired Sound select it and click on Open or double click on the Sound The Sound replaces the Sound previously loaded in ABSYNTH 5 Recent Files Opens a submenu containing shortcuts to the 10 last Sound...

Page 21: ...it like any other Sound via the Save Save As commands explained above The Factory Contents of all previous versions of ABSYNTH have already been converted and are directly available via the Browser W...

Page 22: ...output from clipping 3 3 Help Menu The Help menu contains three entries with further information about ABSYNTH 5 Launch Service Center Starts the NI Service Center The Service Center can activate ABS...

Page 23: ...ee pages General Surround and Browser Each of them can be accessed by clicking on the corresponding tab at the top of the Options dialog To confirm any changes made to the options click on Done at the...

Page 24: ...r more info on the Templates please refer to section 5 2 3 Universal Library Auto balance patch channels If this option is enabled ABSYNTH 5 controls the output of the three individual Channels in the...

Page 25: ...ch3 Front This configuration replaces the central rear channel of the previous configuration with a center front channel which leads to better distribution in the stereo soundscape than a classic ste...

Page 26: ...are symmetrically arranged in a circle 8 Octaphonic This configuration delivers eight channel surround sound where the eight channels are symmetrically arranged in a circle For any of these configura...

Page 27: ...use ABSYNTH 5 as an instrument or as an insert effect and whether the according track is a stereo track or a surround track 3 4 3 Browser Page In the Browser page you can set options in relation with...

Page 28: ...of Attributes for example if the Attribute Solo Single is selected in the category Source for the Instruments the Attribute Ensemble Kit will logically be grayed out and the number behind it will be...

Page 29: ...c button and the NI logo More information about these features is available below The bottom line includes mostly options to load and save Sounds and navigate through the Library 4 1 Top Row Global Co...

Page 30: ...he main ABSYNTH 5 interface in a new pop up window instead of replacing esion of ABSYNTH 5 hold Ctrl Windows Vista XP or Cmd Mac depressed while clicking on one of the tabs in tup Window instead This...

Page 31: ...ad If your computer reacts sluggishly to incoming commands it is probably because your CPU is overloaded and there is not enough resources available for generating the image on the screen If this happ...

Page 32: ...of these eight outputs has its own LED chain 4 1 6 Panic Button Panic button The Panic button allows you to interrupt the audio playback in ABSYNTH 5 in case some thing goes wrong and unwanted sound i...

Page 33: ...ther Sound to load from the current Search Result List or from the current folder If you used the Browser s Database view to find and load the current Sound from the Search Result List then a small ma...

Page 34: ...s depends on the view that you used to load the current Sound If you used the Browser s Database view they scroll through your current Search Result List If you used the Browser s File Tree view they...

Page 35: ...atabase Activity indicator The Database Activity indicator shows up when ABSYNTH 5 s Database is being updated The indicator only appears when ABSYNTH 5 currently does maintenance work on the Database...

Page 36: ...components contribute to producing and shaping the desired output The modules represent the individual components in the Patch Window There are dif ferent types of modules Oscillator modules are the...

Page 37: ...n the extended border on the left side of the Module Slot where the writing indicates the type of module When inserting the modules the following rules apply The Module Slots A C at the top of the thr...

Page 38: ...or more info You also have the possibility to balance Channels manually giving the ame level to each To do this select the entry Balance lLevels from the Edit menu in the Navigation Bar or in the Appl...

Page 39: ...he Master Channel the signal runs from the left to the right In this Channel there is a Module Slot reserved for a particular module the Effect module which can always be found at the bottom right of...

Page 40: ...he distortion affects every voice separately in the same way as if every string on a guitar had its own amplifier In Mono mode only one Waveshaper is used for the different voices which means that man...

Page 41: ...ngs of the module to the clipboard in order to paste them later in another module of the same type and to paste within the module the settings previously stored in the clipboard The Oscillators additi...

Page 42: ...entire Channels from the Universal Library The actual location of the Universal Library on your hard drive can be changed in the Options dialog via the option Template Libraries Directory of the Gene...

Page 43: ...lates For example you can store individual Envelopes and Waveforms in the Library In the Envelope Window and Wave Window you can access the Universal Library via the Transform menu ABSYNTH 5 includes...

Page 44: ...ontents of each of the lowest level subfolders manually to the corresponding subfolder in the ABSYNTH 5 Libraries directory On a PC your old Templates are located by default in the directories C Progr...

Page 45: ...alled Waveform Selection dialog This dialog essentially contains a list of all available Waveforms The Waveform Selection dialog Using the three buttons above the list you can switch it between three...

Page 46: ...rm in the list and click on the New Wave button labeled New at the top of the dialog A new Waveform based on the selected Waveform is generated and loaded into the Wave Window ABSYNTH 5 switches the c...

Page 47: ...illator according to a frequency ratio for example along the har monic sequence 2 corresponds with a transposition of 12 halftones 3 with a transposi tion of 19 halftones etc This mode is especially u...

Page 48: ...hout it you would probably hear some thing called fold back a not so subtle form of digital distortion that makes high tones sound coarse or harsh two properties that are sometimes desired but usually...

Page 49: ...you will hear no sound and none of the other modules can be activated Accordingly the modules of a Channel are only available when its Oscillator is active The Oscillators can run in numerous differe...

Page 50: ...horizontal lines Wavetable synthesis Single Double FM Ringmod Fractalize Sync Granular The Oscillator produces signals based on monocyclic Waveforms Sampling Sample Granular The Oscillator produces s...

Page 51: ...roduce fuller stronger sounds If you raise the Num Voices value by 1 a new voice will be added and mixed with the output signal of the Oscillator The Trans value determines what interval you desire be...

Page 52: ...rd the settings of all active modules in that Channel Paste Oscil Places the settings stored in the clipboard via the command Copy Oscil into the selected Oscillator Paste Oscil and Envelopes Places t...

Page 53: ...tive The Main panel contains all parameters controlling the main oscillator Synthesis menu Selects the desired synthesis process see section 5 4 1 Oscillator s Panels and Tabs above for details Wavefo...

Page 54: ...In Double mode a pair of oscillators consisting of the Main oscillator and the Mod oscilla tor is active The signals of the two oscillators are mixed On the Main panel you will find the same parameter...

Page 55: ...n FM mode the Mod oscillator modulates the frequency of the Main oscillator On the Main panel you find the same parameters as in Single mode For more details please refer to the section 5 4 3 Single M...

Page 56: ...n 5 4 3 Single Mode above On the Mod panel the following parameters are available Balance control Controls the balance between the oscillators Main and Mod within the Oscillator s output signal Wavefo...

Page 57: ...nal Waveform The value area is between 2 and 7 higher values lead to more complex lighter sounding sounds and to a heavier CPU loads Amount With this you can define the mixing relationship between the...

Page 58: ...s a Waveform into the smallest parts the so called grains and then brings these parts back together The difference between the granular synthesis processes in ABSYNTH 5 relates to the input material t...

Page 59: ...the played note Trans as a relationship Ratio with the played note as a fixed Frequency Hz or via a fixed MIDI note Note See section 5 3 2 Frequency Menu and Frequency Control above for details 5 4 9...

Page 60: ...ts name ABSYNTH 5 can read AIFF and WAV data stereo or mono ranging from 16 to 32 bit and any sampling rate In Sample mode the Main panel holds the following parameters Sample Selector See description...

Page 61: ...mple as basis for the sound creation However this mode divides the sample into many small grains each containing a tiny fragment of the sound In this way you can independently control the sample s pit...

Page 62: ...playback speed Zero corresponds to no randomness during grain playback whilst 100 means that the grains are played com pletely at random within the time window defined by the Size parameter R Freq Cha...

Page 63: ...uts which you can configure in the Audio and MIDI Settings dialog of the stand alone version in the File menu of the Application Menu Bar External audio signals run through ABSYNTH 5 s signal path in...

Page 64: ...hese panels All filter types but the Cloud offer a Main panel as first panel holding the main param eters for that filter type The filter types LPF 2 Pole LPF 4 Pole LPF 8 Pole Allpass 2 Allpass 4 All...

Page 65: ...red feedback mode If Normal is selected the feedback loop is deactivated The three other modes available in the Feedback Mode menu are described in the following sections Waveshape Feedback Mode When...

Page 66: ...e in Freq Shift mode Please refer to section 5 6 3 Frequency Shift for more info on its principle functioning and parameters Ringmod Feedback Mode When this mode is selected in the upper Feedback Mode...

Page 67: ...e filter has a gadient of 6 dB octave a 2 pole filter dampens the signal by 12 dB octave and so on As a consequence ABSYNTH 5 s lowpass filter LPF 2 Pole and LPF 12dB have for example the same slope g...

Page 68: ...output seems too weak increase this value Feedback Panel Furthermore the filter types LPF 2 Pole LPF 4 Pole and LPF 8 Pole are equipped with a feedback loop Its function and parameters are detailed at...

Page 69: ...rs are useful for creative filtering as they can easily produce phasing or resonating effects With allpass filters the number of poles define the number of peaks in the frequency spectrum of the filte...

Page 70: ...frequency and a bandwidth This means that this particular frequency range is allowed to pass through whilst lower and higher frequencies outside the range are suppressed Main Panel ABSYNTH 5 s bandpa...

Page 71: ...quency and a bandwidth Higher and lower frequencies can pass through unhindered Main Panel The Notch Filter has the following parameters Frequency control and Frequency menu The Frequency control allo...

Page 72: ...modulating the Comb s parameters you can quickly produce a nice flanging effect Main Panel The Comb Filter has the following parameters Frequency control and Frequency menu The Frequency control allo...

Page 73: ...capabilities of the Supercomb filter compared to those of the Comb filter the Supercomb provides you with three panels The Main panel is the same as the Comb s Main panel The Feedback panel contains...

Page 74: ...ol changes the color of the comb filter Don t hesitate to play with these controls to understand how they affect the sound In particular modulate the Position parameter to get nice effects 5 5 11 Clou...

Page 75: ...parameters Filter switch Activates deactivates the Cloud s internal filter Frequency control Hz Defines the cutoff frequency of the internal filter Resonance control Q Adjusts the resonance of the in...

Page 76: ...the setting defined for the corresponding parameter Mix Panel The Mix panel On the Mix panel you find the following parameters Balance control Adjusts the mix between the dry and the wet signals at t...

Page 77: ...ulator module do the following 1 Click on the extended left margin on a Filter Modulator or Waveshaper Module Slot to activate it 2 Choose the Freq Shift or the Ringmod modulation type from the Type m...

Page 78: ...with the played note as a fixed Frequency Hz or via a fixed MIDI note Note Balance control Controls the balance between the incoming original signal and the mod ulated signal You will find more in de...

Page 79: ...Waveform Selector and the Frequency menu control in the section 5 3 Common Features in Many Modules above A light detuning between the input signal and the modulator signal combined with a mod erate F...

Page 80: ...evel of distortion changes with every fluctuation of the input signal so the effect sounds very energetic 5 7 1 General Function The Waveshaper modules can be inserted as the same places as the Filter...

Page 81: ...w in order to make yourself more comfortable with the effect of the Waveshaper In dB control Defines the input level of the Waveshaper in decibels Increasing this value usually strengthens the distort...

Page 82: ...determine which effect should be applied to the signal produced within the Patch Window Its individual parameter settings can be determined here as well The Input Mixer allows you to adjust the level...

Page 83: ...nd Selecting an Effect The Effect switch turns the Effect section on and off If you use a simple sound without ef fects you can reduce the CPU load caused by ABSYNTH 5 To turn the Effect section on or...

Page 84: ...h together define the frequency bandwidth to be manipulated A lowpass first defines the upper cutoff frequency for the frequency band all frequencies below the cutoff frequency selected in the Input L...

Page 85: ...evenly i e with pan settings of 0 50 and 100 The grains in the Aetherizer are randomly panned in the field The global Spread value If you imagine the stereo panorama as a line from left to right you c...

Page 86: ...around on the circle On its right pushing the Inverse switch lets the channels move counter clockwise instead of clockwise The speed with which the channels circle around is set by the Period control...

Page 87: ...ial parameters to a Macro Control Right click and select the desired Macro Control from the context menu 6 1 5 Modulation and Sensitivity Control The Sensitivity controls limit the signals received vi...

Page 88: ...parameters can be compared with changing two microphones You can modulate the string s length and the pickups position through the LFOs or a MIDI Controller This way various flanging pitch shifting an...

Page 89: ...on the Inversion switch the effect of the control signal re ceived via the Macro Control is inverted see the section on Modulation und Sensitivity control Master Feedback control Determines the level...

Page 90: ...1 Parameters Master Section Beat switch With the Beat switch you select whether the value in Time control should be indicated in seconds Sec or in beats Beat ie in quarter notes Master Time control De...

Page 91: ...the section on Modulation und Sensitivity control Feedback control Establishes the feedback signals level of every individual filter as a percentage which correlates to the value you choose in the Ma...

Page 92: ...er delay times and more modulation options Interesting effects can be achieved by re routing the delayed signal after the first tap back into the input This way dense delay clusters can be produced Fo...

Page 93: ...sitivity control Defines the impact of the control signal received via Macro Control on each tap s Time control in percent Inversion switch Turning on the Inversion switch inverts the impact of the co...

Page 94: ...Feedback func tion An echo can lose high and low frequencies when sent through a filter and thus sound duller or more ethereal The Allpass filter can produce phase shifts which produces some interest...

Page 95: ...l Determines the cut off frequency of the Highpass filter that is applied to the signal in the feedback loop The value in Highpass control can range from 1 0 to 22050 Hz Allpass control Determines the...

Page 96: ...accompanied by a shorter brighter sounding Room effect 6 6 1 Parameters Master Section Size control Sets the maximum delay length between 0 and 100 Feedback control Controls the feedback amount from...

Page 97: ...using Have an experiment with this parameter s extreme settings Delays Scale control The resonator size is the determined by the value set by the Master section s Size control multiplied by this sett...

Page 98: ...ound positioning for each single grain if you were to activate the Surround Panner Furthermore every processing happening on the grain level can be randomized to your liking thereby producing evolving...

Page 99: ...Adjusts the gain in dB of the delayed signal 6 7 2 Grain Cloud Parameters Grain Section The Grain section in the lower left part of the Aetherizer holds parameters controlling the grain cloud s prope...

Page 100: ...ne of the Filter Quantization modes see next section for a description of these modes If the filter is activated and Comb mode is selected in the Filter Mode menu turn the Rate down to hear lower pitc...

Page 101: ...ation across whole tones only Octotonic Quantization across an octatonic scale 4th Stack Quantization across fourth stacks 5th Stack Quantization across fifth stacks 5th Quantization across a fifth ch...

Page 102: ...heir full expression through their randomization The next section show you an example of this The Random parameter for the Quantize Transpose control has a special behavior In the range from 0 to 50 f...

Page 103: ...e By raising the Rate control the grains get closer and their trails shorter and vice versa By playing with the Transpose control all grains move together on the y axis By raising the Random Transpose...

Page 104: ...aves using the function Wave Morph see section 7 5 Wave Morph Technically speaking they are two waveforms stored in one file that have been morphed together Library Waves are the Factory waves of the...

Page 105: ...it the original select Edit Wave button in the Waveform Selector After a click on the New Wave button ABSYNTH 5 switches to the Wave Window and displays in it the newly created Wave Each Preset can co...

Page 106: ...s to select different areas Amplification control dB sets the wave s amplitude in dB Offset control allows to set the amplitude s offset in relation to the zero axis A double click on Offset control c...

Page 107: ...ize allows for extraordinary waveform manipulations and is particularly good for creating powerful organic waveforms The parameters are Iterations control controls how detailed the waveform s manipula...

Page 108: ...atio Mod Phase control regulates the modulator s phase Load loads a waveform and replaces the existing waveform Import from audio file loads the first 1024 samples from an AIFF or WAV file as a wavefo...

Page 109: ...rent amplitudes and phas es for a harmonic This can be used for precise manipulations Multi Harmonics Draw Tool This tool enables you to draw the amplitudes and phases for several harmonics at the sam...

Page 110: ...of the Morph Mod parameter in the Morph page of the Wave Window You can of course freely modulate the Wave Morphing s param eters That way you create lively dynamic sounds that can change subtly or e...

Page 111: ...s both waveforms into a single one Click the Morph tab to go to the Morph page The Wave Display in this view is divided horizontally into three sections At the top you can see Wave 1 in the middle Wav...

Page 112: ...to Wavemorph can be found in the Getting Started guide that illus trates the Wave morphing from a practical point of view The ability to move the Anchor Points has a useful effect on the resulting wav...

Page 113: ...e a special status because they define when a voice is started and stopped being calculated As soon as all amplitude envelopes of a voice have reached their last zero breakpoint the calculation is sto...

Page 114: ...in Envelopes Window The Envelope List contains all assigned Envelopes Selected Envelopes are displayed in the Envelope Display while deselected ones are blanked out The names of the envelopes inform y...

Page 115: ...t the scroll bar in the Envelope Display Click on the Show menu to access a list of following display options All Displays all Envelopes that are used in the current preset None Blanks out all Envelop...

Page 116: ...since the beginning of the Envelope Abs sec BP Amplitude control Defines the amplitude for the selected Breakpoint You can either insert a value directly in dB on a scale of 0 dB to 96dB or adjust a...

Page 117: ...eakpoints and the parameter amp abs time and slope as well as the MIDI and LFO settings The absolute time and the adjusted parameter are displayed below Time control and Amp control Envelope with sele...

Page 118: ...splayed the Breakpoints automatically register on the lines You can overwrite the registering by drawing the Breakpoints with a depressed Ctrl key Mac respectively Alt key Windows 8 2 3 Lock Slide Swi...

Page 119: ...a note the envelope will run from the beginning until the last Breakpoint If you release the note before the Sustain Release point is reached the envelope jumps to the position of this point and proc...

Page 120: ...Loop In Loop Mode the envelope jumps back to the Loop Start Marker as soon as it has reached the Sustain Release Marker and repeats the section in between until the note is released 8 3 4 Retrigger M...

Page 121: ...assigned to the Macro Control will directly influ ence the dedicated parameter the incoming signal value will be translated into a change of parameter at a ratio of 1 1 If you draw a more complex for...

Page 122: ...e you can still assign certain characteristics to it You will notice that all changes will be reflected in the visual representation of the connected Envelope You choose the source Envelope via the So...

Page 123: ...at least one oscillator to Sample Mode and load a sample Even though the Sample Jump Envelope is suitable for a variety of material its operating mode is best understood using a drum loop or a similar...

Page 124: ...the sketched LFO form Different settings between Breakpoints are smoothed out For instance if a Breakpoint has an LFO Depth of 100 maximum and the next one an LFO Depth of 0 minimum the LFO Depth para...

Page 125: ...y active if the Wave SH Toggle is set to Sample Hold in the global parameters section 8 5 Envelope Modulation Every Breakpoint position in an Envelope can be set via Macro Control It is even possible...

Page 126: ...ound panorama is evaluated for the navigation of the parameter Time Scale control Defines the strength of the time scale The signal coming from the Macro Control relates to temporal positions from zer...

Page 127: ...ve to con nect every Knob to a Breakpoint on an Envelope In order to do this proceed as follows Click on the ADSR Assign switch to put the Master Envelope into learning mode Then click the division A...

Page 128: ...a classical ADSR Envelope create an Envelope with five Breakpoints in Sustain Mode Assign the first Breakpoint the Master Envelope Knob A the second the Master Envelope Knob D the third and fourth th...

Page 129: ...nobs as well 2 Make a Ctrl click Mac or a right click Windows on one of the Master Envelope Knobs to put the Knob into MIDI Learning Mode A small sign will appear indicating Learn Status 3 Now move th...

Page 130: ...ythm allows you to adjust the steps of the Envelope to a rhythm grid You can easily create definite rhythmic modulations or completely independent rhythms As with the Step Sequencer the steps here are...

Page 131: ...al pulses in beats Attack time control Use this to adjust the Attack Time of the pulsewave Min amp control Use this to regulate the lowest amplitude value that the pulsewaves will reach in their path...

Page 132: ...al Library 8 7 6 Save as Template Calls up a dialogue through which you can save an Envelope in ABSYNTH S Universal Library 8 7 7 Initialize Selected Envelope Repositions the selected Envelope s to th...

Page 133: ...tilization possibilities are numerous A Vibrato effect which consistently and periodically changes its pitch around the tone that is actually being played is a common ap plication By contrast in a Tre...

Page 134: ...ry for it to be on turn it off to preserve the CPU of your computer Mono Poly switch In Mono mode an LFO modulates all the voices in Poly mode every voice has its own independent LFO If you use the LF...

Page 135: ...can use the Retrigger Button Rate The speed of the LFO is defined in beats per minute according to the condition of the Rate Mode switches In a set time frame the selected Waveform will be passed thr...

Page 136: ...ing and closing so that one always opens when the other closes you can activate the Inversion switch and in the upper lines of the Channel Select Buttons deactivate the second Channel during which you...

Page 137: ...nt back position in the surround sound field The wave position in the front back modulation is positioned at 90 relative to the wave posi tion of the left right modulation This produces a rotation wit...

Page 138: ...n Source menu Chooses the Macro Control that modulates any LFO parameter Modulation Depth control Defines the extent of the Modulation by the Macro Control as a percentage of the desired value In the...

Page 139: ...abs under the Global Settings Bar Click on a tab in order to change to the appropriate page Starting on the left the first three pages are Controls Assignments and MIDI You can configure the control S...

Page 140: ...vel by up to 24 dB or lower it by any amount MIDI Channel menu This sets the MIDI channels which effect ABSYNTH 5 You can se lect one of the MIDI Channels between 1 and 16 so that ABSYNTH only reacts...

Page 141: ...rols If the threshold value is ex ceeded the note set in the adjacent Pitch control will automatically be triggered The pre requisite for this is that the Auto Trigger menu must be set to Audio If Alw...

Page 142: ...of time between the instant when you hit the key ie when the MIDI Note On message is triggered and the instant when the resulting sound vanishes To change a sound over the course of an entire piece of...

Page 143: ...The disadvantage of such definite con nections between source and goal is namely that a controller of your MIDI control element always controls the same parameter independently of the desired sound T...

Page 144: ...irections so we must change the direction for the filter resonance We will switch to the Assignments Page for this purpose On the left you will see a list of Macro Controls Click on the Macro Control...

Page 145: ...rce Use the function MIDI Learn in the way already explained in the practical example 1 Choose MIDI Learn from the menu of the Macro Control that you want to assign to one of the control elements of y...

Page 146: ...ve this connection and get back to two independent Sliders Choose the entry Make into Sliders from the menu In the default setting shown in the Controllers Page after opening a new empty Preset the Ma...

Page 147: ...element on your MIDI controller The horizontal Slider with the label Control Value indicates the current value of the Macro Control You can change the value by dragging this Control Value Slider with...

Page 148: ...ues produce a low parameter value low Controller values lead to high parameter values 10 5 MIDI Page Midi page On the pages Controllers and Assignments MIDI has been limited to issues concerning Contr...

Page 149: ...ontrol you can select a Macro Control from the Macro Control menu Depth control Determines the strength with which the incoming control information influ ences the level Lag Establishes the delay befo...

Page 150: ...ft stroke on the key results in a strong change of the parameter but a stronger stroke on the key only induces a slight change Further parameters can be added to the velocity table by selecting the de...

Page 151: ...irectly in Note control or click on the Keyboard switch and play the desired note on your MIDI keyboard or on the Virtual Keyboard With Scale control you can enter the value of the Modulation directly...

Page 152: ...cking on the New button a new User Tuning is created which in contrast to the Factory Tuning can change as much as you want The display then switches automatically to the TuningNow set the basic tone...

Page 153: ...to consist of eight whole tones or twelve half tone steps If you turn on Octave Link set the value in for example Keys per Octave control at 11 and then change the pitch of a particular note then the...

Page 154: ...han a MIDI source or an Automation track the level of a signal activates the value changes of an outgoing control signal This manner of working is best illustrated through an example Turn on the Waves...

Page 155: ...d their control possibilities can be found in chapter 8 Envelope Window 10 8 3 Parameters On the Audio Mod page you can find the following control elements Audio Mod A through D the four Audio Mods A...

Page 156: ...ow reaction Trigger Module menu Use this to select the goal of the Trigger Signal when you are using Audio as an Envelope Trigger It raises the input level of the Audio Mod over the thresh old value s...

Page 157: ...izer s sounds can be illustrated ac cording to its origin or source its timbre articulation and genre You can also enter additional meta information such as the name of the sound s author and so on Al...

Page 158: ...rowser Window of ABSYNTH can be viewed in two alternative modes that are toggled by clicking the Sounds button in the Window s upper left corner When this is deactivated you see the File Tree View Whe...

Page 159: ...o use the application as an effect unit Therefore you can toggle between searching for Instruments or Effects by clicking the Instruments or Effects button in the Control Bar The attributes are groupe...

Page 160: ...ngle attributes by click ing them with the mouse Any number of attributes can be combined to narrow your search However you can only use one attribute of the Instrument instrument sounds and Type effe...

Page 161: ...l sounds created by a particular author or search those sounds containing specific terms in their Comment fields The Search Field can be very handy to let the Search Result List display only the new S...

Page 162: ...SOUNDS with the highest ratings will now appear at the top of the list Right click Ctrl click on Mac OS X to provide a context menu of possible columns to be displayed Clicking a column label here tha...

Page 163: ...Result List If a folder contains sub folders you can make them visible by clicking on the folder icon in front of the folder s name The list of sub folders is closed again by clicking the folder icon...

Page 164: ...thin the Database Tab of the Options Dialog There you can also trigger a reconstruction of the database This is necessary after deleting or renaming a KORE SOUND to inform the database of the changes...

Page 165: ...List You can also change the list s order by dragging the KORE SOUNDS within the list up and down If you drag a KORE SOUND to a position in the list that is already occupied that entry and all subseq...

Page 166: ...a striking new feature introduced in ABSYNTH 5 It allows you to select some parts of the Sound currently loaded and to mutate them towards the equivalent parts of other Sounds These other Sounds are...

Page 167: ...re you raise the Randomization Amount slider the more the parameters of the mutated Sound will deviate from the road between the original Sound and the Sounds sitting in the Search Result List Mutate...

Page 168: ...he Patch Window but does not take part in the mutation process Whole component highlighted The module is active in the Patch Window and also in cluded in the mutation process The active modules includ...

Page 169: ...ess to all previ ous Sound Mutations you might have done since you started ABSYNTH 5 It provides you with following controls In the middle it displays the name of the last Sound Mutation that was done...

Page 170: ...is irreversible Sound Mutation Name display Shows the name of the Sound Mutation currently selected in the list At the bottom of the dialog the buttons OK and Cancel allow you to return to the ABSYNT...

Page 171: ...gation Bar s lower row The Mutation History is also available as a submenu sitting at the top of the Navigation Bar s Sound menu right below the currently loaded Sound so that you can review it from a...

Page 172: ...in the Attributes Window you save them Therefore the Search Result List are not needed and are replaced by the Meta Information The Meta Information provides additional text fields to enter informatio...

Page 173: ...g the project s name into the Search Field All sounds you save are automatically integrated into the database While this is very comfort able for browsing you don t have to worry about where the KORE...

Page 174: ...notes play until you release the mouse button To show hide the Virtual Keyboard click on the Keyboard button in the upper Navigation Bar Keyboard button When the Virtual Keyboard is open you can also...

Page 175: ...for the Sustain Pedal 12 2 Audio Recorder Audio Recorder The Audio Recorder is a convenient tool if you want to quickly stream ABSYNTH 5 s sound into a file on your hard disk without plugging the syn...

Page 176: ...Activate the Wait for note switch the recording then starts automatically when you play the first note from your MIDI keyboard from the Virtual Keyboard or from your com puter keyboard To stop the re...

Page 177: ...that you can mix it again with your playing Note that this is not equivalent to true multi track processing With standard settings both signals will be attenuated by 6 dB so that they play at half vol...

Page 178: ...moves the last recording layer from your recording Save button Opens a file dialog which allows you save you recording as a file on your hard disk Choose a name and a path for your recording You can c...

Page 179: ...d explanation of all Attributes can be found in Appendix B Note that you can search for both instruments and effects since the approach is the same The following explanations will focus on instruments...

Page 180: ...her hand there are sounds that are clearly based on acoustic instruments yet they don t sound anything like the acoustic original For example you might have an ABSYNTH KORE SOUND which uses a sample o...

Page 181: ...If you re searching for a nice piano sound with some strings layered on top of it choose Piano Keys and Layered in the Source column 13 2 The Source Column The Source column has the following function...

Page 182: ...sis technique or through sampling If a sound is Synthetic you will have the option of accessing many if not all parameters that constitute the sound If a sound is Sample based you ll most likely not b...

Page 183: ...processed at the same time Please refer to Appendix B for a complete set of definitions 13 3 The Timbre Column The Timbre column specifies a KORE SOUND s timbre It is made up mostly of Attribute pair...

Page 184: ...two purposes It describes how the sound progresses over time and it gives you information regarding how to use the sound In previous versions of ABSYNTH you d have to work with preset names like Slow...

Page 185: ...sly the definition of What is techno and What sound can be used for techno is always subjective because really every sound can be used for every genre like a harpsichord in hip hop or a sub bass in ja...

Page 186: ...ou an idea about the basic principle You always can refine your search Analog Kick Drum This search will provide you with a single kick drum sound as Solo Single is selected although the pitch of the...

Page 187: ...s search will give you complete drum kits since Ensemble Kit is selected FM Bass This is a typical search setting for an FM bass sound You could select Sample based instead of Synthetic then you ll re...

Page 188: ...cified so this search will give you all sounds which could be used in the same context Soft Electric Piano In this example because Sweep Filter Mod is selected the sound will have some sort of filter...

Page 189: ...ABSYNTH 5 Reference Manual 189 Dark Pad Chord Stab...

Page 190: ...ABSYNTH 5 Reference Manual 190 Thin Bells...

Page 191: ...y refers to an instrument without trying to imitate it e g granular processed flute sample Piano Keys All acoustic electric pianos harpsichord clavinet etc In general all sounds that are meant to be p...

Page 192: ...illating air tubes or which are based on flute samples This includes acoustic flutes pan pipes synthetic flute simula tions breathy sounds etc Reed Instruments Instruments that reproduce or simulate r...

Page 193: ...nes the instrument as a typical subtractive synth sound e g analog bass analog brass analog synth Digital Further defines the instrument as a typical digital synth sound like wavetable FM e g digital...

Page 194: ...ld be found under Percussion Small Big Specifies the physical size of the instrument source to help differentiate among similar instruments Only select this Attribute to describe real instrument sizes...

Page 195: ...requencies perhaps from lowpass filtering Warm A sound with an organic pleasing ambience often associated with analog sounds Technically speaking warm sounds tend to have a bit more lower midrange emp...

Page 196: ...over time in terms of volume and timbre Also this col umn lists all the Attributes that affect the playing style Slow Attack A sound with a gradual attack or a fade in Decaying A sound which decays w...

Page 197: ...uses pitch slides between note transitions It also indicates sounds with pitch modulation like a dropping kick drum Sweep Filter Mod A sound with some kind of filter modulation i e an LFO or envelope...

Page 198: ...reate a certain atmosphere based on depth and warmth Also sounds with a kind of slow motion character or clicks bleeps are often used for ambient or electronica tracks and will be found here as well a...

Page 199: ...and South American music Salsa Son Samba Bossa Nova This includes all latin percussion such as congas maracas and timbales as well as some acoustics guitars and djembes Rock Typical sounds for straigh...

Page 200: ...xpander Enhancer All types of effects that enhance the sound through psycho acoustic means e g to add brilliance and or depth Vocoder Effects based on traditional vocoder technology where the signal p...

Page 201: ...ies the effect s mode of operation Synced All effects that can sync to the host sequencer s tempo Side chain All effects controlled by an external signal via side chain Gated Effects that including ga...

Page 202: ...lel Chain The signal routing of effects is serial Stereo All effects work in stereo mode Mono All effects work in mono mode 14 2 3 Characteristic Describes an effect s special sound characteristics Lo...

Page 203: ...signal e g an equalizer that reduces or removes unwanted frequencies like hum or hiss Metallic An effect that adds metallic elements to the sound e g a ring modulator or frequency shifter Ambience An...

Page 204: ...Vocal For effects typically used with vocal tracks e g vocoder or reverb Sequences For effects typically used with sequenced lines e g delay or gate Loops For effects typically used with drum or othe...

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