APPLIED ACOUSTICS SYSTEMS ULTRA ANALOG User Manual Download

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USER MANUAL

Summary of Contents for ULTRA ANALOG

Page 2: ...f Applied Acoustics Systems DVM Inc Copyright c 2004 Applied Acoustics Systems DVM Inc All rights reserved Printed in Canada Program Copyright c 2004 Applied Acoustics Systems Inc All right reserved Ultra Analog 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 ...

Page 3: ...m and User Library 12 1 7 About this manual 12 2 Browser and Presets 13 2 1 Playing Presets 13 2 2 Editing and Saving Presets 13 2 3 Deleting Presets 14 2 4 Documenting Preset 14 2 5 Defining a Default Preset 14 2 6 Locating a Preset in the Browser 15 2 7 MIDI maps 15 2 8 Exporting and Importing Presets and MIDI maps 15 2 9 Customizing the browser 15 3 Architecture of the Ultra Analog 17 3 1 Gener...

Page 4: ...rm 22 4 2 2 Pitch and Pitch Modulation 22 4 2 3 Sub Oscillator 23 4 2 4 Synchronization 23 4 2 5 The Mixer 24 4 3 The Filter Module 25 4 3 1 Resonant Low Pass Filter 25 4 3 2 Resonant High Pass Filter 26 4 3 3 Band Pass Filter 26 4 3 4 Notch Filter 27 4 3 5 Formant Filter 28 4 3 6 Filter Drive 28 4 3 7 Slave Filter 2 29 4 3 8 Series Parallel 29 4 4 The Amplifier Module 30 4 5 The Noise Generator M...

Page 5: ...gio Patterns 38 4 11 2 Rhythmic Patterns 39 4 11 3 Rate and Synchronization 39 4 11 4 Latch mode 39 4 12 The Output Effect Section 39 4 12 1 The Clock Module 39 4 12 2 The Chorus Module 40 4 12 3 The Delay Module 40 4 12 4 The Reverb module 41 4 12 5 Topology 41 4 12 6 The Output Module 42 4 12 7 The Recorder Module 42 5 Toolbar 43 5 1 Preset Display 43 5 2 MIDI map 43 5 3 Polyphony Combo Box 43 5...

Page 6: ... the Ultra Analog as a Plug In 49 7 1 Window Size 49 7 2 Synchronization to the Host Sequencer 49 7 3 Audio and MIDI parameters 49 7 4 Automation 49 7 5 Multiple Instances 49 7 6 Saving Projects 50 7 7 MIDI channel 50 7 8 MIDI program change 50 7 9 Performance 50 8 Quick references to commands and shortcuts 51 9 Appendix 54 10 License Agreement 55 ...

Page 7: ...the synthesizer in more details we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing an Applied Acoustics Systems product We sincerely hope that this product will bring you inspiration pleasure and fulfill your creative needs 1 1 System requirements The following computer configuration is necessary to run the Ultra Analog Mac OS Mac OSX 10 2 Jaguar or later G4 733 MHz Processor 256 MB ...

Page 8: ...equires you to provide some infor mation before using the program You will need A valid email address Your product serial number on the back of your CD or in your confirmation email for down loads The challenge key supplied by the registration page A challenge key is a long string of capital letters and numbers that is generated uniquely for each machine during the registration process In other wo...

Page 9: ... number into the registration window and click next You will then be provided your challenge key Take note of this information and proceed to your internet connected computer Launch your browser and go to the unlock page of the AAS website at http www applied acoustics com unlock htm Enter your email address serial number and challenge key and click next The next page asks you to provide informati...

Page 10: ...ration This menu allows you to select from the installed audio ports on your computer by driver type If you have ASIO drivers available these should be selected for optimum performance Multi channel interfaces will have their outputs listed as stereo pairs Windows Select your sound card port from the list in the Audio Configuration dialog from the Edit Preferences Audio Settings menu Mac OS Select...

Page 11: ...on the Ultra Analog interface can be linked to an external MIDI controller To assign a MIDI Link right click control click on Mac on a control knob button or slider and a contextual menu will appear Select Learn MIDILink and move a knob or slider on your MIDI controller to activate the link To deactivate the link right click on the control and choose the Forget MIDILink command 1 4 2 Using MIDI pr...

Page 12: ...wn creations available to other users http community applied acoustics com php community http community applied acoustics com php forum 1 7 About this manual In the next chapter the use of presets and the browser is described in detail Chapter 3 describes the general architecture signal flow and routing possibilities offered by Ultra Analog In Chap ter 4 the different modules and controls are revi...

Page 13: ...set icon from the browser onto the synthesizer You can also load a preset by right clicking control clicking on a preset icon and choosing the Open Preset command from the drop down menu that appears or by clicking on a preset icon in order to select it and use the Ctrl O Apple O shortcut It is also possible to load presets using MIDI program changes as described in Section 6 2 It is also possible...

Page 14: ...urrent state of the preset and its original state when it was loaded This is very helpful in order to hear again the original preset after having applied many modifications To hear the original preset simply click on the Compare button of the toolbar or the Compare command from the Edit menu Once this button has been pressed the original settings of the preset are loaded Note that in this mode the...

Page 15: ...d MIDI maps The Import and Export commands found in the File drop down menu allow one to easily ex change presets and MIDI maps with other Ultra Analog users This feature can also be used to decrease the number of elements in the browser by archiving older or rarely used ones elsewhere on CD R or a second hard disk for example Files containing Ultra Analog presets and MIDI maps are equivalent in s...

Page 16: ...bjects from one folder and dropping it into the folder of your choice Ultimately how things are organized is left entirely up to you The browser can also be hidden from the interface which can be convenient in order to save screen space To hide the browser use the Hide Browser command from the View menu To make it reappear use the Show Browser command from the View menu ...

Page 17: ...ilters two LFOs four envelope generators and two amplifiers These modules have been laid out into two symmetrical rows on the interface following the general internal signal flow of the synthesizer as will be described below The column to the left of the main section is the control section which includes the modules related to performance and the processing of MIDI events Finally the top row of th...

Page 18: ...exible because depending on the type of mixing applied it allows one to treat the sources from each oscillator separately or to combine them When filters 1 and 2 only receive signal from one oscillator the source section behaves as a dual oscillator filter amplifier system and left and right information from each source is preserved until the very end of the signal path This allows for example to ...

Page 19: ...ources illustrated in Figure 2 the oscillator filter and amplifier modules can also receive pitch and velocity modulation signal from the keyboard Also note that a vibrato module see section 4 8 can be considered as an extra pitch modulation source for the oscillators 3 3 Output Effect After filtering and panning the stereo signal from both source lines is sent to the output effect stage for furth...

Page 20: ... slightly faster action To move a control to a given position place the mouse at this position and Shift click Win dows or Option click Mac OS To reach this position slowly do the same but use the middle button of the mouse Windows only Knobs with a green LED above are moved directly to their center position by clicking on the LED Remember that the keyboard shortcuts only affect the most recently ...

Page 21: ...n or in other words when it is lit and has a value of 1 Note that when a module is not activated calculations associated with this module are not performed which reduces CPU usage 4 1 6 Resetting a Module and Copying Settings The modules of Ultra Analog can be reset to their default value by clicking on the down pointing triangle appearing in their upper right corner left of the bypass button and ...

Page 22: ...ve forms provided by the Oscillator module When the Shape is set to rectangular one has additional control on the waveform through the use of the PW and LFO knob just below The PW knob is used to adjust the pulse width of the rectangular wave In its leftmost position the pulse is very narrow while in its rightmost position the wave is perfectly square and only the odd harmonics are heard The pulse...

Page 23: ...ub Oscillator The Oscillator module is equipped with a sub oscillator which generates a wave one octave below the pitch of the oscillator The shape of the sub oscillator signal is a square wave when the wave shape of the Oscillator is set to Rect or Saw and a sine wave when it is set to Sine The amount of this sub oscillator signal in the output signal of the oscillator is adjusted with the Sub kn...

Page 24: ...by the settings of the Amount knob Again the starting pitch of the ramp can be located above or below the final pitch depending whether the inverter button next to the Amount knob is in its on or off position Time Time Time Amp Amp Amp Osc Periode Sync Periode Sync Osc Periode Oscillator Signal Synchronisation Signal Synchronized Oscillator Signal Figure 4 Synchronization of the oscillator 4 2 5 T...

Page 25: ...parameters can further be modulated by the velocity signal from the keyboard through the use of the velocity modulation parameter of the Filter Env modules The three gain knobs associated with the cutoff frequency can be adjusted to their center po sition by clicking on the green LED located above the knob In this position the cutoff frequency will exactly follow the pitch of the note played on th...

Page 26: ...nt of a signal located below the cutoff frequency while leaving those above the cutoff frequency unchanged Similarly to the low pass filter the Q factor controls the emphasis of frequencies located around the cut off frequency 4 3 3 Band Pass Filter The behavior of a band pass filter is to let the frequencies in a band located around a center fre quency and to attenuate the frequencies outside of ...

Page 27: ...lter the slope is 6dB Oct while for a fourth order filter it is 12dB Oct 4 3 4 Notch Filter Amplitude dB Frequency Hz 0dB 3dB Center Frequency Band Width Q 1 Q 1 Q 2 Q 4 Q 10 Figure 8 Frequency response of the notch filter The notch filter does essentially the opposite of the band pass filter It attenuates the frequen cies in a band located around the center frequency and leaves those outside of t...

Page 28: ...uency amplitude and Q factor one can cycle between all the vowels The effect of the Cutoff knob on the formant filter is to offset all the formants by the same factor and it is used to switch between male voice left position female voice center and child right position The Q knob is used to cycle between vowels Note that changing these parameters can be automated by using the different modulation ...

Page 29: ...odule This can be done by clicking the Slave toggle switch on the Filter 2 front panel In this mode the frequency of the Filter 2 module follows exactly that of the Filter 1 module The Cutoff knob on the Filter2 module is then used to adjust the offset frequency between the Filter 1 and Filter 2 modules When slaved the cutoff frequency of Filter 2 module will follow exactly that of the Filter 1 mo...

Page 30: ...on to its on position will reverse the effect of the Kbd knob and boost low notes while decreasing the amplitude of high notes when turning the knob clockwise When the Kbd knob is in its leftmost position the amplitude of notes is the same across all the keyboard Note that the middle C key reference note will always sound a the same level regardless of the position of the Kbd knob The output signa...

Page 31: ... 4 6 The LFO Module The LFO module is used as a modulation source for the Oscil lator Filter and Amplifier modules On the LFO module one can adjust the waveform the phase of the signal and fade in behavior 4 6 1 Wave Shape The waveform of the LFO is selected with the Shape drop down menu The possible values are Sine for sinus Tri for triangular Rect for rectangular and Rdm1 and Rdm2 for the two ra...

Page 32: ...ase of the signal is determined with the Phase knob which enables one to select values over a full period of the waveform The value of the phase lag is increased by turning the knob clockwise and is equal to 0 180 degrees and 360 degrees when the knob is in its leftmost center and rightmost positions respectively This feature enables for example the triggering of filter sweeps or panning effects t...

Page 33: ...ra Analog is equipped with two enve lope generators the Filter Env and Amp Env modules which are used to modulate the Filter and Amp modules Both en velope generators have the same user interface and offer the same functions Envelopes are generated through the use of a standard ADSR attack decay sustain release approach in cluding velocity modulation and looping capabilities A D S R Sustain Time T...

Page 34: ... knob to a value of zero is then determined by the value of the Time knob located to the right of the S knob When the Time knob is fully turned to the left the envelope signal will fall to zero right after the end of the decay phase when the knob is in it rightmost position the sustain level will be held as long as the key is depressed Finally the overall level of the envelope can be controlled wi...

Page 35: ...he envelope until the key is released and are selected from the Loop drop down menu S A D Time Looping through ADR R R Key Released S Amplitude A D Time R A Normal Sustain Key Released S Amplitude A D Time R Looping through AD Key Released Amplitude ADR Mode Once Mode AD Mode Figure 13 Loop mode of an envelope generator In the AD mode the envelope begins with the attack and decay phases as usual b...

Page 36: ...ing the knob to the left will shrink the interval while turning it to the right will increase it The main effect of the Stretch control is that when it is not in the center position an interval of one octave will not sound perfectly in tune and therefore beating will be heard when playing perfect octaves The Error knob adds a random error to each note played the more the knob is turned clockwise t...

Page 37: ...de effect occurs between every note Clicking on the Legato button will switch the module into legato mode and the sliding between two notes will only occur if the second note is played before the first one is released When a note is played staccato or in other words if a key is released before the next one is depressed there will be no portamento effect Note that even though the portamento effect ...

Page 38: ... a wide range of arpeggios and rhythmic patterns and to sync the effects to the tempo of an external sequencer 4 11 1 Arpeggio Patterns The arpeggio pattern is set by the combination of the value of the Range Span and Order controls The Range control is used to select the number of octaves across which the pattern will be repeated When the range is set to 0 there is no transposition and only the n...

Page 39: ...relative to the frequency tempo of the master clock see 4 12 1 and the value displayed in the Sync control Sync values range from 1 16 of a quarter note a thirty second note to 16 quarter notes 4 whole notes where the duration of the whole note is determined by the value in BPM appearing in the Tempo display of the Clock module This effect can also be synced to a triplet t or a dotted note d 4 11 ...

Page 40: ...or dotted note d The different chorus algorithms can be controlled with the three knobs appearing at the bottom of the module The Mix knob is used to adjust the ratio of dry and wet in the output signal of the module When the knob is adjusted in the left position only the original or dry signal is sent to the output while in the right position only the processed or wet signal is sent to the output...

Page 41: ... amount of dry and wet signal which is related to the proximity of the sound source The Decay is used to control the reverberation time of the room In a real room the reverberation time is not constant across the whole frequency range because the walls of the hall are generally more absorbent at high frequencies which results in a shorter reverberation time for these frequencies This effect is con...

Page 42: ...l knob The best dynamic range is obtained when the level meters are around 0 dB for loud sounds 4 12 7 The Recorder Module This module is used to record the output of the Ultra Analog to a stereo 16 bit wave or aiff file The File display is used to choose the name and location of the destination file and it should always be used before starting a recording The Rec and Stop buttons are used to star...

Page 43: ...map Displays the name of the currently opened MIDI map For more information on MIDI maps please refer to Section 6 2 5 3 Polyphony Combo Box Displays the number of voices of polyphony 2 to 32 The number of voices can be adjusted with the drop down menu from the combo box 5 4 MIDI Channel combo box Displays the current MIDI channel on which Ultra Analog is receiving MIDI information The channel can...

Page 44: ...lers If the LED does not blink when you play your keyboard check your connections and the transmit receive channels you are using or the MIDI settings of Ultra Analog as explained in Section 6 2 5 8 Edit Compare This button is used to toggle between the settings of a currently modified preset and its settings when it was originally loaded For more information on this feature please refer to Sectio...

Page 45: ...vice used by Ultra Analog Go to the Edit menu choose Preferences and then MIDI Settings On Mac OS the same command is under the Ultra Analog menu A list of the MIDI devices installed on your computer will appear in the MIDI Configuration window Select the MIDI device you want to use and click on the OK button Creating MIDI Links Every control on the Ultra Analog interface can be manipulated by an ...

Page 46: ...lso use the Edit MIDILinks command from the Edit menu Click on the MIDI link you wish to modify and then on the Edit button to launch the EDIT MIDI Link window Choose the parameter controlled by the current MIDI link from the Parameter drop down menu which lists all the parameters of the current module Specify the MIDI controller number and MIDI channel of the physical controller you wish to link ...

Page 47: ...ding to different MIDI controllers can thereby be saved for the Ultra Analog A MIDI map can be loaded by double clicking on the corresponding MIDI connector icon that appears in the browser when a MIDI map is saved Furthermore a MIDI map can be loaded by automatically when an instrument is launched To assign a default MIDI map right click Ctrl click on the MIDI map icon and choose the MIDI Link In...

Page 48: ...ment when you hear the effect Roughly the total latency is due to two factors 1 the time taken by the sound card driver to send MIDI signals to the Ultra Analog and 2 the time taken by the sound card driver to send back the sound samples to the card for playback To control the amount of latency introduced by the Ultra Analog Launch the Audio Control Panel Adjust the buffer size Choose the sampling...

Page 49: ...e of the Ultra Analog window is fixed as in the standalone version It is possible however to gain some space on the screen by using the Hide Browser command from the View menu in order to hide the browser 7 2 Synchronization to the Host Sequencer To synchronize the Ultra Analog with the clock of a host sequencer select the External Source option in the Source drop down menu of the Clock module and...

Page 50: ...e MIDI program changes are supported in the plug in versions of Ultra Analog Note that with the VST format the list of program changes is available in the VST program list and the Edit Program Changes command is not available 7 9 Performance Using a plug in in a host sequencer requires CPU processing for both applications The load on the CPU is even higher when multiple instances of a plug in or n...

Page 51: ...ion O Open the selected preset Close Apple W Close the window and exit the application Save Preset Ctrl S Apple S Save the current preset Save Preset As Save the current preset under a new name Save Midi Links Ctrl Shift S Apple Shift S Save the current MIDI links Save Midi Links As Save the current MIDI links under a new name Import Import a axf file Export Export a axf file Exit Quit on Mac Quit...

Page 52: ... Ctrl I Apple I Edit information about a selected item browser Compare Compare modified preset with original settings Compare Rename current preset 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 value Edit Midi...

Page 53: ... Midi Settings Display the MIDI Settings window Latency Settings Display the Latency Settings window View Menu Command Windows Mac OS Description Show Hide Browser Apple B Show Hide the browser panel Locate Ctrl L Apple Locate the current preset in the browser and select it Help Menu Command Windows Mac OS Description Manual F1 Display the user manual Release Notes Display the release notes About ...

Page 54: ...54 Appendix 9 Appendix Figure 15 Schematic of the Ultra Analog Synthesizer ...

Page 55: ...er arrangement to users not individually licensed by AAS other than as expressly permit ted by the terms of this license The Software is licensed to you as a single product Its component parts may not be separated for use on more than one computer 3 OWNERSHIP AAS retains title to the Software including but not limited to any titles computer code themes objects dialog concepts artwork animations so...

Page 56: ...o have a valid license which is in effect at the time of receipt of each such update or new release This License shall remain in effect until terminated The Licensee may terminate this Agreement at any time upon notification to AAS This Agreement will terminate immediately without notice from AAS if the Licensee fails to comply with any provision of this License Any such termination by AAS shall b...

Page 57: ...of any quote order acknowledgement or similar communication between the parties during the term of this Agreement except as otherwise expressly agreed by the parties No modification to the Agreement will be binding unless in writing and signed by a duly authorized representative of each party 10 NON WAIVER No delay or failure to take any action or exercise any rights under this Agreement shall con...

Page 58: ...preset 14 delay 39 40 display 20 documenting preset 14 driver 48 edit 14 effect 39 envelope 19 33 free run mode 34 legato mode 34 loop mode 35 shape 34 export 15 factory presets 11 fade in 32 filter 18 25 band pass 26 band pass filter 25 drive 28 formant 28 formant filter 25 high pass 26 high pass filter 25 locking 29 low pass 25 low pass filter 25 notch 27 notch filter 25 parallel 29 saturation 2...

Page 59: ...se generator 18 31 notch filter 25 27 oscillator 18 22 sync 23 modulation 22 noise 22 pitch 22 pulse width 22 rectangular 22 routing 24 saw tooth 22 sine 22 square 22 sub oscillator 23 oscillator sync modulation 24 transient 24 output effect 19 output effect stage 39 chorus 40 delay 40 level 42 master clock 39 recorder 42 reverb 41 topology 41 panning 30 parameters 20 performance 7 phase 32 physic...

Page 60: ...8 reset mode 32 response key 9 reverb 39 41 sampling rate 7 48 saturation curve 28 saw tooth 22 schematic 54 shortcuts 51 signal flow 17 sine 22 slider 20 square 22 standalone mode 10 sub oscillator 23 sustain pedal 36 synchronization 23 39 system requirements 7 toolbar 43 transposition 36 tremolo 30 tuning 36 undo 14 user library 12 vco 18 22 vibrato 19 37 voltage controlled oscillator 22 wavefor...

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