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Bass Pedals Manual V1.2 (18/09/2012) Introduction

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Bass Pedals Manual V1.2 (18/09/2012) Introduction Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Introduction Thank you for choosing Bass Pedals, our virtual analogue bass synthesizer optimized for Native Instruments’ Kontakt 4 / 5 sampler. Bass Pedals is a powerful instrument capable of creating a wide range of huge analogue sounding synth bass tones. We hope you have fun exploring Bass Pedals capabilities, and enjoy creating new sounds with it as much as we have enjoyed developing the instrument itself. This manual is specifically written for the Kontakt 4 / 5 version of Bass Pedals which makes extensive use of Kontakt's advanced script programming and GUI integration. Bass Pedals the Story Bass Pedals is inspired by the sought-after Moog Taurus Mk1 bass synthesizer from the mid seventies. The original Moog Taurus was a basic, but unique and powerful sounding monophonic analogue bass synthesizer with 2 VCO's (sawtooth waveforms), a typical (great sounding) Moog 24db Low pass filter with basic envelope controls, a VCA and 13 large pedals which were intended to be played by the feet. To fully capture the enormous and highly praised ‘Taurus sound’ we heavily multi-sampled an original Taurus MK1’s raw oscillator waveforms as well as 40 heavily multi-sampled preset patches, the latter being designed using the Taurus’s synthesis parameters. All waveforms and preset patches have been carefully recorded with 3 x round robin sample variations to help capture the imperfections and quirkiness of the original instrument. All samples were recorded through an API pre-amp and high end converters. Some patches have been further processed through an Empirical Labs Fatso and Pultec Style analogue EQ. Installation Bass Pedals and its accompanying library of waveforms/multi-samples is 4.5GB in size when un-zipped. If you have purchased Bass Pedals directly from www.wavealchemy.co.uk you will receive the download as two separate RAR files. Download these to a suitable location on your machine and use an archive manager such as WinRAR to unpack. To unpack the RAR files on a PC select BOTH files at the same time, right click and choose "extract here". The extraction process will unpack the instrument and its library of waveforms into one root folder on your machine called WA_Bass_Pedals. For MAC users download unrarx here: www.unrarx.sourceforge.net, select both files, drag and drop them onto the unrarx window to unpack the instrument. Note: You must have the full version of Kontakt version 4.2.2 or higher (including Kontakt 5) for Bass Pedals to work, if you are using an earlier version of Kontakt please download the latest version from Native Instruments website. 1 Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Contact Details If you experience any problems downloading, unpacking or installing Bass Pedals after purchasing from www.wavealchemy.co.uk please email support at [email protected] If you experience any problems downloading, unpacking or installing Bass Pedals after purchasing from www.loopmasters.com please email support at [email protected] Getting Started Once you have copied the Bass Pedals folder to a suitable place on your computer, load up your sequencer of choice along with an instance of Native Instruments Kontakt sampler. Note: You MUST have a full registered version of Native Instruments Kontakt 4 or higher to use Bass Pedals. This instrument does NOT work with Kontakt player. To get a good idea of what Bass Pedals is capable of, use Kontakt's browser window to locate and load some of the included preset patches. The Bass Pedals Kontakt version ships with; . 40 ‘Bass Pedals’ preset patches . 28 ‘Taurus’ preset patches . 1 Bass Pedals default patch Initialized Patch For those who like to dive in and create sounds completely from scratch, we have provided a default patch in the Bass Pedals 'instruments' folder named 'bass pedals default.nki' Note: Holding shift whilst moving any of the Bass Pedals knobs allows for finer increment adjustments Note: Holding Ctrl whilst clicking on any of the Bass Pedals parameters will move the control back to its default position 2 Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Bass Pedals Architecture Bass Pedals has four different pages which are accessed by clicking the relevant tab at the bottom of the instrument. You will notice that if you load any of the 'Taurus' presets the instrument defaults to showing the 'preset page'. Similarly if you load any of the ‘Bass Pedals’ presets the instrument defaults to showing the 'raw page'. Note: to avoid any confusion the terms "raw page" and "raw mode" are used interchangeably throughout this manual and are to be understood as the same thing Preset Page The Bass Pedals preset mode is powered by the currently loaded Taurus preset which is selected using Kontakt’s browser window. Once a Taurus preset is loaded it can be modified further using a dedicated amplifier and filter section. It is useful to think of the preset page as an initial layer that can be mixed with the Bass Pedal’s 'raw oscillators' (accessed in the raw page) to create interesting 'hybrid' patches. Bass Pedals Preset Page 3 Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Preset Section The switch under the ‘preset’ header is used to turn the loaded preset sound on / off. Preset Page Preset On / Off Beat - Staying true to Moog Taurus terminology 'Beat' is simply another word for fine tune. This controls frequency/tuning of the loaded preset sound / waveform in finer increments. Volume - The volume controls the level of the currently loaded preset. Amplifier Section The amplifier section on the preset page uses a 4-stage ADSR envelope which is used to modify the loaded presets amplitude over time. Preset Page Amplifier Section Attack - controls how long it takes for the amplitude of the currently loaded preset to increase from zero to maximum level Decay - controls how long it takes for the amplitude to decrease from maximum level to the sustain level Sustain - sets the amplitude level of the sound when a key is held down on the keyboard Release - controls how long it takes for the amplitude to decrease from the sustain level (after a key is released) to zero 4 Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Filter Section The filter section contains controls for the filter and its dedicated envelope generator. Preset Page Filter Section Cutoff - sets the frequency, below which signals are passed through the Low Pass Filter (LPF). Signals with frequencies higher than the cut-off frequency are filtered out. Resonance - increases the amount of emphasis (boost) around the cutoff frequency. Filter Type - Selects filter on / off mode Filter Envelope The preset page filter envelope is used to shape timbre over time by automating the filter cutoff. Attack - controls how long it takes for the cutoff of the LPF to increase from zero to maximum level Decay - controls how long it takes for the cutoff of the LPF to decrease from maximum level to zero Amount - a bi-polar parameter which controls how the preset page filter envelope automates the cutoff frequency of the LPF. With -POS (positive) settings the LPF is affected by the envelope in a positive way, resulting in the attack opening the LPF at a rate justified by the attack setting. With -NEG settings the LPF is affected in a negative way, resulting in the attack closing the LPF at a rate justified by the attack setting. 5 Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Preset Page OSC Drift A unique feature of Bass Pedals is its heavily scripted Oscillator drift function which uses a random number generator to simulate the wavering and unstable tuning imperfections often found in vintage analogue synthesizers. Each time a number is generated the pitch of the oscillator randomly wavers up and down, in increments dependant on the speed and depth controls. Preset OSC Drift Section Preset OSC Drift Speed - This controls the speed of the random numbers used to simulate a drift in tuning. Moving this slider to the right will increase the speed at which the oscillators drift in and out of tune. Moving this slider fully to the left turns off the oscillator drift function Preset OSC Drift Depth - This controls the amount of detuning that occurs when a new random number is generated to simulate a drifting effect. Moving this slider to the right increases the range that the oscillator will drift LFO Section The Preset page LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) is hard wired to the preset sound / waveforms pitch. Preset Page LFO Section Shape Off - self explanatory Sine - selects a sine wave shape as the LFO modulation source Saw - selects a saw wave shape as the LFO modulation source Depth - controls the amount of modulation routed to the selected modulation destinations Speed - controls the frequency (rate) of the LFO 6 Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Raw Page / Mode The raw page gives you access to Bass Pedals "raw oscillators". Bass Pedals Raw Page Raw mode boasts two analogue oscillators powered by a detailed set of carefully edited and looped waveforms recorded from a vintage Moog Taurus Mk1 Bass Pedals synthesizer. Every key in a three octave range has been sampled for each waveform and each oscillator. SAW, SAW -1oct (1 octave lower) and saturation modes are available for oscillator A while SAW, DUAL SAW and a saturation mode are available for oscillator B. Both oscillator's can be mixed together with an additional analogue sub oscillator (selectable between Sine, Square and TAURUS waveforms) as well as a white noise source. 7 Bass Pedals Manual v1.2 (18/09/2012) Oscillator Section Raw Page Oscillator A and B Section Oscillator A Wave Select - selects between a SAW wave and a SAW 1oct (1 octave below).
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