U S E R G U I D E KURT BALLOU SIGNATURE S ERIES DRUMS RECORDED BY KURT BALLOU AT GODCITY RECORDING STUDIO THANKS! CONTACT US: WEB: www.roomsound.com Thanks for purchasing our drum sample library! We’ve FACEBOOK: worked hard to create a tool that addresses the needs www.facebook.com/roomsound of audio engineers at all skill levels, from the most seasoned studio pros, to the songwriter trying to find a INSTAGRAM: drum performance to finalize their demos. roomsoundofficial We’re committed to offering the best possible products TWITTER: and customer satisfaction. If you have any questions or @roomsound issues that aren’t covered in this user guide, feel free to contact us. We’re here to help! SUPPORT: [email protected] -Kurt Ballou & the Room Sound team © 2016 Room Sound, LLC TABLE OF CONTENTS INSTALLATION KONTAKT PLAYER FEATURES System Requirements 2 Kontakt KeyboarD 11 Installing the Software 2 Kontakt Mixer 11 Authorizing Your Software 2 Configuring MIDI Input 11 KIT SELECTION TAB DAW INTEGRATION Constructing Your Drum Kit 3 Steinberg Cubase 12 Microphone BleeD Control 3 Avid Pro Tools 12 Sustain Controls 4 Apple Logic Pro 12 Pitch Controls 4 FL StuDio 12 Ableton Live 12 MIXER TAB The Mixer Channel Strip 5 KOMPLETE KONTROL INTEGRATION Pan Knob 5 Komplete Kontrol 12 Volume Fader 5 Solo & Mute Buttons 5 LIBRARY INFORMATION Polarity Inversion Button 5 Drum Kit Pieces 13 Effects Section 5 Microphone Info 14 FX Channel Selector Tabs 5 Equalization 5 CREDITS 14 Compression 5 Saturation 5 END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT 15 Reverb SenD 5 Output Assignments 5 Advanced Options 6 “Turbo” Tracks 6 Microphone BleeD Levels 6 Parallel Aux SenDs 6 Master Channel Effects 7 Master EQ 7 Master Compressor 7 Master Saturation 7 Master Tape Emulation 7 Master Reverb Parameters 7 GROOVES TAB Auditioning MIDI Grooves 8 Drag anD Drop 8 Tempo Controls 8 MIDI OPTIONS TAB Key Map 9 Humanization 9 MIDI Velocity Dynamics 9 CC4 Hi Hat Pedal Control 9 Default MIDI Map 10 Kurt Ballou Signature Series Drums Page 1 INSTALLATION System Requirements: (These system requirements are subject to change without notice. The current version of the Kontakt Player is requireD) Mac OS X 10.10 or 10.11.1 (latest upDate, 64-bit only), Intel Core 2 Duo Windows 7, WinDows 8, or WinDows 10 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit), Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD AthlonTM64 X2 4 GB RAM (Minimum) 8+ GB RAM (RecommenDed) 10 GB Free HarD Drive Space Supported Interfaces / Plug-In Formats: StanD-alone, VST, AuDio Units, ASIO, Core Audio, WASAPI, AAX Native (WinDows: Pro Tools 10 or higher, Mac: Pro Tools 11 or higher) System Requirements for the current version of the Kontakt Player application can be found here: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/proDucts/komplete/samplers/kontakt-5-player/specifications/ Activating Your Software: This sample library runs inside the KONTAKT PLAYER application from Native Instruments. To begin your installation, downloaD anD install the latest version of the Native Instruments KONTAKT 5 PLAYER application available here: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/proDucts/komplete/samplers/kontakt-5-player/free-download/ Unzip the KURT BALLOU SIGNATURE SERIES DRUMS library anD move the resulting files into the location on your disk where you wish to keep your sample library. PLEASE NOTE: It is very important to choose the location on your hard drive where you wish to keep your library BEFORE you activate it inside the Kontakt Player. Moving a library after installation can result in errors. Inside the KONTAKT PLAYER application, click on the “Libraries” tab, anD then click on the “ADD Library” button. Navigate to the location of the folDer you unzippeD anD choose “open”. Activate the library by clicking the “Activate” button in the upright right corner of the “Libraries” tab. Log in to your Native Instruments account, or create a new account if you haven’t alreaDy registereD for one. Next, enter the SERIAL NUMBER from your confirmation e-mail (if purchaseD online) or from the authorization card incluDeD in the box (if purchaseD in a retail store). Your software shoulD now be authorizeD. Kurt Ballou Signature Series Drums Page 2 KIT SELECTION TAB In this winDow, you can auDition anD choose what drums you wish to use to construct your drum kit. Clicking on the drum selector dropdown at the bottom of each kit piece will allow you to select which Drum or cymbal you wish to loaD or to unloaD. To remove a kit piece from memory, select “None”. The kit piece will be unloadeD from RAM anD its picture will be greyeD out. Clicking on the drum picture will play back the currently- loaDeD kit piece for that drum slot through the mixer settings on the “Mixer” tab. Humanize Velocity Clicking this button will add subtle velocity humanization to the incoming MIDI Data. The amount of humanization has been pre-set to an optimal value for each kit piece and therefore requires no configuration other than “on” or “off”. MIDI Velocity Dynamics / Gain Using the “VELOCITY DYNAMICS” control will aDjust the Dynamic range of the MIDI velocity Data on a per-drum basis. At the “NONE” knob position, all incoming MIDI will be changeD to velocity 127. At the “FULL” knob position, the full dynamics of the incoming MIDI data will be maintained. The “MIDI VELOCITY GAIN” knob will apply gain to the incoming MIDI velocity Data on a per-drum basis. When used with the “VELOCITY DYNAMICS” knob, this can allow for extreme flexibility in adjusting the character of the drum performance. Clicking on the “Drum Reset” button will restore the “VELOCITY DYNAMICS” anD “MIDI VELOCITY GAIN” knobs to the Default value for the selecteD kit piece. Clicking on the “Global Reset” button will restore the “VELOCITY DYNAMICS” anD “MIDI VELOCITY GAIN” to the Default value for ALL kit pieces. Full Microphone Bleed Switch When recorDing a live Drum kit in the stuDio, the sounD from each kit piece will bleeD into all the microphones on the drum kit. This microphone bleed is often desirable and can result in a cohesive quality in the drum sounD. Kurt Ballou Signature Series Drums offers two levels of microphone bleed. With the “Full Mic BleeD” option enabled on the Kit Selection Tab, all mixer channels will incluDe bleeD from every kit piece. This moDe takes up quite a bit more RAM and CPU power than when “Full Mic Bleed” is deactivated. When the “Full Mic Bleed” button is deactivated, microphone bleed is restricted to the Overhead, Near Room anD Far Room microphone channels. All other close microphone channels will only play back sounDs from their respective kit pieces. For example, with “Full Mic Bleed” button deactivated, playing a snare drum will result in sounD coming through the snare top, snare bottom, overheaD anD room microphones, but not through the kick drum, toms or spot cymbal microphone channels. Kurt Ballou Signature Series Drums Page 3 Advanced Options: Sustain Controls On the Drum shells (but not on the cymbals), the sustain of each Drum can be controlleD by aDjusting the sliDers for each microphone group. In this way, the close, room anD bleeD microphone sustain can be aDjusteD separately. The bleeD microphone sliDer will only appear if the “Full Mic Bleed” option is enabled. The “Drum Reset” button will reset all of the sustain controls for the selected kit piece to the default value. The “Global Reset” button will reset the sustain controls of ALL kit pieces to their default value. Advanced Options: Pitch Controls With this knob, the pitch of each kit piece can be aDjusteD. The “Drum Reset” button will reset the pitch of the selecteD kit piece to the Default value. The “Global Reset” button will reset the pitch controls of ALL kit pieces to their Default values. Kurt Ballou Signature Series Drums Page 4 MIXER TAB Kurt Ballou Signature Series Drums incluDes a fully integrateD 14-channel mixer, along with separate EQ, compression, tape saturation, reverb anD specialized routing options. The Mixer Channel Strip: Pan: This knob controls the position of the track in the stereo fielD. Volume: This knob controls the volume level at the output of the track, however, it Does not affect the signal level being sent to the parallel (pre-faDer) aux senDs. Channel Output Meter: This meter Displays the post-faDer, post-effects level of the channel. Solo / Mute: These buttons control the solo anD mute status of the selecteD track. Polarity: This button reverses the polarity of the selecteD mixer track, useful for using the samples with other Drum libraries or blenDing with a live Drum performance. Channel Effects: FX Selector Switches: To adjust the channel- specific FX anD aDvanceD routing options available for each track, click on the relevant track name. EQ Section: The channel equalizer contains 4 bands, each with control over the frequency range anD gain amount, along with an aDjustable high-pass filter. Compression: The channel compressor moDels a famous hardware compressor known for its aggressive, punchy character when useD on Drums. Saturation: The saturation control dials in a high-quality emulation of the character of pushed analog electronics. Careful! A little bit of saturation goes a long way. Reverb: This knob controls the senD level of the post-FX signal being sent to a custom-designeD reverb impulse from Kurt’s favorite reverb unit. Further adjustment of the reverb parameters can be achieved on the “Master Channel Effects” page. Bypass Buttons: Each of the effects can be DeactivateD without changing their settings using the bypass button locateD on the left siDe of the effect. Bypassing effects that are not currently being useD Decreases the loaD on the computer’s CPU.