Sonik Synth 2 Manual 1mq3q

Sonik Synth™ 2 Plug-in Synth Workstation

MANUAL License Agreement Chapter 1 Sonik Synth™ 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

Introduction What is Sonik Synth™ 2 Sonik Synth™ 2 overview Sonik Synth™ 2 Features Sonik Synth™ 2 Sounds

Chapter 2 Playing Sonik Synth™ 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7

Starting Sonik Synth™ in Cubase™ Starting Sonik Synth™ in Logic™ Audio Starting Sonik Synth™ in ProTools® Starting Sonik Synth™ in Digital performer Starting Sonik Synth™ in Sonar® Loading and playing instruments Controlling instruments: the MIX window

Chapter 3 Controlling Sonik Synth™ 3.1 OCTAVE transposition 3.2 POLY/MONO/LEGATO 3.3 SYNTH-SAMPLER section 3.5 EFFECTS section 3.6 MINI keyboards 3.7 ZONE controls 3.8 MIDI CONTROL association 3.9 Preferences 3.10 Other controls Chapter 4 Organizing your instruments 4.1 Search function 4.2 Instruments location 4.3 Managing sound organization Chapter 5 Sonik Synth™ save function 5.1 Save and work with Part Preset Instruments 5.2 Save Combi Preset 5.3 Back up function Chapter 6 SYNTH-SAMPLER section 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5

Resampling Pitch-Shift/Time-Stretch STRETCH Filter Evelope 1 and 2

6.6 LFO 1 and 2 6.7 Velocity 6.8 MACRO controls section Chapter 7 Sonik Synth™ multi-effects unit 7.1 Sonik Synth™ multi-effects unit 7.2 Effect List Slot 1 - EQ/Comp Slot 2-5 Reverberation and Delay - Reverb - Ambience - Reverb Delay - Spring Reverb - Delay Filters -

Filter Envelope Filter Multi Filter Wah-Wah

Modulations - Chorus - Multi Chorus - Phaser - AM Modulation - FM Modulation - Flanger - Envelope Flanger Panning - Auto Pan - Tremolo - Rotary Speaker Distorsion - Lo-Fi - Distortion - Phonograph - Crusher - Overdrive Amp simulation - Pre Amp - Tone Control - Cabinet Mix/Master - Param EQ - Channel Strip - Compressor

- Limiter Dance - Slicer 7.3 BPM linked effects Chapter 8 Automation 8.1 Automating parameters Chapter 9 Tips and Tricks 9.1 Polyphony and U usage 9.2 Get the most out of your Sonik Synth™ Chapter 10

END- LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR Sonik Synth™ software Please read this document carefully before breaking the seal on the media package. This agreement licenses the enclosed software to you and contains warranty and liability disclaimers. By breaking the seal on the media envelope, you are confirming to have taken notice of and conditions of this agreement and you acknowledge your acceptance of the software as well as your acceptance of the of this agreement. If you do not wish to do so, do not break the seal. Instead, promptly return the entire package, including the unopened media package, to the dealer from whom you have obtained it, for a full refund.

1) DEFINITIONS "EULA” means this end license agreement "Sonik Synth™ software" means the software program included in the enclosed package, and all related updates supplied by IK Multimedia. "IK Multimedia Product" means the Sonik Synth™ software and the related documentation and models and multimedia content (such as animation, sound and graphics) and all related updates supplied by IK Multimedia. "Not for resale (NFR) Version" means a version of IK Multimedia Product, so identified, is intended for review and evaluation purposes, only.

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Chapter 1 Sonik Synth™ 1.1 Introduction Sonik Synth™ 2 is the ultimate all-around SYNTH WORKSTATION for composing and performing music in a wide variety of styles from R&B to Techno/Electronic to Classic Rock and more. It is an instrument plug-in that works in all major platforms (Cubase, Logic, ProTools, Digital Performer, Sonar and others) on MacOS® X and Windows®. Included with the plug-in is a 5 gigabyte sound library covering all kind of workstation sounds you'd expect from a hardware keyboard or sound module plus Sonik Synth 2 will also offer one of the most extensive collections of synth sounds ever assembled! Not only will it have rich ethereal and atmospheric moving textures but also fat analog flavors of nearly every classic synthesizer brand ever made! Imagine having the characteristic waves from vintage Arps, Moogs, Obies, Prophets, Jupiters, mega modular synths and more called up by a built-in search engine with pictures of the instruments for reference! From the sound of the very first electronic tones to the latest complex evolving pads, leads, basses, electronic drums and percussion, Sonik Synth™ 2 provides unprecedented sonic variety in one package! 1.2 What is Sonik Synth™ Sonik Synth™ is a polyphonic, multitimbral, sample-based synth-workstation with multi-effects units and proprietary sound banks, all combined together into a unique plug-in instrument. Sonik Synth™ uses samples as oscillator waveforms but the synth engine is much more flexible than conventional hardware samplers. This makes Sonik Synth™ more like a complex workstation than a traditional sampler, with 32-bit floating-point processing of superior quality. To use Sonik Synth™ you’ll need a MIDI sequencer compatible with plug-ins (or alternatively a plug-in host). An adequate audio card (with low-latency drivers) and a master-keyboard are strongly recommended to play it like a hardware musical instrument. 1.3 Sonik Synth™ 2 overview - 3 synth engines For the first time in a sample-based instrument, 3 synth engines can be selected on the fly to provide more sound flexibility than ever before: traditional Resampling (the conventional method of playback that most samplers use), Pitch-Shift/Time-Stretch and our all new STRETCH™ engine. STRETCH™ (Sampletank Time REsynthesis TeCHnology) gives complete sonic control over the tempo, pitch and harmonics of samples. No more "chipmunk sounding" transposition, no more loops and phrases out of sync, no more limitations in musical expression. - Multisamples like you’ve never heard before with STRETCH

Multisampled instruments with STRETCH™ deliver amazing realism and expression. Your performances come to life with true glide, bending, staccato and vibrato with an incredibly rich, vibrant, and natural quality. Plus, pushing STRETCH™ to the limit can take you to a whole new world of unheard sonic territories. - Easy to control 50 parameters synth Sonik Synth™ 2 allows full and easy access to more than 50 new synth-engine parameters including multi-mode filters, envelopes, LFOs and more for your own patch creation. All of these packed into a musician friendly interface with everything you need right at your fingertips. - An effects powerhouse Sonik Synth™ 2 has over 30 high quality DSP effects built-in to the module. With 5 effects per instrument channel, the ability to sound like a produced album instantly sets Sonik Synth™ 2 apart from all other virtual instruments. Included are effects from our award winning AmpliTube™ and T-Racks® plug-ins, plus 12 stage phasers, flangers, chorus, delay, reverb, rotary, tremolo... all saved with the sound for instant recall! - 16 layerable multitimbral parts A streamlined interface complete with light-speed control over Sonik Synth™'s 16 multitimbral parts - Instant access to MIDI channel, Solo, Mute, Polyphony, Volume and Pan. - Save and exchange song data using the same sounds With Sonik Synth™ 2 you can save every setting for making your own exclusive patches and presets. Exchange sounds and Sonik Synth™ 2 sessions in any sequencer, Mac or PC, giving you the ability to collaborate and work on any system. - Full MIDI control Every parameter in Sonik Synth™ 2 is MIDI controllable for optimal interactive performance. From MIDI program change to full automation and total recall, Sonik Synth™ 2 delivers the performance features musicians need the most. - Instantly compatible with every platform Sonik Synth™ 2 is available for Mac®0SX and Windows®, VST®i, DXi, RTAS, and Audio Units all from the same box. - Can also be used to expand SampleTank ® 2 sound arsenal Sonik Synth™ 2 sounds can be read also in Sonik Synth™® 2 expanding the sound arsenal of the leasing sample workstation plug-in. 1.4 Sonik Synth™ 2 features Summarized here are Sonik Synth™’s 2 main features: • • • • • •

16 parts multitimbral sound module with layerable parts New mix view and full mix parameters control 3 synth engines: new STRETCH™ and Pitch-shift/Time-stretch plus traditional Resampling Enhanced instrument browsing Total sound editing with full access to 50 Synth-Sampler engine controls Portamento feature for added realism

• •

• • • • • • • • • •

Zone feature for single sample accurate editing 32 built-in DSP effects - EQ/Comp - Reverb, Spring Reverb, Ambience, Reverb Delay, Delay - Filter, Envelope Filter, Multi Filter, Wah-Wah - Chorus, Multi Chorus, Phaser, AM Modulation, FM Modulation, Flanger, Envelope Flanger - Auto Pan, Tremolo, Rotary Speaker - Lo-Fi, Distortion, Phonograph, Crusher, Overdrive - Pre Amp, Tone Control, Cabinet - Parametric EQ, Channel Strip, Compressor, Limiter - Slicer 5 effects per voice Easy to use full MIDI control Responds to MIDI Program change preset and module save features Convenient back up function Sound search function with integrated sounds database 256 notes polyphony Available as VST, RTAS, DXi, AU, MAS For MacOS®X, Windows® 2000/XP Sounds can also be used to expand SampleTank® 2 sounds

1.5 Sonik Synth™ 2 sounds The sounds in the Sonik Synth 2 make up a full workstation of synth sounds covering the range of today's popular keyboards and sound modules with pianos, bass, drums, guitars, voices and more to a history of analog and digital synth textures like no other plug-in has offered before! From moving orchestral vocal combi patches like this to motion synths to rich analog pads like this or awesome film and electronic fx to thick leads for all styles of music from Dance to R&B to Classic Rock and more... Sonik Synth 2 has it all! Here more info on the sounds in these amazing synth-module: - The Arp 2500 was the modular beast predecessor to the popular Arp 2600. It had a very fat punchy sound. This is the synth that was seen in Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the intergalactic live jam session. It was also used by many artists in the 70's. We sampled waveforms and many cool sounds from the Arp 2500 and got amazing results that add to the diverse classic synth flavors of Sonik Synth 2! - The Arp Quadra was like having four synths in one (before there was midi). You had a lead, a polysynth, a string ensemble and a bass synth. This is also one of the many sounds captured for instant recall in Sonik Synth 2. - This is an EMU® modular synth. This rare beast was made before EMU® became a pioneer in the sampling world with their Emulator series. It was one of the finest quality modular synths ever made with a very thick and clean original sound. - A lot of the flavor of these synths are captured inside Sonik Synth 2. Pictured from right to left: Yamaha CS80, Moog Taurus I & II, WMS VC Flanger & Phaser, Roland Phaser & Flanger, Oberheim SEM with 360 Systems OEM version, 14 Serge

Modular with over 60 modules, Oberheim SEM with an additional SSM P5 filter, Chroma Expander, Small Emu Modular, EMS VCS3 plus other cool rackmount synths like a Studio Electronics MidiMoog, Roland Super Jupiter and a Voyetra 8. Imagine having all of that flavor inside one synth module plug-in! From progressive leads to full rich synth sounds, synth fx and more. - The Gleeman Pentaphonic was made of plexiglass but equally as rare was the black metal unit pictured here. The Gleeman had a unique beefy sound for a polyphonic synth at the time. - There's nothing like a good wall of synths to play with but the next best thing is something that everyone can access... virtual instrument plug-ins such as Sonik Synth 2! We've meticulously captured the kind of sounds you'd get from nearly every brand of classic analog synth to original instrument sounds that allow Sonik Synth™ 2 to perform the role of workstation synths too. Pictured here from left: Minimoog®, Mellotron 400, EML Electrocomp 101, EMS VCS3 Cabinet Minimoog, Steiner Parker Synthacon, Arp 2500, Roland System 100, Moog® Modular, Steiner Parker Modular, Custom Built Modular and various analog beatboxes. - The famous Minimoog® was used on more records than any synth of it's time. The Minimoog is considered to be a timeless classic! We captured many different flavors of the Minimoog in Sonik Synth™ 2. - In case you love modular synths, there is no shortage of pictures here! From left there is a stack of EMU Modulars, Minimoog, Steiner Parker, Arp 2500, 12 Serge, Oberheim 4 voice, Custom Modular, Moog Taurus 1 plus a PiAi Gnome and a Dr. Rhythm on top (no whip cream or nuts please). - There were several different types of Moog® Modulars with different series modules in them. We sampled both the 900 and 920 series oscillators from many systems. The Moog® Modular 3C system had unstable but fat sounding oscillators! They're stable now in Sonik Synth 2! - Another cool sounding rare synth was the OSCar which had a sound that was like a cross between a PPG and a Minimoog®. We have plenty of flavors from both the OSCar and the PPG in Sonik Synth 2! - The Moog® Polymoog used a similar organ technology that Arp used with their Solina/String Ensemble. It had a rich silky sound. - One of the benefits of Sonik Synth 2 is that we've captured the very different sound of the various revisions of PPGs (2.0, 2.2, 2.3) and of Prophet 5s (the rev 1 & 2 had a completely different sounding filter from the rev 3). Listen to this audio clip of Sonik Synth 2's P5 triangle wave pad that is similar to the sound used on "In the Air Tonight" (Ref. Keyboard May '04 ex. 7). Or, check out this audio clip of a Prophet 5 sound similar to Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" (Ref. ex. 2) and this harmonica lead sound used on many Steely Dan and Donald Fagen records (ref. ex 6). Also pictured here is a rare PPG 2.0 (less than 10 in the world), Roland VP330 vocoder, Oberheim® OBX, Arp Solina, Korg CX-3, a set of Mellotron tapes and a Vako Orchestron. - The Oberheim® SEMS were one of the best sounding synths ever made. With it's unique discrete multi-mode filter, the SEM was great for mixing with other synths or

using them together in a modular set up of 2, 4 or 8. For Sonik Synth 2 we have samples of both individual waveforms with various filter settings as well as the monster sound of 16 oscillators in unison! - Serge modular system, another rare but fascinating synth. We captured the unique sound of its New Timbrel Oscillators and more. These are the kind of synths that will most likely never be fully modeled for commercial reasons but it's nice to have some of it's sonic flavor inside a virtual instrument plug-in! - A famous synth out of the UK called the EMS VCS 3. We sampled both the countertop and brief case model known as the Synthi AKS. This synth was used on many classic records including some 60-70’s masterpieces. We sampled a variety of waves, noise and fx from this classic to be reanimated inside Sonik Synth 2. - The Roland® Jupiter 8 was a fantastic sounding synth. For Sonik Synth™ 2 we sampled many Jupiters and Juno synths including the Jupiter 4, 6 and 8, Super Jupiter rack, Juno 60 and Juno106. - A Steiner Parker modular, a rare unique sounding synth that we sampled extensively and is found within the elements of Sonik Synth 2's massive wave set. This synth was developed by Niles Steiner who invented the first wind controller for synthesizers, the Lyricon and the Akai Ewi. - The Roland® TR808! While we've heard this analog beatbox on more R&B, dance and electronic records than many brand drum kits, it is great to have these staple electronic drum sounds along with the TR909, TR606, CR78, SR120 and other analog beatboxes inside Sonik Synth 2 for instant use. - Prophet VS, Yamaha® 60, Roland® D50, PPG 2.3, Arp Quadra, Korg® Vocoder, R8, Oberheim Matrix 6, Arp Odyssey, Arp 2600, Yamaha® CS80. - A nice variety of vintage keyboards, including classic electric pianos such as the Wurlitzer 200A and various Rhodes and Hohner electric pianos and clavinets were sampled for Sonik Synth 2. The Wurly EP can be heard on tons of classic records. PLEASE NOTE: ALL PRODUCT NAME AND TRADEMARKS ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS, WHICH ARE IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH IK MULTIMEDIA. PRODUCTS NAMES ARE USED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF IDENTIFYING THE SPECIFIC PRODUCTS THAT WERE STUDIED DURING SOUND DEVELOPMENT AND FOR DESCRIBING CERTAIN TYPES OF TONES PRODUCED WITH IK MULTIMEDIA’S TECHNOLOGY. USE OF THOSE NAMES DO NOT IMPLY ANY CO-OPERATION OR ENDORSEMENT.

Chapter 2 Using Sonik Synth™ 2.1 Starting Sonik Synth™ in Cubase™ VST and Cubase™ SX Launch Cubase™. Open the VST Instruments by pressing F11 or by selecting it from the s menu (VST) or from the Devices menu (SX). The VST instruments rack will open. Click on any of the empty slots (where it says ‘No VST Instruments’) and select Sonik Synth™ 2 from the list. Now click on the Edit (VST) or ‘e’ (SX) button to open the Sonik Synth™ 2 interface.

Now create a new MIDI track in the main arrange window and select Sonik Synth™ 2 as its output, rec enable the track and you’re ready to play. It you were already working on some midi tracks and you would like to have Sonik Synth™ 2 play these parts simply assign Sonik Synth™ 2 as their output without creating any new MIDI tracks. Sonik Synth™ 2 is 16 channels multitimbral; select the MIDI channel you want to use from the Cubase midi track ‘chn’ parameter.

2.2 Starting Sonik Synth™ in Logic™ Audio Launch Logic™ Audio. Create an Audio Instrument track or select one if your default song already has some. Go to the Mixer and insert Sonik Synth™ 2 on that track from the VST sub menu (PC or Mac OS 9) or from the AudioUnits sub menu (Mac OS X), Sonik Synth™ 2 will be launched. Double click on the loaded slot (blue) to open the Sonik Synth™ 2 interface. Return to the Arrange window, select the Audio Instrument track and now you can play from your midi keyboard. 16 parts multitimbral usage in Logic: Due to the way Logic’s Audio Instrument tracks are made, the midi channel selection you apply in the arrange window is forced to be the same for all the tracks that uses the same Audio Inst. It is anyway possible to use Sonik Synth™ 2 with more than one channel (up to 16) by selecting “all” in the midi channel field of the Audio Instrument and selecting the midi channel on the various tracks events. This can also be achieved by switching the ‘transmit’ midi channel on your midi keyboard when you record your parts.

2.3 Starting Sonik Synth™ in ProTools® Launch ProTools and create your new session. Note that Sonik Synth™ 2 s sample rates up to 96 KHz. Going beyond is not advisable, although it is still possible. Create a stereo Audio track (do NOT rec enable it), open the mixer, click on an insert and choose Sonik Synth™ 2 form Multichannel RTAS plug-ins list, the Sonik Synth™ 2 interface will automatically open. Now create a Midi track, record enable it, and choose one of the 16 channels of Sonik Synth™ 2 as its output from the Mixer window, you’re now ready to play. On some systems a quick play/stop is needed to activate the audio streaming and therefore the sound from the plug-in. As Sonik Synth™ 2 is an RTAS plug-in it can be inserted into Audio tracks only on TDM systems. If you’re working with ProTools LE (Digi 001, Digi 002, MBox and other non-TDM systems) then you can insert SamlpleTank2 into a stereo AUX track. This is convenient in order to save Audio tracks.

2.4 Starting Sonik Synth™ in Digital Performer™ Launch Digital Performer (4.1 or newer) and create your new session. From the 'Project' menu select 'Add Track' ‡ 'Instrument Track' and choose 'IK Multimedia Sonik Synth™ 2 stereo'. Create a Midi track and choose one of the 16 channels of Sonik Synth™ 2 as its output, rec-enable the midi track and you're ready to play/record.

2.5 Starting Sonik Synth™ in Sonar® Launch Sonar and create your new session using, for example, the ‘normal’ template. Open the Console (pressing ALT+3) and locate an Audio track, make sure it’s stereo (default). Right click into the FX insert area (black) of the AudioTrack on the mixer and choose Sonik Synth™ 2 from the DXi sub-menu. (….from the VSTi sub-menu) After a while the Sonik Synth™ 2 interface will appear. Now locate a Midi track on the Mixer, record enable it, select Sonik Synth™ 2 1 as its output and the midi channel you’re going to use for this Sonik Synth™ part (Sonik Synth™ 2 has 16), you’re now ready to play from your keyboard. If you need to record the part do NOT record enable the audio track where Sonik Synth™ 2 has been inserted, instead record enable the Midi Track. 2.6 Loading and playing instruments The available instruments are displayed at the center of the Sonik Synth™ interface in the BROWSER window. The scrollable list of instruments has been enlarged to accommodate 16 instruments and also to reflect the number of available instruments you can simultaneously load in a Sonik Synth™ 2 module (16 parts). The BROWSER list of folders and instruments reflects the same folders and instruments organization of the hard disk folder where your sounds are located. This folder is called the “root” folder and it’s location is stored in the Sonik Synth™ 2 PREFERENCES (which you can access and change by clicking the PREF button). Folders are indicated with a white triangle. To open a folder, click on its name in the list or on the triangle. Opened folders display the list of available instruments. To close a folder, re-click on its name or on the triangle. To load an instrument in Sonik Synth™simply double-click on it. It will be loaded on PART 1 (if it’s the first to be loaded). All the Sonik Synth™ 2 parameters on the interface will now reflect those of the loaded parts. The MIX window allows you to load up to 16 Sonik Synth™ instruments per module, every instrument will be loaded into a PART. To select the PART where you want to load an instrument simply click on the PART number or in the middle of the part window. The 1-8, 9-16 buttons allow you to switch between the 1-8 and 9-16 parts by displaying them in the MIX window. Every PART responds to a MIDI channel (CH.). By clicking and dragging on the CH. number of each PART you easily select the MIDI channel that this PART responds to. Asg the same MIDI channel to more than one PART will have all the PARTs responding to the same MIDI channel for building up to 16 parts huge layered sounds. You can now play the instrument using a master keyboard connected to the sequencer, using a MIDI sequence in the track or by playing the Sonik Synth™ 2 mini-

keyboard. MIDI activity in the PART is indicated by the PART led which lights when MIDI is received on that PART Once an instrument is loaded into a PART the image of it will appear on the right bottom-side of the interface. By Clicking on the image further information will be displayed such as instrument info, copyright info, MACRO controls info (if those are included in the instrument).

2.7 Controlling instruments: the MIX window All the controls included in the MIX window are designed to give you immediate control over your mix of instruments. Here you have several controls at your disposal: •

You can change the MIDI channel associated to that PART

•

You can SOLO and MUTE instruments

•

You can EMPTY the PART with the empty button.

•

You can check the amount of memory of the loaded instrument in MB

•

You can set the maximum polyphony for each specific instrument (by click and dragging the mouse on the POLY number)

•

You can control VOLUME and PAN of each specific PART dragging the mouse on the VOL and PAN number)

•

You can associate through which STEREO OUT that part is playing (the max number of stereo outputs is set in PREFERENCES by clicking the PREF button) by clicking and dragging the mouse on the OUT number

•

You can see the level of the instrument playing with the LEVEL display

(by clicking and

Chapter 3 Controlling Sonik Synth™ 3.1 OCTAVE transposition Once an instrument is loaded it can be quickly transposed by +-2 octaves, in 1 octave increments, by clicking on the OCTAVE buttons. 3.2 POLY/MON0/LEGATO The POLY/MONO/LEGATO buttons switch the current instruments between polyphonic, monophonic and monophonic with legato. You can select one of this mode clicking on the relative button.

In monophonic with legato (LEGATO) it is possible to control the PORTAMENTO time (the time of the gliding between the notes) with the PORTAMENTO TIME knob from 1mS to 10 Sec. 3.3 SYNTH-SAMPLER section Sonik Synth™ 2 give you full control of its powerful synth engine in the new SYNTHSAMPLER section. Here you can control more than 50 parameters divided into 8 sections. Although the Sonik Synth™ 2 engine offers great complexity, the is facilitated by seeing the engine parameters presented as they would be using a traditional synth architecture with oscillators (although sample based) plus the ability to switch between 3 different types of sample engine. • • • • • •

• •

LFO1 5-waveforms LFO useful to modulate Volume, Pitch & Filter LFO2 5-waveforms LFO useful to modulate Volume, Pitch, Filter & Pan. Envelope 1 Amplitude (Volume) envelope controls. Envelope 2 Pitch & Filter envelope controls. Filter LPF, BPF, HPF filter with selectable slope: 6, 12 or 24 dB/Oct. Synth here is where you select the synth engine type, from: Resampling, Pitch-Shift/Time-Stretch/STRETCH™ Here is where you perform Time and Pitch manipulation. Velocity Here you can control the way the midi velocity affects the sound, modifying the way it affects Volume, Filter, Pitch, etc. Macro control instrument specific parameters

To display one of these sections simply click the appropriate button. The section you’re currently displaying will have the button highlighted. You can edit all instruments parameters in the SYNTH-SAMPLER section by adjusting the Knobs of this section once you’ve loaded an instrument. Each of the 16 instruments you can load in Sonik Synth™ 2 can have different SAMPLER-SYNTH settings. Your modification will be kept when the song session you’re working is saved. You can also SAVE these modifications into an INSTRUMENT PRESET (). All SYNTH-SAMPLER parameters can be controlled through MIDI control change. 3.5 EFFECTS section Each Sonik Synth™ 2 instruments can be programmed with 5 effects each. The effects are displayed in the effects slots. The 1st effect slot contains always an EQ, compressor. The other 2-5 effect slots can contain one effects choosen from among 32 DSP effects. To view the list of available effects once you’ve loaded an instrument, click on the arrow at the right in each of of the 2-5 effects slot. A pop-up menu will appear displaying all the 32 DSP effects which are available in Sonik Synth™ 2. Now move the selection with the mouse and click on an effect to load it. The selected effect name will now show in the effects slot. To empty an effects slot, simply select the NO EFFECT option.

To view and change each effect’s parameters, click on the desired effect’s slot. A frame will appear around the slot indicating that effect is selected. Only the selected effect will be shown on the interface at any time. The effect knobs are labeled corresponding to the effect’s parameters. The unused knobs will be shaded in gray. Above each effect knob you can read a label corresponding to its function. Below the effect knob is its current value. To activate an effect, click on its ON button to the right. The button is highlighted and the effect is active. All active effects are inserted in the instrument chain following a patch order from top to bottom of the effect window. To deactivate an effect, click on the ON button again to deactivate the effect. The button will turn normal. You can BY all effects at once (i.e to hear the sound dry) by clicking on the BY button. You can also LOCK into SLOTS effect preventing them to change when a new instrument is loaded. This way you can prevent instrument settings of effects overriding your own settings. The tempo-related effects in Sonik Synth™ 2 can also be synced to BMP of the sequencer (when the sequencer allow this function). In this case the effects will also present a BPM ON/OFF switch. When switched ON the effects will be linked to sequencer tempo (and its measure unit will turn to division of the beat). You can also save multiple or single effects settings and Load these settings with the SAVE MULTI, SAVE and LOAD button. The effects settings are saved as.STFX file. A dialog window will appear when you click one of these buttons asking for saving or loading files. As with the sound parameters, effect parameters can be controlled via MIDI control change. 3.6 MINI Keyboard Sonik Synth™ 2 new MINI keyboard act both as display of the notes you’re playing and as an input device for playing Sonik Synth™ instruments. You can play any notes of the 7 octave mini keyboard simply by clicking the note with the mouse. 3.7 ZONE control By clicking the ZONE button you will switch into the ZONE mode. The MINI keyboard will display how the samples are mapped on the keyboard by a series of zones of alternate color. When the keys show no color it means that no sample is associated with those keys. To select a zone simply click on it with the MINI keyboard or hitting the corresponding key on your midi keyboard. By doing this you can change any of the SYNTH-SAMPLER parameters just for this zone (you can for example change only the attack of a snare sample in a drum kit). These settings will be applied ONLY to that specific zone, leaving the others untouched.

The ZONE editing is very powerful and extremely detailed because it offers you control at the sample level. As for all the others instrument parameters, you can also SAVE zone modifications into an INSTRUMENT PRESET (see paragraph 5.1) for faster access. 3.8 MID CTL association Synth™ 2 has implemented a new extremely flexible method. You can now associate any MIDI CTL (MIDI controls) to any Sonik Synth™ 2 knob, to fully control your Sonik Synth™ 2 with hardware controllers and keyboards. A different MIDI CTL association can be created for any of the 16 Sonik Synth™ 2 parts. The procedure to associate MIDI control is as follows: • • • • •

click on the MIDI CTL button click on any of the knobs you want to automate a window will be displayed with the name of the knob parameter and a field for associating the MIDI CTL written N/A (not available) click and drag on this field to change the MIDI controller number which you want this knob will respond to de-associate a MIDI CTL from a knob simply select the N/A(not available) value on it

In the window you will also find the min./max. value of the knob you’re associating. You can easily personalize the range to be controlled with an external MIDI CTL by changing the min/max. value. MIDI CTL association are saved with your song data as all the sounds tweaks you may have done. If you want to SAVE with the sound a specific MIDI CTL association, you can save a PRESET sound (). This way loading the sound will automatically load its MIDI CTL assocation. You can associate any kind of hardware controls to Sonik Synth™ 2 parameters this way. CC’s from 12 to 15 are associated to the Macros (A, B, C, D knobs). 3.9 Preferences Click on the PREFS button to display the Sonik Synth™ 2 preferences window. In the preferences window you can: •

select the ROOT folder for your Sonik Synth™ instruments

•

select to automatic RELIST the instruments browser window

Allow you to switch off auto relist at start up, this can be useful to greatly speed up the Sonik Synth™ 2 start-up which could take some time in case you have a very

large set of instruments on your hard drive. If the automatic relist at startup is turned off Sonik Synth™ 2 will start quickly and will show an instrument list created relying on a cache file previously created. This means any change in the structure of the istruments won’t be shown in the Instrument Browsing window. • activate the number of ed outputs according to the sequencer platform A slider allows you to select the number of stereo outputs to be used by the module. This number may vary among the platforms. Once the slider is set to a value you’ll be able to set the desired output pair to the sequencer Mixing desk from the mix area, but only after closing and reopening Sonik Synth™ 2. This is because Sonik Synth™ 2 ‘declares’ how many outputs it will put on the mixer at the startup. The maximum number of outputs available is 16 but it may be lower depending on various platforms limitations. All the information included in the preferences is also stored in the ST2Pref.txt file as well as other info. The ST2Pref.txt file can be found here: Windows:

SS2Pref

directory relative to install directory

MacOSX:

IKMultimedia\SonikSynth 2\SS2Pref

directory relative to s preferences directory

The file contains: FirstRun= FlatVelocity= InstrumentPath= Reload= RegID= Serial= VstOutputs= AUOutputs= BrowseUp= BrowseDown=

used to detect if this is the first run of the plug-in velocity value when velocity setting is set to Flat the path where the Sonik Synth™ instruments are installed RELIST at start-up activated/deactivated authorization code serial number max. number of output in VST (1-8 stereo outputs) max. number of output in Audio Units (1-8 stereo outputs) midi note number that’s assigned to the browse UP (notes from 0 to 127, -1 means disabled, Arrow UP, see 3.12) midi note number that’s assigned to the browse DOWN (notes from 0 to 127, -1 means disabled, Arrow DOWN, see3.12)

3.10 Other controls Volume and Pan You can set the Volume and Pan of each single instrument using the Volume and Pan knobs. Information (i) By clicking on the I button, the credit interface will be displayed. Clicking anywhere on the credit interface will return to normal mode. Keyboard modifiers:

You have some keyboard modifiers which allows you to fine control Sonik Synth™ 2 knobs: •

for finer adjustment of any parameter hold down the CTRL key while dragging the knobs

•

clicking on any knob while holding the ALT key will cause the control to jump to its default.

Chapter 4 Organizing instruments Sonik Synth™ immediately provides thousands of different instruments. Due to the sheer quantity of sounds, organization and accessibility become essential factors for the professional . Sonik Synth™ answers this concern with two complementary ways of accessing files: a search function and -defined categories. 4.1 Search function All Sonik Synth™ native and converted instruments have a set of hidden keywords which can be used to locate any instrument directly. To begin a search, click on the SEARCH field. A pop-up window will open asking for your search keywords. You can insert multiple keywords separated by commas (,). When you click OK all the instruments whose set of keywords match the current search will be immediately displayed in the instruments list. You can load any of them, without further browsing. Once a SEARCH has been made the SEARCH button will turn into a BACK button. By clicking on the BACK button it will retrieve the complete list of sounds and revert its state to SEARCH button again.

4.2 Instruments location A Sonik Synth™ instrument is made of three essential files: - .STH - .STI - .STW

containing the instrument name and description containing the instrument program containing the instrument waveforms

By default all the Sonik Synth™ instruments are placed in the following directory: Win: • [Program Files]\Sonik Synth 2\SS2Instruments OSX: • [Applications]/Sonik Synth 2/SS2Instruments

During installation, all of the.STH and.STI files and.STW files will be placed in the aforementioned folder. You can change the ROOT folder at anytime by pointing to another folder in the PREF window. To remove an instrument you can manually remove it from the ROOT folder, taking care to remove all of its 3 files.

4.3 Managing sound organization Knowing how Sonik Synth™ keeps track of its instruments, you can now move, duplicate and regroup them (and their folders) at will; using any file manager in your system. Please note that all the.STH,.STI and.STW files must be moved together or the instrument will not work correctly. You can also act directly on the directory path. For example you can organize your instruments outside of the default folder, or have more than one ‘Sonik Synth™ Instruments’ folder and switch between them. In this case, that you need to select where the instruments folder is located, by means of the ROOT preference; or Sonik Synth™ won’t find the instruments. As soon as you change the ‘Root’ preferences by selecting your new root folder, your personal instrument list will be displayed in the interface. Even if you've changed the instruments organization of the root folder after using them on a song, these will be always loaded when you re-load the song containing those instruments associated to the song's tracks. You can even keep the instruments folder over a network of computers in order to have different computers able to access to a single instruments folder, having Sonik Synth™ loading instruments from the network. Sonik Synth™ instruments format are also multi-platform. This way instruments can be freely shared by Macintosh® and Windows® machines with no problem. Sonik Synth™ instruments are also fully compatible with SampleTank® instruments and can be loaded and played in SampleTank® 2 by simply copying/dragging them within SampleTank® 2 ROOT folder.

Chapter 5 Sonik Synth™ save function 5.1 Save and work with Part Preset Instruments In Sonik Synth™ 2 you can edit the sound at will and save it as a PART PRESET sound. To do this you need always to start from a “parent” sound which is a sound with waveform data (like a native Sonik Synth™ sound) - this is the reason why PART Preset sounds are called “child” sounds. Simply load a sound into a part, edit it in the SYNTHSAMPLER, EFFECTS, ZONE, etc.. sections and then click SAVE on the PART PRESET area.

A dialog window will appear asking to name the sound. When you click OK, you will see that the parent sound now have a small black triangle and the Preset sound name will appear below the parent sound. The black triangle is collapsible, you can close/open it by clicking on it, and allowing you to save as many as presets of a parent sound as you want and displaying them at will. When a PART PRESET sound is created, a file with.STIP extension is made into the folder of related the Parent Sound. Distributing.STIP files to s which own the same Parent sounds allows for PART PRESETS to be exchanged among Sonik Synth™ 2 s. PART PRESET can also be deleted by clicking on the DELETE button in the PART PRESET area and renamed with the RENAME button. 5.2 Save Combi Preset You can also save the entire Sonik Synth™ 2 module set-up in a COMBI PRESET. A COMBI PRESET can be used to save a complete set of Sonik Synth™ instruments or complex multilayered sounds. By Clicking the SAVE combi button a dialog window will ask to give a name to your module preset. By clicking on the arrow at the side of the COMBI NAME display a popup menu will appear showing all available COMBI PRESET. Simply choose one from the menu list and it will be loaded in Sonik Synth™ 2. You can also SAVE AS or DELETE COMBI presets. The COMBI PRESETS file are saved by default to the folder “Sonik Synth™ 2 Presets”, which path its relative to the program installation directory. 5.3 Back-up function The back-up function allows you to produce a back-up folder where all the instruments data (used in the current Sonik Synth™ 2 instance) will be placed. Simply click on the BACK UP button and a dialog window will ask you to select or make a folder. All of the data of the instruments used in this Sonik Synth™ 2 instance will be copied to this folder, including eventually made Presets. The back-up function is very useful when archiving songs and closing sessions, ensuring that all instruments used by Sonik Synth™ 2 for that particular session will be easily retrieved. It also allows you to have several producers working on a project and easily sharing the same materials.

Chapter 6 SYNTH-SAMPLER controls 6.1 Resampling controls

PITCH: controls the tuning of the samples by applying Resampling. Increments are in semitones and range is +/- 3 octaves. FINE: controls the tuning of the samples by applying Resampling. Increments are in cents and range is +/- 1 semitone. BENDER: controls the tuning deviation given by the pitch bender wheel. Increments are in semitones and range is +/- 2 octaves. 6.2 Pitch-Shift/Time-Stretch controls PITCH: controls the tuning of the samples by applying Pitch Shifting. Increments are in semitones and range is +/- 3 octaves. FINE: controls the tuning of the samples by applying Pitch Shifting. Increments are in cents and range is +/- 1 semitone. BENDER: controls the tuning deviation given by the pitch bender wheel. Increments are in semitones and range is +/- 2 octaves. TEMPO: controls the speed of the samples by applying Time-stretching. Default is 100% which means same speed of the original, range is from 10 to 1000% (1/10 to x10 the original speed). OVERLAP: controls the amount of data that’s mixed between the Time-stretcher grains. Adjust this parameter to your taste, depending on the nature of the sample you’re going to Time-stretch. 6.3 STRETCH controls Activating the STRETCH engine for the first time will make Sonik Synth™ 2 pre-analyze it. This will take some time, depending on the size of the samples. Once the preanalysis has been completed it will be stored so that it can be readily available for future sessions. STRETCH can be very useful because it allows for a number of features that were simply not possible with conventional samplers: -

changing the timbre of instruments, even radically slowing down or speeding up sampled phrases without changing the pitch and or the timbre. slowing down or speeding up naturally ‘cycling’ instruments, such as Leslie™ organs, with continuity. slowing down or speeding up time-evolving instruments or phenomenon such as staccato playing, or natural reverberation. playing very realistic glides or portamentos on acoustic instruments allowing smaller RAM usage by making single-sample instruments able to cover a very wide range on the keyboard without becoming unreal

PITCH: controls the tuning of the samples by applying STRETCH Resynthesis. Increments are in semitones and range is +/- 3 octaves.

FINE: controls the tuning of the samples by applying STRETCH Resynthesis. Increments are in cents and range is +/- 1 semitone. BENDER: controls the tuning deviation given by the pitch bender wheel. Increments are in semitones and range is +/- 2 octaves. TEMPO: controls the speed of the samples by applying STRETCH Resynthesis. Default is 100% which means same speed of the original, range is from 10 to 1000% (1/10 to x10 the original speed). HARMONICS: controls the tuning of the samples, therefore the global Timbre of the samples, by applying STRETCH Resynthesis. Increments are in semitones and range is +/- 2 octaves. 6.4 Filter controls TYPE: Selects the filter mode: • LPF: low filter, attenuates high frequencies leaving lows ing through. • BPF: band filter, attenuates both high and low frequencies allowing mids to through. • HPF: high filter, attenuates low frequencies leaving highs ing through. SLOPE: Selects the slope or steepness of the filter: • 6: roll off is 6 dB per octave (1 pole) • 12: roll off is 12 dB per octave (2 poles) • 24: roll off is 24 dB per octave (4 poles) FREQ: Controls the Cutoff frequency of the filter, expressed in Hz. RES: Controls the Resonance or ‘Q’ of the filter. It’s active for 12 and 24 dB/Oct filters, not for 6 dB/Oct. 6.5 Envelope 1 and 2 controls Envelope 1 is used to control the amplitude or volume of the samples playback. ATTACK: Controls the time the sound will take to reach the nominal level once the key is pressed. HOLD: Controls the hold time of the amplitude envelope, useful to keep the level steady for a certain time before it starts to fall down to the sustain level. DECAY: Controls the decay time of the amplitude envelope, it’s the time the volume will take to reach the sustain level. SUSTAIN: Controls the level of the sustained portion of the sound (while the midi key is kept pressed). RELEASE: Controls the time the sound will take to disappear completely once the key has been released.

LEVEL: Controls the master level of the Amplitude envelope. Useful to globally increase or decrease the level of an instrument or of a single sample (when ZONE editing is on). Envelope 2 is used to control the Tuning (pitch) of the samples and / or the frequency of the Filter. ATTACK: Controls the time the Pitch and / or Filter freq will take to reach the nominal value once the key is pressed. HOLD: Controls the hold time of the Pitch / Filter envelope, useful to keep the Pitch or Filter freq steady for a certain time before it starts to fall down to the sustain value. DECAY: Controls the decay time of the Pitch / Filter envelope, it’s the time the Pitch and / or Filter freq will take to reach the sustain value. SUSTAIN: Controls the Pitch of Filter freq of the sustained portion of the sound (while the midi key is kept pressed). RELEASE: Controls the time the Pitch or the Filter freq will take to return to nominal value once the key has been released. FILTER: Controls the depth of the Envelope 2 intervention over the Filter. The center of the knob is 0 and at this value there is no Envelope 2 modulation to the Filter. Range is from –10 to +10, so modulation can be positive and negative. PITCH: Controls the depth of the Envelope 2 intervention on the Pitch of the samples. The center of the knob is 0 and at this value there is no Envelope 2 modulation to the Pitch. Range is from –6 to +6, so modulation can be positive and negative. 6.6 LFO 1 and 2 controls LFO1 WAVE: Selects the waveform of the LFO1, can be: Triangle, Square, Saw, Sine or Random (sample and hold). SPEED: Controls the speed or rate of the LFO1. Expressed in Hz. DEPTH: Controls the master level of the LFO1 DELAY: Controls the time the LFO1 takes to reach the nominal modulation value after a key is pressed. LEVEL: Controls the effect the LFO1 has on the Level (Volume) of the samples, useful to create Tremolo or Fading effects. PITCH: Controls the effect the LFO1 has on the Pitch (Tuning) of the samples, useful to create Vibrato effects. FILTER: Controls the effect the LFO1 has on the Filter Cutoff frequency.

FREE RUN: Selects if the LFO starts its run when the key is pressed (Free Run=OFF) or if it is always running (Free Run = ON). LFO2 WAVE: Selects the waveform of the LFO2, can be: Triangle, Square, Saw, Sine, Random (sample and hold). SPEED: Controls the speed or rate of the LFO2. Expressed in Hz. DEPTH: Controls the master level of the LFO2 LEVEL: Controls the effect the LFO2 has on the Level (Volume) of the samples, useful to create Tremolo or Fading effects. PITCH: Controls the effect the LFO2 has on the Pitch (Tuning) of the samples, useful for creating Vibrato effects. FILTER: Controls the effect the LFO2 has on the Filter Cutoff frequency. PAN: Controls the effect the LFO2 has on the stereo panning of the samples. 6.7 Velocity controls CURVE: Selects the velocity response of the selected part. Default is NORMAL; other values are Comp1 and 2 which are compressed, Exp1 and 2 which are expanded. AMP: Controls the effect that midi velocity has over the Volume of the instrument. FILTER: Controls the effect that midi velocity has over the Filter Cutoff frequency. PITCH: Controls the effect that midi velocity has over the Tuning of the samples. RES: Controls the effect that midi velocity has over the Filter Resonance or Q. LFO1 DEPTH: Controls the effect that midi velocity has over the LFO1 strength. ENV2 SUSTAIN: Controls the effect that midi velocity has over the value of the Envelope2. 6.8 MACRO controls section The MACRO controls are up to four parameters, specific to each instrument, chosen by the sound designer to offer the an immediate way to affect the sound and tailor it to his needs. An orchestra needs different parameters than a drum, which again needs different parameters than a synth. These four parameters, from left to right, A, B, C and D, will display different labels according to the instrument they are associated with. A complete description of the A, B, C, D parameters can be found by clicking on the LIBRARY image several times.

Inactive knobs (those without a linked parameter) are shaded in gray. You can modify sound parameters immediately after loading the instrument by turning the MACRO A, B, C, D knobs accordingly. All MACRO parameters can be controlled through MIDI control change.

Chapter 7 Sonik Synth™multi-effects unit 7.1 Sonik Synth™multi-effects unit Sonik Synth™contains an integrated multi-effects engine which offers high quality DSP effects giving the maximum flexibility, creativity and realism to all the instruments. All the effects are top-class and have been designed with sound-shaping in mind. In Sonik Synth™ there are four slots for the insertion of effects (for each of the 16 instruments which can be opened in a single Sonik Synth™module). These may contain preset effects which are part of the instruments. You can change and re-assign effects among those provided with Sonik Synth™ at will. Each effect is customizable through a series of parameters linked to an effect knob. All effect knobs are also MIDI-controllable and can be automated in your sequencer. 7.2 Effect list There are one fixed plus four customizable effect slots in Sonik Synth™. The first slot is dedicated to EQ/COMP while in each custom slot the can open one of the 32 DSP effects available. You can now insert the same effect in more than one slot.

Slot 1 EQ/Comp Equalization and compression are applied by default on the first slot. This effect features a semi-parametric EQ and an easy-to-use compressor. Both units feature very high quality giving an extremely well sounding equalization and an “analog-style” compression. • • • • •

Low Gain: boosts/reduces low frequencies. This is a low shelving filter. Mid Freq: adjusts the center frequency. Mid Gain: boosts/reduces middle frequencies. This is a wide bell filter. High Gain: boosts/reduces high frequencies. This is a shelving filter. Comp: applies compression.

Slot 2-5 Reverberation and Delay Reverb Reverb Delay

Ambience The reverbs included in Sonik Synth™ add reverberation and ambience to the sound, creating spatial depth from large halls to small rooms. Reverb and Reverb Delay: • • • • •

TIME: sets the global reverberation time. COLOR: sets the reverberation tonal character, from dark to bright. DENSITY: sets the number of reflections generated by the reverb. SIZE: sets the size of the virtual chamber emulated by the reverb. LEVEL: adjusts the mix between dry and wet signals.

Ambience: Produces a very short reverb, useful for emulating the ambience typical of small closed spaces, like studio rooms or little concert suites. • • •

TIME: sets the length of the reverberation SIZE: sets the size of the virtual chamber that’s being emulated LEVEL: adjusts the mix between dry and wet signals.

Spring Reverb This reverb sounds very close to a real mechanical spring unit, with all the warmth they have but with that typical metallic and resonant vibe. This reverb is mono. • •

TIME: sets the length of the emulated virtual spring, giving shorter or longer reverb tails. LEVEL: adjusts the mix between dry and wet signals.

Delay Delay is an effect that adds echoes to the sound. • • • • •

MODE: you can choose from simple mono delay to a sophisticated multi tapped stereo delay. : sets the number of echoes that the effect produces. DELAY: sets the amount of time between the echoes. LEVEL: adjusts the mix between the dry and wet signals. BANDWITDH: sets the bandwidth of the echoes, turning down the knob will give a sound similar to one of the old analog or tape delay units.

Filters These effects apply various types of filters to the sound by cutting some portions of the audio spectrum. These are resonant filters, which gives to the effects a character similar to the one of some old synthesizers. Filter In this filter FX the Cutoff frequency can automatically sweep by the effect of a built-in LFO.

The LFO can sync with the BPM of the song. • •

• • •

Frequency: specifies the frequency at which the filter begins to attenuate Resonance: emphasizes the overtones in the region of the cut-off frequency. This gives a particular, vintage character to the sound, especially if used with a 4 pole low filter. Depth: the filter cut off frequency can be moved automatically by an LFO built in into the filter. This control sets the amount of modulation. Speed: sets the speed of LFO modulation. Mode: sets the type of filter. You can choose from various types, low , band and high . They all are available in three different slopes, from a very natural and pleasing 1 pole to a “techno” 4 pole.

Envelope Filter In this filter FX the Cutoff frequency can automatically sweep by the effect of the envelope of the audio signal ing through it.

• •

•

•

Frequency: specifies the frequency at which the filter begins to attenuate Resonance: emphasizes the overtones in the region of the cut-off frequency. This gives a particular, vintage character to the sound, especially if used with 4 poles low filter. Depth: the filter cut off frequency can sweep automatically by the effect of the envelope of the signal that’s ing through. This control sets the amount of modulation. Mode: sets the type of filter. You can choose from various types, low , band and high . They all are available in three different slopes, from a very natural and pleasing 1 pole to a “techno” 4 pole.

Multi Filter This is a particular kind of filter where instead of selecting the type of filter (LPF, BPF or HPF) you can use them all together with independent levels. • • • • • • • •

CTFF FRQ: Controls the Cutoff frequency of the filter RSONANCE: Controls the Resonance of the filter DSTRTION: Controls the amount of distortion the filter will produce LP GAIN: Controls the level of the Low section of the filter HP GAIN: Controls the level of the High section of the filter BP GAIN: Controls the level of the Band section of the filter NTCH GIN: Controls the level of the Notch section of the filter LEVEL: Controls the global output volume of the filter

Wah-Wah This effect simulates a typical “wah-wah” guitar pedal. • •

Wah: sets the cut off frequency of the wah effect. Use it (via midi controller) to manually create wah-wah effects. Auto: when turned up the wah effect can work as an auto-wah, moving its center frequency automatically. The movements are detected from the original signal amplitude.

Modulations Chorus Multi Chorus Sonik Synth™ comes with two different types of chorus. The first is a classic stereo chorus which adds space and depth to the sound. The second is a special type with a random pitching character. The first gives a sense of modulation, the second is designed to be less regular and noticeable. • • •

Depth: sets the amount of pitch shifting generated by the chorus. Speed: adjusts the speed of the chorus LFOs. Mix: adjusts the mix between the dry and wet signals.

Phaser This entirely analog modeled Phaser recreates the sound of one of the best known classics of the past. • •

• • • •

RATE: Controls the speed of the phaser LFO STAGES: Selects the number of phase splitters, from 1 to 10. Increasing this value gives a more pronounced phasing FX, lower values give more subtle effect. BIAS: Controls the offset of the LFO, you can also use this knob to manually control the Phaser, setting the DEPTH at zero. DEPTH: Controls the strength of the LFO modulation. Setting it at zero the phaser can be manually controlled using the BIAS knob. : Controls how much processed signal will be returned to the input. Rising this value to the max will produce a self oscillation. SPREAD: Controls the Stereo image of the Phaser. Values near the center (64) give maximum width.

AM Modulation FM Modulation These are two special modulation effects, amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM). These effects are designed to produce a tonal character totally different from the original, when applied to a complex sound. They can replicate the sounds of some synthesis systems like FM or ring modulation. • •

Carr. Freq: this is the frequency of the signal that will modulate in frequency or in amplitude the original sound. Mod. Depth: this is the amount of modulation applied.

Flanger The Flanger creates a sharper sound by adding a metallic resonance to the sound (like a jet airplane taking off and landing). • •

Speed: adjusts the speed of the modulations in the flanging effect. Depth: sets the depth of the flanging modulation.

• •

: controls the amount of signal that’s returned back to the input of the effect. Mix: adjusts the mix between the dry and wet signals.

Envelope Flanger This particular kind of flanger has its parameter which is internally controlled by the envelope of the audio signal. • • •

RATE: Controls the speed of the internal LFO ENV DPTH: Controls the depth of the modulation by the envelope of the audio signal. : Controls the nominal amount of signal that is returned to the input after processing.

Panning Auto Pan Autopan automatically moves the stereo location of the sound. • •

Depth: sets the amount of the effect applied to the sound. Speed: adjusts the speed of the movement of the sound across the stereo field.

Tremolo Tremolo cyclically modulates the volume to create tremolo. • •

Depth: adjusts the amount of amplitude modulation. Speed: adjusts the speed of the tremolo.

Rotary Speaker This effect simulates the sound which can be obtained by rotary speaker cabinets. This is a must for organ tones. • • •

Speed: sets the slow to fast. Drive: sets the overdrive is very Lo-Hi: this is the

speed of the rotating horns. Organ players often switch from amount of distortion generated by the rotary cabinet. This similar to that generated by a real tube rotary. balance between the low and high rotor.

Distortion Lo-Fi Lo-Fi degrades the audio-quality to simulate a "Lo-Fidelity" sound. In Sonik Synth™ this effect is designed to be used as a speaker and cabinet simulator too. • •

Bandwidth: sets the “fidelity”. Increasing the value will give a better sound, decreasing it will degrade progressively the fidelity. Distortion: adds distortion to the sound. This distortion works at low levels too.

•

Stereo: sets the stereo channel separation. From mono to stereo.

Distortion This effect simulates the distortion occurring as you raise the gain of an amplifier. Various amplifier models are provided. • •

Gain: this is the amount of gain and gives more distortion as you increase it. Shape: different types of amplifiers are emulated here. From solid-state types to guitar tube amplifiers models. This effect does not perform cabinet and speaker simulation. This is only the “electronic” part of an amplifier.

Phonograph This effect adds disk noises to simulate the sound of music played by vinyls records on old record players. • • •

Crackle: adjust the amount of crackle from the (virtual) record. Age: sets the frequency response of the record player, from narrow to wide. Distortion: sets the amount of distortion generated by the record player. This is a kind of distortion similar to the one generated by worn or over-used vinyl records.

Crusher This FX can reduce the fidelity of a signal applying reduction of the sampling rate or bit resolution. • • • • • •

RSLUTION: Selects the bit resolution of the processed signal. DCMATION: Selects the sampling rate reduction factor of the processed signal. GAIN: Controls the amount of signal that’s sent to the Crusher, useful to created highly distorted sounds. OUTPUT: Controls the output volume. CUTOFF: Controls the Cutoff frequency of the built-in low filter. RESO: Controls the Resonance of the built-in low filter.

Overdrive This entirely analog modeled Overdrive recreates the typical tone of the best overdrive stomp boxes. • • •

DRIVE: Controls the amount of signal being sent to the overdrive TONE: Controls the Timbre of the distortion, from dark to bright VOLUME: Controls the output level of the effect.

Amp simulation Pre Amp This analog modeled processor emulates the first stage of some of the most acclaimed tube classic guitar amplifiers.

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MODEL: Selects the kind of preamplifier to be emulated. Choices are: Clean, Brit AC, Mellow, Crunch, Lead1, Lead2, Fuzz. GAIN: Controls the amount of signal that’s sent to the preamplifier, with Crunch and Lead preamps it gives control over the distortion. VOLUME: Controls the output level of the Pre Amp.

Tone Control A classic tube tone control that recreates the tone shaping stage found on the best tube amplifiers. Can deliver incredible presence and warmth to the sound. • • • • • •

MODEL: Selects among various tone control circuits. LOW: Controls the amount of low frequencies. MID: Controls the amount of mid frequencies. HIGH: Controls the amount of high frequencies. PRESENCE: Controls the presence of the sound with a particular analog “old style” character. LEVEL: Controls the output level of the Tone Control.

Cabinet This processor emulates with great accuracy the frequency response of some of the best guitar cabinets. Extremely useful when you need to add a ‘mid-rangey’ character to every kind of sound without using an equalizer, to give a more realistic character. • • • •

MODEL: Selects from various types of Speaker Cabinets. The final position is direct, no speaker. MIC TYPE: Selects the kind of microphone that’s placed in front of the speaker: Dynamic or Condenser MIC DIST: Selects the distance between the cabinet and the microphone: Near or Far. MIC POS: Selects the positioning of the microphone: In Axis or Off Axis.

Mix/Master Param EQ A very clean and precise full-digital parametric EQ, you can expect maximum transparency from this equalizer. Two identical fully parametric peaking bands are provided. • • • • • •

FREQ1: Center frequency of the first band, range from 20Hz to 18KHz. FREQ2: Center frequency of the second band, range from 20Hz to 18KHz. GAIN1: Gain of the first band, range +/- 15 dB. GAIN2: Gain of the second band, range +/- 15 dB. Q1: Bandwidth of the first band, from 0.1 (very wide) to 8 (very narrow). Q2: Bandwidth of the second band, from 0.1 (very wide) to 8 (very narrow).

Channel Strip

This is the same channel strip that is present, as fixed, in the first FX slot. However it has been placed in the FX list because it can be useful, placed after some other FX modules, for further processing. • • • • •

Low Gain: boosts/reduces low frequencies. This is a low shelving filter. Mid Freq: adjusts the center frequency. Mid Gain: boosts/reduces middle frequencies. This is a wide bell filter. High Gain: boosts/reduces high frequencies. This is a shelving filter. Comp: applies compression.

Compressor An ultra smooth compressor, modeled after classic tube units, it can be very soft and gentle on all types of material. • • • • •

ATTACK: Controls the amount of time that the compressor takes to react to the audio signal RELEASE: Controls the amount of time that the compressor takes to return to normal gain after some compression has occurred. DRIVE: Controls the amount of signal that’s sent to the unit, therefore sets the compression. RATIO: Controls the strength of the compression. Higher values will result in a more evident effect. SPREAD: Controls the Stereo image. Turning up this knob the stereo image will be enlarged. The center position leaves the image unaltered.

Limiter This is a multi-band analog modeled limiter. Inside there are three separate hard knee compressors for the low, mid and high bands. This can deliver a very powerful compression to drums kit and loops. The controls of the three compressors are linked on the interface for simplicity. Compared against the Compressor this can deliver a far more aggressive compression-style. • • •

DRIVE: Controls the amount of signal that’s sent to the limiter, therefore sets the compression. OVERLOAD: Controls the blending between full limiting (fully left) and full clipping (fully right). RELEASE: Controls the release time of the three compressors.

Dance Slicer The slicer works by applying successive rhythmic cuts to the sound making it similar to a backing phrase. It is especially effective on sustained sounds. • • •

Pattern: sets the rhythmic pattern. Depth: adjusts the amount of attenuation (in dB) when the slicer is cutting out the sound. Envelope: the cuts can be instantaneous or not. This knob sets the slope of the cuts, from instantaneous to smooth.

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TRIGGER: sending a midi CC to this knob (after having assigned one with the MIDI CTL window) will allow you to re-trigger the pattern of the slicer at any position within the BAR. This can be really useful for keeping the pattern at the bar position you want and to create new and alternative patterns. FREQ: Controls the repetition rate of the pattern,

7.3 BPM linked effects All effects that have a tempo function (Delay, Filter, Flanger, AutoPan, Tremolo, Slicer) can be synced to BPM with their ‘speed’ parameter linked to the BPM of the sequencer. Therefore these effects can be easily synced with the composition’s BPM with repetitions ranging from 1/16 to 1/2. To Sync an effect to BPM simply click on the BPM ON/OFF switch.

Chapter 8 Automation 8.1 Automating parameters All Sonik Synth™ 2 parameters can be automated using MIDI CTL. Simply associate a MIDI CTL () to the parameter you want to automate and record a track on the sequencer by drawing or using an external MIDI controller, on the same MIDI channel of the instrument you want to control. Also Sonik Synth™ 2 can be used with standard automation in RTAS, VST® and AU. Since Sonik Synth™ 2 provides more than 10,000 parameters it’s not possible to assign them all to the standard sequencers automation. Only Parts volume, pan and Macros A, B, C, D are controllable via sequencer automation. However note that any of the Sonik Synth™ 2 parameters can be automated via its built-in MIDI CTL function, there are no limitation of any kind to this. All the Sound editing and FX knobs can be automated using MIDI CTL.

Chapter 9 Tips and Tricks 9.1 Polyphony and U performance Each Sonik Synth™ module can have a maximum POLYPHONY of up to 256 notes. This sets the maximum number of notes which can be played by the module and is displayed in the POLYPHONY field. The maximum polyphony of each Sonik Synth™ module can be set by the changing this number (by click and drag) however it cannot exceed the maximum polyphony your computer can achieve (which is Udependent). As the number of notes playing exceeds this number, a (!) symbol appears in the polyphony display, indicating an OVER-polyphony has happened. Every time you sur the maximum number of polyphony notes in your performance, the oldest note will be cancelled (for example, if you set 32 as the maximum number, when you insert the 33rd note you will erase the first one).

You can raise the number of notes which can be played by Sonik Synth™module by raising the POLYPHONY number up to a maximum which depends on the U load you have (which cannot exceeds 100%). The U load is displayed by opening the appropriate window in all the sequencer. When U usage is close or exceeds 100% you may experience deteriorating performance and interruption of the sound. To avoid this you can simply lower the maximum number of polyphony notes. To do this, just click and drag on the current number to reduce it. 9.2 Get the most out of your Sonik Synth™ •

Do not open multiple instances unnecessarily. This increases U load. Use additional modules only after having fully filled the available MIDI channels in one, or if you need more separated outputs on the mixer.

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ASIO cards are strongly recommended to achieve low-latency with near realtime responses on VST® system.

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When U performances is close or exceeds 100% you may experience deteriorating performance and interruption of the sound. To avoid this you can simply lower the maximum number of polyphony notes. To get the most out of Sonik Synth™ a more powerful U will allow you to play more instruments with more polyphony.

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It is a very good idea to limit the polyphony of instruments which do not need it. A typical case is a drum kit that is playing a ride cymbal. The sample of the cymbal could be long, say, 20 seconds so if the midi part triggers the cymbals 4 times a beat it will result in some second that this part is requesting from the engine 20, 30, 40 voices of polyphony, which is completely useless. In these cases the PART polyphony value (MIX area) will allow for reducing the polyphony of the drum kit to, say, 8 – 10 notes, leaving room for those instruments that really needs a lot of polyphony.

Chapter 10 For any question you may have please refer to the FAQ at: http://www.soniksynth.com/FAQ.html where you'll find answers to the most common questions. For free write at: [email protected]

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