Dreadbox Erebus V3 User manual

Dreadbox Erebus V3 Ctrlr panel documentation and instructions
V2.0–2021-11-01

Dreadbox Erebus V3 Ctrlr panel documentation and instructions v2.0
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Introduction
Hi! Thanks for having purchased this Ctrlr Dreadbox Erebus V3 panel!
As you know, the Erebus (as the Nyx) are synths to be played and tweaked rather being used more
statically. They don’t have presets but it is always nice to keep a track of the settings used for a nice
sound and it is even nicer to have a track on the ways of using a particular sound.
Therefore, you will have the possibility to map your settings but also to indicate step by step how to
use your patch (up to 15 steps). Should this not be enough, you can also automatically listen to an
audio file associated to your patch.
The panel is a pure patch mapper as the Dreadbox Erebus V3 does not support the load/save of
programs or the manipulation of its program parameters by Midi NRPN/CC/Sysex messages.
It will support you in saving and retrieving Erebus V3 patches on your PC but gives you also the
possibility to exchange them with other users as they are stored as sysex files.
The look and feel philosophy has been respected as much as possible.
Of course it would also be stupid to not benefit of the computer possibilities. Therefore, you also get
a display of the current parameters value, a graphic display of the envelopes, the ability to store and
indicate the input/output patches, etc…
Despite careful testing it is possible that some bugs remain. Please contact sun[email protected]
if you find one so they can be corrected as soon as possible.
In the same spirit, contact sunny.s[email protected] as well if you would like some enhancement on
the panel.
By that, please have a look on this manual to have an idea of the way of using it and its features.
Enjoy making music with your Erebus V3 and have fun!
Sunny Synths

Dreadbox Erebus V3 Ctrlr panel documentation and instructions v2.0
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About this v2.0 version
This 2.0 version provides the following changes to the panel:
─Patch cables drawing with transparency setting
─Ability to switch between full cables or cable plugs
─Support for double inputs / double outputs
─Added the display of Patch From and To changes in the LCD
─Remembers the last file saved path and name so it is used by default at next Save
─The previous Author is now kept when loading a new Init program
─Added Load OK Confirm switch
─Added No program load at panel load switch
─Added Display info: differences only (with an Init program) switch
─Added Welcome message display switch
─Added ability to play AAC, MP3 and AIF files on MacOs
─Patch cables are now restored at panel opening when the user selects No load at panel load
─All labels (Name, LCDs, Synth1/2, FX...) are now restored when user selects No load at panel load
─Consequence of this correction/adaptation: you can now change presets in DAW with correct
Name, Description, LCDs, cables... which was not working previously 
─CC mapping of all buttons in order to use the panel with a controller
─VST and AU versions
Information for the users of a previous version
As some images have been replaced by new ones in v2.0, you need to delete the existing temporary
“Dreadbox Erebus V3 v10” folder so that it will be replaced by the new one.
You may have to redo your Midi settings so take note of them before deleting the folder (or copy the
Dreadbox Erebus V3 v10.settings file to a safe place and put it back when the temp directory is
recreated).
On Windows, the temporary folder Dreadbox Erebus V3 v10 is located in the normally hidden
directory C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming. You can display the AppData folder by
selecting to display the hidden elements in the Windows Explorer ribbon under Display.
On MacOS, the temporary folder Dreadbox Erebus V3 v10 is located in your personal
Library/Preferences folder. This is also a hidden folder that you can see/reach by using the Finder and
clicking on Go while pressing the Option (Alt) key.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................. 2
About this v2.0 version ............................................................................................................. 3
Installation and features............................................................................................................... 6
Installation of the Ctrlr panel .............................................................................................................6
Features .............................................................................................................................................7
Way of working............................................................................................................................ 8
Using the buttons and modifying parameters................................................................................8
Quick reset to default value ...........................................................................................................8
Opening and closing the panel .......................................................................................................9
Top panel area..............................................................................................................................10
Loading a Dreadbox Erebus V3 program ......................................................................................11
Saving a Dreadbox Erebus V3 program ........................................................................................12
Program Init..................................................................................................................................13
Program Rename..........................................................................................................................14
Dreadbox Erebus V3 tab...............................................................................................................15
Envelopes and Patches tab...........................................................................................................17
Library and Info tab ......................................................................................................................21
Patch sheet tab.............................................................................................................................23
Installing and using the Erebus V3 panel as plugin....................................................................... 24
Installation....................................................................................................................................24
Tests and identified limitations ....................................................................................................25
Cubase..........................................................................................................................................26
Cakewalk by Bandlab....................................................................................................................30
Reaper..........................................................................................................................................33
Ableton.........................................................................................................................................37
Studio One....................................................................................................................................39
Logic Pro X....................................................................................................................................41
Using a controller to move the buttons....................................................................................... 44
The main Ctrlr menus ................................................................................................................. 45
Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 46
Version history .................................................................................................................................46
Erebus V3 information .....................................................................................................................46

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Sysex file documentation .................................................................................................................47

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Installation and features
Installation of the Ctrlr panel
The panel is provided as a compressed .zip file containing:
─the Dreadbox Erebus V3 panel as an .exe file on Windows PC
─the Dreadbox Erebus V3 panel as an .app file on Mac OS (zip folder to be uncompressed)
─the Dreadbox Erebus V3 panel as VST 32 bits and 64 bits for Windows PC
─the Dreadbox Erebus V3 panel as VST and AU plugins for Mac OS
─this manual as PDF
─a folder containing some presets and wav files found on internet
For the PC standalone version, decompress the zip file anywhere on your PC then copy the Dreadbox
Erebus V3.exe file in some directory and launch it. The file may be scanned by your antivirus program
(Avast on my computer) and should return no issue. If any, they are false and probably due to the
fact that the program is not officially referenced.
For the Mac OS standalone version, decompress the zip file anywhere on your Mac then decompress
the Dreadbox Erebus V3.app.zip. You may have to open the Dreadbox Erebus V3.app file using
Ctrl+click as it may not be recognized by the OS.
The program will directly display the Ctrlr window with the Erebus V3 panel displaying its main tab.
The panel will most probably not be responding after the initial installation. Simply close the
program and restart it to solve the issue.
For the installation of the plugins, please refer to Installing and using the Erebus panel as plugin on
page 24 further in this manual.

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Features
You will find the following features in the Dreadbox Erebus V3 panel:
─Dreadbox Erebus V3 interface with similar way of working as actual synthesizer.
─Top row of support “screens” with old look
─Visual feedback by using “LED” ring buttons and indication of the value (on change or on click)
─Envelopes graphs handled by mouse or classical ADSR rotary encoders
─Load / Save programs from individual .syx files
─Load / Save as DAW presets
─Easy program renaming
─Display and export of program parameters as text file
─Ability to describe 9 input/output colored patch cables with different sources/destinations
─Patch cables drawing directly on main panel with adjustable transparency level
─Ability to display full cables or cable plugs
─Extra input/output patch points from/to external synths, sequencer and FX chain
─Programs have a name, author, save date and description. They can be associated to a category
─Browser of the files on the disk
─Patch sheet tab with patch sheet for Dreadbox Erebus V3 and other gear (external
synths/sequencer/FX)
─Automatic reading of wav/aif*/aac*/mp3* files associated to a patch (*MacOS only)
─Manual/Automatic reading of any wav/aif*/aac*/mp3* file (*MacOS only)
─All buttons associated to a Midi CC controller number so you can adjust them from a hardware
controller (still no impact on the synth of course and unfortunately).

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Way of working
As you will discover by yourself, the usage of the panel is straightforward but there are anyway
different specific things you should know… 
Using the buttons and modifying parameters
You modify parameters using rotary encoders by clicking on the button then moving the mouse
cursor vertically up or down.
You can also modify any rotary encoder based parameter by hovering the mouse on the button then
using the mouse scroll wheel.
Switches are handled by clicking on them. They will take successive positions as actual switches.
Momentary push buttons are activated by simply clicking on them (what a surprise…). They will
momentary flash.
Parameters presented as pulldowns are modified by opening the pulldown and selecting one of the
pull-down items.
Quick reset to default value
Most of the rotary encoders have default values set and you can quickly revert to this preset default
value by double-clicking on the button. This is also applicable for the sliders as the Osc Mix.

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Opening and closing the panel
When closing the panel (either by using File –Quit or by clicking on the upper right red cross) the file
of the last program loaded or saved is stored.
When opening the panel, it is checked if the last file used still exists (could have been renamed or
moved or deleted).
When no file is found, the Init program is loaded (in the same way as when loading the panel for the
first time (unless the button No program load at panel load in the Envelopes and Patches tab is ON).
When the last saved file is found, the panel is restored so you can continue your work where you
saved it (unless the button No program load at panel load in the Envelopes and Patches tab is ON).
The same is done with the root folder of the File browser (see Library and Info tab on p21).

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Top panel area
In the top panel area you find 4 feedback “screens”, 4 buttons and 4 tabs:
─The first screen displays the name of the current program
─The second screen displays the category of the current program
─The third one indicates the parameter currently modified and its value
─The fourth one displays the latest sysex file loaded, its author and the save date
─The Load button allows loading a sysex file from disk
─The Save button saves the current program to a sysex file on disk
─The Init button reset all parameters to a Basic program
─The Rename button allows renaming the current program
─The Dreadbox Erebus V3 tab displays the synth main panel including an extension for 12 patch
points related to external synths, a sequencer and an FX chain
─The Envelopes and Patches tab displays the envelopes as graphs, allows the registration of 9
different input/output patches, the identification of two external synths, one FX chain and allows
modifying the Category, the Author and the Description of the current program. It is also there
that you will find the step by step usage of a patch.
─The Library and Info tab provides the file browser that allows the selection of sysex files or the
ability to listen to wav files, the display and the export of the parameters of the current program
as text file and gives About info of the panel. It is also here that you will find the manual panel
zoom that is memorized.
─The Patch sheet tab displays automatically the Dreadbox Erebus V3 patch sheet with all
parameter values (as in the manual) but with the addition of author, date, external synths and FX
chain names and 12 external input/output connections