Interruptor NIGHT FLIGHT User manual

NIGHT FLIGHT
analogue string ensemble
VSTi for Windows
Version 1.0
© by The Interruptor
http://www.interruptor. h
all rights reserved

Dedicated to my daughter

Table of Contents
1 Introdu tion.......................................................................4
1.1 What is an analogue string ensemble?............................................4
1.2 Features.....................................................................................5
2 System Requirements.........................................................6
3 Li ense.............................................................................6
4 Demo Version....................................................................6
5 Installation........................................................................6
6 General Operation..............................................................7
6.1 Control Ba k-lighting....................................................................7
6.2 Manual Entry of Values.................................................................7
6.3 Fine Adjustment of a Control.........................................................7
6.4 Midi Learn...................................................................................7
6.5 Signal Flow Diagram.....................................................................8
7 Control Referen e...............................................................9
7.1 Main Panel..................................................................................9
7.2 Sub Control Panels.....................................................................10
7.2.1 OSC+SYSTEM Panel..............................................................10
7.2.2 VCA Panel...........................................................................12
7.2.3 ENSEMBLE Panel..................................................................13
7.2.4 LFO+FILTER Panel................................................................15
7.2.5 EQUALIZER Panel.................................................................17
7.2.6 PHASER+DELAY Panel...........................................................18
8 Program History...............................................................19
9 Credits............................................................................19
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 3

1 Introduction
“Night Flight” is a VSTi plug-in for the Windows platform emulating
a lass of keyboards popular in the mid-seventies to early eighties
whi h were known as string ma hines or string ensembles.
1.1 What is an analogue string ensemble?
Many moons before the widespread arrival of polyphoni
synthesizers in 1981 nifty engineers at Eminent Orgelbouw B.V. in
the Netherlands dis overed that their
Orbitone system, an ele troni ir uitry
built to affordably mimi the sound of a
Leslie abinet for home organists, ould
be easily modified to reate a stunning
new sound yet unheard from an organ.
They introdu ed it as a feature to their
1972 model “Eminent 310 unique” under
the name “string ensemble”. Honestly
speaking it's sound hardly resembles
anything like a real string ensemble,
whi h however does not take away
anything from the qualities these unique syntheti timbres have in
their own right. The sound had great appeal with musi ians,
parti ularly after Eminent in luded a modifi ation of the on ept
into a portable keyboard named the
Solina string ensemble whi h was later
re-branded as Arp String Ensemble for
the US market. At the same time other
ompanies like Crumar, Logan, Roland,
Oberheim and Korg also released
string ma hines following the same
ar hite ture ombining organ-style
divide-down os illators with an ensem-
ble effe t.
String ma hines have been widely used in Pop, Ro k, Funk, Reggae,
Soul, and Dis o musi throughout the seventies and up to the early
eighties when they were popular with New Wave a ts.
4 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual
Image 1: Eminent 310 unique
Image 2: Arp/Solina String Ensemble

1.2 Features
“Night Flight” does not use any samples. It is based on an
emulation of the ensemble effe t first used by Eminent / Solina
ba k in 1972 and an organ-like sound generation (o tave divider).
You will also find a number of features inspired by other string
ma hines like the 3 band equalizer from the Crumar Performer or
the Envelope Filter on the very rare ARP String Synthesizer. Besides
the learly laid out main panel there are 6 sub panels giving a ess
to a large number of under-the-hood parameters like filter and
amplifier modulations, ADSR, LFO, keyboard split points, equalizer
automation and two additional simultaneous ensemble effe ts for
even thi ker pad sounds. Finally there is an onboard effe t se tion
providing the typi al phasing and delay effe ts whi h are essential
for some of the best known string ma hine timbres.
•3 Os illators (8 waveforms, pulse width ontrol)
•Up to three simultaneous ensemble effe ts modelled on the
eminent/solina ar hite ture. Full a ess to the internal
parameters of the ensemble effe ts.
•Optional divide-down mode featuring organ style phase-lo ked
o taves
•3-Band Equalizer: Ea h band an be onfigured and
automated via the LFO
•Filter: 5 modes (LP2, LP4, BP, HP2, HP4), resonan e, utoff
modulation via ADSR envelope, LFO, velo ity or keyfollow
•Amplifier se tion:
- Atta k and Release. De ay and Sustain are available as
under-the-hood parameters.
- For ea h os illator a simple organ envelope an be sele ted
as an alternative to the ADSR envelope.
•1 LFO routable to pit h (vibrato), Filter utoff or equalizer
automation. Optional note syn .
•Sele table keyboard split points for bass and string footages
•Effe ts se tion:
- phaser (two models) + delay/e ho
- onfigurable effe t routing
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 5

2 ystem Requirements
•WINXP, VISTA, WIN7, WIN8
•A host software (DAW) apable of running VST plug-ins
•This plug-in runs natively on 32bit systems. If you have a
64bit system, it is likely that your DAW provides support for
32 bit plug-ins via a so alled “bridge”. If this is not the ase
you might onsider a quiring a third party bridge instead.
3 License
•By a quiring the full version you are granted the right to use
this software on all of your omputers for as long as you want.
•You are not allowed to sell the software to someone else -
neither on it's own nor as part of a pa kage with other goods
or servi es.
4 Demo Version
•Please install and test the demo version on your system before
buying the full version.
•Demo limitation: A short moment of silen e is inserted on e
every 30 se onds. Otherwise the demo version has the
omplete fun tionality of the full version.
5 Installation
•Copy the dll file from the download ar hive to your VST folder
•Restart your host software (DAW)
•Load the plug-in
Note: In ase of problems please read the following. Upon starting
the plug-in for the first time a number of files are automati ally
extra ted to your VST folder. On Windows versions from VISTA
onwards by default plug-ins are not allowed to write files to your
hard drive. This will typi ally ause an error message from your
DAW reporting missing files. You an fix this issue by hanging the
write permissions for your VST folder as follows:
•Use Windows Explorer to browse to your VST Plugins folder.
6 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual

•Right- li k the folder – 'Properties'
•Choose 'Se urity' tab.
•Cli k 'Edit' button (You may need to li k a UAC prompt).
•Sele t user name "Users".
•Ti k options Allow 'Write' and 'Modify'.
•To finish Sele t 'OK' to lose the two dialog boxes.
6 General Operation
6.1 Control Back-lighting
•You an easily see if a ontrol urrently has an influen e on
the sound. Ba k-lighting is swit hed on only if this is the ase.
6.2 Manual Entry of Values
•Below ea h knob/slider the parameter value is displayed as a
number. Instead of moving the ontrol with the mouse you an
manually enter the value via your PC keyboard by li king on
the number, writing the value and then pressing the ENTER
key.
6.3 Fine Adjustment of a Control
•Press the CTRL key while moving any ontrol with the mouse if
you need to make fine adjustments
6.4 Midi Learn
•Ea h ontrol an be automated via MIDI ontrollers.
•To assign a new/different MIDI ontroller right- li k on a
ontrol then hoose "Learn" from the pop-up menu and tweak
the hardware ontroller you want to assign. Alternatively
hoose "Unlearn" or "Edit.." to assign a ontroller from a list.
6.5 ignal Flow Diagram
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 7

8 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual

7 Control Reference
7.1 Main Panel
O CILLATOR •enable/disable ea h os illator
•set the volume of ea h os illator
VCA •set the main volume
•adjust the atta k and release phase of the
volume envelope
EN EMBLE •enable/disable the ensemble effe t
•set stereo width of the ensemble effe t
LFO •RATE: speed of the Low Frequen y
Os illator
•VIBRATO: sets the amount of pit h
modulation
•DELAY: provides a slow build-up of the
vibrato effe t after a note is pressed
EQUALIZER •Allows to qui kly adjust the low, mid and
high frequen ies. See the equalizer panel
if you want to automate the equalizer via
the LFO or adjust the enter frequen ies
and bandwidths.
PHA ER •enable/disable the phaser effe t
DELAY •enable/disable the delay/e ho effe t
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 9

7.2 ub Control Panels
•Press any of the sub ontrol panel buttons to a ess a sub
ontrol panel
•Press the KEYBOARD button to return to the on-s reen key-
board
7.2.1 O C+ Y TEM Panel
OCT Cli k the OCT button to transpose the pit h of
an os illator by one o tave. Cli k the button
repeatedly to rea h a number of different
o taves. “OCT+0” is the default setting where
the three os illators are spa ed by one o tave
from ea h other.
AD R / ORGN You an sele t the loudness envelope shape for
ea h Os illator:
•AD R: The os illator loudness is following
an ADSR envelope defined by the Atta k
and Release parameters on the main
panel and the De ay and Sustain
parameters on the VCA sub panel.
•ORGN: The os illator is swit hed on and
off immediately when pressing and
releasing a key like on an organ.
10 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual

ADSR ORGN
WAVE Sele t one out of 8 wave shapes for ea h
os illator (Sine, Sine2, Saw, Saw2, Tri, Tri2,
Pulse, Noise).
Saw2 is modeled after the string ensemble
waveform of the Eminent 310.
PW Sets the pulse width for the pulse wave shape
DIVIDE-DOWN
MODE
By li king repeatedly you an toggle through
the options OFF, 8'+4' ONLY and FULL.
•Enable the option FULL to phase-lo k all
o taves played on the keyboard. This
orresponds to the lassi divide-down
organ-style sound generation used on
string ma hines.
•By sele ting the option 8'+4' ONLY you
an ex lude the bass os illator from the
phase-lo king
Ba kground: This plug-in emulates the lassi
organ sound generation by syn hronizing the
three os illators to a master os illator. In some
situations this method might ause undesired
li ks at the note start. You are more likely to
observe this if your sound has several of the
following hara teristi s:
- very low frequen ies
- short atta k phase
- no low pass filtering enabled
Generally speaking the option FULL should be
hosen for string / pad type sounds, parti ularly
if you want to play full hords in luding o taves.
For bass lines or lead / melody playing the
option OFF is suitable.
KEYBOARD
ZONE
Night Flight provides two keyboard zones:
•BA : By moving the inner knob of the
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 11

dual on entri pot you an define the
highest key to whi h the bass os illator
will respond.
•8' + 4': Use the outer ring of the dual
on entri pot to define the lowest key to
whi h the 8' and the 4' will respond.
EFFECT
TRUCTURE
•Enable this button to let the bass
os illator bypass the ensemble effe t and
route it through the filter. This way you
get a lear and pun hy bass to
omplement your string se tion.
7.2.2 VCA Panel
DECAY +
U TAIN
These two ontrols omplement the ATACK and
RELEASE ontrols on the main panel to give you
a full ADSR envelope.
VELOCITY Controls the impa t of key velo ity on the
loudness of all os illators.
12 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual

7.2.3 EN EMBLE Panel
In order to make full use of the parameters on this panel you need
to understand how a string ensemble effe t works. The following
paragraph aims to provide you with the ne essary know-how to
su essfully tweak your own string timbre. Be areful with these
settings sin e there tends to be a thin line between a ri h ensemble
and something ompletely unimpressive.
•The Eminent/Solina type string ensemble effe t is a variation
of the lassi horus effe t.
•A typi al hara teristi of a real string ensemble is that the
individual musi ians are never ompletely in tune even when
playing the same note. This an be simulated by means of
modulated delay lines. By varying the delay time of a delay
line the pit h of the notes played is also affe ted. You might
know this phenomenon if you ever owned an old tape de k or
re ord player with an
unstable playba k
speed.
•There are three delay
lines. The delay time
of ea h is modulated
at the same time by
two sine-shaped low
frequen y os illators.
•The tri k is that there
are a tually only two
of these sine os il-
lators for all three
delay lines. In order
to reate a different
modulation signal for
ea h delay line two
phase shifted sine
waves are dedu ted from ea h os illator with an offset of 120
respe tively 240 degrees from the original signal. The three
modulation signals from ea h os illator are thus equal in
shape but their phasings are evenly distributed around the
360 degrees of the full ir le. This results in a very
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 13
Image 3: Eminent 310 ensemble effect

harmonious horus effe t without the dreaded beating that
an be heard on simple horus units.
•Nightflight ontains three of the ensemble effe ts des ribed
above. This allows to reate wide stereo pads that are still
very dense. Also you an reate extra ri h ensemble timbres
by onne ting two ensemble effe ts in series. As an alternative
the exa t stereo output onfiguration of the Eminent 310 (see
Image 3) an also be sele ted.
DRY/WET Sets the mix of the ensemble sound vs. the
original signal.
DEPTH Overall modulation amount. Set this to zero and
the delay lines will not be modulated at all
RATE 1 Rate of sine os illator 1
DEPTH 2 Modulation amount of sine os illator 2. This will
only have an effe t if the overall modulation
amount “DEPTH” is higher than zero
RATE 2 Rate of sine os illator 2
14 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual
Image 4: Nightflight Ensemble Architecture

YMMETRY This will skew the phase angles of the
modulation signals resulting in an irregularly
moving horus effe t. Set the ontrol to zero to
get the original angles of 0, 120, 240 degrees.
This ontrol will affe t ensembles A, A' and B at
the same time.
CLIP Use this ontrol to lip the sine waves generated
by the two modulation os illators. The more you
lip the more the signals will resemble a
re tangle. A value of zero reates no lipping.
This ontrol will affe t ensembles A, A' and B at
the same time.
DUAL Enables / Disables ensemble B
TWIN TEREO ON: Ensembles A and A' are both enabled and
panned to the left and to the right. Ensemble A'
re eives the same three modulation signals as
ensemble A but they are inverted. This results
in a wide and dense stereo effe t.
OFF: This orresponds to the stereo
onfiguration of the Eminent 310: Ensemble A'
is disabled. The outputs of the three delay lines
of ensemble A are used to reate a stereo effe t
as displayed in image 3.
7.2.4 LFO+FILTER Panel
LFO
NOTE YNC Enable this fun tion to reset the main LFO and
the phaser LFO ea h time a note is played.
PHA E Sets the start phase to whi h the LFOs are
reset.
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 15

MART If you enable this fun tion the LFOs are only
reset if a short time has passed sin e the last
note was released. This way you an play a
melody line or a hords progression while the
LFOs keep on running. The LFOs will be reset
again as soon as you start playing the next
melody line / hord progression.
FILTER
TYPE Sele ts the filter type or disables the Filter:
Lowpass 2, Lowpass 4, Bandpass, Highpass 2,
Highpass 4, OFF
ETUP Use this ontrol to define the filter
hara teristi s:
•FRQ: By moving the inner knob of the
dual on entri pot you an set the filter
utoff frequen y.
•RE : Use the outer ring of the dual
on entri pot to set the filter resonan e.
KEY FOLLOW If set to a value higher than zero the filter utoff
frequen y will follow the notes played: High
notes will be played with the filter set to a
higher utoff frequen y than low notes
MODULATION The filter utoff frequen y an be either
modulated by the LFO or by the ADSR envelope
•LFO: By moving the inner knob of the
dual on entri pot you an set the
amount of LFO modulation
•AD R: Use the outer ring of the dual
on entri pot to set the amount of
modulation by the Filter envelope.
ATTACK
DECAY
U TAIN
RELEA E
Use these parameters to define the filter
envelope.
VELOCITY Controls the impa t of key velo ity on the filter
utoff frequen y.
16 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual

7.2.5 EQUALIZER Panel
The ontrols on this panel omplement the Equalizer on the main
panel. You an set the enter frequen y and bandwidth of ea h band.
Additionally ea h band an be modulated by the LFO in two different
ways.
FILTER •FRQ: By moving the inner knob of the
dual on entri pot you an set the enter
frequen y
•Q: Use the outer ring of the dual
on entri pot to set the bandwidth.
MODULATION •FRQ: By moving the inner knob of the
dual on entri pot you an define the
amount of LFO modulation applied to the
enter frequen y
•GAIN: Use the outer ring of the dual
on entri pot to set the amount of LFO
modulation applied to the filter gain.
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 17

7.2.6 PHA ER+DELAY Panel
PHA ER
RATE Sets the modulation rate of the phaser's
sweeping LFO.
Note: The phaser has it's own LFO with it's own
rate. But the LFO syn hronizing options found
on the “LFO+FILTER Panel” do also work for the
phaser LFO (Note Syn , Phase, Smart Mode)
LO FRQ Lowest Frequen y rea hed while sweeping
HI FRQ Highest Frequen y rea hed while sweeping
FEEDB Phaser feedba k
VINTAGE Enable this button to get a phaser sound whi h
is lose to a small stone phaser pedal
TEREO A stereo phasing effe t is generated by delaying
the sweeping os illator of one hannel
DELAY
DRY/WET Sets the amount of delay effe t added to the
dry signal
PAN Allows to pan the dry signal to one side and the
delay effe t to the other.
TIME Defines the delay time
FEEDBACK Higher values at this ontrol will reate more
repetitions
HP High pass filter in the delay feedba k loop
LP Low pass filter in the delay feedba k loop
18 NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual

8 Program History
•v.1.0 - Mar h 2013
initial release
9 Credits
•Built with Synthedit by Jeff M Clinto k
http://www.synthedit. om
•Third Party modules were used by David Haupt, Dan Worrall,
Attilla Füstös
•GUI ontrols were reated using Knobman
http://www.g200kg. om/en/software/knobman.html
•The exe utable was pa ked using UPX
http://upx.sour eforge.net
NIGHT FLIGHT VSTi - User Manual 19