Kodamo EssenceFM User manual

English
Other languages and PDFs available at kodamo.org

Welcome to the Kodamo EssenceFM! Thanks for urchasing our instrument, which
re resents a new vision of FM synthesis. We always were focused on making the
EssenceFM “musician oriented”, aiming for reliability and comfort of use in every
situation.
This manual was written to offer you the best ex erience you’d get from the EssenceFM.
We recommend to read at least the first section and store this handbook reciously in
case you want to get further information.
Main features
- 300-voice oly hony, 6-o erator FM sound generator
- 16- art (MIDI) / 300-voice multitimbral
- 6- oint loo able envelo es
- Free Algorithm and Envelo e Design
- 8-cord Modulation matrix with 138 sources/228 destinations
- 24 user-editable Waveforms
- 2 inde endent Multi-Effect DSPs
- Powerful Voice Sequencer
Safety Precautions
- Use only the su lied ower ada ter.
- Ensure your outlet is ro erly grounded.
- Do not cover the vent holes to revent overheating.
- Do not o en the device.
- Do not ex ose the device to water or any kind of liquid. If this ha ens,
immediately turn it off and un lug it, then ut it in a warm lace. Try turning it
on again only when it’s com letely dried.
- Do not use the device in excessively hot environments (>40°C).
- Do not ut any heavy objects on the device or ut too much ressure on the
touch screen, it could be easily damaged.
- Ensure the device is in a stable osition before using it.
- Never ower off the device when you are saving.
Please regularly save your data to a USB storage device (see Global > Storage). Like on
most synthesizers, a ower loss while saving may corru t your sounds!
2

Table of Contents
Making connections...................................................................................................5
Let’s lay!...................................................................................................................5
Introducing the Front Panel.......................................................................................6
User Interface Elements............................................................................................8
First ste s.................................................................................................................10
Introducing FM synthesis...................................................................................10
Sound design ti s...............................................................................................11
Basic workflow...................................................................................................12
Voice mode..............................................................................................................13
Voice List.......................................................................................................13
Voice Editor........................................................................................................14
Algorithm design..........................................................................................14
Editing voice/o erator arameters..............................................................15
Voice settings...............................................................................................15
O erator settings.........................................................................................17
Envelo e Editor............................................................................................19
Patch mode..............................................................................................................21
Patch editor........................................................................................................21
Layer management.......................................................................................21
Patch settings...............................................................................................22
Layer settings................................................................................................22
Voice Sequencer...........................................................................................23
Performance mode..................................................................................................25
Performance Manager.......................................................................................26
Part Editor..........................................................................................................26
Effects and Routing............................................................................................27
Effect selection.............................................................................................27
Knob Assign........................................................................................................27
Global mode............................................................................................................28
MIDI....................................................................................................................28
Tuning.................................................................................................................29
Waveforms.........................................................................................................30
Waveform Editor..........................................................................................30
3

Sorting................................................................................................................31
Dis lay................................................................................................................31
Storage...............................................................................................................32
Audio..................................................................................................................32
System................................................................................................................33
Reset...................................................................................................................33
TouchPiano.........................................................................................................33
Automation..............................................................................................................34
Effect List.................................................................................................................35
Troubleshooting.......................................................................................................36
Warranty..................................................................................................................38
Maintenance and Care............................................................................................38
License.....................................................................................................................38
Memo.......................................................................................................................39
4

Making connections
It’s the moment to lug your EssenceFM!
Back anel connectors are described below, from the left to the right:
-Audio Out ut Pairs 1 to 4 (¼ inch / 6,35 mm TRS hone jacks): Each air can
o erate as a stereo out ut (see Effects and Routing section). Each out ut
delivers a balanced signal, but still can be connected to an unbalanced TS jack.
-USB (Ty e B): Connects to a host system for USB-MIDI transmission.
-Ethernet (RJ45): Connects to a network to carry MIDI-RTP ackets.
-MIDI Out (DIN): Connects to any MIDI instrument to be controlled by the
EssenceFM.
-MIDI Thru (DIN): Out uts (re eats) any MIDI data fed into the MIDI In ort.
-MIDI In (DIN): Connects to any MIDI controlling device (e.g. master keyboard,
synth, sequencer, com uter MIDI interface, wind controller, etc.)
-DC Power su ly: Connects to the su lied DC 12V ower ada ter.
Let’s play!
When owered u , the EssenceFM starts
in Patch mode by default, letting you lay
with its reset atches.
Just scroll down the list and select a atch
by ressing on its name to use it.
There are also Voice resets, that can be
accessed by going into Voice mode (see
next section).
The EssenceFM ower resides into its
structure, smaller elements are stacked to
make big ensembles. Let’s familiarize with
it.
5

Voice: A Voice is the smallest element that the EssenceFM uses: a 6-o FM sound.
Patch: A Patch is gathering one or more voice(s), by stacking, layering, sequencing them
together and adding effects.
Performance: A Performance assigns a atch to each MIDI channel, store effects, routing
settings and much more. It allows multitimbral o eration. In this mode the effects are
shared, ignoring atch effect settings.
Introducing the ront Panel
The EssenceFM’s front anel is based on the combination of a large touchscreen and
hardware controls. Hardware controls rovide a quick access to the most common
features.
MODE KEYS
- Performance
- Patch
- Voice
- Global
These keys rovides direct access to the associated modes.
See the Performance/Patch/Voice/Global sections to know
more about them.
MODE LEDS
An LED near each mode key tells the current active mode. When the Global mode is
entered, the revious mode LED (Performance, Patch or Voice) still lights u since those
modes kee s running in background. You can think of the Global mode as a virtual mode,
not affecting the sound or the behavior of the synth, only roviding access to global
arameters.
DATA ENTRY
-Direct Access knobs: Those 6 knobs are used for the Direct Access feature
6

described below, exce t on the main age of the Performance mode, where
they act as real-time MIDI controllers.
-Main Dial: Modifies the focused element on screen (which will be detailed in
the next section).
-Inc / Dec: Works in the same way as Main Dial (increments and decrements
value).
EDITION KEYS
Copy: Co ies the focused element into the cli board for further use.
Paste: Puts the cli board contents into the focused element.
Undo: Discards the last o eration, u to 1000 times. Leaving a age resets the
undo/redo history. Most o erations are undoable: Voice arameters, algorithm
arrangements, atch arameters, waveform editing... Only the o erations on general
ages are usually not undoable (clearing an item, swa ing an item, doing a co y- aste
o eration in the voice/ atch/ erformance/tunings/waveform list...).
Redo: Restores the reviously discarded o eration.
Save: Saves the current element into the internal memory. A art from some global
settings, an element is never automatically saved when edited, moved or overwritten.
Pressing Save on a general age (e.g. Patch list) will o en a o u allowing you to save
s ecific elements or to save them all. Pressing Save a second time will save all the
modified elements, exactly like if you ressed “Save All”.
Recall: Reloads the current element from its last saved state. This action doesn't clear
the Undo/Redo history so you can undo a recall o eration.
HELP KEYS
Preview (♪): Plays a few notes to quickly listen to an element without having to use a
MIDI controller. To customize the review notes, see Global > MIDI > Preview.
Panic: Sto s all notes currently laying.
7

User Interface Elements
The EssenceFM user interface is organized into ages.
A breadcrumb located at the to of the screen always shows were you are in the age
tree.
After ressing a mode key, the main age of the mode is dis layed at the leftmost, then
you can access more sub- ages from it.
You can navigate back at any time by ressing on a age name.
Note the asterisks (*) on some ages. That means this element was modified but not
saved. When the asterisk is on a general age (like the Patch list, Voice list, Performance
list), it means there is one or more modified/unsaved elements.
If you are not familiar with com uters and user interfaces, here is a descri tion of the
elements found in the EssenceFM :
ocus notion: Focus is the gra hical re resentation of which
element is currently editable, it’s re resented by a ink frame
surrounding the element. A focused element is directly editable
by turning the Main Dial knob, ushing INC/DEC keys, and is
eligible to a COPY/PASTE o eration.
Direct Access feature: The 6 knobs located on the right side of the touchscreen allow you
to edit values without the need to focus the element. Elements concerned by Direct
Access are always flagged with the associated knob number, like on the icture above
(“1” and “2” flags). All sliders and envelo e oints can be edited this way (see Envelo e
Editor cha ter).
Popup: A window that a ears in front of the
age. Often for confirmation ur oses, or to
show more arameters after ressing a
button.
8

Button: Pressing it triggers an action, like a hysical key does.
Slider: Allows to set a value. Sim ly drag the slider
horizontally to change its value. You can also enter a
numerical value by using the virtual key ad that shows u
at the to right corner of the screen.
List: Allows you to select an element in a list. You can swi e it vertically to
quickly scroll across the elements, or slowly move your fingerti to reach
recisely what you are seeking. Any element can also be accessed by entering
its index with the virtual numerical key ad (by ressing on the key ad button
after it’s focused, like the slider).
Text field: Allows you to enter text data
(e.g. atch name). Pressing it o ens the
al hanumeric virtual keyboard.
Checkbox: Controls a arameter that
can be activated (checked) or
deactivated (unchecked).
Radio Button: Allows to make a choice between several o tions. Unlike
checkboxes, radio buttons are at least two, and only one can be selected at a
time into a set.
Tab field: S lits interface elements into several tabs,
which are like small ages. Press on its header to access
its contents. The current active tab has a lighter color
and is offset com ared to the others.
9

irst steps
Introducing M synthesis
FM stands for “Frequency Modulation”. A waveform is multi lied (“modulated”) with
another one to create a new sound. It’s the same as vibrato, exce t that it is much faster,
so much that it sounds like a different timbre to the ear, rather than a quick vibrato.
If you’re familiar with the subtractive synthesis used in analog synths, FM is quite the
o osite: you usually start from sounds with low
harmonic content (e.g. a Sine Wave), that once
modulated will create more harmonics.
The new harmonics, sometimes called “Partials”, de ends
on the frequency ratio between the carrier (the base
sound) and the modulator (the one modulating the
carrier’s signal).
In FM synthesis, a block generating sound is usually called an O erator, and the O erator
arrangement is called an Algorithm.
An FM Algorithm is usually re resented as below, and is to be read from to to bottom.
When an o erator is feeding its signal into another one under it (1, 5 and 6) it is called a
Modulator -you don’t hear its direct sound-, while o erators at the bottommost (2, 3 and
4) are Carriers.
Changing the volume of a carrier will effectively change your sound’s volume, but doing
the same thing on a modulator with modify the harmonic content of the sound. This is
where the ower of FM synthesis resides! Cou led with envelo e generators, harmonic
content that changes over time is easily achieved.
There may be several modulators for one carrier, in this case their out ut is sim ly
summed before the modulation ha ens (additive synthesis). Or there may be a
modulator modulating several carriers, in that case its out ut is sim ly sent to each
carrier.
The o erator 1 has a small number on its to right corner indicating its feedback source.
A feedback is sim ly another link between two o erators, exce t that it can feed into
itself (which is the case on the icture above). This is used to alter the tone of the
o erator, roviding more and more overtones as the feedback level is increased. It can
be used as a noise source when ushed to the max.
10

The quickest way to learn FM synthesis is by looking at existing sounds. Go into Voice
mode, select one from the list and ress “Edit” to see how they work and try modifying
them.
FM synthesis has the big advantage of being really fun to work with - after about 10
years ex erimenting with it, we are still sur rised by the variety of sounds we can get
from it.
We ho e you’ll like it as much as we do!
Sound design tips
Start with a single audible o erator (mute the others), then build your sound from that
oint, by adding o erators as you need them. Instead of using a single modulator with a
very high volume, try using several of them chained in different ways, with a lower
volume to achieve a more refined sound.
When trying to achieve a articular sound, try to s lit it into several sub-sounds to make
them easier to manage. For exam le, for a an flute, you may want to create a short
noise attack sound and a sustained square-like sound.
Use the sine wave first. They are the most flexible and useful in FM synthesis. Use other
waveforms with care, as their aliasing limit is easily exceeded. You will find that some
waveforms are well suited to some instruments (like the Square wave for cymbals, or the
HSine for bowed strings).
When you have a good sound that is just a bit “thin” sounding try detuning an o erator
(“Fine” arameter) to create a rotating hase shift. If the wobbly effect isn’t a ro riate,
try overla ing two instances of the voice in Patch mode instead, with a slight detune to
one of them. Also don’t underestimate the effects, some chorus or haser may do
wonders.
11

Basic workflow
To make the sound creation rocess easy, we suggest to always start by creating a Patch
(either in Patch mode or in Performance mode).
Then when you are in the Patch editor, assign the first layer to an em ty voice then ress
on the Edit button to edit this voice directly. This allows you to start with a sim le sound
that can be im roved afterwards, with other layers, effects and more.
The same results can be achieved when working in Voice mode but once you created
your 6-o voice you need to go in Patch/Performance mode and create a new atch if
you want to use the layers, s lits, effects and sequencer.
The Voice mode is still useful for listening and editing individual FM elements without
having to mute and remove effects/layers from the Patch or Performance.
12

Voice mode
In Voice mode you can organize, lay and edit a 6-o FM voice. This mode res onds to
the Global Channel, see Global > MIDI configuration.
Voice List
Bank / Voice Lists: Those lists
allows you to select the voice you
want to lay or edit in this mode
By Category: Shows the
voices/ atches sorted by
Category instead of sorting them
by Bank.
ind : Allows to search a
voice by name.
MIDI activity indicator : Shows the Pan (light vertical bar), Volume (height), Channel
(channel number or G for global channel) and MIDI activity (color) in a very com act way.
Edit: Goes into the Voice Edit Mode
Swap: Swa s the current voice with another one. Pressing this button will o en a o u
letting you choose the voice to swa with, and has an “U date related atches”
checkbox. It's very im ortant to kee it checked if the two voices you are swa ing are
used by some atches. All atches using them will be modified accordingly and are now
in unsaved state (you need to save them afterwards).
Clear: Resets com letely the current voice
Show Patches: Shows all atches using the selected voice. It’s useful to see which
atches will be affected when editing this voice.
Create Patch rom: Creates a atch from the current selected voice, co ying its name,
category and auto-assigning the voice to the first layer of the atch.
The following arameters aren’t stored within the voice, they are for laying ur oses:
Pitch Bend Range (0 ~ 96): Pitch Bend range in semitone
Volume (0 ~ 127): Volume of the voice
Pan (0 ~ 127): Pan of the voice
Mono: Toggles voice to monodic lay mode
13

PortSpd (0 ~ 127): Portamento S eed, works only when the voice is in Mono Mode
Effects: Configure the effect DSPs
Status bar: shows the Global Channel (1-16 or Omni) and the current
oly hony used.
Voice Editor
The voice editor is s lit into two
arts: the left art of the screen
dis lays the algorithm, while the
right anel dis lays arameters
relative to the voice (when no
o erator is focused) or relative to
the focused o erator.
Algorithm design
The algorithm on the left side of the screen shows the o erators. Their out ut level is
dis layed in real-time as you are laying, allowing you to clearly see how their envelo es
are working.
There are several actions you can do on the o erators via the touch screen to build your
algorithm:
- Pressing an o erator and releasing it (drag&dro ) onto another one will connect them
together. If these o erators are already linked together, their ositions will be swa ed.
- Moving an o erator always removes its bottom links.
- Releasing an o erator in an em ty area and it will sim ly fall, going to the bottom or to
the nearest o erator below.
- Using two fingers and ressing simultaneously two o erators will link them together. It
allows to create additional links that aren’t always ossible with the drag&dro
o eration.
Limitations: There can be only one o erator that has more than two o erators feeding
into it. It can be any o erator as it’s managed by the engine. Additional links won’t be
created if you request them when the limit is exceeded.
14

Editing voice/o erator arameters
When an o erator is ressed, the right anel shows
the o erator's arameters.
When you ress the touchscreen in an em ty region
of the left art of the screen, the right anel shows
the voice settings.
Voice settings
BASE TAB:
Voice Name: Sets the name of the voice.
Volume (0 ~ 127): Sets the volume of the voice.
Transpose (-36 ~ +36): Sets the semitone trans osition of the voice.
Tuning (-100 ~ +100): Sets the fine tuning of the voice.
Scale: Selects the scale which will be a lied to the voice (cf. Tuning section in Global
Mode).
Category: Assigns a category to the voice (cf. Sorting section in Global Mode).
Algorithm Library: Selects from one of our 32 reset algorithms to hel you to start
creating a new voice.
Randomize: This button generates a new sound using a “smart randomized” rocess, in
case you need some new sound ideas!
L O TAB:
Waveform (0 ~ 23): Selects the waveform you want
to use with your LFO. It’s the same waveform set
used into synthesis.
Mask (0 ~ 12): This mask distorts and resha e the
selected LFO waveform. It doesn’t overwrite the
original waveform.
Speed (0 ~ 127): Sets the LFO s eed.
Delay (0 ~ 127): Sets the delay between the Note On
event and the LFO start.
Attack (0 ~ 127): Sets the attack rate for the LFO.
Phase Offset (0 ~ 31) [only shown when Random and Common are unchecked]: Sets the
waveform hase offset where the LFO starts at.
15

Random Phase: Sets the LFO hase to a random starting oint when a note is layed.
Common Phase: If checked, all the notes using this voice will share a single instance of
the LFO (all notes will have their LFO in sync).
ILTER TAB:
Dry/Wet Balance (0 ~ 127): Sets the balance
between dry sound and filtered sound. A value of
64 means you’ve got a 50%-50% mix between dry
and filtered sound.
Resonance (0 ~ 120): Set the filter resonance.
Beware of loud resonant s ikes if you ush it to the
maximum.
Cutoff Envelope: Controls the cutoff evolution over
time. See Envelo e Edit section to know more about mani ulating envelo es.
MODMATRIX TAB:
U to 8 modulation cords can be setu for each voice.
“Set Source”, “Set Dest.” and “x” (delete) buttons
a ly to the current selected modulation in the list.
Offset: A lies a ositive or negative offset to the
modulation source.
Ratio: Scales the modulation source.
Set Source: Selects the source to use (cf. source list
below).
Set Dest.: Selects the destination arameter to affect (cf. destination list).
Cut cord (x): Removes the selected modulation line.
I/O value monitor (at the bottom of the screen): Allows to check, for the selected cord in
the list above, the source value and how the Offset and Ratio amounts are affecting it.
It’s useful to fine tune your Offset/Ratio values according to what you are sending into
the modulation matrix.
16

Modulation Matrix Sources Modulation Matrix Destinations
Note number
Velocity
Release Velocity
Aftertouch
Poly. Aftertouch
Pitch Bend
LFO
Note count
RNG
Envelo e (any)
Control Change (any)
Volume
Freq. Coarse/Fine
LFO S eed
LFO AM/FM De th
LFO Waveform/Mask
Flt Reso/Cutoff
FltEG S eed
FltEG Sg1-5 Time
FltEG Pt1-6 Y
PanEG S eed
PanEG Sg1-5 Time
PanEG Pt1-6 Y
Feedback Src
Feedback Lvl
Volume
Freq. Mult
Freq. Coarse
Freq. Fine
Waveform
Initial Phase
LFO AM/FM
EG S eed
EG Sg1-5 Time
EG Pt1-6 Y
PitchEG S eed
PitchEG Sg1-5 Time
PitchEG Pt1-6 Y
PAN TAB:
This envelo e controls the voice anning over time. See
Envelo e Edit section to know more about mani ulating
envelo es.
On the EssenceFM, anning is averaged when nested
elements have different annings (e.g. a Patch anned to
the left using a Voice anned to the right will sound
centered).
O erator settings
BASE TAB:
Waveform (0~23): Sets the waveform to use for the
selected o erator. See Waveforms section in Global
mode to know how to edit and customize those
waveforms.
Phase (0~31): Sets the initial hase where the
waveforms starts at.
Random Phase: Use a random number generator to set the initial hase.
17

Volume (0~127): Sets the o erator’s volume.
eedback Source (1~6) [OP1 only]: Selects which o erator out ut will be fed back into
OP1.
eedback Level (0~127) [OP1 only]: Sets the level of the feedback loo .
ixed: Toggles between Fixed or Multi licative o erator frequency mode. In
Multi licative mode, it follows MIDI note frequencies with multi lier a lied to it, while
in Fixed mode, it stays always the same.
Multiplier (0~40) [only in Multiplicative mode]: Sets the o erator frequency multi lier.
Original frequency de ends on incoming MIDI note itch.
Quartertones (0~24) [only in Multiplicative mode]: This arameter allows you to set the
o erator frequency by quarter-tone ste s.
ine (-100~+100) [only in Multiplicative mode]: This arameter allows you to fine tune
the o erator’s frequency.
req. Multiplier [only in Fixed mode]: Sets the base multi lier for the fixed frequency.
Available values are 0.1, 1, 10 and 100
req. ine (0 ~ 255) [only in Fixed mode]: Sets the o erator frequency according to the
multi lier above.
requency indicator [only in Fixed mode]: This number shows you the o erator actual
frequency in Hertz. It’s useful to accurate the two revious arameters.
VOL EG TAB:
This envelo e allows you to control the o erator’s
volume during time. See Envelo e Edit section to
know more about envelo e mani ulation.
If the selected o erator is a carrier, you should end its
envelo e with a value of zero, otherwise the voice
will never sto laying. Sim ly ress the anic button
if a note is stuck.
Tip: to quickly get the same envelo e on different o erators sim ly focus the envelo e,
ress Co y, select another o erator then ress Paste.
A whole operator can also be copied if you press Copy when the operator is focused.
18

MOD TAB:
Velocity Sensitivity (-127 ~ +127): Sets how the
o erator volume is affected by note velocity. A value
of zero means the o erator's volume is always as
defined by the Volume arameter in BASE tab. As
you increase its value, low velocities can scale its
volume down more and more.
L O AM: Sets how much the LFO affects the current
o erator’s volume.
L O M: Sets how much the LFO affects the current o erator’s frequency.
Key Vol Scale: This curve allows you to set the o erator key scaling. It scales the
o erator’s volume according to the MIDI note number. There are 3 arameters: Lower
volume, Center note, and U er volume. The two (u er and lower) volumes re resents
the amount at bottom and to of your MIDI keyboard. The center note arameter sets
the root of those two curves.
PITCH EG TAB:
This envelo e allows you to control the selected
o erator itch over time. See Envelo e Edit section
to know more about mani ulating envelo es.
Pitch EG Range (shown when no oint is selected):
This value sets the Pitch EG maximum value.
Available ranges are Tone, Quint and 1 to 4 octaves.
Other parameters: See next section (Envelo e
Editor)
Envelo e Editor
The envelo e editor is quite different from those you
can find in other synthesizers. Instead of the classic
ADSR it's made of oints that can be laced freely to
create any curve. Each envelo e segment is delimited
by 2 oints, you can drag them to adjust their
horizontal and vertical osition. There are other ways
19