Native Instruments Razor User manual

Manual

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Document authored by: Errorsmith
Product version: 1.0 (03/2011)
Document version: 1.0 (03/2011)
Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs,
but in making this a better product.
Disclaimer

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© Native Instruments GmbH, 2011. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
1 Welcome to RAZOR ....................................................................................................8
2 What Is RAZOR? ........................................................................................................9
3 Installation and Activation .........................................................................................11
3.1 Installing RAZOR ........................................................................................................................ 11
3.2 Activating RAZOR ....................................................................................................................... 11
4 How to Use RAZOR ....................................................................................................13
4.1 How to Open RAZOR .................................................................................................................... 13
4.2 Exploring Snapshots ................................................................................................................... 14
4.2.1 Loading a Snapshot from the Sidepane ..................................................................... 15
4.2.2 Loading a Snapshot from the Main Bar ..................................................................... 16
4.3 Saving a Snapshot ..................................................................................................................... 16
5 Overview of RAZOR Ensemble .....................................................................................17
5.1 Overview of RAZOR User Interface .............................................................................................. 17
5.2 Overview of Signal Flow .............................................................................................................. 20
5.3 Common Controls ....................................................................................................................... 22
5.4 Global Controls ........................................................................................................................... 23
5.5 Voicing ....................................................................................................................................... 24
5.6 Graphical Display ....................................................................................................................... 26
5.7 Spectral Clip ............................................................................................................................... 27
5.8 Safe Bass ................................................................................................................................... 28
5.9 Oscillators .................................................................................................................................. 28
5.9.1 Common controls for all oscillator types .................................................................... 29
5.9.2 Pulse to Saw .............................................................................................................. 30
5.9.3 Duo Saw .................................................................................................................... 30
5.9.4 Pulse Width ............................................................................................................... 30
5.9.5 Hoover ....................................................................................................................... 31
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RAZOR - Manual - 4

5.9.6 Sync Classic .............................................................................................................. 31
5.9.7 Sync Dissonance ........................................................................................................ 32
5.9.8 Primes ....................................................................................................................... 32
5.9.9 Number Pitchbend ..................................................................................................... 32
5.9.10 Mixed Pitchbend ........................................................................................................ 33
5.9.11 Sick Pitchbend ........................................................................................................... 34
5.9.12 Octaves to Saw .......................................................................................................... 34
5.9.13 Pitched Noise ............................................................................................................. 34
5.9.14 Synced Noise ............................................................................................................. 35
5.9.15 Formant ..................................................................................................................... 35
5.10 Filter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 36
5.10.1 Filter Smoother .......................................................................................................... 37
5.10.2 Lowpass .................................................................................................................... 37
5.10.3 Lowpass Ramps ........................................................................................................ 38
5.10.4 Lowpass Broad ......................................................................................................... 38
5.10.5 Lowpass Phaser ......................................................................................................... 39
5.10.6 Lowpass Dirty ............................................................................................................ 39
5.10.7 Bandpass .................................................................................................................. 40
5.10.8 EQ Decay ................................................................................................................... 40
5.10.9 Vowel ......................................................................................................................... 41
5.10.10 Vocoder ...................................................................................................................... 42
5.10.11 Formant ..................................................................................................................... 42
5.10.12 Formant Decay ........................................................................................................... 43
5.11 Filter 2 ........................................................................................................................................ 44
5.11.1 Filter Smoother .......................................................................................................... 44
5.11.2 Lowpass .................................................................................................................... 44
5.11.3 Highpass ................................................................................................................... 45
5.11.4 Bandpass .................................................................................................................. 45
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RAZOR - Manual - 5

5.11.5 Bandreject ................................................................................................................ 46
5.11.6 Comb Peak ............................................................................................................... 47
5.11.7 Comb Notch ............................................................................................................... 47
5.11.8 Phaser ....................................................................................................................... 48
5.11.9 Waterbed ................................................................................................................... 49
5.11.10 Pseudo Pitchbend ...................................................................................................... 50
5.11.11 Gaps .......................................................................................................................... 50
5.11.12 Unisono Noise ........................................................................................................... 51
5.12 Dissonance Effects ..................................................................................................................... 51
5.12.1 Beating ...................................................................................................................... 51
5.12.2 Beating Tuned ........................................................................................................... 52
5.12.3 Stiff String ................................................................................................................. 53
5.12.4 Stretcher .................................................................................................................... 53
5.12.5 Frequency Shifter ....................................................................................................... 54
5.12.6 Centroid ..................................................................................................................... 55
5.13 Stereo Effects ............................................................................................................................. 55
5.13.1 Auto Pan .................................................................................................................... 56
5.13.2 Stereo Spread ............................................................................................................ 56
5.13.3 Chorus ...................................................................................................................... 57
5.13.4 Reverb ....................................................................................................................... 58
5.13.5 Reverb Synced ........................................................................................................... 59
5.13.6 Unisono Noise ............................................................................................................ 60
5.13.7 Simple Pan ................................................................................................................ 61
5.14 Dynamics Effects ........................................................................................................................ 62
5.14.1 Compressor ............................................................................................................... 62
5.14.2 Dirty Limiter ............................................................................................................... 63
5.14.3 Clipped Compressor .................................................................................................. 64
5.14.4 Saturator ................................................................................................................... 64
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RAZOR - Manual - 6

5.14.5 Clipper ....................................................................................................................... 65
5.15 Modulators ................................................................................................................................. 66
5.15.1 Envelopes .................................................................................................................. 66
5.15.2 Echo Steps ................................................................................................................. 67
5.15.3 LFOs .......................................................................................................................... 67
5.15.4 Sidechain .................................................................................................................. 69
5.15.5 MIDI related modulators ............................................................................................ 69
5.15.6 Tracking Modulators .................................................................................................. 70
6 How to get RAZORS Vocoder to work ..........................................................................71
6.1 Using REAKTORS internal sample player .................................................................................... 71
6.2 Using the audio input of a soundcard in REAKTOR standalone .................................................. 71
6.3 Using RAZORS Vocoder in a DAW ................................................................................................ 72
7 Credits ......................................................................................................................74
Table of Contents
RAZOR - Manual - 7

1 Welcome to RAZOR
Thank you very much for purchasing RAZOR. On behalf of ERRORSMITH and the entire
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS team, we hope this product will truly inspire you.
RAZOR is a state of the art additive synthesizer built with the latest REAKTOR technology.
It is capable of a wide range of sounds. From 'bread and butter' sounds that are refreshed
by new sonic twists to truly new and unheard sounds only possible with RAZOR. All with
an outstanding, high sound quality. Despite its vast possibilities RAZOR is easy to use. Its
lean and clean Interface in conjunction with the huge and beautiful graphical display
makes it easy and fun to edit sounds or build new ones from scratch quickly. Additive syn
thesis offers the opportunity to design the sound in great detail. RAZOR gives you a simple
tool to do so, like a blade to sculpt the sound. RAZOR the cutting edge synthesizer!
Manual Conventions
This manual uses particular formatting to point out special facts and to warn you of poten
tial issues. The icons introducing the following notes let you see what kind of information
is to be expected:
Whenever this exclamation mark icon appears, you should read the corresponding note care
fully and follow the instructions and hints given there if applicable.
This light bulb icon indicates that a note contains useful extra information. This information
may often help you to solve a task more efficiently, but does not necessarily apply to the setup
or operating system you are using; however, it's always worth a look.
Furthermore, the following formatting is used:
▪Text appearing in (drop-down) menus (such as Open…, Save as… etc.) and paths to lo
cations on your hard drive or other storage devices is printed in italics.
▪Text appearing elsewhere on the screen (labels of buttons, controls, text next to check
boxes etc.) is printed in light blue. Whenever you see this formatting applied, you will
find the same text appearing somewhere on the screen.
▪Important names and concepts are printed in bold faced letters.
▪References to keys on your computer's keyboard you'll find put in square brackets
(e.g., "Press [Shift] + [Return]").
► Single instructions are introduced by this play button type arrow.
→ Results of actions are introduced by this smaller arrow.
Welcome to RAZOR
RAZOR - Manual - 8

2 What Is RAZOR?
RAZOR is a powerful synthesizer to be used with REAKTOR PLAYER and REAKTOR 5.5.
The instrument uses additive synthesis to create state of the art 'synthetic' sounds.
RAZOR simulates features of classic synthesis concepts like subtractive filters, dissonance
occurring in Frequency Shifters or certain aspects of physical modeling as a start. These
features get improved and extended by means of additive synthesis to achieve a previously
unheard of quality. So a resonant lowpass filter for instance sounds very precise and
sharp. Filters have new features like variable filter slopes or new resonance shapes that go
beyond 'real' filters. In addition to these extended simulations RAZOR brings new highly
innovative features like new filter types, new ways to create dissonance, partial panning ef
fects, pitchable reverbs and much more that is only possible with additive synthesis.
RAZOR has a powerful and easy to use modulation scheme. Most parameters can be
modulated by an extensive list of modulators. Even stereo effect parameters can be modu
lated.
RAZOR takes a new approach concerning effects. Instead of inserting a bunch of audio ef
fects behind the synthesizer most effects are instead done inside the synthesizer itself to
give them a new sonic twist. Echoes are achieved by echoing envelopes. This feature re
sults in echoes merged with the dry sound in a unique way. Instances of the echo reflec
tions can be modulated. They can be pitched, filtered and made non-harmonic using a
new and innovative modulator called 'Echo Steps'. The reverbs are synthesized reverbs us
ing additive synthesis. They have a unique feature: they follow the pitch of the voice, ena
bling you to play melodies with the reverb tail! Some effects like a flanger and phaser are
available as filter types. 'Dissonance effects' make the sound non harmonic in unheard
ways. Parameters of all of these 'part of the synthesizer' effects can be modulated to cre
ate lively sounds. The only 'real' effects are found in the 'dynamics' section offering com
pressors and distortion effects to create more punch, warmth and dirt.
RAZOR comes with more than 300 professionally designed presets. Its factory library con
tains a large variety of basses and lead sounds as well as soundscapes and special effects.
Modifying these sounds or creating new ones is an easy task. RAZOR offers familiar pa
rameters to control its powerful additive engine under the hood. Its interface is intuitive
and straight forward and has just the right balance of complexity versus usability. All ac
tive parts are visible to ease the workflow.
What Is RAZOR?
RAZOR - Manual - 9

RAZOR features a huge graphical display showing the exact spectrum at certain points in
the signal chain of the synthesizer and more. It makes it easy to set up sounds, as the im
pact of parameter changes can be seen immediately on the display. Besides giving this in
formative feedback to the sound designer, the display is able to show beautiful anima
tions, especially if set to 3D mode. You might find yourself creating nice 3D animations
with RAZOR for hours and totally forget about music making! (Don't miss the hidden tricks
for the 3D mode described in the section 'Graphical Display' below)
Additionally, RAZOR REAKTOR features a 34 band vocoder which is a gem by its own.
The analyzer part is done using the classic bandpass approach. Imprinting the analyzed
band amplitudes on an instrument voice is done in the additive engine of the synthesizer
resulting in a high quality vocoder sound.
What Is RAZOR?
RAZOR - Manual - 10

3 Installation and Activation
3.1 Installing RAZOR
The following section explains how to install and activate RAZOR. Although this process is
straightforward, please take a minute to read these instructions, as doing so might prevent
some common problems.
► To install RAZOR, double-click the installer application and follow the instructions on
the screen. The installer application automatically places the new Ensemble files into a
REAKTOR PLAYER directory. Alternatively, during the installation process, choose the di
rectory where you would like to have RAZOR installed.
REAKTOR 5.5 or REAKTOR PLAYER is required to play REAKTOR Instruments and Effects.
You can download the free REAKTOR PLAYER from the Native Instruments website.
3.2 Activating RAZOR
When installation is finished, start the Service Center application, which was installed with
RAZOR. It will connect your computer to the Internet and activate your RAZOR installa
tion. In order to activate your copy of RAZOR, you have to perform the following steps
within the Service Center:
1. Log in: Enter your Native Instruments user account name and password on the initial
page. This is the same account information you used in the Native Instruments Online
Shop, where you bought your REAKTOR Instrument, and for other Native Instruments
product activations.
2. Select products: The Service Center detects all products that have not yet been activat
ed and lists them. You can activate multiple products at once—for example, several
REAKTOR Instruments.
3. Activate: After proceeding to the next page, the Service Center connects to the Native
Instruments server and activates your products.
Installation and Activation
Installing RAZOR
RAZOR - Manual - 11

4. Download updates: When the server has confirmed the activation, the Service Center
automatically displays the Update Manager with a list of all available updates for your
installed products. Please make sure that you always use the latest version of your Na
tive Instruments products to ensure they function correctly.
Downloading updates is optional. After activation is complete, you can always quit the Service
Center.
Installation and Activation
Activating RAZOR
RAZOR - Manual - 12

4 How to Use RAZOR
The following sections will give you a brief overview over some basic operations: you will
learn how to open RAZOR, how to explore the factory-set Snapshots and how to load and
play RAZOR snapshots from the Main bar and the Sidepane.
For latest information on REAKTOR PLAYER files please refer to the REAKTOR 5.5 Getting
Started Guide.
Note that RAZOR generates up to 320 oscillators per voice, and needs more CPU power than
other REAKTOR instruments.
4.1 How to Open RAZOR
This is how to open RAZOR in REAKTOR or REAKTOR PLAYER:
1. Start REAKTOR or REAKTOR PLAYER.
2. In the Browser on the left side of the REAKTOR / REAKTOR PLAYER window, click
the Player button to show the REAKTOR PLAYER files (you can open the browser with
the F5 key from your keyboard).
3. Click the Reaktor RAZOR folder. The folder's content will be displayed in the lower sec
tion of the browser.
How to Use RAZOR
How to Open RAZOR
RAZOR - Manual - 13

4. Double-click the RAZOR.rkplr file, or drag it into the main screen.
5. RAZOR will be loaded in REAKTOR / REAKTOR PLAYER:
4.2 Exploring Snapshots
If you loaded RAZOR play some notes on your MIDI keyboard to get an idea of how the
synthesizer sounds. Then, let’s change the sound completely by loading a different Snap
shot.
A Snapshot is REAKTOR’s notion for a sound, preset, or patch. RAZOR can hold banks of
Snapshots, and loading any of these Snapshots will set each control of to a specific value, and
re-create a particular sound.
The Snapshots of RAZOR are accessible from the central control in REAKTOR PLAYER’s
Main Bar or from the Sidepane.
How to Use RAZOR
Exploring Snapshots
RAZOR - Manual - 14

Fig. 4.1 RAZOR interface with Snapshot list in the Sidepane.
▪[1] Sidepane Button
▪[2] Snapshot drop-down menu
▪[3] Snapshot Banks
▪[4] Snapshots
4.2.1 Loading a Snapshot from the Sidepane
If not already visible after startup, you need to open the Sidepane. The Sidepane holds a
full overview of REAKTOR's Snapshot Banks and Snapshots from the currently selected
Snapshot Bank.
1. Click the Sidepane button (1) in the Main Bar to open the Sidepane.
2. Select a Snapshot Bank (3).
3. Select the name of a Snapshot entry (4).
How to Use RAZOR
Exploring Snapshots
RAZOR - Manual - 15

The name of the selected Snapshot will be highlighted in the Sidepane, and the Snapshot
loaded and ready in RAZOR.
4.2.2 Loading a Snapshot from the Main Bar
Loading a Snapshot from the REAKTOR PLAYER drop-down menu in the Main Bar is the
simplest way to interact with Snapshots.
1. Click the Snapshot drop-down menu control (2). The menu holds all Snapshots and
Banks of the instrument.
2. Click an entry to select it.
4.3 Saving a Snapshot
Snapshots can only be saved when using the full version of REAKTOR; however, all your
settings will be recalled perfectly in a host if you are using REAKTOR PLAYER, so you can
tweak a sound perfectly for your song. All parameter settings made in RAZOR will be saved
as part of your DAW project. Please read the REAKTOR documentation for more informa
tion on plug-in mode.
For the latest information on REAKTOR PLAYER please refer to the REAKTOR 5.5 Getting
Started Guide.
How to Use RAZOR
Exploring Snapshots
RAZOR - Manual - 16

5 Overview of RAZOR Ensemble
This part of the manual gives an overview of RAZORS interface and signal flow and ex
plains all its controls. RAZOR is an extremely graphic synthesizer as you can see the spec
trum of oscillator shapes, filter curves and even the frequency depending panning of the
signal. To learn the instrument it is highly recommended to turn the graphical display to
'Auto' and switch off '3D'. This will help you to understand what the parameters are actual
ly doing. This is easier than any written explanation. For more information about the dis
play see the paragraph 'graphical display' below.
RAZOR was designed to give its user intuitive control over its powerful additive engine. So
you don’t have to be a synthesizer specialist to edit and create sounds with it. But it might
be helpful to gain some knowledge about the concept of additive synthesis to fully under
stand some of RAZORS features. It’s out of the scope of this manual to explain additive
synthesis. Search on the internet for more information. A search for 'Introduction to addi
tive synthesis' and 'Fourier series' might be a good start.
5.1 Overview of RAZOR User Interface
The Interface is divided horizontally in three main parts.
The main synthesizer is located in the middle. There are two oscillators on the left that are
mixed together before they get filtered by filter 1 and then by filter 2. The next section to
the right of the filters is called 'Dissonance', offering effects to make the sound non-har
monic; followed by the 'Stereo' section with various stereo effects. At the very end of the
chain you find the 'Dynamics' section with effects to alter the amplitude dynamics of the
sound like saturators and compressors. The Dynamics section is the only part of the RA
ZOR not using additive synthesis.
Modulators like envelopes and LFOs are located at the bottom. These can be routed to var
ious destinations. Envelope 1 is pre-assigned to the amplitude.
At the top you find a multi-functional display, some global controls like Pitch, 'Voice
Mode', a value display and 'Quality'. At the top right there are two sections offering unique
features named 'Spectral Clip' and 'Safe Bass'. 'Spectral Clip' takes the filtered signal and
limits loud spectral peaks. 'Safe Bass' makes sure that there is always some energy at the
fundamental frequency, which is crucial for bass sounds. After 'Safe Bass' the signal en
ters the 'Stereo' effect section.
Overview of RAZOR Ensemble
Overview of RAZOR User Interface
RAZOR - Manual - 17

Fig. 5.1 Razors User Interface.
▪[1] GLOBAL CONTROLS: Contains the Mono/Poly switch, the value display, the quality se
lector and the master volume knob.
▪[2] GRAPHIC DISPLAY: Multifunctional graphical display showing the frequency spec
trum of oscillators and filters, the panning per partial of the stereo effects and more.
▪[3] VOICING: Controls for the global pitch and the phase of the oscillators.
▪[4] SPECTRAL CLIP: A tool to limit loud spectral peaks in the output of the filter stage.
▪[5] SAFE BASS: A tool to assure that there is always some energy at the fundamental
frequency.
▪[6] OSCILLATOR 1: Creates a repetitive signal with a settable wave shape. Both oscilla
tors are mixed and passed on to FILTER 1.
▪[7] OSCILLATOR 2: Creates a repetitive signal with a settable wave shape. Both oscilla
tors are mixed and passed on to FILTER 1.
Overview of RAZOR Ensemble
Overview of RAZOR User Interface
RAZOR - Manual - 18

▪[8] FILTER 1: Filters the oscillator mix. Offers several filter types that are capable of
damping high frequencies.
▪[9] FILTER 2: Filters the signal from FILTER 1. Offers several filter types that combine
well with FILTER 1.
▪[10] DISSONANCE EFFECTS: Offers effects to make the sound dissonant.
▪[11] STEREO EFFECTS: Offers effects to make the sound stereo like panning effects,
chorus and reverb.
▪[12] DYNAMIC EFFECTS: Offers effects to change the dynamics of the output signal from
the additive synthesizer including compressors and distortion effects.
▪[13] MODULATORS: Contains controls for modulators like envelopes, LFOs etc.
Overview of RAZOR Ensemble
Overview of RAZOR User Interface
RAZOR - Manual - 19

5.2 Overview of Signal Flow
Fig. 5.2 Signal Flow
The synthesizer part of RAZOR consists of the Additive Engine, which is one big oscillator:
A 'sine bank', a new module in Reaktor 5.5, that is set up to generate up to 320 sinus
oscillators called Partials and mix them together for one synthesizer voice. The above-men
Overview of RAZOR Ensemble
Overview of Signal Flow
RAZOR - Manual - 20