Tone2 Rayblaster User manual

RAYBLASTER
Reference MANUAL

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Support & Development credits
If you have any difficulties installing or using Rayblaster, please contact us by visiting our
website at http://www.tone2.com and clicking the Support button.
User orum: http://www.tone2.org/forum/index.php
Support Address: [email protected]
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Development: Markus Krause (formerly Feil), Bastiaan van Noord
Programming & Graphics: Markus Krause
Manual: Bastiaan van Noord, Jay Levzi, Markus Krause
Sound design: Ingo Weidner (IW), Ed Ten Eyck (E T), Himalaya (H), Massimo Bosco
(MxS), Satya Choudhury (sT), Marco Scherer (MAS), Stephen Krajewski (SK), George
Zondagh (GZ), Rob Fabrie (RF), Sami Rabia (AZ), Jamie ocwra (J ), Reinhard
Reschner (RR), SupremeJA (SJA), Jay Levzi (JL), Bastiaan van Noord (BN), Markus
Krause (MF)
Thanks go to: Anna Krause, family and friends, and all Tone2 customers for their
continued support

TABLE O CONTENTS
1 Introduction........................................................................................................
1.1 Welcome to Rayblaster ….........................................................................
1.2 What is Impulse Modeling Synthesis (IMS)...............................................
2 Installation and Authorization..........................................................................
2.1 Automatic installation for Mac & PC..........................................................
2.2 Manual installation for PC...........................................................................
2.3 Manual installation for Mac.........................................................................
3 Rayblaster Interface controls...........................................................................
4 The Rayblaster User Interface..........................................................................
4.1 The patch browser....................................................................................
4.2 Oscillator section......................................................................................
4.3 Envelopes................................................................................................
4.4 LFOs........................................................................................................
4.5 The Modulation Matrix.............................................................................
4.6 Arpeggiator & Gate.................................................................................
4.7 Effects sections & Boost..........................................................................
5 Modulation Matrix: value modifiers................................................................
6 Rayblaster CPU usage .....................................................................................
7 Creating your own custom Rayblaster filter impulse responses ................
8 How to extract & use waveforms in Rayblaster ............................................
9 Tone2 Audiosoftware Catalog .........................................................................

1. Introduction
1.1 Welcome to Rayblaster.
Thank you for buying Rayblaster synthesizer. Rayblaster uses Tone2's latest synthesis
technology called Impulse Modeling Synthesis.
Impulse Modeling Synthesis (IMS) goes beyond conventional synthesis, offering a
completely new world of sounds for you to explore and unlimited creative potential for
any style of music.
Whether you're a professional producer, synthesizer enthusiast or playing live, with the
new cutting edge IMS engine, psychoacoustic processing and carefully designed signal
processing, unique high quality sounds are just a key press away.
1.2 What is Impulse Modeling Synthesis (IMS)
Conventional synthesizers use a looped waveform as their oscillator source, which is then
filtered to create your sound, this is known as substractive synthesis.
RayBlaster uses a completely new approach to sound generation, creating its sound from
many short bursts of energy and combining these bursts to form its characterful sound.
This innovative and unique approach to synthesis is very close to what happens within
the human inner ear, sounds more authentic and gives you access to a whole new range
of sounds.
Rayblaster can take two cross blend-able samples, loops, waveforms or even an impulse
response of any filter, to use as source for its IMS oscillators.
The oscillators play back these short samples in rhythmic or chaotic order to create an
audible sound. Pitch, formant frequency, impulse order, mix, pulse width and the
harmonics of oscillators can be adjusted independently, which allows for a very large
amount of possibilities to morph your sound in real time.
The oscillators have an very wide pitch range, ranging from lower than 0.5 Hz up to 22kHz
and are capable of playing at extremely low frequency rates where rhythmical and tonal
parts of a sound start to smear.
For rhythmical sounds, Rayblaster can be synchronized to the host's BPM tempo which for
example allows you to beat-slice a drum loop accurately. Very low oscillator pitch rates
also allow the creation of granular sounds and loops where playback speed and pitch can
be controlled independently.
Where's my filter?
IMS works in a way that does not need a separate filter section, its oscillators can
authentically mimic the filter sound of other synthesizers, using one of the factory impulse
presets or by simply importing one of your own impulses.
Not only is RayBlaster capable of modeling the sound of existing filters – it's also possible
to create completely new artificial 'fantasy' filters exclusive to Rayblaster, making its filter
capabilities virtually unlimited. Your own custom Rayblaster filter impulse responses can
be created very easily, you'll find a step-by-step description in “Chapter 7 - Create your
own custom Rayblaster filter impulse response' of this manual.

2. Installation & authorization procedure
Together with the download links from Share-it you have received attached to the product
delivery email a keyfile called 'Rayblaster.t2k', this file contains your personal serial
number & your name and is used to unlock the full version.
Please note:we recommend for installations on Windows7 & Vista to be done with admin.
rights using 'Run as Administrator' for both the Rayblaster installer and host program.
2.1 Automatic Installation (recommended) for PC & Mac
1. Close your host (Logic, Live, Cubase, etc.)
2. Install the full version of the plugin. Note: the demo version can not be unlocked
3. Open your host program
4. o a plugin rescan in the host if it does not list Rayblaster as plugin. etailed
instructions on how to perform a rescan can be found in your host's manual
5. Open Rayblaster
6. Click on the registration box in the middle
7. Select your keyfile 'Rayblaster.t2k' to activate the full version
8. Restart the plugin. Note that some hosts programs (Live, Logic,..) may require a
complete restart.
Click inside the activation screen to browse – select your Rayblaster keyfile (Rayblaster.t2k)

2.2 Manual installation for PC
1. Close your host (Cubase, Sonar, Samplitude, Live, etc.)
2. Install the full version of the plugin. Note: the demo version can not be unlocked.
3. Copy 'Rayblaster.t2k' to the VST directory. Steinberg hosts often use C:\Program
files\Steinberg\VSTplugins as the default plugin path. You can also take a look at
your host's folder configuration.Note that the 'Rayblaster .t2k' keyfile should be
inside the same folder the Rayblaster.dll is.
4. Open your host program.
5. o a plugin rescan in the host if it does not list Rayblaster as plugin. etailed
instructions on how to do a plugin rescan are found in your host's manual.
6. Open Rayblaster. Now the normal user interface appears. If this is not the case
close your host and go back to step 3 as most likely you did not copy the keyfile to
the right place.
2.3 Manual installation for Mac
1. Close your host (Logic, igital Performer, Live, Cubase, etc.)
2. Install the full version of the plugin. Note: the demo version can not be unlocked.
3. Copy 'Rayblaster.t2k' to 'Library/Audio/Plug-ins'. The correct path for the file is:
'/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/Rayblaster.t2k'.
4. Open the host.
5. o a plugin rescan in the host if it does not list Rayblaster as plugin. etailed
instructions on how to do a plugin rescans are found in your host's manual.
6. Open Rayblaster. Now the normal user interface appears. If this is not the case
close your host and go back to step 3 as most likely you did not copy the keyfile to
the right place.

3. Rayblaster Interface controls
Buttons
There are two types of toggle buttons in Rayblaster,
one where clicking a button cycles between all options
available, a good example of this are the LFO waveform
selectors where clicking on the Wave button will cycle
through the available LFO wavetypes.
The other type is the toggle on/off buttons, clicking on
these will either enable or disable the feature.
Examples of these are the BPM, rift and Sync buttons
in the Oscillator section.
Rotary Knobs
The rotary knob control increments a parameter value
linearly from a minimum threshold value to a maximum
threshold value.
To increase a knob’s setting value, turn it clockwise:
click-and-hold the knob with your mouse and then move
it up and/or to the right. To decrease, move down and/or
to the left, or anti-clockwise.
If you press the Shift key on your keyboard and then click-and-hold the left mouse button
on a knob, you will have fine control.
There are two type of value ranges for the rotary knobs, depending on the parameter the
knob is controlling. There is the unipolar knob – that goes from zero to a positive value or
the bipolar knob – that goes from a minus value to through zero and then to a positive
amount.
Bipolar values are useful for setting modulation amounts (which can be positive or
negative) or pan where zero is the center.

Context Menus
The small LC -style screens contain some parameters that are actually context menus.
Click on a parameter to show a context menu of options. Click on the desired setting to
select and close the menu. The display changes to show the current value.
In the example pictured above clicking on 'Load Wave1' will open the Waveform menu,
from here you can choose either a factory Wave to open, or load an external Wave from
disk.
Previous/Next
In Rayblaster, the left and right arrows in it’s patch browser (the orange section in the
middle) are used to select the previous and next patches (program) or category (bank)
Click the program back arrow (<) to select the previous patch in the current category, click
the program forward (>) arrow to select the next patch in the current category. The browser
display changes to shows the newly selected patch.
Click the bank back arrow (<) to select the previous patch category, click the bank forward
(>) arrow to select the next patch category. The browser display changes to show the
current selected patch category.

4. The Rayblaster User Interface
The Rayblaster GUI is split up in to various sections, these include:
1: Oscillator Section.
This is the area where you can select the waveform and adjust it's various parameters.
There are two oscillators to choose from.
2: Oscillator Controls.
These are the various controls (Formant, Tune, Sync,...) that can be used to manipulate
the oscillators.
3: Main Amplifier, Glide, rive, + Unison Controls.
Here you will find the main amp envelope for Rayblaster, along with the unison & spread,
pan, glide (Portamento) and drive controls.
4: Main Preset Window & Options.
Here you can find the various options for loading banks and presets for Rayblaster. Also,
you can save presets and export waveforms, copy oscillators, initialize Rayblaster, the
matrix or the arpeggiator/gate.
The help option brings up this manual, and you also have the option to visit the Tone2
website to purchase additional sounds for Rayblaster.

5: Arp/Gate, Effects, Setup and Modulation Matrix
Here you have access to the arpeggiator and trance gate for Rayblaster. The second tab
takes you into Rayblaster's powerful effects section. The next three tabs access any one
of the three Modulation Matrices available.
6: LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) Section
This section contains the controls for both of Rayblaster's LFOs. In here you set the
waveform type used for the LFO, the frequency the LFO runs at, synchronize it to the
host's tempo and adjust it's phase. The LFOs can be assigned from the mod. matrix.
7: Envelope Section.
Rayblaster comes complete with two additional A SR (Attack, ecay, Sustain, Release)
envelopes. Their structure and shape can be altered in this section, and they can be
assigned from the mod matrix.
8: Pitch Wheel & Mod Wheel.
Here you see a graphical representation of the Pitch and Mod Wheels you normally find on
a hardware synthesizer or MI I controller. They can be manipulated with your mouse.
Just click & hold to move them up and down, their parameters can be set in the mod.
matrix.
9 : Keyboard
This part of the interface has the keyboard display, which fully playable using a mouse.

4.1 The Patch browser
The patch browser offers loading, saving and general patch management functionality.
The orange colored Patch browser has 4 rows of information. The top row contains the
File, Edit, Help menu and Buy Sounds link.
The ile menu
Load patch: Loads a patch from disk into Rayblaster
Save patch: Saves the current patch to disk
ownload sounds: Opens the Rayblaster sound section
on the Tone2 website
Visit Tone2.com: Opens the Tone2 website in your
browser
Load Arpeggiator: Loads a custom arpeggiator pattern
from disk into Rayblaster
Save Arpeggiator: Saves the current arpeggiator pattern to disk
Export Osc1 Wave1: Exports the waveform from Oscillator1-Wave1 as .wav file to disk
Export Osc1 Wave2: Exports the waveform from Oscillator1-Wave2 as .wav file to disk
:
Export Osc2 Wave1: Exports the waveform from Oscillator2-Wave1 as .wav file to disk
Export Osc2 Wave2: Exports the waveform from Oscillator2-Wave2 as .wav file to disk
Resynthesis: Opens the Quick Resynthesis importer. This is used to quick import &
automatically configure the synth to use your sample.
Loop Resynthesis: Opens the Quick Loop Resynthesis importer, This is used to quick
import & automatically configure the synth to use your drumloop. Note that you'll get the
best results with correctly looped files (e.g. 4 full measures)

The Edit menu
Init All: Initializes Rayblaster (oscillators, arpeggiator, fx,..)
to the default initialized settings.
Init Matrix: Initializes the Modulation Matrix to the default
initialized setting.
Init Arp /Gate: Initializes the Arpeggiator & Gate to the default initialized settings.
Copy Osc1 to Osc2: Copies Oscillator1 settings to Oscillator2
Copy Osc2 to Osc1: Copies Oscillator2 settings to Oscillator1
Help
Clicking on the Help link opens the Rayblaster manual.
Buy Sounds
Opens the Rayblaster sound section of Tone2 website
The second row (highlighted in the picture above) shows the currently loaded patch.
If you click on the patch name, a drop-down list will appear from which you can select
any patch in the current category. The left and right arrows next to the patch name are
used to select the previous and next patches (program)

The third row (highlighted in the picture above) shows the selected patch category. If
you click on the bank name, a drop-down list will appear from which you can select
any other category installed on your system.
These will include the standard categories, additional expansions bought from Tone2
or categories you created yourself. The left and right arrows next to the category name are
used to select the previous and next category.
The bottom line of the browser window (highlighted in the picture above) serves as an
active parameter indicator. If you alter any parameter in Rayblaster’s interface, the
parameter name and its current value will be displayed here.

4.2 The oscillator section
Rayblaster's oscillator section is divided into two oscillator Wave displays from which
waves can be loaded and further manipulated, and a main section containing the more
common oscillator controls like Tune, Volume, Ring, etc...
Osc parameters (blue display)
Inside the blue Wave displays you'll find the following controls:
Load Wave1/Wave2:
Loads a wave (WAV) file to oscillator 1/2. This can be a single cycle waveform (we
recommend a zero crossing at the sample start of the waveform), a short sample or
a wave file containing the impulse response of a filter.
If you import a short vocal sample (where the length is around 1 second) or a drum-loop
for beat slicing / granular playback you should set 'Formant' and 'Tune' to a very low value
and 'Harmonic' to a negative value. The waves are stored in the Rayblaster_waves
directory.
Note: in Rayblaster's File menu you'll find two quick import options, these will help
you load your sample & automatically configure Rayblaster to use the sample
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: FakeAnalogFilter, Drumline,
Wavetable ynthesis,Granular.
Wave 1/2 Mix:
Rayblaster can use two different waves per oscillator. The Mix control is used to cross-
blend between wave1 and wave2.
This allows for wavetable style sounds, cross-blending between samples or morphing
between filter characteristics.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Wavetable ynthesis

Osc Window:
There are several window types available, each with its own
preferred use or way to influence the sound.
The cosine window is the softest sounding one, it is a general
purpose window and will be preferred especially on granular
types of sounds.
Soft Saw, Exponential, Saw own and Off are suitable for
modeling the behavior of filters or beat slicing drum-loops.
For synced sounds use Off/Square or Saw own together with
the SYNC button.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category:
Hard ync, Bpm yncOsc, Bpm yncPad, Beat lice.
Harmonic:
Harmonic controls the harmonic content of the oscillator. When it is set to a value above 1
the waveform within the window is repeated for several times so it will sound more bright
and harsh.
When negative values are used it will result mostly in a darker sound, since only a smaller
part of the waveform will be part of the window.
The Start value defines the start offset of the waveform or the waveform's phase within the
window function.
The Start value is for example used when you want to play granular or beat sliced sounds,
where only a part of the sample is played back. If harmonic is set to a negative value the
Start parameter can be used to scan forward or backward through a sample.
With these types of sounds usually a sawtooth LFO is routed to Osc Start Phase, this will
allow the synth to scan-play though the sample in real time.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Granular, Drumline,
BPM yncOsc, BPM yncPad, Wavetable ynthesis

Osc PW Sequence:
Here you can choose between 8 different
impulse sequences. Every impulse sequence
can be morphed in real time with the PW value to
add movement to the sound.
The impulse sequences drastically change a
sound, this ranges from Sawtooth style sounds,
Squarewave style sounds, Organ style sounds to
SubOscillator style sounds ...
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial
category: PWM, FakeFilter quare
PW:
Found directly next to the PW Sequence menu is the PW (PulseWidth control) This
controls the pulse width of the impulse sequence.
Every sound can be morphed with PW in real time by routing a modulation source (LFO,
ENV...) to one of the PW destinations in the Modulation Matrix
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: PWM
Noise type:
Here you can choose between 3 different types of noise to add to the oscillator's sound
Pitch and Formant noise are useful to create a
breathy/silky sound, to simulate filter instabilities,
or to add rhythmic chaos to granular sounds.
Amplitude noise adds a more dynamic type of
oscillator instability.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial
category: FakeAnalogFilter
Noise level:
efines how much noise is applied to the sound. Every oscillator waveform can smoothly
morph to noise in real-time.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: FakeAnalogFilter

High Boost:
Boosts high formant frequencies, this boost can provide some additional punch to sounds
when a decaying envelope is routed to Formant.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: FakeFilter quare
Oscillator section parameters (knobs and buttons)
Inside the Main oscillator section you'll find the following controls:
ormant:
This is the most important parameter of Rayblaster. Formant controls the formant
frequency, the cutoff of the filter impulse responses, the pitch of granular sounds or
in general the brightness of your sound.
When Formant key follow is set to a value of 100, Formant values lower than 0 will
result in a low-pass-style characteristic, Formant values higher than 0 will result in a
bandpass-style characteristic.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: FakeAnalogFilter, MonoBass,
Formant ynthesis.
Damp:
amp is also a very important parameter, it is used to dampen/darken the sound. You
use the damp control if an oscillator sounds too sharp or aggressive in tone.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Damped quare

ormant Key ollow:
When the Formant key follow is set to a higher positive value and you play a higher key
it will result in a higher formant frequency, if you play a low key the sound will have a lower
formant frequency.
If you want to create classic wavetable synthesis types of sounds, set Formant key follow
to 100 and Formant to 0.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: FakeAnalogFilter,
Wavetable ynthesis, Formant ynthesis
Sync:
Switches the oscillator to another type of playback mode, this sounds more aggressive
and can for example be used to create the classic synced sound.
To create the classic synced sound set Sync to On and the Formant frequency to a
positive value. Use Off or Saw own as Osc Window function for best results.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Hard ync
Tune:
Sets the harmonic or rhythmic relationship of the oscillator which can range from -3
octaves below, up to +2 Octaves higher.
Other tunings provided, which are not in octave-steps like 8/3 are useful to create
organ sounds or chords.
When Osc BPM Sync is On Tune controls the rhythmic speed of the oscillator.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Beat lice, Wavetable ynthesis
Oscillator Key:
When Oscillator key follow is set to a higher positive value and you play a higher key
it will result in a higher pitch, if you play a low key the sound will have a lower pitch.
Usually you will use a standard key value of 100 here. If you do granular sounds a value
around 0 is preferred.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Drumline, Granular

BPM:
When Osc BPM Sync is On the oscillator switches to another type of playback mode
which will behave similar to an arpeggiator.
It plays back the oscillator with an very low frequency which is synced to your host's bpm
rate. This mode is useful especially for beat sliced sounds or to add rhythmic patterns to a
sound.
In this playback mode the Tune knob controls the rhythmic speed of the oscillator. Note
that you might need to tweak Harmonic, Formant and Formant Key Follow a bit to get the
desired results with BPM synced mode.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Beat lice, BPM ycOsc,
BPM yncPad
Volume:
Controls the oscillator volume
Oscillator Pan:
Rayblaster features a real stereo architecture, this allows the synth to have an individual
pan setting for each oscillator.
For example the Vocoder Effect needs the modulator sample panned to left and the
carrier oscillator panned to the right.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Vocoder
Low Cut:
The Low Cut control removes low frequencies from the oscillator's output. Use for
example Low Cut to remove lower frequency rumble from sounds.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: FakeAnalog, MonoBass
Drift:
rift is a very subtle parameter only audible when both oscillator1 and oscillator2 are used
at the same time.
When rift is set to a value below 0 the oscillators will apply Oscillator pitch drift similar to
those found on old synthesizers.
A drift value larger than 0 will fine tune oscillator 1 up and oscillator 2 down.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: FakeAnalog, Fake ubstractive

Phase:
Phase is also a very subtle parameter only audible when both oscillator1 and oscillator2
are used at the same time, or when you play short-attack bass sounds.
A value of 0 switches the oscillators to always running, this is behavior is known from
analog synthesizers and provides a more lively type of sound.
When you set Phase to a value above 0 it will re-trigger oscillator1 and oscialltor2 with
the current phase amount each time a new note is played.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: Fake ubstractive
Ring:
Ring modulates oscillator1 and oscillator2. This creates additional mid/high-range
harmonics which pulsate in a frequency depending on the de-tuning amount of the
oscillators. Note that you might need to tweak Tune and rift to get the best results.
Example Patches in Patch manager >Tutorial category: RingMod