Vir2 Instruments Electri6ity User manual

USER MANUAL

Produced by Vir2 Instruments
Vir2 Instruments / is an
international team of sound
designers, musicians, and
programmers, who specialize in
creating the world’s most
advanced virtual instrument
libraries. Vir2 is producing the
instruments that shape the
sound of modern music.
29033 Avenue Sherman, Suite 201
Valencia, CA 91355
Phone: [phone]
Web: www.vir2.com

USER MANUAL

ELECTRI6ITY ELECTRI6ITY
00 ELECTRI6ITY/
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 INTRODUCTION TO THE LIBRARY
03 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
03 INSTALLING
04 UPDATING
04 AUTHORIZING
05 HOW TO ACCESS THE ELECTRI6ITY
LIBRARY FROM KONTAKT
05 USING KONTAKT IN STANDALONE MODE
07 USING KONTAKT AS A VST PLUG-IN IN CUBASE AND NUENDO
08 USING KONTAKT AS A VST OR AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN ABLETON
LIVE
09 USING KONTAKT AS AN AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN LOGIC PRO,
LOGIC STUDIO, LOGIC EXPRESS, ETC.
10 USING KONTAKT IN GARAGEBAND
11 USING KONTAKT AS AN AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN DIGITAL
PERFORMER
11 USING KONTAKT AS AN RTAS PLUG-IN IN PRO TOOLS
12 USING KONTAKT AS A PLUG-IN IN ANOTHER HOST
CHAPTER 02: REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION
CHAPTER 03: USING KONTAKT
CHAPTER 01

00
13 STEP 1 | USER INTERFACE OVERVIEW
15 STEP 2 | ARTICULATIONS
19 STEP 3 | PLAY MODES
20 STEP 4 | PLAYING TECHNIQUES
21 STEP 5 | STRUMMING AND PICKING
22 STEP 6 | RELEASE NOISE
22 STEP 6 | RELEASE NOISE
25 PERFORMANCE PAGE
30 SETTINGS PAGE
44 FAQS
48 CC LIST | PERFORMANCE PAGE
48 CC LIST | SETTINGS PAGE
51 KEYSWITCH LIST | DEFAULT
51 KEYSWITCH LIST | ALTERNATIVE
53 TECH SUPPORT
53 THE FULL VERSION OF KONTAKT 4
53 LICENSE AGREEMENT
54 CREDITS
CHAPTER 04: GETTING STARTED
CHAPTER 05: DETAILS
CHAPTER 06: FAQS
CHAPTER 08: TECH SUPPORT, ETC.
CHAPTER 07: CC LIST | KEYSWITCH LIST

ELECTRI6ITY
01 ELECTRI6ITY/
INTRODUCTION
TO THE
LIBRARY
CHAPTER 01 / INTRODUCTION TO THE LIBRARY
Thank you for purchasing ELECTRI6ITY, an epic electric
guitar virtual instrument containing the most advanced,
detailed, and versatile collection of electric guitars ever
made in a virtual instrument.
ELECTRI6ITY contains eight of the most famous and
distinguished guitar tones from the history of the
instrument: the Strat, Tele, P90, Les Paul, Rickenbacker,
Danelectro Lipstick, ES335, and L4. More than 24,000
24-bit samples were taken of each guitar.
CHAPTER 01

Three pickup options (front, rear, and mixed) are available on every
guitar. An impressive amount of samples allow you to play every
articulation on every fret of every string for an absolutely authentic
guitar sound. Downstrokes, upstrokes, seamless velocity layers,
ghost notes, mutes, harmonics, hammer-ons, pullos, slides,
releases, and FX...the sky is the limit with ELECTRI6ITY.
Electri6ity also utilizes the most advanced scripting to date,
including the revolutionary Articulation Morphing Technology
(A.M.T.) and Velocity Morphing Technology (V.M.T.) allowing for the
seamless morphing from dead mute to sustain or from soft to loud.
Advanced string and fretboard positioning is performed by artificial
intelligence which adapts to your playing. Play fluid lines in real time
using the legato engine, play chords using the chord detection
engine which understands almost 2000 dierent chords, easily
double-track, do unison bends, strum, pick, trill, tremolo pick, slide...
all of this is built into the ELECTRI6ITY engine and full editing
control is given over each of these parameters.
All samples in ELECTRI6ITY are recorded clean - a direct input from
the guitar. Use ELECTRI6ITY’S built-in multieects (phaser, flanger,
chorus, reverb, and delay), Screamer module, and amp simulation
(British, Classic, Clean, Jazz, Metal, Modern, and Rock) to make the
sound come alive, or use your own guitar amps or simulators to
multiply the possibilities.
02

ELECTRI6ITY
03 ELECTRI6ITY/
REQUIREMENTS
AND
INSTALLATION
CHAPTER 02 / REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
For Mac users, ELECTRI6ITY requires OS 10.5.x or greater, an Intel Core Duo
1.66GHz or higher, a DVD drive, and 4GB of RAM.
For Windows users, ELECTRI6ITY requires Windows XP (SP2, 32-bit),
Windows Vista (32/64 bit), or Windows 7 (32/64 bit), a Pentium or Athlon
1.4GHz or faster, a DVD drive, and 4GB of RAM.
The library requires approximately 27GB of disk space.
Vir2 Instruments strongly recommends more than 4GB of RAM and an 88-
key controller in order to use ELECTRI6ITY to its fullest potential.
INSTALLING
The installation of ELECTRI6ITY is two separate steps: the installation of the
Kontakt engine, and the installation of the ELECTRI6ITY library.
Insert the installation disc into your computer, and you will see the installers
for both components. It doesn’t matter which is installed first. Run each of
the installers and they will guide you through the installation process.
The Kontakt installer will install the Kontakt engine, its standalone
application, all of its plug-in versions, and the Service Center authorizer
program. We recommend the Easy Install and that the install locations for
each component are left at their default settings.
The ELECTRI6ITY library is approximately 27GB in size, and its installer will
prompt you for the location you wish to install it. It can be installed on any
available hard drive. For speed reasons, we recommend it be installed on
internal or eSATA drives. Firewire can also be acceptable. External USB
drives may give somewhat less optimized performance. We also recommend
7200 or 10,000rpm drives regardless of the interface used.
CHAPTER 02

04
UPDATING
After installation, please make sure that you are fully updated to the most
recent versions of the three components that make up the ELECTRI6ITY
package: the library (which contains all the patch information and
programming), the engine (which is powered by Kontakt), and the
authorizer (Service Center). It is possible that any of these components
may have a more recent version than shipped in your physical package, so
you should check for updates to each of these three. You can do this by
visiting the vir2.com web site and checking the Support area.
AUTHORIZING
After you’ve completed installation, ELECTRI6ITY will be working in demo
mode, meaning it will only work for 15 minutes at a time. To fully authorize
it, launch Service Center (found in the Applications folder on a Mac, or the
Program Files folder on Windows) and follow its instructions. You will be
prompted to enter your e-mail address and password that make up your
Native Instruments account, or will be given an option to create an account
if you don’t already have one. Once inside the Service Center, it will give
you a list of all the Native Instruments and NI-powered products on your
hard drive and give you the option to activate them. You are allowed to
install and use ELECTRI6ITY on up to two computers simultaneously.
Service Center will guide you through the process for either online (instant)
activation, or oine activation if the computer you installed ELECTRI6ITY
on does not have direct access to the internet.

ELECTRI6ITY
05 ELECTRI6ITY/
USING
KONTAKT
CHAPTER 03 / USING KONTAKT
HOW TO ACCESS THE ELECTRI6ITY LIBRARY FROM KONTAKT
ELECTRI6ITY ships as a Kontakt-powered library, and ELECTRI6ITY is
opened from within Kontakt, which can be run either as a standalone
application, or as a plug-in hosted by any major sequencer on either
Macintosh or Windows platforms. All these versions are installed by the Easy
Install option of the installer.
Users who don’t own a sequencer, or would like to simply boot up and be
able to play ELECTRI6ITY, can go to their Applications folder (Mac) or
Program Files folder (Windows) to launch Native Instruments > Kontakt.
Users who wish to use ELECTRI6ITY for sequencing or recording, or wish to
play it multitimbrally, should use it in plug-in mode within a host sequencer.
Kontakt supports the VST, AudioUnit, and RTAS plug-in formats. Any host
sequencer that supports these plug-in formats properly will be able to use
Kontakt. Instructions vary slightly from sequencer to sequencer, but the
general procedure is to instantiate Kontakt as a virtual instrument plug-in,
then load a ELECTRI6ITY instrument in Kontakt, then route a MIDI track to
Kontakt so it can be triggered and recorded.
The following instructions will help standalone and plug-in users get up and
running quickly with a basic track of ELECTRI6ITY.
USING KONTAKT IN STANDALONE MODE
The standalone Kontakt application can be found in the Applications >
Kontakt 4 folder for Mac users, or Program Files > Native Instruments >
Kontakt 4 for Windows users.
After launching the Kontakt application for the first time, you will be
presented with a dialog box to set up your audio and MIDI settings. Settings
will vary for each user according to the specific setup, but the important
thing is to route the audio to a valid audio device, and to set the buer
CHAPTER 03

06
reasonably low for good latency performance. We recommend 256 samples
or less. The lower the latency slider, the less latency (the split second
between the physical playing of the note and the sound coming out of
Kontakt) will be, but the harder the computer will have to work. Typical
useful values range between 128 and 256, however very fast computers may
be able to handle lower values, while very slow computers may need higher
values. [01]
The MIDI page of the Options dialog box must be configured in order to let
Kontakt know which MIDI device(s) to respond to. Kontakt will respond to
up to four MIDI input ports (A, B, C, and D), so we recommend you switch
one MIDI source on to Port A, as shown in the graphic below. [02]
More detailed information on the setup options can be found in the
accompanying Kontakt manual.
Once you have completed Kontakt setup, jump ahead to the Getting Started
with ELECTRI6ITY section below.
01
02

ELECTRI6ITY
07 USING KONTAKT AS A VST PLUG-IN IN CUBASE AND NUENDO
Users of Steinberg’s Cubase or Nuendo sequencers can use Kontakt as a
VST plug-in. These instructions have been prepared in Cubase 5, although
Kontakt may also work in earlier versions if the computer meets the system
requirements.
Once the project is open, go to the Devices menu and choose VST
Instruments: [01]
When the VST Instruments window appears, click in the first available slot in
which “no instrument” is listed. [02]
A popup menu will appear; choose Kontakt 4.
An alert box will appear asking if you want to create a MIDI track assigned to
the Kontakt 4 plug-in. Click Create. [03]
01
02
03

08
The Kontakt window will appear, and a MIDI track will be created,
transmitting to Kontakt’s MIDI channel A-1. When it is record-enabled, it will
send any incoming MIDI played on your controller into Kontakt.
At this point, you can skip down in the instructions to the Getting Started
With ELECTRI6ITY section below.
USING KONTAKT AS A VST OR AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN ABLETON LIVE
Users of Ableton Live can use Kontakt as a VST or AudioUnit plug-in,
depending on the version. The functionality is the same. These instructions
have been prepared in Live 7, although Kontakt may also work in earlier or
later versions if the computer meets the system requirements.
Once the project is open, go to the left side and click on the third icon down
to show the Plug-in Devices list, then scroll to the Native Instruments folder
and locate Kontakt 4: [04]
Drag Kontakt 4 into the central area where the text “Drop Files and Devices
Here” is shown.
The Kontakt interface will appear, and it will already be actively transmitting
to Kontakt’s MIDI channel A-1. When it is record-enabled, it will send any
incoming MIDI played on your controller into Kontakt.
At this point, you can skip down in the instructions to the Getting Started
With ELECTRI6ITY section below.
04

ELECTRI6ITY
USING KONTAKT AS AN AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN LOGIC PRO, LOGIC
STUDIO, LOGIC EXPRESS, ETC.
Users of Apple’s Logic can use Kontakt as an AudioUnit plug-in. These
instructions have been prepared in Logic Pro 8, although Kontakt may also
work in earlier versions if the computer meets the system requirements.
Once inside your Logic project, go to the Track mini-menu (in the central
area of your screen) and choose Track > New... [01]
The New Tracks dialog box will appear. Make sure Software Instrument is
selected, then click Create. [02]
The new instrument track will be created. On the left side of the screen you
will see the channel strip for that channel, including a fader, pan knob, and
various insert slots. Locate the blank slot just below the letters “I/O” and
above the output pair: [03]
Click there, and a list of available instrument plug-ins will appear. Choose AU
Instruments > Native Instruments > Kontakt 3 > Stereo. [04]
01
02 03
04
09

The Kontakt window will appear, and a MIDI track will be created,
transmitting to Kontakt’s MIDI channel A-1. When it is record-enabled, it will
send any incoming MIDI played on your controller into Kontakt.
At this point, you can skip down in the instructions to the Getting Started
With ELECTRI6ITY section below.
USING KONTAKT IN GARAGEBAND
Users of Apple’s GarageBand can use Kontakt as an AudioUnit plug-in. These
instructions have been prepared in GarageBand 5 (which shipped with iLife ‘09),
although Kontakt may also work in earlier versions if the computer meets the system
requirements.
Once inside your GarageBand project, go to the Track menu and choose New Track.
[05]
A window with three choices will appear. Choose Software Instrument, then click
Choose. [06] On the right side of the interface, the Browse tab will be showing. Switch
to the Edit tab. [07] The Sound Generator will default to Piano. Click on Piano, and a
popup menu will appear. Choose Audio Unit Modules > Kontakt 3. [08]
Note: GarageBand may default to inserting
eects, such as a compressor and a visual EQ
on this track. This will color the sound. If you don’t
want these eects used, you can remove
them.
Once Kontakt 3 is selected, the icon will
change to the AudioUnit icon (the ball with
the sound waves radiating outward). Double-click
on the icon to bring up the Kontakt window. [09]
The Kontakt window will appear, and a MIDI
track will be created, transmitting to Kontakt’s
MIDI channel A-1. When it is record-enabled, it
will send any incoming MIDI played on your controller into Kontakt.
At this point, you can skip down in the instructions to the Getting Started With
ELECTRI6ITY section below.
06
10
05
08
09
07

ELECTRI6ITY
USING KONTAKT AS AN AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN DIGITAL PERFORMER
Users of MOTU’s Digital Performer can use Kontakt as an AudioUnit plug-in.
These instructions have been prepared in Digital Performer 6, although
Kontakt may also work in earlier versions if the computer meets the system
requirements.
Once the project is open, go to the Project menu and choose Add Track >
Add Instruments... [01]
In the resulting dialog box, click on the Unassigned pulldown menu, and
choose Native Instruments > Kontakt 3. You can also change the number of
MIDI tracks to be added, if you know you will want to use more than one.
[02]
The Kontakt window will appear, and a MIDI track will be created,
transmitting to Kontakt’s MIDI channel A-1. When it is record-enabled, it will
send any incoming MIDI played on your controller into Kontakt.
At this point, you can skip down in the instructions to the Getting Started
With ELECTRI6ITY section below.
USING KONTAKT AS AN RTAS PLUG-IN IN PRO TOOLS
Users of Digidesign’s Pro Tools (M-Powered, LE, or TDM) can use Kontakt as
an RTAS plug-in. These instructions have been prepared in Pro Tools 8,
although Kontakt may also work in earlier versions if the computer meets
the system requirements.
01
02
11

Once the project is open, go to the Track menu and choose New... [03]
In the dialog box that appears, choose the appropriate options, such as the
following: create 1 new stereo Instrument Track in samples. Then click Create.
[04]
Go to the Mix window and look at the channel strip for the instrument. At the
very top is an area for Inserts A-E. [05]
Click on the first of the five slots, and navigate through the popup menu to
choose multichannel plug-in > Instrument > Kontakt 3. [06]
The Kontakt window will appear. At this point, you can skip down in the
instructions to the Getting Started With ELECTRI6ITY section below.
USING KONTAKT AS A PLUG-IN IN ANOTHER HOST
There are too many host programs to cover here in detail, but any modern
sequencer that properly supports the VST, AudioUnit, or RTAS standards
should be able to use Kontakt properly, and load ELECTRI6ITY within it.
Consult the manual for your specific host to find out how to instantiate the
Kontakt virtual instrument.
03
04
06 05
12

ELECTRI6ITY
13 ELECTRI6ITY/
GETTING
STARTED
CHAPTER 04 / GETTING STARTED
ELECTRI6ITY | GETTING STARTED | STEP 1 | USER INTERFACE OVERVIEW
PERFORMANCE PAGE:
After loading an ELECTRI6ITY instrument, you’ll find yourself on the
Performance Page, which displays detailed information about which
articulation is active, which keyswitch is pressed, which chord is detected,
and an overview of all the main parameters which control the scripting
engine behind ELECTRI6ITY:
On the bottom of the page you’ll find three tabs (four in all AMPED
instruments). Simply click on them to switch from one tab to another one.
Here is an short overview:
SETTINGS PAGE:
You’ll be able to tweak ELECTRI6ITY in almost infinite ways by using the
CHAPTER 04

14
controls on this page. For more information about this page please read the
>ELECTRI6ITY | Settings Page chapter of this manual.
EFFECTS PAGE (AMPED INSTRUMENTS ONLY):
On this page you can add eects to your guitar sound (Phaser, Chorus,
Flanger, Delay and Reverb), you can add distortion with a Screamer FX
pedal, and you can pass the guitar through a virtual guitar amp.
This page does not appear in any DI instrument, because the DI instruments
have been created for users who use their own (real or virtual) guitar amps
and eects.
FRETBOARD PAGE:
The virtual fretboard shows you how ELECTRI6ITY is choosing strings and
frets according to your playing. It also displays the stroke direction (up or
downstroke) and other playing techniques (for example, slides). You can
watch the virtual fretboard to see how ELECTRI6ITY is transforming your
playing to the virtual guitar strings and frets.

ELECTRI6ITY
15 ELECTRI6ITY | GETTING STARTED | STEP 2 | ARTICULATIONS
All of the core ELECTRI6ITY instruments include all available articulations
and playing techniques. Unlike many older sample libraries in which you have
to choose and load dierent patches for dierent articulations before you’ll
be able start playing. ELECTRI6ITY uses an dierent approach: you only
have to load one of the guitars and you are ready to go. If you need a certain
articulation, you’ll be able to simply activate it via keyswitch. That way you’ll
be much more flexible and your focus will be on creativity rather than on
patch selection before you even have started to write a song.
Another benefit of ELECTRI6ITY is that it has advanced artificial intelligence
working behind the scenes. Let’s take the legato mode for example. While
it’s might be possible to manually create legato lines by constantly switching
between sustain notes, hammer on and pull o articulations, a lot of work
would be involved to get good and realistic results that way. In ELECTRI6ITY
you simply have to switch to the legato mode and you’ll get fluid legato lines
automatically by simply playing. The engine chooses the right articulations
for you.
We want to give you an overview over all available articulations in
ELECTRI6ITY on the following pages. The table shows the articulation and
how is it selected. We are also going to describe each articulation, when it‘s
used, and if there is anything special to note about it.
HINT: ELECTRI6ITY is a very powerful instrument, but it’s easy to
get lost. If you get lost at any point and you want to reset ELECTRI6ITY
to its original state, simply press the [!] button on the top of the
Kontakt interface.
HINT: ELECTRI6ITY uses as special keyswitch system, which allows us to
fit more keyswitches in the limited range of keys available on an 88-key
keyboard. You’ll find more information here: >ELECTRI6ITY FAQ | First
Steps: [v] Velocity Sensitive Keyswitch and [f] Forced Keyswitch. But
don’t worry, you don’t have to understand those terms at moment. The
table below exactly tells you how to play a certain keyswitch. For
example: ‘B0 – keyswitch played hard’. This means you have to play B0
with a velocity equal or higher than 90. If you read ‘played soft’ it
means you have to play the keyswitch with a velocity lower than 90.
Keyswitch without direction on how to play them can be played at any
velocity and behave like standard keyswitches.