Wavescape NORD MODULA G2 SERIES-VOL. 01.- CLUB LIFE User manual

Nord Modular G2 • Pack Vol. 01.
CLUB LIFE
for
User Guide
Wavescape Studio • www.samplerbanks.com
Copyright 2007 - All rights reserved.
studio

CONTENT OF TABLE
WAVESCAPE STUDIO LICENCE AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
TRADEMARK ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
WHAT IS SAMPLING?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
ABOUT THE SAMPLING PROCEDURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
ABOUT ABOUT THE PRESET CREATION PROCEDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ABOUT THE CLAVIA NORD MODULAR G2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS KONTAKT 2 – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
APPENDIX – SAMPLER INSTRUMENTS LIST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
APPENDIX – GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
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WAVESCAPE STUDIO LICENCE AGREEMENT
By purchasing the NORD MODULAR G2 SERIES - VOL. 01. - CLUB LIFE sample pack, you are entering upon a
single-user licence agreement with WAVESCAPE STUDIO and in doing so agree to be bound by all of the
following legal terms and conditions:
1. The samples remain the property of WAVESCAPE STUDIO and are licenced – not sold – to you, the licenced
user.
2. WAVESCAPE STUDIO certifies that all sound samples contained in this compilaton are royalty-free and
hereby grants you unlimited licence to utilise said samples within your audio productions for any
commercial or non-commercial purpose with the exception of the conditions laid out in Clause 3 and 4.
3. The samples, modified (reformatted, mixed, filtered, resynthesized) or otherwise edited, may not be
traded, copied, transferred, resold, hired, uploaded or downloaded to another user, database, server or
network or any form of public data retrieval system. You are not allowed to re-sell or share this product.
Please take care of your licence, we believe in your good faith.
4. You are forbidden to utilize the sound samples (original or modified in any form) contained in this compi-
lation, or any part of the sound samples, for the purposes of creating a sample library / product / package.
DISCLAIMER
1. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information containted in this guide is accurate and
complete, no liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions.
2. WAVESCAPE STUDIO reserves the right to change the specifications of this sample pack described herein
at any time without prior notice.
3. No part of this guide may be reproduced, transmitted, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any
langauge in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of WAVESCAPE STUDIO.
4. WAVESCAPE STUDIO makes no warranties for damages resulting from corrupted or lost data due to
mistaken operation or malfunction of the computer. You are advised to make a backup of this product to
protect yourself against data loss in the event of a computer failure.
TRADEMARK ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All names and products appearing within this document is registered trademarks or trademarks of their
respective companies. All synthesizer patches and sampler sounds are designed by WAVESCAPE STUDIO.
Copyright 2007 WAVESCAPE STUDIO • Visit us at www.samplerbanks.com !

INTRODUCTION
First of all we would like to thank you for purchasing this exciting product from WAVESCAPE STUDIO. The
“NORD MODULAR G2 SERIES - VOL. 01. - CLUB LIFE” sample pack for Native Instruments KONTAKT 2
software sampler contains the finest club sounds from Clavia Nord Modular G2 modular synthesizer, carefully
recorded and looped in 24-bit format. Sampler instruments in this pack are designed for the use in pop /
dance/ trance / techno / jazz / house / electro, etc. music productions. We organized the 113 sampler
instruments into XTRA, LEAD, PAD, ARP, BASS categories, see more details below.
WHAT IS SAMPLING?
Sampling is a process where we record sound digitally. Sound goes to an analog to digital converter (A/D conver-
ter) that turns voltages into streams of digital data. This digital data represents a flow of 0 and 1. This way a
sound can be stored at great precision.
SOUND A/D CONVERTER DIGITAL WAVEFORM
Two matters influences the accuracy of a digital sound coming from the real world. First is called sample rate,
which is usually 44100 Hz. This means that the A/D converter takes 44100 samples per secundum in quick
succession. Second is the bit-depth, which determines the number of different volume levels. In 16-bit system
the number of possible different volume levels are 65536, in 24-bit system are 16777216. When you play a
sound back, both sample rate and bit-depth define the sound quality.
These digitized waveforms have to be stored somewhere, this space is basically a storage device, like CD-
ROM or hard drive. If you would like to use it, then load these waveforms into the memory of the sampler.
Today's modern software samplers usually use the RAM of the computer itself, hardware samplers always
have a dedicated RAM.
ABOUT THE SAMPLING PROCEDURE
The “NORD MODULAR G2 SERIES - VOL. 01. - CLUB LIFE” collection contains audio samples of the finest
custom-made club sounds from Clavia Nord Modular G2. We payed a lot of attention to every details during
recording and editing. The recording went straight at 24-bit/96 kHz format (maintaining the original internal
resolution of the G2 signal path) and later we converted the samples into 24-bit/48 kHz in order to reduce
CPU load. During recording all the time-based effects (delay/reverb, etc.) of original patches were switched
off. All samples are perfectly looped, so you do not have to worry about muted sounds when playing.
This is a multisampled instrument collection: multisamples are a series of pitched recordings of the original
instrument. Multisamples allow you to enjoy the exact sound of the original instrument without the
annoyance of handling MIDI systems, polyphony limitations, or the high cost of the original instrument. All
Wavescapes Studio multisamples are recorded two samples per octave (C and F#), thus providing clarity and
a faithful representation of the original sound.
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ZONE 1 ZONE 2 ZONE 3 ZONE 4 ZONE 5 ZONE 6 ZONE 7 ZONE 8

ABOUT THE PRESET CREATION PROCEDURE
This “NORD MODULAR G2 SERIES - VOL. 01. - CLUB LIFE” collection you bought is the Native Instruments
KONTAKT 2 version. Kontakt 2 is one of the most impressive and versatile sampler of the world, with really
excellent features, pages would not be enough to detail it closely.
Whereas majority of sample libraries use the “all-compatible”, but obsolete formats like SF2 or AKAI to
deliver samples, this package is exclusively suited for the Native Instruments KONTAKT 2 software sampler.
Whenever converting these “all-compatible” sampler formats into Kontakt 2 format, the majority of Kontakt
2 parameters does not translate correctly even using sophisticated conversion software. This usually makes
the converted sounds expressionless in KONTAKT 2, not mentioning the fact that theses converted sounds
does not offer the sophisticated features KONTAKT 2 inherently has.
Rule: if you want to get the most out of your sampler, use its native sample and instrument format. Thus we
have carefully keymapped, programmed and fine-tuned all KONTAKT 2 parameters (including VCA, VCF, LFO,
modulation matrix, etc) manually and saved all of them as native KONTAKT 2 files. We also added some
realtime control possibilites: just move the modulation wheel to change parameters in real-time in order to
make sound “breathe”!
Sampler instruments in this pack went through a multiple selection process, so 113 real club sounds were
selected from many hundreds. Some of them contain massive layers creating really FAT sounds - just check
the XTRA category! We categorized each presets into ARP, BASS, LEAD, PAD, XTRA categories for easier
identification while looking for the right sound for your song in the making.
Finally we compiled the sounds into a single KONTAKT 2 Bank format (*.nkb) file, so you do not have to worry
about missing samples anymore! If you have a keyboard that is equipped with a transpose knob, then play
with these knobs while playing patches: some patches sounds much better if you are playing one octave up
(like leads) or one-two octave down (like bass). However there are no rules: play the notes you think sounds
the best! It may also worth to put some light delay or reverb while listening to them.
ABOUT THE CLAVIA NORD MODULAR G2
Clavia Nord Modular G2 is the ultimate synthesizer for creating unique synthesizer sounds. From the original
classic analog sounds to any bizarre "sci-fi" drone texture the G2 offers a number of previously unavailable
sonic opportunities.
The distinctive and "expensive" sound of Clavia instruments rules the musical market for years, and this is
the case with the G2 series too. Despite its complexity this instrument is the "secret weapon" of several
famous top producers' and musicians' technical arsenal around the world.
As this synthesizer begs for programming great sounds, we could not resist the temptation: we have
meticulously programmed several custom sounds that fits into this collection.
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NATIVE INSTRUMENTS KONTAKT 2 – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Sometimes I hear distortion.
What to do?
Distortion may happen within the sampler engine if you play high level
(0 dB or nearby) samples simultaneously. In this case first you should
check your signal flow and set everything (the channel, bus/group and the
master fader) to 0 dB (unity). Then lower the output volume level of the
sampler until the simultaneous play of several notes (a chord) does not
cause distortion at the loudest level of the sound. You can lower the
volume of Kontakt with the Volume fader located under the Output Meter.
If you make sure that no distortion occurs within the sample engine (see
above), but distortion still exists please check the settings of your signal
flow elements.
How can I load the Kontakt
Bank file (*.nkb) into
Kontakt?
In the Kontakt 2 file-browser locate this file:
“Wavescape Studio_G2_Vol_01_Club_Life.nkb”. It contains all the
sampler programs and samples. Simply drag and drop this file to the
empty window on the right. A progress window will appear indicating
your sounds are loading.
I loaded the bank, play the
keyboard but there is no
sound.
What to do?
You have to select a patch - the basic alias patch at bank loading
startup is an empty sound that show only the name of the product -
("Club Life") this case.
Select the first patch with the mouse and start playing while not
forgetting to move the modulation wheel slowly!
I have already several banks
opened and the new CLUB
LIFE bank does not sound.
What’s wrong?
Set the Midi Channel settings to the channel number your keyboard
transmits, but the easiest is always to select the “Omni” channel.
What to do if I hear stuck
notes or pops, clicks or
“cutted” sounds?
The polyphony of Kontakt 2 is set to 64 default. Stuck notes can be a
phenomenon of limited polyphony, so increase it by double clicking to the
current polyphony display (“64”) and enter a higher or lower value.
Select the Options / DFD Direct From Disc menu, then select the
appropriate settings that suits the best for you.
It is also possible that your computer's resources are unsufficient for using
this software sampler, so you should upgrade to a more powerful
computer, or adjust/fine-tune software settings for musical applications.

01. XTRA-Demo 01 (ModWhl) - layered sounds
02. XTRA-Demo 02 (ModWhl)
03. XTRA-Demo 03 (ModWhl)
04. XTRA-Demo 04 (ModWhl)
05. XTRA-PAD 05 (ModWhl)
06. XTRA-PAD 06 (ModWhl)
07. XTRA-PAD 07 (ModWhl)
08. XTRA-PAD 08 (ModWhl)
09. XTRA-PAD 09 (ModWhl)
10. XTRA-PAD 10 (ModWhl)
11.XTRA-PAD 11 (ModWhl)
12. XTRA-PAD 12 (ModWhl)
13. XTRA-PAD 13 (ModWhl)
14. XTRA-PAD 14 (ModWhl)
15. XTRA-ARP 15 (ModWhl)
16. XTRA-ARP 16 (ModWhl)
17. XTRA-ARP 17 (ModWhl)
18. XTRA-ARP 18 (ModWhl)
19. XTRA-ARP 19 (ModWhl)
20. ARP-Alpha Star (ModWh) - best for playing arpeggios
21. ARP-Azure King (ModWh)
22. ARP-Berkelinium (ModWh)
23. ARP-Bisladium (ModWh)
24. ARP-Blonde Slayer (ModWh)
25. ARP-Chlosten (ModWh)
26. ARP-Compuprowler (ModWh)
27. ARP-Coptium (ModWh)
28. ARP-Countess Specter (ModWh)
29. ARP-Dawn Racer (ModWh)
30. ARP-Elastibull (ModWh)
31. ARP-Emerald Chimp (ModWh)
32. ARP-Euroton (ModWh)
33. ARP-Grim Golem (ModWh)
34. ARP-Hafgen (ModWh)
35. ARP-Jade Vision (ModWh)
36. ARP-Lurking Bee (ModWh)
37. ARP-Lutever (ModWh)
38. ARP-Ms Liberator (ModWh)
39. ARP-Obsidian Stalker (ModWh)
40. ARP-Osfur (ModWh)
41. ARP-Protacrine (ModWh)
42. ARP-Q-battalion (ModWh)
43. ARP-Robot Widow (ModWh)
44. ARP-Rocket Guardsman (ModWh)
45. ARP-Silver Gal (ModWh)
46. ARP-Spider Hornet (ModWh)
47. ARP-The REAL Nord
48. ARP-Tomorrow Flea (ModWh)
49. ARP-Wing Longshoreman (ModWh)
50. ARP-X-mistress (ModWh)
51. BASS-Arkel (ModWh) - suitable for basslines
52. BASS-Bordenum (ModWh)
53. BASS-Bromfornium (ModWh)
54. BASS-Cat Thing (ModWh)
55. BASS-Ernerium (ModWh)
56. BASS-Gamma Sentinelz (ModWh)
57. BASS-Gerkel (ModWh)
58. BASS-Hetinum (ModWh)
59. BASS-Luteon (ModWh)
60. BASS-Nepphorus (ModWh)
61. BASS-Omega Flight (ModWh)
62. BASS-Praseogen (ModWh)
63. BASS-Rafur (ModWh)
64. BASS-Telnum (ModWh)
65. BASS-X-rebels (ModWh)
66. LEAD-Astrosquirrel (ModWhl) - play them in legato-stlye
67.LEAD-Baroness Queen (ModWhl)
68. LEAD-Bee Ricochet (ModWhl)
69. LEAD-Dark Vulture (ModWhl)
70. LEAD-Dragon Storm (ModWhl)
71. LEAD-Ferconium (ModWhl)
72. LEAD-General Blade (ModWhl)
73. LEAD-Grey Ray (ModWhl)
74. LEAD-Megakid (ModWhl)
75. LEAD-Mistress Monster (ModWhl)
76. LEAD-Obsidian Stalker (ModWhl)
77. LEAD-Patchwork Blaze (ModWhl)
78. LEAD-Poison Warlock (ModWhl)
79. LEAD-Princess Flame (ModWhl)
80. LEAD-Ralevium (ModWhl)
81. LEAD-Scarlet Warlord (ModWhl)
82. LEAD-Shark Sailor (ModWhl)
83. LEAD-Silinerium (ModWhl)
84. LEAD-Sinusoid Heaven (ModWhl)
85. LEAD-Sulnic (ModWhl)
86. LEAD-Supreme Enigma (ModWhl)
87. LEAD-Tinpium (ModWhl)
88. LEAD-Voodoo Conundrum (ModWhl)
89. PAD-Blood Person (ModWh) - play nice chords slowly
90. PAD-Bromgon (ModWh)
91. PAD-Brunetteette (ModWh)
92. PAD-Calprosium (ModWh)
93. PAD-Detective Enigma (ModWh)
94. PAD-Ghost Genie (ModWh)
95. PAD-Ghost Racoon (ModWh)
96. PAD-Goldladium (ModWh)
97. PAD-Hyperpunisher (ModWh)
98. PAD-Lutemuth (ModWh)
99. PAD-Machine Rage (ModWh)
100. PAD-Magnetic Man (ModWh)
101. PAD-Masteroid (ModWh)
102. PAD-Meitconium (ModWh)
103. PAD-Metal Terror (ModWh)
104. PAD-Orange Crusader (ModWh)
105. PAD-Rhecium (ModWh)
106. PAD-Robomask (ModWh)
107. PAD-Sililadium (ModWh)
108. PAD-Sister Mariner (ModWh)
109. PAD-Star Lord (ModWh)
110. PAD-Suicidenoid (ModWh)
111. PAD-Tinpium (ModWh)
112. PAD-Titatinum (ModWh)
113. PAD-Z-aardvark (ModWh)
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APPENDIX – SAMPLER INSTRUMENTS LIST
We organized the sampler instruments into five (XTRA, ARP, BASS, LEAD, PAD) categories for easier usage.

Amplifier: To control the volume of a sound in the
synthesizer, the signal is passed through an “ampli-
fier” circuit. The amplifier can raise or lower the
height of the waveform, thereby raising or lowering
the sound volume.
Amplitude Modulation: The change of the signal
level. If an LFO modulates an amplifier envelope, this
results a periodic rise and fall in the sound, it is called
tremolo. One of its variant is the ring modulation,
where the modulation happens at audio frequency
thus creating a disharmonic spectra.
Attack: In case of ADSR envelope it defines the time
taken for the sound to achieve the maximum
amplitude.
Arpeggiator: A software or hardware device that
plays a pre-programmed series of notes. It accepts
incoming chords and breaks it up into notes in a
defined order, octave range, direction, speed, etc.
Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC): A circuit or hard-
ware peripheral that converts audio from an analog
signal of constantly fluctuating voltages to a digital
string of ones and zeros.
Band Pass Filter: Filter that removes or attenuates
frequencies above and below the frequency at which
it is set. Frequencies within the band are empha-
sised.
Bit-depth: One of two main specifications that define
digital audio quality (the other is sample rate). Bit-
depth defines how precisely a sound's dynamic range
is represented. Also called bitresolution or bit-rate.
BPM: The pace of music measure by the number of
beats occuring in 60 seconds.
Cent: It is the 1/100th fraction of a semitone
Chorus: An effect in which multiple copies of a signal
are played together slightly out of time to create a
shimmering effect.
Clipping: The unpleasant thumping or clicking noise
made when a digital signal exceeds the capacity of
an audio device, reaching 0 dB.
Control Change: A set of different MIDI messages in
order to influence the parameters of a sound
generators.
Cutoff: The frequency at which a filter starts to work.
Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC): A device that con-
verts audio from a digital, numeric representation to
an analog signal of constantly fluctuating voltages.
Envelope: A device that changes a basic setting by
the desired amount at specified time intervals. Enve-
lopes are commonly used to alter the filter and
amplifier settings along the time-axis (ADSR curve).
Equalizer: Device for selectively cutting or boosting
selected parts of the audio spectrum.
Effect: A common term for a variety of treatments
that alter sounds. Common effects are e.g. reverb
and chorus.
Filter: A device that removes specified frequencies
from a signal.
Flange: An effect that generates a swirling sound by
adding a slightly delayed copy of the signal in which
the copy's delay time fluctuates.
Frequency: Refers to the number of times per second
that a sound wave's cycle repeats, with a greater
frequency resulting in a higher perceived pitch; also
used as shorthand for describing sound waves in
audio by their pitch.
Frequency Modulation (FM): A method of altering a
waveform by changing (or modulating) the signal's
frequency. The best-known musical example is vib-
rato, which involves slight changes in frequency over
time.
Fundamenal: The lowest tone of a harmonic series.
Any sound comprises a fundamental plus harmonics
and partials at a higher frequency.
General MIDI (GM): An extension of the MIDI specification that
assigns an additional set of 128 sounds. General MIDI establishes
a definite set of program number assignments for a wide variety
of common synthesizer sounds and also standardizes the
instrument sounds for MIDI song disks and sequencers.
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APPENDIX – GLOSSARY

GS: A General MIDI extension defined by the Roland
Corporation and now also used by several other ma-
nufacturers. GS obeys all General midi instructions
and adds several new sounds and controllers.
Harmonics: All the waveforms of a sound except the
fundamental.
High Pass Filter: A filter which attenuates frequen-
cies below its cutoff frequencies.
Keyboard Split: A common keyboard feature that
allows you to play different sounds on different areas
of the keyboard simultaneously. For example, your
left hand could play a bass sound while your right
hand plays a trumpet sound.
Layer: In musical context it means an instrumentati-
onal principle, where musicians stack two or more
different sounds to achieve a new one.
Latency: The side effect of computer based music
technologies. Softwares use buffers to maintain the
accurate timing and precision, but it always results a
kind of delay, usually measured in milliseconds, which
is called latency. The basic principle: the bigger the
buffer size, the bigger the latency, less strain of
computer’s CPU.
LFO: An inaudible low-frequency waveform that al-
ters a basic setting – a waveform's pitch, a tone's
filter or panning settings – in a cyclic manner accor-
ding to the shape of the LFO's waveform. An LFO is
typically used as a means of adding vibrato, tremolo
or auto-panning.
MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface. MIDI is a
standardized protocol for communication between
electronic music devices as well as between those
devices and computers. For example, sound modules
and computers can use MIDI to communicate.
Low-Pass Filter: A filter which attenuates frequencies
above its cutoff frequency.
Loop: As a verb, the act of playing the same section
over and over. As a noun, a chunk of audio that is
played over and over.
MIDI Channel: A discrete portion of the complete
MIDI signal that can include as many as 16 channels.
Each channel carries independent messages. Instru-
ments that can respond to multiple channels at once
are called multitimbral.
MIDI In: One of three common connectors found on
MIDI equipment. The In jack receives MIDI messages
from outside equipment.
MIDI Interface: A device that translates MIDI signals
from a digital piano or other electronic instrument
into a form that a computer can accept and vice versa.
MIDI Out: One of three common connectors found on
MIDI equipment. The Out jack carries MIDI messages
generated by the instrument.
MIDI Thru: One of three common connectors found
on MIDI equipment. The Thru jack passes on an exact
duplicate of the messages received by a device at its
MIDI IN connector, allowing other instruments or
sound modules to respond to the MIDI data.
Modulation: A technical word for “change.” In synths,
a modulator changes a pre-programmed value of a
parameter. Common modulators include modwheels,
envelopes, LFOs, keyboard velocity and aftertouch.
Monophonic: An inherent design or operating mode
of a synthesizer or sampler, in which only a single
note will sounds at a time no matter how many notes
are played. When a new note is played the previous
note is stopped.
Multitimbral: Any electronic instrument that can play
several parts at the same time, each under the
controll of different channel.
Multi-sample: The creation of several samples, each
covering a limited musical range, the idea being to
produce a more natural range of sounds across the
range of the instrument being sampled. For example,
a piano may need to be sampled every two or three
semitones in order to sound convincing.
Modulation Wheel: A controller used to control vib-
rato, tremolo, or other modulation effects.
Notch Filter: The opposite of the Bandpass Filter, it
attenuates the frequencies around the cutoff frequency.
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Pitchbend Wheel: A controller on an instrument that
raises or lowers the pitch of the sound playing.
Polyphony: The number of waveforms or oscillators a
synth can simultaneously play.
Preset/Program/Patch: Brand-dependent name of a
single programmed sound within a sound generating
or processing device that can be called up using
program change commands.
Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM): A common method
used in encoding, transmitting and storing digital data.
Pulse Wave: Non-symmetrical square wave, its shape
can be modified by pulse width modulation.
Pulse Width Modulation: A means for modulating the
duty cycle of a pulse wave. This changes the timbre
and the harmonic content of a basic tone.
Random Access Memory (RAM): the type of volatile
memory used in a device for the storage of user data.
RAM memory is cleared when the device is turned off.
Real-time: A realtime process is one that occurs while
you're recording or playing back without requiring you
to stop either action since it takes place in “real time.”
Release: In case of ADSR envelope release is the
time taken for a level or gain to return to normal.
Often used to describe the rate at which a sound
reduces in level after a key has been released.
Reverb: An effect in which the ambience of a physical
space is simulated – a signal is copied many times
and the copies are heard one after another at
decreasing levels so closely together that they are
not perceived as individual events.
Resonance: The characteristic of a filter that allows it
to selectively pass a narrow range of frequencies.
Sample: A digital recording of a sound. Most electronic
keyboards and digital pianos store numerous samples
of different instruments and sounds on memory chips
inside the keyboard and play them back when you de-
press a key. The process of obtaining these samples is
called sampling.
Sample Rate, Sampling Frequency: One of two main
specifications that describes digital audio quality (the
other is bit rate resolution). Sample rate refers to how
frequently incoming audio is sampled per second
during conversion from an analog to a digital signal.
E.g. CD players use a 44.1kHz sample rate – 44,100
samples per second.
Sampler: An instrument that digitally records audio
and able to play it back from a note generating con-
troller, like a keyboard, touch pad, etc. Samplers exist
in both hardware and software form.
Sampler Instruments: A sampler generated file which
includes the parameters (samples or multi-samples
locations, zones, group, envelope, filter settings, etc.)
of a sampled sound. Basically it is the sound itself
coming from the sampler.
Sawtooth Wave: A basic waveform, if graphically rep-
resented it looks like the teeth of saw. It contains
only even harmonics.
Sequencer: A device that records MIDI messages in
their order or sequence of playing and plays them back.
Sequencers come in three main formats: built-in
functions of electronic keyboards, stand-alone hard-
ware boxes, and dedicated computer programs.
Signal Flow: Route taken by a signal from the input to
a system to the output.
Sound Module: A device that contains sound gene-
rating circuitry but lacks a keyboard. The user plays
sound modules remotely from electronic keyboards
via MIDI. Also called a tone generator.
Square Wave: Symmetrical rectangular waveform,
contains a series of odd harmonics.
Standard MIDI File (SMF): An industry-standard file
format for sequencers with *.smf or *.mid extension.
By using a common format, musicians who have dif-
ferent computers or sequencers can share songs and
musical ideas.
Synthesizer: A musical instrument that can generate
audio waveforms electronically and modulate them
to create new audio waveforms.
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Sustain: Part of the ADSR envelope which deter-
mines the level to which the sound will settle if a key
is held down.
Timbre: The tonal color of a sound, which reflects its
harmonic content and envelope.
Transpose: The process of adjusting the pitch of a
note or an entire song by a musical interval.
Triangle Wave: Symmetrical triangular-shaped wave
containing odd harmonics only, buth with a lower
harmonic content than the square wave.
Unison: In convenetional sense: playing the same
melody using two or more different instruments or
voices. Today its definition is extended: the sound
generator (synthesizer, sampler) plays multiple voices
sligthly detuned compared to each other.
VCF: A voltage-controlled filter (VCF) is an electronic
filter whose operating characteristics can be
controlled by means of a control voltage applied to
one or more inputs.
VCA: A voltage-controlled amplifier is an electronic
amplifier that varies its gain over time.
Velocity: It means the speed at which you depress a
key. Also means the MIDI message that communi-
cates the keypress information and determines how
loudly or softly a sound will play.
Velocity-sensitive: A characteristic that means the
keyboard responds to a player's touch. For example,
with an acoustic piano, if you hit a key softly, the
sound is soft, and if you hit a key hard, the sound is
loud. Depending on the weight of the touch, the volu-
me level and timbre of the notes will vary.
Voice: The capacity of a synthesizer to play a single
musical note. An instrument capable of playing 32
simultaneous notes is said to be a 32 voice instrument.
Waveform: A two-dimensional graph of a signal,
showing changes in pressure (amplitude) as a func-
tion of time.
XG: An extension to the General MIDI standard,
defined by Yamaha and used in some of its newer
instruments and sound modules. XG adds new sound
banks with variations of General MIDI sounds (for
example, brighter versions of the same instruments)
and also standardizes some effect parameters.
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NOTES:
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