Native Instruments Monark, Manual

Page 1: ...Manual ...

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Page 3: ...he Str 29 30 D 10997 Berlin Germany www native instruments de USA Native Instruments North America Inc 6725 Sunset Boulevard 5th Floor Los Angeles CA 90028 USA www native instruments com Native Instruments GmbH 2012 All rights reserved Contact ...

Page 4: ... from the Header 15 4 3 Saving a Snapshot 15 4 4 Selecting MONARK A and B Panel Views 16 5 Overview of MONARK Ensemble 18 5 1 Overview of Signal Flow 19 5 2 View A Overview of MONARK User Interface 20 5 2 1 OSCILLATORS Section 21 5 2 2 MIXER Section 24 5 2 3 FILTER AMP Section 27 5 2 4 CONTROL Section 34 5 3 View B Overview of MONARK User Interface 38 5 3 1 GENERAL Section 40 5 3 2 KEYBOARD Sectio...

Page 5: ...5 3 6 FILTER Section 47 5 3 7 GLOBAL Section 47 6 Credits 49 Table of Contents MONARK Manual 5 ...

Page 6: ...ad the corresponding note carefully and follow the instructions and hints given there if applicable This light bulb icon indicates that a note contains useful extra information This informa tion 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 us...

Page 7: ... Results of actions are introduced by this smaller arrow Welcome to MONARK Basic Information MONARK Manual 7 ...

Page 8: ...em as being crucial to the character of analog synthesizers MONARK puts special focus on a single analog voice with maximum impact a clear layout and smooth controls providing ac cess to three oscillators a warm and potent filter a feedback path and envelopes with lots of attitude MONARK is a tribute to analog subtractive synthesis and brings all these qualities to REAKTOR What is MONARK MONARK Ma...

Page 9: ... 2 Activating MONARK When installation is finished start the Service Center application which was installed with MONARK It will connect your computer to the Internet and activate your MONARK installa tion In order to activate your copy of MONARK you have to perform the following steps within the Service Center Log in Enter your Native Instruments user account name and password on the initial page ...

Page 10: ...all available updates for your installed prod ucts Please make sure that you always use the latest version of your Native Instruments prod ucts to ensure they function correctly Downloading updates is optional After activation is complete you can always quit the Service Center Installation and Activation Activating MONARK MONARK Manual 10 ...

Page 11: ...atest information on REAKTOR PLAYER files and using Snapshots please refer to the REAKTOR Getting Started Guide 4 1 How to Open MONARK This is how to open MONARK 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 y...

Page 12: ...MONARK folder The content of the folder will be displayed in the lower section of the Browser 4 Double click the MONARK ens file or drag it into the main screen How to Use MONARK How to Open MONARK MONARK Manual 12 ...

Page 13: ... or 96 KHz for optimal sound quality For more information on how to change the REAKTOR audio settings please refer to the REAKTOR documentation available from the Help menu 4 2 Exploring Factory set Snapshots Play some notes on your MIDI keyboard to get an idea of how the ensemble sounds Please refer to the REAKTOR manual for details on configuring your Audio and MIDI set tings Now let s change th...

Page 14: ...nt to a specific value and re create a particular sound The Snapshots of MONARK are accessible from the central control in REAKTOR PLAYER s Header Main bar or from the Sidepane MONARK interface with Snapshot list in the Sidepane 1 Sidepane button 2 Snapshot drop down menu 3 Snapshot Banks 4 Snapshots How to Use MONARK Exploring Factory set Snapshots MONARK Manual 14 ...

Page 15: ...er is the sim plest way to interact with Snapshots 1 Click the Snapshot drop down menu 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 set tings will be recalled perfectly in a host if you are using REAKTOR PLAYER so you can tweak a sound perfectly for ...

Page 16: ...e A and B buttons in the Instrument Header or by right clicking on the Instrument Panel and clicking on the View A or View B menu entry The View A and View B buttons in the Instrument Header are labeled on the far left hand side with an A and B respectively The Instrument Panel View buttons View A MONARK View A How to Use MONARK Selecting MONARK A and B Panel Views MONARK Manual 16 ...

Page 17: ...View B MONARK View B How to Use MONARK Selecting MONARK A and B Panel Views MONARK Manual 17 ...

Page 18: ... glide types available and many options to adjust the keyboard settings View A and View B Panels MONARK s user interface is distributed over the View A and View B panels The two panel views offer different levels of interaction You ll find the synthesizer controls in View A of the instrument View B on the other hand provides access to fine tuning parameters that allow you to tailor MONARK to your ...

Page 19: ...44 1 48 kHz extreme settings may cause aliasing which will be come noticeable Alternatively using MONARK with a higher sample rate than 88 2 96 kHz has no benefits For more information on how to change the REAKTOR audio settings please refer to the REAKTOR documentation available from the Help menu 5 1 Overview of Signal Flow Signal flow in MONARK Overview of MONARK Ensemble Overview of Signal Flo...

Page 20: ...erview of MONARK user interface 1 OSCILLATORS section this section contains three oscillators these are the synth s sound generators The third oscillator can also be used as a source for modulation of the pitch and filter cutoff See 5 2 1 OSCILLATORS Section for more information 2 MIXER section use this section to balance the volume level of each oscillator the feed back and the noise source See 5...

Page 21: ...ry narrow pulse Each waveform of each oscillator has been independently tuned for the most authentic an alog results and so all triangles for example produce slightly different overtones The base octave tuning of each oscillator can be set over 5 octaves with the RANGE selector and to a special LO mode that puts the oscillator into a frequency range far below what would usually be perceived as mus...

Page 22: ...h you can create pulse width modulation by combining it with a sawtooth of any of the remaining two oscillators Set the oscillators to the same range and make sure that they have an equal output level If you detune the oscillators slightly you get a result similar to pulse width modulation The output of an analog synthesizer sometimes contains signals that shouldn t be there con trary to the signa...

Page 23: ...tops The LO setting puts the oscillator into a sub audio range 2 MOD The modulation switch activates oscillator pitch modulation for all oscillators If key tracking for OSCILLATOR 3 is set to off it is not affected by the modulation 3 FREQUENCY Change the pitch of OSCILLATOR 2 and 3 a total of 7 5 to 7 5 semitones Overview of MONARK Ensemble View A Overview of MONARK User Interface MONARK Manual 2...

Page 24: ...which the oscillator FREQUENCY knob changes OSCILLATOR 3 s fre quency is increased 5 2 2 MIXER Section The MIXER section of MONARK combines the output of the oscillators and adds the NOISE source to the signal Each sound source in the mixer has a dedicated on off switch and volume control The audio output of the mixer is routed to the filter In addition it s possible increase the signal to the fil...

Page 25: ...Mixer signal flow diagram Overview of MONARK Ensemble View A Overview of MONARK User Interface MONARK Manual 25 ...

Page 26: ...n switched on the output of the sound source can be heard in the mas ter output This does not deactivate the sound source but only mutes it Due to the very accurate modeling of this synthesizer an audio signal filter leakage in this case may still be heard even when all sound sources are switched off To control this leakage please refer to 5 3 5 OSCILLATORS Section Overview of MONARK Ensemble View...

Page 27: ...w pass filter that made music history All of MONARK s filter types are derived from this ladder structure and were carefully fine tuned to offer high quality over the full frequency range The filters allow for beautiful and potent resonance up to self oscillation like you d expect to get from a fully ana log synthesizer There are four filter types available MM 24 dB Octave Low pass LP2 12 dB Octav...

Page 28: ...ere are a lot of subtleties in the balance of input signal and the resonating filter worth exploring Filter Modulation The filter provides the most interesting results of course when the cutoff frequency is not static but in some way evolving during a performance or sequenced playback MONARK offers a few ways to achieve that Filter cutoff modulation by the filter envelope Filter cutoff from key tr...

Page 29: ...ith a short attack and long release times MONARK s en velopes will keep building on top of themselves and actually keep rising So notes played quickly in succession get more and more accentuated You can either increase the attack or decrease the release time to avoid this behavior To allow more flexibility the filter section was extended with a polarity switch to allow for nega tive filter cutoff ...

Page 30: ...ey tracking K T 1 off K T 2 on 2 3 key tracking K T 1 off K T 2 off No key tracking The keyboard pitch does not affect the filter fre quency With full key tracking the filter can be played like an additional oscillator Use full key tracking if you want to play the self oscillating filter or to give the noise a defined pitch with a resonating filter Amplifier In the final amplifier stage another AD...

Page 31: ... filter resonance emphasizes the harmonics the overtones around the cutoff frequency of the filter Now there s a simple and beautiful phenomenon that has been exciting crowds over decades As a matter of fact even human language is based on the emphasis of overtones so there is a strong relationship to human nature indeed So how does this relate to the FEEDBACK parameter Well filter resonance is ac...

Page 32: ...rue to much of the classic analog gear where minute differences in parameter settings can make dramatic changes to the sound with the energy stabilizing on a new level or unpredictably wandering between different states A lot of focus was put onto capturing this kind of behavior with MONARK View A FILTER AMP section FILTER AMP Parameters FILTER section 1 Filter switch Selects the filter type Avail...

Page 33: ...ion of the attack phase of the filter envelope ranging from a few milliseconds to a few seconds 10 DECAY Sets the duration of the decay phase of the filter envelope ranging from a few milliseconds to a few seconds 11 SUSTAIN Sets the target level of the filter envelope generator during its decay 12 REL Sets the duration of the release time of the filter envelope The release time can ei ther be a f...

Page 34: ...lators and the pitch bend Also the control for the glide resides in the CONTROL section Please see the pitch and modulation signal flow diagram for details of how the pitch signal differs for oscillator and filter key tracking CONTROL section diagram Glide The glide in MONARK can either be active ALWAYS only when playing LEGATO style by hav ing notes overlap or turned OFF There are two types of gl...

Page 35: ...tion wheel It affects the modulation of both destinations simultaneously Please see 5 3 4 MOD WHEEL Section for Modulation wheel fine tuning options in View B The modulation signal is generated by a combination of the output signal of OSCILLATOR 3 and the noise generator The ratio can be adjusted by the MIX knob The OSCILLATOR 3 component of the composed modulation signal is the direct output of O...

Page 36: ...and deactivate the key tracking K T for OSCILLATOR 3 The vibrato speed can now be dialed in with the FREQUEN CY knob the triangle waveform is normally a good choice for vibrato With filter pitch modula tion this setting might also satisfy your wobble needs The ranges of OSCILLATOR 3 s FREQUENCY knob in this vibrato setting can be set globally for the instrument not per Snapshot in View B see 5 3 5...

Page 37: ... s RANGE selector to make an even stronger FX sound What you re hearing by the way is not aliasing but some kind of inter modulation distortion CONTROL Parameters View A CONTROL section TUNING section 1 OCTAVE Sets the overall octave tuning of the instrument in a range of 2 octaves The OCTAVE parameter is useful when working with a MIDI controller that has a small keyboard range Overview of MONARK...

Page 38: ...on wheel Controls the amount of filter and oscillator pitch modulation simultane ously from OSCILLATOR 3 or NOISE As the modulation wheel is moved upward modulation is increasingly applied to the pitch of the sound and filter cutoff frequency if the MOD switches are activated in the OSCILLATORS or FILTER AMP sections See MOD in 5 2 1 OSCILLA TORS Section section and 5 2 3 FILTER AMP Section for mo...

Page 39: ...MOD WHEEL This section allows fine tuning of curve and range of the modulation wheel See 5 3 4 MOD WHEEL Section for more information 5 OSCILLATORS This section allows fine tuning of oscillator key tracking detuning and the frequency range of OSCILLATOR 3 See 5 3 5 OSCILLATORS Section for more information 6 FILTER The section allows fine tuning of the filter settings See 5 3 6 FILTER Section for m...

Page 40: ...be isolated from the Snapshot selection with the Ignore Snapshot Change button If this is activated Snapshot changes do not affect the Setting switch Instead the setting switch is put into a user definable state While the position of the settings switch is stored with the Snapshot all changes in the ed it section are instrument wide and affect each and every Snapshot 2 Ignore Snapshot Change This ...

Page 41: ... parameter setting for the selected settings slot Each of the three setting slots has its individual default setting 5 3 2 KEYBOARD Section The KEYBOARD section allows detailed setting of the keyboard behavior Since MONARK is a monophonic instrument the LEGATO section decides how overlapping notes are handled which note should be played and when envelopes should be triggered GLIDE RAMP covers the ...

Page 42: ...makes a huge difference All three modes have in common that as soon as you let go of a key generate a MIDI Note Off while at least one key is still pressed the current keyboard state and the note priority is reevaluated and the pitch will change accordingly 2 ENV RETRIG The envelope retrigger section determines the envelope behavior when two or more notes overlap and the note priority evaluation s...

Page 43: ...op of the sequence View B LEGATO display 3 GLIDE RAMP This section determines the glide behavior during the release phase of the envelope Assume you have a sound with a long release time and you glide between two notes and right in the middle of the gliding you let go of all notes This of course results in the envelope enter ing the release phase There are basically two things that can happen and ...

Page 44: ...e can be set between 5 and 9 semitones At its center position the RANGE selector sets the pitch bend to 7 semitones The RANGE selector al lows you to increase decrease that range by 2 semitones 5 3 4 MOD WHEEL Section This section allows fine tuning of curve and range of the modulation wheel There are two iden tical sets of controls for two different applications of modulation by OSCILLATOR 3 The ...

Page 45: ...depth 3 LO to CUTOFF Allows you to fine tune the maximum filter pitch modulation depth 32 16 8 4 2 section Audio rate modulation with significant consequences for the spectral content of the sound 4 32 16 8 4 2 CURVE Adjusting the curve parameter allows you to bend the shape of the modulation wheel e g to get a finer resolution from your modulation wheel controller around its center Use the displa...

Page 46: ... ideal key tracking Each oscillator has individual key tracking Playing two or more oscillators therefore gives the impression MONARK is getting ever so slightly out of tune over the whole keyboard range which results in oscillator beating 2 OCTAVE DETUNING For authenticity each oscillator s RANGE selector adds imperfection to the oscillators octave tuning Since this may be unwanted this can be re...

Page 47: ... mode when the RANGE selector is set to LO and when the key tracking for OSCILLATOR 3 is off The MIN and MAX knobs allow you to fine tune the range of the FREQUENCY tune knob of OSCILLATOR 3 5 3 6 FILTER Section Selects between an authentic MM or a more balanced resonance shaping with the resonance evenly distributed around the whole parameter range View B FILTER section 5 3 7 GLOBAL Section This ...

Page 48: ...tion and 5 2 3 FILTER AMP Section sections for details 2 DRIFT AMOUNT This parameter controls the drifting of the three oscillators as well as the filter frequency see 5 2 1 OSCILLATORS Section and 5 2 3 FILTER AMP Section sec tions for details Overview of MONARK Ensemble View B Overview of MONARK User Interface MONARK Manual 48 ...

Page 49: ...d Design Jamil Samad Robert Linke Mike Daliot Maximilian Zagler Angelos Liaros An tonio de Spirt Thanos Kazakos Justin Myracks Daniel Vester Tommaso De Donatis Noise factory Nori Ubukata Tasmodia Summa Matthias Fuchs Artemiy Pavlov Jeremy Janzen Uwe G Hoenig John Cohen Kevin Lamb Hecq Manual Maximilian Zagler David Gover and Mike Daliot Credits MONARK Manual 49 ...