RADIKAL TECHNOLOGIES Spectralis, User Manual

Page 1: ...1 SPECTRALIS Spectralis...

Page 2: ...gn process for any of our new products continues even aftertheyarereleasedtothepublic Technicalchangesareimplementedatanytime withoutpriornotification ifwefeeltheyservetoimprovetheproduct Accordingto...

Page 3: ...complies with regulations for radio interference of electronic devices EMVG dated August 30th 1995 Thefollowingstandardshavebeenusedtodetermineconformity EN 50082 1 1992 EN 50081 1 1992 EN 60065 1993...

Page 4: ...andSmart MediaCards 18 2 3 11 Power connection 18 2 4 Explanations of basic terms 18 2 5Frontpaneloverview 21 2 5 1 Part button section 21 2 5 2 Num Button Assignment section 22 2 5 3 Sequence Edit se...

Page 5: ...ying the Analog synthesizer 45 3 3 1 Differences to other synthesizers 46 3 3 2 Let s go Getting familiar with the analog filters 47 3 3 3 Short excursion oscillators and envelopes 49 3 3 4 Back to an...

Page 6: ...ng chain 98 3 11 External synchronisation and metronome settings 100 3 11 1 External synchronisation 100 3 11 2 Metronome settings 100 3 12 Part activity monitoring 101 3 13 The arpeggiator 102 3 14 S...

Page 7: ...ender the warranty null and void Repair of non registered products or products with a lapsed warranty will be performed at customer s expense We stronglyrecommendedthatcustomersaskforanestimateofcosts...

Page 8: ...it only with the correct and sufficient power sources Positionthepower cordcarefully sonobodywillfalloverit Onlyuseundamagedandfullyfunctioningpower cords Turnyourunitoffandremovethepower cordbeforemo...

Page 9: ...tation and can handle complete music production jobs due to its sampling engine which comes with digital multimode filters What the Spectralis has to offer A pattern based 17 track sequencer with uniq...

Page 10: ...s connected to it Make sure to follow the instructions described in the rack setupinstructions 2 2 3 Firmware update WecurrentlyareworkingfullsteamonaddingmoreandmorefeaturestotheSpectralis firmware F...

Page 11: ...analog sounds and the analog filters we have are using the term analog synth on the frontpanel to create a clearer distinction between samplebased tone generation and the hybrid synth From here on in...

Page 12: ...naltomultipleMIDITHRUports 2 3 3 The USB port and storage media Using the USB port on your Spectralis you can easily exchangedatawithyourcomputer save your data Transfernewsamples dofirmwareupgrades T...

Page 13: ...can Ifyoudon tdoitdatawillnot be written completely In a worst case scenario incomplete data or interrupted data transfer can lead to data loss on your media III Avoid renaming files directly on the S...

Page 14: ...even when you have turned off the unit The clock is powered by a goldcap a special capacitor with a very big capacity However after around three months without any power the goldcap will not have eno...

Page 15: ...recalled inside the song chain editor or the pattern jam mode Patterns can easily be transfered with the computer by copying a pattern from one song folder to another But take care to not overwrite an...

Page 16: ...MB of your Flash Memory default spt Default pattern settings Thisfileisadefaultpattern Ifyoudeleteapatternorwhenyoustartyourpattern programmingwithanemptypattern thesound andmotif datawillbereadfrom...

Page 17: ...function is done please reboot the Spectralis 2 3 9 Switching the Sample Set file type from fix to dynamic loading At the Spectralis panel press and hold the Shift button and press Browse The filebrow...

Page 18: ...er which can be operated from 100 to 240 Volts and at 50 and 60 Hz This means the Spectralis will work just fine in other countries which may have differentvoltagethanyours You should unplug the power...

Page 19: ...bit to refer to any instrument with more than one filterasafilterbank Thiscanberatherconfusingfortheuser whichiswhywewould liketodescribewhatactuallyconstitutesafixedfilterbank Thereareveryfewmusical...

Page 20: ...20 SPECTRALIS 2 5 Frontpanel Overview...

Page 21: ...buttons For instance you can access the analog synth part by pushing numeric button 12 Mute The Mute button allows you to mute individual parts using the numeric buttons Once you ve muted one or more...

Page 22: ...available yet but will be available starting with firmware version 0 94 Transpose With the Transpose button you can transpose the pitch of a selected pattern Thepatternwillbeplayedinitsoriginalkeywhe...

Page 23: ...analog synth trigger note events for the DSP and the analog synth and can control external MIDI equipment 2 5 4 Groove Edit section in the middle of the panel directly above the encoders 1 16 In the g...

Page 24: ...sfrequencies above the highest bandpass pass through Usingencoder11 FBLevel youcanadjustthesum volumeofthefilterbankto theleveloftheoverallsignaloftheSpectralis Using encoder 12 FB FX1 und13 FB FX2 yo...

Page 25: ...end The FX1 Send and FX2 Send buttonsassignthecontrolovereffect intensityfor thetwoeffect processorstoencoders1 16 Encoders1 15controltheeffect intensity for the Parts 1 15 and encoder 16 for the subg...

Page 26: ...the analog synth which is why we ve also included a basic overview of this powerful synthesizer in a dedicated How to chapter on page 43 2 5 10 Transport section the section with the green button If...

Page 27: ...ges frequently encountered with traditionalpotentiometers Tomakesurethatyouwon tmissoutonreal potentiometer feeling these encoders have a high resolution and in most cases can cover the whole value ra...

Page 28: ...oder button Example Edit Thereareadditionalencoderfunctionsinthemenusforeditingofsounds Justpush the encoder button OSCWAVE in the oscillator section right after turning on the Spectralis Youwillseeth...

Page 29: ...e master volume of the Spectralis e You can now use one of the numeric buttons to start a pattern and can start raising thevolume SLOWLY Trytoavoidrunningyoursystemintheredallthe time evenifyoulikeyou...

Page 30: ...do next Push the Mute button in the part section next Now the Mute button will be lit while the Pattern Buttonlightisturnedoff Tip The buttons of the Num Button Assignment section and the buttons of...

Page 31: ...d individual sounds are too loud or soft Let s change that now First push the Volume button in the Mixer section Now adjust the levels corresponding to your taste using encoders 1 15 Additionally you...

Page 32: ...tisnecessaryforallsample based sounds to avoid unnecessary sample loading during your sound search But you can overcome this by simply hitting the page up and page down buttons for selecting and activ...

Page 33: ...save the changed pattern to a different slot than the one containing the originalpattern Confirmbypushing Song andyoushouldseethefollowingdisplay message Choose Pattern Number s and Save Havealookatth...

Page 34: ...s III Allmotifsused IV Themixersettings V The mute and solo settings of the pattern What s not saved ForanumberofreasonsthesamplesoftheDSP syntharenotbeingsavedwithin apattern Youwillhoweverreceiveawa...

Page 35: ...g NO willenablethePatterntochangeandyourchangeswillbelost YES If you confirm YES the changes are being saved into the active Pattern This is the equivalentofsavingapatternwiththeoption Current inthepr...

Page 36: ...sanymore Load Load providesthefollowingoptions Ask Thewarningmessageswillappearwhenatthesametime Save hasbeen set to Yes Ignore The alerts won t appear again regardless whether the write protection Sa...

Page 37: ...the numeric button 2 The Control elements have now been assigned to the snare drum 3 2 2 Selecting a sample or multisample for the sound The DSP based synthesizer for the drums and polyphonic synthesi...

Page 38: ...rconfirmation Init The Init functionallowstoinitializethesynthparameterstodefaultvalues 3 2 3 Tuning the sample set The standard pitch of the sample oscillator can be adjusted in the oscillator sectio...

Page 39: ...ckmodes Poly Standardpolyphonicplaymode Mono MonophonicPlaymode Uni2 8 Unisono2 4and8arethedifferentunisonoplaybackmodesthatcancreate very rhich sounds and flanging FX depending on the settings Unison...

Page 40: ...ar the changes of an envelope directly just start any pattern select the desired part as described above and solo it While solo ing is not necessary it makes it much easier to hear the full range of t...

Page 41: ...sed type of filter as it offers the most musical sound The reasonisthatwehaveatendencytofeelsoundsasbeing warm whentheystrongly emphasizethefundamental Thesoundsofcoursecanbeglisteninglybrightwhenthe...

Page 42: ...ndthefilterfrequency is already set to it s highest frequency the envelope will not affect the sound at all a For your first try use the 12dB LP button to activate the lowpass mode b Set the cutoff fr...

Page 43: ...reeencoders LFO WAVE MOD DEPTH and MOD RATE intheLFOsection allowsforeditingoftheseparametersdirectforbothLFOs Pushingtheseencoderbuttons opens up the menu for independent parameter tweaking of both L...

Page 44: ...erentmodulationsourcesfor the Cutoff Frequency the two LFO s aftertouch breath controller and the pitchbend wheel Are you may missing velocity and the modulation wheel in this dialog Don tworry thesev...

Page 45: ...ory SynBass and chose the sound Classc1 In case you can t find this sound or instead of the sound nameallyouseeis inyourdisplay itislikelythatthesoundbank Analogy SSB is notstored on the Spectralis fl...

Page 46: ...chwe dliketo pointoutrightatthestart toimprovethesuccess ratioforyourinitialprogramming efforts a Eachofthemodulesgeneratingasignalforsoundcreation oscillator noise has I it sownamplifierwithenvelope...

Page 47: ...oyourSpectralisandhaveitsettosendonMIDI channel 1 Now push the Part Select button and select part 12 Analog Synth Forthisexamplewearealsogoingfromtheassumptionthattheoriginalfactorypresets arestillpre...

Page 48: ...sized now but the funda mentalisgettinglouder Ifyouincreasetheresonancefurther thelowpassfilteralmosttakesonthecharacter of a bandpass filter emphasizing the range of the overtones around the cutoff f...

Page 49: ...d and start questioning the usefulness of this chapter you might want to re read the introduction to the chapter It ll take you to a smallSidebar 3 3 3Short Excursion oscillators and envelopes Corresp...

Page 50: ...continueeven after you release the key Turn the VCO EG Bypass button back to 0 We still want to have a look at versionII Push the OSC Wave button once again and use the Page Up button to select menu p...

Page 51: ...is being played Whichever waveform you are chosing they all will have a zero pass position If the waveform is started in the zero position of course you won t hear any click even if the attack is hard...

Page 52: ...ilter Otherwise we d obviously behearingtheighpass effectevenwhenthelowpassisclosed Themultimode filter is only sending its signal to the 24dB lowpass filter To clarify this even more we havecreatedad...

Page 53: ...choice appears to be the more sensible one as it requires fewer parameters to be edited to accomplish the goal and also because you stand to get a bettersignal noiseratiobysimplyremovingananalogfilte...

Page 54: ...etely open TIP Have you noticed that the EgAm encoder can also be set to a negative value Just imagine a mirror image of the envelope around the 0 level axis With the help of a negative value you will...

Page 55: ...s the modulation rate of the fourmaster LFO s Theencodersonthecontrolpanelalwayssimultaneouslyaffectall4 master LFO s When you are pushing the one of the encoders the corresponding parameters for all4...

Page 56: ...nuof thisLFO Whenpushingtheencoderthefollowingdisplaymessagewillappear 1 4 LFO1 Depth Control Envelope LEDl 0 LEAt 0 LERl 0 LEDp 0 LED 0 LFO Envelope Delay Hereyoucanadjustwhethertheuseoftheenvelopeis...

Page 57: ...ofthewaveform Asaresulttheamountofaparameterchange usingtheLFO swillbedifferentwitheachkeystroke Asaresultaselfoscillating LFO is a simple way to create lively sounds Pushthe LFO Wave Encodertoopenthe...

Page 58: ...canselectthemodulationsourceandadjustthemodulationintensity for twomodulationsources Src1 and Src2 Stand for Modulationsource 1 and 2 Dph1 and Dph2 Standformodulationintensityofthesourcesforthisparame...

Page 59: ...play Youshouldseethefollowingdisplay message 1 2 VCO1 Wave Shape 100 Pwm 1 Sync 0 3 Push the PWM encoder button in this menu You should now see the following alreadysomewhatfamiliardisplaymessage VCO1...

Page 60: ...Src1 None Dph 0 Src2 None Dph2 0 The resonance modulators page for the MM filter follows at page 5 7 LFO sections BynowyoushouldbesomewhatfamiliarwithsomekeydetailsoftheLFOs However we have notyet dis...

Page 61: ...ediatelywhenhittingakey athighervalues themodulationstartswithadelay FmEDa CutoffFrequencyModulationDepthEnvelopeAttackTime FmEDr CutoffFrequencyModulationDepthEnvelopeReleaseTime FmEDp CutoffFrequenc...

Page 62: ...veseeninthedescriptionofthemaster LFOs thesectionLFO scanalsobe usedformultiplemodulationtargetsatthesametime Thisisveryuseful whentwo or more parameters have to be modulated with the same frequency...

Page 63: ...ethefollowingdisplaymessage 7 8 LP FM Exp from LPFMX 0 LPFMX 0 LPFMX 0 LPFMX 227 You can now see the menu for setting the exponential filter frequency modulation The four parameters represent the modu...

Page 64: ...nce at around minus 100 Both oscillators should have at least slightly different frequencies This will generate modulation patterns which are considerablymorecomplexthanpureLFOwaveforms Youcannowmodif...

Page 65: ...ble sources for feedback both of the analog filters are resonating up to self oscillation something also referred to feedback It will be fairly easy to differentiate this noise source from routing fee...

Page 66: ...h the obligatory attack decay sustain and release parameters FBBP This is the previously mentioned bypass control which allows you to pass the filterbanksignalthroughanadditionalenvelopecontrolledampl...

Page 67: ...st filterVCA and VCF envelopesofbothanalogfiltersaredistributedonfourparameter pages AsanadditiontotheenvelopeeditpagesintheVCO fixedfilterbankandVCFsections wehavecreatedduplicatesforallvolume envelo...

Page 68: ...igitalkeycontrolanadditionalnoteprioritybecamepopular the so called last note priority Now the pitch of a note wasn t the decisive factor in pitch determination but the last note played With the intro...

Page 69: ...artheresultifyouchangethesettingsthere Pleasekeepinmindthatyoucan save the settings for note priority and triggersetting for each separate sound When you arechoosingadifferentsound theoriginalsettings...

Page 70: ...s to 0 VII As a final step in your preparations set the bypass parameter FBBP at the this menu page of the filterbank menu to a value of 255 We will now use the step sequencer to automate the gain con...

Page 71: ...rameters After such change the following trigger steps willusethenewvalues You may now chose different sequencer lines anywhere from 1 10 and use the above describedmethodtosetdifferentstep envelopesf...

Page 72: ...0 The page you have reached allows the activating deactivating of already defined triggerpointsinasequence Youwillnowseetheindicatorlightsmovingcorrespondingtothesequenceposition and you can turn indi...

Page 73: ...numeric button 1 Trig Using the Mute function You can access the Mute function by holding down the Function button and simultaneouslyselectingnumeric button4 Mute Onceyou veaccessedthefunction you ll...

Page 74: ...Sequence edit menu all you have to do is push the Tempo Shuttle Button Addingafiltermodulation Bynowyoushouldbefamiliarwithanumberofoptionsforcontrollingthesettingsof the step sequencer Still our lit...

Page 75: ...pearmorelively becausestepsarenotnecessarilybeing triggeredeverytimeduringeachsequence Glide Theparameter glide isbeingusedtodetermineifanote glides tothenextnoteor if the next note pitch is reached d...

Page 76: ...ayalreadyhavenoticedalittlearrowpointingupwardsin frontoftheentries Pitch Length and Velocity Thisarrowindicates thatthere is an additional menu page which you can access by pushing the according enco...

Page 77: ...whichyouwantto assignthenewlength to Using the encoderbutton SET ALL youcanassignthenewvaluetoallnotesatthe sametime Changing the velocity Onmenupage4 4youwillfindthemenuforchangingvelocityofallsteps...

Page 78: ...ep hold it down and play the desired note on your connected MIDI keyboard 3 5 6 Line rotation In chapter 4 13 3 we already have explained many basic functions such as change of direction skip resoluti...

Page 79: ...IDI control tracks have no envelopes Most of the demo patterns in the Spectralis RAM already have presetstep sequencertargets ThesedatebacktotheearlydesignphaseoftheSpectralis when targets still remai...

Page 80: ...connected MIDI keyboard won t be transmitted to the Hybrid Synth but to the selectedMIDIinstrument Thisallowsyoutohearimmediatelyhowthesequencer linewillsoundontheselectedMIDIchannel Tip Please make s...

Page 81: ...trolledbystandard MIDIcontrollers onlytheirlevel envelopesarebeingtriggered Youmightaskyourself why we re going into such detail to describe this subject Basically most of it sounds likenormalMIDImult...

Page 82: ...houldnowbeable toplayvarioussoundsbyselectingthetriggergroups 3 7 2 The definition of triggergroups The definition of the trigger groups is rather simple Select Part Select and hold downthenumericbutt...

Page 83: ...nk allow for routing of the output signal not only to an output but also additionally into the effect section This means you can even add some effect to the three parts separately from each other use...

Page 84: ...with thesettingsafterwards Ifyouhitastepnumber thatalreadyisactivatedwithadiffe rentparametersetting thestepgetsupdatedwiththenewvalues Ifyouhitanalready activatedstepwithasimilarparametersettingagai...

Page 85: ...tcornerofthedisplay Thetempo shuttleencoder togglesbetweentempocontrolandsegmentshiftingbypushingtheencoderbutton Skip function The third page of the sequence menu assigns the skip function to the num...

Page 86: ...ute FBV 390 Hz Stp 01 16 Seq L03 Len 17 3 8 2 Triggerpoint muting and overwriting Menupage7isanotherdialogweaddedforimprovingtheworkflowalittlebit This menuallowsyoutomute unmutetriggerpointsandtoente...

Page 87: ...chedfromthefirstandtheseventhmenupage ofthesequenceeditmenu Selectthesequencemenubyhitting Function andselectthe 1storthe7thmenupage Youshouldseethefollowingmenu 1 7 Fnc TrigMod FBV 390Hz Stp 01 16 Se...

Page 88: ...e following functions S 01 Use the first encoder to chose the song in which you want to select a motif P 01 Use the second encoder to select one of the patterns 1 32 from which a motif is to be extrac...

Page 89: ...change Motif for Part Kick S01 01 P 01 M Kick EDIT Up to now we have not discussed the Edit command in the motif menu By pressing the Edit encoderbutton theeditmenuwillappearinthedisplay Thiseditmenua...

Page 90: ...he song from which one wants to load a drum groove into the current pattern P Pattern Selection Thesecondencoderselectsthedrum groovecorrespondingtothepatternnumber you are selecting The selection mus...

Page 91: ...mple arms the DSP synth part 1 III SelectthePattern modewiththe Pattern buttoninthenum buttonassignment section IV Access Record menu by pushing the Rec button Thefollowingrecord modeselectiondialogwi...

Page 92: ...efollowingdisplaymessage Keep Recorded Events Replace DISCARD REPLACE Replacesanalreadyexistingmotifwiththenewquantizedrecording DISCARD Discards your most recent recording and reverts to the previous...

Page 93: ...sform Push Transform then the Play button to listen back to your pattern 3 9 8 Chord Record recording independent note and rhythm input May we will find a better name for this special recording mode i...

Page 94: ...u will hear the metronome and you now canrecordtherhythmicpatternforthechord memoriesusingyourkeyboardorthe Spectralis Mini Keyboard again Itdoesnotmatterwhichkeysyounowareplaying only therhythmicpatt...

Page 95: ...reached with the Tempo Shuttle Encoder Now let s get started First select an empty song and within the song an empty pattern Next push the Step Accent button in the Groove Edit section You will see th...

Page 96: ...happy with the result of the velocity control it could be the result of you not having activated velocity control for your selected sound or you may have it set to a very low value Access the correspo...

Page 97: ...16 with and without holding down the Shift button Allpatternsmustbe placed into these songfolders If you want to use a pattern from another song just copy this pattern from the other song to the compu...

Page 98: ...edited patterns in case they they are in use inside the songchain 3 10 3 Editing a song chain Editingasong chainisveryeasyandcanalsobedoneontheflywithoutstoppingthe sequencer Select Song insidethenum...

Page 99: ...imes you want to truncate the end of an pattern in order to jump to the next songstep earlier than after a completed pattern The End truncate function allows to truncate the end of an pattern in steps...

Page 100: ...xternalMIDIgearcapableofsendingMIDI Realtime messages Please press and hold the Shift button and push the Tempo Shuttle rotaryencoderbuttontoopenthefollowingdisplaymenu 1 2 Metronome Sync Settings Cou...

Page 101: ...itorisstraightforward Justselectthe patternmode by hitting Pattern and press and hold Shift and push the volume buttoninthemixingdesksection Nowthepartnumberbuttonsshouldflashcorresponding tothemotifs...

Page 102: ...ore the Arpeggiator a little bit Select a part you want to arpeggiate select a cool sound for the arpeggiator and enter the edit menu by pressing Arpeggiator Now you can activate the arpeggiator and e...

Page 103: ...ote velocities one has played on the keyboard AsPlayed If AsPl is selected rotating the encoder does not hing But if one presses the encoderbutton the display will change from AsPl to a value between...

Page 104: ...parameter will control the playback of arpeggiator notes in case that one has pressed more notes than the length of the arpeggio settings allows to play The arpeggiator will then play a different mot...

Page 105: ...ttern 15 of the factory presets Are younoticinganything ThispatterncontainsaDSP partwithaplayedchordmotif whichhasbeenprocessedrhythmicallywithbythefilterbankandthestep sequencer You can hear the effe...

Page 106: ...route the chord motif into the low pass filter Doesn t that sound cool 3 14 2 Routing external signals to the analog synth The Spectralis has two external signal inputs which can be routed to the sou...

Page 107: ...e example of a kick drum In the Mixer section chose the Volume button Next push the encoder button 1 Kick This will open the channel strip for the Kick Drum Part 1 4 S01 Song 01 P15 Chords Part01 Vol...

Page 108: ...on should ensure that all yoursoundbankswillfitinflashrom WewillbepostingnewsoundsregularlyontheSpectralisUserWebpage Ifyouwishto useoneofthesesoundbanksinyourSpectralis justdownloadthebanktoyourcompu...

Page 109: ...sagewilllook likethis Select Memory Location and press SAVE C A Synth S F SNDBANK C category Using the rotary encoder you can selecte a main category from a list This main category can only be selecte...

Page 110: ...t sound storage Of course you can also leave the save menu by pushing EXIT 3 15 2Creating a new soundbank If you wish to create a new soundbank proceed exactly as before Use the SAVE button to prompt...

Page 111: ...d the LFO section are being recombined into a brand new sound using various randomly selected sound components Judging by our own experiments this process almost always results in new interesting ofte...

Page 112: ...stemisalsonicetokeepthesamplenamesshort Most of the information about an sample is already specified in the category and subcategory The sample name itself can give additional info Just imagine you ha...

Page 113: ...unction Refer to the DSP Synth Editing section of this manual to create newsoundswiththenewsample instruments 3 18 Controlling external MIDI gear Wealreadycoveredtheassignmentofindividualstepsequencer...

Page 114: ...ernal MIDI instrument After selecting a MIDI channel number you will notice another softbutton in the display MIDI Redirekt for Part DSyn1 MDef MIDIDEF The MIDIDEF encoderbutton allows you to call up...

Page 115: ...to undefined indicated by a crossed line Alternatively the MIDI definitions can be set up in a dedicated menu inside the song edit section as well Pushing the Song Select button opens an editpage Thi...

Page 116: ...ress the encoder button underneath FbQ Thiswillopenthefollowingmessage Filterbank Q adjust see FILTERBANK 5 Now you already know that FbQ controls the Q factor of the fixed filterbank filters Butyouma...

Page 117: ...ying withyournewInstrument Wewilldefinitelycontinuetoupdatethismanualandto expandthe Howto section Ofcoursetherewillalsobeafull referencemanual availablefortheSpectralisbeforelong whichwillhavemoredet...