Waldorf rocket, User Manual

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Page 2: ... instrument If you do decide to read the following manual we can prom ise you a lot of fun while reading it and especially afterwards working with the Waldorf Rocket Your Waldorf team Hint Waldorf Music is not liable for any erroneous information contained in this manual The contents of this manual may be updated at any time without prior notice We made every effort to ensure the information herei...

Page 3: ...el Hartmann Manual Layout Holger Steinbrink Revision 1 0 February 2013 w Please visit our website http rocket waldorfmusic de It is possible a newer operating system is available as a download for your Rocket We would like to thank Karsten Dubsch Willie Eckl Joachim Flor Michael von Garnier Erik Heirman Frédéric Meslin Kurt Lu Wangard 吴海彬 and anyone we have forgotten ...

Page 4: ...nes 9 Suitable Operating Conditions 9 Power Supply 9 Operation 9 Maintenance 10 Proper Use 10 Setup and Connection 11 Package Contents 11 Connections 11 The USB Connection 13 Basic Operation 14 Switching on off 14 System Volume 14 Where are the Presets 14 Editing Parameters 14 The Launch Button 14 Sound Parameters 15 Overview of Functions 15 Oscillator Section 15 VCF Filter Section 18 Envelope Sec...

Page 5: ...tion 29 Appendix 31 Updating the Firmware 31 Issues during Firmware Upgrade Process 32 Filter Calibration 32 Technical Data 33 MIDI Controller Numbers 34 Glossary 36 Declaration of Conformity 41 FCC Information U S A 43 Canada 43 Other Standards Rest of World 43 Product Warranty 44 Product Support 44 ...

Page 6: ...nnections Rocket User s Manual 6 Control Features and Connections Front Panel a Headphone Volume Dial b Oscillator Controls c Filter Controls d Launch Button MIDI Input Indicator e LFO Arpeggiator Controls f Envelope Controls ...

Page 7: ...t User s Manual Connections A MIDI Out Jack B MIDI Channel Selection Button C MIDI In Jack D USB Port for power supply and connection to a suited computer E Audio Line Output Mono Jack 6 VCF Audio Line Input Mono Jack 7 Stereo Headphone Jack ...

Page 8: ... terms are highlighted in bold letters Symbols m Caution The comments that follow this symbol will help you avoid errors and malfunctions w Info Additional information on a given topic Instruction Follow these guidelines to execute a desired function Example Real world examples to try out Highlighted Control Features and Parameters All of the Rocket s buttons controls and parameters are highlighte...

Page 9: ...urces such as radiators Do not expose the device to direct sunlight even if you have a suitable sunscreen Do not expose the device to extreme vibrations Power Supply If not connected to a computer via USB please use only the supplied USB power supply Unplug the device when you are not using it for longer periods Always pull the plug when unplugging the device never the cable Operation Never place ...

Page 10: ...er use alcohol cleaning solutions or similar chemicals They will damage the surface of the chas sis Proper Use This device is designed exclusively to produce low frequency audio signals for the purpose of generating sound Any other use is prohibited and voids the warran ty extended by Waldorf Music Waldorf Music is not liable for damages due to incorrect use m Do not leave your Rocket near childre...

Page 11: ...ansport Connections In order to get started with your Rocket you will need an AC power outlet or a suitable computer with an USB port For the connection of the audio output you will need either a mixing console or an audio interface You can also use a suitable headphone Last but not least you will mostl likely need a MIDI master keyboard You can also use a computer or hardware sequencer to make us...

Page 12: ...e and finally the amplifier or acti ve monitor speakers w To check the correct reception of MIDI data send any MIDI event to the Rocket the Launch button LED b will light up on any incoming MIDI mes sage If this is not the case please check the MIDI connection to the Rocket By default the Rocket will receive MIDI data on MIDI channel 1 w If you do not choose to connect a mixing console you can pat...

Page 13: ...et allows Power supply via USB without using an additional power supply when connected to a suitable compu ter Power supply via the USB power supply transmitting and receiving MIDI data dumping of firmware updates to the Rocket data exchange with suitable computer software w Make sure to use a suited computer USB port as well as a USB suited cable to avoid problems with data transmission w Keep al...

Page 14: ...ers In order to edit a sound you must access the appropriate parameters In spite of the Rocket s compactness it uses a sophisticated user interface allowing fast editing of any parameter Turning a dial clockwise increases the corresponding value turning it counterclockwise decreases it Unbe lievable Switching a switch does exactly switch this switch Keep in mind that some switches offers more than...

Page 15: ...scillator It produces square and sawtooth waves The Filter then shapes the sound by amplifying boosting or attenuating dampening certain fre quencies The Amplifier is located at the end of the signal chain It setss the overall volume of the signal and can add some saturation Modulators The Modulators are designed to manipu late or modulate the sound generating components to add dynamics to the sou...

Page 16: ...i ty to quite short values Within the range from center position to rightmost you can add up to eight sawtooth waves This feature is for fat poly saw cluster sounds If Pulse is selected From leftmost to center position the pulsewidth can be adjusted from 0 to 50 No te that a pulswidth of zero results in silence which can be useful if you want to use the audio input A pulsewidth of 50 is also known...

Page 17: ...nd filters are missing but it allows you to play chords nevertheless If Pulse is selected Within the range from leftmost to center position you can control the detune of the pulse oscillator in cents Within the range of center position to rightmost you can control the pitch of the pulse oscillator in a musical range w Pitch Bend uses a value range of 12 semitones Glide Glide or Portamento describe...

Page 18: ...sion like sounds The HP Highpass is useful to thin out a sound s bass frequencies It cuts frequencies below the cutoff point Keytrack Off 50 100 Sets how much the cutoff frequency de pends on the MIDI note number The reference note for Keytrack is C3 note number 60 Cutoff Cutoff the frequency for the lowpass and highpass filter type and the center frequency for the band pass When the lowpass type ...

Page 19: ...ount Sets the amount of influence the envelope has on the cutoff frequency For higher settings the filter cutoff frequency is increased by the modulation of the envelope Use this parameter to change the timbre of the sound over time Sounds with a hard attack usually have a envelope amount that makes the start phase bright and then closes the filter to get a darker sustain phase By the way the enve...

Page 20: ...ance Sustain on off If Sustain is set to on the envelope will remain at the maximum level as long as the note is played Otherwise it will fade towards zero with a rate according to Decay Release on off If Release is set to on the envelope will fade to zero using the Decay rate when the note is stopped Otherwise the envelope stops with a decay rate of zero which results in immediate silence Decay D...

Page 21: ...o ming MIDI chords into its single notes and repeats them rhythmically w Hint The Modulation Wheel of your MIDI master keyboard can be used to control the vibrato inten sity with an additional internal LFO You can change the speed of this LFO by using MIDI CC 80 The Target Switch OSC VCF ARP Sets the modulation destination for the LFO Also activates the Arpeggiator OSC selects oscillator pitch as ...

Page 22: ...ones When ARP mode is active you can set the range of notes in octaves with settings from leftmost to center position You can select up to 4 octaves When it is set to 1 Octa ve the note list will be played back in the same octave as original Higher settings mean that the note list is repeated in higher or lower octaves From center to rightmost position eight rhythmic patterns can be selected The S...

Page 23: ...ing on whether LFO or Arpeggiator is active In LFO mode Speed sets the frequency of the LFO At low settings it might take several minutes for the LFO to perform a complete cycle while higher settings are up to the audible range from 0 05 Hz to 50 Hz The center position is about 1 Hz When MIDI clock is received you can adjust Speed in musical values e g 1 4 in reference to the frequency w When Spee...

Page 24: ...ta to a connected computer Here you can record this data with a suitable software e g a sequencer application Activation of the sound dump function To send the data press and hold the Launch button for around one second The corresponding MIDI controller data will automa tically be sent and can be easily recorded w If you are working with the Rocket in a recording studio we recommend to save the ac...

Page 25: ...nted into his synthesizer were the still well known waveforms sawtooth and square For sure this is only a minimal selection of the endless variety of wave forms but the Waldorf Rocket gives you exactly these waveforms at hand Now you probably know how these waveforms look and sound but the following chapter gives you a short intro duction into the deeper structure of these waveforms The Sawtooth W...

Page 26: ...The lips are moved by the air to a certain extent and abruptly move back to their original position The Square Wave The Square Wave is a pulse waveform with 50 pulse width This means that the positive part of the waveform has the same length as the negative part The pulse wave form can have other pulse widths as you will read later For now we ll talk about the square wave as a unique waveform The ...

Page 27: ...e changed in real time This is done by changing the width of the upper and lower portion of the waveform cycle These portions are called pulses hence the name pulse width The width of the first pulse is used to distinguish between different pulse waves and it is measured in percent The following picture shows sever al pulse waves with different pulse widths 0 12 3 415 657812 3 9 2 5 1 0 12 3 2 5 1...

Page 28: ...n pulse creates a spectrum that has all har monics with equal magnitudes In a digital synthesizer infinitely necessarily means one sample The pulse wave is an artificial wave which means that it doesn t occur in nature It was built into synthesizers because it can create a lot of different timbres with a minimum of technical effort However certain pulse widths sound very close to the timbres of ac...

Page 29: ... cutoff frequency Frequencies below this threshold are hardly affected The frequency below the cutoff point is called the pass band range the frequencies above are called the stop band range The Rocket s filter dampens frequencies in the stop band with a certain slope The following picture shows the basic principle of a low pass filter The Rocket s filter also features a resonance parameter Resona...

Page 30: ...sics Rocket User s Manual 30 If the resonance is raised to a great extent then the filter will begin to self oscillate i e the filter generates an audible sine wave even when it does not receive an incoming signal 0 1 2 ...

Page 31: ... consists of one single track with several sysex messages in it Make sure that this track is assigned to the Rocket so that it can receive the data Make sure that any Cycle or Loop mode is switched off Also make sure that any Met ronome clicks and MIDI Clock are switched off Start the sequencer playing the file and send the track data to the Rocket The Launch button will blink rapidly during this ...

Page 32: ...n The analog filter of the Rocket is calibrated at the factory Tuning is very stable over a wide temperature range so it is not necessary to use this function frequently The Rocket will generate high volume output during calibration so turn headphones volume down as well as the volume of your speakers or alternatively disconnect the audio output Disconnect anything connected to the VCF input Switc...

Page 33: ...anual Technical Data Power Supply Maximum current consumption 500 mA Dimensions and Weight Width 185 mm Depht 185 mm Height including knobs 65 mm Total weight 0 9 kg Factory Settings MIDI Receive Channel 1 MIDI Transmit Channel 1 ...

Page 34: ...3 72 0 127 Keytrack 0 off 1 half 2 full 76 16 0 127 LFO Speed 0 127 77 50 0 127 LFO Depth 0 127 78 15 0 127 LFO Shape 0 Saw down 1 Tri 2 Pulse 80 18 0 127 Vibrato Mod LFO 0 127 18 80 0 127 LFO Target 0 Arp 1 Cutoff 2 Pitch 75 102 0 127 ENV Decay 0 127 103 103 0 127 ENV Sustain 0 off 1 on 72 106 0 127 ENV Release 0 off 1 on 5 5 0 127 Glide 0 127 14 14 0 127 Arp Tempo 0 127 12 12 0 127 Arp Range 0 1...

Page 35: ... the alternative assignment in the column Alt Ctrl This alternative assign ment can be used by sending a SysEx command to the Rocket It enables you to use the Rocket as controller for other Waldorf synthesizer e g the Blofeld The Rocket SysEx documentation can be found here http rocket waldorfmusic de ...

Page 36: ... applications Typical controls for an ar peggiator are the octave range the direction the speed and the clock which means the repetition interval Some arpeggiators also feature preset or programmable rhythm patterns Band Pass Filter A band pass filter allows only those frequencies around the cutoff frequency to pass Frequencies both below and above the cutoff point are damped Control Change Contro...

Page 37: ... pass through it and dampens other fre quencies The most important aspect of a filter is the filter cutoff frequency Filters generally come in four catego ries low pass high pass band pass and band stop A low pass filter dampens all frequencies above the cutoff frequency A high pass filter in turn dampens the fre quencies below the cutoff The band pass filter allows only those frequencies around t...

Page 38: ...The sender transfers data to the receiver via the MIDI Out jack Data are sent via a cable to the receiver s MIDI In jack MIDI Thru has a special function It allows the sender to transmit to several receivers It routes the incoming signal to the next device without modifying it Another device is simply connected to this jack thus creating a chain through which the sender can address a number of rec...

Page 39: ...n envelope to its minimum value after a trigger is terminated The Release phase begins immedia tely after the trigger is terminated regardless of the enve lope s current status For instance the Release phase may be initiated during the Attack phase Resonance Resonance is an important filter parameter It emphasizes a narrow bandwidth around the filter cutoff frequency by amplifing these frequencies...

Page 40: ...MIDI note or an audio signal can be used as a trigger The events a trigger can initiate are also very diverse A common application for a trigger is its use to start an envelope USB The Universal Serial Bus USB is a serial bus system to connect a computer with an external device USB equip ped devices can be plugged together while active The recognition is made automatically Volume The term describe...

Page 41: ...eby declared that the following named product Waldorf Rocket Gerätetyp Device type Synthesizer Gerätenummer Device number 426012638040 in Übereinstimmung mit den Richtlinien conforms to the requirements 2004 108 EG und 2006 95 EG in Verkehr gebracht wurde Für die Konformitätserklä rung wurde nachstehende Norm angewandt The following standards have been used to declare con formity EN 55013 Heppinge...

Page 42: ...g EN 55013 2001 A1 2003 EN 55020 Ton und Fernseh Rundfunkempfänger und verwandte Geräte der Unterhaltungselektronik Störfestigkeitseigenschaften Grenzwerte und Prüfverfahren IEC CISPR 20 2002 A1 2002 Deutsche Fassung EN 55020 2002 A1 2003 EN 61000 3 2 Elektromagnetische Verträglichkeit EMV Teil 3 2 Grenzwer te Grenzwerte für Oberschwingungsströme Geräte Eingangsstrom 16 A je Leiter IEC 61000 3 2 2...

Page 43: ...minated by turning the unit OFF and ON please try to eliminate the problem by using one of the following measures Relocate either this product or the device that is being affected by the interference Utilize power outlets that are on branch Circuit breaker or fuse circuits or install AC line filter s In the case of radio or TV interference relocate reorient the antenna If the antenna lead in is 30...

Page 44: ...in its original package Please include a detailed description of the defect Products that were not send prepared or in the original package will be re turned unopened Waldorf Music reserves the right to upgrade the unit with the latest technological advances if necessary This warranty does not cover defects due to abuse operation under other than specified conditions or repair by unauthorized per ...

Page 45: ...Waldorf Music GmbH Landskroner Straße 52 D 53474 Bad Neuenahr 2013 Waldorf Music GmbH All rights reserved www waldorfmusic de ...