Waldorf STVC, User Manual

Page 1: ...USER MANUAL ...

Page 2: ...ic Controls 14 Switching On Off 14 Master Volume 14 Playing and Selecting Sounds 14 Editing Sounds 15 Saving Sounds 15 The Control Panel 16 The Wheel Section 16 The Keyboard 16 The Control Section Display 17 The Balance Dial 17 Strings Section 18 Solo Section 20 The Vocoder Section 22 The Effects Section 23 Sound Modulation 24 System Settings 27 Appendix 29 How a Vocoder works 29 Using the STVC Vo...

Page 3: ... signal sounds more or less like robotic speech or singing and it is easy to extend it to polyphony This is what the vocoder in STVC is for And now have fun with your STVC Your Waldorf Team What to read The biggest problem with any manual is to find a way to address the needs of absolute beginners and experts alike Some people read a manual cover to cover while others don t even touch it Opting fo...

Page 4: ... Christian Gritzner Lukas Schütte Stefan Stenzel Beta Testing Dr Georg Müller Lukas Schütte Revision 1 0 August 2019 We would like to thank Thomas Brenner Karsten Dubsch Willie Eckl Joachim Flor Roger Keller Jonathan Miller Pierre Nozet Miroslav Pindus Oliver Rockstedt Vladimir Salnikov Winfried Schuld Michael von Garnier Kurt Lu Wangard Rolf Wöhrmann Haibin Wu and anyone we have forgotten ...

Page 5: ...ections 5 STVC Manual Control Features Connections Front Panel 1 Wheel Section 3 Control Section Display 5 Strings Section 7 Effects Section 2 Master Volume 4 Solo Section 6 Vocoder Section with Microphone Input 8 Keyboard ...

Page 6: ...eatures Connections 6 STVC Manual Rear Panel Connections 1 Audio Outputs 5 MIDI In MIDI Out 2 Headphones Output 6 Power Switch 3 Pedal Line Inputs 4 USB 2 0 Port for power supply and MIDI connection to computer ...

Page 7: ...s manual it explains the various terms used We also use a uniform set of symbols to show you topics of particular interest or significance Important terms are highlighted in bold letters Symbols s Caution The information that follows this symbol will help you avoid errors data loss or malfunctions r Info Additional Information on a given topic Highlighted Control Features and Parameters All of the...

Page 8: ...at sources such as ra diators Do not expose the device to direct sunlight Do not expose the device to extreme vibrations Power Supply Unplug the device when you are not using it for longer periods Never touch the plug with wet hands Always pull the plug when unplugging the device never the cable Operation Never place objects containing liquids on or near the device Place the device on a stable bas...

Page 9: ...e sleep deprivation and sudden levitation 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 warranty extended by Waldorf Music Waldorf Music is not liable for damages due to incorrect use s This device used with amplifiers speakers or headphones can generate volume levels that may re s...

Page 10: ...also use a computer or sequencer to make use of STVC s MIDI features To connect the devices 1 Turn all units off 2 Connect the STVC s Audio Out to your mixing console or your computer audio interface Optio nally connect the stereo Headphones outputs to a headphone 3 Connect the USB power supply that came with the STVC to a suitable AC power outlet 4 If you want to use a computer connect the STVC s...

Page 11: ...Tape input r The STVC s audio outputs deliver unbalanced line levels When connecting to an amplifier a mixing console or an audio interface with automatic balan ced unbalanced sensing inputs please make sure to use TS mono jack cables and not TRS stereo jack cables s Before connecting and disconnecting the STVC to a power supply source turn your amp s volume con trol all the way down to avoid dama...

Page 12: ...sion pedal or a mono jack to send a line audio signal into the STVC Here you can either use an expression pedal or the line input Both at the same time is not possible r The expression pedal won t have any effect unless it is assigned to a destination in the Tweak menu The Line input can be used as a line signal input for an external vocoder speech or carrier signal r In the System settings you ca...

Page 13: ...e following system requirements Windows PC Windows 7 or newer a USB 2 port Apple Intel Mac with macOS 10 9 or newer a USB 2 port MIDI In Out Jacks Although we can hardly believe it the STVC might not be enough for some people so we added an elegant way to control external sound modules with the STVC keyboard just connect the DIN MIDI out to your external gear and play For use with a computer we re...

Page 14: ...ume The volume setting is global and affects the level of the audio outputs in cluding the headphones output Playing and Selecting Sounds Move the Rotary dial right of the display or press the Plus Minus buttons and the buttons A B C of to navigate through sounds and banks When leaving the factory bank A and B contain the factory presets Bank C is unused so you can save your own sounds there If yo...

Page 15: ...eak func tionality which is explained on page 24 Saving Sounds Press and hold any of the Bank buttons A B C until the display offers to store the sound and Plus Minus buttons are flashing You can select a new destination with the Rotary dial Press Yes to store to the selected destination or No if you have made up your mind and decided not to store this sound There is an easy way to name a sound du...

Page 16: ...tored setting r If you select the Pluto tone in the Solo section which contains an additional vibrato this is synchronized to the vibrato of the Modulation wheel The Keyboard You might have used a similar one before but as it is rarely described elsewhere this is how you use it Hit any black or white key to hear a sound Also the pitch of the sounds are usually higher the more you play on the right...

Page 17: ...This button offers the following functions It is used for setting up modulations Please read more on page 24 Pressing Tweak and A opens the System settings mo de Please read more on page 27 Hold Tweak and press the NO button to send an All Notes Off message This ends all sounding voices The Buttons With these buttons you can confirm different actions or select parameters The use of these buttons i...

Page 18: ...iola Cello Brass Organ Choir as well as combinations of the registrations If the vocoder is active the Vocoder button lits the registra tions are as follows F Formants lowered resulting in a more male or mon ster like voice N Neutral setting creates a clean vocoder sounds Squarish carrier signal J Jitter applied to carrier resulting speech sounds hoarse or noisy F Formant frequencies increased res...

Page 19: ...ontrols the Ensemble effect an advanced chorus with multiple delay lines and modulation LFOs It is an essential part of the typical string sound String Chorus Switch Three modes for the ensemble effect can be selected here String left position The classic ensemble effect for string machines with LFOs at two different frequencies String Chorus middle position Combination of string and chorus for ma...

Page 20: ...ys on all keys If the vo coder is active solo is mixed to the vocoder carrier and the inherent filter is bypassed High right position played on keys higher or same as the split key Hold down a note while switching to set the split key Tone This is the sound setting for the Solo section Moving this knob blends smoothly through sounds named Bass E Piano Clavi Synth Pluto Mono and Full Note that soun...

Page 21: ... much of a percussive click sound is added on the start of a note Decay Release The release or decay rate of the envelope depending on the selected Envelope Mode Envelope Mode Selector This switch controls the envelope operation In the left position the envelope has no sustain and decays immediately after the initial attack This is per fect for clavinet or bass sounds In the right position notes a...

Page 22: ...ny other suited microphone r Note that only 2 4 V phantom power is supplied microphones requiring 48 V or 12 V are not sup ported Freeze Button Press and hold the Freeze button to record the microphone singal To specify this only the filter coefficients not the audio signal itself is recorded The recorded signal is then played back in a loop With the Save function you can save the audio loop so th...

Page 23: ...ontrolled by the Depth and Rate potentiometers Phaser Classic phase shifter effect Feedback and depth are adjustable with Depth according to the most pleasing settings we could find Rate is controlled as you can certainly understand it by Rate Reverb Reverberation with adjustment of size and dampening of the ambient room according to useful settings by the Rate Size knob while Rate Mix controls th...

Page 24: ...ed source the destination is affected in different ways The fifth tweak slot is special because the amount itself can be tweaked Sources can be any of these Source Description OFF Nothing used to deactivate a tweak slot SET Override and set value ADD Add a constant SUB Subtract a constant TOUCH Keyboard Aftertouch for modulation TOUCH Negative Keyboard Aftertouch for modulation MODW Modulation Whe...

Page 25: ...RELEASE Release Rate of String envelope BALANCE Balance of Solo and String section VOLUME Volume PITCH Pitch of Solo and String section PT STRING Pitch of String section PT SOLO Pitch of Solo section TONE Solo Tone CUTOFF Solo Filter Frequency EMPHASIS Solo Filter Resonance ATTACK Attack Rate of Solo envelope DECAY REL Decay or Release Rate of Solo envelo pe TREMOLO Tremolo Rate and Depth TRM DEPT...

Page 26: ...n speed V IN LEAK Amount of speech signal leaked into output FRZ SPEED Freeze speed for frozen vocoder FRZ POS Freeze position for frozen vocoder TWEAK 5 Tweak slot 5 amount BOTTOM Adjust the low end r If a new modulation is set the standard assignment will be overwritten For example if the Mod Wheel is used for controlling the Reverb mix the former de stination LFO speed will be replaced ...

Page 27: ...rameters is used to define an arbitrary MIDI Continuous Controller as a modulation source TX EDITS If active sound edits are transmitted as MIDI Controller messages TX PROGRAM CHANGE If active a corresponding Program Change message is transmitted when a sound program is selected TX AFTERTOUCH If active MIDI aftertouch messages are transmitted when a key is hold and pressed TX KEYS CONTROLS Determi...

Page 28: ...edal Input can be used as an expression pedal input INPUT GAIN Sets the sensitivity of the Microphone and Line input in steps of 3 dB The default setting is 18dB INPUT LOW CUT Sets a low cut filter for the Mic Line input which offers the following settings Off 10 Hz 100 Hz or 200 Hz This allows you to remove unwanted bass frequencies from the input signal MIC POWER Determines the supply voltage re...

Page 29: ...of external audio material you like The results will always be complex and interesting some times close to the original signal and sometimes much altered Experiment and have fun For the Vocoder you always need two signals a signal that is analyzed Speech signal and another signal Carrier that is used for processing by the synthesis filters The analyzed signal always comes from a different source e...

Page 30: ...the vo coder with an external speech signal In the System settings set LINE IN to Speech and use any desired ex ternal audio signal Keep in mind to play at least one key on the keyboard to hear the vocoder effect You can also use an external audio signal as Carrier signal In the System settings set LINE IN to Carrier and feed any desired external audio signal into the Pe dal line input We recommen...

Page 31: ...pendix 31 STVC Manual Technical Data Power Supply Maximum current consumption 200 mA Input Voltage 5 V DC Dimensions and Weight Width 740 mm Depth 280 mm Height including knobs 100 mm Total weight 7 5 kg ...

Page 32: ...y after a trigger signal is received i e after you play a note on the keyboard Clipping Clipping is a sort of distortion that occurs when a signal exceeds its maximum value The curve of a clipped signal is dependent of the system where the clipping takes place In the analog domain clipping effectively limits the signal to its maximum level In the digital domain clipping is similar to a numerical o...

Page 33: ...phases until it reaches the pro grammed Sustain level This level remains constant until the trigger is terminated The envelope then initiates the Release phase until it reaches the minimum value Filter A filter is a component that allows some of a signal s fre quencies to pass through it and dampens other frequenci es The most important aspect of a filter is the filter cutoff frequency The most co...

Page 34: ...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 recei vers Of course it is desirable for the sender to be able to address each device individually Consequently there is a rule that is applied to e...

Page 35: ...grams Program numbers 1 through 128 can be changed via pro gram change messages Release An envelope parameter The term Release describes the descent rate of an envelope to its minimum value after a trigger is terminated The Release phase begins imme diately after the trigger is terminated regardless of the envelope s current status For instance the Release phase may be initiated during the Attack ...

Page 36: ...fer of entire memories and complete control of a device via a computer Trigger A trigger is a signal that activates events Trigger signals are very diverse For instance a 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 use to start an envelope Volume The term describes a sound s output level USB The...

Page 37: ...te This is the most efficient and fastest way to contact us Your questions will be forwarded immediately to the resident expert and you will quickly receive an answer https support waldorfmusic com Send us a letter It will take a bit longer but it is just as dependable as the support form Waldorf Music GmbH Lilienthalstr 7 53424 Remagen Germany Visit our support forum at www waldorfmusic com ...

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