D16 Group PunchBOX, User Manual

Page 1: ...User Manual 23 June 2016 ...

Page 2: ...play samples or synthesized sounds In addition it offers a number of effects for further processing The instrument is supplied with a substantial factory sample and preset content developed exclusively by Sounds of Revolution and CFA Sound labels When the plug in is running you can see its interface Puchbox User Interface The following functional sections are available ...

Page 3: ... device namely their loading and saving It also manages presets import export to exchange them between the users It controls the default plug in configuration exporting current setting to a wave file and the parameter randomization Generators Section Generators section Controls the section that produces the sound in Punchbox ...

Page 4: ...4 Overview Effects Section Effects Section Including the Master Limiter block which processes the signal produced by generators before it s sent to the plug in s output FX section ...

Page 5: ...initial short clicks Tops Responsible for the delivery of the accent s sustain slightly longer tones present typically in the higher frequencies Tools Additional rumbles background sounds etc that accompany the primary tone Kick Basic primary tone that is the body of the bass drum Click Tops and Tools generate the auxiliary components of the final tone They are based only on the samples Each of th...

Page 6: ...ters Active Solo A LED operating in the toggle mode to activate the specific generator or other expect for the specific one generators if used with CTRL Volume The generator s output volume from inf dB up to 12 dB Smp Start only for Tools Tops specifies the starting point offset from which the sample is played This parameter can be set from 0 up to 100 where 0 means that the sample is played from ...

Page 7: ...Tune Relative sample tuning from 6 up to 6 semitones Send Click send Top send Tools send Controlling the proportion between the signal sent to the effect cascade and directly to Master Limiter with the effect cascade bypassed For the minimum value 0 the whole signal is sent only to Master Limiter Effects For the medium value 50 the generator output is sent in half to the effect cascade and in half...

Page 8: ...nerator s memory Reload Next CTRL Restoring the most recently loaded master settings Master Preset for the generator section with the origi nal sample loaded if it differs from the current sample Kick Generator Generates the Kick tone body base and offers a few generator engines that may be selected Sample A sampler where you can load samples from the substantial factory content and import your ow...

Page 9: ...9 www d16 pl Description of operation Generators Section A Kick generator with Sample a selected generator engine Mode allows you to select the generator engine Mode parameter ...

Page 10: ...us item Browse Opens the Sample Preset browser for more information on the Browser operation please refer to the Preset Management chapter Init Prev CTRL Restoring the initial generator settings and deleting a sample from the memory if the Sampler is used as a generator engine Reload Next CTRL Restoring the most recently loaded master settings Master Preset for the active generator engine and load...

Page 11: ...e bypassed For the minimum value 0 the whole signal is sent only to Master Limiter Effects For the medium value 50 the generator output is sent in half to the effect cascade and in half to Master Limiter For 100 the signal is sent only to the effect cascade Velocity A switch that decides on whether Punchbox should respond to the velocity of the incoming MIDI notes It is a global parameter that aff...

Page 12: ...Kick generator allows you to select one of a few available generator engines You can select them with Mode parameter When a generator engine is selected the interface part that refers to the generator engine is changed Generation engine highlighted in the Kick section ...

Page 13: ...ple Start Defines a starting point from which the sample is played This parameter can be set from 0 up to 100 where 0 means that the sample is played from the beginning Level Output generator volume High Cut Low pass filter cut off frequency The parameter operates from 2 Hz up to 22 kHz Attack Amplitude s attack time from 0 ms up to 200 ms Attack Curve Amplitude attack s curve from concave through...

Page 14: ...ce 1990s The panel contains all knobs used in the original device and two additional knobs expanding its sound shaping capabilities Level Output volume Attack Initial accent s volume Tune Decay time of the Kick frequency modulation falling envelope Decay Amplitude decay time Pitch Base frequency Tune depth Kick frequency modulation falling envelope depth ...

Page 15: ...08 808 is a generator engine that is a TR 808 bass drum emulation a classic electro sound The panel provides the following parameters Level Output volume Tone Bass drum attack characteristics Decay Amplitude decay time Sweep Time Bass drum frequency change rate ...

Page 16: ...6 is a generator engine that is a TR 606 bass drum emulation a typical short electro hip hop bass drum The following parameters are used to shape the sound Volume Output volume Decay Amplitude decay time Tune Bass drum tone Attack Initial accent s volume ...

Page 17: ...rameters to control the oscillator frequency modulation Start Freq Initial frequency from 5 Hz up to 8 kHz End Freq Final frequency from 5 Hz up to 115 kHz Sweep Time Modulation rate from 1 ms up to 1 s The last row provides the parameters to control the amplitude and frequency modulation characteristic Attack Curve Amplitude attack curve Decay Curve Amplitude decay curve Sweep Curve Frequency mod...

Page 18: ...ation between the signal sent to the effect block and the signal that bypasses this block Send controls in the generators section The minimum value means that the whole signal of the specific generator is sent directly to Master Limiter The maximum value means that the whole signal is sent to the first cascade effect The medium values determine the proportions between these two send variants The d...

Page 19: ... the effect cascade The blue line refers to the unprocessed signal flow with the cascade bypassed directly to the Limiter The cascade point where the direct signal blue flow is joined may be changed to obtain more complex topologies but it is not the subject matter of this chapter For more information please refer to the effect block description section ...

Page 20: ...ation Generators Section Randomization If you lack of inspiration some of the parameters in the Generators section can be randomized To open Randomization dialog click the Random button in the top Control panel Random button ...

Page 21: ...for cascade in series one after the other signal processing The cascade signal flows from left to right from the extreme left effect to the right Master Limiter effect Effects section The last effect in the series or Master Limit has a fixed position at the end of the cascade The sequence of the remaining four effects is controlled with the drag n drop technique see next chapters ...

Page 22: ...vity by clicking Label the effect status is shown by a LED active inactive toggle Effects section Labels with the activity LEDs Available Effect Block Specifications The effects section provides the following algorithms Bitcrusher Distortion Multimode Filter Equalizer Limiter ...

Page 23: ...uency from 44 Hz up to 44 kHz Resampling Filter Activation of the image filter that processes the resampled signal Bitcrusher preset management section Next Prev Navigation through the Bitcrusher preset bank Loading of the next or previous preset Browser Opens the Preset Browser for more details on the operation please refer to the Preset Management chapter Init Prev CTRL Restoring the initial eff...

Page 24: ... Clipper Contour Clipper s kneespan Tone Overdrive tone characteristics Volume The resulting signal level from inf dB up to 12 dB Distortion preset management section Next Prev Navigation through the Distortion preset bank Loading of the next or previous preset Browser Opens the Preset Browser for more details on the operation please refer to the Preset Management chapter Init Prev CTRL Restoring ...

Page 25: ...ed with the following set of prameters Cutoff Filter cut off frequency from 1 Hz up to 22 kHz Resonance Filter emphasis Mode Filter slope 12 dB or 24 dB Type Filter type LP Low pass BP Band pass HP High pass FX Amount Proportions between the Dry and Wet signals that will be sent to the next cascade effect ...

Page 26: ...g set of parameters High High frequency gain 5 kHz and higher from 24 dB up to 24 dB Middle Medium frequency gain parametric equalizer from 24 dB up to 24 dB Mid dle Freq Middle band parametric equalizer frequency from 100 Hz up to 10 kHz Low Low frequency gain 100 Hz and lower from 24 dB up to 24 dB ...

Page 27: ... active Threshold determines the value of the amplitude that should excite the compressor whereas Output determines the amplitude value the signal should be gained to The limiter compression ratio is 1 inf and its operation is indicated by the Gain Reduction When the Limiter is disabled the Output knob operates as normal gain The Output Clip LED shows whether the output does not exceed 0 dB ...

Page 28: ...n drop technique Drag n drop activity areas in the effects section At the bottom of each effect on both sides you can find active areas marked with spots that you can use to grab drag and drop any of the 4 effects at the desired position Dragged Equalizer The positions of the dragged effect and the effect the dragged effect is dropped on are interchanged in the cascade ...

Page 29: ...xes with the processing path in the effects section Signal effects section flow diagram with Mixdown After By default Mixdown After is set to FX4 It means that the generator signal flows over two paths the primary generator signal bypasses the effect block and is sent to the Master Limiter blue path the send generator signal is sent to the effect block and processed by the effects before it enters...

Page 30: ...on of operation Punchbox Signal Flow Punchbox Signal Flow The diagram below presents the whole signal flow in the instrument with the joining direct generator output controlled by Mixdown After Punchbox signal flow ...

Page 31: ...plug in s setting to a sample To preserve processing power of your CPU you can save current sound setting as a sample and it use instead in your music project If you re satisfied with your kick sound click the Export button in the top Control panel Export button to open Sample export dialog ...

Page 32: ...ub types of presets or the presets including the sub sets of parameters constituting the Master Preset 909 Preset Includes the parameters of 909 included in Kick 808 Preset Includes the parameters of 808 included in Kick 606 Preset Includes the parameters of 606 included in Kick Sine Preset Includes the parameters of Sine included in Kick Bitcrusher Preset Includes the parameters of Bitcrusher Dis...

Page 33: ...lters see sections below Init Prev CTRL Simultaneous use of the Prev button and the CTRL key restores initial settings of plug in parameters Reload Next CTRL Simultaneous use of the Next button and the CTRL reloads from the most recently loaded parent preset or if it s used in Master Preset Management section reloads the most recently loaded preset Save Browse CTRL Simultaneous use of the Browse b...

Page 34: ...presets from resources that meet criteria set by Filters Resources In this section you can choose a resource resources in which you want to browse presets There are two resources to choose from Factory Delivered together with the plug in cannot be modified read only User Created by the user during using the plug in and can be freely modified shared with other users etc Choosing any of them will ca...

Page 35: ...egories and Tags system whose aim is to facilitate the process of browsing the content by filtering Preset Browser Categories Filters Categories and Tags Each preset is described by a few common Categories Within each of them there may be one or more Tags from a particular set A single category in a filter with a description of its elements ...

Page 36: ...not possible it is blocked User presets may be described only with Categories and Tags from Factory content or alternatively the users may define their additional Tags in order to describe their own presets Results This is a list of presets from chosen resources that meet the filtering criteria The basic function of this section is browsing and loading presets in Browsing Mode by default Results S...

Page 37: ...o right This means that all presets available in the selected resources are filtered as to presence of Tags from the first Category first column from the left next a set of presets being a result of filtering by the first Category is filtered by the Category represented by the second column etc until it is filtered with the last active Category Filter Presets Filtering with the use of Categories T...

Page 38: ...al Tag will activate the Category Filter Type and narrow down a list of presets to the items in case of which the Experimental Tag appeared in the Type Category Enabling Experimental tag in Type Category If you click the Experimental item again you will deactivate the Filter so all presets from the content will be displayed again Reordering Categories To the right of the Category Filter header the...

Page 39: ... has no predecessor successor with which it could be replaced Presets Editing Edit Mode An active Edit Mode in Preset Browser changes its function enables the change of presets names edition of Categories or Tags deletion of presets as well as their export or import One should bear in mind however that these operations are not allowed in case of Factory presets but only for the User presets Edit M...

Page 40: ...40 Preset and Sample Management Presets Editing Edit Mode Edit mode button In this mode Preset Browser slightly changes its appearance not only function Preset Browser in Edit mode ...

Page 41: ...ot work as edition is possible only for user presets Selection of Presets for Edition You can edit both single preset and a set of presets Using the functionality of the Results section you can choose a preset or a set of presets in the following way Click the preset Choose the preset from the list Click the preset press CTRL Add another preset to an already chosen preset or a set of presets Click...

Page 42: ...elected presets it will be marked with an intensive teal blue color When a specific Tag is set only in a part of chosen presets then it is codified with a pale teal blue The Tag that does not appear in any of the presets is marked with grey color Notification about Tags Status in Chosen Presets The change of the Tag status for one or more chosen presets sets or erases this Tag in all these presets...

Page 43: ...s work in a three state system erasing the Tag grey color setting of the Tag intensive teal blue color or no changes pale teal blue for all selected items Changes introduced during edition do not have to be confirmed they are signalized by Asterisks located by Tag changed for particular pre sets Presets Names Editing Double click the name of a preset to enter name editing mode Deleting Presets Sel...

Page 44: ... Preset Browser with an active Edit Mode Saving the Settings as Preset Additionally at the bottom there will be a textbox into which you should enter a name of a newly created preset and then confirm it by clicking Save or cancel by clicking Cancel As the Preset Browser is in the Edit Mode before confirmation of the newly created setting as preset we can straightaway categorize a particular settin...

Page 45: ...ces in Punchbox Click Tops Tools and Kick operating as a Sampler provide separate factory and user sample resources Each generator has access to its resource through its own Sample Management section Sample Management sections Clicking Browse button opens Sample Browser window Sample Browser ...

Page 46: ...s that meet the criteria specified in Filters Thus this chapter presents only the functions that differentiate the Sample Browser from the Preset Browser Auto Play Auto play allows you to play the browsed samples to listen to them before confirming their loading with Ok Autoplay button in the Preset Browser Press Autoplay the button operating in the toggle mode to enable disable this function What...

Page 47: ...s button opens the file browsing system dialogue box Acceptable file formats are wav aif and aiff both mono and stereo There are no restrictions as to the sampling frequency of the imported sound clips The dialogue box allows you to import more clips at the same time and not just single clips ...

Page 48: ...t click any plug in parameter to open the context menu Closed Context Menu It allows for Checking the name and current value of a parameter Checking if the parameter is attributed to MIDI CC controller and if it is to which number Linking the parameter to MIDI CC controller ...

Page 49: ... controllers from MIDI controller to plug in parameters The assignment can be divided into a few steps 1 Right click the parameter which you want to attribute to physical MIDI controller in order to expand the context menu 2 Click arrow at the bottom in order to expand the context menu Expanded Context Menu 3 Click the Learn button to put the plug in into a pending state until you move any MIDI CC...

Page 50: ...i rm with OK button Plug in s current settings Current settings are relevant to a specific instance of a plug They are initialized with the Default settings when the plug in is loaded see the next chapter At the bottom of UI there is a status bar that enables the change of Current settings in a case of PunchBOX it s Saving Loading the MIDI CC Map Current Settings in a Status Bar Saving Loading the...

Page 51: ...Every time the plug in is loaded in the host application new instance is created Default settings are used for initialization of the Current settings Default settings are stored within a configuration file of the plug in This file is updated at the moment of unloading any of active plug in instances from the host application Use the Options button on GUI to open the panel Options button ...

Page 52: ...52 Configuration Plugin default settings The Options panel operates as an accordion where you can click a specific section to expand it Options Panel Plugin default settings MIDI Presets ...

Page 53: ...ings MIDI Default MIDI Map Choice Section This section allows for setting of a path to a file with a default MIDI Map that was prepared before Clicking MIDI CC Map check box activates load of MIDI Map and the possibility of pointing it Browse button ...

Page 54: ...eta testing Manuel Brehs For beta testing additional work and translation And for the beta test team for their contribution to development Alankara Productions Simplicius Simplicissimus Allen Morgan Gary Brennan Joe Rossitter Computer Music Marc Acardipane Michał Wolski WEF Dada Life Twolegs Toneworks Олег Єршов ...

Page 55: ... in their music Today D16 Group have become a premium audio plug ins vendor Continuously high level of quality and will of improvement allow D16 to deliver virtual instruments that set the new standard of sound perfection and effects that take creativity to the next level Solid trust from audio community and respect for products fruitful in many rewards make the D16 Group company of choice for man...

Page 56: ...to be infused into the latest dancefloor smashers But don t you get it wrong synthesizer patches and some intriguing upcoming projects are just as much worth a try Besides this shameless self advertising Sounds Of Revolution mastermind Oliver doesn t fear critical public feedback be it press articles reviews by the heavyweights of music business or discussion platforms on the web SOR has come a lo...

Page 57: ...and style While first taking care of all kinds of modern dance music by delivering soundsets for various synthesizers as well as sample packages and plugins he continuously expanded his concept to sample collections and self programmed pl ugins always sticking to the slogan of CFA Sound Discover the sound of tomorrow by being just the special bit different from bread butter sound design and edm fo...

Page 58: ...set and Sample Management 32 Preset Structure and Types 32 Browsing Presets 33 Resources 34 Preset Filters 35 Categories and Tags 35 Results 36 Preset Filtering 37 Reordering Categories 38 Presets Editing Edit Mode 39 Selection of Presets for Edition 41 Tags Edition 41 Change of Tags status in Presets 41 Presets Names Editing 43 Deleting Presets 43 Saving the current settings as Preset 44 Samples ...