Waldorf Attack, Operation Manual

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Page 2: ...nd company names are or trade marks of their respective owners Waldorf Music Germany 2006 www waldorfmusic de Programming Wolfram Franke Giuliano Orsini Stefan Stenzel Graphic Design Design Box Manual Diagrams Holger Tsching Steinbrink Sound design and beta testing Holger Bahr Raymund Beyer Mert Ergün Wolfram Franke Christian Halten Axel Hartmann Jörg Hüttner Arnd Kaiser Dirk Krause Till Kopper Pe...

Page 3: ...f Sounds 8 Playing the Attack Live 8 The Solo Function of the Attack 8 Functions of the Edit Menu 9 Functions of the Preset Menu 9 MIDI Functions 10 Playing the Attack Polyphonically 10 MIDI Control of the Attack 10 Special Function Modulation Wheel 10 Controlling the Attack through the Novation RemoteSL 11 Polyphony of the Attack 11 The Controls 11 Key Combinations 11 The Automatic Keyboard 12 Th...

Page 4: ...te these sounds you should know a little about how the classic drum machines worked Basically those drum machines had special analog cir cuitry for each drum sound they could produce These analog circuits were often built in a very strange manner sometimes consisting only of a handful of filters without any kind of oscillator or envelope or perhaps simply a noise generator with one envelope Each w...

Page 5: ...ceed as follows 3 Launch the Explorer or open the My Computer window 4 Double click on the icon for the CD ROM drive that holds the Attack CD ROM 5 Double click on the Attack Installer icon This launches a special installation pro gram 6 Follow the on screen instructions The Attack CD ROM is your verification that you have purchased the program Please store it in a safe place If you lose it you ha...

Page 6: ...st applications Waldorf offers the Attack as a completely plug in based synthesizer that fully utilizes Steinberg s VST and Apple s AudioUnit interface technology If you wish to use it in a VST or Au dioUnit compatible host application please consult its documentation to find out what you have to do to set up the plug in Using the Attack You can play the Attack via MIDI like any other instrument a...

Page 7: ... A Bank consists of 16 complete kits each with 24 sounds You can load complete banks or single kits For information on loading please read the corresponding manual section of your host application When you use the Attack as AudioUnit on the Macintosh you can only play the first kit of a loaded bank You can however copy individual sounds from one of the other 15 kits to the first kit through the Pr...

Page 8: ... on your computer keyboard while selecting the sound To re name a sound please proceed as follows Hold down the Alt key on your computer keyboard while selecting a sound Now you can enter a new name Playing the Attack Live If you notice considerable latency times delay when you play the Attack via MIDI then the sound audio card that you use and or its driver is the source of the problem If the pro...

Page 9: ... its original settings and the Compare function in the edit menu gets a flag Reselecting the function brings up the edited version again With Compare Kit you can compare the edited drum kit with the original As soon as the Compare function is activated the kit changes to its original settings and the Compare function in the edit menu gets a flag Reselecting the function brings up the edited versio...

Page 10: ...the keyboard becomes invisible MIDI Control of the Attack All functions of the Attack can be controlled by MIDI controller data The sounds 1 through 12 receive MIDI controllers from 12 to 59 while sounds 13 through 24 re ceive 72 to 119 This is only possible when transmitting on channels 1 through 12 Channel 16 is reserved for controlling both delays with controllers As an addendum to this manual ...

Page 11: ...Sound 1 8 The host application must support the Novation RemoteSL and its AutoMap feature to be able to control the Attack Please read the documentation of the cor responding host application Polyphony of the Attack The Attack has up to 64 voices The number of available voices depends on available processor power The number of voices can easily be set on the plug in user interface All you have to ...

Page 12: ...nd drag the mouse to continuously and smoothly change the envelope parameters or click into any envelope phase to let its value jump there Pitch bender To change the pitch click on the bender and drag the mouse to the left or right The pitch bender snaps back into its center positi on as soon as you let go of the mouse button Attack logo If you click on the Attack logo a window opens with program ...

Page 13: ... you can see 24 Sound Select buttons in the form of a stylized keyboard positioned vertically With these buttons you can select the sounds of a drum kit Next appear pa rameter groups for both Oscillators the Mixer the Filter the Amplifier the Delay ef fects the Crack Modulator and settings for both Envelopes A display as well as some pop up menus round out the programming interface Due to its flex...

Page 14: ...rm to be generated by the oscillator The parameter is called Shape instead of waveform because it doesn t necessarily set only classic synthesi zer waveforms but it also generates noise sample hold and three samples However the term waveform is used interchangeably throughout this manual The following shapes are currently available Triangle selects the triangular waveform The triangle mainly consi...

Page 15: ...oscillators This effect is caused by the fixed phase of the waveforms To do this assign a short pitch envelope to one of the oscillators Pitch Env Envelope 100 100 Sets the amount of pitch modulation from Envelope 1 or 2 depending on the settings Positive amounts will raise the pitch when envelope modulation is applied Negative amounts will lower the pitch when envelope modulation is applied Use t...

Page 16: ... can change the metallic character to chaotic FM also necessary for drum sounds Another point to observe is that FM into the Attack is scaled linearly FM Env 100 100 Sets the amount of FM with Envelope 1 or 2 depending on the settings Positive a mounts will raise FM when envelope modulation is applied Negative amounts will lo wer FM when envelope modulation is applied Use this parameter to create ...

Page 17: ...s total in mind especially when the level does not behave as you expect You can also create inte resting effects by setting one parameter to a positive and the other to a negative a mount Rmod Ring Modulation 0 100 Volume of the ring modulation between Oscillators 1 and 2 From a technical point of view ring modulation is the multiplication of two oscillators signals The result of this operation is...

Page 18: ...und Yet you can also create bass and lead sounds which definitely require a filter For now we ll explain the basic function of a filter discussing the type used most commonly in synthesizers the low pass filter The low pass filter type dampens frequencies that lie above a specified cutoff frequency Frequencies below this threshold are barely affected The frequency below the cutoff point is called ...

Page 19: ...y in a sound starting with its high harmonics and then coming up to its full frequency range You can cut the bass and mid range of high frequency drum sounds like hi hats or crashes 12 dB Band Pass Filter This type removes frequencies both below and a bove the cutoff point As a result the sound character gets thinner Use these filter types when programming effect and percussion like sounds 12 dB N...

Page 20: ...res a typical filter character with a strong boost around the cutoff frequency When the setting is raised to maximum the filter starts to self oscillate generating a pu re sine wave This feature can be used to create typical solo sounds Env Filter Envelope Amount 100 100 Determines the amount of influence the selected envelope has on cutoff frequency For positive settings the filter cutoff frequen...

Page 21: ...angle waveform of the LFO in musical note values 1 2 Bars to 1 64 syncs the triangle waveform of the LFO to dotted note va lues 1 1t Bars to 1 64t syncs the triangle waveform of the LFO to third note values With positive Mod Depth values the LFO starts at maximum amplitude and in versely with negative values it starts at minimum amplitude Mod Speed S H 1000 Hz The integrated Low Frequency Oscillat...

Page 22: ...panned far left when the setting is to the right it is panned far right If you want to situate the sound in the middle of the stereo panorama use the Center setting Because the delay effects are independent from the pan settings the higher the propor tion of delayed signal in your mix the less pronounced the panning effect wil be Mix 100 0 0 100 This parameter controls the volume ratio between the...

Page 23: ...ar to select the different settings Off allows no synchronisation Time can be set in milliseconds 2 Bars to 1 64 syncs the delay time in musical note values 1 2 Bars to 1 64 syncs the delay time in dotted note values 1 1t Bars to 1 64t syncs the the delay time in third note values Cubase VST offers an internal synchronisation with version 3 7 PC and 4 1 MAC or higher offering more precision than M...

Page 24: ... is started The envelope parameter has the following functions Attack defines the period of time for the envelope to rise to its maximum Decay defines the time for the envelope to fall to 0 Shape controls the shape of the Decay and Release phases You can shade from exponential to linear to inverse exponential or to a combination of ex ponential and inverse exponential cosine like After you let go ...

Page 25: ...trol The rate of the envelope s decay was not adjustable This oscillator signal was routed to an amplifier with an envelope whose Decay pa rameter adjusted the decay rate of the envelope The second part of the bass drum sound was made with a short impulse and a low pass filtered noise generator both summed and routed into another envelope that controlled their output volume The Attack parameter co...

Page 26: ...t to center The Filter Cutoff can vary between 100Hz and 5000Hz and Vel should be set at 25 or so Filter Resonance should be set to 10 Envelope 2 should be set to an almost linear shape Use Osc 1 and Osc 2 Level to adjust the mix of tone and noise and use Osc 1 FM Env to vary the click strength Roland TR 808 Snare Drum On the Roland TR 808 the snare drum was made of two resonating filters and a no...

Page 27: ...of the sound Another variation can be heard in the sound library that comes with the Attack This o ne uses a very low noise signal level that is boosted greatly behind the high pass filter The reason for this is that Oscillator 2 plays the tone of the snare drum while the high pass filter dampens this tone heavily To raise it back up to a good volume Drive bo osts it to a normal level Simmons SDS ...

Page 28: ... a level of around 25 This comes into play because there is an additional high pass filter on the original TR 909 Side Stick that dampens lower frequencies Finally add a good amount of Drive around 30dB to the signal set Envelope 2 Decay to 45ms and you will have the sharp attack of the original sound TR 909 Hand Claps TR 909 hand claps are made using the same signal routing as in the original TR ...

Page 29: ...o produce a sine or a triangle wave modulate its pitch by an envelope and set up the second os cillator to create either the attack noise or the resonance skin When you want to do the latter just copy the settings of the first oscillator and change the pitch or the envelope depth a little Also it might be interesting to remove a little of the tone from Oscillator 1 by applying FM from the second o...

Page 30: ...d signal is sent through a band pass filter and an envelope that stops abruptly A funny side note on the TR 808 the square oscillators were the same that were used for the cymbal and hi hat sounds However those sounds used a cluster of six detuned square oscillators with different band pass and high pass filter settings Concluding Remarks We hope that this manual has helped you to familiarize your...

Page 31: ...Frequencies both below and above the cutoff point are dampened Band Stop Filter Notch Filter A band stop filter does the opposite of a band pass filter i e it dampens only the fre quencies around the cutoff point and lets all other frequencies pass through Clipping Clipping is a sort of distortion that occurs when a signal exceeds its maximum value The curve of a clipped signal is dependent upon t...

Page 32: ...il the trigger is terminated The envelope then initiates the Release phase until it reaches the programmed minimum value Filter A filter is a component that allows some of a signal s frequencies to pass through it and dampens other frequencies The most important aspect of a filter is the filter cutoff fre quency Filters generally come in four categories low pass high pass band pass and band stop A...

Page 33: ... uniform connections Essentially this is how MIDI works One sender is connected to one or several receivers For instance if you want to use a computer to play the Pulse then the computer is the sender and the Pulse acts as the receiver With a few exceptions the majority of MIDI devices are equipped with two or three ports for this purpose MIDI In MIDI Out and in some cases MIDI Thru The sender tra...

Page 34: ...curately Program Change These are MIDI messages used to switch between sound programs Program numbers 1 through 128 can be selected via program 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 immediately after the trigger is terminated regardless of the envelope s cu...

Page 35: ...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 VCA VCA is the acronym for voltage controlled amplifier A VCA is a component that in fluences the volume level of a sound via a control voltage This is often generated by an envelope or an LFO VCF VCF is the acronym for voltage controlled filter It is a fi...

Page 36: ...c 1 Pitch 13 73 Filter Env Vel 42 102 Osc 1 PitchEnv 14 74 Filter Mod Sync 43 103 Osc 1 PEnvVel 15 75 Filter Mod Speed 44 104 Osc 1 PEnv Select 16 76 Filter Mod Depth 45 105 Osc 1 FM 17 77 Output 46 106 Osc 1 FM Env 18 78 Amp Volume 47 107 Osc 1 FM EnvVel 19 79 Amp Velocity 48 108 Osc 1 FMEnv Select 20 80 Pan 49 109 Osc 2 Shape 21 81 Delay Mix 50 110 Osc 2 Pitch 22 82 XOR Group 51 111 Osc 2 PitchE...

Page 37: ...ols Attack Parameter Page 1 Encoders 1 8 Oscillator 1 Pitch Sound 1 8 Page 1 Pots 1 8 Oscillator 1 FM Sound 1 8 Page 1 Sliders 1 8 Envelope 2 Decay Sound 1 8 Page 2 Encoders 1 8 Oscillator 2 Pitch Sound 1 8 Page 2 Pots 1 8 Oscillator 1 FM Envelope Sound 1 8 Page 2 Sliders 1 8 Envelope 1 Decay Sound 1 8 Page 3 Encoders 1 8 Filter Drive Sound 1 8 Page 3 Pots 1 8 Filter Cutoff Sound 1 8 Page 3 Slider...