Antares kantos 10 user manual
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13 Note that while this kind of real-time playing can be fun, the most common filter application is to add dynamic effects by controlling it with a signal such as input dynamics or an envelope. This routing would be done in the Modulation Matrix. MODE GENERAL EFFECT WHAT FREQ DOES WHAT Q DOES lowpass 4 pole reduces highs rolls off highs at 24dB/octave starting at the selected cutoff freqboosts response at the cutoff frequency and slightly lowers the level of frequencies below the cutoff frequency boosts response at the cutoff frequency (but more gently than 4 pole mode), and slightly lowers the level of frequencies below the cutoff frequency boosts a range of frequencies centered at the freq parameter lowpass 2 pole bandpass 4 pole bandpass 2 pole highpass 4 pole highpass 2 polereduces highs more gently than 4 pole mode boosts a range of frequencies boosts a range of frequencies, but with a wider slope reduces lows reduces lows more gently than 4 pole moderolls off highs at 12dB/octave starting at the selected cutoff freq boosts a range of frequencies centered at the freq parameter boosts a range of frequencies centered at the freq parameter rolls off lows at 24dB/octave starting at the selected cutoff freq rolls off lows at 12dB/octave starting at the selected cutoff freqnarrows/widens the range of frequencies boosts response at the cutoff frequency and slightly lowers the level of frequencies above the cutoff frequency boosts response at the cutoff frequency (but more gently than 4 pole mode) and slightly lowers the level of frequencies above the cutoff frequency The Active button turns the filter on and off. If you don’t need a filter, turn it off to reduce the stress on your hard-working CPU. This will cause it to like you.
14 The Chorus Chorus is an effect that copies the oscillator sound, and detunes it in a periodic fashion (sort of like a slow, mild vibrato). Mixing the copied, modulated sound with the original oscillator produces a fat, animated effect. Not only do we now have the equivalent of two oscillators, the other oscillator has a chorus also, giving the equivalent of a four-oscillator synthesizer capable of generating downright corpulent timbres. TUTORIAL: USING THE CHORUS Press Play on your sequencer to play the tutorial file (if you’re getting tired of hearing this, don’t worry — starting with the next tutorial, we’ll be using a different audio example). Choose the Sawtooth wave. Click on the Chorus Active button to enable this function. Adjust Depth for the desired amount of detuning. Also experiment with the Rate control, which determines the rate at which the detuning occurs. With slow rate settings, lots of detuning adds a really annoying effect that can help clear a room when needed. Rate = 0.3 Hz and Depth = 10% gives a subtle chorusing effect. The Noise Generator kantos presents yet another signal source: a noise generator with filter. This isn’t too exciting by itself, but works wonders in conjunction with the Articulator. The output is gated on and off with the main oscillator signal (or not, as you see fit), and can deliver scary whispering effects as well as emphasize vocal sibilance. For tutorials on the Noise Generator, refer to Chapter 7 on the Articulator.
15 Chapter 6: Applied Mixology, Delay, and Tempo Sync Before getting into the Articulator, let’s get into the mixing capabilities. The Sub-Mixer kantos produces five audio sources for use in your final sound: Oscillator 1: The sound of oscillator 1. Fundamental 1: kantos tracks the input signal’s pitch, derives the fundamental fre- quency, and generates a sine wave (i.e., a wave with no harmon- ics – just the fundamen- tal) at that frequency. The fundamental follows any tuning or pitch constraint settings, but does not go through the Articulator. Therefore, mixing in this waveform can reinforce the bass in cases when the Articulator passes only the upper harmonics of the oscillator. Oscillator 2: The sound of oscillator 2. Fundamental 2: The oscillator 2 version of what we described previ- ously for oscillator 1. Noise: Output from the Noise Generator.
16 Other Sub-Mixer controls are: Solo button (one per channel). When enabled, this allows you to hear one channel (if its fader is up) while muting the rest. Multiple channels can be soloed. Mute button (one per channel). When enabled, this silences the associated channel. Multiple channels can be muted. TUTORIAL: USING THE SUB-MIXER Before beginning this tutorial, let’s start with a clean slate. Remove the kantos plug-in from your sequencer, then call it up again to start with the default patch. Load the file VOCALS_WORDS.AIF and loop it. Set the Gate Generator parameters as follows: On = -10, Off = -20, Floor = -40, Hold = 100 ms. As the audio plays, adjust the levels of the various Sub-Mixer sliders. Note how each element affects the sound. Hint: Use different wave settings for the two oscillators. Click on a channel’s Solo button to hear the channel by itself (assuming the channel’s fader is up). Click on Mute for a channel that has its fader up and hear the sound go away. The Main Mixer and Output The main Mixer adjusts the balance of: The synth output. This is the Sub-Mixer output. Delay line return. kantos can add delay effects to the sound; this slider adjusts the delay level. The original unprocessed audio input.
17 Important note: kantos has lots of modules that can produce substan- tial amounts of gain, so if you turn everything up, the program can easily run out of headroom and introduce clipping distortion. Now, some of you perverse hardcore techno types might appreciate this as a “feature,” which is fine with us. But those who want a somewhat purer sound are advised to realize that wherever levels can be set, kantos can overload. Most platforms assume a lower level from plug-ins than kantos can provide, so be careful. Another important note: The mixer lets you mix the input signal into the kantos output. But you may want to add processing independent of kantos to the input signal. For example, suppose you want kantos to double the vocal with a super-wonderful synth, but also want reverb and echo on the vocal. The reverb and echo will confuse kantos, and give unreliable results. For best results, copy the audio you want to process to a separate track, and add processing to that. Use the original, unprocessed track to drive kantos. Even with rhythmic loops, an unprocessed version of the loop may well provide more predictable gates and tighter rhythm. Send that version to kantos and copy the loop to another track for processing and mixing. Okay, so much for warnings. Here’s the scoop on the other Mixer controls. Solo button (one per channel). When enabled, this allows you to hear one channel (if its fader is up) while muting the rest. Multiple channels can be soloed. Mute button (one per channel). When enabled, this silences the associated channel. Multiple channels can be muted. Pan control. This places the channel output in the stereo field, from full left to full right, or anywhere in between. If kantos 1.0 has been instantiated as a mono in/stereo out plug-in, each of the main mixer inputs include a pan control. If instantiated as a mono out plug-in, there won’t be any pan controls. Output level. Determines the overall kantos output. This also has a Mute button so you can silence kantos if needed. Output level meters and clip indicators. These help in adjusting the Output Level control, which should be set so that the clip indicators flash only on the strongest audio peaks.
18 TUTORIAL: USING THE MIXER Continue playing the VOCALS_WORDS.AIF file, and adjust the levels of the various Mixer sliders. Note how each element affects the sound. Click on a channel’s Solo button to hear the channel by itself (assuming the channel’s fader is up). Click on Mute for a channel that has its fader up and hear the sound go away. Move the output level slider all the way to the top, so that the over- load indicators shine like the sun at midday. You should hear a very distorted sound – some people actually like this effect, so use it if desired. The Delay kantos has a simple delay line, with delay time variable from 10 ms to 999 ms (drag the delay time slider, or enter a value in the corresponding numerical). The delay processes the Sub-Mixer output; the main Mixer synth output does not need to be up to use the delay. A feedback parameter feeds some of the delay output back to the input, producing multiple echoes. This is variable from 0% to 100% via slider or numerical. Setting feedback to 100% can produce runaway feedback that goes into oscillation. Reduce overall levels before setting high feedback levels. An important note: If you assign a control source to the Delay Level in the Modulation Matrix, when that source is applying positive modula- tion you will hear the Delay return even with the Delay fader all the way down. If that isn’t what you want, either remove the modulation assignment or press the Mute button above the Delay fader to silence the signal.
19 Delay Tempo Sync/Tap Tempo You can synchronize the delay time to song tempo in two ways: Click your mouse button on the Tap button in the Tempo section, or hit the keyboard “T” key, on quarter notes of the song’s tempo. Enter the song tempo in the Tempo sync numerical box. In either case, the delay time equals the duration of a quarter note at the song tempo. To create an eighth note delay, tap out eighth notes for the tap function, or enter double the tempo in the numerical. For half-note delays, tap out half-notes for the tap function, or enter half the tempo in the numerical. TUTORIAL: MESSIN’ AROUND WITH DELAY Continue playing the VOCALS_WORDS.AIF file. Turn up the Delay slider in the main Mixer to around –6 or so. Vary the delay time slider and note how the delay time changes. Increase the Feedback amount to create multiple echoes. The effect will be most obvious at longer delay times. Caution: Avoid the 100% setting unless the monitoring level is way down. Click on the Tempo Delay button, then enter a value in the tempo numerical between 60 and 400 BPM. Note how the delay time changes to reflect the new tempo. Click on the Tap icon in the Tempo section at a quarter note rate, or tap on your computer keyboard’s “T” key. The tempo you are tapping will be shown in the numerical field. Congratulations! You now know your way around the delay module. The more taps you give kantos, the more accurate the reading because the taps are averaged over time. Keyboards often scan keys fairly slowly, so if you tap the T key really fast, it might not register. Make sure each T key tap is more than a few milliseconds long. You can use kantos as a tempo-to-time interval calculator. Want to know the duration of a quarter note at 133 BPM? Enter that value in the Tempo numerical, then observe the delay time at the delay slider (451 ms, in case you wondered). Or enable an LFO to calculate BPM to Hz.
20 Chapter 7: The Articulator The Articulator is the heart of kantos 1.0. It uses the harmonic content and formant information detected by kantos 1.0’s input section, and applies that to the output of the oscillators and noise generator. The process is somewhat like a vocoder, which uses the harmonic content of a voice and applies that to an oscillator or other instrument. The kantos Articulator can give the same kind of effects, but because it’s an Antares product, it also does much more than expected. Like the filters, the Articulator uses a Biaxial Graphic Adjuster; the two parameters are Amount and Q, which define the amount and character of the harmonic processing. Here are the Top 5 things you need to know about the Articulator: The Articulator has three inputs: Osc 1, Osc 2, and Noise In. Enable their “LEDs” to send them to the Articulator. With the control dot at the lower left-hand corner, the input passes through unaffected. This equals numerical values of 0% Q and 0% Amount.
21 Moving the dot to the upper right hand corner produces the maximum effect. This equals numerical values of 100% Q and 100% Amount. The Formant Offset parameter shifts the input’s detected formants (overall harmonic structure) up or down in frequency, providing yet another twisted way to affect the sound’s character. The Emphasis section is a three-band graphic equalizer with separate controls for low, mid, and high frequencies. Use it to tailor the sound’s overall character. TUTORIAL: KOOL ARTICULATOR FUN! Continue playing the VOCALS_WORDS.AIF file. If needed, bring down the delay slider (or click on its mute button) from the previous tutorial. Also turn down the Input slider in the main Mixer so you don’t hear the original vocal. Start off by dragging the glowing blue ball to the lower left-hand corner, where the Articulator has no effect. Drag the ball around and note the audio result. Vary the Formant slider. As you move it to the right, the sound be- comes brighter. Toward the left, the sound becomes darker and lower. Enable and disable the Articulator’s Osc1 and Osc2 buttons to hear how they affect the sound. Leave them enabled for now, along with the Noise In button. Bring up the Sub-Mixer Noise slider and check out the creepy whisper- ing effect. Click on the Noise Filter’s Active button and experiment with different filter settings. Experiment with the Emphasis sliders to check out how they affect the sound.
22 Chapter 8: Modulation Mastery What Is Modulation? Modulation is the process of using a control signal to vary a sound-altering or sound-generating parameter. For a simple example, turning up an amp’s volume is an example of “modulating” the amplitude with a “control signal” (your hand turning the knob). More examples: synthesizer vibrato uses an LFO to modulate oscillator pitch, and the tremolo in a guitar amp modulates level with a periodic waveform. Some of the modulation has handy defaults. For example, the detected pitch of the input defaults to controlling the oscillator pitch. Also, unless you specifically click on the Amp Envelope’s On button, input dynamics are automatically routed to the oscillator and noise levels. This is the most common way to use kantos; generally the input dynamics control the sound. kantos has seven modulation sources, and 35 possible modulation destina- tions. That should keep you busy for a while. Before we investigate these in detail, though, let’s look at how to adjust the Gate Generator, as this generates triggers that can be an essential part of the modulation process. The Gate Generator The Gate Generator (GG) helps kantos determine when to trigger envelopes, reset wave- forms, and other useful duties. The GG resembles a sophisticated noise gate with four main parameters; here’s what those parameters do. On: When a signal exceeds this threshold, kantos recognizes it as a new note and generates a note-on trigger. Off: When a signal drops below this level, kantos decides the note has stopped and generates a note-off.