Session Keys Grand S Manual - e
Contents
1. e Equal stands for equal temperament tuning where each pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio In many cases this will be the tuning of choice when you simultaneously use a synthesizer e Stretched stands for a tuning method for stringed musical instruments that attempts to accommodate the natural inharmonicity of their vibrating elements gt Click Equal or Stretched to select the desired tuning The currently selected option is shown in white 424 Hz 425 Hz 436 Hz 437 Hz 438 Hz 439 Hz 447 Ha Pitch pop up menu The Tuning section is also where you can change the standard concert pitch A 440 Hz if necessary desired gt Click the downward pointing arrow head next to the currently set pitch to open a drop down menu where you can select one of the available options Session Keys Silent Key and Half Pedal Functions The Functions section in the Settings pop up dialog lets you activate two functions Silent Key and Half Pedal e When you activate Silent Key you can softly press and hold down one or several keys and prevent the virtual hammers touching the virtual strings The strings can now vibrate freely and interact with notes that you play with normal velocity Depending on the notes you play this will e g produce harmonic overtones or other sympathetic resonance that produces effects similar to reverb e By activating Half Pedal which creates the same effect as partially pres2. SESSION KEYS Get inspired Make music instruments User Manual Session Keys e instruments lab GmbH Bremer Stra e 18 21073 Hamburg Germany www e instruments com All information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment onthe part of e instruments The software described by this document is subject to a license agreement and may not be copied to any other media except as specifically allowed in the license agreement No part of this publication may be copied reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded for any purpose without prior written permission by e instruments 2014 e instruments lab GmbH and its licensees All product specifications are subject to change without prior notice Session Keys is a trademark of e instruments All other product and company names are trademarks labels etc of the respective firms and or owners All rights reserved User manual by musicandtext com Software version 1 0 04 2014 Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Welcome to Session Keys GrandS 1 Session Keys Key Features 1 About Kontakt Kontakt Player 1 Installation v c c e ee eea y KK nen 1 Session Keys Controls 3 Basic Control Types 3 BUTTONS io 034 605 ne 3 Selector Switches 3 pee rr ee re rr re 3 Pagani 3 Drop Down Menus sss sss ss s s
3. one of these two Sample Set buttons Settings button Click to open the Animator amp Piano tabs Settings pop up Piano tab view visible Pedals ae caneek Click atab to open the 7 l up basic functions respective section for direct U t such as tuning use or editing Amount Soft Sost Sustain velocity curve etc Pentamorph fader and buttons in Piano section Click one of the five names to switch to the respective sounds or click in the pentagon shape and drag uo downwards to morph between the sounds Multi New default Session Keys Grand S hi Output st 1 v iy Voices o Midi Ch omni g Memory 401 74 MB SESSION KEYS Pedals UUW Soft Sost Sustain Session Keys Grand S with studio samples selected Session Keys New default Session Keys Grand S Output st 1 di Voices O Max 256 Purge H Midi Ch omni 7 Memory 401 74 MB m SESSION KEYS q Sost Using the functions in the Session Keys Grand S window you can Select the desired sample set studio or concert by clicking on one of the two small grand piano icons in the lower left corner of the piano picture see page 8 Determine the tuning type and concert pitch as well as the desired velocity curve and other functions in the Settings dialog that appears when you click the cogwheel icon in the lower right corner of the piano picture see page 9 Control all tonalit
4. 23 Open Song 21 Overview 20 Phrase Selector 22 Using other bass notes 23 Using Smart Chords 23 Using the sustain pedal 23 Assigning chords amp modifiers to ext hardware pads amp keys 19 Automation External sequencer 24 Bass note keys In Keys Pop up dialog 16 Bass Note Pads In Pads Pop up dialog 18 C Chord Map Gender 15 Chords Mode 15 Tonic 15 Compressor 13 Concert samples 8 Control Types Buttons 3 Drop Down Menus 4 Faders 3 in Session Keys 3 Knobs 3 Control TypesSelector Switches 3 D Delay 14 Dynamic Response 7 E Effects Compressor 13 Delay 14 Equalizer 13 Pop up dialog 13 Reverb 14 Stereo Width 13 Envelope 12 Equalizer 13 Session Keys G Gender Chord Map 15 H Half Pedal 10 Humanize In Keys Pop up dialog 16 In Pads Pop up dialog 18 K Key Octave In Keys Pop up dialog 16 Keys Bass note 16 Pop up dialog 16 M Master switches In Keys Pop up dialog 17 In Pads Pop up dialog 19 MIDI Learn 19 Mode Chords 15 N Native Instruments Default preset for Maschine 19 Noise 12 O Octave selector In Pads Pop up dialog 19 P Pad Block In Pads Pop up dialog 18 Pads Pop up dialog 18 Pedals 8 Pentamorph Fader amp Buttons 7 Pentamorph Using the 8 Piano Section 7 Pop up dialogs Effects 13 Keys 16 Pads 18 Settings 9 Tonality 12 R Resonance 12 Reverb 14 Reverse 12 29 Session Keys S Sample Types Acoustic 7 Aerial 7 Mechanics 7 Reverse
5. Keys Controls This chapter introduces you to Session Keys specific controls which are part of the Instrument within your Kontakt Kontakt Player software Session Keys Grand 5 4 K e Tune 2 00 Kla G Output st 1 di Voices OF Mar 256 n ail Midi Ch omni gt g Memory 401 74 MB In AT The Kontakt Instrument Header To learn how to operate the Instrument Headers controls please refer to the documentation of your Kontakt or Kontakt Player software Basic Control Types Session Keys includes six basic types of controls Buttons These can have different shapes e g LED rectangular text or other and are all toggles click once to turn on again to turn off When actuated buttons button frames or text changes color which reflects the new state Selector Switches Selector switches also come in different shapes and forms and are used to select one or several options Click the desired option to select it Some program sections contain special selector switch types e The Phrase selector in the Animator looks like an octave of piano keys click any of the white keys to select one of the available piano phrases e The Tempo selector in the Animator lets you select one of three available playback speeds standard half time double time e The Pedal switches in the Piano section have pedal shapes as found on grand pianos e The pentagon shaped Pentamorph in the same section
6. can now assign sus4 to the next pad on your external hardware 4 Repeat the process for all 16 pads The MIDI Learn procedure will only be complete when all pads have been assigned and the last pad has stopped flashing Please note To be able to use your pad controller hardware you must activate the Pad assignment switch so that it gets highlighted 5 Ifyouwant to keep your settings save the NKI Set Default Session Keys comes with a default setup file template for Native Instruments Maschine controller If you use this Maschine is set up so that all functions in Session Keys are assigned to Maschine buttons and faders You can find the file in the Maschine Settings folder which resides inside the Resources folder Please refer to the Maschine manual for an explanation on how to load template files Using the Set Default button will reset pad assignment to the Maschine default setting Click Set Default to do this Note that this can not be undone unless you have saved your changes in the NKI and can load them again Session Keys Animator The Animator is an adaptable MIDI piano phrase player It contains pre programmed piano phrases in various styles grouped as songs which you can utilize using your own chords Styles from different songs can be combined and saved as new songs gt To open the Animator section click the Animator tab located in the lower left of the window When you do this the default song wi
7. dialog by clicking its button and set up its parameters 3 Click the small switch in the upper left corner of the Sound section The Sound preset name line will show Enter Name followed by two buttons 4 Select Enter Name type in a new name and click the small OK button If you have changed your mind and want to start from scratch use the X button to the left of the OK button to delete the preset Loading a Sound Preset Two methods are available to load a Sound preset You can either 1 Open the Preset drop down menu by clicking the downward pointing arrow head 2 Select a preset in the drop down menu by clicking on its name Or gt Use the two horizontal arrow heads in the upper right corner of the Sound section to directly select the previous or next setup preset By clicking several times you can sequentially step through the preset list as it is shown in the drop down menu Deleting a Sound Preset Factory presets can not be deleted For all other presets two methods are available to delete a Sound preset gt To delete the currently selected preset click the small x button in the top left corner of the Sound section gt To discard a Sound preset that you have just created but not yet saved click the X button to the left of the OK button Please note that you can not undo deleting a Sound preset Session Keys Tonality Pop up Dialog gt Click the Tonal
8. lets you select one of its five options by clicking on the corresponding name You can also seamlessly morph between options by dragging the white button up or down like a vertically aligned fader e Whenassigning smart chords to keys or pads on your keyboard in the Smart Chord section dialog you can make multiple selections i e choose to select a bass note one of two inversions and a modifier Knobs gt To turn aknob click on it and drag up to move the knob setting clockwise or down to move it counter clockwise Knobs can be fine tuned by holding down your computer keyboard s Shift key as you turn the knob Ctrl Click Mac Cmd Click resets a knob to its default value Faders Session Keys has two faders e A horizontal fader located under the heading Dynamic in the Animator used to determine the effect of key velocity versus pitch bend control in order to control the dynamics of the Animator phrases gt Click between the two arrow head tips and drag horizontally e The Pentamorph in the Piano section gt Click on the center of the pentagon shape and drag vertically to change its current setting Alternatively drag the white fader handle up or down Session Keys Drop Down Menus These menus can usually be recognized by a small downward pointing arrow gt To access a drop down menu s entries click on the menu A list holding several entries drops down To select one of the entries move the mouse
9. the Song drop down menu where you can load one of the available songs e The phrase selector the white keys in the vertically aligned keyboard octave contains the individual piano phrases of a song To utilize the play characteristics of a piano phrase select one of the keys and play chords on your external keyboard see Phrase Selector on page 22 e The browser next to the phrase selector lets you browse for and select individual piano phrases from other songs for assignment to the currently selected key in the phrase selector This also lets you assemble your own songs see The Browser on page 22 20 Session Keys Animator Section Bottom End Elements O OFF Chord Detection Dynamic wy ir Quantize n a gt lt Fo Tight Mod Wheel Pb Mix Key Vel Amount Amount From left to right the bottom end of the Animator section contains the following elements e The On Off button lets you activate or deactivate the Animator e Chord detection displays the chord you currently play e The Loose and Tight buttons let you toggle between a long or short chord recognition time e The complexity of the Animator piano phrases can be increased or decreased by clicking the vertically aligned arrow head buttons in the Complexity section or by using the Modulation wheel on your external keyboard Three complexity levels 1 3 are available e The Dynamic section lets you set up phrase dynamics control The two dynamics t
10. 15 You can also play different chord inversions as well as certain interval notes by pressing additional keys or pads The unique Animator contains pre programmed yet very flexible and usable piano phrases in various styles These phrases are grouped as songs that contain different phrases for intro verse choruses bridge and ending which you can apply using your own chords All Animator setup parameters become available when you click on the Animator tab in the lower left part of the window As with all other parameters in this list these are described in detail in their own manual section see page 20 Session Keys Piano Section The Piano section is located at the bottom of the window gt To open it click the Piano tab located at the lower right end of the window From left to right the Piano section hosts three functions that can greatly impact your sound e A Dynamic Response knob e The Pentamorph Fader and buttons e Three foot pedal switches Tonality gt Aerial o Acoustic Reversed Mechanics Piano section Dynamic Response The Dynamic Response knob is used to control the overall dynamic response of the piano Usually amusician will want to use the full dynamic range of the instrument But in certain situations limiting dynamics may be useful If you want to prevent a signal surpassing a certain maximum output level during recording limiting the dynamic response may be a solution e The more you turn up the D
11. 9 ANIMO inni 20 Animator Quick Overview 20 Animator Section Top End Elements 20 Animator Section Bottom End Elements 21 Opening an Animator Song 21 Creating a New Animator Song 21 Deleting an Animator Song 22 Phrase Selector 22 Ihe Browser 22 Animator Hints 23 Using Smart Chords as Animator input 23 Using the Sustain Pedal 23 Using independent Bass notes 23 Additional Hints 24 External Sequencer Automation 24 Maschine Hardware Integration 24 pisana ia aria 26 EEE ann 28 EEE EU 29 Session Keys Session Keys Welcome to Session Keys Grand S Thank you for choosing Session Keys Grand S Session Keys is a series of highly expressive and versatile acoustic grand pianos that lets you quickly achieve great results With a new and innovative approach Session Keys Grand provides a fresh look at the timeless Grand Piano Carefully selected acoustic pianos meticulous recording and inventive feature sets deliver unmatched versatility and truly inspiring instruments We hope you enjoy using Session Keys and we would be delighted to hear your feedback and ideas Session Keys Key Features Session Keys provides you with a multitude of sound options from a purely classical to amodern sound approach e Two different sample sets per instrument Concert mode was r
12. OP_GROUPA WAV LENGTH 14 265 LOOP 2 3 LOOP MODE START END CROSSFADE ENABLE 137886 142982 0 T DDR MASTER PADS TAP vorne NOTE REPEAT SEMITONE SEMITONE OCTAVE PATTERN KEYBOARD PAD MODE NAVIGATE QUANTIZE QUANT 50 NUDGE lt NUDGE gt DUPLICATE EVENTS SELECT TRANSPORT lt STEP a METRONOME COUNT IN COMPARE Number function MIDI CC Number Function mm MIDI CC 7 CT PS RS 8 nofumeion DO 3 Tanmaioromon m esta ENT To es O RE DI gt aci i BE Pentamorph turn the control Turn 20 DE Gain push the control Push 118 er idee Ti 37 anmatorPnases62 4 28 anmatrphaswar u 25 Tanmaiorphasese 4 30 AnimatorPhase202 2 Pst Tanmatorpmasere 2 gt modestes 2 33 Tmoamenswarn HH 3 mean u 35 Tmeanenssan 4 36 moanennmmemionen 2 37 Meaiierandinvesionde1 4 6 Imanenascn 2 39 Moaiecrithaasso1 4 HarmonicFuncion u 1 Tramoneruneioma Memonerundene 2 8 Hamonerunetene 4 Hamenerunaiene romenirunetenp 4 4 ramonerunmene T H TO SISISISINISINISN Sell A ela S SN 26 Session Keys MASCHINE i MIDI INSTANCE Mma i o o oOo E E tr GF MODULES EDIT BROWSE SAMPLING RECORD lt STRETCH __ gt _ SETTINGS DRUM LOOP DRUMLOOP_GROUPA WAV LENGTH 14 265 LOOP 2 3 LOOP MODE START END CROSSFADE ENABLE 137886 142982 0 T DDR MASTER PADS TAP vorne NOTE REPEA
13. T SEMITONE SEMITONE OCTAVE PATTERN KEYBOARD PAD MODE NAVIGATE QUANTIZE QUANT 50 NUDGE lt NUDGE gt DUPLICATE EVENTS SELECT TRANSPORT lt STEP a METRONOME COUNT IN COMPARE Number function MIDI CC Number Function mm MIDI CC 7 CT RS TS ES 3 Tanmaioromon m CT 86 Pentamorph turn the control Turn 20 DE Gain push the control Push 118 PES Es 37 TAnmaorpnasesea HH 25 anmatrphaswar u 25 Tanmatorpnasese 4 30 AnmatorPhrase202 2 Pst Tanmatorpmasere 2 gt modestes 2 33 Modifersuseret Wailers u 35 Tmeanerssan 4 36 moanennmmemionen 2 37 Meaiierandinvesionde1 4 38 Imanenascn 2 39 moderniser HarmonicFuncion 1 Tramoneruneioma Memonerundene 2 8 Hamonicruneione 44 HarmonteFuncton u famonerunetendp 4 4 ramonerunmeme Oo femo LA EEE AAA Sell a ela Ri SN 27 Session Keys Credits Produced and engineered by Thomas Koritke Concept Thomas Koritke Sebastian Bretschneider Frank Elting Sound Design Sample Editing Sascha Haske Holger Brauns Script Programming Sebastian Bretschneider Martin Keil Animator Lars Dahlke Thomas Berlin Arne Straube Bo Heart Interface Design Max Mondon 3D Rendering pixelsonic Martin Jann Manual musicandtext com 28 Index A Animator Bottom section elements 21 Browser 22 Create Song 21 Delete Song 22 Keys below C 2
14. controlled by external MIDI or host automation gt Simply open the KONTAKT automation window and drag the automation ID to the desired knob or fader For further information on automation assignment please refer to the Kontakt manual Maschine Hardware Integration Session Keys comes with a template file for Native Instruments Maschine hardware When you load the template into Maschine you can use controller assignments as shown on the following pages 24 Session Keys MASCHINE i MIDI INSTANCE como i ene altel rh ge MODULES EDIT BROWSE SAMPLING RECORD lt STRETCH __ gt _ SETTINGS DRUM LOOP ORUMLOOP_GROUPR WAYV LENGTH 14 265 LOOP 2 3 LOOP MODE START END CROSSFADE ENABLE 137886 142982 0 di IEIEIK ORC MASTER PADS TAP vorne NOTE REPEAT SEMITONE SEMITONE OCTAVE PATTERN KEYBOARD PAD MODE NAVIGATE QUANTIZE QUANT 50 NUDGE lt NUDGE gt DUPLICATE EVENTS SELECT TRANSPORT lt STEP a METRONOME COUNT IN COMPARE Number Function MIDICC Number Function mipiccH 2 Nextsoundrreset f 5 Netunetion LE compressoreypass 2 RRs 3 Animatoromoi mo Tee Pentamorph Gain push the control Push 118 UD EEE Son D J N x 25 Session Keys MASCHINE i MIDI INSTANCE como ie ee ee ate rh r _ MODULES EDIT BROWSE SAMPLING RECORD lt STRETCH __ gt _ SETTINGS DRUM LOOP DRUMLO
15. d microphones set up for complete capture of string instrument body key damper and pedal noise as well as room sound The combined recorded samples give you the complete sound of this grand piano as you would hear it in a concert without amplification equipment Session Keys lets you easily tweak the individual sound components so that they match your personal sound preferences see page 12 and page 13 gt To switch to the Concert sample set click the Concert button The Concert button on the left has been activated e The Studio samples were taken from the piano with the lid removed and the microphones positioned more closely to the strings and the other piano parts The resulting sample set has more attack and sounds brighter This may be an advantage when you use the piano in a modern arrangement together with many other instru ments playing at the same time as in many cases these piano samples will have more punch within the mix gt To switch to the Studio sample set click the Studio button The Studio button on the right has been activated Session Keys Settings Pop Up Dialog This dialog is used for anumber of basic settings It will appear when you click the Settings button the small cogwheel icon in the lower right corner of the piano picture Clicking the Settings button Stretched Opens the Settings pop up dialog Tuning In this section you can switch tuning between Equal and Stretched
16. d 7 Tonality 7 Samples Concert sample set 8 Reverse 12 Selecting a sample set 8 Studio sample set 8 Set Default Default preset for NI Maschine 19 Settings Button 9 Tuning 9 Setttings Pop up dialog 9 Silent Key 10 Smart Chord Section 15 Smart Chords Gender 15 Mode 15 Tonic 15 30 Sound Handling Presets 11 Sound Section 11 Stereo Width 13 Studio samples 8 T Tonality Pop up dialog 12 Tonality parameters Envelope 12 Noise 12 Resonance 12 Reverse 12 Tonic Chords 15 Tuning 9 U UI Octave selector In Keys Pop up dialog 17 UI Velocity In Keys Pop up dialog 17 In Pads Pop up dialog 18 V Velocity Curve Selecting a 10
17. ditional Bass Note Keys You can add bass notes to all smart chords Two smaller keys named Bass and Fifth Bass are displayed to the left of the key octave in the Key pop up dialog e Ifyou select one of these keys so that its frame gets highlighted the selected bass note type will be added to all chords that you play using the Smart Chord function Click the desired bass note type to activate or deactivate it Activating one of the two options deactivates the other e You can also trigger bass notes manually Bass and fifth bass are assigned to the keys C 1 and D 1 on your external keyboard or to the two right pads in the second pad line on your pad controller Humanize amp UI Velocity These two knobs are available in the Keys and Pads pop up dialogs Humanize Knob e When the Humanize knob is fully turned down all notes in a smart chord are triggered simultaneously Depending on the situation this may or may not be desired as you might perceive it as machine like e Turning up the Humanize knob introduces slight random delays between the individual notes within the chord as would happen when a human player would play it gt Click and drag the Humanize button up or downwards to set the desired value 16 Session Keys UI Velocity Knob The User Interface knob lets you setthe velocity value that is applied when you play chords by clicking on keys or pads in the Keys and Pads pop up dialogs gt Click and drag
18. e grand piano sound They have also been sampled separately and you can apply them as desired Finding the normal level for these sounds is easy But you can also try out setting noise parameters to fairly extreme values and maybe use the Cathedral reverb in the Effects section see page 14 Then activate the sustain pedal in the Piano section or if you happen to have one use your the sustain pedal on a hardware triple pedal and hear what happens Reverse Many Session Keys samples have also been included as reverse samples These can be applied or removed in the most simple manner by turning the Reverse volume knob up or down We recommend that you experiment with this knob in conjunction with the other Tonality knobs to find the best solution for the sound you need for the project at hand 12 Session Keys Effects Pop Up Dialog gt Click the Effects button in the Sound section to open the Effects pop up dialog If you had the Tonality pop up open before you do not need to close it simply clicking on Effects will do The Effects pop up dialog contains anumber of sound processing and effect tools to shape your Session Keys sound gt Each ofthese tools can be activated or deactivated by clicking the respective On Off button Effects pop up dialog Equalizer This is a set of three semi parametric EOs for low mid and high frequencies You can use it to increase desired or decrease unwanted frequencies in Session K
19. ecorded in a carefully chosen room for the typical grand concert sound with open lid A classical microphone setting was used to capture all the air and room resonances that provide the wide open expressive grand concert piano sound For the second flavor studio mode with the lid removed a completely different recording approach was applied with thorough close microphone combinations to capture a dry direct and responsive grand piano sound e The unique Pentamorph controller allows for morphing the grand piano s acoustics from the standard characteristic sound into atmospheres that go far beyond the obvious and make it easy to create motions and soundscapes on the fly with just one knob e The Session Keys Animator turns notes or chords into authentic piano phrases while maintaining real time controllability Utilising the Animator is just an intuitive and inspiring way to jam with piano performances covering a wide range of musical genres and styles with flexible playable piano phrases that always follow your harmonies e Session Keys Smart Chord Mode provides a completely new and inventive way to play the piano and add a new depth of musical expression Full chords or Animator songs can be played via either pad controller or single keys e The Piano section contains Dynamic Response and Pedal controls as well as detailed control of all piano sound aspects including harmonics sympathetic sound pedal key and hammer noise and more e The E
20. ed at any time Deleting an Animator Song To delete one of your own Animator songs proceed as follows 1 Open the song you want to delete 2 Click the small x button to delete the currently loaded song The song will immediately be removed from the phrase selector and from the Song drop down menu Please note Factory songs can not be deleted Phrase Selector When you load an Animator song from the Song drop down menu its phrases will be loaded into the phrase selector and you can select the desired piano phrase by clicking here or by using the keys of the C 2 octave as switches a Drifting Chorus Drifting Bridge Drifting Chorus 1 Drifting Verse Drifting Intro Phrase selector 1 To select a phrase click on it so that it gets selected Alternatively press one of the keys in the C 2 octave on your external keyboard controller A selected phrase has a white frame 2 Play chords on the connected external MIDI keyboard 3 Select another phrase etc Please note that each Animator phrase contains three complexity levels which you can select by clicking the vertically aligned arrow head buttons in the Complexity section see page 21 or by using the Modulation wheel on your hardware controller keyboard The Browser In the browser you can pick individual phrases from the available factory songs and load them into the phrase selector You can also select individual Animator piano phrases from various othe
21. elect a root note and a chord map open the dropdown menus in the Smart Chord section and select the desired menu entries The root note that you select is assigned to the C key on your controller keyboard e By clicking playing one of the black keys or respective pads on the screen or your keyboard or pad controller you can play chord inversions and or add interval notes such as sus2 sus4 7 and 9 and add a root or fifth bass note The MIDI Learn function lets you assign Smart Chord pads to your external pad controller hardware Find more information on page 19 Session Keys Keys Pop Up Dialog gt Click the Keys button to open the Keys pop up dialog C4 E E ai Iny Keys pop up dialog Key Octave The entire right half of this dialog is occupied by an octave of keys showing the smart chords that were automatically assigned to the white piano keys when you selected the root note and chord map in the Smart Chord section drop down menus e You can now either play these chords by clicking the desired key or pressing the corresponding key pad on your external controller hardware e Additionally selecting one or more black modifier keys on screen or pressing them on your external hardware controller lets you play chord inversions and add interval and bass notes Selected and played keys pads get a white frame on screen You can also use Smart Chords to control the Animator see page 23 Ad
22. eys sound 1 First activate the Equalizer by clicking its Off button so that it lights up and shows On 2 Now use the Freq knob to select the center frequency of the frequency band that you wish to decrease or increase in level When you click the Freq knob or change its frequency setting the actual center frequency is displayed below the knob 3 Then use the Gain knob to actually increase or decrease the level of the previously selected frequency band When you click the Gain knob or change its level setting the actual level increase decrease setting in dB is displayed below the knob Stereo Width This bipolar knob lets you control the stereo width of the output signal e When the knob is set to its 12 o clock position the stereo width of the original samples is used e Turning the knob fully down creates a mono signal e Turning the knob up beyond its 12 o clock position will further increase stereo width The currently set value will be displayed under the knob when you use it 1 Activate Stereo Width by clicking its Off button so that it lights up and shows On 2 Click the knob and drag up or downwards to set the desired stereo width Compressor Session Keys also features a compressor unit that you can use to control the dynamics of the resulting sound A compressor narrows the dynamic range of an audio signal It does this by reducing the level of loud signal peaks As a result and when you make up for the los
23. ffects section features a 3 band equalizer stereo width control a compressor as well as Reverb and Delay effects About Kontakt Kontakt Player Session Keys is an Instrument powered by KONTAKT you will therefore need to have KONTAKT or the free KONTAKT PLAYER installed on your computer in order to use Session Keys Refer to the KONTAKT KONTAKT PLAYER documentation to learn how to load and configure KONTAKT Instruments Installation 1 Once you have downloaded Session Keys unzip the file and copy its contents to a drive on your computer 2 In the KONTAKT browser click on the Libraries tab and select Add Library KONTAKT File Libraries Database Monitor Modules Auto Add Library Instr Hau 3 A file selector box will open Browse to your Session Keys Library and select it Session Keys 4 The library box will automatically appear in the Libraries tab Note that the Session Keys box displays an Activate button which indicates that the product has not yet been activated on this computer Native Instruments ServiceCenter application which is described in the Native Instruments documentation is used for the activation process Please note that a working internet connection is required for immediate activation 5 Click Activate to open the Product Activation window and enter your product serial number here Click Activate to confirm Your library is now activated and ready for use Session Keys Session
24. hrases to your personal song version You can not load a complete song from the browser in one go gt To open an Animator song open the Song drop down menu and select the desired song All piano phrases of the Animator song are loaded into the phrase selector Creating a New Animator Song New songs can be created based on phrases of available factory songs You can assemble phrases as you like save them as a new song and use them to play the chords of your own composition Each pre programmed song has different piano phrases for intro verse choruses bridge and ending To add other phrases to an existing song or to the available Empty Factory preset proceed as follows 1 In the phrase selector select the phrase you want to replace 2 Navigate to the new phrase in the browser and double click it see page 22 The new phrase will now replace the old one in the phrase selector 21 Session Keys 3 Repeat until you re done 4 Click the small symbol in the top left corner of the Animator view The previous song name will be replaced by Enter Name 5 Name the new song by selecting Enter Name and typing in a new name 6 To save the current Sound settings with the new song make sure the links in the small chain icon are unbroken by clicking on the icon if necessary 7 Save the new song by clicking the small OK button It will now also appear in the Song drop down menu as a new Animator Song and can be select
25. ity button in the Sound section to open the Tonality pop up dialog The Tonality pop up dialog is a powerful tool to set up parameters that greatly influence the Session Keys sound In conjunction with the Pentamorph in the Piano section you can create and quickly access everything from a naturally sounding grand piano to weird other worldly sounds of strange beauty gt To turn a knob click and drag up or downwards as usual Tonality pop up dialog Resonance You can use the three knobs in this section to define the levels of harmonic inharmonic and sympathetic resonance As these resonance types have been separately sampled during sample recording of Session Keys you are free to apply them as you desire Use your ears and hear what happens when you apply the Pentamorph Fader in the Piano section see page 7 Envelope These two knobs can be used to set up the sample envelope curve e Turning up the Attack knob will gradually remove the attack phase and fade in the sound of the keys you play e Fully turning up the Decay knob will let the samples sound out with their normal decay providing you press the key for as long as necessary or use the sustain pedal Gradually turning this knob downwards will shorten the decay phase Noise You can use these three knobs to individually control the level of noise created by using the pedals or pressing and releasing the keys These real world sounds are an integral part of the complet
26. ll also automatically be opened gt To activate the Animator click the On Off button in the Animator tab so that it lights up Song section Here you can load name store add and Browser If you double click a MIDI phrase here it will be delete Animator songs and assign the current Sound assigned to the selected white key in the phrase selector preset to the current song Eu 01 Cin Crush 100 BPM El Crush Bridge mid Lu 02 Cin Home 3_4 170 BPM Fo Crush Chorusi mid Eu 03 Cin Fountains 110 BPM E Crush Chorus2 mid 7 Dd Cin Karma 100 BRM EC Crush End mid Eu 05 Cin Falling 60 BRM L El Crush Intro mid 06 Cin Prologue 3_4 146 BRM Li Pc Crush Yerse mid 9 0 Cin Morning 75 BPM Em 08 Cin Yeluet 89 BPM En 09 Cin Water 3_4 118 BPM 710 Cin Fleur 96 BRM 11 Cin Hoir 6 8 170 BRM Phrase selector Here you can select phrases for direct use or replacement 7 12 Pop Drifting 136 BRM M 13 Pop Places 130 BPM 014 Pop Spirit 125 BRM Animator Animator Quick Overview All Animator parameters are visible at a glance Animator Section Top End Elements The top end of the Animator section contains the following elements e The symbol lets you add a new song see page 21 e The x symbol lets you delete the currently selected song see page 22 e The chain symbol lets you assign the current Sound preset to a song see Creating a New Animator Song on page 21 e The downward pointing arrow head lets you open
27. n screen and on your controller keyboard pad controller starting with the C key or the lower left pad If you select F as root note and major as gender pressing the C key on your keyboard will create an F major chord e Then you can play the resulting chords by either pressing the respective key or pad on your external key or pad controller or by clicking the respective key or pad in the Keys or Pads pop up dialogs e By additionally pressing one or more dedicated modifier key s or pad s you can add a root or fifth bass note and interval notes or use chord inversions e MIDI Learn is used to assign the pads on a hardware pad controller to the corresponding Smart Chord pads see page 19 Smart Chord D Dorian gt To activate or deactivate the Smart Chord function click its On Off button The two buttons at the bottom of the Smart Chord section are used to open the Pads and Keys pop up dialogs The options offered by these dialogs are described on page 18 and page 16 Selecting Root Note and Chord Map Selecting a root note and a chord map automatically determines the chords that Smart Chord will create For example if you select the C scale and one of the available chord maps and then press the keys C D E F G A and B without activating an interval note Smart Chord will create the following chords played key setto C major key setto C minor key settoC dom 7 key set to C Dorian fe foma ome omo fome gt To s
28. ng them on your external hardware controller lets you play chord inversions and or add interval and bass notes Selected and played keys pads get a white frame on screen Bass Note Pads You can add bass notes to all smart chords Two pads named Bass and 5th Bass are displayed in the pad block e Ifyou select one of these pads so that its frame gets highlighted the selected bass note type will be added to all chords that you play using the Smart Chord function gt Click the desired bass note type to activate or deactivate it Activating one of the two options deactivates the other e You can also trigger bass notes manually By default bass and fifth bass are assigned to the two right pads in the second pad line on your pad controller You can change this using the MIDI Learn function see page 19 Humanize amp UI Velocity These two knobs are available in the Pads and Keys pop up dialogs Humanize Knob e When the Humanize knob is fully turned down all notes in a smart chord are triggered simultaneously Depending on the situation this may or may not be desired as you might perceive it as machine like e Turning up the Humanize knob introduces slight random delays between the individual notes within the chord as would happen when a human player would play it gt Click and drag the Humanize button up or downwards to set the desired value UI Velocity Knob The UI User Interface knob lets you set the velocity val
29. r Animator songs and assign them to the currently loaded song or compile a new song by using the Empty Factory preset You can save your phrase compilation under a new name and it becomes available on the Song drop down menu see Creating a New Animator Song on page 21 22 Session Keys The column to the left in the browser shows all available factory songs as folders Each folder contains up to six phrases When you click a song folder its phrases are displayed in the right browser column Folder column Folder 10 Individual piano phrase files is currently selected in the selected folder 7 25 Pop Rain 100 BRM a Faith Bridge mid Eu 26 Ind Dreams 3_4 124 BPM Ecl Faith Chorusi mid Eu 27 Ind River 6_8 50 BPM Ex Faith Chorus2 mid 25 Ind Faith 106 BFH Ecl Faith End mid Lu 29 Ind Cold 107 BFH Ecl Faith Intro mid Lu 30 Jazz North 150 BRM Ec Faith Yerse mid 7 31 Jazz Moon 74 BRM 9 32 Ltn Colores 100 BRM 33 Ltn Agua 172 BPM Eu 34 Arp 3 Voices 35 Arp 4 Voices Eu 36 Arp Triplets En 37 Clas Phrases En 38 Clas Etudes To assign a piano phrase file to one of the slots keys in the piano phrase selector proceed as follows 1 Select the phrase slot in the phrase selector by clicking on it The key graphic will get a white frame 2 In the browser double click the desired piano phrase to assign to the selected slot Animator Hints Using Smart Chords as Animator input If you have activated Smart Chords
30. riangles work like a bipolar fader by clicking and dragging horizontally inside this Dynamic fader you can determine the degree to which dynamic is controlled by you using the Pitch Bend wheel and or the velocity of your play In the default center position triangles are empty dynamics can be controlled to an equal degree using both options Dragging the fader fully to the left left triangle filled white lets you control dynamics using the Pitch Bend wheel only Dragging the fader fully to the right right triangle filled white lets you control dynamics by the velocity of your play only e Three velocity indicators reflect the currently applied velocity e The Swing knob lets you add a swing feel to rhythmically straight Animator piano phrases e The Quantize knob lets you continuously control Quantizing i e positioning of individual notes to rhythmically correct positions within the bar e The Tempo section lets you set Animator phrase playback to half normal or double tempo Opening an Animator Song When you open the Animator for the first time after loading Session Keys Grand S itis opened with the default song All additional factory songs except for some special versions containing arpeggio triplets etc are visible both in the Song drop down menu and in the browser Please note The Song drop down menu is used to select complete songs with all piano phrases whereas the browser is used to select and assign individual p
31. s gt Click the Mix knob and drag up or downwards to set the desired ratio between dry and wet signals When the Mix knob is fully turned down no reverb will be audible when it is fully turned up only the reverb wet signal is audible Note that the output level will increase when you apply reverb Delay Session Keys offers an easy to use Delay unit that you can apply to add echo to your piano sound The unit has just two knobs Time and Mix gt Click the Time knob and drag up or downwards to set the desired echo repeat time gt Click the Mix knob and drag up or downwards to set the desired ratio between unprocessed dry and processed wet signals When the Mix knob is fully turned down no delay will be audible when it is fully turned up the maximum number of delays will be audible Delay 14 Session Keys Smart Chord Section The Smart Chord section is located in the top right corner of the window Smart Chord lets you play musically correct chords by pressing one or more keys or pads on your external MIDI controller keyboard or Pad controller unit such as Native Instruments Maschine Smart Chords can also be used by clicking the keys or pads in the Keys and Pads pop up dialogs It works like this e You select a root note and chord map from the two drop down menus in the Smart Chord section e The chords defined by root note and chord map will automatically be assigned to the white keys pads o
32. s in output level by increasing output volume the level of quieter signal parts will be increased compared to the louder peaks The Session Keys compressor has two knobs e Threshold is used to set the level in dB above which compression sets in All level peaks below the set threshold level pass unaffected Session Keys e Ratio determines the amount of gain reduction It is set as a ratio value hence the name E g if a signal peak exceeds the set Threshold level by AdB and ratio is set to 4 1 the compressor output signal will only exceed the threshold level by 1dB and the gain level will be reduced by 3dB gt Click the knob and drag up or downwards to set the desired values Current values will be displayed below the knob as soon as you click or change its value Fiano Hall Concert Hall A Medium Hall R Cathedral Compressor knobs Reverb Mix knob and Reverb pop up menu Note that the output level will decrease when you apply compressor You can make up for this by increasing the NKI output level Reverb You can add reverb to your grand piano sound Session Keys has a built in high quality reverberation unit with a great number of reverb presets You can use the Mix button to set up the ratio between the unprocessed dry and processed wet signal in the output signal gt Click the downward pointing arrow head in the Reverb section to open the drop down menu where you can select one of many available Reverb type
33. s s s s lt 4 Session Keys Grand S Quick Overview 5 PIANO SECTION 42444015004 ar at 7 Dynamic Response 7 Pentamorph Fader amp Buttons 7 Using the Pentamorph Fader amp Buttons 8 FOUR sisi 8 Selecting a Sample Set 8 Settings Pop Up Dialog 9 TONG ae 9 Silent Key and Half Pedal Functions 10 Velocity CUVE cn 10 Sound SECON T 11 Sound Preset Handling 11 Creating a Sound Preset 11 Loading a Sound Preset 11 Deleting a Sound Preset 11 Tonality Pop up Dialog 12 RESONANCE sc anni 12 Envelop sica 12 NOTE une 12 HOVOrse sinistre K KRE ER 12 Effects Pop Up Dialog 13 eT aaa 13 Stereo Width ss sss s s s e sss sees 13 Compressor sun ni 13 REVGCID x s t ri 3 9 A LER KERN 14 Session Keys Smart Chord Section 15 Selecting Root Note and Chord Map 15 Keys Pop Up Dialog 16 Key OCEAN sun 16 Additional Bass Note Keys 16 Humanize amp UI Velocity 16 Ul Octave Selector 17 Master Switches 17 Pads Pop Up Dialog 18 Pad BIGER sanieren 18 Bass Note Pads 18 Humanize amp UI Velocity 18 Octave Selector 19 Master Switches 19 MIDI Learn xx arx et arrea Rr LR KKR 19 set Default ricci 1
34. see page 15 you can play Animator phrases with one or two or three fingers only The chords created by the Smart Chords function will then be used to play the currently selected Animator phrase e Ifyou want to use the plain chords provided by the selected Smart Chord s root note and chord map you can do this by pressing one key or pad only e Ifyou want to use an inversion or additional interval notes you can do this by additionally pressing the corresponding key s or pad s on your external MIDI controller hardware Using the Sustain Pedal In Animator mode you can use the sustain pedal to hold chord playback for as long as you wish This can be very useful gt Press the desired chord then press the sustain pedal and let go of the keys The chord will continuously play back until you release the pedal Using independent Bass notes When you play Animator phrases you can freely change the bass note and the phrase playback will change accordingly Try this 1 Play chords in the middle C octave 2 Now use the left hand to play additional singular bass keys and note how the bass changes in phrase playback Playing Bass Keys below C2 If you use the Animator without Smart Chords and play a key below C2 you will only get the bass of the respective phrase as the complete phrase would simply not sound well 23 Session Keys Additional Hints External Sequencer Automation All knobs and faders in Session Keys can be
35. sing the damper pedal you can achieve a shorter sustain The applied MIDI sustain value decides whether Half Pedal is applied or not This function requires a sustain pedal that can send continuous sustain data gt To activate the desired function click its name so that it lights up Velocity Curve If your controller keyboard supports velocity you can use these three switches and one knob to determine how Session Keys reacts to the velocity that you apply when pressing the keys on your keyboard Three options Hard Linear and Soft are available and should be self explanatory gt To activate the desired velocity curve click it so that it lights up 10 Session Keys Sound Section This section located top left in the Session Keys window lets you set up tonality and effects and name save or load these settings as a Sound The two buttons at the bottom let you open the Tonality and Effects pop up dialogs where you can control all tonality aspects as well as all EQ and effect settings x Sound Default x Tonality Effects The Sound section All functions available in the Sound section are described in the following paragraphs Sound Preset Handling All the settings that you make in the Tonality and Effects pop up dialogs can be saved as a Sound preset Creating a Sound Preset 1 Open the Tonality pop up dialog by clicking its button and set up its parameters as you like 2 Open the Effects pop up
36. the UI Vel button up or downwards to set the desired value Ul Octave Selector If you want to play smart chords by clicking on the keys in the Keys pop up dialog you can apply the Ul Octave selector to choose the octave Smart Chord should use gt Select one of the available seven octaves by clicking the respective number so that it gets highlighted User interface Octave selector and Master switches Master Switches The chords assigned to keys on your keyboard and to pads on your pad controller may be different depending on what you have set up using the MIDI Learn function see page 19 You can use these two switches to toggle between the two setups gt Click Pad assignment or Key assignment to switch to the desired setup The currently selected assignment will be highlighted Session Keys Pads Pop Up Dialog gt Click the Pads button to open the Pads pop up dialog Pads pop up dialog Pad Block The entire right half of this dialog is occupied by a pad block with 16 pads showing the smart chords that were automatically assigned to the individual pads when you selected the root note and chord map in the Smart Chord section drop down menus The upper eight pads are used for modifiers such as sus2 sus4 7th 9th etc e You can now either play these chords by clicking the desired pad or pressing a key pad on your external controller hardware e Additionally selecting one or more modifier pads on screen or by pressi
37. the fader handle and drag up or downwards the fader handle will move along the pentagon sides and the sound will morph accordingly e There is a Gain button next to Mechanics in the lower right corner of the pentagon shape If you activate this the sound of the piano mechanics i e pedal key and release noise will be boosted Pedals In this section you can manually activate or deactivate any combination of the three grand piano pedals Pedals UU Pedals in the Piano section e Activating the Soft pedal results in a less loud and slightly muffled sound The reason for this is that pressing this pedal on a grand piano lets it use only use 2 out of of 3 strings available for many keys e Activating the Sostenuto pedal works like a separate sustain pedal for all those keys that are pressed when this pedal is activated e Activating the Sustain pedal removes the damper from all strings so that all played notes conclude with their natural sustain You can also use the Sustain pedal to hold chord playback when the Animator is active see page 23 gt Click the desired pedal to activate or deactivate it Selecting a Sample Set In the lower left corner of the piano picture you can switch between the two available sample sets Concert and Studio The sample sets were created with different instrument and microphone setups e The Concert samples were taken from the grand piano with its piano lid open for concert sound projection an
38. to the corresponding entry so that it gets highlighted then release the mouse button The Instrument takes whatever action you ve requested then closes the menu Session Keys Session Keys Grand S Quick Overview Session Keys Grand S can be used for real time performance as well as for production and sequencing work It offers two differently recorded sample sets Concert and Studio and all additional controls for shaping the instrument sound When you change to the other sample set the background view will change but controls remain identical for both sample sets These are described in detail on the following pages Session Keys Grand S with concert samples selected Rack New default 16 1732 33 48 Smart Chord z Scion Kepi GANEST section Here you Sound section This is where De vl Ries UM 256 Pig em can activate set up you create name and load cir si dt sue sia Zr and use the Smart your own Sound presets Di LA g 6 Chord function SESSION KEYS Tonality amp Effects buttons Clicking one of these opens its dedicated pop up dialog where you can edit the respective parameters The combined Tonality amp Effects settings can be named saved and opened as Sound presets Pads amp Keys buttons With Smart Chord active each of these buttons opens a dialog where you can set up and assign it to Pads and Keys on your controller To select one of the two keyboard sample sets available click on
39. ue that is applied when you play chords by clicking on keys or pads in the Pads and Keys pop up dialogs gt Click and drag the UI Vel button up or downwards to set the desired value 18 Session Keys Octave Selector This lets you select an octave for smart chords that you play both by clicking on the pads in the Pads pop up dialog or by pressing pads on your external hardware gt Select one of the available seven octaves by clicking the respective number so that it gets highlighted Ul Octave 253 SQ Blaster Pad assignment User interface Octave selector and Master switches Master Switches The chords assigned to pads on your pad controller and to keys on your keyboard may be different depending on what you have set up using the MIDI Learn function see below You can use these two buttons to toggle between the two setups gt Click Pad assignment or Key assignment to switch to the desired setup The currently selected assignment will be highlighted MIDI Learn Use this function in the Pads pop up dialog to assign the available Smart chords bass and interval notes as well as chord inversions to pads on your external hardware controller 1 Activate MIDI Learn by clicking it so that it gets highlighted The frame of the upper left of the pads sus2 starts to flash 2 Now press the pad on your external hardware to which you want to assign sus2 3 The frame of the next pad sus4 starts to flash indicating that you
40. y aspects that you can set up in the Tonality pop up which appears when you clickthe Tonality button in the Sound section located in the upper left of the window see page 11 Tonality parameters include harmonic inharmonic and sympathetic resonance attack and decay pedal key and release noise and the volume of reverse samples Control all EQ and effect settings in the Effects pop up which appears when you click the Effects button in the Sound section located in the upper left of the window see page 13 Here you can activate deactivate and set up a 3 band equalizer the stereo width a compressor a convolution reverb unit with many presets and a mix knob a delay unit with mix and time controls Save and later load all Tonality and Effects settings as a Sound preset using the controls in the Sound section located in the top left corner of the window see page 11 Set up the overall dynamic response in the Piano section that appears when you click the Piano tab in the lower right part of the window see page 7 Here you can also use the Pentamorph fader and buttons to select or set up a blend of sound types If you don t have a hardware triple foot pedal you can manually activate deactivate any combination of the three grand piano pedals here Assign a root note and a chord map gender or mode to a key or pad on your controller keyboard and use the Smart Chord function to play harmonically correct chords by pressing a key or pad see page
41. ynamic Response knob the larger the available dynamic range e The more you turn down the knob the smaller the available dynamic range gt To set dynamic range click the Dynamic Response knob and drag up or downwards Pentamorph Fader amp Buttons The Pentamorph is a powerful tool in pentagon shape that lets you very quickly and radically change your sound It consists of five switches and a fader The fader can be used to morph between the available sounds and Tonality settings Tonality Aerial o Acoustic Reversed Mechanics Pentamorph Fader amp buttons Each corner of the pentagon shape is named These names are switches e Ifyou click on one of the names the white round fader handle will directly jump to the respective corner of the pentagon shape and the corresponding setting will be used Reversed Only the reverse samples are used Aerial Reverse and and mechanics samples pedal key and release noise are used The acoustic samples and all settings in the Tonality dialog including reverse samples are used Acoustic The acoustic samples and all settings in the Tonality dialog without reverse samples are used Mechanics Only the mechanics samples pedal key and release noise are used Note that reverse samples are only audible when you have turned them up in the Tonality dialog Session Keys Using the Pentamorph Fader amp Buttons e If you click somewhere within the pentagon shape or on
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