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1. 16 step Groups A and B Three of the modes are mono and three are stereo in which Parameter VocalTune Key notes in Set A are routed to the Left output and those in Set BJ to the Right output Displayed As UT Default value C mono 16 ftereo te Range of adjustment C to B standard 12 note scale oem 4 Sets the key in which Vocal Tune operates with VT Mode set to ScalCorr and VT Scale i RI m Ee n Top Line EG EG GE Erstes not set to Played topline PIPE ELE Test ses psp Right Channel i Sortom Line EE EERE Erte bottom line HEIRS EEC EP EU EA lt Parameter VocalTune Speed mono Alt reoat Displayed As 5 4 top line EE GE E EEE EEEEE efe Channel Perault bs C D topline EEEE Range of adjustment Oto 127 bottom line PIP SSCS EEE u Sets the time for Vocal Tune to adjust the pitch of the incoming audio to the target pitch A bottom line I T5 4T Te TTE E bel TP es A lt value is 0 is slow and 127 is fast Right Channel bottomline Parameter VocalTune Routing EEE ewe wee R PITT P lt Displayed As UTIngert EE eee i topline ARC CG GCI GA n top line CL ar Default value PreFX E Range of adjustment PreFilt PostFilt PreFX li f ne
2. Osci lator 2 Density Osci lator 2 Density Detune Osci lator 2 Semitone Transpose Osci lator 2 Cents Transpose Chorus 2 Depth Chorus 2 Delay Chorus 2 Feedback Chorus 3 Rate 36 Tweak Parameters Table Continued LFO 1 Rate LFO 1 Sync Rate LFO 1 Slew Amount LFO 2 Rate LFO 2 Sync Rate LFO 2 Slew Amount LFO 3 Rate LFO 3 Sync Rate LFO 3 Slew Amount FX OST Int Oscillator 3 parameters Oscillator 3 Wavetable Interpolation FXihmnt FX1 FX Amount MSP Teds Oscillator 3 Pulsewidth Wavetable FEzhmnt FX2 FX Amount Index FEA mnt FX3 FX Amount Oscillator 3 Virtual Sync Eva omer FX4 FX Amount Oscillator 3 Hardness Fu5 nnt FX5 FX Amount Oscillator 3 Density FXFedbck FX FX Feedback Oscillator 3 Density Detune Dztiblul Distortion Distortion Distortion 1 Level Oscillator S Semitone Transposs DztzLol Distortion Distortion 1 Level DISMISS ee Disifime Delay parameters Delay 1 Delay Time Mixer Diuizunc Delay 1 Delay Sync Time llevsel Mixer Oscillator 1 Level DiuiFhbck Delay 1 Feedback OzLeuel Mixer Oscillator 2 Level Dluizleu Delay
3. Parameter Drive Type Displayed As Fibfure Default value Diode Range of adjustment Diode Valve Clipper XOver Rectify BitsDown RateDown The drive processor for each filter is located immediately before the filter section itself The type of drive or distortion generated can be selected with the F1DType parameter Parameter Filter O Normalisation Displayed As Fi orm Default value 64 O to 127 This parameter alters the bandwidth of the peak created by the resonance control F1Res Range of adjustment The value of F1Res has to be set to something other than zero for this parameter to have any effect This feature enables the Filter section to emulate many of the filter responses found on various classic analogue and digital synths Cut off Frequency Low Resonance Low Q Normalization High Resonance Low Q Normalization High Resonance High Q Normalization Common Filter parameters With Filter number set to FiltrCmn the displayed parameters in the Filter Menu are common to both filters Parameter Filter balance Displayed As FEalance Default value 64 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 MiniNova s two filter sections may be used simultaneously but configured in different ways see FRouting below Low pass and band pass filters could be combined in parallel to create speech like sounds see page 19 For configurations using both filters FBalance lets you mix the outputs of the two filter s
4. A B Having shown that just three elements may define any sound these elements now have to be related to a Musical synthesizer It is logical that a different section of the Synthesizer synthesizes or creates these different elements One section of the synthesizer the Oscillators provide raw waveform signals which define the pitch of the sound along with its raw harmonic content tone These signals are then mixed together in a section called the Mixer and the resulting mixture is then fed into a section called the Filter This makes further alterations to the tone of the sound by removing filtering or enhancing certain of the harmonics Lastly the filtered signal is fed into the Amplifier which determines the final volume of the sound Oscillators Mixer Filter Amplifier Additional synthesizer sections LFOs and Envelopes provide further ways of altering the pitch tone and volume of a sound by interacting with the Oscillators Filter and Amplifier providing changes in the character of the sound which can evolve over time Because LFOs and Envelopes only purpose is to control modulate the other synthesizer sections they are commonly known as modulators These various synthesizer sections will now be covered in more detail The Oscillators And Mixer The Oscillator is really the heartbeat of the Synthesizer It generates an electronic wave which creates the vibrations when eventually fed to a loudspeaker
5. to be adjusted Displayed As MoS lin where nis 1 to 20 ModSiti ModSit1 ModSIt20 The Modulation Matrix has 20 slots mod slots each defining a routing assignment of Default value Range of adjustment one or two sources to a destination All the slots have the same selection of sources and destinations and any or all can be used The same source can control multiple destinations and one destination can be controlled by multiple sources Because the 20 Modulation Slots are identical only the functions of Slot 1 are described Parameter First Source Displayed As Source i Default value Direct Range of adjustment See Modulation Matrix Sources Table on page 35 This selects a control source modulator which will be routed to the destination set by Destin Setting both Source1 and Source2 to Direct means no modulation is defined Parameter Second Source Displayed As n z Default value Direct Range of adjustment See Modulation Matrix Sources Table on page 35 This selects a second control source for the chosen destination If only one source per 26 patch is being used set Source2 to Parameter Touch controller enable Displayed As Touch Default value Off Touch1 Touch 8 The eight ANIMATE Pads can be programmed as touch controllers so that they initiate Range of adjustment a change to a parameter value defined by Destin see below when pressed Note that Animate mo
6. Loudness or Level Pitch as Frequency and Tone as Timbre Pitch As stated sound is perceived by air vibrating the ear drum The pitch of the sound is determined by how fast the vibrations are For an adult human the slowest vibration perceived as sound is about twenty times a second which the brain interprets as a bass type sound the fastest is many thousands of times a second which the brain interprets as an high treble type sound Memory Protect flash on screen It will not be possible to save a modified version of the current patch without turning this option off See Parameter Memory Protection on page 12 INPUT LEVEL mm m m m m ON TEMPO 60 Note that the screen will prompt you for a new name for the modified version H 7 and that the current name will be offered as a suggestion with the first character flashing Use the DATA control 6 or the PATCH 4 and b buttons 11 to select a different alphanumeric character Use the PAGE 4 and buttons 7 to move to the next character and continue in this manner until the new name has been entered Press SAVE again You will now be prompted to choose the location where the new Patch is to be saved The location of the original Patch will be offered as the default if you choose this the original patch data will be overwritten Use the DATA control 6 or PATCH 4 and gt buttons 11 to select a different location Note that Bank C 12
7. Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 This parameter delays the start of the entire envelope When a key is pressed its note sounds normally with Envelopes 1 and 2 acting as they are programmed But any further modulation effects triggered by Envelopes 3 to 6 will be delayed by a time set by the Delay parameter The maximum value of 127 represents a delay of 10 seconds while a value of about 60 70 represents a delay of approximately 1 second Parameter Envelope 3 Repeat Displayed As E3Rert Default value Off Range of adjustment Off 1 to 126 KeyOff 23 Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Envelope 3 Touch Trigger ESTTris Off Off T1ReTrig T8ReTrig T1Triggr T8Triggr T1Enable T8Enable Envelope 3 Multi trigger EXMTria Re Trig Re Trig or Legato Envelope 3 Attack Slope ES f 0 O t
8. Range of adjustment note in the sequence is immediately followed by the next without a gap At the default value of 64 the note duration is exactly half the beat interval based on the current tempo and each note is followed by a rest of equal length Parameter Arpeggiator Mode Displayed As Are Mode Default value Up Range of adjustment See Arp Mode table Arp Mode Table on page 38 When enabled the Arpeggiator will play all notes held down in a sequence which is determined by the Arp Mode parameter The third column of the table describes the nature of the sequence in each case Parameter Arpeggiator Octaves Displayed As Are C Default value 1 Range of adjustment 1to4 This setting adds upper octaves to the arp sequence If Arp Octv is set to 2 the sequence is played as normal then immediately played again an octave higher Higher values of Arp Octv extend this process by adding additional higher octaves Arp Octv values greater than 1 have the effect of doubling tripling etc the length of the sequence The additional notes added duplicate the complete original sequence but octave shifted Thus a four note sequence played with Arp Octv set to 1 will consist of eight notes when Arp Octv is set to 2 13 Parameter Displayed As Are Arp Edit Arp Edit UN pat 2 to 33 On the MiniNova Arpeggiator sequences may be user configured to be up to eight notes in Arpeggiator Pattern tn Default value
9. This Waveform is produced at a controllable musical pitch initially determined by the note played on the keyboard or contained in a received MIDI note message The initial distinctive tone or timbre of the waveform is actually determined by the waveform s shape Many years ago pioneers of musical synthesis discovered that just a few distinctive waveforms contained many of the most useful harmonics for making musical sounds The names of these waves reflect their actual shape when viewed on an instrument called an Oscilloscope and these are Sine waves Square waves Sawtooth waves Triangle waves and Noise Each waveform shape except noise has a specific set of musically related harmonics which can be manipulated by further sections of the synthesizer The diagrams below show how these waveforms look on an oscilloscope and illustrate the relative levels of their harmonics Remember it is the relative levels of the various harmonics present in a waveform which determine the tone of the final sound Sine Waves NN Volume 3 Sine Wave Harmonic These possess just a single harmonic A sine waveform produces the purest sound because it only has its single pitch frequency Triangle Waves 1 3 5 F Triangle Wave Harmonic These contain only odd harmonics The volume of each decreases as the square of its position in the harmonic series For example the 5th harmonic has a volume 1 25th of the volume of the fundamental Saw
10. This parameter relates a note s attack time to its position on the keyboard When Amplitude Attack Track has a positive value the attack time of a note decreases the higher up the keyboard it is played Conversely lower notes have a longer attack time This aids in simulating the effect of a real stringed instrument such as a grand piano where the mass of the strings on the lower notes have a slower response time when struck When a negative value is applied the relationships are reversed Parameter Amplitude Decay Track Displayed As FimpDlectk Default value 0 64 to 63 This parameter works in exactly the same way as Attack Track except that it is the Decay Range of adjustment time of a note that becomes dependent on its position on the keyboard Parameter Amplitude Sustain Rate Displayed As Ar zEL Default value Flat 64 to 1 Flat 1 to 63 With this parameter set to Flat the volume during the Sustain phase of the envelope Range of adjustment remains constant Additional variations to a note s character can be obtained by causing the note to become louder or quieter while the key is held A positive value of Sustain Rate will cause the volume to increase during the Sustain phase and it will continue to do so until maximum level is reached The parameter controls the rate at which the note increases volume and the higher the value the faster the rate of increase Any Release time set will act as normal when the
11. long press gt 1 sec will exit the menu system entirely OK button Used within the menu system for navigation goes to next menu level and to confirm data entry SAVE button Used to save alterations to patches Patch 4 and p dedicated buttons to scroll through the currently available patches Pressing both buttons simultaneously for at least one second enters DEMO mode PERFORM section 12 13 14 Rotary controls 4 rotary Tweak controls for parameter adjustment The function of each control is determined by the setting of the PERFORM ROW selector 13 Use of a rotary control in the manual text is indicated by RCn where n is the number of the control e g RC1 refers to rotary control 1 Perform Row selector This 6 way switch determines the functions of the four rotary controls 12 An LED indicates the currently selected row and the parameters then available for adjustment are printed on the MiniNova s top panel Moving the switch allows you to select any row of the table printed on the panel The first two rows assign the Tweak controls to parameters which have been factory selected by the Novation programming team for each Patch giving you immediate access to the most useful and striking sonic variations FILTER this is a large rotary control intended to aid more expressive performance when playing live It always adjusts Filter 1 s cut off frequency PAD section 15 16 17 18 P
12. synthesizer sections and can run at different speeds A typical waveshape for an LFO would be a Triangle wave PITCH TIME Imagine this very low frequency wave being applied to an Oscillator s pitch The result is that the pitch of the Oscillator slowly rises and falls above and below its original pitch This would simulate for example a violinist moving a finger up and down the string of the instrument whilst it is being bowed This subtle up and down movement of pitch is referred to as the Vibrato effect Alternatively if the same LFO signal were to modulate the Filter cut off frequency instead of the Oscillator pitch a familiar wobbling effect known as wah wah would be result As well as setting up various sections of the synthesizer to be modulated by LFOs additional Envelopes may also be used as modulators at the same time Clearly the more Oscillators Filters Envelopes and LFOs there are in a synthesizer the more powerful it is Summary A synthesizer can be broken down into five main sound generating or sound modifying modulating blocks Oscillators that generate waveforms at a various pitches A Mixer that mixes the outputs from the Oscillators together Filters that remove certain harmonics changing the character or timbre of the sound BS Fr An Amplifier controlled by an Envelope generator which alters the volume of a sound over time when a note is played 5 LFOs and Envelopes that can be used
13. top line EET J Stereo Alt 2 This parameter controls the routing of the Vocal Tune output within the synth N mem line EXEISYEIETEE ESTSTSISESESESIESIBS Left Channel EPA gt topline PERG LLIT TI PreFilt Pre Filter inserts the pitch shifted audio before the filter into the same k mixer audio channel as the Oscillator The vocal signal will therefore only be heard topline EEA when a key is pressed or when a MIDI Note On command is received gt m line STD EE Pon papse mr b bottom line TE E361 Te Te str pans psp sd lt Lo Right Channel gt bottom line Bn ESE eS q bottom line T 51051510 T E in Teens Ly topline T2101 CCE AS Lo E s line DEER EEE slt eap psp snp The main FX Pan parameters in the first submenu of the Effects menu will override the stereo Gator Modes The stereo modes will only operate as described if the main FX Pan controls are set centrally Edit menu Submenu 10 Parameter VocalTune Mode Displayed As UT Mode Default value Off Range of adjustment Off ScalCorr KBCtrl Pitch VocalTune is a powerful MiniNova feature which lets you alter the pitch of a signal at the Audio Mic Input e g your voice through the MiniNova s mic There are three methods of providing the musi
14. 1 Slew Amount OXbLeuvel Mixer Oscillator 3 Level DiuzTime Delay 2 Delay Time RIHiSZLuI Mixer Ring Mod 1 3 Level Chet Sere Delay 2 Delay Sync Time RMS SLL Mixer Ring Mod 2 3 Level DluzFhck Delay 2 Feedback daizelul Mixer Noise Level Dlu851eu Delay 2 Slew Amount Filters ChiRate Chorus parameters Chorus 1 Rate Fhalance Filter Balance ChIP bok Chorus 1 Feedback FiPFrea Filter 1 Frequency ChiDerth Chorus 1 Depth Fifties Filter 1 Resonance ChiDelas Chorus 1 Delay FiDBmnt Filter 1 Distortion Amount ChTRabe Chorus 2 Rate CiTrac Filter 1 Keyboard Tracking Ch2Fbck Chorus 2 Feedback FzFrea Filter 2 Frequency ChzDerth Chorus 2 Depth F2Rez Filter 2 Resonance Chorus 2 Delay FzBhmnt Filter 2 Distortion Amount Chorus 3 Rate FzTrack Filter 2 Keyboard Tracking Chorus 3 Feedback FiEnez Filter 1 Envelope 2 Amount Chorus 3 Depth FzEnuz Filter 2 Envelope 2 Amount Chorus 3 Delay Envelope 1 Chorus 4 Rate Brig Dr t Envelope 1 Amp Attack Time Cha Fbck Chorus 4 Feedback neDec Envelope 1 Amp Decay Time ChdDerth Chorus 4 Depth Ame Sus Envelope 1 Amp Sustain Level Ch Delau Chorus 4 Delay Frere Envelope 1 Amp Release Time GLEleu Gator parameters Gator Slew Amount Envelope 2 Gbenas Gator Decay Time FILL Envelope 2 Filter Attack Time BtLoEDel Gator Left Right Delay Time Envelope 2 Filter Decay Time AredgTime Arpeggiator parameters Arpeggiator Gate Time Envelope 2 Filter Sustain Level Areswind Arpeggiator Swi
15. 2 8 3 and turn up RM1 3Lvi Then go to the Oscillator Menu Set Osc8 to an interval of 5 7 or 12 semitones above Osc1 and the sound will be harmonically pleasing Changing the pitch of Osc 1 to other semitone values creates discordant but interesting sounds O1 Cents can be varied to introduce a beating effect Parameter Ring Modulator Level Oscs 2 3 Displayed As RMZ DH Default value 0 O to 127 The parameter controlled by RM2 3Lvi sets the amount of the Osc 2 3 Ring Modulator Range of adjustment output present in the overall sound Parameter Noise Source Level Displayed As Hoizeblul Default value 0 O to 127 This parameter sets the amount of Noise present in the overall sound Range of adjustment Parameter Pre FX level send Displayed As PreFELoi Default value 0 dB 12 dB to 18 dB The summed mixer inputs are routed through the FX block even if no effects are active Range of adjustment at a level determined by PreFXLvl This control should be adjusted with care to avoid overloading the FX processing Parameter Post FX level send Displayed As PostFXLu Default value 0dB 12 dB to 18 dB This parameter adjusts the level returned from the output of the FX processor Thus both PreFXLvi and PostFXLv will alter the signal level even when all FX slots in the FX block are bypassed Range of adjustment PreFXLvi and PostFXLvI are critical controls and incorrect adjustment can
16. 6 can be used for special purposes such as modulating the Wavetable index or FX levels KEY ON KEY OFF FILTER CUT OFF dip bed s ATTACK DECAY RELEASE TIME gt LFOs Like the Envelope Generators the LFO section of a synthesizer is a Modulator Thus instead of being a part of the sound synthesis itself it is used to change or modulate other sections of the synthesizer For example an LFO can be used to alter Oscillator pitch or Filter cut off frequency Most musical instruments produce sounds that vary over time both in volume and in pitch and timbre Sometimes these variations can be quite subtle but still contribute greatly towards characterising the final sound Whereas an Envelope is used to control a one off modulation during the lifetime of a single note LFOs modulate by using a repeating cyclic waveform or pattern As discussed earlier Oscillators produce a constant waveform which can take the shape of a repeating sine wave triangle wave etc LFOs produce waveforms in a similar way but normally at a frequency which is too low to produce a sound that the human ear could perceive In fact LFO stands for Low Frequency Oscillator As with an Envelope the waveforms generated by the LFOs may be fed to other parts of the synthesizer to create the desired changes over time or movements to the sound The MiniNova has three independent LFOs which may be used to modulate different
17. MiniNova has 2 Ring Modulators one takes Osc 1 and Osc 3 as inputs and the other takes Osc 2 and Osc 3 The resulting output depends on the various frequencies and harmonic content present in each of the two oscillator signals and will consist of a series of sum and difference frequencies as well as the frequencies present in the original signals OSC 1 The Mixer To extend the range of sounds that may be produced typical analogue synthesizers have more than one Oscillator By using multiple Oscillators to create a sound it is possible to achieve very interesting harmonic mixes It is also possible to slightly detune individual Oscillators against each other which creates a very warm fat sound The MiniNova s Mixer allows mixing of three independent Oscillators a separate Noise Oscillator and two Ring Modulator sources osei OSC 1 VOLUME OSC 2 OSC 2 VOLUME VV INPUT TO FILTER Osc 3 COMPLEX WAVEFORM MIX OF OSC1 2 AND 3 OSC 3 VOLUME i The Filter The MiniNova is a subtractive music synthesizer Subtractive implies that part of the sound is subtracted somevvhere in the synthesis process The Oscillators provide the ravv vvaveforms vvith plenty of harmonic content and the Filter section subtracts some of the harmonics in a controlled manner 14 types of Filter are available on the MiniNova though these are varieties of three basic filter types Low Pass Band Pass and High Pass The t
18. Protect function is active by default so you are likely to see the words SYNTHESIS TUTORIAL This section covers the subject of sound generation in more detail and discusses the various basic features available in the MiniNova s sound generation and processing blocks It is recommended that this chapter is read carefully if analogue sound synthesis is an unfamiliar subject Users familiar with this subject can skip this chapter and move on to the next chapter To gain an understanding of how a synthesizer generates sound it is helpful to have an appreciation of the components that make up a sound both musical and non musical The only way that a sound may be detected is by air vibrating the eardrum in a regular periodic manner The brain interprets these vibrations very accurately into one of an infinite number of different types of sound Remarkably any sound may be described in terms of just three properties and all sounds always have them They are Pitch Tone Volume What makes one sound different from another is the relative magnitudes of the three properties as initially present in the sound and how the properties change over the duration of the sound With a musical synthesizer we deliberately set out to have precise control over these three properties and in particular how they can be changed during the lifetime of the sound The properties are often given different names Volume may be referred to as Amplitude
19. and panned echoes are at an intermediate position between centre and fully left or right Parameter Delay Slew Rate Displayed As Disizieu Default value Off Range of adjustment Off 1 to 127 Delay Slew Rate only has an effect on the sound when the Delay Time is being modulated Modulating delay time produces pitch shifting With DSP generated delays very fast changes of delay time are possible but these may produce unwelcome effects including digital glitching and clicks Delay Slew Rate effectively slows the applied modulation down so that any such glitches resulting from trying to change the delay time too rapidly may be avoided The default value of Off corresponds to the maximum rate of change and the delay time will attempt to follow any modulation accurately Higher values will produce a smoother effect Reverb Menu The Reverb algorithms add the effect of an acoustic space to a sound Unlike delay reverberation is created by generating a dense set of delayed signals typically with different phase relationships and equalisations applied to re create what happens to sound in a real acoustic space The MiniNova has two reverb processors Their facilities are identical the example below illustrates Reverb 1 29 Parameter Reverb Type Displayed As Evil Tore Default value LrgHall Range of adjustment Chamber Small Room Large Room Small Hall Large Hall Great Hall MiniNova provides six different reverb algorithms
20. designed to simulate the reflections which occur in rooms and halls of various sizes Parameter Reverb Decay Displayed As Rubiblec Default value 90 Range of adjustment O to 127 The Reverb Decay parameter sets the basic reverb time of the selected space It can be thought of as setting the size of the room Chorus Menu Chorus is an effect produced by mixing a continuously delayed version of the signal with the original The characteristic swirling effect is produced by the Chorus processor s own LFO making very small changes in the delays The changing delay also produces the effect of multiple voices some of which are pitch shifted this adds to the effect The Chorus processor can also be configured as a Phaser where varying phase shift is applied to the signal in specific frequency bands and the result remixed with the original signal The familiar swishing effect is the result The MiniNova has four Chorus processors Their facilities are identical the example below illustrates Chorus 1 Note that although the parameters are named Chorus they are all effective in both Chorus and Phaser modes Parameter Chorus Type Displayed As ChiTure Default value Chorus Range of adjustment Phaser or Chorus Configures the FX processor as either a Chorus or Phaser Parameter Chorus Speed Displayed As ChiRate Default value 20 Range of adjustment O to 127 The Chorus Rate parameter controls the frequency of the Choru
21. in the order in which they are played Gator Modes Table DISPLAY MODE DESCRIPTION lianai amp 16 note mono 16 note mono sequence A lianaditi 32 note mono 32 note mono sequence AB Margins 2 x 32 note mono 2 x 16 note sequences each repeated AABB Zierenoi s 16 note stereo 2 x 16 note sequences simultaneously A L B R SterAlti 16 note stereo 2 x 16 note sequences simultaneously A L B R A R B L SLtermhitz 16 note stereo As SterAlt1 but each sequence pair is repeated Effects Type Table DISPLAY EFFECT COMMENTS No effects enabled Equalisation 3 band sweep EQ Compression Compressor with variable threshold and ratio and variable ADSR Overdrive Adds distortion effects Delay line Echo Single and multiple echos Reverb Reverb Reverberation Hall and room simulation Chorus amp Phasing Time domain effects Gator 8 level 32 step sequencer 38 TT Gini E m niu FIRMWARE UPDATES It is possible to install firmware updates into the MiniNova To check whether updates are available and to find out how to perform this operation visit the Novation website www novationmusic com support 39 40 41
22. is controlled by the Delay parameter L1Delay At all other settings L1Delay becomes inoperative and the LFO delay is derived from the internal external MIDI clock Parameter LFO 1 Fade In Fade Out Displayed As LiinDut Default value Fadeln Range of adjustment Fadeln FadeOut Gateln GateOut The function of the four possible settings of L1InOut are as follows 1 Fadeln the LFO s modulation is gradually increased over the time period set by the Delay parameter L1Delay 2 Gateln the onset of the LFO s modulation is delayed by the time period set by LiDelay parameter and then starts immediately at full level 3 FadeOut the LFO s modulation is gradually decreased over the time period set by the L1Delay parameter leaving the note with no LFO modulation 4 GateOut the note is fully modulated by the LFO for the time period set by the LiDelay At this time the modulation stops abruptly Parameter LFO 1 Delay Trigger Displayed As Lipfris Default value Legato Range of adjustment Legato or Re Trig This parameter works in conjunction with the Fade Gate parameters set by L1InOut In Re Trig mode every note played has its own delay time as set by L1Delay or MIDI clock if L1Dsync is active In Legato mode it is only the first note of a legato style passage which triggers the delay i e second and subsequent notes do not re trigger the Delay function For the Legato setting of Delay Trigger to be operativ
23. of adjustment See Sync Values Table on page 34 Delay time may synchronised to the internal or external MIDI clock using a wide variety of tempo dividers multipliers to produce delays from about 5 ms to 1 second Be aware that the total delay time available is finite Using large tempo divisions at a very slow tempo rate may exceed the delay time limit Parameter Delay Feedback Displayed As DisiFbck Default value 64 Range of adjustment Oto 127 The output of the delay processor is connected back to the input at a reduced level Dly1Fbck sets the level This results in multiple echoes as the delayed signal is further repeated With Dly1Fbck set to zero no delayed signal at all is fed back so only a single echo results As you increase the value you will hear more echoes for each note though they still die away in volume Setting the control in the centre of its range 64 results in about 5 or 6 audible echoes at the maximum setting the repetitions will still be audible after a minute or more Parameter Delay Left Right Ratio Displayed As DisiLzRE Default value 1 1 Range of adjustment 1 1 4 3 3 4 3 2 2 3 2 1 1 2 3 1 1 3 4 1 1 4 1 OFF OFF 1 The value of this parameter is a ratio and determines how each delayed note is distributed between the left and right outputs Setting DIy1L R to the default 1 1 value places all echoes centrally in the stereo image With other values the larger number represents
24. of modifying the shape of the LFO waveform Sharp edges become less sharp as Slew is increased The effect of this can be easily observed by selecting Square as the LFO waveform and setting the rate fairly low so that the output when a key is pressed alternates between just two tones Increasing the value of Slew will cause the transition between the two tones to become a glide rather than a sharp change This is caused by the vertical edges of the square LFO waveform being slewed Note that Slew has an effect on all LFO waveforms including sine The effect of LFO Slew differs somewhat with different LFO waveforms As Slew is increased the time taken to reach maximum amplitude is increased and can ultimately result in it never being achieved at all though the setting at which this point is reached will vary with waveform SQUARE WAVE NO SLEW SMALL SLEW VALUE LARGE SLEW VALUE Parameter LFO 1 Key Sync On Off Displayed As Default value Range of adjustment Off or On Each LFO runs continuously in the background If the Key Sync setting is Off there is no way of predicting where the waveform will be when a key is pressed Consecutive presses of a key will inevitably produce varying results Setting Key Sync to On re starts the LFO at the same point on the waveform every time a key is pressed The actual point is set by the Phase parameter L1Phase KEY SYNC OFF KEY SYNC ON on VV ox VV
25. parameter controls how long the Noise Gate is open for once it has been triggered and thus the duration of the note heard Note that this parameter is independent of the clock tempo or Gator Rate Sync parameter and that the note duration set by GtHold is constant whatever speed the pattern is running at Parameter Gator Left Right Delay Displayed As GS Default value 0 64 to 63 To enhance the effect of sequenced patterns further the Gator includes a dedicated delay Range of adjustment processor When set to zero the notes in the pattern are centrally located in the stereo image With positive values the notes are panned hard left and a delayed repetition of the note is panned hard right The value of the parameter controls the delay time With negative values a pre echo results an echo which precedes the note The stereo imaging is the same with the timed pattern note itself on the left and the pre echo on the right Parameter Gator Mode Displayed As Gthode Default value Mono16 Range of adjustment The Mode parameter allows you to select one of 6 methods of combining the two sets of see Gator Modes Table on page 38 Try working out all the notes that make up a simple melody and play them all at once as a chord Then if you sing the melody VocalTune will snap your vocal only to those notes
26. pressing a single key The resulting chord uses the lowest note played as its root all the other notes in the chord will be above the root Parameter Chord Mode Displayed As Chr cii Default value Off Range of adjustment On Off Turns Chord mode On or Off Parameter Chord Transposition Displayed As Chrdtrnz Default value 0 Range of adjustment 11 to 11 The transposition control is calibrated in semitone intervals and the pitch of the chord can be shifted up to 11 semitones either up or down Save Chord red Parameter Displayed As Save To save a chord first set ChrdMode to On and then select this menu option SaveChrd The bottom line of the display will show OK press the OK button 9 The display will change to F 1 ahi you should now play the chord you want to capture you can play it in any key or inversion you wish Then press the the OK button After a short delay the display will confirm the action by with hard 5 INPUT LEVEL INPUT LEVEL TEMPO 40 a n Note that the Arpeggiator precedes the Chorder in the MiniNova s synth engine This has the consequence that if both the Arpeggiator and Chorder are in use the entire chord resulting from each key press will be arpeggiated 14 Top Menu Edit This menu is where you can modify the sound of a Patch or create a new one from first principles The Edit menu is divided further sub
27. produce clipping in the FX processing section and elsewhere It is always a good idea to set up the FX parameters you think you need first see What is Legato on page 21 and then increase these two parameters carefully until you get the amount of FX you re after Fiiter Edit menu Submenu 4 With this submenu it is first necessary to select the filter whose parameters are to be adjusted Displayed As Filler n where n is i or Z Default value Filter 1 Filter 1 Filter 2 FiltrCmn The MiniNova has two identical filter sections which modify the harmonic content of the Range of adjustment oscillators outputs They can be thought of as elaborate tone controls with the additional ability of being dynamically controllable by other parts of the synth A total of 8 parameters per filter are available for adjustment Note that some parameters are common to both filters found in the FiltrCmn submenu It is possible to use the two filter blocks together placing them in various series parallel configurations by adjustment of the common parameter FRouting Per Filter parameters Filter 1 is used as the example in the descriptions which follow but the two are identical in operation except where indicated Parameter Filter frequency Displayed As FiPre Default value 127 O to 127 This parameter sets the frequency at which the filter type selected by F1Type operates Range of adjustment In the case of hi pass o
28. radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help For Canada To the User This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES 003 Cet appareil num rique de la classe B est conforme la norme NMB 003 du Canada RoHS Notice Focusrite Audio Engineering Limited has conformed and this product conforms where applicable to the European Union s Directive 2002 95 EC on Restrictions of Hazardous Substances RoHS as well as the following sections of California law which refer to RoHS namely sections 25214 10 25214 10 2 and 58012 Health and Safety Code Section 42475 2 Public Resources Code CAUTION The normal operation of this product may be affected by a strong electrostatic discharge ESD In the event o
29. that are useful to know about before you continue reading this manual We ve adopted some graphical conventions within the text which we hope all types of user will find helpful in navigating through the information to find what they need to know quickly Abbreviations conventions etc As the four rotary controls in the PERFORM area of the control panel are referred to repeatedly throughout the manual we ve abbreviated them to RCn where n is a number between 1 and 4 referring to the control in question Where top panel controls or rear panel connectors are referred to we ve used a number thus x to cross reference to the top panel diagram and thus x to cross reference to the rear panel diagram See page 4 and page 5 We ve used BOLD CAPS to name top panel controls or rear panel connectors We ve used LCD dat bemi abpix te t to denote text which appears on the LCD at the beginning of each parameter description and within the parameter tables but Bold to indicate this text within the main manual paragraphs Tips These do what it says on the tin we include bits of advice relevant to the topic being discussed that should simplify setting up the MiniNova to do what you want It s not mandatory that you follow them but generally they should make life easier Extra Info These are additions to the text that will be of interest to the more advanced user and can generally be avoided by the novice They are intended to pr
30. touch sensitive The Pads can be used in real time to provide creative control over the sound which is especially useful when playing live Amplitude Touch Trigger assigns any of the Pads to act as a re trigger button as soon as the assignment is made the Pad illuminates When the Pad is touched the amplitude envelope is re triggered After making the assignment in order to use the feature it is necessary to put the Pads into Animate mode see Using the Pads as performance controls on page 7 Parameter Amplitude Multi trigger Displayed As Amen Trig Default value Re Trig Range of adjustment Legato Re Trig When this parameter is set to Re Trig each note played will trigger its full ADSR amplitude envelope even if other keys are held down In Legato mode only the first key to be pressed will produce a note with the full envelope all subsequent notes will omit the attack and decay phases and sound only from the start of the Sustain phase Legato literally means smoothly and this mode aids this style of playing It is important to appreciate that for the Legato mode to be operative mono voicing must be selected it will not work with polyphonic voicing See Edit menu Submenu 5 Voice on page 19 What is Legato As stated above the musical term Legato means smoothly A Legato keyboard style is one where at least two notes overlap This means that as you play the melody you keep the p
31. 2 and Drum modes differ in an important respect from the others in that the Filter 1 and Filter 2 are fed from different sources This allows the noise source and Osc 3 to be filtered in a different way from Oscillators 1 and 2 and the Ring Modulator Outputs an important requirement when creating certain percussive sounds Two examples of Filter routings a Notch Filter a Wideband bandpass filter Fifure LP duse HP Fiare HP iube LP FiRoutind Parallel Routing Series Filter 1 Filter 2 Fraqueney Frequency Parameter Filter Frequency Link Displayed As Frealink Default value Off Range of adjustment Off or On Setting FreqLink to On creates a relationship between the frequencies of the two Filter sections and re assigns the function of F2Freq for Filter 2 from Frequency to Frequency Offset see F1Freq above Filter 2 s offset is relative to Filter 1 s frequency Filter 1 Filter 2 Volume Frequency An increase in Filter 1 s frequency will also increase Filter 2 s frequency Filter 1 Filter 2 Volume Frequency An increase in Filter 2 s frequency will decrease Filter 1 s frequency Filter 1 Filter 2 Volume Frequency A decrease in Filter 2 s frequency will increase Filter 1 s frequency Parameter Resonance Link Displayed As RezLink Default value Off Range of adjustment Off or On Setting ResLink to On applies the same Resonance parameter value to bo
32. 2 to 12 PreGlide takes priority over Portamento though it does use the PortTime parameter to set its duration PreGlide is calibrated in semitones and each note played will actually begin a on a chromatically related note up to an octave above value 12 or below value 12 the note corresponding to the key pressed and glide towards the target note This differs from Portamento in that e g two notes played in sequence will each have their own PreGlide related to the notes played and there will be no glide between the notes Although the use of Portamento is not recommended in Poly modes when playing more than one note at a time this restriction does not apply to PreGlide which can be very effective with full chords Parameter Polyphony Mode Displayed As PaoluMode Default value Poly1 Range of adjustment Mono MonoAG Poly1 Poly2 Mono2 As the names imply three of the possible modes are mono and two are polyphonic 1 Mono this is standard monophonic mode only one note sounds at a time and the last played rule applies 2 MonoAG AG stands for Auto Glide This is an alternative mono mode which differs from Mono in the way Portamento and Pre Glide work In Mono mode Portamento and PreGlide apply both if notes are played separately or in a legato style when one note is played when another is already held down In MonoAG mode Portamento and Pre Glide only work if the keys are played in a legato st
33. 3 7 0 1 steps With the minimum value of 1 0 set the compressor has no effect as 1 0 means that every change in input level results in an equal change in output level The parameter sets the degree to which sounds which are louder than the level set by the Threshold level parameter get reduced in volume If the Ratio is set to 2 0 a change in input level results in a change in output level of only half the magnitude thus the overall dynamic range of the signal is reduced The higher the setting of Compression Ratio the more compression is applied to those parts of the sound which are above the Threshold level Parameter Threshold Level Displayed As Cifhrzh Default value 16 60 to O Threshold defines the signal level at which compressor action starts Signals below Range of adjustment the threshold i e the quieter parts of the sound are unaltered but signals exceeding the threshold the louder sections are reduced in level in the ratio set with C1Ratio resulting in an overall reduction of the dynamic range of the sound Note that the value of the parameter approximately represents the actual analogue signal level i e the number of dBs below the maximum digital clip level of 0 dB Note that any alteration in volume resulting from compressor action has nothing to do with how the output level of the synth is set Whether you are using the MiniNova s MASTER VOLUME control or an Expression pedal to control your overal
34. 8 Compressor Menus batec sie Dis tau PRI ded medi a FORE URPRII 28 Distortion Menu ssosesectupemeRpUpP SR prppepUu IP E Sip eR ET 29 Delay Mern uer cpi central CORR mete m Lis denes i LGS EL 29 Reverb Men oer FERIENE E Re RU M EPEPEERLIRREPPOG PCM REL 29 Chorus Menu since cave Ix p Eze Rb EE eda ii erPer Up vegis 30 Gator Menu zoe e Leere iei leet eb ise ec tide peii eue Ane 30 Edit menu Submenu 10 VoxTune 0 0 e cece ne 31 Edit menu Submenu 11 Vocoder ssssslseee ee 32 Top Moni DUmp as he b tnit e Pe eei ique tee pepe eus 33 Waveform Table ccc cece eee e eee eee eee eee eee eee 34 Sync Values Table ccc eee ne eee Ihn 34 LFO Waveforms Table ccccceeec cece nnn 35 Modulation Matrix Sources Table ccceeeeeeee eee eee nnn nnne 35 Modulation Matrix Destinations Table 0 000 cece cece eee eee nnn 36 Tweak Parameters Table ccc ccce cece cece prora wrni 36 Filter Table 0 ccc cece cece cece eee e eens eee eee eee 38 Arp Mode Table cc cccce ene e cece eee 38 Gator Modes Table cc cece cece ence cece III n 38 Effects Type Table ccc cece cece eee 38 Firmware updates 0cc cee ce cence cece eee 99 INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the MiniNova synthesizer The MiniNova is a powerful compact digital synthesizer equally at home in live performance or a recording environment NOTE The MiniNova is capable of generating audio with a large d
35. 8 locations has been left empty for you to save your own patches this avoids overwriting any of the original versions Press SAVE again and you will now be prompted to choose the TYPE Category that will allow MiniNova s sorting system to retrieve it Use the DATA control to select the most appropriate one and press SAVE again You will finally be prompted to choose the GENRE for filing purposes Use the DATA control to select the most appropriate and press SAVE again The screen will now confirm the new Patch with the message Patch aerd Note that whichever location is chosen for the new Patch any Patch data already saved to that location will be lost NOTE A faster method of managing patches writing loading renaming reordering etc is by using the downloadable MiniNova Librarian This can be downloaded free of charge from www novationmusic com support Updating the MiniNova s Operating System OS update files will be available from time to time at www novationmusic com support in the form of a MIDI SysEx file The update procedure requires the MiniNova to be connected via USB to a computer which has first had the necessary USB drivers installed Full instructions on performing the update will be supplied with the download A B Time Time If the number of peaks in the two waveforms vibrations are counted it will be seen that there are exactly twice as many peak
36. ADS 1 to 8 a set of eight backlit multicolour pressure sensitive pads which may be used in two primary ways Animate or Arpeggiate Additionally in conjunction with the FAVORITE button 17 they may be used as Quick Load buttons to recall preferred patches ANIMATE ARPEGGIATE switch A 2 position switch spring loaded to return to centre which assigns the pads 15 to act as Animate controls or Arpeggiator pads FAVORITE button used to store and recall preferred patches in conjunction with the eight pads 15 HOLD button modifies the action of a pad 15 in Animate mode by locking it in an On state ARP section 19 20 21 Misc 22 23 24 ON backlit button to switch the Arpeggiator on and off When selected On the eight pads 15 enter Arpeggiator mode and the Arpeggiator LED in the Pads section illuminates LATCH button applies the Arpeggiator effect to the last note s played continuously until a subsequent key is pressed LATCH can be pre selected so that it is effective as soon as the Arpeggiator is enabled TEMPO control sets the tempo of the Arpeggiator pattern being played An adjacent LED blinks to give a visual indication of the tempo and the actual BPM value is displayed on the LCD Dynamic Mic Input an XLR socket for the connection of the supplied gooseneck microphone or alternative dynamic microphone i e a mic not requiring phantom power to operate The mic can be used w
37. Audio Out Audio In MiniNova connected to a computer via USB USB transmits MIDI to and from the computer The various ways of connecting the MiniNova to accommodate the various methods of working are covered in the documentation supplied with the MiniNova Editor and MiniNova Librarian software packages The Installers for this software and the related USB drivers may be downloaded from http novationmusic com support When using the MiniNova with the MiniNova Editor an EDITOR flag is displayed on the LCD to confirm the connection Also note that a USB flag is displayed when MiniNova is connected to a computer via USB and valid data interchange has been established POWER IN cod 300m 29 30 31 32 33 Sustain pedal socket 2 pole mono 1 4 jack socket for connection of a sustain pedal Both NO Normally Open and NC Normally Closed pedal types are compatible if the pedal is connected when the MiniNova is powered on the type will be automatically sensed during boot up provided your foot is not on the pedal See Parameter Footswitch configuration on page 13 for more information Headphones socket 3 pole 1 4 jack socket for stereo headphones Phones volume is adjusted by the MASTER VOLUME control 23 OUTPUT LEFT and RIGHT 2 x 1 4 jack sockets carrying main stereo output Outputs are unbalanced at 5 dBu maximum level EX
38. DI Note On command PreFX Inserts the pitch shifted audio directly into the FX stage of the MiniNova With this setting there is no need to press a key to hear the vocal Parameter VocalTune Output Level Displayed As UT Level Default value 127 O to 127 VT Level sets the output level of the pitch shifted audio Range of adjustment Parameter VocalTune Vibrato Level Displayed As iibhmant Default value 0 Range of adjustment 12 to 12 The VocalTune feature incorporates a vibrato effect which adds additional authenticity to the pitch shifted audio VibAmont sets the amount of vibrato applied to the pitch shifted audio Parameter VocalTune Vibrato Level Via MOD Wheel Displayed As iibhodili Default value 0 Range of adjustment 12 to 12 In addition to VibAmont you have the ability to alter the amount of vibrato applied to the pitch shifted audio in real time using the MOD Wheel VibModWI sets the range that can be applied Parameter VocalTune Vibrato Rate Displayed As ibRate Default value 80 Range of adjustment Oto 127 The rate speed of the vibrato applied to both VibAmont and VibModWI Parameter VocalTune Pitch Shift Displayed As P Default value 0 Range of adjustment 24 to 24 VocalTune applies both fixed and dynamic pitch shifting PtchShft sets the amount of fixed pitch shift that will be applied to the incoming audio signal This will be in addition to any pitch shift applied a
39. Decay the time it takes for the note to drop in level from the maximum value reached at the end of the attack phase to a new level defined by the Sustain parameter 7 Sustain this is an amplitude value and represents the volume of the note after the initial attack and decay phases i e while holding the key down Setting a low value of Sustain can give a very short percussive effect providing the attack and decay times are short Release This is the time it takes for the note s volume to drop back to zero after the key is released A high value of Release will cause the sound to remain audible though diminishing in volume after the key is released Although the above discusses ADSR in terms of volume note that the MiniNova is equipped with six separate envelope generators allowing control of other synth blocks as well as amplitude e g filters oscillators etc Note that envelope generators 1 and 2 are dedicated to Amplitude and Filter control respectively and are referred to as Amp Env and Fltr Env A total of 16 parameters per envelope is available for adjustment With this submenu it is first necessary to select the envelope whose parameters are to be adjusted Displayed As Eri or Eris n see range below Default value Amp Env Range of adjustment Amp Env Fltr Env Env 3 Env 4 Env 5 Env 6 Amplitude Envelope The following parameters apply only to the Amplitude Envelope and will be available
40. EDBACK DISABLED O FXRouting 1 INPUT SLOT FEEDBACK 1 O DRY WET FXRouting 2 INPUT FEEDBACK ee Ses au FXRouting 3 INPUT SLOT SLOT SLOT SLOT SLOT DRY WET FEEDBACK 4 2 3 4 5 Q C OUTPUT FXRouting 4 INPUT FEEDBACK que FXRouting 5 INPUT SLOT FEEDBACK 1 re Q Seeeseessssssssssssscccesoo Goo OUTPUT DRY WET FXRouting 6 INPUT DRY WET FEEDBACK ee FXRouting 7 INPUT d zer an aor 9 iig e gt eL ed n Parameter Effect feedback Displayed As FEFedback Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 This parameter controls how much signal is fed back to the input of the effects chain from its output The FX Slot from which the feedback is derived varies with the FX Routing configuration in use see diagrams above However with all routing configurations the feedback is added back into the chain at FX Slot 1 Note that not all configurations employ feedback FX Slots Each of the FX slot options accessed from the initial Effects submenu are identical and may be loaded with one of the various FX processors available The parameter descriptions following refer to the first FX slot operation of the other four are identical The FX types can be categorised in various ways some are time based chorus delay others are static EQ distortion Some should be used as an FX send ret
41. Gator Latch Displayed As Gtbatch Default value On Range of adjustment Off or On With the Latch Off a note sounds only while its key is pressed With Latch On pressing a key will cause the note modified by its Gator pattern to sound continuously It is cancelled by setting GtLatch to Off again Parameter Gator Rate Sync Displayed As GLR Taro Default value 8th Range of adjustment See Sync Values Table on page 34 The clock driving the Gator s trigger is derived from the MiniNova s master tempo clock and the BPM may be adjusted by the ARP TEMPO control 21 Gator Rate may synchronised to the internal or external MIDI clock using a wide variety of tempos Parameter Gator Key Sync Displayed As GtERSunc Default value On Off or On When Key Sync is On every time you press a key the Gator pattern restarts at its Range of adjustment beginning With Key Sync Off the pattern continues independently in the background Parameter Gator Edge Slew Displayed As GLolew Default value 16 Range of adjustment Oto 127 Gator Edge Slew controls the rise time of the triggering clock This in turn controls how fast the gate opens and closes and thus whether the note has a sharp attack or a slight fade in and fade out Higher values of GtSlew lengthen the rise time and thus slow down the gate response Parameter Gator Hold Displayed As GtHold Default value 64 Range of adjustment Oto 127 The Gator Hold
42. JV i VV Parameter LFO 1 Common Sync Displayed As Litomin Default value Off Range of adjustment Off or On When LFOs are in use for pitch modulation their most common application Common Sync is only applicable to polyphonic voices It ensures that the phase of the LFO waveform is synchronised for every note being played When to set Off there is no such synchronisation and playing a second note while one is already pressed will result in an unsynchronised sound as the modulations will be out of time COMMON SYNC OFF COMMON SYNC ON NOTE 1 NOTE 1 NOTE 2 NOTE2 Set LFO Common Sync to On for an emulation of early analogue polyphonic synths Parameter LFO 1 One Shot Displayed As Lite Default value Off Range of adjustment Off or On As its name suggests setting this parameter to On causes the LFO to generate just a single cycle of its waveform Note that a full waveform cycle is always generated regardless of the setting of LFO Phase if LFO Phase is set to 90 the one shot waveform will start at the 90 point execute a full cycle and end at 90 Parameter LFO 1 Delay Displayed As Lielas Default value 0 Range of adjustment O to 127 LFO Delay is a time parameter whose function is determined by L1InOut see below Parameter LFO 1 Delay Sync Displayed As Lilizunc Default value Off Range of adjustment See Sync Values Table at page 34 When this parameter is set to Off the LFO delay
43. LEVEL mm m EE TEMPO MO 12 Parameter Input FX level Displayed as ingutFz Default value 0 Range of adjustment 0 127 This parameter adjusts the amount of the input signal sent to the FX processor for the currently selected Patch Top Menu Global Parameter Operating System Version Displayed As e Displays the firmware version currently installed in your MiniNova You may need to know this in the event of a technical issue arising or to check whether a newer version is available from the Novation website Parameter Memory Protection Displayed As Protect Default value On On Off This is a safety feature used to prevent accidental erasure of memories and loss of data Range of adjustment When set to On writing Patches or Global data into memory will be prevented and a brief warning message Herora Protect shown on the MiniNova s display It is recommended that Protect is left On unless Patches are being edited for storing in memory or a System Exclusive dump from a computer is to be received Parameter Local Control On Off Displayed As Local Default value On On Off This control determines whether the MiniNova is to be played from its own keyboard or Range of adjustment to respond to MIDI control from an external device such as a MIDI sequencer or master keyboard Set Local to On to use the keyboard and to Off if you are going to cont
44. Novation A division of Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd Windsor House Turnpike Road Cressex Business Park High Wycombe Bucks HP12 3FX United Kingdom Tel 44 1494 462246 Fax 44 1494 459920 e mail sales novationmusic com Web http www novationmusic com Trademarks The Novation trademark is owned by Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd All other brand product and company names and any other registered names or trademarks mentioned in this manual belong to their respective owners Disclaimer Novation has taken all possible steps to ensure that the information given here is both correct and complete In no event can Novation accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage to the owner of the equipment any third party or any equipment which may result from use of this manual or the equipment which it describes The information provided in this document may be modified at any time without prior warning Specifications and appearance may differ from those listed and illustrated IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS 1 Read these instructions 2 Keep these instructions 3 Heed all warnings 4 Follow all instructions 5 Clean only with dry cloth 6 Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators heat registers stoves or other apparatus including amplifiers that produce heat 7 Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding type plug A polarized plug has two blades with one w
45. Range of adjustment length by setting Arp Pttn to Arp Edit In this setting you can edit the Arp sequence using the eight Pads in ARPEGGIATE mode It is only possible to modify an Arp sequence with the Pads when Arp Pttn is set to Arp Edit UN pat 2 to 33 are pre assigned Arp patterns of various lengths greater than eight notes and timings and are derived from the UltraNova These are not modifiable You should spend some time experimenting with different combinations of Arp Mode and Arp Pttn Some patterns work better in certain Modes Parameter Arpeggiator Length Displayed As Areler Default value 8 Range of adjustment 1to8 This parameter is only available when Arp Pttn is set to Arp Edit This parameter represents the number of steps making up the sequence Parameter Arpeggiator Swing Displayed As Default value 1 to 100 This parameter is only available when Arp Pttn is set to Arp Edit If this parameter is set to Range of adjustment something other than its default value of 50 some further interesting rhythmic effects can be obtained Higher values of Swing lengthen the interval between odd and even notes while the even to odd intervals are correspondingly shortened Lower values have the opposite effect This is an effect which is easier to experiment with than describe Top Menu Chord The MiniNova s Chorder is a very useful feature which permits you to play chords containing up to ten notes by
46. Sound Modules MIDI in MIDI Out With the amplifier or mixer off or muted connect the AC adaptor to the MiniNova 25 and plug it into the AC mains Turn the MiniNova on by moving the rear panel switch 26 to ext DC After completing its boot sequence the LCD display will indicate the Patch which has been loaded If the TYPE GENRE knob has not been moved since the last power off this will be the last Patch used If the TYPE GENRE knob has been moved the Patch loaded will be the lowest numbered or lowest alphabetically sorted depending on the setting of the SORT switch in the selected Type or Genre Turn on the mixer amplifier powered speakers and turn up the Master Volume control 23 until you have a healthy sound level from the speakers when you play the keyboard Using headphones Instead of speakers via an amplifier and or an audio mixer you may wish to use a pair of stereo headphones These may be plugged into the rear panel headphone output socket 30 The main outputs are still active when headphones are plugged in The MASTER LEVEL control 23 also adjusts headphone level NOTE The MiniNova headphone amplifier is capable of outputting a high signal level please take care when setting the volume A WORD ABOUT MENU NAVIGATION The MiniNova has been designed to give the player maximum control over sound character and system operation with the minimum of hassle The menu system is always entered by pressing the MENU butt
47. Statement Declaration of Compliance procedure Product Identification Novation MiniNova American Music amp Sound 4325 Executive Drive Suite 300 Southhaven MS 38672 800 431 2609 Responsible party Address Telephone This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation For USA To the User 1 Do not modify this unit This product when installed as indicated in the instructions contained in this manual meets FCC requirements Modifications not expressly approved by Novation may void your authority granted by the FCC to use this product 2 Important This product satisfies FCC regulations when high quality shielded cables are used to connect with other equipment Failure to use high quality shielded cables or to follow the installation instructions within this manual may cause magnetic interference with appliances such as radios and televisions and void your FCC authorization to use this product in the USA 3 Note This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equipment generates uses and can
48. T IN 1 4 jack socket for external instrument or line level audio inputs This input overrides an XLR connector plugged into the Dynamic Mic Input 22 on the top panel Input is balanced and can accept a maximum input level of 0 dBu The sensitivity of the input can be adjusted via the menu system see Parameter Input Gain on page 12 Kensington Lock Port to secure your synthesizer STANDALONE OPERATION AUDIO AND MIDI CONNECTIONS The simplest and quickest way of getting started with the MiniNova is to connect the two rear panel jack sockets marked OUTPUT LEFT and RIGHT 31 to the inputs of a stereo amplifier audio mixer powered speakers third party computer sound card or other means of monitoring the output Toe Audio Out pud If using the MiniNova with other sound modules connect MIDI OUT 28 on the MiniNova Note the MiniNova is not a computer MIDI interface MIDI can be transmitted between the MiniNova synth and computer via the USB connection but MIDI cannot be transferred between the computer and external equipment via the MiniNova s MIDI DIN ports to MIDI IN on the first sound module and daisy chain further modules in the usual way If using the MiniNova with a master keyboard connect the controller s MIDI OUT to MIDI IN on the MiniNova and ensure that the master keyboard is set to MIDI channel 1 the MiniNova s default channel Controller Keyboard
49. Y id Sawtooth Pulse Width 6 4 Ratio 12 eyeles per 1 bar d id Sawtooth Pulse Width 5 5 Ratio 8 cycles per 3 beats M y 32 cycles per 3 bars Sawtooth Pulse Width 4 6 Ratio 8 cycles per 1 bar v v Sawtooth Pulse Width 3 7 Ratio 6 cycles per 1 bar v v Sawtooth Pulse Width 2 8 Ratio 4 cycles per 3 beats J 9 Sawtooth Pulse Width 1 9 Ratio 16 cycles per 3 bars Pulse Width 4th 4 cycles per 1 bar v v Square i 3 cycles per 1 bar v v Camp Bass dih B 2 cycles per 3 beats v v 8 cycles per 3 bars FF Frequency Modulated Bass er znd 2 cycles per 1 bar v v uii Dull Electric Piano 2 3 cycles per 2 bars v v Bell Bell Electric Piano 3 1 cycle per 3 beats 4 v v Clavinova cycles per 3 bars Double Reed 4 1 cycles per 1 bar v v Retro m 3 cycles per 2 bars v v String Machine 1 amp 1 cycle per 6 beats 2 v v 3 7 cycles per 3 bars String Machine 2 1 cycle per 2 bars v v Organ 1 3 cycles per 4 bars v Organ 2 1 cycle per 12 beats v Evil Organ 1 cycle per 3 bars High Stuff LE diez 3 cycles per 10 bars v Frequency Modulated Bell 1 1 cycle per 4 bars v Frequency Modulated Bell 2 1 cycle per 18 beats v Digital Bell 1 2 cycles per 9 bars Digital Bell 2 3 cycles per 8 bars v Digital Bell 3 1 cycle per 5 bars v Digital Bell 4 3 cycles per 16 bars v Digital Pad 1 cycle per 6 bars v Wavetable 1 1 cycle per 7 bars v Wavetable 2 cycles per 15 bars v Wavetable Teyele per8 bars Y Wavetable 36 1 cycle per 9 bars v 2 cycles per 21 bar
50. ack Note see below With a positive value notes higher than the Track Note get progressively louder the further from the Track Note they are and vice versa With a negative value notes higher than the Track Note get progressively quieter the further from the Track Note they are and again vice versa Note that this volume modification is applied to all phases of the amplitude envelope equally it is the overall volume of the note which changes with Amp Level Track The effect should be used sparingly low values have a better effect Note that although Amplitude Level Track appears to operate in a very similar manner to Amplitude Attack Track and Amplitude Decay Track only Amplitude Level Track uses a user definable note as the reference set by Level Track Note above which for positive values notes get louder and below which they get softer With negative values the inverse relationship will apply Common Envelope Parameter Parameter Level Track Note Displayed As LuliTkHte Default value C3 Range of adjustment C 2 to G8 This parameter is common to all the envelopes This sets the reference note used for all Level Track parameters including Amp Level Track When active this parameter increases the volume for notes above the chosen Track Note and reduces it for notes below it C 3 the default value is Middle C on the keyboard this is the C one octave above the lowest note on the keyboard also C providing no OCTAVE
51. an be found Experiment Parameter Vocoder Freeze Mode Displayed As docFresz Default value Off Off or On With VocFreez set to Off normal vocoder operation is available In this mode the Range of adjustment modulator input normally the mic will be constantly analysed by the vocoder If VocFreez is set to On the current levels of the vocoder modulator analysis filters will be frozen and stored Imagine taking a single frame from a film as an analogy This can be used to capture the mic signal Factory Patches Aaah1 B073 and Aaah2 B074 use this freeze mode Note that the frozen formant is stored as part of the Patch data Parameter Vocoder Shift Displayed As Shift Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 The VocShift parameter changes how the vocoder modulator analysis filter band frequencies are mapped to the carrier synthesis band frequencies It offsets the whole of the analysis bands by the same amount relative to the synthesis bands A positive value shifts the carrier bands up the frequency spectrum whereas negative values shifts them downwards NORMAL SHIFT AND SPREAD AT ZERO Level mod analysis bands carrier filter bands Frequency Level carrier filter bands Frequency Level SHIFT ve mod analysis bands 7 carrier filter bands Frequency Parameter Vocoder Spread Displayed As Voor Serecd Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64
52. ator Level Displayed As Moduli Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 ModulLvi adjusts the level of the microphone or other external input that is mixed with the Vocoder output signal MiniNova Y 127 127 127 0 0 0 Modulator Vocoder Carrier NS J Parameter Vocoder Width Displayed As Uoolidth Default value 127 Range of adjustment O to 127 The outputs of each Vocoder filter band are routed to the Left and Right channels alternately to produce a stereo image vvith good depth Decreasing the value of VVidth will progressively route all the filter outputs to both outputs so with Width set to zero the Vocoder output will be in mono and centrally located in the stereo image Parameter Vocoder Mode Displayed As ioc Default value Normal Range of adjustment Normal AllMax The Normal setting produces standard vocoder operation The modulator signal usually the microphone input is analysed to produce driving levels for the vocoder carrier synthesis bands Use this mode if you want the typical talking robot type of sound If VocMode is set to AllMax no analysis is performed All the carrier synthesisis bands are set to a high level and this allows the vocoder to be used as a powerful multi filter effect Used in conjuction with the other vocoder parameters in particular Resonate VocShift and VocSpred see below effects ranging from subtle stereo comb filtering and phasing to strange bell like textures c
53. btelau Chorus 4 Delay Ch Fback Chorus 4 Feedback Disifime Delay parameters Delay 1 Delay Time Disi i Delay 1 Feedback Delay 2 Delay Time Delay 2 Feedback EQ settings EQ Bass Level EQ Bass Frequency EQ Mid Level EQ Mid Frequency EQ Treble Level EQ Treble Frequency Pan Position Pan Pan Position Vocoder Shift Vocoder Spread Vocoder Resonance Pre FX Level Mixer output level Pitch Shift Tweak Parameters Table DISPLAY AREA Controls dynamic pitch shifting in Vocal Tuning processor DETAIL Voice Portamento Time FX Wet Level Mixer Post FX Level FX Pan Position Voice Unison Detune Oscillators Oscillator 1 parameters Osci lator 1 Wavetable Interpolation Osci Index lator 1 Pulsewidth Wavetable Osci lator 1 Virtual Sync Osci lator 1 Hardness Osci lator 1 Density Osci lator 1 Density Detune Osci lator 1 Semitone Transpose Osci lator 1 Cents Transpose Lig z ns tn Chorus 1 Feedback Chorus 2 Rate Oscillator 2 parameters Osci lator 2 Wavetable Interpolation Osci Index lator 2 Pulsewidth Wavetable Osci lator 2 Virtual Sync Osci lator 2 Hardness
54. buttons 24 are selected Filter Envelope The following parameters apply only to the Filter Envelope and will be available if Env n page 20 is set to Fltr Env The 16 parameters available for adjustment with the Filter Envelope closely match those for the Amplitude Envelope Whereas the Amplitude Envelope is concerned with modifying the sound s amplitude the Filter Envelope gives you dynamic filtering by establishing a relationship between the filter section and ADSR Filter Envelope resulting in the filter frequency being varied by the shape of the envelope In order to hear the effect of any of the Filter Envelope parameters you will first need to go to the Filter Menus and set up some filtering Then set F1Env2 or F2Env2 to an initial value of approx 30 and ensure that the filter is not fully open i e set F1Freg to mid range Parameter Filter Attack Time Displayed As FILALL Default value 2 Range of adjustment O to 127 This parameter sets hovv the filter section acts during the note s Attach phase The higher the value the longer it takes for the filter to react during this phase FitfHti can be also adjusted directly from Row 4 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC1 Parameter Filter Decay Time Displayed As Fit ec Default value 75 Range of adjustment O to 127 This parameter sets how the filter section acts during the note s Decay phase Again the higher the pa
55. cal scale that VocalTune uses as a reference when changing the pitch of the audio signal ScalCorr Scale Correction A fixed scale is selected with the VT Scale parameter below and a key with VT Key This setting will set the pitch of the Mic input to match that scale d KBCtrl Keyboard Control The keyboard sets the guide pitch based on the last note s played If you play a chord the audio input will assume the pitch of the nearest note in the chord Pitch Pitch Shift Adds a fixed amount of pitch shift to the incoming audio The amount of shift is set using the PtchShft parameter Additional real time pitch shifting can be controlled using the Pitch Wheel range being set using the BendShft parameter Parameter VocalTune Scale Displayed As UT Scale Default value Played Range of adjustment Played Chrmatic Major RelMinor HarMinor MelMinor When in Scale Correction mode with VT Mode set to ScalCorr you can select the scale that Vocal Tune uses as a reference If VT Scale is set to Played the VocalTune will reference the notes in the chord that has been played most recently The more notes in the last chord the more notes VocalTune has to snap to A three note triad doesn t give great results PostFilt Post Filter inserts the pitch shifted audio after the filter into the same mixer audio channel as the Oscillator The vocal signal will still only occur when a key is pressed or actioned via a MI
56. cation For this reason Filter 1 Frequency has its own dedicated control in the form of a large rotary control 14 next to the parameter controls Experiment with different types of patch to hear how changing the filter frequency alters the characteristic of different types of sound Using the Pads as performance controls The eight Pads below the parameter controls have a number of functions on the MiniNova In this section we are concerned only with their use as performance controls To enable the Pads for performance use set the ANIMATE ARPEGGIATE switch 16 to ANIMATE Like the TWEAK controls the precise effect that each Pad will have on the characteristic of the sound is Patch dependent Again the best way of understanding what they can do is to load a Patch and play with them Load the Patch Cry4Moon DF which can be found in the Keyboard Lead TYPE and lightly touch each of the pads in turn while playing normally You ll find that when you touch a pad something distinctive happens to the sound Try loading different types of Patch to see what effect the Pads have in each Note that not all Patches have all eight Pads assigned Later in the manual you will discover how to reassign the Pads to make specific parameter changes to any given patch and that these assignments remain with the patch for your future use You will be able to find this or any Patch you know by name more quickly by setting SORT to A Z and scro
57. de must be enabled for the Pads to be active ANIMATE pads will illuminate purple if a controller has been assigned See Using the Pads as performance controls on page 7 for more details regarding using the Pads Note that when both a Pad and other sources Source1 and or Source2 are assigned in the same slot the Pad acts as a switch for the other sources whose effect will only be heard when the Pad is pressed Note that the Pads can also be directly assigned to trigger any of the six envelopes in some way AMPTTrig FItTTrig E3Ttrig E6TTrg When set to trigger an envelope there is no need to set up an assignment between the envelope and the touch trigger in a mod slot Of course if you want to re use the same pad to do something else at the same time go ahead and use it in a mod slot too Parameter Destination Displayed As Deztin Default value O123Ptch Range of adjustment See Mod Matrix Destination Table on page 36 This sets which MiniNova parameter is to be controlled by the selected source or sources in the current matrix configuration The range of possibilities comprises Parameters that directly affect the sound four parameters per oscillator global pitch 0123Ptch the six mixer inputs from the oscillators noise source and ring modulators plus the mixer output level per filter drive amount frequency and resonance plus filter balance 34 assorted FX parameters including chorus delay EQ etc 8 Voc
58. dio inputs The FX section comprises five processing slots each of which may be loaded with an FX processor from a pool of devices that includes panning equalisation compression delay chorus distortion reverb and gator effects In addition to the slots controls are also provided for global FX parameters like panning FX level FX feedback etc The FX controls are accessed from the Effects submenu This provides six options PanRoute and FXSlot1 to FXSIot5 PanRoute provides selection of panning and slot configuration Entering FXSlot1 to FXSlot5 allows you to choose the FX device and its associated parameters for each of the five slots The following parameters apply only to the PanRoute option Parameter Pan Position Displayed As FanFaozn Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 This is the main manual pan control and positions the dry pre FX synth sound Input audio in the stereo image between the left and right outputs Negative values of PanPosn move the sound to the left and positive values to the right Note that some FX e g reverb chorus are inherently stereo and these are added post panning Thus if you are using a sound that uses FX such as these PanPosn will appear to not entirely localise the sound fully left or right at its extreme settings Parameter Pan Rate Displayed As Fankate Default value 40 Range of adjustment O to 127 Automatic panning is also possible and the Pan section has a d
59. e The overall effect of Chorus Delay is more pronounced in Phaser mode Modulating Chorus Delay with an LFO gives a much richer dual chorus effect 30 Gator Menu The built in Gator is a very powerful Novation effect In essence it is similar to a Noise Gate triggered by a repeating pattern derived from the internal or external MIDI clock This breaks a note up rhythmically One of six patterns is available by setting the Gator Mode parameter the base patterns have 16 steps but by combining these in various ways the Gator Mode setting produces longer more complex patterns The Gator is compatible with Patches prepared on the Novation UltraNova The UltraNova allows the user to freely create and edit 32 step patterns including definition of per step volume and to save these patterns as part of a Patch As UltraNova Patches are fully compatible with the MiniNova these Gator patterns will be replayed correctly if they are imported into a MiniNova Gator patterns in the MiniNova may be edited off line using MiniNova Editor software Note that for the Gator to have its full effect the FX Amount setting for the Slot into which it is loaded needs to be at maximum 127 In addition to this the FX Routing configuration will also have a bearing on its audibility Parameter Gator On Off Displayed As Lon GEF Default value On Off or On This switches the Gator effect on or off Range of adjustment Parameter
60. e mono voicing must be selected it will not work with polyphonic voicing See Edit menu Submenu 5 Voice on page 19 See What is Legato on page 21 for more details about Legato style Edit menu Submenu 8 liccdhiatr The heart of a versatile synthesizer lies in the ability to interconnect the various controllers sound generators and processing blocks such that one is controlling or modulating another in as many vvays as possible MiniNova provides tremendous flexibility of control routing and there is a dedicated menu for this the Modulation Matrix Menu ModMatrx NUMBER 20 NUMBER 1 TOUCH SELECT DEPTH SOURCE D 0 H DESTINATION H INL SOURCE 2 The menu may be visualised as a system for connecting controlling sources to a specific area of the synth Each such connection assignment is termed a slot and there are 20 su ch slots accessed by ModSIt see below Each slot defines how one or two control sources are routed to a controlled parameter The routing possibilities available in each of the 20 slots are identical and the control description below is applicable to all of them 25 The Modulation Matrix is both variable and additive What do we mean by a variable and additive matrix By variable we mean that it is not just the routing of a controlling source to a controlled parameter which is defined in
61. e and below the band are removed It is not possible to fully open this type of Filter and allow all frequencies to pass Cut off Frequency Volume E Frequency Envelopes And Amplifier In earlier paragraphs the synthesis of the pitch and the timbre of a sound were described The next part of the Synthesis Tutorial describes how the volume of the sound is controlled The volume of a note created by a musical instrument often varies greatly over the duration of the note according to the type of instrument For example a note played on an Organ quickly attains full volume when a key is pressed It stays at full volume until the key is released at which point the volume level falls instantly to zero KEY ON KEY OFF VOLUME TIME gt A Piano note quickly attains full volume after a key is pressed and gradually falls in volume to zero after several seconds even if the key is held KEY ON KEY OFF VOLUME TIME 3 A String Section emulation only attains full volume gradually when a key is pressed It remains at full volume while the key is held down but once the key is released the volume falls zero fairly slowly KEY ON KEY OFF VOLUME TIME gt In an analogue synthesizer changes to a sound s character which occur over the duration of a note are controlled by a section called an Envelope Generator The MiniNova has 6 Envelope Generators called Env 1 to Env 6 Env 1 is always r
62. e effect on vocals using audio inputs as the Source Parameter Pulse Width Wave Table Index Displayed As DiPuidx Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 This control has two functions depending on the waveform selected by O1Wave With pulse waveforms it varies the pulse width of the oscillator output This basic effect can most easily be heard by adjusting this parameter with OTWave set to PW you will note how the harmonic content varies and at high settings the sound becomes quite thin and metallic A pulse wave is essentially an asymmetric square wave when set to zero the waveform is a normal square wave See page 9 This parameter has a different function if the oscillator waveform is set to be one of the 36 Wave Tables see O1VVave above Each Wave Table consists of nine related waveforms and the setting of OIPW Idx determines which is in use The total parameter value range of 128 is divided into 9 approximately equal segments of 14 value units so setting the value to anything between 64 and 50 will generate the first of the 9 waveforms 49 to 35 the second and so on See also the Wave Table Interpolation parameter O1WTInt which can be used to introduce further variation in the way wavetables are used Parameter Hardness Displayed As iHard Default value 127 Range of adjustment O to 127 The Hardness parameter modifies the harmonic content of the waveform reducing the level of the upper harm
63. each slot but also the magnitude of the control Thus the amount of control or control range used is up to you By additive we mean that a parameter may be varied by more than one source if wished Each slot allows for two sources to be routed to a parameter and their effects are multiplied together This means that if either of them is at zero there will be no modulation However there is no reason why you can t have further slots routing these or other sources to the same parameter In this case the control signals from different slots add to produce the overall effect SOURCE 1 LFO h MOD SLOT NO 1 SOURCE 2 MOD WHEEL SOURCE 1 LFO MOD SLOT NO 1 IN SOURCE 2 MOD WHEEL SOURCE 1 LFO MOD SLOT NO 1 o SOURCE 2 SOURCE 1 MOD WHEEL MOD SLOT NO 2 o SOURCE2 SOURCE 1 LFO MOD SLOT NO 1 SOURCE 2 SOURCE 1 MOD WHEEL MOD SLOT NO2 a e SOURCE 2 You need to be careful when setting up patches like this to ensure that the combined effect of all the controllers acting simultaneously still creates the sound that you want In addition the Modulation Matrix Menu lets you assign the Pads as additional controllers so long as the Animate mode is enabled see Using the Pads as performance controls on page 7 With this submenu it is first necessary to select the Modulation Slot whose parameters are
64. eai oe 12 Tp Menur Glo Balls dd ee itecto dee i Deka diae hid 12 op Ment Arp sere tenore oe ende urne sure ae eda de d ced e bd eod 13 Top Men Chord ccs acreueeteseeepker Rr Rr aa CARERE a a R AN 14 TOP Moti Edit extre ee deter en treten sene Tonic ac ES b brad 14 Edit menu Submenu 1 Tweaks iles 14 Edit menu Submenu 2 86 2 enl clDesed Ree lE regida Oras oe 14 Per Oscillator parameters oni i pim ecpePa lur e Lee dE RE dates eed 14 Common Oscillator parameters 4 4 4 15 Edit menu Submenu 3 Mixer isses 16 Edit menu Submenu 4 Filter lssseeseeesee eee 16 Per Filter parameters veces pe Eee er A Feet regie 17 Common Filter parameters 2 i2scuesrebeethke ueri cbeturberessP bel 17 Edit men Submenu 5 Voice rsrsrsr esee e br ep hr p ha red 19 Edit men Submenu 6 En ssc cc rer rc eere ucer eatin imei ed 20 Amplituda Emale s rone ener conse eine hmm phe entree retener 20 Whats 8gato iure E A EEEE PRONTI EE EET astre ia 21 Common Envelope Parameter scs sies teer er we ces Dex cepe 22 Filter EnVeloDe is me annie eee ewes EST eIdedeis EAE EEA 22 Envelop88 3 t0 6 ote oe tee ea DR ecu duet ede ee 28 Editimenu Submenu 7 LFO cesi eee co eese ee eee ten 24 Edit menu Submenu 8 ModMatrx 0 00 cece eee eee eee nee 25 Editmenu Submenu 9 Effects i lecises eaa e rar Rh mers 26 EQ Meht iii epe pP RE E ne educi dee PER REPE mini TRY 2
65. eak Control RC1 cif can be also adjusted directly from Row 6 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC3 To get the best out of Vsync try modulating it using an LFO Alternatively select Row 6 in the PERFORM section and vary it while playing with Tweak Control RC1 Parameter Oscillator Waveform Displayed As Dibbause Default value Sawtooth Range of adjustment See Waveforms table on page 34 This selects the oscillator s waveform from a range of 72 options As well as analogue synth type waveforms like sine square sawtooth pulse and 9 ratios of sawtooth pulse mix there are various digital waveforms and 36 wavetables consisting of nine individual waveforms per wavetable plus two audio input sources Two audio sources are included in the Waveform table although the MiniNova only has a single audio input AudInL M AudiolInR is included for compatibility with UltraNova Patches If audio input sources are selected then any additional oscillator parameters will have no effect on the sound The audio input will be used as the source for subsequent manipulation e g filters modulation etc When the external input is selected as an oscillator source it is really being selected in place of that oscillator and fed through the synth s signal path from this point To hear the audio input when selected as an oscillator source a note must be played on the keyboard It is possible to create a MIDI gat
66. ections together in whatever combination you want The minimum parameter value of 64 represents maximum output from Filter 1 and no output from Filter 2 and the maximum value of 63 represents maximum output from Filter 2 and no output from Filter 1 With a value of O the outputs of the two filter sections are mixed in equal proportion 17 Parameter Filter Routing Displayed As FROutind Default value Parallel Range of adjustment MiniNova provides five possible combinations of the two filter blocks plus bypass Single mode uses Filter 1 only the other modes interconnect the two filter sections in various Bypass Single Series Parallel Paral2 Drum ways FILTER BALANCE EFFECTS Bypass No filiters in circuit FILTER 1 FILTER 2 FILTER BALANCE EFFECTS Single Filter 1 only FILTER 1 FILTER 2 FILTER BALANCE EFFECTS Series Filter 1 feeds Filter 2 but output is still derived from Filter Balance control 18 FILTER 1 FILTER 2 FILTER BALANCE EFFECTS Parallel Filter sections are driven with the same input signal and their output mix is adjusted by the Filter Balance parameter FILTER 1 FILTER 2 FILTER BALANCE EFFECTS Parallel 2As Parallel Mode but Filter 1 is driven by Osc 3 and Noise source remaining sources feed Filter 2 FILTER 1 FILTER 2 FILTER BALANCE EFFECTS Drum As Parallel Mode 2 but Filter 1 s output is added to Filter 2 s input signals Note that Paral
67. edicated sinewave LFO which controls this The PanRate parameter controls the LFO frequency and thus how rapidly the sound moves between left and right and back again With a value of 40 the sound takes approx 3 seconds to complete a full cycle and the range of control allows extremely slow or extremely fast panning For the most effective results with Pan Rate ensure that PanPosn is set 0 i e centre panning Parameter Pan Sync Displayed As Pantano Default value Off Range of adjustment See Sync Values Table at page 34 Auto panning rate may be synchronised to the internal or external MIDI clock using a wide variety of tempos Parameter Pan Depth Displayed As FanQer tin Default value 0 Range of adjustment O to 127 This control determines the amount of image shift applied by the auto panner At its maximum value of 127 the auto panner will pan the sound both fully left and fully right lower values will pan less extremely with the sound remaining more centrally located The auto panner is effectively off when the parameter value is zero but the manual pan parameter PanPosn is still operative Parameter FX Slot Routing Displayed As FeRoubing Default value 1 Range of adjustment Oto 7 This parameter lets you configure the interconnection of the FX slots The five slots may be interconnected in serial in parallel or in various combinations of serial and parallel FXRouting 0 INPUT FE
68. efault value Off Off 2 3 4 Unison can be used to thicken the sound by assigning additional voices up to 4 in Range of adjustment total for each note Be aware that the reservoir of voices is finite and with multiple voices assigned polyphony is accordingly reduced With 4 voices per note a four note chord approaches the MiniNova s limit and if further notes are added to the chord voice stealing is implemented and the initial note s played may be cancelled If the limitation on polyphony imposed by Unison Voices is restrictive a similar effect can be obtained by using multiple oscillators and adjusting their Density and Detune parameters In fact most of the factory patches use Density and Detune rather than Unison to achieve their thickening effect Parameter Unison Detune Displayed As iinitTune Default value 25 Range of adjustment O to 127 Unison Detune applies only when Unison Voices is set to something other than Off The parameter determines how much each voice is detuned relative to the others you will be able to hear a difference in the sound of the same note with different numbers of voices even if Unison Detune is set to zero but the sound gets more interesting as it is increased in value Changing the settings of Unison Voices or Unison Detune while holding a note down has no effect on the sound The new settings will only be effective when a fresh note is played Parameter Po
69. elated to an Amplifier which controls the note s amplitude i e the volume of the sound when the note is played Each envelope generator has four main controls which are used to adjust the shape of the envelope Attack Time Adjusts the time it takes after a key is pressed for the volume to climb from zero to full volume It can be used to create a sound with a slow fade in KEY ON KEY OFF VOLUME or ATTACK DECAY RELEASE Decay Time Adjusts the time it takes for the volume to fall from its initial full volume to the level set by the Sustain control while a key is held down Sustain Level This is unlike the other Envelope controls in that it sets a level rather than a period of time It sets the volume level that the envelope remains at while the key is held down after the Decay Time has expired Release Time Adjusts the time it takes for the volume to fall from the Sustain level to zero once the key is released It can be used to create sounds that have a fade out quality A typical synthesizer will have one or more envelopes One envelope is always applied to the amplifier to shape the volume of each note played Additional envelopes can be used to dynamically alter other sections of the synthesizer during the lifetime of each note The MiniNova s second Envelope Generator Env 2 is used to modify the filter cut off frequency over the lifetime of a note In the MiniNova Envelope Generators 3 to
70. elope 2 Trigger in this mode the envelope triggered filter action is not initiated by pressing a key and the note will initially sound with no envelope acting on the filter Pressing the Pad while the key is pressed will trigger the filter envelope 3 Enable in this mode the envelope triggered filter action is initiated by the keyboard but only while the Pad is being pressed Thus you can very easily flip between the sound with and without the action of the envelope on the filter Parameter Filter Multi trigger Displayed As FILATr ia Default value Re Trig Range of adjustment Re Trig or Legato This operates in a very similar way to Amplitude Multi trigger When set to Re Trig each note played will trigger its full ADSR envelope even if other keys are held down With the envelope applied to the filter section this means that the effect of any envelope triggered filtering will be heard on every note When set to Legato only the first key to be pressed will produce a note with the full envelope and thus produce any filtering effect All subsequent notes will lack any dynamic filtering Remember that for the Legato mode to be operative mono voicing must be selected it will not work with polyphonic voicing See Edit menu Submenu 5 Voice on page 19 See What is Legato on page 21 for more details about Legato style Parameter Filter Attack Slope Displayed As FILALSIE Default value 0 Range of adjust
71. elopes 3 to 6 to other synth parameters is performed in the Modulation Matrix ModMatrx Menu see What is Legato on page 21 for full details In order to audition their effects you must first open the ModMatrx Menu and set a Mod Slot Source to Env3 and the Destination to a parameter of your choice e g Global Oscillator Pitch 0123Ptch The arrangement of parameters for Envelopes 3 to 6 is identical and the arrangement closely follows that of Envelopes 1 and 2 Amplitude and Filters Although denoted as Envelope 3 the parameter summaries below apply equally to Envelopes 4 5 amp 6 so are not repeated The actual function of Envelopes 3 to 6 will obviously depend on what they are routed to control in the Modulation Matrix Menu However the derivation of the envelope parameters themselves follow those already described for the Amplitude and Filter envelopes with the exception of the Delay parameter e g E3Delay whose function is described below Parameter Envelope 3 Attack Time Displayed As ESALL Default value 10 Range of adjustment Oto 127 Parameter Envelope 3 Decay Time Displayed As Dec Default value 70 Range of adjustment O to 127 Parameter Envelope 3 Sustain Level Displayed As 5 Es Default value 64 Range of adjustment O to 127 Parameter Envelope 3 Release Time Displayed As Rel Default value 40 Range of adjustment Oto 127 Parameter Envelope 3 Delay Displayed As E3Delau
72. en Row 2 FX TWEAK is selected However this can be changed in the TWEAK submenu of the EDIT menu You will be able to find this or any Patch you know by name more quickly by setting SORT to A Z and scrolling through the listed Patches alphabetically Rows 3 to 6 Fixed Tweak controls The function of the four rotary controls is predetermined when any of Rows 3 to 6 is selected The table below lists the functions and tells you where to look in the User Guide to find out more information on the parameter controlled in each case Full details of the parameters each of the Tweak controls in Rows 3 to 6 are available at the page number indicated in the table below Parameter More Info Parameter More Info Parameter More Info Parameter More Info 3 Filter Resonance Fikes page 17 Tracking Fifrack Type Els Drive Filiamni page 17 4 Filter Envelope Attack FILALL page22 Decay FitQec Sustain Amount FiEnez page 17 5 Amplitude Envelope Attack Aime fFild page20 Decay Aime De Sustain Release HapRel page 21 6 Oscillator Osc1 Virtual Sync CGitzurncz page i4 Osc1 Density Gibfienze Osc 2 Virtual Sync Osc 2 Density CzDenzgs page 15 The Filter knob The LATCH button plays the currently selected arp sequence repeatedly without the keys Adjusting the frequency of the synth s primary filter Filter 1 is probably the most commonly used method of sound modifi
73. es Arpeggiator Chorus Sync Delay Sync Gator Sync LFO Delay Sync LFO Rate Sync amp Pan Rate Sync will follow the tempo of an external MIDI clock source or follow the tempo set by the TEMPO knob 21 Internal the MiniNova will synchronise to the internal MIDI clock irrespective of what external MIDI clock sources may be present USB synchronisation will only be set to the external MIDI clock received via the USB connection If no clock is detected the tempo flywheels to the last known clock rate Midi synchronisation will only be to an external MIDI clock connected to the MIDI input socket If no clock is detected the tempo flywheels to the last known clock rate Auto when no external MIDI clock source is present the MiniNova will default to the internal MIDI clock Tempo BPM will be that set by the TEMPO knob If an external MIDI clock is present the MiniNova will synchronise to it When set to any of the external MIDI clock sources the tempo will be at the MIDI Clock rate received from the external source e g a sequencer Make sure the external sequencer is set to transmit MIDI Clock If unsure of the procedure consult the sequencer manual for details Most sequencers do not transmit MIDI Clock while they are stopped Synchronisation of the MiniNova to MIDI Clock will only be possible while the sequencer is actually recording or playing In the absence of an external clock the tempo will flywheel and w
74. et of notes played and will do so indefinitely The tempo of the arp sequence is set by the TEMPO control you can make the sequence play faster or slower by altering this See page 13 for further details The Vocoder Your MiniNova comes with a Vocoder section which allows you to create some really great sounds by combining synth sounds with either a voice or another instrument such as a guitar To use the Vocoder first connect a microphone one is supplied with your MiniNova to the MIC socket 22 on the top panel Alternatively you can plug a guitar or other instrument into the EXT IN socket 8 on the rear panel this will disconnect the mic socket Next you need to set the audio gain of the mic or instrument To do this press MENU 8 select Audio In using the DATA wheel 6 then press OK 9 This will open the menu system and Audio In is the first menu displayed The first menu item in the Audio Menu is Input Gain iri t Gair adjust the input gain with the DATA wheel 6 while noting the signal level as displayed at the top of the LCD screen as a horizontal bargraph meter Ensure that the loudest audio level does not cause the OVER segment to illuminate Set the TYPE GENRE control 4 to VOCODER VOCALTUNE and select a patch from the available subset Now hold one or more keys down and sing into the microphone or play the instrument connected at EXT IN You will hear the sound of the synth modified by the external audio input A
75. f this happening simply reset the unit by powering off and on again Normal operation should return COPYRIGHT AND LEGAL NOTICES Novation is a registered trademark of Focusrite Audio Engineering Limited MiniNova is a trademark of Focusrite Audio Engineering Limited VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH Audio Units AU is a trademark of Apple Inc RTAS is a trademark of Avid Inc 2012 Focusrite Audio Engineering Limited All rights reserved CONTENTS Important Safety InstructionS 0 0ecce eee cece eee Environmental Declaration esses eene Copyright and Legal notices eeeeeeeeeennen Introduction ssessessessessee een nennen nnn 1 1 1 3 Key Features 0 cece eee cece eee eee 8 About this manual 00 ccc cece eee eee eee 8 3 Whats in the box cece cece e eect teense eens Registering youriMiniNoval sect deepest rt RU ade ates eae NAARAAN 3 Powerrequirements cs penes cde a estampes b eon mains dant DR e S deies 3 Hardware Overview sesesesee nn nnn n n 4 Top MEW GOntrols red oer re Pals mE EP erra a Dita Elle a Dita dus 4 Rear view CONNECTIONS oi s uccisi opea one medie sere SD ade e disi seri E dia 5 Getting Started ccc eee eee nnn nnn 5 Standalone and computer operation a foreword 0 0 0 cece eee eee eee 5 Standalone operation audio and MIDI connections 5 Usindgiheadpl
76. ff turning the knob will immediately alter the parameter which may produce an audible jump See page 13 for more information on Pot Pickup INPUT LEVEL INPUT LEVEL LL mm orm m m Rows 1 and 2 Tweak and FX Tweak controls With either Rows 1 or 2 selected the knobs will have a different effect depending on the patch loaded This is because the actual assignment of the controls forms part of the Patch You will find that all the factory Patches have some Tweak Controls pre assigned but you can change their function or add others if you wish The best way of understanding the Tweak controls is to load a patch and play with them Try loading the Patch Synchromatic 1 PS which can be found in the Arp Movement TYPE Select the TWEAK row with the Perform Row Selector switch 13 As you play adjust each of the four TWEAK controls in turn to hear their effect You will find that you can introduce further variations to the sound Now select the FX TWEAK row you ll find that the TWEAK controls now do something different and the sound can be modified in other ways in this case by altering the audio effects processing applied to the sound The important point to grasp here is that the effect of each TWEAK control on the sound is specific to the patch With different patches loaded the TWEAK controls will alter different sonic characteristics NOTE RC4 is preset to control the level of FX level wh
77. form is just inverted and the harmonic content is exactly the same 40 10 60 _ I I I 1 2 3 4 5 These are basically random signals and have no one fundamental frequency and therefore SEP Noise Waves 3 no pitch property All frequencies are at the same volume Because they possess no pitch noise signals are often useful for creating sound effects and percussion type sounds Digital Waveforms In addition to the traditional types of Oscillator waveforms detailed above the MiniNova also offers a set of carefully selected digitally generated waveforms containing useful harmonic elements normally difficult to produce using traditional Oscillators Wavetables A wavetable is essentially a group of digital waveforms The MiniNova s 36 wavetables each contain 9 separate digital waveforms The benefit of a wavetable is that consecutive waveforms in the wavetable can be blended Some of the MiniNova s wavetables contain waveforms with similar harmonic content while others contain waveforms with greatly differing harmonic content Wavetables come alive when the wavetable index the position within the wavetable is modulated resulting in a sound that continually changes character either smoothly or abruptly 9 Waves make up a wave table Ring Modulation A Ring Modulator is a sound generator that takes signals from two of the MiniNova s oscillators and effectively multiplies them together The
78. g altogether before the filter has cut off Parameter Filter Level Track Displayed As FitLoiTk Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 This parameter works in a similar way to the other tracking parameters but it is the depth with which the envelope is applied to the filter which alters in relation to the interval between the note played and the Level Track Note see below With a positive value the envelope triggered filtering effect becomes progressively more pronounced for notes higher than the Track Note the further from the Track Note they are and vice versa With a negative value notes higher than the Track Note undergo progressively less filtering the further from the Track Note they are and again vice versa Parameter Level Track Note Displayed As Li TEI Default value C3 C 2 to G8 This parameter is common to all the envelopes See Parameter Amplitude Level Trach Range of adjustment on page 22 Envelopes 3 to 6 In addition to dedicated Amplitude and Filter envelopes the MiniNova is equipped with four further assignable envelopes Envelopes 3 to 6 These envelopes have virtually the same set of parameters as the Amplitude and Filter envelopes but they can be assigned at will to control many other synth functions including most oscillator parameters filters EQ and panning among others These parameters will be available if Env n page 20 is set to Env 3 to Env 6 The assignment of Env
79. gato on page 21 Octave Shift These two backlit buttons 24 transpose the keyboard up or down one octave each time they are pressed to a maximum of four octaves The colour displayed by the buttons indicates the number of octaves shifted when both LEDs are off the default state the lowest note on the keyboard is one octave below Middle C Middle C SHIFT COLOUR no buttons pressed LEDs off 1 octave Red 2 octaves Magenta 3 octaves Purple 4 octaves Blue Normal keyboard pitch may be reinstated at any time by pressing both Octave buttons together Storing a Patch Novation have worked hard to create a really useful and great sounding set of factory Patches and we are sure that many of them will meet your needs without further modification However the scope for altering or creating completely new sounds in the MiniNova is almost limitless and when you have done so you will probably want to save the sounds for future use It is possible to store or write your own patches directly into the MiniNova without using the MiniNova Editor and Librarian software applications Once any of the parameters of a Patch have been changed the SAVE flag will illuminate in the LCD to remind you that you are no longer working with an unmodified Patch To save the modified Patch 1 Press the SAVE button 10 which will display the name that the Patch had when it was first loaded NOTE The Memory
80. h will also depend on the chosen Destination parameter Selecting Lfo1 as the source makes the LFO vary the controlled parameter in a positive sense i e increasing only Selecting it as Lfo1 varies it in both a positive and a negative sense 24 With this submenu it is first necessary to select the LFO whose parameters are to be adjusted Displayed As LFU n where nis 1 to 3 Default value LFO 1 Range of adjustment LFO 1 LFO 2 LFO 3 A total of 12 parameters per LFO is available for adjustment Because the three LFOs are identical only the functions of LFO1 are described Parameter LFO 1 Rate Displayed As LiRate Default value 68 Range of adjustment Oto 127 Rate is the LFO s frequency A value of zero stops the LFO and most musical effects are likely to use values in the 40 70 range though higher or lower values may be appropriate for certain sound effects When the LFO Rate is set to zero the LFO is stopped but will still apply an offset to the parameter it is modulating of a magnitude dependent on where it stopped in its cycle LFO RATE X D LFO RATE 0 Parameter LFO 1 Rate Sync Displayed As Liang Default value Off Range of adjustment See Sync Values Table on page 34 This control allows the frequency of the LFO to be synchronised to an internal external MIDI clock When set to Off the LFOs run at a frequency set by the L1Rate parameter At all other settings L1Rate become
81. half cycles are inverted simulating the effect of rectification BitsDown Reproduces the grainy quality associated with lower bit rates as found in older digital devices RateDovvn Gives the effect of reduced definition and HF loss similar to the use of alow sample rate Parameter Distortion Compensation Displayed As Diztifur Default value 100 Range of adjustment O to 127 Distortion Compensation only has an effect on Diode and Valve distortion types Increasing compensation reduces the harshness of the distortion effect Delay Menu The Delay FX processor produces one or more repetitions of the note played Although the two are intimately related in an acoustic sense delay should not be confused with reverb in terms of an effect Think of delay simply as Echo The MiniNova has two delay processors Their facilities are identical the example below illustrates Delay 1 Parameter Delay Time Displayed As Diuifir Default value 64 O to 127 This parameter sets the basic delay time With Dly1Sync see below set to Off the note Range of adjustment played will be repeated after a fixed time Higher values correspond to a longer delay with the maximum value of 127 equating to approx 700 ms If Delay Time is varied either manually or via modulation while a note is being played pitch shifting will result See also Delay Slew Parameter Delay Sync Displayed As Disizunc Default value Off Range
82. ider than the other A grounding type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong The wide blade or the third prong are provided for your safety If the provided plug does not fit into your outlet consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet 8 Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs convenience receptacles and the point where they exit from the apparatus 9 Only use attachments accessories specified by the manufacturer 10 Use only with the cart stand tripod bracket or table specified by the manufacturer or sold with the apparatus When a cart is used use caution when moving the cart apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip over 11 Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time 12 Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way such as power supply cord or plug is damaged liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture does not operate normally or has been dropped No naked flames such as lighted candles should be placed on the apparatus WARNING Excessive sound pressure levels from earphones and headphones can cause hearing loss WARNING This equipment must only be connected to USB 1 1 or 2 0 type ports FA0743 02 ENVIRONMENTAL DECLARATION Compliance Information
83. if Env n above is set to Amp Env Parameter Amplitude Attack Time Displayed As Li Default value 2 O to 127 This parameter sets the note s attack time With a value of 0 the note is at its maximum Range of adjustment level immediately the key is pressed with a value of 127 the note takes over 20 seconds to reach its maximum level At the mid setting 64 the time is approx 250 ms provided Amplitude Attack Slope AmpAtSlp has a value of zero FimF Fit can be also adjusted directly from Row 5 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC1 Parameter Amplitude Decay Time Displayed As H eo Default value 90 O to 127 This parameter sets the notes decay time Decay time only has meaning if AmpSus see Range of adjustment below is set to less than 127 as the Decay phase will be inaudible if the sustain level is the same as the level reached during the attack phase At the mid setting 64 the time is approx 150 ms provided AmpDcSIp has a value of 127 Fimr Lec can be also adjusted directly from Row 5 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC2 Parameter Amplitude Sustain Level Displayed As Aime Su Default value 127 Oto 127 The value of the Sustain parameter sets the volume of the note after the completion of the Range of adjustment decay phase Setting a low value will obviously have the effect of emphasising the start of the note setting i
84. ignal exceeding the Threshold Level remains applied after the signal level drops belovv the Threshold Level At the end of the Hold Time the amount of gain reduction is reduced over the Release Time Low values give a short Hold Time high values a long one The range of hold times available is from 2 5 ms to 500 ms Compressor times are of particular importance with repetitive rhythmic sounds For example setting too short a Hold Time may result in audible pumping of background noise between notes which can be quite unpleasant Hold Release and Attack Times are usually best adjusted in conjunction with one another by ear to obtain an optimum effect with the particular sound you are using Parameter Auto Gain Displayed As Cigain Default value 127 Range of adjustment Oto 127 A consequence of compression is that the overall volume of the sound may be reduced The MiniNova s compressors automatically make up for this loss of level and ensure that the level of the compressed signal remains as near as possible to that of the input Auto Gain provides additional gain which may be useful in situations where heavy compression is used Distortion Menu Distortion is usually regarded as something undesirable and although we all take great pains most of the time to avoid it there are circumstances when adding some carefully controlled distortion gives you exactly the sound you re after Distortion arises when a signal i
85. ill assume the last known incoming MIDI Clock value Parameter Wheel Illumination Displayed As ilhelle Default value On Range of adjustment On Off The PITCH and MOD wheels 2 are internally illuminated this setting allows them to be turned on or off MiniNova Power Save Ju Parameter Displayed As Default value On Off 10 mins This is an energy saving option Setting PwrSave to On will make the MiniNova turn off Range of adjustment saving the current settings when the computer goes into sleep mode This only applies if it is powered via the USB connection If set to 10 mins the keyboard will turn off after that period regardless of how it is powered In either case pressing any key will restore power If set to Off the keyboard will remain on Top Menu Arp Parameter Arpeggiator Rate Sync Displayed As Are Sorc Default value 16th Range of adjustment See Sync Values table Sync Values Table on page 34 This parameter effectively determines the beat of the arp sequence based on the current tempo See Parameter Clock Source on page 13 Parameter Arpeggiator Gate Time Displayed As Are Gate Default value 64 1 to 127 This parameter sets the basic duration of the notes played by the Arpeggiator though this will be further amended by both the Arp Pttn and Arp Sync settings The lower the parameter value the shorter the duration of the note played At its maximum value one
86. ilter type Displayed As FiTure Default value LP24 Range of adjustment See Filter Table on page 38 The MiniNova filter sections offer 14 different types of filter four hi pass and four low pass with different slopes and 6 band pass filters of various types Each filter type differentiates between frequency bands in a different way rejecting some frequencies and passing others and thus each imposes a subtly different character on the sound iTur amp can be also adjusted directly from Row 3 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC3 Parameter Drive Amount Displayed As Fibfimnt Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 The filter section includes a dedicated drive or distortion generator this parameter adjusts the degree of distortion treatment applied to the signal The basic type of drive added is set by FIDType see below The drive is added pre the filter but see below Fi fFimmt can be also adjusted directly from Row 3 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC4 Filter Drive is always added before the filter and therefore the filter frequency affects the amount of drive you hear If you want to filter your sound before it is treated by the drive processor try settings similar to the following PARAMETER IN MENU VALUE FRouting FiltrCmn Series FiltrCmn 63 Filter 1 0 Filter 2 FBalance FiDAmnt F2DAmnt As required
87. iongs 4 eta mt ae a rei ertet te eters eta me eredi 6 A word about Menu Navigation esee essere eese 6 Serolling through Patches ui it celi oLerpehele bleue Elna ne Sida eon inre 6 Searching through Types or Genres ere ite be rne bere 6 Using the FAVORITE button to load Patches 6 Assigning a Patch ito a Pad iascis osten eset hebr ume ree pP a desee get 6 Lo dingia Patch Fom Pad nce uer eher e ere pner HR ies 6 Demo Molier E bet 6 Modifying Sounds using the performance controls 6 Parameter Controls se consi ese tus mes Mp EI RET CIT TRIN OIM 6 Rows 1 and 2 Tweak and FX Tweak controls 7 Rows 3 to 6 Fixed Tweak controls ee ee eee eee 7 The Filter nobl ue ae cel id ne a De a ei 7 Using the Pads as performance controls 4444 2 2ee 7 TRS Arpedgiatof ires esee hebetes Haden Tile se ori nes ae p RP abus 7 The Vocoderzic ia maci sues c beer yes e ba he d eed rbrag ere E risa 7 Pitchiand Mod wheels ci ais mea estas eta ope ttt three seca due kde cec ace 7 Octave SIM ME 8 Storing a Patch eo ss es cd ya qnse cade PRAT leu d cade ERE ee dob HE 8 Updating the MiniNova s Operating System lessen 8 Synthesis Tutorial leeren nnn nnn nns B Synth Menus Reference section 12 Ton Neno Aado s Lado centre oes eee eoe eR
88. is parameter sets the amount of Oscillator 1 s signal present in the overall sound Parameter Oscillator 2 Level Displayed As z Leuel Default value 0 Oto 127 This parameter sets the initial amount of Oscillator 2 s signal present in the overall sound Range of adjustment 16 Parameter Oscillator 3 Level Displayed As U USLeusl Default value 0 Range of adjustment O to 127 This parameter sets the initial amount of Oscillator 3 s signal present in the overall sound Parameter Ring Modulator Level Oscs 1 3 Displayed As RHISLOL Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 In its simplest form a Ring Modulator is a processing block with two inputs and one output which effectively multiplies the two input signals together Depending on the relative frequencies and harmonic content of the two inputs the resulting output will contain a series of sum and difference frequencies as well as the fundamentals The MiniNova has two Ring Modulators both use Oscillator 3 as one input one combines this with Oscillator 1 the other with Oscillator 2 The Ring Modulator outputs are available as two additional inputs to the mixer controlled by RM1 3Lvl and RM2 3LvI The parameter controlled by RM1 3LvI sets the amount of the Osc 1 3 Ring Modulator output present in the overall sound Try the following settings to get a good idea of what a Ring Modulator sounds like In the Mixer Menu turn down the levels of Oscs 1
89. ith the MiniNova s vocoder and VocalTune features or routed to the audio outputs This input is overridden when a jack plug is plugged in to EXT IN 8 on the rear panel MASTER VOLUME the level control for the main audio outputs and the headphone output OCTAVE and buttons these transpose the keyboard up or down one octave each time they are pressed Associated multi colour LEDs confirm that atransposition has been applied Rear view connections 25 DC power connector standard 2 2 mm socket for connecting the external novation 9 V DC PSU supplied See Power requirements on page 3 26 On off switch 3 position switch POSITION ACTION ext DC Enables external 9 V DC input OFF Off USB Enables power via USB port 27 USB port Type B USB Type 1 1 2 0 compatible socket for connection to PC or Mac 28 MIDI connectors standard MIDI In Out sockets 5 pin DINs GETTING STARTED Standalone and computer operation a foreword The MiniNova may be used as a standalone synthesizer with or without MIDI connections to from other sound modules or keyboards It may also be connected via its USB port to a computer Windows or Mac running a DAW application The MiniNova can then be controlled entirely from the computer by using the MiniNova Editor plug in The MiniNova Librarian is a separate software application which greatly assists in the organising saving and recall of patches
90. key is released whether or not the maximum volume has been reached If a negative value is set the volume during the Sustain phase drops and if the key is not released the note will eventually become inaudible 21 KEY OFF KEY ON VOLUME SUSTAIN Ip ATTACK DECAY RELEASE TIME Lower values positive or negative of Amplitude Sustain Rate are generally more useful Amplitude Sustain Time zm Parameter Displayed As Aine Key Off Range of adjustment 0 to 126 KeyOff This parameter sets the duration of the Sustain phase With a value of KeyOff the note will Default value remain audible continuously until the key is released unless a negative value of Sustain Rate has been applied to reduce its volume Any other value of Sustain Time will cut the note off automatically after a pre determined time if the key is still held down Release Time still applies if the key is released sooner A value of 126 sets the Sustain time to approx 10 seconds while values around 60 set it to about 1 second KEY ON KEY OFF SUSTAIN TIME VOLUME T ATTACK DECAY RELEASE TIME 5 Parameter Amplitude Level Track Displayed As FimgLolTk Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 This parameter works in a similar way to the other tracking parameters Attack Track and Decay Track but it is the volume of the note which is changed according to the interval between it and the Level Tr
91. l volume any compression in the FX section is applied before these volume control methods and thus will remain constant Parameter Attack Time Displayed As El i Default value 0 Oto 127 The Attack Time parameter determines how fast the compressor applies gain reduction Range of adjustment to a signal exceeding the threshold With percussive sounds such as struck drums or plucked bass it may be desirable to compress the main envelope of the sound while retaining the distinctive front edge or attack phase of the sound A low value gives a fast attack time and compression will be applied to the front edge of the signal High values give slow response times and percussive leading edges will not be compressed to give a punchier sound The range of attack times available is from 0 1 ms to 100 ms Parameter Release Time Displayed As Cikel Default value 64 Range of adjustment O to 127 This parameter should be adjusted in conjunction with the Hold Time parameter see C1Hold below Release Time determines the time period over which the gain reduction is removed resulting in no compression after the completion of the Hold Time Low values give a short Release Time high values a long one The range of release times available is from 25 ms to 1 second Parameter Hold Time Displayed As Cinoled Default value 32 Range of adjustment O to 127 Hold Time determines for hovv long any gain reduction applied to a s
92. lligibility of the vocoder Longer release times are useful for more creative vocoder effects Parameter Vocoder Sibilance Type Displayed As Siblure Default value HighPass Range of adjustment HighPass or Noise In the default setting of HighPass sibilance is extracted from the Modulator signal i e the vocalist s natural voice by filtering This setting will allow some of the Modulator signal to be heard If you want to add some sibilance to the vocoded vocals but the performer s voice just isn t that sibilant naturally you can artificially simulate sibilance by selecting Noise as Sibilance Type This will add a small level of noise to the Modulator signal and the vocoder will treat the additional HF content in the same manner as it would natural sibilance Parameter Vocoder Sibilance Level Displayed As Sib iel Default value 40 O to 127 This parameter determines the amount sibilance that will be present in the final vocoded Range of adjustment signal and can make the Vocoder emphasise the explosive S and T sounds found in speech Sibilance can be added to give the Vocoder to give a more distinctive sound and to make vocoded vocals more intelligible Parameter Vocoder Noise Gate Threshold Displayed As GateThir Default value 96 Range of adjustment 96 to O The Modulator signal from the microphone or external audio input has a noise gate in the signal path to reject unwanted low level signa
93. lling through the listed Patches alphabetically The Arpeggiator The MiniNova has a powerful Arpeggiator feature which allows arpeggios of varying complexity and rhythm to be played and manipulated in real time If a single key is pressed the note will be retriggered by the Arpeggiator If you play a chord the Arpeggiator identifies its notes and plays them individually in sequence this is termed an arpeggio pattern or arp sequence thus if you play a C major triad the selected notes will be C E and G The MiniNova Arpeggiator is enabled by pressing the ARP ON button 19 its backlight will confirm and the eight Pads will turn red Holding a note down will repeat the note in the sequence and you will see the Pads illumination changing to purple as the pattern progresses Initially all enabled beats in the sequence are sounded but if you press a Pad the beat corresponding to that Pad s position will now be omitted from the sequence generating a rhythmic pattern The deselected Pads will not illuminate A deselected Pad may be re enabled by tapping it a second time Arpeggiator operation in the MiniNova is controlled by the three ARP buttons 19 20 amp 21 ON LATCH and TEMPO The ON button enables or disables the Arpeggiator being held LATCH can also be pressed before the Arpeggiator is enabled When the Arpeggiator is enabled the MiniNova will immediately play the arp sequence defined by the last s
94. ls GateThr sets the threshold of the gate This is a valuable feature when using the Vocoder in live performance as it will help prevent Vocoder action being triggered by extraneous sounds picked up by the microphone The calibration is approximately in dBs below internal clip level 0 dB Parameter Vocoder Noise Gate Release Time Displayed As Gatekel Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 GateRel sets the release time of the Noise Gate that is how long the Gate stays open after the Modulator signal level drops below the level set by GateThr i e how long the mic remains live after you stop singing Top Menu Dump The final menu is where you transfer Patch and other data between the MiniNova and a MIDI enabled device hardware or software that can store MIDI SysEx data Parameter Dump Current Patch Displayed As DmpcrPch On pressing the OK button while DmpCrPch OK is displayed the currently loaded Patch i e all the current synth Patch parameters will be transmitted via both the USB and MIDI OUT ports You can alternatively press MENU BACK if you decide not to go ahead with the dump Parameter Set Bank Displayed As t Eank Use the DATA knob to select Bank A B or C on pressing OK you will be asked to confirm whether you want to go ahead and dump the Patch data for all patches in the currently selected bank Parameter Set Patch to dump tPFatch Displayed As This option lets you dump any Pa
95. main oscillators the MiniNova also has a noise generator White noise is defined as a signal with equal power at all frequencies and is a familiar hissing sound Restricting the bandwidth of the noise generator alters the characteristic of the hiss and the other three options for this parameter apply such filtering Note that the noise generator has its own input to the mixer and in order to hear it in isolation its input will need to be turned up and the oscillator inputs turned down See Parameter P Noise Source Level on page 16 Edit menu Submenu 3 The outputs of the three oscillators and the noise source are passed to a simple audio mixer where their individual contributions to the overall sound output can be adjusted Most of the factory Patches use either two or all three oscillators but with their outputs summed in various combinations of levels A total of 6 inputs and two FX sends are available for adjustment As with any other audio mixer don t be tempted to turn all the inputs up The mixer should be used to balance sounds If multiple sources are in use then each input setting should be about halfway about 64 or so and the more inputs you are using the more careful you need to be If you get this wrong you risk internal signal clipping which will sound extremely unpleasant Parameter Oscillator 1 Level Displayed As Dibeusel Default value 127 Range of adjustment O to 127 Th
96. me Note that Env1 and Env 2 are hard wired to control Amplitude and Filter parameters but are still available to control other parameters i These are sequences that jump m between a minimum and a z maximum value each value held Altern 3 for a varying interval of time Altern 4 Hitern 3 Altern amp Hitern F Hitern Chromat These are melodic sequences USE of various kinds When aior modulating oscillator pitch to dado T obtain chromatic results set Minor F Modulation Depth to either 30 GERENS or 36 intere i Hinrere z Diminizh Decidir Hinarirc Fedal AudinEriw Audio Input Envelope Output of Envelope Follower in Mic Audio Input signal path Note that the MiniNova keyboard does not send Aftertouch data but the synth engine will correctly respond to any Aftertouch data received via MIDI via DIN or USB 35 Modulation Matrix Destinations Table DISPLAY DESTINATION COMMENTS Oscillators Global oscillator pitch All Oscillators Pitch Transpose Per oscillator pitch Oscillator 1 Pitch Transpose Oscillator 2 Pitch Transpose Oscillator 3 Pitch Transpose Per oscillator Variable Sync Oscillator 1 Virtual Sync Oscillator 2 Virtual Sync Oscillator 3 Virtual Sync Per oscillator pulse width Wave Table I
97. ment Oto 127 This parameter controls the shape of the attack characteristic as applied to the filters With a value of zero any filtering effect applied to the Attack phase increases linearly that is to say increases by equal amounts in equal time intervals A non linear attack characteristic may be selected as an alternative where the filter effect increases more rapidly at first Parameter Filter Decay Slope Displayed As Fittcsie Default value 127 Range of adjustment Oto 127 This corresponds to Filter Attack Slope in the same manner that Amplitude Decay Slope corresponds to Amplitude Attack Slope Thus the linearity of the reaction of the filter section during the Decay phase of the envelope can be varied from linear to a more exponential slope where any filter effect is more pronounced during the first part of the Decay phase Parameter Filter Attack Track Displayed As FILALTE Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 Like Amplitude Attack Track this parameter relates a note s attack time to its position on the keyboard When Filter Attack Track has a positive value the filtering effect during the Attack phase of a note is shortened as you go up the keyboard Conversely lower notes have their attack time increased When a negative value is applied the relationships are reversed Parameter Filter Decay Track Displayed As FitblecTk Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 This para
98. menus as follows Loto Edit menu Submenu 1 Tueakz Tweak Number r where nis 1 to 8 Parameter Displayed As Default value unassigned Range of adjustment See Tweak Parameters table on page 36 Use the PAGE 4 and b buttons 7 to select which of the eight Tweak controls you wish to configure and the DATA control 6 to select the parameter which the selected Tweak control will vary Edit menu Submenu 2 With this submenu it is first necessary to select the oscillator whose parameters are to be adjusted This selection is made with the PAGE 4 and buttons 7 Displayed As Gec r where nis 1 to 3 Default value Osc 1 Osc 1 to 3 OscComn The MiniNova has three identical oscillators and a noise source these are the synth s Range of adjustment sound generators Per Oscillator parameters In the following parameter descriptions the text refers to Oscillator 1 however it applies equally to whichever oscillator is selected A separate set of parameters applicable to all three oscillators is available when the Oscillator submenu is selected to OscComn see Common Oscillator parameters on page 15 Parameter Coarse tuning Displayed As izemi Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 This parameter sets the basic per oscillator tuning Incrementing its value by 1 shifts the pitch of every note on the keyboard up by one semitone for the selected oscillator only thus set
99. meter works in exactly the same way as Attack Track except that it is the filter effect during the Decay phase of a note that becomes dependent on its keyboard position Parameter Filter Sustain Rate Displayed As Fits Default value Flat Range of adjustment 64 to 1 Flat 1 to 63 With a value of Flat filter frequency remains constant during the Sustain phase of the note If Filter Sustain Rate is given a positive value the filter frequency continues to increase during the Sustain phase thus the character of the note continues altering audibly for longer With low values of Filter Sustain Rate the change is slow and increases in rapidity as the value is increased With negative values the filter frequency decreases during the Sustain phase See Parameter Amplitude Sustain Rate on page 21 for an illustration Parameter Filter Sustain Time Displayed As Fitzusfm Default value KeyOff Range of adjustment 0 126 KeyOff This parameter also applies to the Sustain phase and sets how long any envelope triggered filtering remains active When set to KeyOff the filtering remains applied continuously until the key is released Any lower value of Sustain Time will cause the filtering effect to suddenly stop before the note ends and you will be left with release phase of the envelope This does of course only occur if the Amplitude Sustain Time is longer than the Filter Sustain Time otherwise the note will stop soundin
100. ndex Oscillator 1 Pulsewidth Wavetable Index Oscillator 2 Pulsewidth Wavetable Index Oscillator 3 Pulsewidth Wavetable Index Per oscillator hardness Oscillator 1 Hardness Oscillator 2 Hardness Oscillator 3 Hardness Mixers Mixer input levels Mixer Oscillator 1 Level Mixer Oscillator 2 Level Mixer Oscillator 3 Level Mixer Noise Level Mixer Ring Mod 1 3 Level Mixer Ring Mod 2 3 Level Filters Fi hmnt Pre filter distortion per Filter 1 Distortion Amount filter FO Filter 2 Distortion Amount FiFrea Per filter frequency Filter 1 Frequency Filter 2 Frequency Per filter resonance Filter 1 Resonance Filter 2 Resonance Filter 1 Filter 2 balance Filter Balance LFOs Per LFO frequency LFO 1 Rate LFO 2 Rate LFO 3 Rate Envelopes Envelope Decay Time Envelope 1 Amp Decay Time Envelope 2 Filter Decay Time FX Ameri FX1 FX Amount mini FX2 FX Amount iBmnt FX3 FX Amount ABmpt FX4 FX Amount mani FX5 FX Amount FX FX Feedbach FX VVet Level Chorus parameters Chorus 1 Rate Chorus 1 Depth Chorus 1 Delay Chorus 3 Depth c Chorus 3 Delay Ch3Fbha Chorus 3 Feedback Ch amp gate Chorus 4 Rate Chaje Chorus 4 Depth Ch
101. ng Envelope 2 Filter Release Time Modulation Depth Envelope 3 Hilerth Modulation Matrix Slot 1 Depth Envelope 3 Delay Ph aa Dee th Modulation Matrix Slot Depth Envelope 3 Attack Time Hzaberth Modulation Matrix Slot 20 Depth Envelope 3 Decay Time Envelope 3 Sustain Level Envelope 3 Release Time LFOs Filter Table DISPLAYED AS DESCRIPTION LPoHokes Lo pass 6 dB oct no resonance LP12 Lo pass 12 dB oct LFis Lo pass 18 dB oct Lo pass 24 dB oct Symmetric Band pass 6 dB oct Symmetric Band pass 12 dB oct Asymmetric Band pass 6 dB oct hi pass 12 dB oct lo pass Asymmetric Band pass 12 dB oct hi pass 6 dB oct lo pass Asymmetric Band pass 6 dB oct hi pass 18 dB oct lo pass Asymmetric Band pass 18 dB oct hi pass 6 dB oct lo pass Hi pass 6 dB oct no resonance Hi pass 12 dB oct Hi pass 18 dB oct Hi pass 24 dB oct Arp Mode Table DISPLAYED AS DESCRIPTION COMMENTS Us Ascending Sequence begins vvith lovvest note played Coin Descending Sequence begins with highest note played Chord Polyphonic mode All keys held are played simultaneously as a chord Lip Dioun Ascend descend Sequence alternates Lip Dounz As UpDown but lowest and highest notes are played twice Random Random The keys held are played in a continuously varying random sequence Pl awed Key order Sequence comprises notes
102. ns which is dependent on what it is you are trying to do The menu system is always entered by pressing the MENU button 8 The menu system consists of six individual menus Audio in Global Are Chord Edit Cure Step between the menus with the PAGE 4 and buttons 7 and press OK 9 to enter the desired menu Use the PAGE buttons again to access the parameter you wish to change use the DATA control 6 to alter the parameter value The menu system can be exited by pressing the MENU BACK button again otherwise it will automatically time out after a short period and the screen will revert to display the currently loaded Patch information NOTE The Default values shown for each parameter apply to riit ial patches other factory Patches will have different values as part of the Patch definition Top Menu Audio In Parameter Input Gain Displayed as inrtGain 20 dB 10 dB to 65 dB Off This control adjusts gain for the Audio input The gain is displayed directly in dBs As the Default value Range of adjustment gain is increased the signal at the input will be seen on the bargraph meter at the top of the LCD display The gain should be adjusted so that the meter peaks two or three segments below the right most on the loudest passages The meter also includes an OVER flag aim to set your signal level so that this never comes on Note that if InptGain is set to Off the audio input is inoperative INPUT
103. nse The range of adjustment is 12 dB with FX1 Amnt set to 127 Parameter HF Cut Boost Displayed As ESTriii Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 This parameter controls the HF response of the equaliser a value of 0 gives a flat response in the HF region positive values will give a rise in the HF response i e more treble and negative values less treble The range of adjustment is 12 dB with FX1 Amnt set to 127 Parameter LF Frequency Displayed As EGBazFre Default value 64 Oto 127 The equaliser is a swept type which means that in addition to being able to increase or Range of adjustment decrease the treble mid or bass you can also control the frequency band over which the Cut Boost controls are effective i e just what is meant by bass mid and treble This gives you much more accurate control over the frequency response Increasing the value of EQBasFre increases the frequency below which EQBasLvIl is effective so in general EQBasLvi will have more effect on the sound the higher the value of EQBasFre Decreasing the value of EQBasFre will lower the frequency below which the cut boost control is effective with a value of 0 corresponding to approx 140 Hz The maximum value of 127 corresponds to about 880 Hz and the default value of 64 to about 500 Hz Parameter MF Frequency Displayed As EmMidFre Default value 64 Oto 127 Increasing the value of this parameter increases the ce
104. ntre frequency of the MF Range of adjustment response The centre frequency is the one that gets the maximum amount of cut or boost 28 as you adjust EOMidLvl and this control will have a proportionately decreasing effect on frequencies above and below the centre frequency The range of adjustment is from 440 Hz value 0 to 2 2 kHz value 127 The default value of 64 corresponds to approximately 1 2 kHz Parameter HF Frequency Displayed As TebFre Default value 64 O to 127 Decreasing the value of EQTrbFre decreases the frequency above which EQTrbLvi is Range of adjustment effective so in general EQTrbLvi will have more effect on the sound the lower the value of EQTrbFre Increasing the value of EQTrbFre will raise the frequency above which the cut boost control is effective with a value of 127 corresponding to about 4 4 kHz A value of 0 corresponds to about 650 Hz and the default value of 64 to about 2 kHz Compressor Menu Two compressor devices are available Their facilities are identical the example below illustrates Compressor 1 The compressors can be used to reduce the dynamic range of the synth sound or the external audio input which gives the effect of thickening the sound and or giving it more punch or impact They are particularly effective on sounds with a strong percussive content Parameter Compression Ratio Displayed As CiRatio Default value 1 0 Range of adjustment 1 0 to 1
105. nu options available Each FX device has its own menu these are described in turn below All references to FX1 may be taken as being equally applicable to the other four FX slots EQ Menu The equaliser is a three band swept type with cut boost and frequency controls for each band The LF and HF sections are second order slope of 12 dB octave shelving filters and the MF section is a bell response filter Note that FX1 Amnt parameter should be set to 127 for the full range of cut or boost 12 dB to be available Lower settings of FX1 Amnt will result less cut or boost being applied at the minimum or maximum values of the EQ Level parameters Parameter LF Cut Boost Displayed As El ul Default value 0 64 to 63 This parameter controls the LF response of the equaliser a value of 0 gives a flat response Range of adjustment in the LF region positive values will give a rise in the LF response i e more bass and negative values will have the opposite effect The range of adjustment is 12 dB with FX1 Amnt set to 127 Parameter MF Cut Boost Displayed As EMMidLel Default value 0 64 to 63 This parameter controls the MF response of the equaliser a value of O gives a flat response Range of adjustment in the MF region positive values will give a rise in the MF response i e more mid frequencies the voice region of the audio spectrum and negative values will accordingly reduce the MF respo
106. o 127 Envelope 3 Decay Slope ESO E 127 O to 127 Envelope 3 Attack Track ESALTE 0 Oto 127 Envelope 3 Decay Track aT 0 64 to 63 Envelope 3 Sustain Rate El aki Flat 64 to 1 Flat 1 to 63 Envelope 3 Sustain time E Tm 0 O to 126 ReyOff Envelope 3 Level Track ESLuITE o 64 to 63 Level Track Note LulTkHte c3 C 2 to G8 This parameter is common to all the envelopes See Parameter Amplitude Level Track on page 22 Edit menu Submenu 7 LFO The MiniNova has three separate Low Frequency Oscillators LFOs These are designated LFO1 2 and 8 are identical in terms of features and can be used freely to modify many other synth parameters such as oscillator pitch or level filters panning etc The assignment of LFOs 1 to 3 to other synth parameters is performed in the Modulation Matrix Menu see What is Legato on page 21 for full details In order to audition their effects you should first open the Modulation Matrix Menu and set a Modulation Slot s Source to Lfo1 or Lfo1 and the Destination to a parameter of your choice Note also that the Depth control on this menu determines the amount of LFO modulation applied to the Destination parameter and increasing this value will have a different effect depending on what the Destination parameter is but can generally be taken to mean more effect The interpretation of negative values of Dept
107. o 127 correspond to the actual Velocity values Normal is the default setting and should be acceptable for most playing styles Use Low if playing with heavy touch and High if you have a lighter touch Switch is useful for accenting a change in touch where a lighter touch will output a velocity value of 90 and a heavier touch will output a value of 127 Try different curves to suit your individual playing style s Parameter Footswitch configuration Displayed As Foot Sut Default value Auto Range of adjustment Auto N Open N Closed A sustain footswitch pedal can be connected to the MiniNova via the SUSTAIN pedal socket 29 Ascertain whether your sustain pedal is of the Normally open or Normally closed type and set this parameter to suit If you are unsure which it is connect the footswitch with the MiniNova unpowered and then power it on without your foot on the pedal Provided the default setting of Auto is still selected the polarity will now be correctly sensed Parameter Clock Source Displayed As CikSoures Default value Internal Range of adjustment Internal USB MIDI Auto The MiniNova uses a master MIDI clock in order to set the tempo rate of the arpeggiator and to provide a time base for synchronisation to an overall tempo This clock may be derived internally or provided by an external device able to transmit MIDI clock The ClkSourc setting determines whether the MiniNova s tempo synchronised featur
108. oder parameters Vocal tuning pitch shift Parameters that can also act as modulating sources thus permitting recursive modulation LFO 1 to 3 rate the Decay phases of the Amplitude Envelope Env1Dec and Filter Envelope Env2Dec Parameter Depth Displayed As Dee tin Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 The Depth control sets the level of the control being applied to the Destination i e the parameter being modulated If both Source1 and Source2 are active in the current slot Depth controls their combined effect Depth effectively defines the amount by which the controlled parameter varies when under modulation control Think of it as the range of control It also determines the sense or polarity of the control positive Depth will increase the value of the controlled parameter and negative Depth will decrease it for the same control input Note that having defined source and destination in a patch no modulation will occur until the Depth control is set to something other than zero With both sources set to Direct and TouchSel set to Off the Depth control P becomes a manual parameter is set as the Destination modulation control which will always affect whichever Edit menu Submenu 9 Effects The MiniNova comes equipped with a comprehensive set of DSP based effects processors which can be applied to both the synth sound and any audio applied to the MiniNova s au
109. of the ADSR amplitude envelope in any way but adds Range of adjustment touch sensitivity to overall volume so that with positive parameter values the harder you play the keys the louder will be the sound With AmpVeloc set to zero the volume is the same regardless of how the keys are played The relationship between the velocity at which a note is played and volume is determined by the value Note that negative values have the inverse effect For the most natural playing style try setting Amplitude Velocity to about 40 Parameter Amplitude Envelope Repeat Displayed As Fim Default value Off Range of adjustment Off 1 to 126 KeyOff By using Amplitude Repeat it is possible to repeat the Attack and Decay phases of the envelope before the Sustain phase is initiated This can produce an interesting stuttering effect at the start of the note if the Attack and Decay times are set appropriately The value of the Repeat parameter from 1 to 126 is the actual number of repeats so that if you set it to e g 3 you will hear a total of four attack decay phases of the envelope the initial one plus three repeats If set to Off there are not repeats The maximum setting of KeyOff generates an infinite number of repeats Parameter Amplitude Touch Trigger Displayed As mei Tria Default value Off Range of adjustment Off T1ReTrig T8ReTrig You will have noticed that the MiniNova s eight Performance Pads are
110. on 8 The menu system consists of six individual menus Audio in Global Are cit E Durme Step between the menus with the PAGE 4 and buttons 7 and press OK 9 to enter the desired menu Use the PAGE buttons again to access the parameter you wish to change use the DATA control 6 to alter the parameter value The menu system can be exited by pressing the MENU BACK button again otherwise it will automatically time out after a short period and the screen will revert to display the currently loaded Patch information Scrolling through Patches Your MiniNova comes pre loaded with a set of factory Patches which may be auditioned at any time providing you are not in the menu system The Patches are arranged as 3 banks A to C each with 128 patches 000 to 127 Banks A and B come pre loaded with a full set of factory Patches while Bank C contains 128 copies of an Initial Patch which you can either overwrite or use as the basis for creating your own sounds With the TYPE GENRE selector 4 set to ALL either rotate the DATA control 6 or use the PATCH 4 and gt buttons 11 to step through the patches The new sound is loaded as soon as the patch data shows in the display The Patch set can be browsed in either bank and numerical order or alphabetically by name according the setting of the SORT switch 5 Searching through Types or Genres Apart from being arranged in 3 banks the patches are also categorised for yo
111. onics as the value is decreased Its effect is akin to that of a lowpass filter but operates at oscillator level You will note it has no effect on a sine waveform as this is the one waveform with no harmonics Parameter Density Displayed As pie Default value 0 Oto 127 The density parameter effectively adds copies of the oscillator vvaveform to itself Up Range of adjustment to eight additional virtual oscillators are used for this depending on the value of the parameter This produces a thicker sound at low to medium values but if the virtual oscillators are detuned slightly see O1DnsDtn below a more interesting effect is obtained ilenze can be also adjusted directly from Row 6 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC2 el can be also adjusted directly from Row 6 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC4 Parameter Density Detuning Displayed As ibnsitn Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 This parameter should be used in conjunction with the Density control It detunes the virtual density oscillators and you will notice not only a thicker sound but the effect of beating as well The Density and Density Detune parameters can be used to thicken the sound and simulate the effect of adding additional Voices The Unison and Unison Detune parameters in the Voice Menu can be used to create a very similar effect but using Density and Den
112. ound Parameter Oscillator Phase Displayed As ze Default value Odeg Range of adjustment Free Odeg to 357deg This adjusts the point in the waveform at which the oscillators start and is adjustable in 3 degree increments over one whole waveform cycle 360 The effect of this is to add a slight click or edge to the start of the note as the instantaneous output voltage when the key is pressed is not zero Setting the parameter to 90deg or 269deg produces the most obvious effect With the parameter set to Odeg the oscillators always start precisely in step If Free is set the phase relationship of the waveforms is unrelated to when a key is pressed Parameter Single Fixed Note Displayed As FixHaote Default value Off Off C 2 to G8 Some sounds need not be chromatically dependent Examples would be certain Range of adjustment percussion sounds e g bass drums and sound effects such as a laser gun It is possible to assign a fixed note to a patch such that playing any key on the keyboard generates the same sound The pitch on which the sound is based may be any semitone note in a range of over ten octaves With the parameter set Off the keyboard behaves as normal With it set to any other value every key plays the sound at the pitch corresponding to the value Parameter Noise Source Type Displayed As Hao T Default value White Range of adjustment White High Band HiBand In addition to the three
113. ove middle C at 440 Hz i e standard Concert Pitch Parameter Key Transposition Displayed As Tranzrze Default value 0 24 to 24 Transpose is a very useful global setting which shifts the whole keyboard one semitone Range of adjustment at a time up or down It differs from oscillator tuning in that it modifies the control data from the keyboard rather than the actual oscillators Thus setting Transpose to 4 means that you can play with other instruments in the actual key of E major but only need to play white notes as if you were playing in C major Parameter Pot Pickup Rotary Perform Control value matching Displayed As PotPckur Default value Off Range of adjustment On Off Operates with the four rotary PERFORM controls and the FILTER knob to match the parameter value stored in the Patch to the Tweak control s position If PotPckup is set On the rotary control will have no effect until its level matches that stored in the Patch thus avoiding sudden changes in parameter value Also the display shows SF ic Eu until the value is reached With PotPckup set Off the parameter value will change as soon as the control is turned Parameter Keyboard Velocity Displayed As Wed Curae Normal Low Normal High Switch Fixed 4 to 127 Selects the MIDI NoteOn Velocity value which relates the Velocity response of the keys to Default value Range of adjustment the force applied to them as they are played The values 4 t
114. ovide a clarification or explanation of a particular area of operation Performance Parameter MiniNova has a fantastic degree of flexibility in tailoring sounds as you will see in the second part of this manual where each individual parameter available in the menu system is described However to avoid having to navigate menus during live performance we have made the most useful and commonly needed parameters immediately available for adjustment by the four rotary controls in the PERFORM area of the control panel We have clearly indicated these parameters within the parameter descriptions WHAT S IN THE BOX The MiniNova has been carefully packed in the factory and the packaging was designed to withstand rough handling Should the unit appear to have been damaged in transit do not discard any of the packing material and notify your music dealer Save all the packing materials for future use if you ever need to ship the unit again Please check the list below against the contents of the packaging If any items are missing or damaged contact the Novation dealer or distributor where you purchased the unit MiniNova synthesizer Gooseneck microphone DC power supply unit PSU USB cable Software download card and Warranty Registration card This manual Registering your MiniNova It is important to register your MiniNova on line using the Software download and warranty registration card Apart from validating your manufact
115. previously assigned to a Pad in which case the Pad shows a steady red While they are flashing press the Pad which has the Patch you want assigned to it and that Patch will now be loaded The LCD will confirm the new Patch by name Demo Mode Press the two PATCH 4 and buttons 11 simultaneously and the MiniNova will enter Demo Mode Using any control will cause a brief description its function to be displayed on the LCD screen Note that none of the controls except master volume or keyboard are active in Demo Mode MODIFYING SOUNDS USING THE PERFORMANCE CONTROLS The MiniNova is equipped with a set of controls specifically designed for use in live performance These allow you to modify the sound of the loaded patch in a variety of interesting and sometimes startling ways These controls are found in the PERFORM PADS and ARP areas of the control panel see items 12 21 on page 4 Parameter Controls While playing live it is often desirable to manually adjust some aspect or other of the sound i e tweak a particular parameter Although the MiniNova s design allows you to access all the parameters defining a particular sound it is useful if the most important parameters that you need while playing live are readily available on a convenient set of controls These are the four rotary controls to the right of the control panel see item 12 on page 4 Use these four knobs in conjunction with the Perform Row Selector swi
116. r low pass filters it is the cut off frequency for band pass filters it is the centre frequency Sweeping the filter manually will impose a hard to soft characteristic on almost any sound If Filter Frequency Link is set On see FreqLink below F2Freq assumes a different function Parameter Filter 2 frequency offset Displayed As Fai Default value 63 64 to 63 Filter Frequency Link on page 19 for more information Range of adjustment See Parameter Parameter Filter resonance Displayed As FikR Default value 0 O to 127 This parameter adds gain to the signal in a narrow band of frequencies around the Range of adjustment frequency set by F1Freq It can accentuate the swept filter effect considerably Increasing the resonance parameter is very good for enhancing modulation of the cut off frequency creating a very edgy sound Increasing Resonance also accentuates the action of the Filter Frequency parameter so that as the FILTER knob 14 is moved a more pronounced effect is obtained FiKes can be also adjusted directly from Row 3 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC1 If Filter Resonance Link is set On see ResLink page 19 the values of filter resonance for Filters 1 and 2 become equal and are varied by either control Parameter Filter 1 amp 2 resonance Displayed As Fi amp FzEez not applicable O to 127 Default value Range of adjustment Parameter Fil
117. rameter value the longer the period for which filtering is applied Fit ec can be also adjusted directly from Row 4 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC2 Parameter Filter Sustain Level Displayed As Fikus Default value 35 O to 127 The frequency of the filter cut off or centre depending on filter type settles at a value Range of adjustment set by the Filter Sustain Level Thus once the Attack and Decay stages of the envelope are completed the harmonic content that will be most evident in the sound will be determined by this parameter Remember that if the filter frequency parameter as set in the Filter Menu is set at a too low or too high a value the envelope s effect will be limited 14 5148 can be also adjusted directly from Row 4 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC3 Parameter Filter Release Time Displayed As FitkRel Default value 45 Range of adjustment Oto 127 As Filter Release is increased in value the note undergoes increasingly more filter action once the key is released Note that the Amplitude Release time adjusted in the Amplitude Envelope submenu must be set sufficiently high to produce an audible fade out before the effect of filtering on the tail of the note is evident Parameter Filter Velocity Displayed As Fiti ieloc Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 As Amplitude Velocity adds to
118. remember that a jack plug connected at this input will override the top panel XLR input The Modulator input to the Vocoder is always mono The pitch of the final vocoded sound will depend on the notes that the Carrier the currently selected Patch is playing Notes can either be played on the MiniNova s keyboard or received via MIDI from an external keyboard or sequencer Both Carrier and Modulator signals must be present simultaneously for the Vocoder effect to work so notes must be played while the Modulator signal is present The Vocoder is enabled by selecting a Patch of Type VOCODER MIC FX with the TYPE GENRE knob 4 and controlled from the VOCODER submenu Submenu Vocoder Parameter Vocoder On Off Displayed As ans GFF Default value Off Range of adjustment On or Off Enables disables the Vocoder function Parameter Vocoder Level Displayed As ocodbLul Default value 0 Range of adjustment O to 127 Characteristic Vocoder sounds are obtained by blending the Vocoder output with one or other of the two source signals MiniNova lets you mix the output of the vocoder with either the Modulator signal or the Carrier signal or both VocodLvl adjusts the level of the Vocoder output in this mix Parameter Carrier Level Displayed As Carrilel Default value 0 Range of adjustment O to 127 CarriLvl adjusts the level of the Carrier signal the currently selected synth Patch in the Vocoder output mix 32 Parameter Modul
119. revious or an earlier note sounding as you play another note Once that note is sounding you then release the earlier note Legato style playing is relevant to some of the MiniNova s sonic possibilities In the case of Amplitude Multi Trigger for example it is important to appreciate that the envelope will re trigger if any gap is left between notes Parameter Amplitude Attack Slope Displayed As AneALoile Default value 0 O to 127 This parameter controls the shape of the attack characteristic With a value of 0 the Range of adjustment volume increases linearly during the attack phase that is to say increases by equal amounts in equal time intervals A non linear attack characteristic may be selected as an alternative where the volume increases more rapidly at first The diagram below illustrates this Parameter Displayed As Default value O to 127 This parameter applies the same function as Amplitude Attack Slope to the Decay phase Range of adjustment of the envelope With a value of 0 the volume drops linearly from the maximum value to that defined by the Sustain parameter but setting Decay Slope to a higher value will cause the volume to reduce more rapidly initially The diagram below illustrates this KEY ON KEY OFF VOLUME SUSTAIN ATTACK DECAY RELEASE TIME 5 Parameter Amplitude Attack Track Displayed As mt TE Default value 0 Range of adjustment 64 to 63
120. rol the synth externally via MIDI or use the MiniNova s keyboard as a master keyboard When Off is selected a LOCAL OFF flag appears in the LCD display A primary use of Local Control On Off is to avoid unwanted MIDI loops through external equipment When set to Off the MiniNova s keyboard and all other controls still transmit MIDI messages from the MIDI OUT port If any external equipment is set to re transmit MIDI back to the MiniNova then the synth will still operate This will avoid notes sounding twice a reduction in polyphony or any other unpredictable effects Parameter Assign MIDI Channel Displayed As HIDI Ch Default value 1 Range of adjustment 1 16 The MIDI protocol provides 16 channels allowing up to 16 devices to co exist on a MIDI network if each is assigned to operate on a different MIDI channel MIDI Ch lets you set the MiniNova to receive and transmit MIDI data on a particular channel so that it can interface correctly with external equipment Parameter Master Fine Tuning Displayed As Tunecent Default value 0 50 to 50 This control adjusts the frequencies of all the Oscillators by the same small amount Range of adjustment allowing you to fine tune the whole synth to another instrument if necessary The increments are cents 1 100 of a semitone and thus setting the value to 50 tunes the synth to a quarter tone midway between two semitones A setting of zero tunes the keyboard with the A ab
121. rtamento Time Displayed As Portfime Default value Off Range of adjustment Off 1 to 127 With Portamento active notes played sequentially glide from one to the next rather than immediately jumping to the desired note pitch The synth remembers the last note played and the glide will start from that note even after the key has been released The PortTime is the duration of the glide and a value of 115 equates to approximately 1 second Portamento is primarily intended for use in a mono Mode see PortMode below where itis particularly effective It can also be used in a Poly mode but its operation can be unpredictable particularly when chords are played Note that PreGlide must be set to zero in order for Portamento to be operative Parameter Portamento Mode Displayed As PortWode Default value Expo Range of adjustment Expo or Linear This sets the shape of the Portamento and PreGlide see following page transitions from one note to the next In Linear mode the glide alters the pitch evenly between the previous note and that being played In Expo mode the pitch changes more rapidly at first and then approaches the target note more slowly i e exponentially 19 KEY ON KEY ON PITCH x Portamento Time TIME 5 PortMode Linear KEY ON KEY ON PITCH Portamento Time TIME gt PortMode Expo Parameter Pre Glide Displayed As ide Default value 0 Range of adjustment 1
122. s a result of VocalTune being used to alter the pitch of an incoming audio signal in real time e g VTMode settings of ScalCorr and KBCntl PtchShft intervals are in semitones Parameter VocalTune Pitch Wheel Range Displayed As nd hfi Default value 12 Range of adjustment 24 to 24 BendShft sets the range of additional pitch shift available from use of the Pitch Wheel Bend Shift intervals are also in semitones VT Modes ScalCorr and KBCntl apply additional correction prior to the Bend Shift stage 31 Parameter VocalTune Gate Threshold Displayed As GateThr Default value 50 96 to O The input channel of the VocalTune feature includes a Noise Gate to help reject unwanted Range of adjustment microphone noise Set GateThr to suit the incoming audio source Values are in dBs Parameter VocalTune Gate Release Time Displayed As hat i Default value 64 O to 127 This parameter sets how long the gate remains open after the signal level has dropped Range of adjustment below the value set by GateThr The default value of 64 should suffice for many purposes but longer or shorter times may be more suitable for certain types of material Edit menu Submenu 11 iac A Vocoder is a device which analyzes selected frequencies present in an audio signal called a Modulator and superimposes these frequencies onto another sound called the Carrier It does this by feeding the Modulator signal into a bank of band pa
123. s in Wave B as in Wave A Wave B is actually an octave higher in pitch than Wave A It is the number of vibrations in a given period that determines the pitch of a sound This is the reason that pitch is sometimes referred to as frequency It is the number of waveform peaks counted during a given period of time which defines the pitch or frequency Tone Musical sounds consist of several different related pitches occurring simultaneously The lowest is referred to as the fundamental pitch and corresponds to the perceived note of the sound Other pitches making up the sound which are related to the fundamental in simple mathematical ratios are called harmonics The relative loudness of each harmonic as compared to the loudness of the fundamental determines the overall tone or timbre of the sound Consider two instruments such as a harpsichord and a piano playing the same note on the keyboard and at equal volume Despite having the same volume and pitch the instruments still sound distinctly different This is because the different note making mechanisms of the two instruments generate different sets of harmonics the harmonics present in a piano sound are different to those found in a harpsichord sound Volume Volume which is often referred to as the amplitude or loudness of the sound is determined by how large the vibrations are Very simply listening to a piano from a metre away would sound louder than if it were fifty metres away
124. s inoperative and the LFO rate is determined by L1Sync which in turn is derived from the MIDI clock When using internal MIDI clock the rate can be set using the TEMPO control 21 Parameter LFO 1 Waveform Displayed As Lillawe Default value Sine Range of adjustment See LFO Waveform Table on page 34 The MiniNova s LFOs are able to generate not only the familiar sine sawtooth triangle and square waveforms for modulation purposes but are also able to produce a wide range of preset sequences of various lengths and random waveforms A common use of an LFO is to modulate the main oscillator s and with many of the sequenced waveforms setting the Depth parameter in the Modulation Matrix Menu to either 30 or 36 see table will ensure that the resulting oscillator pitches will be musically associated in some way Parameter LFO 1 Phase Displayed As LIP rie Default value Free Free Odeg 357deg This control is only active if L1KSync same menu is set On It determines the start Range of adjustment point of the LFO waveform when the key is pressed A complete waveform has 360 and the control s increments are in 3 steps Thus a half way setting 180deg will cause the modulating waveform to start at half way through its cycle KEY ON KEY ON KEY ON PHASE 0 PHASE 90 PHASE 180 Parameter LFO 1 Slew Displayed As Lizieuw Default value Off Range of adjustment Off 1 to 127 Slew has the effect
125. s passed through a non linear channel of some kind the non linearity producing alterations to the waveform which we hear as distortion The nature of the circuitry exhibiting the non linearity dictates the precise nature of the distortion The MiniNova s distortion algorithms are able to simulate various types of non linear circuitry with results ranging from a slight thickening of the sound to something really quite nasty Care should be taken when selecting different Distortion Types as the same setting of the FX1 Amnt parameter will produce very different volumes depending on the Distortion Type in use The MiniNova has two distortion effect devices These may be loaded into any two FX slots Their facilities are identical the example below illustrates Distortion 1 Parameter Distortion Type Displayed As Diztifur Default value Diode Range of adjustment Diode Valve Clipper XOver Rectify BitsDown RateDown see below Diode Simulation of analogue circuitry producing distortion where the waveform is progressively squared off as the amount of distortion is increased i Valve Simulation of analogue circuitry producing distortion similar to Diode but at extreme settings alternate half cycles of the waveform are inverted Clipper Simulation of a digital overload XOver Simulation of the crossover distortion generated by bi polar analogue circuitry e g amplifier output stages Rectify All negative going
126. s processor s dedicated LFO Lower values give a lower frequency and hence a sound whose characteristic changes more gradually A slow rate is generally more effective Parameter Chorus Sync Displayed As ChiSunc Default value Off Range of adjustment See Sync Values Table on page 34 Chorus Rate may synchronised to the internal or external MIDI clock using a wide variety of tempos Parameter Chorus Feedback Displayed As ChiFbck Default value 10 Range of adjustment 64 to 63 The Chorus processor has its own feedback path between output and input and a certain amount of feedback will usually need to be applied to get an effective sound Higher values will generally be needed when Phaser mode is selected Negative values of Feedback mean that the signal being fed back is phase reversed Parameter Chorus Depth Displayed As Chilerth Default value 64 Range of adjustment O to 127 The Depth parameter determines the amount of LFO modulation applied to the Chorus delay time and thus the overall depth of the effect A value of zero produces no effect Parameter Chorus Delay Displayed As Chibelau Default value 64 Range of adjustment O to 127 Chorus Delay is the actual delay that is used to generate the chorus phaser effect Dynamically altering this parameter will produce some interesting effects though the difference in sound between different static settings is not marked unless Chorus Feedback is at a high valu
127. s v Left Audio Input or Gooseneck Microphone BudiolnR Right Audio input l eyele por 12 bars id 1 cycle per 16 bars v LFO Waveforms Table Modulation Matrix Sources Table DISPLAY WAVEFORM EXTRA INFO Sine Traditional LFO shapes Triangle Jumps to random values every cycle of the LFO Jumps to min and max value each held for a random amount of time DISPLAY SOURCE COMMENTS No modulation source selected Mod Wheel Mod Wheel is the controller Aftertouch Modulation is proportional to the pressure applied to a key while it is held down Monophonic aftertouch Expression pedal An external foot pedal provides A curved sawtooth shape rate These are sequences that jump to different values holding each for a sixteenth of the LFO cycle the control Uslocitee Key velocity Modulation is proprtional to hard the key is played Key position Modulation is proportional to key position Lfolt LFO 1 LFO increases value of Lolke controlled parameter in a positive sense only Lrozt LFO 2 LFO increases and Lfotee decreases value of controlled arameter equally LFO 3 P qe Ensifims Erverilt Enws Erv Envelopes 1 to 6 All six envelopes are triggered by a keypress and any all may be used to vary parameters over ti
128. s with any other patch you can alter various parameters with the FILTER and four rotary encoders in the PERFORM section or use the Animate functions as described above As with all the other performance controls we recommend that there is no substitute for experimentation to get an understanding of how the various controls interact Note that two of the factory Vocoder Patches Aaah 1 B073 and Aaah 2 B074 do not make use of the built in microphone Although these use the MiniNova s Vocoder functions they use fixed formants which are stored with the Patches Pitch and Mod wheels The MiniNova is fitted with a standard pair of synthesizer control wheels adjacent to the keyboard PITCH and MOD Modulation The PITCH control is spring loaded and always returns to the centre position Moving PITCH will always raise or lower the pitch of the note s being played The range of operation can be set via the menu system from a semitone to an octave in semitone steps The MOD vvheel s precise function varies with the Patch loaded it is used in general to add expression or various elements to a synthesised sound A common use is to add vibrato to a sound another is to control the speed of a virtual rotary speaker It is possible to assign the MOD wheel to control any parameter constituting the sound or a combination of parameters simultaneously This topic is discussed in more detail elsewhere in the manual See What is Le
129. sity Detune have the advantage of not needing to use additional Voices which are finite in number Parameter Pitch Wheel Range Displayed As iPtchih Default value 412 Range of adjustment 12 to 12 The pitch wheel can vary the oscillator pitch by up to an octave up or down The units are in semitones so with a value of 12 moving the pitchwheel up increases the pitch of the notes being played by one octave and moving it down takes them down an octave Setting the parameter to a negative value has the effect of reversing the operating sense of the pitch wheel You will find that many of the factory patches have this parameter set to 2 allowing a pitch wheel range of 1 tone It is worth noting that like all per oscillator parameters the value can be set independently for each oscillator Parameter Wave Table Interpolation Displayed As D ibTint Default value 127 Range of adjustment Oto 127 This parameter sets how smooth the transition is between adjacent waveforms in the same wavetable A value of 127 will create a very smooth transition with the adjacent waveforms blending together With a value of zero the transitions will be abrupt and obvious With a high 01VVInt value set it is possible to retain a mix of adjacent waveforms if the modulation value remains fixed When modulating the wavetable Index via LFO etc the wavetable interpolation parameter sets how smooth or not the transition is Common Oscilla
130. ss filters Each of these filters 12 of them in the MiniNova covers a particular band in the audio spectrum and the filter bank thus splits the audio signal into 12 separate frequency bands The result of this arrangement is that the spectral content i e the character of the audio signal is imposed upon the synth sound and what you hear is a synth sound simulating the audio input typically a vocal The final character of the vocoded sound will depend greatly on the harmonics present in the synth sound used as the Carrier Patches very rich in harmonics for example using Sawtooth Waves will generally give the best results Typically the Modulator signal used by a Vocoder would be a human voice speaking or singing into a microphone This creates the distinctive robotic or talky like sounds which have recently returned to popularity and are now being used in lots of current music genres Bear in mind however that the Modulator signal need not be restricted to human speech Other types of Modulator signal can be used for example an electric guitar or drums and can often give quite unexpected and interesting results The most common way of using the Vocoder is with the dynamic gooseneck mic supplied with the MiniNova or any other dynamic mic plugged into the top panel XLR socket 22 Alternatively the Modulator signals may be from an instrument or other source connected to the EXT IN socket 32 located on the rear panel but
131. t to zero will render the note silent after the decay phase has elapsed Aine 5 can be also adjusted directly from Row 5 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC3 Parameter Amplitude Release Time Displayed As Ameh Default value 40 Oto 127 Many sounds acquire some of their character from the notes remaining audible after the key Range of adjustment is released this hanging or fade out effect with the note gently dying away naturally as with many real instruments can be very effective A setting of 64 gives a Release Time of approx 360 ms The MiniNova has a maximum release time of over 20 seconds with AmpRel set to 127 but shorter times will probably be more useful Note that the relationship between the parameter value and Release Time is not linear Firie Re can be also adjusted directly from Row 5 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC4 Note that when playing polyphonically with sounds having long release times it is possible for Voice Stealing to occur This means that some notes still sounding in their Release phase might suddenly cut off when other notes are played This is more likely to happen when multiple Voices are in use See Parameter Unison Voices on page 19 for more information on this topic Parameter Amplitude Velocity Displayed As Aine Ueloc Default value 0 64 to 63 AmpVeloc does not modify the shape
132. tch 13 An LED will illuminate to show you which of the six banks of available parameters the knobs are assigned to Note that Rows 8 to 6 always control the same parameters regardless of the patch you have loaded though the actual effect of the control will quite likely sound different Rows 1 and 2 place the four knobs into Tweak mode where the parameters they control vary with the patch see below euren Don t worry too much at this stage what words like Resonance and Sustain mean all these and many other terms are explained in much greater detail further on in the manual Just try to become familiar with the actual sonic effect you hear when you adjust each of the parameters in turn for different categories of patch The four knobs used for tweaking will almost never be in the correct position relative to the value of the parameters they control which are stored as part of the currently loaded Patch For example in the Patch A000 BasslsWet DC the value of the Filter Envelope Decay Time parameter is 27 If the Tweak control for this RC2 in Row 4 is set to say 2 o clock the knob position implies a completely different value The LCD display includes two arrows which tell you which way to turn the knob to get the knob position to match the stored parameter value As long as Pot Pickup is set On in the Global Menu the knob will have no effect until both arrows are off If Pot Pickup is O
133. tch in the MiniNova not necessarily the currently loaded one The name of the Patch to dump is displayed on the second row of the LCD Use the DATA knob to select the Patch to dump by name then use the PAGE button to select the next menu option Parameter Dump Selected Patch Displayed As QumeP ich Press OK to dump the Patch selected by SetPatch Parameter Dump All Patches Displayed As Dume Bil Pressing OK while this screen is displayed will dump all 384 Patches 128 x 3 banks This dump will not include the MiniNova s Global settings see below Parameter Dump Global settings Displayed As QumeGlobal This function is the complement to Dump All the current Global settings i e audio levels transposition settings etc will be dumped as a separate write procedure 33 Waveform Table Sync Values Table 34 DISPLAY FORM DISPLAY DETAILS CHORUS SYNC ARP SYNC LFO RATE SYNC GATOR SYNC Sine LFO DELAY SYNC FX DELAY SYNC Triangle PAN SYNC Sawtooth 48 cycles per 1 bar v v Sawtooth Pulse Width 9 1 Ratio 32 cycles per 1 bar d id Sawtooth Pulse Width 8 2 Ratio 24 cycles per 1 bar M M Sawtooth Pulse Width 7 3 Ratio 16 cycles per 1 bar
134. ter control by Envelope 2 Displayed As FiEnvz Default value 0 Range of adjustment O to 127 The filter s action may be triggered by Envelope Generator 2 Envelope 2 s own menu provides comprehensive control over precisely how this shape of the envelope is derived see Filter Envelope on page 22 F1Env2 lets you control the depth and direction of this external control the higher the value the greater the range of frequencies over which the filter will sweep Positive and negative values make the filter sweep in opposite directions but the audible result of this will be further modified by the filter type in use FiEnwz can be also adjusted directly from Row 4 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC4 Parameter Filter tracking Displayed As FiTrack Default value 127 Range of adjustment O to 127 The pitch of the note played can be made to alter the cut off frequency of the filter At the maximum value 127 this frequency moves in semitone steps with the notes played on the keyboard i e the filter tracks the pitch changes in a 1 1 ratio e g when playing two notes an octave apart the filter cut off frequency will also change by one octave At minimum setting value 0 the filter frequency remains constant whatever note s are played on the keyboard FiTrack can be also adjusted directly from Row 3 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tweak Control RC2 Parameter F
135. th Filter 1 and Filter 2 The Filter Resonance control F1Res affects both filters regardless of which filter is currently selected for adjustment Edit menu Submenu 5 i nice The MiniNova is a multi voice polyphonic synthesizer which basically means you can play chords on the keyboard and every note you hold down will sound Each note is termed a voice and the MiniNova s DSP engine is sufficiently powerful to ensure that you will always run out of fingers before you run out of voices However if you are controlling the MiniNova from a MIDI sequencer it is theoretically possible to run out there area maximum of 18 voices internally Although this is likely to happen only rarely users may occasionally observe this phenomenon which is termed voice stealing The alternative to polyphonic voicing is mono With mono voicing only one note sounds at atime pressing a second key while holding the first down will cancel the first and play the second and so on The last note played is always the only one that you hear All the early synths were mono and if you are trying to emulate a 1970s analogue synth you may wish to set the voicing to mono as the mode imposes a certain restriction on playing style that will add to authenticity In addition to selecting polyphonic or mono voicing the Voice menu also lets you set the portamento and other related voicing parameters Parameter Unison Voices Displayed As Unison D
136. the delay time and an echo will be produced at this time in one channel only depending whether the larger number is to the left of the slash or the right It will be accompanied by a faster echo in the other channel at a time defined by the ratio of the two numbers Values with OFF to one side of the slash result in all the echoes being in one channel only The PanPosn parameter the first parameter in the PanRoute submenu sets the overall stereo placement of both the initial note and its delayed repetitions and takes precedence This means for example that if you select 1 OFF as the L R Ratio so that all the echoes are on the left these echoes will gradually diminish if you set a positive value of PanPosn which pans the signal to the right When PanPosn is at 63 fully right you will hear no echoes at all However all of this only applies to FX Slot 1 when FXRouting is set to 1 With other FX Slots and or slot configurations you may find that the panning works slightly differently Parameter Delay Stereo Image Width Displayed As Disididti Default value 127 Range of adjustment Oto 127 The Delay Stereo Image Width parameter is only really relevant to settings of Delay Left Right Ratio which result in the echoes being split across the stereo image With its default value of 127 any stereo placement of delayed signals will be fully left and fully right Decreasing the value of DlyiWdth reduces the width of the stereo image
137. ting it to 12 effectively shifts the oscillator tuning up one octave Negative values detune in the same manner See also Parameter Key Transposition on page 13 Parameter Fine tuning Displayed As iCcentz Default value 0 Range of adjustment 50 to 50 This parameter lets you make finer adjustments to the tuning The increments are cents 1 100 of a semitone and thus setting the value to 50 tunes the oscillator to a quartertone midway between two semitones Parameter Virtual Oscillator Sync Displayed As Gi Default value 0 O to 127 Oscillator Sync is a technique of using an additional virtual Range of adjustment l oscillator to add harmonics to the first by using the virtual oscillator s waveform to retrigger that of the first This technique produces an interesting range of sonic effects The nature of the resulting sound varies as the parameter value is altered because the virtual oscillator frequency increases asamultiple of the main oscillator frequency as the parameter value increases When the Vsync value is a multiple of 16 the virtual oscillator frequency is a musical harmonic of the main oscillator frequency The overall effect is a transposition of the oscillator that moves up the harmonic series with values in between multiples of 16 producing more discordant effects VSync 0 VSync 5 VSync 16 GE ui can be also adjusted directly from Row 6 of the PERFORM section of the control panel with Tw
138. to 63 VocSpred further modifies how the vocoder modulator analysis filter band frequencies are mapped to the carrier synthesis band frequencies It increases or decreases the range of frequencies involved think of stretching and shrinking Positive values of VocSpred stretch how the frequencies are mapped negative values have the opposite effect s SPREAD ve ATI mod analysis bands 544 yo ttt VAENE f A A A f f f f n Frequency SPREAD ve Level mod analysis bands carrier filter bands Frequency Both VocShift and VocSpred drastically alter the tonal output of the vocoder Changing them widely from their default values may have a detrimental effect on the intelligibility of the vocoder output but they are very useful creative tools Note that both are also mod slot destinations in the Modulation Matrix Great moving vocoder sounds can be achieved by using these destinations Parameter Vocoder Resonance Displayed As Default value 0 O to 127 Resonate sets the amount of resonance that the vocoder synthesis filter bands have Range of adjustment More resonance gives a ringing sound to the vocoder output Less resonance gives a drier sound Parameter Vocoder Decay Displayed As incLDiecawu Default value 0 O to 127 Controls how long the analysis bands take to close once their threshold has been Range of adjustment exceeded Short decay times aid inte
139. to modulate any of the above Much of the enjoyment to be had with a Synthesizer is with experimenting with the factory preset sounds and creating new ones There is no substitute for hands on experience Experiments with adjusting the MiniNova s many parameters will eventually lead to a fuller understanding of how the various controls alter and help shape new sounds Armed with the knowledge in this chapter and an understanding of what is actually happening in the machine when tweaks to the knobs and switches are made the process of creating new and exciting sounds will become easy Have fun 11 SIMPLIFIED MININOVA BLOCK DIAGRAM ENVELOPES 3 6 LFO 1 3 ENVELOPE 1 ENVELOPE 2 OSCILLATOR 1 OSCILLATOR 2 I 4 OSCILLATOR 3 FILTER 1 DISTORTION FILTER 1 NOISE FILTER 2 DISTORTION J FILTER 2 pomme RINGMOD 1 3 J RING MOD 2 3 H SYNTH MENUS REFERENCE SECTION This part of the User Guide gives you a detailed description of every parameter available for adjustment in the MiniNova As previously explained all adjustments to patches other than those made via the controls in the Perform and Pads sections of the top panel are made via the MiniNova s comprehensive menu structure The menus also include System or setup options such as patch dumping keyboard setup and so on The structure is context sensitive this means that you will be offered a range of optio
140. to supply 0 5 A at 5 V some computers particularly laptops are unable to supply this current Unreliable operation of the synth will result in such a case When powering the MiniNova from a laptop s USB port it is strongly recommended that the laptop is powered from AC mains rather than its internal battery HARDWARE OVERVIEW BGG MININOVA SYNTHESIZER S Wh ARPEGGIATE 1 T 1 DECAY I Decay SUSTAIN C oscioENsny osczvavyc osczoensny O5C1V SYNE Mb diada EE Top view controls 1 2 37 note 3 octaves keyboard with velocity sensing PITCH and MOD wheels The PITCH wheel is mechanically biased to return to the centre position when released SELECT EDIT section 3 10 11 Custom 2 row x 8 character LCD dot matrix display for patch selection and menu access The LCD also incorporates a bargraph meter showing audio input signal level tempo indication in BPM and other status information TYPE GENRE selector Use this to select a subset of available patches SORT switch allows you to order your set of patches by patch number or alphabetically by name DATA detented rotary control Used in patch selection and to alter parameter values within menus PAGE 4 and b buttons these are used to step forwards and backwards between menu pages MENU BACK button Press to enter menu system within the menu system pressing again will jump back to the previous menu level A
141. tooth Waves NN Volume 3 e 3 4 5 Sawtooth Wave Harmonic These are rich in harmonics and containing both even and odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency The volume of each is inversely proportional to its position in the harmonic series Square Pulse Waves Volume 1 2 3 4 5 Square Wave Harmonic These only have odd harmonics which are at the same volume as the odd harmonics ina sawtooth wave It will be noticed that the square waveform spends equal amounts of time in its high state and its low state This ratio is known as the duty cycle A square wave always has a duty cycle of 50 which means it is high for half the cycle and low for the other half In the MiniNova it is possible to adjust the duty cycle of the basic square waveform to produce a waveform which is more rectangular in shape These are often known as Pulse waveforms As the waveform becomes more and more rectangular more even harmonics are introduced and the waveform changes its character becoming more nasal sounding The width of the pulse waveform the Pulse Width can be altered dynamically by a modulator which results in the harmonic content of the waveform constantly changing This can give the waveform a very fat quality when the pulse width is altered at a moderate rate It does not make any difference to how 50 a pulse waveform sounds whether the duty cycle is 40 or 60 since the wave
142. tor parameters The remaining parameters in the Oscillator Menu are common to all 3 oscillators They are available when Oscillator Number is set to OscComn Parameter Vibrato Depth Displayed As Hoduiib Default value 0 Range of adjustment Oto 127 Adding vibrato to an oscillator modulates or varies the pitch of the note cyclically adding a wobble to the tone This parameter determines the vibrato depth and hence how obvious the wobble is The mod wheel is used to apply vibrato with the ModVib parameter value representing the maximum depth of vibrato that can be obtained with the mod wheel in its fully up position On the MiniNova VibMod and MVibRate are common parameters that affect all oscillators and do not require the use of the LFO section 15 Parameter Vibrato Rate Displayed As HUibRate Default value 65 O to 127 This parameter sets the rate or frequency of the vibrato from very slow value 0 to very fast value 127 Range of adjustment Parameter Oscillator Drift Displayed As Default value 0 O to 127 When the three oscillators are set to the same tuning their waveforms are perfectly Range of adjustment synchronised Old analogue synthesizers were unable to stay perfectly in tune and Oscillator Drift emulates this imperfection by applying a controlled amount of detuning so that the oscillators are slightly out of tune with each other This adds a fuller character to the s
143. ty will be introduced to the sound passing through the filter When set to very high levels Resonance actually causes the filter to self oscillate whenever a signal is being passed through it The resulting whistling tone being produced is actually a pure sine wave the pitch of which depends on the setting of the Frequency control the filter s cut off point This resonance produced sine wave can 10 actually be used for some sounds as an additional sound source if wished The diagram below shows the response of a typical low pass filter Frequencies above the cut off point are reduced in volume Cut off Frequency Volume J Frequency When resonance is added frequencies at the cut off point are boosted in volume Cut off Frequency Volume d Frequency In addition to the traditional Low Pass Filter type there are also High Pass and Band Pass types The type of Filter used is selected with the Filter Type parameter A High Pass Filter is similar to a Low Pass Filter but works in the opposite sense so that frequencies below the cut off point are removed Frequencies above the cut off point are passed When the Filter Frequency parameter is set to zero the filter is completely open and no frequencies are removed from the raw Oscillator waveforms Cut off Frequency Volume Frequency When a Band Pass Filter is used only a narrow band of frequencies centered around the cut off point are passed Frequencies abov
144. u according to the type of sound this makes finding suitable sounds much easier Each patch belongs to both a Genre and a Type the Genre broadly indicates the musical area for which the patch might be suitable the Type alternatively arranges the patches by sonic characteristics Use the TYPE GENRE control to select the Type or Genre in which you are interested Once the Type or Genre has been specified the patch set can again be browsed either in numerical or alphabetical order The Genres and Types are listed below TYPES GENRES All Vocoder VocalTune Rock Pop Bass R amp B Hip Hop Keyboard Lead Dubstep Pad Strings House Techno Arp Movement D amp B Breaks Classic Synth Using the FAVORITE button to load Patches You can assign up to eight of your favourite Patches to the eight Performance Pads and then quickly reload them without needing to search through the whole Patch list Assigning a Patch to a Pad With the Patch already loaded press and hold the FAVORITE button 17 and simultaneously press and hold a Pad button The display will show t niin with a 3 second countdown timer After 3 seconds the display changes to F a ird and the Patch is now assigned to that Pad Note that the Pad turns red to A confirm the assignment Loading a Patch from a Pad Press and hold the FAVORITE button all the Pads will flash blue unless the currently loaded Patch is one that was
145. uch sensitivity to volume so Filter Velocity can be set to make filter action touch sensitive With positive parameter values the harder you play the keys the greater will be the effect of the filter With Filter Velocity set to zero the sound s characteristics are the same regardless of how the keys are played Note that negative values have the inverse effect Parameter Filter Repeat Displayed As Fikkert Default value Off Range of adjustment Off 1 126 KeyOff When Filter Repeat is set to a value other than Off the Attack and Decay phases of the envelope are repeated before the Sustain phase is initiated This has a similar effect to Amplitude Repeat and use of either or both repeat parameters can create some quite striking sounds Parameter Filter Touch Trigger Displayed As FILTTria Default value Off Range of adjustment Off T1ReTrig T8ReTrig T1Triggr T8Triggr T1Enable T8Enable Unlike Amplitude Touch Trigger Filter Touch Trigger has three options per Pad control Trigger Re trigger and Enable However as with Amplitude Touch Trigger it is necessary to enable the ANIMATE mode for the Pads to be operative see Using the Pads as performance controls on page 7 1 Re Trigger acts in a similar vvay to Amplitude Re Trigger except that it is the filter action vvhich is re triggered by touching the selected Pad The note plays as normal when the key is pressed pressing the Pad re triggers the entire env
146. urer s warranty you will also then be able to download the additional software that you are entitled to as a MiniNova purchaser The card also contains codes you will need to enter in the on line forms on our website to download the software but before you attempt to do this warranty registration is required Power requirements The MiniNova is shipped with a 9 V DC 900 mA power supply The centre pin of the coaxial connector is the positive ve side of the supply The MiniNova can either be powered by this AC to DC mains adaptor or by the USB connection to a computer To obtain the best possible audio performance from the MiniNova we recommend using the supplied adaptor There are two versions of the PSU your MiniNova will be supplied with the one appropriate to your country The PSU comes with detachable adaptors use the one that fits your country s AC outlets When powering the MiniNova from the mains PSU please ensure that your local AC supply is within the range of voltages required by the adaptor i e 100 to 240 VAC BEFORE you plug it into the mains We strongly recommend that you only use the supplied PSU Failure to do so will invalidate your warranty Power supplies for your Novation product can be purchased form your music dealer if you have lost yours If powering the MiniNova via the USB connection you should be aware that although the USB specification agreed by the IT industry states that a USB port should be able
147. urn loop implying a parallel connection others as an insert implying a serial connection Depending on the synth sound itself and the actual effects being used some configurations will clearly work better than others When using multiple effects try a few different interconnections to see which works best Parameter FX1 Type Displayed As FRI Tare Default value Bypass Range of adjustment See Effects Types Table on page 38 The table shows the pool of FX devices available As DSP capacity is finite each device in the list may only be loaded into one slot and once it has been loaded it will no longer appear in the list of available processors for the other slots You will see that multiples of most of the FX devices are provided to allow the most creative use of the FX 27 Parameter Effect Amount Displayed As Fsi Arnt Default value 64 Range of adjustment Oto 127 The precise function of this parameter depends on which FX device is loaded into the slot See the table below for a summary FX TYPE ADJUSTED PARAMETER Compressor Level EQ Level Distortion Amount or bit sample rate reduction Delay Send and Return levels Chorus Level Reverb Send and Return levels Gator Level The remaining parameters available for adjustment in the FXSLOTn submenu are determined by which effects device has been loaded into the slot A slot which has no FX device loaded has no further me
148. yle playing notes separately produces no glide effect 3 Poly1 in this polyphonic mode successively playing the same note s uses separate voices and the notes are therefore stacked so the sound gets louder as more notes are played The effect will only be evident on patches with a long amplitude release time 4 Poly2 in this alternative mode successively playing the same note s uses the original voices so the volume increase inherent in Poly1 mode is avoided 5 Mono 2 this differs from Mono in the way the Attack phases of the Envelopes are triggered In Mono mode when playing Legato style the envelopes are only triggered once by the initial key press In Mono 2 mode every key press will re trigger all the Envelopes Edit menu Submenu 6 Eri The MiniNova provides a great deal of flexibility in the use of envelopes in sound creation based on the familiar ADSR concept KEY ON KEY OFF VOLUME SUSTAIN E 4 ATTACK DECAY RELEASE 20 The ADSR envelope can be most easily visualised by considering the amplitude volume of a note over time The envelope describing the lifetime of a note can be split into four distinct phases and adjustments are provided for each of these 7 Attack the time it takes for the note to increase from zero e g when the key is pressed to its maximum level A long attack time produces a fade in effect
149. ynamic range the extremes of which can cause damage to loudspeakers or other components and also to your hearing KEY FEATURES Full polyphony with up to 18 voices Classic analogue synth waveforms 36 wavetables 14 filter types Built in digital FX section with compression panning EQ reverb delay distor tion chorus and gator effects Four assignable rotary controls for immediate access to up to 24 primary sonic parameters 8 performance pads for arpeggiator control and adding expression while playing 12 band Vocoder with dynamic gooseneck microphone supplied VocalTune processor 37 note velocity sensitive keyboard MIDI input and output LCD display The following features are available in conjunction with the appropriate MiniNova Novation software downloadable MiniNova Editor VST AU RTAS plug in for DAW Mac Windows based librarian software for management of patches ABOUT THIS MANUAL We don t know whether you ve got years of experience with electronic keyboards or if this is your very first synth In all probability you re somewhere between the two So we ve tried to make this manual as helpful as possible for all types of user and this inevitably means that more experienced users will want to skip over certain parts of it while relative novices will want to avoid certain parts of it until they re confident they ve mastered the basics However there are a few general points
150. ype of Filter most commonly found on synthesizers is the Low Pass type With a Low Pass Filter a cut off point or cut off frequency is chosen and any frequencies below the point are passed and frequencies above are filtered out The setting of the Filter Frequency parameter dictates the point below which frequencies are removed This process of removing harmonics from the waveforms has the effect of changing the sound s character or timbre When the Frequency parameter is at maximum the filter is completely open and no frequencies are removed from the raw Oscillator waveforms In practice there is a gradual rather than a sudden reduction in the volume of the harmonics above the cut off point of a Low Pass Filter How rapidly these harmonics reduce in volume as frequency increases above the cut off point is determined by the Filter s slope The slope is measured in volume units per octave Since Volume is measured in decibels this slope is usually quoted as so many decibels per octave dB oct Typical values are 12 dB oct and 24 dB oct The higher the number the greater the rejection of harmonics above the cut off point and the more pronounced the filtering effect A further important parameter of the Filter is its Resonance Frequencies at the cut off point may be increased in volume by the Filter Resonance control This is useful for emphasizing certain harmonics of the sound As Resonance is increased a whistling like quali

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