Tau Pro user manual
Contents
1. MIDI controller providing that controller is capable of sending MIDI Continuous Controller CC messages A special MIDI learn mode is provided to quickly build up your own MIDI CC mappings Simply right click Command click on Mac on any control to display a menu of the current MIDI CC settings Choose link to next CC from the menu to put a control into learn mode Once a control is in learn mode it will automatically link itself to the next CC message that it receives Note that MIDI controller functionality may differ from host program to host program Some sequencers for example intercept and do not pass MIDI controller messages in their entirety to loaded plug ins FL Studio Logic Audio for example You should refer to your seguencer s user manual for more information if you are not sure Section Summary Tau Pro has only one editor screen The buttons in the top right toggle user interface features such as knob mode circular linear and parameter displays on off CTRL clicking most controls will reset them to their default value Holding down shift while dragging a control will give you greater precision Many of Tau Pro s controls can be automated over MIDI by right clicking on them Cd Tau Pro User Manual ST muon software Page 5 of 11 6 Tau Pro parameters The controls on the main editor screen of Tau Pro flow roughly left to right and are grouped into distinct sections as follows2. do with an analogue tape deck recording desk or electric guitar to get a warm fuzzed out overdrive Use the drive knob to get warm full sounds with a searing edge of distortion 6 4 The Master Section BLIQE VOLUME on n i fa 1 E i I AN W e Wa a RETRIG At the bottom of Tau Pro is a small 16 note virtual keyboard from B1 to D3 The keys do not send MIDI messages but respond to mouse clicks if you wish to quickly audition a sound When Tau Pro receives an incoming MIDI Note On or Off messages the keys will animate too if you have a MIDI or Audio problem this can help determine whether or not signals are getting into Tau Pro and that sound is getting out The remaining three controls in the section are the Master Volume Glide Time and Retrig selectors The Master Volume control determines the final output level of Tau Pro before the sound is sent to the sequencer The Glide knob is used to activate Tau Pro s fingered legato mode When the red light next to the knob is one pressing down one key and then slurring to another note will cause the pitch to bend from the first to the second The Glide Time knob controls the speed of this pitch bend These kind of pitch slides require a certain playing technique but you can force particular notes to overlap and therefore glide easily enough in your seguencer s editor Cd Tau Pro User Manual T muon software Page 8 of 11 When gliding Tau Pro s envelope is not retr
3. 6 1 The Oscillator Section Each of Tau Pro s Virtual Computerised Oscillators VCO TEEN TRANSPOSE DETUNE PWMRATE PWM DEPTH for short produces a single sound waveform and these are mixed together in the Mixer section next to make the basic sound of the synth The oscillator section You can adjust the individual oscillators so that the pitch they play is up to 12 semitones higher or lower using the transpose control than the note the synth receives over MIDI The fine pitch detune can be adjusted for each oscillator also Setting the detune on different oscillators to different amounts will produce a wide swirling effect as the oscillators beat against each other this is great for big fat patches You can also set the volume of each oscillator using the level control The final output volume of both oscillators and conseguently the whole patch is set using the master volume control See the section on master controls for more detail later on in this manual Y ou can choose the waveform generated by each oscillator by clicking the Mode button There are eleven built in waveforms five sawtooth five rectangular and sine wave The first sawtooth and square waves SAW1 and SOU1 are as you d expect from a standard synthesiser as is the sine wave The other four saw and four sguare waves have additional harmonics added in increasing proportion for extra bite All waveforms in Tau Pro can be modulated in real time usi
4. T is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies AG Audio Units and Apple Loops are trademarks of Apple Inc All trademarks remain the exclusive property of their respective holders User manual Muon Software Ltd 2008 Tau Pro software Muon Software Ltd 2008 KI muon software Tau Pro User Manual Page 11 of 11
5. Tau Pro user manual taupro EG ACCENT ACCENT DECAY THRESHOLO LEVEL p Era MWA e be PA 4 GUDE VOLUME T y 13 14 15 ka bh P t vi y N as KI muon software LICENSE AGREEMENT Decompressing the electronic distribution package of the Tau Pro software constitutes acceptance of the following terms and conditions The Tau Pro program and supplementary files provided The Software are copyright Muon Software Ltd 2008 The Software may not be copied or distributed by any means mechanical or electronic This covers but is not limited to posting to websites newsgroups or sending via e mail Doing so would violate copyright law and is a criminal offence You are granted a license to use The Software on one computer only ata time You may not resell rent or otherwise transfer The Software to another party for benefit The Software has been extensively tested Unfortunately due to wide variance in computer and software configurations no guarantee or warranty can realistically be offered or expected Therefore no warranty either express or implied is given as to fitness for a particular purpose In areas where limited guarantees warranties cannot be enforced the maximum available remedy will be in case of dispute the actual price you paid for The Software In the event of The Software being found to be defective the remedy for purchasers Is limited to an updated version of The Software as and when one is made generall
6. and the EG decay determines how long this takes Long decay times and high EG mod settings create biting deep sweeps Shorter decay times and high EG mod settings give a plucked effect Experimentation is the key here Tau Pro User Manual T muon software Page 7 of 11 Along with the Cutoff and Q controls these are the primary way to create moving dynamic sounds in Tau Pro Don t forget that you can often get the best effects by turning the controls whilst your riff is playing and you can normally record the changes too into your sequencer This is everything you need for driving pulsating basslines and riffs The Accent Threshold and Accent Level knobs control another important way in which Tau Pro s sound can be made more dynamic Quite often with many keyboards hitting the key harder results in a brighter sound the Muon Electron has this feature However the style of classic synth theT au Pro is based on originally had a 16 step sequencer rather than a keyboard where it was possible to add an accent to certain notes to make them brighter and louder Tau Pro simulates this by using the Accent controls set the threshold to just above your normal playing velocity If you hit a key harder than normal Tau Pro will open the filter a bit more the exact amount is determined by the Accent Level knob The final control in this section is the Drive Knob This overloads the input stage of Tau Pro s amplifier much like you might
7. ative feedback can increase the clarity and tightness off the effect The Delay Time control has no purpose in Chorus and Flange effect patches T muon software Page 9 of 11 When a Delay patch is selected the LFO Rate and LFO Depth controls have no purpose The Feedback control determines how much regeneration there is after each echo high settings will cause the echoes to die away very slowly Negative feedback has the same effect as positive feedback but the repeats can sometimes sit in a track better as they become inverted and do not interfere so much with the main signal The final two patches are combined and thus use all the available controls However in the combined modes the Wet Mix control determines only the amount of echo the mono chorus flange part of the effect is fixed Section Summary Tau Pro has two oscillators that can be set to a range of waveforms All oscillator waveforms can be dynamically modulated with the LFOs The oscillator can glide from note to note as you play legato phrases The oscillator outputs can sync or ring modulate each other The filter is controlled by a single attack decay envelope There are three filter types The FX Processor has eight presets to choose from The accent feature is activated by playing harder Cera Pro User Manual ST muon software Page 10 of 11 1 Copyright notices and Credits Tau Pro David Waugh for Muon Software Ltd Graphics lan Waugh for Muon Software Ltd VS
8. d amplitude modulated with the output of VCO1 The strength of the ring modulation is controlled by the balance knob fully left no effect fully right max Ring modulation is great for hard biting timbres and atonal metallic noises 6 3 The Articulation Section EG ACCENT ACCENT DECAY THAESHOCLD LEVEL Da H et k y d Ai J WW D The Articulation Section Tau Pro has a powerful VCF and envelope section Virtual Computerised Filter capable of warping the sound of the oscillators beyond all recognition This is where the majority of the work in creating a patch is done The VCF is a resonant lowpass design which means that it removes brighter harmonics but lets the lower frequencies through The filter has three possible response settings 18 24 or 36 dB per octave These settings control how strong the filter is with 18dB being the weakest In all cases the Cut off Knob controls where in the frequency range the filter begins to act The Q control is used to add a boost to the frequencies immediately around the cut off point Setting this control to 100 will cause the filter to turn into an oscillator which can be used to great effect though watch out for the levels Tau Pro can easily distort the input of your sequencer s mixer at high O The EG Mod and EG Decay knobs govern how the synth automatically opens and closes the filter The EG Mod control sets how strong the opening and closing of the filter is
9. iggered This means that if you have a short decay time the second note will sound dull and the EnvMod control will have no effect This Is perfect for smoothly slurring notes from one to the other but is not so perfect for ordinary bass sounds If you want the envelope to open each time a Note On message is received flick the Retrig switch to the right If Glide mode was previously activated as indicated by a glowing red LED you will now see thatitis shut down when retrig is on 6 5 _ The FX Processor CERED FX DELAY TIME LFO RATE LFO DEPTH FE EDBACK WE E E Bai aon i The FX Processor Tau Pro also contains a comprehensive stereo multi FX unit packed with creative possibilities The basic effect program is selected using the FX Mode button and then tuned to taste with the Knobs to the right Available FX programs are as follows OFF Dry sound only CHR1 Warm Stereo Chorus CHR2 Wide Stereo Chorus FLGI Warm Stereo Flange FLG2 Wide Stereo Flange DLY1 Vintage delay DLY2 Clean delay C D Mono chorus feeding into vintage delay F D Mono flange feeding into vintage delay In the Chorus and Flange modes the LFO Rate and LFO depth knobs determine the speed of the sweep and its depth The Feedback control adds a ringing watery edge to the flange and makes the chorus richer Feedback can be both negative fully left and positive fully right or off completely centre Switching off feedback or using neg
10. l address above 3 Minimum System Requirements Windows Windows XP Vista 1ghz processor 512mb RAM Mac OS X 10 4 or better G4 lghz any G5 any Intel processor 512mb RAM VST2 3 VST2 4 or Audio Unit plug in compatible host software You can find a list of Audio Unit or VST2 x plug in compatible host software at www kvraudio com the internet s best resource for information about audio plug ins and hosts 4 Introduction What does Tau Pro do Tau Pro is a complex synthesiser combining elements of classic analogue modules with some new and innovative features Tau Pro gets its fantastic sound from Muon s advanced 64 bit Analogue Modelling technology and adds the kind of hands on control that you need to take your music to new heights Since Tau Pro is now VST2 4 Universal Binary and Audio Unit compatible you will be able to use this software in all the latest hosts LG he Tau Pro User Manual ST muon software Page 3 of 11 5 Front Panel Basics Tau Pro has only one main editor screen shown below e Lo taupro ie ACCENT ACCENT DECAY THEESHOLG LEVEL DANE ki U Be d A ey a i i ym i f y m L f 1 i i Li 1 1 FU I DELAY TIME LFO 7 i r i BETRIG The main screen On this editor screen you will see numerous controls grouped into sections that allow you to edit the various settings and use features of the software There are four basic types of controls used throughout Tau Pro
11. ng the PWM Depth and Rate controls On a traditional synth pulse width typically only refers to the sguare wave this is true in Muon synths such as the Electron and Atom Pro even However in Tau Pro all waves can be modulated in this way The Depth Control is used to set the strength of the effect and the Rate control sets the speed of the sweep The actual audible effect is that of different groups of harmonics sweeping and swirling like a complex filter or sound shaper This is great in lead sounds filter sweeps and trancey basslines de Tau Pro User Manual T muon software Page 6 of 11 6 2 _ The Oscillator Mixer Section The output of Tau Pro s oscillators can be combined in three different ways using the Mix mode button The firstmode OFF simply enables the balance knob to control the amount of each oscillator that goes to the output fully left VCO1 only fully right VCO2 only middle both If the Mix Mode is set to Sync the shape of the VCO 1 s wave output is retriggered whenever VCO2 starts its cycle over This causes a distortion that you can vary by changing the transpose and detune settings for VCO1 however the pitch will not change If VCO1 is syncing you can change its pitch by changing the pitch of VCO2 Note though thatitis in the nature of the oscillator sync in general thatthings can geta bit unstable towards the top of the keyboard Ring Modulation MIX Mode RING means that the output of VCO2 is multiplie
12. s user interface Rotary controls knobs Buttons Switches Pop up menus KI muon software To change the value of a rotary control click on it hold the mouse button down and drag vertically horizontally or in a circular motion depending on the knob mode selected Whenever you click on a control that does not have an associated numeric display a small pop up box will display the exact value you are changing when parameter displays are enabled To seta control to its default value hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard when clicking and to increase the mouse resolution hold down SHIFT when dragging The waveform mix and FX selector button in Tau Pro s user interface have multiple states To cycle forward through the button s states simply click on the button To cycle backwards through the states right click Command click on Mac on the button There are also two buttons in the top right that toggle parameter displays and the current knob mode The retrig switch has two positions on and off To toggle the Switch state simply click on it The filter selector has three States To change states click and drag with the mouse Controls that have additional features also have a pop up menu Right click Command click on Mac on the control to display the menu of choices and then click in the menu to select your desired option Tau Pro User Manual Page 4 of 11 Tau Pro can also be controlled entirely from an external
13. y available Muon Software Ltd cannot be held responsible for any direct or indirect conseguential loss or damage caused by the use of or inability to use The Software Use of The Software is entirely at your risk Y ou are encouraged to be careful with your amplification and monitoring equipment EXTRACTING THE PRODUCT FILE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT Tau Pro User Manual T muon software Page 2 of 11 1 Foreword Thank you for choosing the Tau Pro virtual instrument plug in To get the best from your software we recommend that you read this manual carefully and keep a copy in a safe place for future reference Should you experience problems operating this product and can t find the answers in this manual please email service muon software com or visit the Muon Software internet forum at htto www muon software com html support htm Don t forget when contacting technical support to describe the problem in as much detail as possible and provide details of your system configuration operating system host program CPU RAM etc 2 Compatibility The Tau Pro virtual instrument has been tested with a wide variety of Audio Unit and VST2 compatible host programs However host programs vary in their specifications and some may not implement features in the AU or VST2 specifications that Tau Pro relies upon If you are worried about compatibility issues please contact technical support using the emai
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