emusonacid! legacy

...and yes i read the manual (not all of it though ).

ok. I make drum and bass. I have an emu e4xt ultra and i'm running cubase sx 3.

basically, I want to use sx 3 to sequence all my midi parts (i.e. drums, bass, fx's, etc..). From my understanding, a preset is a particular sound right? (i.e. a break, or bass). Or is it a bunch of sounds put togeather. I had a break loaded and everything was fine, but I then wanted to add a bass. Well I had the multi vew open and went to ch 2 to load up the bass preset, well it comes up but I can't trigger it. To sum these questions up, what exactly is a preset and do i have to use multiple presets to load up all of my sounds, also is there a way i can trigger different sounds from the same machine?


heck, how do you make a tune with your sampler

i.am wrote:From my understanding, a preset is a particular sound right? (i.e. a break, or bass). Or is it a bunch of sounds put togeather.

It can be both, you can have a break as a preset (with each part mapped out over different keys), or you can have a bunch of sounds mapped out over different keys or you could just have a single sound mapped over the entire keyboard.

i.am wrote:To sum these questions up, what exactly is a preset and do i have to use multiple presets to load up all of my sounds, also is there a way i can trigger different sounds from the same machine?

In cubase make sure that your midi output is going to the correct port.(The same one that your Emu is connected to!!)

The multi screen on an E4XT Ultra has 32 channels, each one of these corresponds to a different midi channel.

As long as your midi output and midi channel number match up with Cubase and the Emu then you should have no problems.

A typical tune would be, each one of these channels in the Emu would typically have a different preset although they could contain the same preset.

ch1. break 1
ch2. break 2
ch3. hi hats
ch4. pad
ch5. bass hi
ch6. bass lo
ch7. lead 1
ch8. lead 2

and so on....

robr wrote:It can be both, you can have a break as a preset (with each part mapped out over different keys), or you can have a bunch of sounds mapped out over different keys or you could just have a single sound mapped over the entire keyboard.

Ok thanks, I wasn't sure about that. Thanks again for clearing this up

robr wrote:In cubase make sure that your midi output is going to the correct port.(The same one that your Emu is connected to!!) The multi screen on an E4XT Ultra has 32 channels, each one of these corresponds to a different midi channel.

As long as your midi output and midi channel number match up with Cubase and the Emu then you should have no problems.

Yeah that I have down.

robr wrote:
A typical tune would be, each one of these channels in the Emu would typically have a different preset although they could contain the same preset.

ch1. break 1
ch2. break 2
ch3. hi hats
ch4. pad
ch5. bass hi
ch6. bass lo
ch7. lead 1
ch8. lead 2

and so on....

Ok so you can load up multiple presets? I had chopped up an amen break and created a preset, now when I go to add a new preset, can I simply load a new one or do I have to merge? I tried merging one but wasn't able to trigger it on another midi channel, also when I tried to uploaded another one, I got the "too many presets" message. My machine is pretty muched maxed out (minus the extra outs and the rfx card).

plus I don't know if you use cubase yourself, I've just downloaded the mixer map and I don't know how to get that to work with cubase. Thanks again for all the help.

i.am wrote:Ok so you can load up multiple presets? I had chopped up an amen break and created a preset, now when I go to add a new preset, can I simply load a new one or do I have to merge? I tried merging one but wasn't able to trigger it on another midi channel, also when I tried to uploaded another one, I got the "too many presets" message. My machine is pretty muched maxed out (minus the extra outs and the rfx card).

plus I don't know if you use cubase yourself, I've just downloaded the mixer map and I don't know how to get that to work with cubase. Thanks again for all the help.

Loading multiple presets shouldn't be a problem. You should have room for about 999 presets. Your E4XT Ultra should be able to play back 32 presets at the same time with 128 simultaneous notes. Your preset ram could be configured badly.

Goto master>setup>memory set preset memory to 4486K.

You should not have to merge a new preset you're trying to load, merging is only for banks afaik. Find the bank on your drive that contains the preset you wish to load.

Goto disk>browse>folder(locate desired folder & highlight)>browse>banks(locate desired bank & highlight)>browse>presets(locate desired preset & highlight)>load.

This should provide you with a prompt (select destination preset), select an empty preset location and you're away. The only other reason I can think of for it not responding to another midi channel was that your machine may be in omni mode.

Goto master>midi>mode make sure midi mode is set to multi.

Press exit 3 times, this should bring you back to the multiscreen.

Goto mode>multi.

Yeah I do use Cubase SX 3 and an E4XT Ultra funnily enough, I have no experience with that mixer map though.

In the emu, the bank is a group of presets, or a group of sounds. A break is a preset. Your bass patch is a preset in that sense and so on.

In order to load multiple presets, you must save the all the presets after loading them up into a bank. You do that by saving them using the Save button on the front of the emu in Multimode. When you get the merge message, what you are actually doing is combining banks. So depending on how you save the work in the emu, it will either be a preset or a bank. You can in a sense to both. Also, saving it as a bank will also allow you to save certain attributes like channel volume and what sound is on what channel. So, you can in a sense disregard using the mixer in Cubase. It doesn't have to send any midi information to the sampler since you saved all your presets as a bank. I typically never use the mixer in cubase when using my sampler. I use it for Absynth, but not my emu since I can save all the information onto my emu instead. So why bother with the mixer when it comes to those.

Oh, and by the way, a thing to remember with Cubase is that sometimes it will drop the emu for some reason. It happens when I save a patch in Absynth. I have to completely close out Cubase to get it to communicate again with the emu. So, perhaps something like that is occuring.

About merging... when you merge, you still need change the preset that is on the channel. So if I merge preset a with b, then I still need to set channel 2 to preset b since the first preset will dominate the emu. So that might be a reason that your not getting the second preset to trigger. Just a thought.

snh

thanks guys for your input. really helps out alot.

I'll try out what you guys suggest. And the explanation that snh said about the banks and presets helps alot. So it brings me to voices, I guess voices are what you guys uses to layer the sounds? So if I wanted to layer a kick, I would just copy or load up another kick in the same voice?

Really itching to get off of work so I can try out all these ideas.

i.am wrote:So it brings me to voices, I guess voices are what you guys uses to layer the sounds? So if I wanted to layer a kick, I would just copy or load up another kick in the same voice?

1.Yeah you could assign a kick into the same voice, goto Preset Edit>Voices>SZone>NewSZ.

2.You also create a new voice within the same preset and assign a kick to that, goto Preset Edit>Voices>Utils>New.

For a kick drum I would prefer to do the second option because I could then assign it to group 2, which means I could have different filter and envelope settings applied to it. Also with it being assigned to a different group you could also send it to a different audio output.

I prefer option 1 for synth and bass sounds beacause generally I would want the same envelope, lfo, filter settings applied to each sample.

robr wrote:

i.am wrote:So it brings me to voices, I guess voices are what you guys uses to layer the sounds? So if I wanted to layer a kick, I would just copy or load up another kick in the same voice?

1.Yeah you could assign a kick into the same voice, goto Preset Edit>Voices>SZone>NewSZ.

2.You also create a new voice within the same preset and assign a kick to that, goto Preset Edit>Voices>Utils>New.

For a kick drum I would prefer to do the second option because I could then assign it to group 2, which means I could have different filter and envelope settings applied to it. Also with it being assigned to a different group you could also send it to a different audio output.

I prefer option 1 for synth and bass sounds beacause generally I would want the same envelope, lfo, filter settings applied to each sample.

will try those. one final question.


i tried what you said in a couple of posts above. I made sure my memory was set and all, but when I tried to load a different preset i always get the question "destroys current RAM bank... continue?". Instead of it asking me which preset I want. Did I overlook something? (oh and will try snh advice in a minute)

Do you know how second nature this stuff is for me. I can't remember how to do it unless I am infront of the emu.

That question you get is normal. You have three choices at the bottom of the screen. Cancel, Merge, or Load. When you merge, you keep the previous preset or bank, and this once combines with it, but you still need to set it in the mulit screen to get it to work. Loading will wipe out the previous preset or bank infavour for this one.

snh

Do you know how second nature this stuff is for me. I can't remember how to do it unless I am infront of the emu.

That question you get is normal. You have three choices at the bottom of the screen. Cancel, Merge, or Load. When you merge, you keep the previous preset or bank, and this once combines with it, but you still need to set it in the mulit screen to get it to work. Loading will wipe out the previous preset or bank infavour for this one.

snh

also perhaps you didnt realise but when looking at banks on the disk menu you can press enter to go into the bank where youll see the patches. You cna select a single patch and load that to a new slot without getting the merge message. Likewise you can enter patches one more level and load single samples from the patch.

hope it helps

robr wrote:

i.am wrote:Goto disk>browse>folder(locate desired folder & highlight)>browse>banks(locate desired bank & highlight)>browse>presets(locate desired preset & highlight)>load.

This should provide you with a prompt (select destination preset), select an empty preset location and you're away.

well bugger me, i never knew you could pick out presets from other banks and load them into your existing/loaded bank at a specified preset

yep ... that's why E-MU's are pretty versatile. You can load any preset as long as you "merge" it, you can load any sample from any bank the same, and the coolest thing is you can make a preset (with no sounds) export it to your drive and keep "merging" it and use it as a template. This works great for making pre mapped out drum kit templates or you can make a multisample preset with different filters on every key and keep loading this preset for new sounds so you keep the filter settings you might like...

Hallifax wrote: the coolest thing is you can make a preset (with no sounds) export it to your drive and keep "merging" it and use it as a template. This works great for making pre mapped out drum kit templates or you can make a multisample preset with different filters on every key and keep loading this preset for new sounds so you keep the filter settings you might like...

this bit has got me stumped

Could you explain as a set of points?

sounds useful!

Ok..

Let's say you want to make a new drum kit with different samples on every key.

Make a new preset. Each time you add a new voice you want to set the high and low note ranges to the exact note number you are using as the key number to trigger the sample. This means you will have 128 voices for the preset... ie key c3 will (let's say for example) trigger your kick so ... also the high and low note numbers, as well as the "orig" note number will all be identical (c3). Let's say kick 2 on C#3, Snare 1 on D3 etc .. etc...

Now you can edit each specific voice (ie sample) you've created and set different (or the same if you want) filters for every single voice.

Let's say on voice 1 you want the envelope to sweep upwards so you would set the 'env-' to "patch" to the 'Filfreq' (in the cords section). On say Voice 2 you want it to sweep down so you patch the 'env+' to patch to the Filfreq, and say your snare to lfo down so let's say lfo+ to Filfreq etc...

...........................................................................................................

Basically you can setup different pacth cords for every single voice in a preset if you want.


Here's what's really cool though. Let's say there is a specific way you like to filter all your samples in a drum kit (or just any "1-shot" preset you use; each key a different sample) OR you like to have a High Pass Kit Pre-made so you can always use it as a preset with the note numbers and cords ready to go.

Just make a preset as you would but just don't assign any actual samples to the voices.

Export it to your drive as a preset.

Now everytime you want to make a drum kit you can load ("merge") that preset into your current bank you already have and set the samples you want for each voice in 'Preset Edit' mode instead of having to build each preset from the ground up and set each note number, high low range, 'orig' key etc per bank all over again.

You can also assign different notes to new groups and then assign different filter and or cord settings per group instead of having to make new patch settings per voice. Real time saver!

I use this to build my kits with single samples per note ahead of time and then either setup different filters and cords for groups or even different filters and cords for every single voice. I have a High Pass drumkit preset I always load, A low Pass preset and a Bandpass preset etc.. I also have a preset I load where each octave is setup with a different filter or different cords. I might have the lowest octave go to the 1st group and have it as a highpass filter I can sweep. The next octave will have sweepable Bandpass filters, the next Lowpass, the next Notches, etc...

Now anytime I want to plug my new samples into a preset I can "merge" that preset into my current bank and set each sample per voice, set that preset on the channel I want and I'm ready to sequence.

.......