emusonacid! legacy

Hi folks,

i have been spending a few evenings with the Emu Ultra and manual trying to find the best way to achieve a certain setting. i have achieved this before on other keyboards previously owned (like DX7, Korg M1 etc) no problem, but i am not quite sure how to make the correct settings on the Emu Ultra. And also of the exact terminology in order to be able to look up the relavent settings in the index.

So, what i would like to be able to to is (effectively) turn OFF the TOUCH SENSITIVITY on certain Presets on the Emu Ultra. In other words, to make chosen Presets NON TOUCH SENSITIVE (so that no matter how loud or soft i hit the keyboard the volume of the Preset will always sound exactly the same volume-wise).

The Velocity-Curve seems to be for matching the Velocity of an external Midi Keyboard, and the Velocity-Range for Velocity-Switching Presets. i also tried experimenting with a few different settings within Preset-Edit but was not able to disable the Touch Sensitivity.

Would be great if anyone can help...........

Best,

Paul

CORDS

Preset edit > Group > Edit Group > Cords
Look for cords that are set with Velocity in them.

EXAMPLE

SOURCE--------------------------DESTINATION--------------------------VALUE
Vel ---------------------------------AmpVol------------------------------- 50

Or

SOURCE--------------------------DESTINATION--------------------------VALUE
Vel -----------------------------------FilFreq------------------------------ 50

Reduce value to 000
Export new non touch sensitive preset.

Think of the Ultra as a modular synth. You can patch in controllers to modify a Preset using virtual cords, or remove them to suit your needs.

Most stuff is covered in this thread.
List of Sources and Destinations (descriptions, examples)
LINK. http://www.emusonacid.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=278

The whole cords thing has a very open ended architecture, the engineers didn't put too many restrictions on its possibilities.
The systems routing is down to your imagination.

Oh, so its in CORDS ??

Thanks very much, i will check it out.

Yeh man,

Thats GREAT !!!!!!!!!!! Really sorted me out big time thanks !! Makes everything sound so much 'smoother' !! The Velocity values were set to 35% so reducing them to zero made all the difference.

Now, for me to tweak (ie 'balance') the individual Voices within this Preset, do i go to the AMPLIFIER page within Preset-Edit and alter the '+/- db' of the VOLUME parameter ??

Turning off the Touch Sensitivity has 90% sorted my initial issue, but some of the Voices are a little unbalanced and so need to be slightly further adjusted Volume-wise.

Now, for me to tweak (ie 'balance') the individual Voices within this Preset, do i go to the AMPLIFIER page within Preset-Edit and alter the '+/- db' of the VOLUME parameter ??

Adjust the volume of individual samples in a preset on the Preset Edit main page.

TIP
Once all the volume levels are smooth across their transitions then the cords below are handy to balance the relative low to high key volume settings.
It's like keyboard tracking works on an analogue synth.

SOURCE--------------------------DESTINATION--------------------------VALUE
Key~ ------------------------------AmpVol------------------------------ -100

Or

SOURCE--------------------------DESTINATION--------------------------VALUE
Key~ --------------------------------FilFreq----------------------------- -100

The first cord will gradually take the presets volume from loud on the lowest note to quieter on the highest note.

The second cord will gradually close the filter as you move up the keyboard.

You can alter the values to suite your needs.

JAHFUNK wrote:Adjust the volume of individual samples in a preset on the Preset Edit main page.

So use the Preset Edit main page range of -96/+10 (rather than the VOLUME parameter on the Amplifier page) ??

i think this is easier as you can scroll up and down the Preset Edit main page and compare all the different Volumes (of each Voice) on the same screen.

JAHFUNK wrote:TIP
Once all the volume levels are smooth across their transitions then the cords below are handy to balance the relative low to high key volume settings.
It's like keyboard tracking works on an analogue synth.

SOURCE--------------------------DESTINATION--------------------------VALUE
Key~ ------------------------------AmpVol------------------------------ -100

The first cord will gradually take the presets volume from loud on the lowest note to quieter on the highest note.

Thats great, i tried it and it sounds very good !! THANKS.

So i have to go thru every Voice in the Preset and make this setting for each of them in the Cords ??

So i have to go thru every Voice in the Preset and make this setting for each of them in the Cords ??

No
Remember that if the preset is grouped by the COMBINE command you are able to simultaneously build cords for all the samples in the preset by selecting the GROUP > EDIT GROUP > CORDS.
You know this already! Look at my first reply

Preset edit > Group > Edit Group > Cords

It would be a real pain to have to build the same cord settings for each sample in a preset.

Oh yes COMBINE, of course !!

When i learn something NEW i start forgetting the OLD stuff !! lol

It's a steep learning curve.
Your getting there man.
This shit took me a year or two to work out.

It's worth the hours of frustration. Once the operating system is hard wired to your brain you will be flying around the Ultra.

I think about how to use sources and destinations in new ways when I'm away from the machine, and love it when I get one of those magical EUREKA moments. Then I write out these new cords ideas on paper to remind me what I was thinking, so when I switch it on I can test if my idea works.
I think I'm a bit of a nerdy anorak when it comes to my Ultra.
LOL

Thanks dude,

Thats really encouraging to hear.

The main thing which is throwing me about the Emu is that its completely different to anything i ever programed before. Like it has its own set of rules etc. And the terminology is quite different.

Though when you first start out learning anything new you always hit brick walls. It affects your confidence (well it does me) and its a lot to take in. Some people are born with the KNACK. i was not and so have to work really hard in these areas (though i usually kind of get there in the end, but it lakes a little longer).

I listen to your music and can see your brain is very tilted towards the creative hemisphere.
The tech stuff is more to do with the analytical side of the brain.

Once you learn how to navigate the Ultra you can get creative with the technology in a musical way.
Many artists can't do music, just maths, but you can reach a point were you are able to do both.
It's worth the effort.

Just a thought.... Are you left handed?

You are very intuitive indeed !!

All my compositions come out of stuff played with my left hand and i am heavily into my LH basslines etc. Though i am right handed.

i have never had a problem with springing up new musical ideas for arrangements or compositions. If anything, i get too many ideas ideas !! When i was at college there were students who admitted to never getting even ONE idea !!! OMG !!!!

i really badly wanted (and still do) to be able to understand the maths and science of it all (ie Physics). i tried at school but i just was not clever enough to understand it. My brain was too artistic and creative/random. All the music teachers were Classical heads. No one could work me out so i dropped out of school when i was only 13 missing the last 3 x years !! But i was listening to Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis and so i found my bag at an early age.

i have played keyboards on cruise ships nearly 20 x years and obviously programed up my gear to do the jobs in hand, but i have only ever gotten so far with the non-playing side of things because of my massive lack of intelligence in other areas. i am more of a musician than a technician and i don't like it !!! ha ha When i look at all these diagrams and flowcharts of stuff on the forum or in the manual i just sit and stare at it thinking WTF ????? lol

i think i could have been quite a good musician if i had gotten to understand all the maths stuff etc. But as you quite correctly say, most musicians are more lenient to being one side or the other. However, all the great musicians, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea are bloody brilliant at EVERYTHING !!! And obviously thats why they are famous !!

i think i could have been quite a good musician

You are a good musician!

You can train your mind using intention.
Focus.

The ideal point to reach is......


http://youtu.be/PBdf0sCXYJI
It's a long vid but worth sticking with.

Ta mate,

i will watch the video thank you. My sisters are really into Wayne Dywer. i spent a couple of years getting quite heavily into self-development and spirituality and started making great progress. But a couple of years ago i ended up in a dreadful relationship with a bird who totally wrecked my head as she was a complete nightmare !! Anyway, i ended up totally loosing track of where i was on my self-development path which was a real shame and i have never managed to get back on it again. So i have been single for 14 x months and bought Cubase and Sibelius to try and get my mind into something positive.

Ta,

Paul