Audiaire Zone User Manual

User Manual / by Sharooz Raoo

Version 1.0 July 2018

www.audiaire.com

Congratulations on purchasing Zone and thank you for choosing Audiaire. Our goal was to create an instrument that encourages unique sound design in the most musical way we could.

ZONE USER MANUAL 02

Your comments & feedback are always welcome. support@audiaire.com

Version 1.0 July 2018

www.audiaire.com

Contents

ZONE USER MANUAL 03

1. Disclaimer and Legal Notices.

2. Minimum System Requirements

3. Installing, Registering and Launching Zone

+ Downloading and Installing iLok License

Manager + Moving a License

+ Using Zone in Demo Mode / Registering Zone

4. Feature Overview

5. Getting to know Zone

+ a) Playback Modes

+ b) Operation Menus

+ c) Unison Mode

+ d) Preset Browser

+ e) Oscillator Section

(i) Main Oscillators

(ii) Sub Oscillator and Noise Generator

(iii) Envelope Generator

(iv) Oscillator Modulation

+ f) Filter Section

+ g) LFO Section

+ h) Modulation Matrix

+ i) Sequencer Grid

Introduction

(i) Assigning a Control

(ii) Mode Selection

(iii) Global Lane

(iv) Note and Parameter Lanes

(v) Writing Lane Data

(vi) Lane Tools

(vii) Lane Preset List

(viii) Note Sequencer Lanes

(ix) Global Lane Presets

(x) Master Grid Controls

+ j) FX Section

+ k) Macros Section

+ l) EQ Section

+ m) Master Section

6. Control Behaviour and Key Commands

7. Presets

+ Creating Unique Presets

8. Troubleshooting / FAQ

9. Credits

ZONE USER MANUAL 04

Disclaimer and Legal Notices

Minimum System Requirements

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Audiaire. Audiaire shall not be liable for any damages arising out of or related to this document or the information contained within it. No part of this publication or images may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the written consent of Audiaire.

The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as detailed in the License Agreement.

VST3 , AU or AAX compatible host software.

MAC

+ OS 10.9 or higher. (64 bit only) + 2GB RAM (8GB recommended)

VST Plugin technology by Steinberg VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH

All other copyrighted trademarks belong to their respective owners.

+ Windows 7 or higher. + 2GB RAM (8GB recommended)

Installing, Registering & Launching Zone

Zone uses the iLok system to authorise registration.

Before you’re able to launch software protected by iLok, iLok License Manager will need a valid license stored on either your computer, iLok USB Dongle, (if you have one), or an iLok Cloud session.

Downloading and Installing iLok Licence Manager

You will need to go to the iLok website (ilok.com) and Sign In or create a free account.

When creating your user account, ensure you create a User ID that you can remember, as this is a crucial part of the system and cannot be changed. It is also advised to tick the ‘Notify me about important iLok.com updates’ box, so you remain up to date.

From the home page of the iLok site, download and

run/install the iLok License Manager le.

If you have not yet, plug-in your USB iLok Dongle (if you have one). If you are using a desktop computer, it is best to plug the key in either via a back port (that you rarely use) or a USB multi port extension. Once you have installed the iLok License Manager, load the application and go to Sign In.

ZONE USER MANUAL 05

You should now see your iLok user account as well as details about your computer and any iLok Dongles you currently have plugged in.

Moving a License onto an iLok Key or Computer

If you already have licenses within your iLok account, they should now be displayed in the main window.

If you have not yet sent across your iLok license for your product, you will have either had instructions emailed to you or details will be included inside of your User Guide included with your product.

With your license selected in the main window ‘Zone’, for example, there are several ways to transfer the license (right-click, select ‘Activate’, or drag & drop onto your desired iLok Dongle).

Firstly, check the Valid Locations section to see what the license can be placed onto (dark grey).

When the license is dropped onto the destination,

a Conrm Activation prompt should display, check to conrm that you selected the correct location,

and press ‘OK’.

Installing, Registering & Launching Zone

Now if you select your iLok Dongle on the left-hand side, the main window should then display all of

the licenses that you specically have on that key.

You can replace your license from your key back into your main iLok account at any time (as long as you have the relevant iLok key plugged in!) by simply right-clicking the license name and selecting ‘Deactivate’. - Deactivate sounds a bit permanent, but it just places the license back to your account!

Please ensure you check for frequent application updates for your iLok license manager!

Using Zone in Demo Mode

If you wish to use Zone in demo mode, you can do so for 14 days without any restriction. You will still need to have iLok License Manager installed on your computer or an iLok USB Dongle.

ZONE USER MANUAL 06

There are no differences between the nal version of Zone and the demo. Once the demo times out you will no longer be able to use it and authorisation

will fail. You will be given frequent reminders on start-up, outlining how long your trial has left.

Registering and Authorising Zone

If you have purchased Zone, you will have been given a unique registration code that enables a full iLok license to be activated for the software. If you authorise the license on your iLok Dongle, you will be able to use Zone on any machine you wish as long as your Dongle is plugged in. If the license is on your computer, you can only use Zone on that machine (with or without Dongle).

Unpack the Zone installer and open it. From the .pkg

(Mac) or .msi (PC) les, you will be prompted to pick

and choose which components you wish to install.

Zone installs as VST, AU or AAX. On activation click Try and enter your iLok user ID and password.

Once you have unzipped and installed the required

Zone components, you

can enter your serial code

on rst launching Zone, or

if you were using a trial,

once that trial expires by

clicking the Activate box.

ZONE USER MANUAL

Feature Overview

Congratulations on purchasing Zone and thank you for choosing Audiaire. Our goal was to create an instrument that encourages unique sound design in a musical way, showcasing the beautiful idiosyncrasies seen in the modular world.

At the heart of Zone’s operation is a powerful parameter sequencer that allows virtually every

control to be assigned to and modied by its own

independent sequencer, with unlimited lanes.

Zone can be played in three distinct modes. In its simplest form, as a feature rich synthesiser with a host of lters, wavetable oscillators with import functionality, extensive multi-effects, powerful modulation matrix and much more. With a 32 step note sequencer - allowing pitch, velocity,

gate, probability and +/- swing to be modied at

a variety of rates, synced to a DAW host. Or with

innite note and parameter sequencer lanes, each

running at its own independent rate and number of steps, with complex tools and presets for modifying lane behaviour.

Amongst its primary features are:

+ High quality analogue modelled oscillators with unparalleled sound quality.

+ 151 Oscillator types with sub, noise and the ability to load/save unique single-cycle waveforms.

+ More than 400 presets designed by some of the world’s leading patch designers.

+ 95 global, unipolar and bipolar parameter sequencer lane presets.

+ Inventive parameter sequencer with unlimited lanes, each running at up to 27 different rates from 8/1 to 1/128.

+ Numerous oscillator modulation modes including Exponential FM (as seen in Roland’s Jupiter 8), Ring Modulation, Amplitude Modulation, Distortion Modulation and more.

+ 20 insert FX types, including delay, stereo width,

reverb, chorus, anger, phaser, barber-pole phaser,

compression and decimator.

+ Many LFO waveshapes including ‘broken saw’ and trapezoid, running freely or at 27 different rates.

ZONE USER MANUAL

Feature Overview

+ Multiple lter types (comb, notch, phaser, circuit-bent, ‘acid’) with up to 48dB/octave roll-off.

+ Extensive modulation matrix with 8 slots and numer ous sources.

+ Chord, hold note (for easy sound design editing) and unison mode with up to 7 voice spread.

+ Fully assignable macro controls for easy perfor mance control.

+ Clearly laid out, scalable GUI designed for ease-of use with one page editing.

Getting to know Zone

The easiest way to get acquainted with Zone is by simply loading up a preset and jamming. After all isn’t that how all instruments should be learned?

We have taken great care to ensure all controls remain exposed on one screen.

Below is an overview of Zone’s user interface.

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The lettered points show the basic operational features described:

a) Playback Modes

Click on the various playback mode LEDs to activate them.

HOST SYNC - Synchronises the parameter sequence lanes, LFO speeds and available insert effects types to your host DAW tempo when lit.

HOLD NOTE - Applies an innite sustain to the tone

generated for easy, ‘hands free’ editing. Ideal for complex sound design operation.

CHORD MODE - Remembers the currently played or held simultaneous note pattern for storage into chord mode. Play a chord and click the LED to assign that chord to a single note. Click the LED again to reset the mode to normal.

Getting to know Zone

ZONE USER MANUAL 10

b) Operation Menus

TEMPO - When not Host Sync’ed to DAW, will

display the tempo in BPM at which Zone’s internal clock will run. This value can be adjusted from 20.0

- 999.0. When Sync’ed to your DAW, this value will still display the tempo but not be illuminated.

SEQ MODE - Zone operates in four distinct modes. This menu selects those modes as follows:

OFF - The note and parameter sequencers are not active. Zone will play as a ‘regular’ synthesiser, with all controls active but the sequencer window blank.

PARAM - The parameter sequencer mode is active, with lanes ready for click-and-drag assignment. If a factory preset is loaded, the assigned parameter sequencer lanes can be activated or deactivated by selecting or deselecting this mode.

NOTE - The note sequencer mode is active. If a default blank preset is selected - pitch, velocity and gate lanes will appear, ready for programming. If a

factory preset is loaded, the programmed note sequencer lanes can be activated or deactivated by selecting or deselecting this mode.

PRM&NOTE - Both parameter sequencer and note lanes are active. Note lanes are coloured orange and parameter lanes blue. All lanes are synced by default.

VOICE MODE - Selects Zone’s polyphony as follows:

MONO - Monophonic operation where pitch glide is

performed between all events - envelopes and LFOs are re-triggered for all events.

LEGATO - Monophonic operation where pitch glide is performed only between legato notes (where a new note is pressed while previous still held) - envelopes and LFOs are re-triggered only on standalone note events, and not for legato notes.

POLY 2,6,12,18 - Polyphonic operation with respective maximum number of voices in playback.

Getting to know Zone

TRANSPOSE - Transposes the tone generated by

Zone +/- 48 semitones.

TUNE - Adjusts the global tuning of the tone generated by Zone in Hz.

GLIDE - Adjusts the portamento slide of the tone when in MONO or LEGATO modes.

ZONE USER MANUAL 11

d) Preset Browser

c) Unison Mode

UNISON - This knob adjusts the relative tuning of the

voices played in unison.

VOICES - Sets the number of voices to be played, with minor discrepancies in tuning, in unison from 1 - 7.

(Please note when set to 1 voice, the UNISON knob is ‘greyed’ out and not operational).

SPREAD - Adjusts the stereo spread of the voices to be played in unison.

RESET - Clicking the RESET LED initialises the patch worked on by resetting all controls, including the clearing of parameter lanes, to their default position.

SOUND PRESET - Clicking inside the SOUND PRESET bar launches the preset browser. Presets are divided by banks on the left and preset selections on the right hand browser. Selections can be browsed using the scrollbar on the right or re-ordered using the white arrow icon at the top of the right hand menu.

To save a new preset click on SAVE AS NEW. The preset will appear in the USER menu and be located at -

MAC:

HD/Library/Application Support/Audiaire/Zone/ Presets/User

Getting to know Zone

(Please note Library folder may be hidden. To access, click on Finder and select the Go menu. Hold [alt] and Library location will appear under the Go menu.

ZONE USER MANUAL 12

patches, you can simply write new folders by adding to the Presets folder in which User and the other banks are located.

PC:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Audiaire\ Zone\Presets\User

To revert to default preset click on LOAD DEFAULT.

USER BANK - Within the USER bank, clicking on the icon below will open a menu allowing OVERWRITE, RENAME, DELETE and SHOW ON DISK options.

OVERWRITE - On selecting a patch, clicking the icon will overwrite that patch with the present tone settings.

RENAME - Opens a cursor box to rename the patch clicked on.

DELETE - Permanently deletes a selected user patch from memory. *Please note there is currently no UNDO function.

SHOW ON DISK - Shows the location of the patch on your local drive. Should you wish to add folders or directories within Zone for easy storage of your

e) Oscillator Section

This section has two identical oscillators with the following controls:

(i) Main Oscillator

LEVEL - Adjusts the relative volume of each oscillator.

Clicking the LED at the top switches the oscillator on or off.

TUNE - Adjusts coarse tuning of the oscillator +/- 24 semitones.

FINE - Adjusts ne tuning of the oscillator +/- 50 cents.

Getting to know Zone

PAN - Adjusts the panning of the oscillator from

Left to Right.

WAVEFORM DISPLAY - Click to select and display the waveform of the current oscillator.

Waveforms can be chosen by:

ZONE USER MANUAL 13

of the nest instruments in the world.

MODULAR - Waveforms custom created using classic modular synthesisers.

VOCAL - Waveforms sampled from speech synthesisers and bespoke vocal recordings.

1. Clicking in the centre of the display to reveal a menu showing all available selections.

2. Clicking and dragging up and down on the display to cycle back and forth through selections.

3. Clicking to the left or right of the display to reveal arrow icons.

4. Using key modiers -

[alt and click] to revert to a default SINE waveform [cmd and click] to randomise a selection. *CTRL and click on PC

Waveforms are displayed according to the following menus:

CLASSIC - Standard analogue modelled waveforms.

The following banks contain single cycle waveforms sampled and processed specically for Zone:

BASS, LEAD, SYNTH - Waveforms created on and

sampled from the world’s nest analogue synths.

FX - Waveforms derived from an expertly recorded foley collection, custom made for Zone.

INSTRUMENT - Waveforms sampled from some

USER - Allows user to import custom made single

cycle waveforms*. Clicking SHOW ON DISK will reveal the directory in which waveforms are to be placed. Clicking RESCAN will reveal the waveforms in the directory.

Waveforms are stored at the following location:

MAC:

HD//Library/Application Support/Audiaire/Zone/ Wavetables/User

PC:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Audiaire\ Zone\Wavetables

*Zone will read WAV, AIFF, FLAC, OGG les at

44.1kHz and 48kHz at both 16-bit and 24-bit. The waveform should be exactly one ‘cycle’ in length and should exhibit a clean ‘zero crossing’. The original pitch of the waveform is unimportant as this will be scaled accordingly. Using cycles of notes around Middle C tends to give best results. DC offsetting and normalisation are also performed within Zone’s engine.

Getting to know Zone

SYNC - Each of Zone’s oscillators has an

independent built-in ‘hidden’ master oscillator that it is independently synchronised with when this LED is clicked.

SHAPE - Changes the pulse width of the selected

waveform, which modies its harmonic content and

timbre.

AMOUNT - adjusts the amount of detune between an oscillator and its ‘hidden’ master oscillator.

A note on ‘Analogue’ Oscillators:

Zone’s oscillator voices have different phases in respect to each other. For some voices (for example 2 sine waves) voice phases add up perfectly. But for other voices they can cancel out and this may cause audible variations in tone across the same note.

ZONE USER MANUAL 14

(ii) Sub Oscillator and Noise Generator

Zone has a dedicated sub-oscillator (with coarse tuning linked to OSCILLATOR 1) and noise generator.

Clicking the SUB and NOISE LEDs will switch between and display dedicated controls for both as follows:

SUB:

LEVEL - Adjusts the level of the sub-oscillator.

One way to cancel this effect is to reset the voice phases on a key re-trigger. In this way, there is perfect sync when both oscillators have no tuning/ detuning differences. The downside is that this will

not reect the state of real analogue synthesiser

circuitry. By clicking the ZONE logo and selecting the checkbox next to RESET OSC ON KEY RE-TRIGGER, this action can be toggled.

WAVEFORM - Select the sub waveform by clicking and dragging (up & down) the display or clicking

the display to reveal one of the ve oscillator types

(SINE, TRIANGLE, SAW, SQUARE, PULSE).

ON - Clicking this LED turns the sub-oscillator ON.

TRANSPOSE - Clicking on or clicking and dragging

(up & down) in this box will select the tuning of the sub-oscillator to either -1 OCTAVE or -2 OCTAVE.

Getting to know Zone

NOISE:

LEVEL - Adjusts the level of the noise generator.

NOISE TYPE* - Select the noise type by clicking

and dragging (up & down) the display or clicking to reveal one of the four noise types (WHITE, PINK, SHOT, VELVET).

DENSITY - Adjusts the spectral density of the noise output.

ZONE USER MANUAL 15

(iii) Envelope Generator (AMP ENVELOPE and MOD ENVELOPE)

Each envelope is accessed by clicking its relative (AMP or MOD) LED.

*Please note noise types are not adjusted according to their relative amplitude and sonic energy, therefore WHITE noise may be perceived as sonically louder than the other noise types.

The ATTACK (A), DECAY (D), SUSTAIN (S) and RELEASE (R) portions of the envelopes can be adjusted (in ms) by clicking and dragging the respective knobs. Please note that for shorter ATTACK and DECAY settings, audible clicks may occur in the audio. To eliminate these, click the A or D knob and enter a numerical value a fraction higher than that displayed.

The graphic display will reect the A/D/S/R

settings.

+ 34 hidden pages

Audiaire Zone User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual