Chicken Systems MV Kit Creator User Manual

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MV Kit Creator™

Version 1.5, Build 1

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MV Kit Creator™ Table Of Contents

MV Kit Creator™

Table Of Contents

Introduction.......................................

Basic Concepts...................................

Windows and Operation

Main Interface....................................

Main Screen......................................

Pads.................................................

Pad Contents.......................................

Partial/Patch Editor................................

Playback/Auditioning............................

Sound Database...................................

Sound Database Editor.........................

Common Operations

Working With Projects...........................

Importing Samples To Pads......................

Importing Recycle Files........................

Importing Akai MPC............................

Using The Database............................

Extracing .mv0 Files............................

Using the MV Viewer............................

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Menus

File...................................................

Function Buttons.................................

Pads.................................................

Tools................................................

Help...................................................

Other

Preferences.......................................

Tutorials............................................

Support

Troubleshooting...................................

FAQ...................................................

Bug Reports.......................................

Contacting Technical Support...................

Updating............................................

Credits..............................................

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MV Kit Creator™ Introduction

MV Kit Creator™

Introduction

MV Kit Creator™ is a Mac and Windows

application that creates and edits MV8000/8800 kits (Instruments), and manages your sounds and samples.

There are three versions: Pro, LE, and Free. MV Kit Creator Pro contains all the features described in this document. MV Kit Creator LE sports many of the Pro features but imposes several limitations, such as composing instruments and MV0 export, You can view the other features but you can’t take advantage of them. MV Kit Creator Free is purely for demonstration and cannot save anything.

Features include:

* Create new MV-8000 Series Patches (.mv0 les) or modify existing ones

* Easy-to-use drag-drop “Virtual MV” interface. Allows dropping any sample on a pad, from

the desktop/hard drive or included Sound Database * Operates independently of the actual MV-8000/8800 * Real-time auditioning with included audio streaming playback engine * Waveform display and Zone/Partial display

* Powerful integrated Sound Database with user-dened categories, keywords, and grouping

* Edit all Roland MV Patch, Partial and Sample parameters, plus full naming ability * Powerful Functions and Macros allow mapping samples with grace and ease * Playable via onscreen Pads or via MIDI * Macintosh and Windows compatible

This document assumes the Pro version in it’s writing. MV Kit Creator Pro and MV Kit Creator LE can be purchased at SamplerZone.com.

This document is synced to the MV Kit Creator™ version denoted on the cover of this document. It is a dynamic document and often is revised with every build of MV Kit Creator™.

In this document, the term “right-click” also refers to “control-click” on a Mac. Only “right-click” will be used. Similarly, “Preferences” is term for different optional parameters that can be set in the program; on the Mac you will see the word “Preferences”, but on Windows you will see “Options”. In this document, Preferences will be used. Graphics are all from the Mac, but look very similar to the Windows version.

Since the Roland MV regards the middle C key on a keyboard (MIDI note 60) as C4, by default MV Kit Creator™ shows the textual representation of MIDI note 60 as C4. This is the US representation. However, if you are more used to seeing C3 as middle C (like Kontakt or EXS24), you can change this in Preferences-General.

If you are a registered owner, you are qualied for free updates for the life of the program.

You can download these from your program using the Check for Update feature, or from the Chicken Systems Update Area.

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Basic Concepts

The fundamental goals of the MV Kit Creator are:

* Create custom drum kits, loops, and chromatic instruments for the MV8000/8800 * Maintain an organized database structure of percussive and chromatic sounds * Allow a more organized way of viewing MV-8000/8800 Instruments

* Allow ofine methods to handle and audition .mv0 les

* Reduce the natural duplication of MV8000/8800 samples due to the monolithic format

In this document, “MV-8000” will refer to both the Roland MV-8000 and the MV-8800.

.mv0 les used on both instruments are the

same.

MV Kit Creator™

The term “right-click” is used for both control clicking on the Mac and right clicking on both the Mac and Windows.

Also, most of the screenshots in this document are from the Mac - the Windows versions look very similar so this shouldn’t be an inconvenience.

Lastly, for brevity, the acronym MV Kit Creator™ will be used for MV Kit Creator.

Projects

When you start up MV Kit Creator™, you are always building a Project. (Don’t confuse this with an MV-8000 Project, which is a song and instrument setup on the MV itself.)

A Project is simply the equivalent of a MV-8000 Instrument, only it can access any WAVE or

AIFF le on your computer, or any sample inside a .mv0 le.

Projects can be saved on your disk as small les, since they reference external samples.

Important Concept: you are NEVER working with a .mv0 le in MV Kit Creator™. When you load a .mv0 le, you are loading it into a Project. Although a Project is mostly the equivalent of a .mv0 le, it is a Project and NOT a .mv0 le. When you click the menu File-Save, you are saving

a MV Kit Creator™ Project (.mv8porject).

What does this mean? It means that when you use MV Kit Creator™, feel comfortable working with Projects. When you want to output to .mv0, select Export to .mv0 under File.

Each Project has a name, which is printed in main screen at the top of the interface. You can rename it using Tools-Rename Project or right-click on the Project name itself.

For more information on Projects, go to the Project chapter in this document.

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MV Kit Creator™ Basic Concepts

Building Instruments

The purpose of a Project is to build an Instrument (that is, an .mv0 le) to use in your MV-

8000. You use the Pads on the Main Interface to arrange samples in the fashion you want them to appear.

You can import samples using a variety of methods - dragging samples from outside or inside

your application, using the database, using right-click menus, or importing an entire .mv0 le.

The Sound Database in particular is well integrated into MV Kit Creator™ and offers an excellent way to organize and build your Instruments.

For more information on importing samples to build Instruments, go to the Importing Samples To Pads chapter in this document. For more information on the Sound Database, go to the Sound Database Editor chapter in this document.

Playing Back Projects/Instruments

MV Kit Creator™ comes with an integrated multisample streaming playback engine. “Streaming” means that it does not rely wholly on loading samples into memory like the MV-8000 does, but plays the sample back from the disk as needed. This is very handy as it reduces load time to nothing, and you are more able to build and work with instruments without the engine trying to “keep up”.

This is the rst generation of the streaming engine, and as a result simply plays back

the samples and reproduces the tuning, looping, level, and playback attributes. Realtime parameters such as Envelopes, LFO’s, Filtering, and similar partial parameters will not be

reected when playing the pads via MIDI or by clicking on the Pads. The streaming playback

engine has not been developed to that point yet, although we are working toward it and will be implemented in later versions of this software.

For more information on Playback, go to the Playback/Auditioning chapter in this document.

Editing Partial and Patch Parameters

The MV-8000 has a full complement of parameters that affect your sounds, and the MV Kit Creator™ is fully able to edit these parameters. For more information on editing Partials, Patches, and other parameters, go to the Partial/Patch Editor in this document.

Saving MV-8000 .mv0 Files for use in the MV-8000

When you are all done and happy with your Project, it should be time to export it to a .mv0 le to use in your MV-8000. Use File-Export to .mv0 to create a new .mv0 le from your Project.

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Main Interface

MV Kit Creator™

Main Interface

Look familiar? Looks like your MV-8000? It is one!

Getting some caveats over with, this type of interface is nice to look at but is generally

inefcient because of large amounts of space

unused and buttons we do not use. But, it is what it is and it’s nice to look at.

The Main Screen is at the top of the screen. This includes the Zones and several important parameters. You can drop samples on each Zone and right-clicking and clicking each Zone exposes varies functions. Solo and Mute labels allow you to solo and mute

specic Zones. Indicators are to the far left

that show you when the Zone is played via the Pad or via MIDI.

The Function Buttons reside below this, allowing access to ve common windows (Pad Contents,

Partial/Patch Editor, two Sound Database views, and Preferences) to appear.

Eight Sliders appear below this. They do... nothing. But they slide and you can have fun with them on days when you have nothing else better to do. Maybe one day we’ll hook them up to... something.

Below this to the left are the Pads, separated into 6 Pad Banks. You can switch the Pad Banks by selecting the proper button on the left.

Clicking on the Pads plays whatever is programmed into them. Right-clicking on a Pad exposes several pertinent functions.

To the right of the Pads is the Graphical Wave Viewer. This shows the current sample being played, or if none are played, it just shows the screen contents as they exist on the MV-8000 itself. Since it is understood that you can play several samples at once in MV Kit Creator™, this simply shows the last one in the chain that was played. If you are playing MV Kit Creator™ via MIDI, you might consider turning this viewer off in Preferences.

The Load button above the Pads reloads the current state of all the PadBanks into the internal player. When importing individual samples MV Kit Creator may not update the player, so clicking Load is a “free” thing to do and always completely updates the player so it is playing accurately.

Most of the time, when you load a .mvo le or a .mv8project, the player is updated.

There is also a MIDI Channel control and a Transpose control. You can change the reception MIDI Channel by clicking on the MIDI Channel number. For Transpose, lower it by a semitone by clicking on the <- button and raise it by clicking the -> button. Hold down SHIFT increments or decrements by an octave, and you can reset it to 0 by clicking on the Transpose amount number.

Lastly, there is a VIEWER button, which displays the MV Viewer dialog.

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MV Kit Creator™ Main Screen

Main Screen

The Main Screen shows the current Project Name, what Pad is currently selected and showing, and the contents of each Zone.

Each Zone has the following information:

* A MIDI or Pad-Play indicator. This shows when the pad is stuck and released, via MIDI or via clicking it on the interface. * A Solo/Mute function. Clicking the S solos the Zone and mutes the rest. Clicking the M mutes or unmutes the Zone. * The name of the sample assigned to that Zone. “<empty>” means no sample is assigned to that Zone. Clicking on this area enables you to choose another sample (WAVE or AIFF) to occupy this area. Right-Clicking allows importing or deleting of that Zone. * LoVel, HiVel, and Volume from left to right. Vels are 0-127, Volume is -96db to +12db.

The ve function labels on the bottom are for the ve Function Buttons below them.

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Pads

MV Kit Creator™

Pads

Just like the MV-8000, MV Kit Creator™ has 6 Pad Banks of 16 Pads each. Each PadBank corresponds to 16 consecutive keys on a keyboard, starting with A0 (MIDI note 21, MV Kit Creator™ regards middle C as C2). When clicking on a Pad (or accessing it via MIDI), the basic setup of that Pad appears on the Main Screen. This includes the sample assigned to each of the 4 Zones, the velocity values, and the volume.

When you click on a Pad, it becomes the Current Selected Pad. It is on this pad that you perform operations on (with the exception of a drop from an external source or from the database).

There several different ways of assigning samples to Pads:

* Drop sample les from outside the application onto a Pad.

* Drop samples from the Sound Database or Sound Database Editor onto a Pad. * Right-click on a Pad and choose Import Sample..., from there you choose which Zone you are importing to, and then you choose Browse... or a sound from the Database. * Click on a Zone on the Main screen

Each Pad can hold it’s own set of Partial parameters.

Edit Partial...

Clicking this right-click option displays the Partial/Patch Editor page, and allows you to edit the Partial assigned to that Pad.

Import Sample

Import any samples into one of the 4 Zones of the Pad. You can Browse for a samples, or choose one that is already in your Sound Database.

Delete Sample

Clear one of the Zones of the sample assignment. Note: this does not delete the sample le!

(Thankfully.)

Reset Velocities

In Preferences - General, there are 4 Velocity modes. Using this right-click option automatically sets the Zones to the selected Velocity Mode.

MV Kit Creator™ LE Limitations: You can import samples using Browse... and

by dropping samples from outside the interface, but you cannot import from

your database. You can only play a Pad by clicking on it; MIDI is disabled.

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MV Kit Creator™ Pad Contents

Pad Contents

The Pad Contents dialog allows you to view the status of all the Pads with one look. You can display this screen by hitting Ctl-F1 on the Main Interface, or by clicking on the Menu-Functions-Pad Contents menu.

On Mac, this appears as a Drawer window on the right side of the interface. You can close it by hitting F1 again, or by clicking on the Close icon on the far right side of the dialog.

On Windows, this appears as a oating

window. You can close it by hitting Ctl-F1 again, or clicking on the Close icon.

Selecting one of the nodes selects the appropriate Pad.

The Zones list the current Velocity setting and the Root Key.

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Patch/Partial Editor

MV Kit Creator™

Partial/Patch Editor

Patch

This page matches the Patch Editor page in the MV-8000. Parameters are editable with the knob or the

text eld below the knob.

Patch Control

This page matches the Control page in the MV-8000. Parameters are editable with the knob or the

text eld below the knob. For the

grid, simply click on the desired parameter and type in the correct value. Valid values are -63 to +63.

Partial General

This page matches the Partial General page in the MV-8000. Parameters are editable with the

knob or the text eld below the

knob.

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MV Kit Creator™ Patch/Partial Editor

SMT

This page is similar to the SMT page in the MV-8000.

You can replace the samples by rightclicking on the pulldown menu under the Enabled checkbox on each Zone. Parameters are editable with the knob

or the text eld below the knob. The

Velocity Graph is editable via the

mouse and the text elds to the right

of them.

Amp

This page matches the Amp page, under Partial Edit, in the MV-8000.

The Envelope Graph is editable via the

mouse and the text elds to the right

of it. Parameters are editable with the

knob or the text eld below the knob.

Filter

This page matches the Filter page, under Partial Edit, in the MV-8000.

The Envelope Graph is editable via the

mouse and the text elds to the right

of it. Parameters are editable with the

knob or the text eld below the knob.

LFO

This page matches the LFO page, under Partial Edit, in the MV-8000. Parameters are editable with the knob

or the text eld below the knob.

Please remember that the many LFO parameters are related to the Patch Control page parameters.

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MV Kit Creator™Playback/Auditioning

Playback/Auditioning

MV Kit Creator™ comes with an integrated multisample streaming playback engine.

You can playback your Project by clicking on a Pad or by playing MV Kit Creator™ from an external controller keyboard/padbank. MIDI and Audio controls are available in the Preferences dialog.

MV Kit Creator™ comes with an integrated multisample playback engine. You can playback your Project by clicking on a Pad or by playing MV Kit Creator™ from an external controller keyboard/padbank. MIDI and Audio controls are available in the Preferences Audio/MIDI dialog.

you load a .mvo le or a .mv8project, the player is updated.

MV Kit Creator™ LE Limitations: MIDI playback is disabled; you can only play

sounds by clicking on the Pads on the Main Interface.

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MV Kit Creator™ Sound Database

Sound Database

The Sound Database allows you to view items in your database, and drag items out of the window into the Pads on the Main Interface.

The pulldown menu at the top allows you to choose the preset areas, or all the entries.

The text area below allows you to include

keywords in your ltering.

The list has four columns:

* Name: the name of the sample

* FileName: the le name the sample data

comes from. * Index: In the case of .mv0-based

samples, this is the index within the le.

* Operations: you can Play and Stop that

certain le.

The Sound DataBase Editor allows you to manipulate your Database in more powerful ways.

For more specic information on how to use

the Sound Database, see the article Using Your Sound Database.

MV Kit Creator LE Limitations: You can view your database, but you cannot use it to import samples into your current Project.

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MV Kit Creator™Sound Database Editor

Sound Database Editor

The Sound Database Editor allows you to add and delete items from your database. You can also form Lookups, which are specialized queries based

on specic criteria. You can also drag

samples out of this screen too, just like the Simple Interface.

The top half enables you to create your own Lookups. (Note: this is not

available in this version of MV Kit Creator™.)

The bottom half of this interface shows the different preset you can view, plus additional information on each sample. You can also audition each sample from this screen.

For more specic information on how to use the Sound Database Editor, see the article Using

Your Sound Database.

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MV Kit Creator™ Working With Projects

Working With Projects

In MV Kit Creator™, you are always working with a Project.

An MV Kit Creator™ Project is made up of three distinguishable elements:

* A Name, such as “My MV Kit Creator™ Project”. Names can be of any length and

character set. HOWEVER, what gets written into a .mv0 is limited to 12 characters and the

limited ASCii set. * A set of Patch Parameters that apply to all Pads * A set of 96 Pads divided into 6 Pad Banks, just like the MV-8000. Each Pad has it’s own

Partial Parameter Set and can access up to 4 samples. These can be WAVE les, AIFF les,

or a sample that exists inside a .mv0 le.

Projects can be saved anywhere as .mv8project les for later work. .mv8project les are small since they do not contain samples, like .mv0 les, they only reference other les.

Since the MV-8000 is marketed as being a “groove box”, we assume that people use the Roland MV-8000 to playback drums, percussion, and loop elements. That’s probably true, but the MV8000 is capable of much more then that; it can be used to program full-featured Chromatic instruments such as a piano, lead trumpet, solo violin, or other multisampled chromatic sources. In fact, the MV-8000 resembles very closely the old Roland S-7x sampler, which was used on countless movies, commercials, and TV shows throughout the 1990’s.

Still, MV Kit Creator™ is setup more to encourage a drum/perc/loop paradigm. But that shouldn’t stop you from making Chromatic instrument using MV Kit Creator™. Future versions will encourage this use more.

With that in mind, lets go over the last two elements of the three elements that make up a

Project. We will NOT try to repeat what is in the MV-8000 manual about specic parameters.

Patch Parameters

These parameters affect all Pads, and all Zones with those pads. These include the Modulation Matrix and overall tuning, level, and panning parameters. Please remember that there are tuning, panning, and tuning parameters for every level - Patch, Partial, and Zone. These are summed up to affect the original sample being played. Please note that the Key-Follow (KF) in the Zones turns off the effect the keyboard (or Pad placement) has on the tuning of the sample being played, and the Offsets on the Patch level affect every corresponding parameter below it.

Partial Parameters

Each Pad has a set of Partial Parameters. Each Zone in the Pad shares these parameters, which

include level, panning, tuning, ltering, one LFO, and two Envelopes, one for the lter and one for the amplier section. Each Partial contains 4 Zones, which are specically addressed in the

SMT (Sample Mix Table). Each Zone has level, tuning, panning, and other parameters that only apply to the sample it references.

You can edit these parameters in the Partial/Patch Editor. Please remember that except for

tuning, panning, and looping, these parameters will not be reected when playing the pads via

MIDI or by clicking on the Pads. The streaming playback engine is has not been developed to that point yet, although we are working toward it.

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MV Kit Creator™Importing Samples To Pads

Importing Samples To Pads

The most operation of the MV Kit Creator is importing Samples from various locations to the Pads. There are many ways of doing this:

* You can drag a sample le from outside

the interface and drop it on a Pad * You can drag a sample listing from the

Sound Database (either the Simple

Interface or the Sound Database Editor)

and drop it on a Pad. * You can right-click on a Pad or on a Zone

in the Main Screen and get a Import

menu. From there you can Browse for a sample, or choose a listing from the Database, as

they will be listed in a series of pull-down menus.

Dragging Samples To Pads

When you drag a sample onto a Pad, the Pad will light up and show you which Zone that dragged Sample will go in via a small red rectangle. Remember, a Pad can access up to 4 samples and it’s up to you how those samples are played. Each Zone can be set to play to a certain velocity range (that is, how hard you hit the Pad or via MIDI).

Via Preferences-General, you can set up if the Zones are “lined up” on the Pad up-down, downup, left-right, or right-left, or simply all layered.

Via Preferences-Pad, you can set up different ways of splitting up the Zones to reect different

velocity splits.

When you drop the sample, the Main Screen will be updated with the new sample and will play on that Pad.

Using Right-Click Import Menus

If you right-click on a Pad, you will get a Import menu for every Zone. Viewing the sub-menu under each shows Browse.. and the entry points of the Sound Database. Selecting Browse... opens a Open dialog allowing you to choose an external WAVE or AIFF to import. (Note you cannot import .mv0-samples this way.)

Importing .mv0-based Samples

Once you’ve worked with MV Kit Creator for awhile, many of your samples will reside in .mv0

les rather then existing in external WAVE or AIFF les. You can access these les in two ways: via the Sound Database or by simply loading in a .mv0 le into the current Project.

However, remember that once samples are in .mv0 format, they are 16-bit only; any 24-bit resolution will be lost. Sample Rates are retained.

MV Kit Creator LE Limitations: You can import samples using Browse... and

by dropping samples from outside the interface, but you cannot import from

your database.

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Importing Recycle FilesMV Kit Creator™

Importing Recycle Files

MV Kit Creator™ can import Propellerheads Recycle les into a Project.

Recycle les are les with the extension .rex, .rcy, and .rx2. They can be of any bitrate, version,

or sample rate.

You can do this by dropping one or more on a Pad, or by selecting Import... when right-clicking a Pad.

There are 3 main options when importing a Recycle le; Loop only, Slices only, and

Loop+Slices.

Loop

When choosing Loop, you get the entire sample at one of 3 Tempos - the original Tempo of the

Recycle le (which is what it estimates when it imports the sample data itself), the Preview Tempo (a Tempo written into the Recycle le by the Recycle editor to set a user-dened

Tempo), or a Tempo listed within Preferences itself.

The Loop will be extracted and assigned to the Pad that you dropped or selected.

Slices

When choosing Slices, the individual slices will be extracted from the Recycle le and mapped

starting on the Pad you selected or dropped on. If there are more slices than ascending Pads, it will either not assign those slices, wrap around, or use multiple Zones, depending on your choice in Preferences.

Loop+Slices

This is a combination of both methods. The Loop will be mapped on the Pad you dropped on; the Slices mapped to the next pads.

Repository for Extracted Recycle waves

The importing results in WAVE les being created so MV Kit Creator can access them quickly for

the Project, allow full access to the sample data, and to make them ready for when you export

into a .mv0. Those WAVE les are stored in the following folder:

Mac

/Users/[you]/Library/Application Support/Chicken Systems/MV Kit Creator/Recycle File Repository

Windows 7/Vista

%SYSTEMDRIVE%/Users/[you]/AppData/Roaming/Chicken Systems/MV Kit Creator/Recycle File Repository

Windows 7/Vista

%SYSTEMDRIVE%/Documents and Settings/[you]/Application Data/Chicken Systems/MV Kit Creator/Recycle File Repository

Each Recycle le gets it’s own folder. If you attempt to import the same Recycle folder, it may not import it but use the existing les already imported. The exception is if you are importing it a different way; then it will use the same folder but create different les.

MV Kit Creator™ LE Limitations: Not included.

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MV Kit Creator™Importing Akai MPC Programs and Samples

Importing Akai MPC Programs and Samples

MV Kit Creator™ can import most computer-stored MPC Programs or Samples into a Project.

Note: MV Kit Creator™ cannot read proprietary Akai MPC-60/3000/2000 CD’s, ZipDrives, or

hard drives. It can only read les stored on computer-recognized hard drives. MPC support also does not include MPC-4000 .akp les, which are actually Akai S-5000 les. To convert those formats into MV-8000 format (.mv0), please use Chicken Systems Translator product.

An Akai MPC program has the extension .pgm, or if it’s a MPC-5000 program, it’s either a .50s (Drum Program) or a .50k (Keygroup Program). It can be imported AS a Project, or into an existing Project. Most of the time you will import MPC programs AS a Project, since it usually represents what we would consider a whole Kit.

Use File-Import... to import MPC programs.

Older Akai MPC’s used a sample format called .snd. MV Kit Creator now supports importing these in singly, and also supports them in the Sound Database.

MV Kit Creator™ LE Limitations: Not included.

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MV Kit Creator™ Using The Database

Using The Database

The powerful Sound Database lists all your entered samples in a list. It can contain WAVE, AIFF, or .mvo-based Samples of any bitrate, samplerate, or length.

There is only one Database for you to use. In future versions there will be the ability to have multiple Databases.

You can access the Database with the Sound Database Simple Interface, the Sound Database Editor, or via any Import context menu.

Each Sample File, or sample within a .mv0 le, can only

have one listing.

There are two main categories, Drum/Percussion and Chromatic. Most sounds t into one or the other category. Chromatic are sounds that are pitched and rise in pitch up and down the “keyboard”. Drums/ Percussion are “non-pitched” sounds that usually play on one key.

(For the purists out there, all sounds are “pitched” to some degree, but we are using the term in the sense of playing the sound in equal-tempered increments.)

Each of these two categories have several xed sub-

categories. You can view one of these sub-categories, or you can choose to look at ALL in a certain category. Or, there is an ALL listing where you can simply see all your samples without breaking them down.

Each column gives you this information:

* Name: This is the name of the sample. * File Name: This is the le name of the sample.

This can be different then Name because you can

access named samples within a .mv0. * Index: Only regards .mvo-based samples, this is the Index it is in within the .mv0 le * Category: Drums/Percussion or Chromatic * Sub-Category: A sub-category. * Operations: A PLAY and STOP button.

Note that you can change what category/subcategory your listing is led under by selecting

another cat/subcat in the listing. Clicking on the headers sorts according to each column.

Importing

You can add to your database by right-clicking on the Treeview to the left, on a category or

sub-category. You can choose Add File or Add Folder. Add File simply adds a single le to your

database, in the category/subcategory you right clicked on. Add Folder will add all samples in that folder (and under it as well) to your database.

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Extracting Samples from .mv0 Files

MV Kit Creator™

Extracting Samples from .mv0 Files

MV Kit Creator™ offers a handy utility to extract samples from any .mv0 le. Click on the

Tools menu and select Extract Samples from .mv0. This brings up the Extract dialog, where you can specify the location where the samples will go, what format (WAVE, AIFF, CAF - with compression options (Mac only)), and bitrate.

Looping information is NOT included with the samples in a .mv0 le, they are included with the

Zones in the Partials. This is a good thing because you can have different loop settings on the same sample. This isn’t usual, but it’s handy. Regarding extracting, the Extract dialog includes looping options. It lists all loop settings from the Zone, plus Full Loop and No Loop if they weren’t set. The most common setting will be highlighted and defaulted so you know what it is.

MV Kit Creator™ LE Limitations: Not included.

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Using the MV ViewerMV Kit Creator™

Using the MV Viewer

Since MV Kit Creator™ is primarily concerned with CREATING .mv0 les, viewing the innards of

a .mv0 is an auxiliary function. Nevertheless, the MV Viewer is very handy on viewing a .mv0

le and seeing exactly what it’s capable of.

The MV Viewer has four areas; the Pad Area, the Data Area, the Keyboard Area, and the Waveform Area. Each can be displayed or hidden.

Basically when you select

a .mv0 le, you see the

Partials listed in the Path, and when you select the Partial you see the Samples listed in that partial. You see the key ranges for each Partial. You can select the Partial by clicking on one of the pads; and like the MV, it has 6 Pad Banks.

Pad Area Click on one of these to see it’s contents

Data Area These are the lists for the Partials, Samples, and other Data.

Keyboard Area This shows in color what keyranges are taken up. Click on any note and the proper Partial will be selected in the list.

Waveform Area When you select a Sample, the waveform shows up here.

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Menus - File

Note: Close, Revert To Saved, and Show Properties are not implemented yet.

Open

Displays a common Open dialog where you can open a

previously saved Project or a .mv0 le. Opening a .mv0 le erases the current Project starts a new Project with the information that exists in the .mv0 le being loaded.

Open Recent

A list of previously selected and saved Projects and .mv0

les.

Save

Saves the current Project, overwriting any previous information.

Save As...

Saves the current Project, allowing you to write it anywhere.

MV Kit Creator™

Export to .mv0

Exports the current Project into a .mv0 le, written wherever you choose.

Clear Project

Clears the current Project, retaining the Name put starting with a default set of Patch parameters and initialized Pads.

Rename Project

Makes a TextBox eld appear in the Main Screen, allowing you to rename the Project.

Exit

Quits the whole mess.

Page 24

MV Kit Creator™ Menus - Function Buttons

Menus - Function Buttons

These Functions are also accessible via the Function Buttons on the Main Interface on the bottom of the Main Screen.

Pad Contents

This opens the Pad Contents window. (Clicking the F1 Function Button causes it to close.) Note: this is set to Ctl-F1 on Windows, since F1 is commonly used to open the Help File.

Partial/Patch Editor

This opens the Partial/Pad Editor of the currently selected Pad.

Sound Database

This opens the Sound Database Simple Interface. (Clicking the F3 Function Button causes it to close.)

Sound Database Editor

This opens the Sound Database Editor. (Clicking the F4 Function Button causes it to close.)

Preferences

This opens the Preferences dialog.

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MV Kit Creator™Menus - Pads

Menus - Pads

These Functions are also accessible via the Function Buttons on the Main Interface on the bottom of the Main Screen.

Pad Contents

This opens the Pad Contents window. (Clicking the F1 Function Button causes it to close.) Note: this is set to Ctl-F1 on Windows, since F1 is commonly used to open the Help File.

Partial/Patch Editor

This opens the Partial/Pad Editor of the currently selected Pad.

Sound Database

This opens the Sound Database Simple Interface. (Clicking the F3 Function Button causes it to close.)

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Menus - Tools

Remove All Mutes

Removes all the Mutes enabled in the Main Interface.

Extract WAVE from .mv0

This functions allows you to choose a .mv0 and extract the samples out of it. Currently it only supports extracting to

WAVE as-is, and will be improved in later versions of this software.

Menus - ToolsMV Kit Creator™

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Menus - Help

Hey, OSX puts this there automatically. We really don’t know what it is.

Contents

Displays the Help File; that is the manual. Hey, READ IT!!! =)

Bug Reports

Opens a browser window (your default browser) and routes it to the Chicken Systems Bug Reports page for MV Kit Creator™.

MV Kit Creator™ Home Page

Opens a browser window (your default browser) and routes it to the MV Kit Creator™ Home Page (the product page) at the Chicken Systems web site.

MV Kit Creator™Menus - Help

Check For Updates

Connects to the Internet and checks the version/build number of the running application against the latest build available from the Chicken Systems web site. This is a manual way of doing what MV Kit Creator™ automatically does when the program is started.

Online Documentation Opens a browser window (your default browser) and routes it to the Chicken Systems MV Kit Creator™ Online Documentation. Sometimes this has more up to date information then your

current applications Help File. If you are running the latest version, your Help File should be an exact replica of the Online Documentation.

Support::Forum Opens a browser window (your default browser) and routes it to the SamplerZone.com MV Kit Creator™ forum. Check here for a larger FAQ, and use the forum to look for answers that other

people may have come across, or post a comment about the program on the forum.

Support::Chat

Opens a browser window (your default browser) and routes it to a special Chat service where you can immediately talk to a Chicken Systems support engineer. This is monitored by Chicken Systems during business hours and often at night when the second shift is doing their cleanup work. If there is no one available, you can leave a message.

Support::Email

Allows you to send a direct email to a Chicken Systems support engineer.

Support::Movies

Opens a browser window (your default browser) and routes it to the Chicken Systems Movie area, specically to the MV Kit Creator™ section. You can watch all the MV Kit Creator™ product videos here.

About MV Kit Creator™

Shows the Splash Screen, which shows you your registration information and the current version number you are using.

Page 28

MV Kit Creator™ Preferences

Preferences

The Preferences dialog is viewed by clicking on (Windows) Tools-Preferences top menu, or (Mac) App Menu-Preferences.

For each Preference, hovering the mouse over the title or checkbox/item displays a Tool Tip that describes the functionality of that particular Preference.

General Tab

Play Pad Velocity

This determines where on the Pad a “zone” lies by where you drop on the pad, or click the pad to play it.

Show Wave Display

Checking this causes the Wave Display to show on the Main Interface when you play a Pad, via MIDI or by clicking on it.

Show Progress Pointer

When a wave plays, a progress pointer will travel across it. Unchecking this removes the Progress Pointer.

Extract Samples As...

For the Export WAVES From .MV0 fucntion; determines if the output is WAVE, AIFF, CAF (Core Audio Format), or SND (old-style MPC format).

Middle C Displays As:

On some samplers/keyboards, middle C is dened as C4 (usually U.S.) while others it is C3. The

MV-8000 shows it as C3, and by default this is what is shown throughout the program through any Note Number (i.e. A#5, E1, etc.) However, you may feel comfortable seeing it as C4. This control sets the display of Note Numbers program-wide.

Check for Updates

Checking this enables the program to automatically check for updates from the Chicken Systems web site upon startup. This can always be done manually from the Check for Updates menu option under Help.

Create Folder when extracting samples from .MV0

If you extract the samples out of a .mv0 le, this will write a folder with the same name as the .mv0 le and write the samples in there.

Expand Pad Contents when Opening

This pulls out the Pad Contents drawer when you open any type of le.

Show Velocity Meter

This enables the red Velocity meter, next to the Pads, to respond on strikes. The associated parameters determine the behavior of the display.

On .MV0 File Export

These options determine the resulting state of the Project after you export a .MV0 le. You may

Page 29

MV Kit Creator™Preferences - Pads

have samples that previously referenced themselves to external WAVE les or others to the new samples contained in the created .MV0 le.

Pads Tab

Since a Pad can hold up to 4 samples, you may want to split them via velocity, or layer the sounds, or (rarely) a combination of both.

Velocity Split Type

MV Kit Creator™ provides 4 methods of automatically splitting up your samples on Pad:

* Separated Linear: These are

big words for a simple concept.

This simply splits your samples

in equal sizes over the entire

velocity range. * Velocity Curve: Using the

slider on the right, you can split

your samples in a “curved” way

as to favor softer or harder

approaches. * Manual: Input your own custom values.

* None: Everything is layered.

LoVel, HiVel

These either show your velocities, or in the case of Manual, allow you to ll in your own.

Velocity Curve

Enabled when “Use Velocity Curve” is selected under Vel Split Type. Moving the sliders changes the numbers within the LoVel-HiVel boxes.

Import Tab

The samples that you import into your Project may have some embedded information in them

that you may want to use: Root Key, Tunings, or Loop information. The rst three checkboxes

determine which you want to use.

Apply One Shot

Since the MV8000 is primarily a drum/percussion player (although it doesn’t have to be), many times you want the incoming sample to be programmed in it’s Partial to play as One Shot (meaning, once you play it, it plays all the way to the end without regard to pad/key release). Checking this makes sure One Shot is applied. (Note: if One Shot is applied, loops are ALWAYS turned off.)

Page 30

MV Kit Creator™ Preferences - Import Recycle

Dropped Samples go to Next Available Zone

Shows the Properties of the Output you selected on the left.

Import ACID and AppleLoops As Such

ACID les and AppleLoops are the same as Recycle les - one or two channels of audio, along with a set of markers to dene where the transients start, so a slice player can play them back

at different tempos without changing the pitch.

MV Kit Creator now imports slice formats - Recycle, as well as ACID and AppleLoops.

Unfortunately, ACID les use the .wav extension and AppleLoops most often use the .aif or .aiff extension, so they are disguised as WAVE/AIFF les. MV Kit Creator assumes these les

are WAVE/AIFF UNLESS this is checked. When checked, MV Kit Creator imports ACID and

AppleLoops like it imports Recycle les.

Mapping

These dene how imported samples are placed in your Project, start from which Pad gets the

assignment, how they get spread out (chromatically or on only black or white “keys”), and what range handles the import.

Recycle Import Tab

(Note: this also applies to ACID les

and AppleLoops.)

Export Style

(Recycle only) This is a little technical, but thsi relates to the Recycle internal methods of extracting slices. If you get “clicks” on the start of certain slices, try the other method.

Method

Loop Only simply extracts the

entire loops as one le, BASED ON

THE TEMPO FUNCTION. Slices Only extracts the slices from the lowest to the highest, and Loop and Slices does both - the loop precedes the slices.

Tempo

This involves when you extract the entire loop. Use Original Tempo extracts the sample data as-is. Use Preview Tempo applies to Recycle only and it pays attention to the Preview Tempo parameter inside the Recycle le. Use Custom Tempo allows you to customize the tempo so the extracted loop will be that tempo.

Slice File Repository

This is the area on your system where the extract loops or slices will be stored. They are needed post-use because your Projects need them for later usage, or you may want them for

other reasons. (You do not need them if your goal is to simply create .MV0 les in the same

session.)

Page 31

MV Kit Creator™Preferences - Data Processing

Data Processing Tab

To confuse the sample vs. loop issue further, you can import WAVE/AIFF les that have not

been beat detected (that is, the transients have not been calculated) and MV Kit Creator will detect those transients and import them like Recycle/ACID/AppleLoops.

First, let’s talk about what a “slice

le” is.

What Is A Slice File

A WAVE or AIFF le is simply a piece of audio data. And any “slice le”, such as a Recycle le, ACID le, AppleLoop, or Stylus RMX le, are

just pieces of audio data as well.

The only difference between a regular sample le and a slice le is that a slice le has markers written in a information chunk in the le. These markers are placed strategically where transients (sharp sounds) in the le start, so a player that reads slice les knows where the

slices are. This is how a Slice File can be played back at various tempos: the player plays back a slice at the position the tempo dictates. At faster tempos, the slices fade out to make way for the next slice; at slower tempos, there is a gap between the slices. (However, some players

articially add sample data to “plug the holes”. Also, good Slice Files are originally recorded at

the slowest tempo reasonably allowed, so they never have to be played back at a slower tempo than their “unity tempo”.)

To create a Slice File, one has to “slice” the audio into slices of energy (“beats”) so the playback engine plays it back in a way that makes rhythmic sense. This requires a beat detector.

Slice editors, most notably Recycle, but also ACID itself and the AppleLoop Utility that Apple

provides, have beat detection. They do 2 things: They beat-detect a sound le, plus they can play the slice les back at different tempos. They do this with the assistance of the detected markers. Once you have what you want, then you save into a slice le, where the audio stays constant but the markers are written in the le. So when a slice player reads the le, the slices

are the secret to it’s capability to play them back at any tempo.

MV Kit Creator’s Beat Detection

MV Kit Creator now has a Beat Detector, giving the ability to create Slice Files, for playback on slice engines like Stylus RMX or other. This can also be done in bulk, so you can take (say) 1000

WAVE les and convert them into 1000 slice les without having to do them one at a time in

(say) the Recycle application.

To convert one or more pieces of sample data to Slice File format, simply do it like you would

any other conversion. You can convert a folder of WAVE les, or another example would be to convert a Giga le full of drum beats - each sample becomes a Slice File.

It is vitally important to pay attention to the Beat Detector preferences, under Preferences-

Data Processing. The defaults work for most clear and simple beats, but they denitely will not

work with everything. You will need to experiment with these on a case-by-case basis, but keep trying, there usually is a solution to any rhythmic piece of data.

Page 32

MV Kit Creator™ Preferences - Database

Here is the explanation of the Beat Detector’s parameters:

Type: The Beat Detector uses two passes through the audio to detect beats. The rst pass

does the best detection it can, then the second pass “checks” the results.

Threshold: This is like the Sensitivity control on Recycle and other slice editors. Higher values produce less detection, lower values produce more detection.

Silence: This is terms of samples. This is the MINIMUM amount of samples that need to exist between markers. If you are getting lots of “double beats”, raise this value.

Tempo: You can bypass the whole detection thing and just put slice points at beat values, regardless of whether a burst of energy exists at that point.

So in contrast, converting to Slice Files is not as seamless nor as perfect as other Instrument or Sample conversions are. But this ability can make the creation a bit easier, a bit faster, and a bit more convenient.

Pitch Detection

As has been cited before, the Roland MV-8000 isn’t just a drum/groove box that plays back drum sounds at unity pitch when hitting a pad. It is also designed under the hood as a sampler that plays back chromatic sounds like a piano, trumpet, or electric guitar across a keybaord. This enables you to use the MV-8000 as an all-in-one song creation tool.

Pitch Detection is helpful making a chromatic instrument out of bunches of WAVE/AIFF les. Try dropping a host of WAV les of a multisampled trumpet, and MV Kit Creator detects the pitch of

each sample and places it on the appropriate Note (pad) for it’s pitch, and then sets KeyRanges

to ll up the spaces in-between the notes. All of a sudden, you have a trumpet sound on your

MV without the work of applying the proper rootkey and keyranges.

The Pitch Detection parameters determine how accurate or precise the pitch detection is. Pitch detection does rely on certain variables so different types and styles of pitch detection do a better or worse job than others. Try what seems best for you.

Database Tab

Search Conditions

When searching for a le, or how a le is tagged, these are the

search conditions that apply to your criteria.

Colors Tab

Might as well make your Wave Display look great, right? These

are the options you have on what your Wave Display looks like.

Page 33

MV Kit Creator™Preferences - Audio/MIDI

Audio/MIDI Tab

Audio Driver Types

These are the Sound Driver types on your system. Selecting one shows the Audio Outputs and Audio Inputs on the lists to the right.

Audio Outputs

These are the outputs on your system for the selected Audio Driver Type. Selecting one selects the audio output for your app.

Audio Inputs

These are the inputs on your system for the selected Audio Driver Type. Selecting one selects the audio input for your app.

Audio Properties

Shows the Properties of the Output or Input that is selected on the left.

MIDI In Drivers

Allows you to select the current MIDI In driver that will drive the player in MV Kit Creator™. (Note: not applicable in MV Kit Creator™ Free.)

MIDI Out Drivers

Allows you to select the current MIDI Out driver that your application will send MIDI out from. (Note: not useful in MV Kit Creator™ LE or MV Kit Creator™ Free.)

Enable MIDI

Enables MIDI communication. (Does not have any effect in Free version.)

Enable MIDI Velocity

When unchecked, all MIDI notes coming in will be 127 in value.

Page 34

TutorialsMV Kit Creator™

Tutorials

Your MV Kit Creator™ program should be rock-solid and give you no problems. However, there is always stuff that can go wrong.

Page 35

Troubleshooting MV Kit Creator™

Troubleshooting

Your MV Kit Creator™ program should be rock-solid and give you no problems. However, there is always stuff that can go wrong.

You can start from scratch as far as Preferences go by trashing your preferences. You can do that by going to:

Mac

Go to:

/Users/[you]/Library/Preferences, delete

com.chickensys.mvkitcreator.plist

Windows

Go into the Registry and delete the HKEY_CURRENTUSER/Software/Chicken

Systems, Inc/MV Kit Creator key.

Mac and Windows

Press SHIFT when starting the program.

(NOTE: For MV Kit Creator™ LE, add “LE” to the ends of the names above.)

This only trashes your working preferences; it does not trash your registration codes etc.

For all other queries, please contact Chicken Systems Technical Support at the contact points listed under Contacting Technical Support in this document.

FAQ

There is a MV Kit Creator™ FAQ up on the Chicken Systems Web site:

www.chickensys.com/support/software/mvkitcreator/faq

We revise this as needed, based on common questions previously asked about MV Kit Creator™.

It is extremely LIKELY that your question is answered here! Please do not contact us until you have read completely through this resource. It probably will answer your question.

Bug Reports

MV Kit Creator™ should not crash or show errors, but reality insists that all programs do fail at some point.

If you have a problem with building a kit, or receive an error within MV Kit Creator™ concerning

a le, the BEST way to communicate that is to le a Bug Report and send us the le in question

with a brief description of what the problem is.

To use the Bug Reports system, go to Help-Bug Reports in the program. It connects you to our

Bug Reports website, has a form you ll out that gets the information we need from you, and permits you to send us the source le directly from that web page.

Page 36

MV Kit Creator™

We strongly recommend you to use the

Bug Reports page rst! We do invite you to Email or Chat us or call us with a problem, but most of the time we just direct people to the Bug Reports web site to document the information in writing and for them to send

us the le. MV Kit Creator™ has many users

across the globe, and it is not possible to track all our users particular questions and issues through personal correspondence.

Once you establish an issue with the Bug Reports web site, you will get an email back with a link to your issue that you can consistently check. We try to address issues within 24-48 hours.

BUT, THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO

ENABLE US TO EXACTLY REPLICATE YOUR

ISSUE ON OUR END! THIS IS WHY WE

NEED THE SOURCE FILE IN ALL CASES.

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS!

Bug Reports

Bug Reports Page: www.chickensys.com/mvkitcreator/bugreports

Email: support@chickensys.com

FTP: ftp.chickensys.com

(please make sure le names DO NOT have spaces in them!)

User: incoming@chickensys.com

Pass: les2chicken

You Send It: www.yousendit.com

Page 37

Contacting Technical Support MV Kit Creator™

Contacting Technical Support

Chicken Systems Technical Support can be reached in many ways: Phone, Email, Chat, or via our SamplerZone.com Forum. Please give us a brief complete explanation of the problem. With Email and Forum questions, we try to respond within 24 hours, Please be patient if the answer does not arrive immediately.

You may Phone or Chat with us also if, after reading and looking at the documentation, you

are stumped. Our usual ofce hours are 8am-6pm Monday-Friday. We are often in the ofce on

weekends and holidays on an infrequent basis.

Phone: 800-877-6377 United States, 320-235-9798 elsewhere. Please do not mind the

crabby technical support engineers.

Email: support@chickensys.com

Chat: www.chickensys.com, use the Chat link on the left

Forum: www.samplerzone.com/forums/mvkitcreator

Please give us a brief complete explanation (how’s that for non-sequiturs?) of the problem. We try to answer all emails within 24 hours. Please be patient if the answer does not arrive immediately.

You may call us also if, after reading and looking at the documentation, you are stumped. Our

ofce hours are 8am-6pm Monday-Friday. We are often in the ofce on weekends and holidays

on an infrequent basis.

Page 38

MV Kit Creator™

Updating

We update MV Kit Creator™ as needed, for bug xes, improvements, and additions to the

library.

MV Kit Creator™ automatically checks if there is a update available when you start it up. (If desired, you can turn this checking off in Preferences.) You can also check for updates by selecting Check for Updates under the Help menu. (This only works, of course, if you are connected to the Internet on that computer.)

If your MV Kit Creator™ computer is not connected to the Internet, or for some reason you can’t run MV Kit Creator™, you can check for updates at:

www.chickensys.com/mvkitcreator/userupdates

You can check what is your MV Kit Creator™ version number by checking the About Box (under Help in Windows and under the App Menu on Mac), or by checking Get Info [Mac] or Properties [Windows].

If there is an update available, you can download it and then move it to your program’s computer (if from a different computer). Run the updater and your program should be updated.

Page 39

Chicken Systems, Inc.

714 5th Street SE Willmar, MN 56201

Phone: 800-877-6377 United States, 320-235-9798 elsewhere.

Email: support@chickensys.com

Chat: www.chickensys.com, use the Chat link on the left

Forum: www.samplerzone.com/forums

MV Kit Creator™

Page 40

CreditsMV Kit Creator™

Credits

MV Kit Creator™ really benetted from good teamwork and solid commitment to quality software. The MV Kit Creator™ team is:

Garth Hjelte: Project Lead Jeff Godbloch: Programming and Technical Writer Roger Weingarten: Programming

And thanks to:

Cheryl Ann Mays at SamplerZone for the best sales team ever Mike Acosta at RolandUS for the encouragement and idea for the project Shawn for the logo and icon and other artwork - and ideas

Everyone at MV-Nation for their ideas and encouragement

And...

Sandi Tepper with Provare Technology Christian Schmitz, Glenn Austin, Joe Strout for prompt, clear, concise technical

assistance

Dan Dean and Ernest Cholakis for timely feedback and friendship David Viens at Plogue for SFZ assistance Kyle Zambora at Nine Volt Audio for great ideas and partnership Larry Hopkins for more great ideas and hospitality Native Instruments, Digidesign, Eastwest, Akai/Alesis, Kurzweil, and Emu product

managers and technical support crews for their thoroughness and assistance.

Page 41

Chicken Systems MV Kit Creator User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual