DualoS DU TOUCH User Manual
dualo du-touch
user guide
A word from the instrument maker
Welcome to the dualo community. You are among the rst-ever players of the
dualo, and we congratulate you on your choice.
The du-touch is still under development, as is its user guide. As such, we welcome
any comments you may have on how the du-touch works, which you can submit
via the page dualo.org/en/support. We regularly produce updates. So, before
anything else, make sure that the sofware version of your du-touch corresponds to
the version of this user guide, also available from dualo.org/en/support.
The du-touch is a musical instrument, and as such no user guide teaches you
how to play it. The purpose of this guide is to answer questions you may have,
but it does not constitute a method. You'll be able to nd du-lessons on the dualo
YouTube channel and on the dualo.org/en/media page, with a series of tutorials
for learning how to handle the du-touch.
Have a great time getting down with your du-touch.
from the du-team
dualo du-touch
user guide Version 01 - 0021
© Dualo, december 2014
Contents of the pack
USB cable + international AC adaptator
quickstart paper
du-touch
cotton protective cover
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The musical instrument
The du-touch is a new musical instrument with its own special way of being
played. It’s a complete instrument, in the sense that it’s a controller, a synthesizer and a sequencer all at the same time. So, in order to understand how
it works, here are ve elements which, when combined, make it possible to
play and share music:
play: it's the du-touch as a machine which captures the gestures
of the musician. (Don't look for the button, this is the du-touch itself)
sound: everything involving the timbre in the broad sense, choos-
ing a sound, adding effects, etc.
music: in the sense of musical text, recording or playing a piece of
music, tracks, or anything that might be found in music notation.
settings: for adjusting the various parameters of the rst three
elements.
connection: everything to do with links and sharing with the out-
side world, other machines or other members of the community
and, of course, the du-station software.
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play
The du-touch
The du-touch is a controller, in other words a machine that
captures the gestures of the musician to transmit them to the
internal synthesizer or to a MIDI interface. It does not have
speakers, so you need to connect it to an amp or a headset, or
use it as a MIDI controller.
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Connecting to a headset or an amp
Plug in your headset or headphones to the headset mini-jack socket.
If you are using an amp, plug your jack into the audio line-out. Make your
connections before turning the equipment on. The du-touch produces bass
sounds, so you're advised to use a bass or keyboard amp, or even better a
sound system, rather than a guitar amp.
The du-touch is stereo but works very well in mono. Take care however not
to use a stereo jack on a balanced mono input. If in doubt, use a mono jack.
Turning the du-touch on or off
Briey press the standby button beneath the du-
touch to turn it on. The music button and screen
light up after several seconds, and the instrument
is ready to play.
Press the same standby button to turn the du-
touch off.
Adjusting the general volume
Adjust the volume by stroking the touch
strip on the front of the du-touch. The vol-
ume value appears on the screen.
Touch the bottom of the strip to turn the
volume to zero (mute). Touch the top of
the strip to return the volume to what it
was before being zeroed (unmute).
There are other volumes for sounds, pieces
of music, loops and metronome.
Positioning the instrument
Place your du-touch on your lap and
let it rest against your midriff. It stays
in place without needing to be held.
Your hands (including your thumbs)
are over the keyboards, for maximum
freedom of movement. For greater
stability we recommend the use of
the du-belt*, the Dualo carry strap.
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touch strip
* available as an option from dualo.
org
Playing notes
To play notes, hit the keys with your ngertips. Simply pressing isn't effective,
you need to move your ngers rapidly. The harder you hit, the louder the
sound. It is possible to adjust the sensitivity of the keys, display a scale on the
keyboard or display the names of the notes on the screen.
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Holding a note
For playing a sustained note without keeping the key depressed, play and
hold the music or sound button before releasing the note or chord. To release the sustained note, play the same notes again or double-click the sound
button.
Layout of the notes
On the Dualo, as one goes away from the head, the notes jump up in thirds,
both major thirds (inward) and minor thirds (outward). So two hands must
co-operate to play all the notes needed: one hand must play the rst (root),
third, fth and seventh, etc. notes, while the other hand plays the second,
forth, sixth, eighth (octave), etc. notes. To play a chord you just need to play
three successive keys. See the dualo principle, to nd out more.
It is possible to display the notes on the screen.
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MIDI
You can connect the du-touch to a hardware synthesizer via the MIDI OUT
jack underneath the du-touch.
You can also control virtual synthesizers via USB. The du-touch is recognized
as a MIDI controller, with no drivers to be installed, whether on Mac or PC.
The MIDI notes are sent as soon as the du-touch is turned on, connected
and played. The MIDI notes sent are the same as those sent to the internal
synthesizer. Note that the layout of the notes will differ depending on whether it concerns an harmonic or a percussive instrument.
To choose the output channel, hold down the music button and select one
of the 7 keys at the bottom of the right keyboard. The notes played are then
sent as MIDI over the chosen channel. If you save a loop, it is also output as
MIDI with the channel on which it was recorded. This means that it is possible
to use the du-touch as a controller-sequencer with an external synthesizer.
Updating the du-touch
After installing and starting up the
du-station software, connect your
du-touch via USB, and if it is not
up-to-date the most recent update
will be proposed. You should then
download the corresponding user
guide version.
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Recharging the dutouch
Connect your du-touch with the
USB cable provided to a computer
reset
Average battery life: 8h
Recharge duration: 5h
If there's a problem
If you hear a continuous note and you can't turn it off, which may occur, for
example, if you've played a sustained note, double-click the sound button -
this is called PANIC! mode - and all the notes and all the sounds will stop
immediately.
If the du-touch no longer responds, insert the end of a ballpoint pen in the
small reset hole alongside the USB socket. This reboots the du-touch.
For any other problem, log on to our platform: dualo.org/en/support.
or, preferably, for a faster charge, to
an electrical outlet with the charg-
er supplied (use only this charger),
into which you will have clipped
the plug adapter suited to your
country. The charge level is then
displayed on screen. In all cases,
it is possible to play and recharge
at the same time. It takes around
5 hours to fully recharge the du-
touch.
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Adjusting a du-touch setting
Press then release the settings button to the right of the screen,
represented by a tuning fork.
Each key at the top of the right keyboard then corresponds to
a setting, and its name is displayed on-screen. Its value can then
be modied using the touch strip.
You can run through each of the settings. Touch the settings
button again to return to play mode.
Your settings are now saved in the system memory and will
be applied to all the sounds and all the pieces of music, even
after restart.
The left keyboard remains active, so you can test your settings
without quitting the settings menu.
Press the settings button again to quit the menu.
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settings button
selected
setting
changing
the value
value of the setting
active keyboard
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display note: note name display
off: the screen is off in play mode (battery-saving)
italian: key notation in Latin countries (do, ré, mi...)
english: universal English key notation (c, d, e, f, g ...)
german: German notation with the h.
The names of the notes and their velocities are displayed on-screen while
you play.
lighted keys: lighting up the keys played
on: the keys light up red when played
off: no lighting, saves on battery life, but less stylish
key brightness: to adjust the key brightness
The keyboard lights consume a lot of power. To extend usage time when
running off batteries, use a suitable brightness level.
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key sensitivity: for adjusting the sensitivity of the
keys
The keys of the du-touch are sensitive to the keystroke dynamics. If you hit
the key hard, the sound is louder: this is called play velocity or nuance.
at: whatever the intensity of the strike, the velocity is maximum (127)
standard: default curve, from 40 to 120
piano/forte: velocity from 0 to 127. This is the curve that is the hardest to
du-touch info: access the du-touch info
Stroke the touch strip from bottom to top to scroll through the following
info:
- battery level
- du-touch name
- du-touch owner's name
- serial number
- internal program (rmware) version number
- sound bank version number
- rmware licenses
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equalizer: general equalizer
Depending on your amplication system or the place in which you are playing, you may sometimes have to adjust the timbre of the sound output. The
du-touch offers you several equalization presets that you can select by strok-
ing the touch strip.
at: at equalization by default, non-modiable
acoustic: accentuates the middle-high band and reduces the middle-low
band
metallic: accentuates the middle-high band
bass boost: accentuates the basses
large spectrum: reinforces the mediums
and 3 user presets, at by default, that you can modify.
When one of these presets has been selected, you have access at the bottom
of the right keyboard to other keys that can be used for adjusting the gains
of the 4 frequency bands manually.
low gain: 20 Hz to 250 Hz band
mid-l gain: 250 Hz to 1 kHz band
mid-h gain: 1 kHz to 6.7 kHz band
high gain: 6.7 kHz to 20 kHz band.
20 Hz 20 kHz
low
gain
mid-l
gain
mid-h
gain
high
gain
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reverb: general reverb
Reverb is an effect that gives an impression of space, as if you were in rooms
of different sizes, with simulated reverberation of the sound against the walls.
This is obtained by superimposing a very fast echo. The du-touch has several
reverb presets that you can select in this way by stroking the touch strip.
off: no reverb, non-modiable cabinet: small room
room: large room hall: concert hall
supernatural: reverb effect without the direct sound
and 3 user presets, off by default (that you can modify).
When a user preset has been selected, you have access at the bottom of the
right keyboard to 4 keys for adjusting your reverb:
dry level: direct sound level wet level: effect level
time: reverb time (the setting that gives the room size)
pre-delay time: time to the rst reection (roughly the position of the in-
strument in the room).
Then, for each du-sound, it is possible to adjust its reverb level independently
depending on the general reverb (see reverb level).
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sound
The du-sounds
The du-touch is a synthesizer: it has internal sounds that we
call du-sounds.
Hold down the sound button: each key then corresponds to a
sound, with its name and categor y appearing on-screen when
selected. Release the sound button and the sound is loaded,
ready to be played.
The layout of the du-sounds is organized according to the fol-
lowing logic: on the right keyboard we have traditional sounds,
and on the left keyboard electro-sounds, arranged from the
most percussive, at the top, to the most melodic, at the bottom.
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selected
du-sound
du-sound
sound button
name
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