How it Works
Gotharman
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Fuzion
User Manual
212 pgs11.62 Mb0

Gotharman Fuzion User Manual

Gotharman’s FuZioN
Music WorkStation
User Manual V 11.80
Contents Of This Manual
Introduction 5
Very special thanks to 7
Getting Started 8 Structure 14
Realtime recording of the Triggers 26 Setting the MIDI CC’s transmitted by the Edit Knobs 28
Sequencer/track main page 30
Setting up the sequencer to control the internal synth’s 33
Setting up the sequencer to control external MIDI gear 39
Setting the start position of a track 40 Realtime recording 42 Note Edit 43 Grid recording 45 Step (”Ins”) recording 47 Edit note events 48 Velocity edit 50 Note length edit 51 Note position edit 52 Erasing a sequencer track 53 Making quantize permanent 53 Doubling the length of a track 54 CC’s, Pitch Bend and aftertouch edit 55 Sequencer functions 60 Copy 61
Erase 63
Transpose 65 Delete 66 Move 67 All Notes Off 68 Clear Sequence 69 Swing 70 Audio Tracks 73
Using imported samples for Audio Tracks 76
Synth pages structure 85 Selecting Synth 1 to 8 88 Oscillator (Osc) parameters 90 Instrument Effects 93 Selecting a sample for the oscillator 101 Sample Remix 102 Setting up a Synth to play back a stereo sample 105 Filter’s parameters 110 Amp and LFO’s parameters 113 Modulation envelope’s parameters 117
Sound Finder 120
Global Effects Processor’s 122 Effects select 123
Effect 1 parameters 125 Effect 2 parameters 137
Save Preset 143
Initialize Preset 147
Song Mode 149 Accessing Song Mode 150
Song Edit 154 Song Realtime Recording 158 Save Song 166 Initializing A Song 170 Regarding USB import and export of songs 172
Sample Record 173 Selecting source for sampling and Audio Track 176 Recording a sample 176
Deleting a sample 181 Adjusting the start and end points of a sample 183 Sample Tempo adjust 184
Common Settings 185 Deleting A Sample Bank 188
Touch Keyboard Settings 189
Checking the firmware version and effects RAM 191
USB 192 Importing files 195
Importing multiple files 196 Open a directory 197 Make a new directory 198 Export samples and presets to a USB drive 199 Rename a file 201 Delete a file 202 Updating Fuzion’s firmware 203
Introduction
Thank you very much for purchasing/consider to purchase a Fuzion Music WorkStation.
The goal with Fuzion was to design a workstation that was fast and intuitive to compose music with.
Unlike many other music workstations, Fuzion does not work in different ”modes”. On Fuzion you
can edit a Synth sound, jump to the sequencer and record or edit, edit the effects, everything while
the sequencer keeps running. You do not have to switch between different modes, where you can’t
edit the sounds in one mode, and can’t record a sequence in another. On Fuzion ALL parameters
and functions are accessible at ANY time!
The first thing I designed, was its sequencer. This has 16 tracks, that each can be set to control Fuzion's internal sound engine, or any MIDI gear connected to its 2 MIDI outputs, can have separate lengths up to 128 bars, can have separate quantize/clock settings, changable on the fly, while the sequencer is running, has a Note Randomizer for each track, and a global Swing sequencer. Tracks can be recorded either in real time, grid mode, where you insert notes in a piano roll style window, or step insert mode, where a pointer can be moved around on the piano roll, and it places all received events at the position of this pointer. All MIDI events, like notes, CC's, aftertouch and program changes can be recorded.
It is also possible to record 8 Audio Tracks into the sequencer. A kind of pattern based harddisk recording.
For editing the recorded MIDI events, different methods are available, depending on the type of event, you want to edit. I early learned, that editing notes in a piano roll, that might work on a computer, did not really work as an intuitive method on this little box. Therefore I engineered the "Bars" edit method, where notes, velocity values, lengths and positions are presented as "bars" that changes colour when the notes are played back, and that can be edited using knobs, in a kind of analogue sequencer style fashion. I think that this system works really well for experimenting with a composition.
When editing MIDI CC's and aftertouch events, these are presented as values in a frame, one bar at a time. 8 of these values can be edited at a time, and the selected values are presented as the same kind of bars used in the note edit system (just slimmer), and can be edited using knobs. When editing program changes, these are presented on an event list. It is possible to copy events between tracks and presets, and to erase specific events, a whole track, or the whole sequence.
A song mode are also available, with which it is possible to arrange presets and track mutes in up to 128 song steps.
The next thing I designed was the synthesizer engine. This was designed to be flexible with many sound possibilities, while at the same time being easy to tweak. It has one screen per module (one for the oscillator, one for the filters and so on...), and each module can be selected by the push of a button. Furthermore a "Sound Finder" was engineered, that makes it easy to audition and import sounds from any other preset, to the one you are working on now. A Fuzion oscillator can be a
virtual analogue waveform one, a virtual percussion oscillator, a sampling, an audio track or an audio input. The oscillator can be processed by 2 filters with each 18 filter types, including 2 parametric EQ types, an amp, an instrument effect, 2 LFO's and 3 envelopes. Fuzion has 8 synthesizers built in, and all sounds, except for audio inputs, can be played back chromatically from a connected MIDI keyboard over the full 10 octave MIDI note range, triggered from the built-in touch screen keyboard, triggered from an assignable button, or played by the sequencer. Fuzion's sound engine is designed to sound good, with 24 bit converters and 32 bit internal processing.
A sampler part was also designed, to make it possible to record and edit samplings. Sample playback is performed through the synthesizer engine.
2 global effects processors were also added that has reverbs, delays and granular effects.
An instrument effect for each of the 8 synthesizers, were added, that has effects like FAT, distortion, chorus, pitch shifter, resonator, bit crusher, stretcher and others.
USB was also added to make it possible to import and export .wav files and presets/songs, to back­up your work, and for updating the Fuzion firmware.
To make everything work as fast and effective as possible, Fuzion is not programmed behind any "OS". Everything is performed directly by the processor, and everything is programmed in assembly language, which is up to 30 times more effective than the C++ language, that most people program in, and it is programmed specificly for the Fuzion hardware.
1024 preset slots and 1024 song slots are available, all user programmable.
Very special thanks to:
Christopher Curtis Timo Reichert Gene Schwartz Rashad Becker Perfect Circuit Audio
For supporting this project from the beginning. I really appreciate your trust. Without you, Fuzion might not have been…
Gotharman July 2015
Connecting:
Getting Started
On the right end panel of your Fuzion, you will find the power switch, connections for power supply, and 2 audio inputs and 4 outputs. The outputs are stereo paired. Output 1 and 3 are right channels and output 2 and 4 are left channels.
Since on most of the presets, all audio are directed to output 1 and 2, you would probably want to connect these to a mixer or an amplifier, or anything else that ends out in a set of speakers, a single speaker, or even a pair of headphones, if you are in a neighbour friendly mood. Since Fuzion
doesn’t have build in speakers, it just needs to be connected to something, that can transfer its
amazing sound to you.
Connect the other outputs to effects processors, filters, computers or anything else that can process
sound. Connect the outputs of these back to Fuzion’s inputs, for mixing to the main outputs or
further processing inside Fuzion.
Stereo headphones can be connected to Out1 (hp) and Out3 (hp) to monitor either output 1 and 2, or output 3 and 4.
Any line level audio gear can be connected to Fuzion’s 2 audio inputs. It is possible to sample and to process any audio presented on these, using Fuzion’s filters and effects.
On the left end panel of your Fuzion, you will find the USB connector and two sets of MIDI in and out.
You will need to connect a MIDI keyboard to MIDI input 1, in order to take full advantage of Fuzion’s fully chromatically playable sounds.
As it is at writing moment, it is preferable to connect a keyboard and/or other MIDI controlling things to MIDI in 1, and to use MIDI in 2 if you need to MIDI sync Fuzion to other gear.
Reason for this is, that MIDI in 2 is not fully spec’d yet, but it will be in an update very soon.
To MIDI out 1 and 2, you should connect the gear you would like to control with Fuzion’s sequencer.
If you plan to connect more than 2 MIDI devices, it would be preferable to use a MIDI-thru box, to avoid long MIDI delays.
To the USB connector, a USB drive can be connected.
This should be:
-Maximum 32 GB
-DOS formatted
With a USB drive connected, you can:
-Import, export and back up samples as .wav files
-Import, export and back up Fuzion presets
-Update Fuzion
To import a .wav file from another device, it must be:
-Mono or stereo
-44.1 KHz sample rate –Fuzion will import other sample rates, but they will play back in a wrong speed
-16 bit native PCM
Connect the supplied power adaptor to the Power input, and to a 100V to 240V power source.
It’s a 9V, minimum 1A type with a 2.1 mm DC plug, with positive middle.
Some Fuzion’s has been shipped out with a power adaptor, that has multiple tips. If you have
received one of these, you should use the tip with the blue ring, and make sure that the 2 parts are alligned to the text “Tip”:
Please look at the picture, on the next page….
Turn it on
Toggle the power switch on the right end panel, so its pin is pointing down. Your Fuzion should now turn on.
Fuzion Structure
The sequencer is the ”heart” of Fuzion. When you want to play the internal synthesizer’s or control
MIDI gear through Fuzion, you must go to the sequencer, and channelize the MIDI input and the Touch Keyboard first.
The Touch Keyboard and the 2 MIDI inputs are connected directly to the sequencer’s input. All operations on gear connected to the MIDI inputs and on the touch keyboard can be recorded and re­transmitted to the internal synth section and to MIDI gear connected to the 2 MIDI outputs, via the sequencer.
To set up what the touch keyboard and the gear connected to the MIDI inputs will control, go to the
sequencer page, select any of the 16 tracks, and select whether you would like to control Fuzion’s
synths (Int) or MIDI gear (Ext). Now set the track MIDI channel to the same MIDI channel as the
synth/MIDI gear you would like to control. Fuzion’s sequencer will now channelize the touch
keyboard and the MIDI input to this.
This procedure are explained further in the ”Sequencer” section of this manual.
The User Interface
Fuzion has a row of 6 pushbuttons on the left side of its screen, and another row on the right. It has 8 Edit Knobs for editing parameters and a volume knob below the screen.
The pushbuttons has different functions for each menu page, but on most pages, you will find Exit in the lower left corner, sequencer Play and Rec in the upper right corner, and Lowr and Trig in the lower right corner.
Exit will exit to the previous page, with the last possible page being the Preset or Song select screen.
Play will start and stop Sequencer playback. When the sequencer is playing back, the green LED near the Play button will light.
Rec will turn either Sequencer Track or Song realtime recording on or off. When realtime recording is activated, the red LED near the Rec button will light. On pages that has the Reset button, which will reset all sequencer tracks to play back from their start position, this will change to Erase when the Rec button is activated. Pushing Erase will erase all events on the currently selected sequencer track.
Lowr will give you access to edit the parameters on the lower half of the screen, on pages that has more than 8 parameters.
Every time you enter a new page, the Lowr button will be switched off, and the 8 edit pots will edit the upper 8 parameters, on pages with more than 8 parameters. The names of the parameters selected for editing will be inverted.
Trig will trigger a middle C of the currently selected Sequencer track. If on a Synth page, it will trigger a middle C, of the currently selected synth.
The Touch Keyboard
Fuzion’s screen are touch sensitive. Unlike many other devices, it is though not possible to edit
anything using the touch screen. All editing is done with knobs. It is though always, on any page, active as a touch keyboard.
Fuzion’s touch keyboard has a range of 12 notes. It is possible to adjust what note each ”key”
should play back, and the notes doesn’t have to be in any specific order.
The touch keyboard will always trigger what the selected sequencer track controls. This can both be the internal synth and a connected MIDI device.
The Preset Select Screen
This is the first screen you will see, right after Fuzion’s start-up screen, unless you left your Fuzion
in Song mode, the last time it was turned off. Here you can change preset and jump to Fuzion’s edit
and settings pages.
Selecting a preset:
Push any of the two buttons marked ”Preset”. The upper one will increment the preset number, the lower one will decrement the preset number. Hold any of them down for fast scroll, and hold both down for really fast scroll. 1024 presets can be selected, from A01 to P64.
The yellow LED near the ”Enter” button will now start to flash.
Push ”Enter” to confirm that you want to switch to the new preset.
If the sequencer is playing back, the Enter LED will now start to flash faster, awaiting track 1 to reach its end. As soon as this happens, Fuzion will switch to the newly selected preset, and the Enter led will stop flashing.
If the sequencer is not playing back, Fuzion will immediately switch to the new preset, when ”Enter” is pushed.
When Fuzion is turned off, it will remember which preset was selected, and start up with this, when turned on again. It will also remember if it was in preset or song mode, and start up in the same mode, and if it was in song mode, it will also remember which song was selected.
Reloading the selected preset
If you have made some changes to a preset, and you would like to go back to the original settings, you can reload the original preset settings, by holding the Enter button, while pushing the lower Preset button. If the sequencer is playing back, the Enter LED will now start to flash faster, awaiting track 1 to reach its end. As soon as this happens, Fuzion will reload the selected preset, and the Enter led will stop flashing.
Right below the preset name, the currently selected track is shown. Right after the track number is
shown either a ”_”, which indicates that the selected track has no data recorded to it, or an ”R”,
which indicates that the track has data recorded to it.
If you hit ”Rec” at this page, realtime events will be recorded to the displayed track.
Right under the track number, is the channel, the selected track is channelized to, displayed.
Synth Triggers
On the Preset Select page, it is possible to trigger 8 internal synths or external MIDI devices, using
the pushbuttons. To do so, hit the ”Triggers” button. Now 8 of the pushbuttons will have their names changed to ”Trig1” to ”Trig8”.
Initially these are set up to play back note C4, of internal synth 1 to 8. To play the synths, simply hit the corresponsive buttons. A trigger buttons LED will light up, every time it is trigged. It is possible to record the triggers actions into a sequencer track, and it is possible to control the
triggers from MIDI gear connected to any of Fuzion’s MIDI inputs. To exit from Triggers mode, simply hit the ”Triggers” button again.
To set up what the 8 triggers should trig, first, from the Preset Select page, push the ”More..”
button:
Push the ”Triggers Setup” button, to enter the triggers setup page:
On this page, use the buttons ”1_2”, ”3_4”, ”5_6” and ”7_8” to select which 2 triggers, you will
adjust.
Use the buttons ”Trig1” and ”Trig2” to audition the triggers.
By edit knob 1 to 8, you can adjust the settings for 2 triggers at a time. The settings are:
I/E: Select whether you would like the trigger to trig an internal synth (Int), or an external MIDI device (Ext).
Chan: Selects the channel that the trigger is sent to. For external devices, MIDI channel and output are selected. The settings goes from 1_1 to 16_1, and from 1_2 to 16_2. For internal synths, the settings goes from channel 1 to 16, and from synth1 to synth8 (synth direct).
Note: Select the note you would like the trigger to play. The whole 10 octave MIDI note range can be selected. C4 is the middle C.
Velo: Select the velocity value, you would like the trigger to send. Value 1 to 127.
On the triggers setup page, it is also possible to adjust the triggers MIDI receive channel, that the triggers would be trigged from, and which MIDI CC’s that will be transmitted, when turning the Edit Knobs on the Preset Select and the Song Select pages.
Setting the triggers MIDI receive channel
This is only the MIDI channel that is used to trigger the triggers. Each trigger can still be set up to trigger internal Synths and external MIDI gear, on any MIDI channel and in any combination you like.
When triggering the Triggers from a connected MIDI keyboard, they are placed from note C3 to G3.
Actually, you don’t really need to set up this channel. The triggers are also placed as an internal ”Direct Synth 9” called ”Trigs”, that you can choose for a sequencer track to control and channelize
to. Setting this up, will be explained in the next section of this manual –The Sequencer.
You will only actually have to set the triggers reveive MIDI channel, if you plan to use the triggers in a key split setup, together with any of the internal Synths. So in case that you ever would like to do this, it is a good thing to know how to do it.
From the Triggers Setup page, push the ”Trig Ch” button.
Now you can adjust the Triggers Receive MIDI channel, using Edit Knob 1.
This setting is stored within each preset.
Realtime recording of the Triggers
Assuming that you already have the Triggers set up to trigger the internal Synths/external MIDI gear you want, as described on the previous pages, go to the Sequencer Main page:
The Sequencer Main page will be further explained in the next section of this manual – The Sequencer.
Make sure that the currently selected track is set to ”Int”, and either ”Trigs”, or the same MIDI channel as the Triggers receive MIDI channel.
Now exit to the Preset Select page, and hit the ”Triggers” button.
Hit the ”Rec” button, so its LED is lit, and if the sequencer is not already playing back, hit the ”Play” button too, and start jamming.
When you are done recording, hit the ”Rec” button to turn off the Rec LED, and listen to the result.
Every time a Trigger is trigged, either by its button, the sequencer or a connected MIDI keyboard, its corresponding LED will light up.
The Trigger trigs are recorded as note on’s and note off’s, and can be edited in the seqencer, just
like any other notes.
If you are happy with your recordings, REMEMBER TO SAVE YOUR PRESET, as described later in this manual!
Setting the MIDI CC’s transmitted by the Edit Knobs
The Edit Knobs transmits MIDI CC’s, when turning them on the Preset Select page and on the Song
select page. These are transmitted an channelized via the currently selected sequencer track, or by a specific track, so it is possible to control both the internal Synths and external MIDI gear, connected
to Fuzion’s MIDI outputs.
From the Triggers Setup page, push the ”Knob CC” button:
Use Edit Knob 1 to 8 to set a CC number for each knob to transmit.
Push the “Tracks” button so its LED is lit, to adjust if each edit knob CC, should be channeized by
the currently selected track (Curr), or by a specific track (Trk1 to Trk16).
These settings are stored within each preset.
The Sequencer
The sequencer is the main reason why I made Fuzion. I wanted a sequencer with which it was possible to combine long realtime recorded sequences with TR-like/step/pattern sequences, so that is what I have been working towards.
Fuzion’s sequencer has 16 tracks. Each of these tracks can have their start position and length set separately, up to 128 bars, have its quantize setting changed on the fly, even while the sequencer is
running, and control either Fuzion’s internal synths or any MIDI gear connected to Fuzion’s MIDI
out’s.
It is possible to realtime record, step record or grid record MIDI data on the tracks. Note, CC, pitchbend, aftertouch and program change data can be recorded.
When you play on a MIDI keyboard connected to any of Fuzion’s MIDI inputs, or on Fuzion’s touch keyboard, you will play on whatever the selected sequencer track is set up to control. All data
is channellized through this. It is possible to set up any track to control Int (Fuzion’s synths and
triggers) or Ext (connected MIDI gear), and it is possible to select any of the 16 MIDI channels and 2 MIDI outputs.
It is also possible to record 8 Audio Tracks, and make Fuzion work like a pattern based harddisk recorder.
Remember to save all edits you do in the sequencer. Else they will be lost when you change preset, or turn Fuzion off. See how to in the ”Save Preset” section.
To enter Fuzion’s sequencer, from the preset select screen, push the ”Sequencer” button. You will now enter the sequencer main page:
On this page you can select any of the 16 tracks, adjust the basic settings for the selected track, and access the sequencer edit functions.
In the upper left corner of the screen, just along with the ”Track” parameter, are a small VU-meter, that will show when notes are played back by the selected track.
In the lower right corner, a bar/beat counter are located, which shows what bar/beat is currently being played back. Right above this you can see how many percent of the currently selected presets sequencer memory, that has been used.
The parameters of this page:
The first 8 parameters, that can be changed with the edit buttons, when the yellow LED near the ”Lowr” button is unlit:
Track: Selects track 1 to 16. The selected track are the one that is recorded to, and the one that channelizes any incoming MIDI data and the touch keyboard.
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