Kurzweil KDFX V2 Reference

K

DFX

V2

M usician’ s Reference

© Y oung Chang Co., Ltd. 2002. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to r eprint up to two copies of this manual for personal use.
Kurzweil ® is a product line of Young Chang Co., Ltd. Y oung Chang®, Kurzweil ® , V. A. S. T. ®, KDFX®, Pitcher®, and LaserV erb®, KSP8 ™,

K2600™, K2500™, and K2000™ are trademarks of Young Chang Co., Ltd. SmartMedia™ is a trademark of T oshiba Corporation. ADAT® is a
registered trademark of Alesis Corporation. All other products and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies. Product features and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Part Number: 910379, Re v. B

Young Chang International Contacts

Contact the nearest Young Chang office listed below to locate your local Young Chang/ Kurzweil representative.

Young Chang America, Inc.

P.O. Box 99995
Lakewood, WA 98499-0995
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Young Chang Co., Ltd.

178-55 Gajwa-Dong
Seo-Ku, Inchon, Korea 404-714
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Young Chang America, Inc. (Canadian Division)

3650 Victoria Park Ave. Suite 105
Toronto, Ontario Canada M2H 3P7
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

W orld Wide Web Home Page

http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com

ii

Table of Contents

Young Chang International Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

Introducing KDFX Version 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

Additions and Changes to Effects Mode Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

New Button Presses for Bypassing/Enabling Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2

MAIN Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3

Soft Buttons in Effects Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Soft Buttons: Configuring Bypasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

Effects Bus Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5

Effects Send Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6

The CTRL Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7

Effects Control Mode (FXCtrl) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7

Effects Control in Embedded Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7

Bypass and Mute pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8

Creating a Custom Bypass Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8

The EQBYP Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

The FX Bypass Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

The Bus Mute Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10

Chaining Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11

Gain Staging in Effects Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12

Checking Out Some Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12

KDFX V2 Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

New FX Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

Additional FX Algorithms new to K2500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

New FX Studios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13

Additional FX Studios new to K2500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14

New FX Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-15

Additional FX Presets new to K2500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16

A Tour of KDFX V2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1

Load the Tutorial files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1

A Simple Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

The FXBus Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2

The INPUT Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

The FXSEND Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4

The AUXFX Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

The OUTPUT Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

A More Complex Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6

FXBus1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6

FXBus2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7

Table of Contents-1

AuxFX Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8

Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9

Chaining Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10

A Complex Studio with Real-Time Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13

Setting the FXCTRL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13

The Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13

Looking at the Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14

Setting Up FXMods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-15

A Note About Effects in Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19

Building Your Own . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20

Algorithm Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

Degen Regen BPM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2

Switch Loops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7

Moving Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10

Allpass Phaser 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-11

VC+Dist+1Rotor 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

VC+Dist+HiLoRotr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

VC+Tube+Rotor 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

Rotor 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

VC+Dist+HiLoRot2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13

Subtle Distort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22

Quantize+Alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-23

Pitcher+MiniVerb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-26

Reverb+Compress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-29

St Chorus+Delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-32

St Flange+Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-32

Gate+Cmp[EQ]+Vrb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-33

Gate+TubeAmp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-37

Revrse LaserVerb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-40

Gated LaserVerb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-43

Poly Pitcher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-46

Frequency Offset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-48

MutualFreqOffset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-48

WackedPitchLFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-52

Chaos! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-54

Band Compress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-57

CompressDualTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-61

3 Band EQ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-65

HF Stimulate 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-66

HarmonicSuppress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-67

Table of Contents-2

Chapter 1
Introducing KDFX Version 2

Overview

KDFX V2 gives you more control than ever over the effects in each studio, through several
enhancements:

• You can assemble chains of up to four FX Presets on an FXBus.

• You have access to 26 new KDFX algorithms (29 for K2500).

• You can mute or bypass effects and EQ for individual FXBuses. You can now keep effects
bypassed outside the program editor, as well.

• You can get to Effects Mode directly from Program, Setup, and Song modes—you don’t
have to go through another editor first.

If you are familiar with Version 1 of KDFX, you will notice that there are several new pages and
parameters giving you access to the new features. You’ll also notice some changes to existing
pages. The INPUT, AUXFX, and OUTPUT pages have not changed at all with KDFX V2,
however.

The following tables give a brief explanation of the major additions and changes in KDFX V2.

Page Description What’s Different

KDFXMode:MAIN

EditStudio:FXBUS

EditStudio:FXSEND

KDFXMode:CTRL

KDFXMode:EQBYP

KDFXMode:FXBYP

KDFXMode:BUSMUT

Displays studio assignment. Also, for each
insert FXBus, displays FX Preset assignment,
bypass/mute, and PAU assignment.

New soft buttons for adding/deleting
FX Presets on current FXBus; new soft button
for bringing up the new FXSEND page.

Directs the send of each Insert FXBus to either
the default stereo Mix bus or the AuxFX bus,
with balance control for each.

Controls FXCtrl (formerly FX Mode) and
FX Chan, as well as dither.

Controls EQ mute/bypass for each Insert
FXBus.

Controls independent active/bypassed status
for each Insert FXBus and the AuxFX bus.

Controls independent active/muted status for
each Insert FXBus and the AuxFX bus.

Was EffectsMode page; controlled studio
assignment, FX Mode and FX Chan, and
dither (noise-floor adjustment).

P AU assignment is handled for each FXBus
individually; Level and Balance for each
FXBus are part of new FXSend page; New
feature: you can chain multiple Presets
together on an insert bus using the Add and
Remove buttons.

Relocates Lvl and Bal parameters from the
FXBus page.

Replaces functionality of EffectsMode
page, which no longer exists.

New feature.

New feature.

New feature.

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Additions and Changes to Effects Mode Pages

Additions and Changes to Effects Mode Pages

Prior to V2, there was a single Effects Mode page, which was responsible primarily for setting
the FX Mode and FX Chan parameters. This pair of parameters affected how the K2600/K2500
selected studios when you changed programs, setups, or songs. You would get to the
EffectsMode page by pressing the Effects button while in a performance mode (not while in an
editor). While inside an editor, the Effects button was used to globally bypass or enable the
effects.

There’s much more going on with V2, so we’ve added several pages, and moved a number of
parameters into more logical groupings. Pressing the Effects button now takes you to the
KDFXMode:MAIN page, which gives you easy access to the Effects Mode pages.

The Studio Editor has some new soft buttons and pages to accommodate effect chaining in
KDFX V2. The Add and Remove buttons on the FXBUS page let you create and modify chains
on the buses. The FX Send and Aux Send fields and graphics that were pr eviously shown on the
FXBUS page are now found on their own new page, FXSEND. Pressing the right more > button
on the FXBUS page reveals the FXSEND soft button, as well as the familiar AUXFX and

OUTPUT buttons.

New Button Presses for Bypassing/Enabling Effects

As a result of the new flexibility we’ve added, bypassing or enabling effects now takes an extra
button press or two, because you have to press Effects , then BypAll or Enable . Also, you may
need to press Exit or Effects again, depending on whether you're just toggling the effects on and
off, or whether you are leaving the effects bypassed and returning to an editor. See page 1-4 for
information on the new bypass features.

1-2

MAIN Page

The KDFXMode:MAIN page gives you a summary view of the current effects configuration,
including the current studio, the FX Presets assigned to each of the five effects buses, and the
bypass status of each bus.

KDFXMode:MAIN||||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio: 113|PltEnvFI4T|Plate| ||||||Free:0
FX1|||43|Plebe|Chamber||||||||-|||Size:1
FX2|||902|Synth|Env|Filter||||B|||Size:2
FX3|||735|Bap|ba_da_dap|||||||-|||Size:1
FX4|||0|None||||||||||||||||||B|||Size:0

Aux|| | 103|Bi g Predel a yPlate | |||B|| | Size:3

MAIN| | CTRL|| | EQBYP| | FXBYP| | BUSMUT | Enable |

Figure 1-1 Effects mode: the KDFXMode:MAIN page

As with every other page, the top line of the KDFXMode:MAIN page identifies the page you’re
on. It also shows you two other important features of Effects mode:

FXCtrl: Effects-control status. Prior to V2, this was called FX Mode. The functionality

Enable state: Shows whether KDFX is currently enabled or if any part of KDFX is bypassed or

hasn’t changed, but we renamed it because it’s now a parameter on the Ctrl page,
which is accessible with the CTRL soft button.

muted.

Introducing KDFX Version 2

MAIN Page

The second line of the display shows the ID and name of the current studio. When you enter
KDFX Mode directly (i.e., not through another one of the K2500/K2600’s editors) you can scroll
through the displayed list of studios. This allows you to choose a different studio on the
KDFXMode:MAIN page. When FXCTRL is set to Master (see page 1-7), you can also do this,
even when you have entered KDFX Mode from within another editor.

If you select the studio then press the Edit button, you’ll go to EditStudio:FXBUS page, where
you can make changes to each bus within the studio.

The second line also shows the number of PAUs available for the current studio (“Free:” on the
right-hand side). This number will be 0–4, since in each studio four PAUs are available for the
four insert FXBuses (the AuxFX bus has its own fixed set of three PAUs).

The next five lines show the IDs and names of the FX Presets assigned to the five effects buses
(insert FXBuses 1–4 and the AuxFX bus). You can’t change these assignments on the
KDFXMode:MAIN page; to do that you would highlight the Studio name (line two of this page)
then press Edit . This takes you to the Studio Editor, on the appropriate FXBUS page for the first
bus. As in KDFX V1, use the Chan/Bank buttons to move between buses.

Each of these five lines also indicates the bypass status for the five buses, as well as the number
of PAUs used by each FXBus. A dash (
bypassed/disabled. You can change the bypass status for a bus by moving the cursor to this
field and changing it with either the alpha wheel or pressing one of the increment/decrement
buttons.

The size of each FX Preset is measured in PAUs (processor allocation units). FXBuses 1–4 can all
use up to four PAUs, but the studio can use a maximum of four total PAUs. The AuxFX bus can
use up to three PAUs independent of the insert FXBuses.

) indicates active/enabled, and

-

indicates

B

1-3

Introducing KDFX Version 2

MAIN Page

Soft Buttons in Effects Mode

The MAIN button takes you to the KDFXMode:MAIN page, where you can view the current
studio and the FX Presets assigned to the five KDFX buses.

The CTRL button takes you to the KDFXMode:CTRL page, which contains parameters that
determine which studio gets selected when you select a program, setup, or song. You also use
the KDFXMode:CTRL page to change dither and digital word size settings.

Soft Buttons: Configuring Bypasses

You can individually bypass any of the EQ and effects inputs, and also mute any of the FXBuses
(the four insert FXBuses and the AuxFX bus). In the enabled state, nothing is muted or bypassed.
The K2600/K2500 always starts up in the enabled state.

Use these soft buttons to perform bypasses and muting:

EQBYP Displays EQ Bypass page, where you can bypass the EQ on each individual

input bus.

FXBYP Displays FX Bypass page, where you can bypass the effects on individual

FXBuses.

BUSMUT Displays the BusMute page, where you can mute the output of individual

FXBuses.

BypAll/Enable Toggles between enabled state and default bypass state (all buses bypassed,

none muted). If you have created a custom bypass scene, BypAll resets it to
the default bypass state. See page 1-8 for information on creating a custom
bypass scene.

You may also use either of the Chan/Bank buttons to toggle between enabled
and bypassed states. This will often be preferable, since Chan/Bank, unlike
BypAll, does not reset the bypass state to the default (all buses bypassed,
none muted). Instead, Chan/Bank toggles between the enabled state and any
custom bypass scene you may have created, allowing you to audition a studio
with and without bypasses.

1-4

Effects Bus Editor

The revised FXBus Editor lets you create effects Preset chains on any of the four stereo effects
buses. See page 1-11 for more information about chaining effects.

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:3|Free:0|<>FXBus:1

|||||qWWWWT|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX1|!kRvrb©!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h|
|||||CVVVVB|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX:|1|NiceLittleBooth|||||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:42%wet|||||||||||||||||||||||
Out|Gain||:0.0dB|||||||||||Alloc:Auto|||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add||Remove||more>

Figure 1-2 Effects Bus Editor display -- single effect

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:1|Free:0|<>FXBus:1

|||||qWWWWT|||qwwwwt|||qwwwwt|||qwwwwt||
FX1|!kRvrb©!!!kChorg!!!kDly|g!!!kFlngg!h
|||||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB||
FX:|1|NiceLittleBooth|||||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:42%wet|||||||||||||||||||||||
Out|Gain||:0.0dB|||||||||||Alloc:Auto|||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add||Remove||more>

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Effects Bus Editor

Figure 1-3 Effects Bus Editor display -- four chained effects

The Add and Remove buttons allow you to define your own chains of effects using up to four
FX Presets. The Add button creates an effects block (shown as a box) to the right of the current
cursor position in the effects chain. You can use a total of four effects in any studio, so if you
create a four-block effects chain on a bus then you won’t be able to use any effects on the other
buses in that studio. Your K2500/K2600 keeps track of effects usage for you, and won’t let you
add an effects block to a bus if you’re already max’ed out.

The Remove button deletes the effects block that the FXBUS editor cursor is on. Adding and
deleting effects blocks may cause audio glitches in any signal path and should not be done
during critical listening.

Each FX Preset in an effect chain has two “override” parameters (BusMods) that are displayed
when that FX block is selected. By selecting the name of an override parameter (e.g., Wet/Dry),
you can scroll to choose from any other available parameter.

Each effect also has its full complement of real time modulators as defined and displayed in the
Program and Setup editors.

1-5

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Effects Send Page

Effects Send Page

The FXSEND page lets you send the output of each stereo effects bus to the stereo mixdown and
auxiliary buses.

In KDFX V1, these sends were on the EditStudio:FXBUS page.

EditStudio:FXSEND|||||||||||||<>FXBus:1|

|||||!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h

||||||0wwwwt||||||||||0wwwwt|||||||||
||||||KAux|1||||||||||KMix|1|||||||||
||||||CVVVVB||||||||||CVVVVB|||||||||
|||||||Aux|Lvl:0.0dB|||Mix|Lvl:0.0dB||||
|||||||Aux|Pan:0%||||||Mix|Pan:0%|||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
<more||FXSEND|AUXFX|OUTPUT|||||||||more>

Figure 1-4 Effects Bus Send display

1-6

The CTRL Page

The CTRL page is where you set a variety of important parameters for KDFX, including the
Effects Control Mode (FXCtrl) for the current studio; this parameter was known as FX Mode in
KDFX V1, and its function is the same in KDFX V2.

As in KDFX V1, the CTRL page is also where you set the FX Channel and set the Dither level for
the current studio. Depending on the options you have installed, this is also where you’ll be able
to change word length for digital output.

KDFXMode:CTRL||||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio:49|Sndboard|Room|Hall||||||||||||
FXCtrl:Auto|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FXChan:Current||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dither:Medium|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MAIN||CTRL|||EQBYP||FXBYP||BUSMUT|Enable

Figure 1-5 Effects Control page

Effects Control Mode (FXCtrl)

FXCtrl determines how the K2500/K2600 selects studios as you change programs or setups, and
determines whether you have real-time control over studio parameters—in other words,
whether FXMods are active.

Introducing KDFX Version 2

The CTRL Page

If the value of FXCtrl is Program or Auto, then as you change programs in Program mode, the
K2500/K2600 also loads the studio linked with that program. This activates all the FXMods
defined within the program. If the value of FXCtrl is Setup or Auto, then as you change setups
in Setup mode, the K2500/K2600 also loads the studio linked with that setup. This activates all
the FXMods defined within the setup. If the value of FXCtrl is Auto, and the value of FX Chan is
Current, then when you’re in Program, Setup, Quick Access, or Song mode, programs, setups
and songs automatically use their corresponding studios. In Program, Setup, and Quick Access
modes, the studio corresponds to the current program or setup. In Song mode, the studio
corresponds to the program on the song’s assigned effects channel (which is determined by the
value of the EffectChan parameter on the COMMON page in the Song Editor).

If the value of FXCtrl is Master, changing programs or setups does not load an associated studio;
the current studio is defined by the Studio parameter on the Effects Mode page. Any FXMods
defined in the current program or setup are inactive.

Effects Control in Embedded Editors

In the parlance of V.A.S.T., an embedded editor is an editor that you enter while you are already
in another editor. An example of this would be entering the KDFX Studio Editor while you are
already in the Program Editor. In this sort of situation, an editor may function differently than if
you had entered it directly from a performance mode.

When you enter the KDFX Studio Editor from within another editor (for example, you are
already in the Program Editor when you press the Effects button), KDFX will revert FXCtrl to
Auto and FXChan to Current if you attempt to perform an operation that the software doesn’t
support. For example, you cannot change a program’s assigned studio by pressing the Effects
button to enter the KDFX Editor while you are already within the Program Editor. If you set
FXCtrl to Master you will be able to audition different studios, but the software will not let you
change a studio. The correct way to change the studio used by a program is to press the KDFX
soft button from within the Program Editor.

1-7

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Bypass and Mute pages

Bypass and Mute pages

In KDFX V1, you could perform a global bypass by pressing the Effects button while inside an
editor. You could not bypass effects outside of an editor.

With KDFX V2, you can bypass effects buses, inside or outside of an editor, by pressing the
Effects button followed by either the BypAll soft button or one of the Chan/Bank buttons.
Although similar, the two methods are slightly different:

• The BypAll soft button globally bypasses all effects buses, and also r esets the default bypass
state to bypass all buses. When you press this soft button it changes into the Enable soft
button, allowing you to toggle between the state where all buses are bypassed and the state
where all are enabled.

• Either Chan/Bank button toggles between the enabled state and the current bypass state.
The current bypass state is either the default (all buses bypassed) or the custom bypass
scene you have created. See the section that follows for information about creating a bypass
scene.

Pressing the Effects button again, or pressing Exit, puts you back where you were.

Creating a Custom Bypass Scene

You create a custom bypass “scene” (e.g., effects bypassed on one bus, but not on the other
three) by using the soft buttons on the EQBYP, FXBYP, and BUSMUT pages to isolate sounds or
effects. You can then toggle between an all-enabled state and your custom scene by pressing
either of the Chan/Bank buttons (to the left of the display) while in KDFX Mode.

The system indicates whether anything at all is bypassed or muted by showing “Bypass” at the
far right of the top line on the display; if nothing is bypassed, this field shows “Enable.” Any
settings from the FXBYP page are also indicated on the KDFXMode:MAIN page as either a “B”
(bypassed) or a “-” (enabled). EQ Bypass and Bus Mute settings, however, are not indicated on
the KDFXMode:MAIN page. If you exit this mode with anything bypassed, the Effects button's
red LED stays lit to remind you that something is not active.

1-8

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Bypass and Mute pages

The EQBYP Page

KDFXMode:EQBYP|||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio:113|PltEnvFI4T|Plate|||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
EQ|A|||LoShelf-HiShelf||||||||||||||:In|
EQ|B|||LoShelf-HiShelf||||||||||||||:Out
EQ|C|||Lopass1-HiShelf||||||||||||||:In|
EQ|D|||Hipass1-Lopass1||||||||||||||:In|
MAIN||EQ|A|||EQ|B|||EQ|C|||EQ|D|||||||||

Figure 1-6 EQ Bypass Page

The MAIN soft button takes you to the KDFXMode:MAIN page. The soft buttons EQ A, EQ B,
EQ C, and EQ D toggle the bypass/active status for the EQ on the corresponding input buses.

The EQBYP page looks a little different when there are mono inputs to the studio. In this case,
press the L/R soft button to toggle between left and right mono inputs for a bus.

KDFXMode:EQBYP|||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio:113*PltEnvFI4T|Plate|||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
EQ|A/L|LoShelf-HiShelf||||||||||||||:In|
EQ|B|||LoShelf-HiShelf||||||||||||||:Out
EQ|C|||Lopass1-HiShelf||||||||||||||:In|
EQ|D|||Hipass1-Lopass1||||||||||||||:In|
MAIN||EQ|A/L|EQ|B|||EQ|C|||EQ|D|||L/R||||

Figure 1-7 EQ Bypass Page with Mono Inputs

The FX Bypass Page

KDFXMode:FXBYP|||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio:113|PltEnvFI4T|Plate|||||||||||||
FX1|||43|Plebe|Chamber||||||||||:Active
FX2|||158|Soft|Chorus|||||||||||:ByPass
FX3|||2|Stereo|Echoes|||||||||||:Active
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aux|||31|Platey|Room||||||||||||:Active|
MAIN||FXBus1|FXBus2|FXBus3||||||||AuxFX|

Figure 1-8 FX Bypass Page

The MAIN soft button takes you to the MAIN page. The FX1–FX4 and AuxFX soft buttons
toggle Bypass/Active status for the effect on the corresponding bus.

1-9

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Bypass and Mute pages

The Bus Mute Page

KDFXMode:BUSMUT||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio:113|PltEnvFI4T|Plate|||||||||||||
FXBus1||43|Plebe|Chamber|||||||||:Active
FXBus2|158|Soft|Chorus|||||||||||:Muted|
FXBus3|||2|Stereo|Echoes|||||||||:Muted|
FXBus4|||---|||||||||||||||||||||:Active
AuxFX|||31|Platey|Room|||||||||||:Active
MAIN||FXBus1|FXBus2|FXBus3|FXBus4|AuxFX|

Figure 1-9 Bus Mute Page

The MAIN soft button takes you to the KDFXMode:MAIN page. The soft buttons
FXBus1–FXBus4 and AuxFX toggle the mute/active status for the corresponding input buses.

1-10

Chaining Effects

One of the most powerful new features in KDFX V2 is effects chaining, which allows you to
send a signal through four consecutive KDFX effects. The screen below shows an example of
this:

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:1|Free:0|<>FXBus:1

|||||qWWWWT|||qwwwwt|||qwwwwt|||qwwwwt||
FX1|!kRvrb©!!!kChorg!!!kDly|g!!!kFlngg!h
|||||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB||
FX:|1|NiceLittleBooth|||||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:42%wet|||||||||||||||||||||||
Out|Gain||:0.0dB|||||||||||Alloc:Auto|||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add||Remove||more>

Figure 1-10 Effects Bus Editor display -- four chained effects

Effects chaining allows the 4 PAUs of processing shared among Buses 1-4 of a Studio to be used
in series. You can chain one FX Preset into another, into another, up to four in a row, until you
run out of PAUs. This is done by removing processing “blocks” from one bus, and adding them
to another. As no effect is less than 1 PAU, and only 4 PAUs are available across Buses 1-4, any
Studio may have a maximum of 4 blocks, arranged however you please, in which to select
Presets (not counting the Aux bus which is unaffected by chaining).

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Chaining Effects

The FXBUS page has changed in KDFX V2 to allow for effect chaining. The chained effects are
shown at the top of the display (underneath the top menu line). As an example, start from
Program Mode, press the Effects button, then select Studio 700 Flanger Trio:

KDFXMode:MAIN||||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio:700|Flanger|Trio|||||||||||Free:0
FX1a||180|Ned|Flangers||||||||-|||Size:1
||1b||172|Sweet|Flange||||||||-|||Size:1
||1c||181|Wispy|Flange||||||||-|||Size:1
||1d||40|SmallDrumChamber|||||-|||Size:1
Aux|||108|Roomitizer||||||||||-|||Size:2
MAIN||CTRL|||EQBYP||FXBYP||BUSMUT|Enable|

You can see that this studio has three flange effects, followed by a reverb. The effects are
numbered 1a through 1d to indicate that they are all part of FXBUS 1, instead of four separate
effects buses. Now press Edit to go into the Studio Editor. The top of the display shows the four
effects chained together . Each block contains an abbr eviation based on the algorithm used by the
Preset:

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:1|Free:0|<>FXBus:1

|||||qWWWWT|||qwwwwt|||qwwwwt|||qwwwwt||
FX1|!kFlng©!!!kFlngg!!!kFlngg!!!kRvrbg!h
|||||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB||
FX:|180|Ned|Flangers||||||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:42%wet|||||||||||||||||||||||
Out|Gain||:0.0dB|||||||||||Alloc:Auto|||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add||Remove||more>

The name of the FX Preset for the currently highlighted block is now shown underneath the
signal path graphics. In this example, you will see the FX Preset Ned Flangers if the first block is
highlighted. You still have 2 Bus Overrides (or Bus Mods) per block, which appear just below
the name of the Preset.

1-11

Introducing KDFX Version 2

Chaining Effects

Use the left and right cursor buttons to select each block. When a block is selected, move the
alpha wheel or press the + or - buttons to select a different FX Preset (you can also change the
Preset by cursoring to the full name of the Preset after the FX: label).

Notice that the unhighlighted blocks have a box around them. This shows they are active. Since
this studio has 4 blocks, each block can use only 1 PAU. If you select an effect that uses more
than one PAU, one of the blocks will become inactive and the box surrounding that block will
disappear . For example, if you change the first block to FX Preset 183 Narr owResFlange, the box
around block 4 disappears. The top line of the display shows you this FX Preset uses 2 PAUs. As
in the past, if the Allocation parameter is set to Auto, the lower number blocks have pr ecedence,
so block 4 is the one that becomes inactive. If you highlight block 4 at this point, you will see the
FX Preset shown in parenthesis, again showing it is not active.

The Chan/Bank buttons still move you through the four FXBUSes as in KDFX V1. Since no
effects are available in this case, you will see a line with no blocks on them if you look at any bus
except FXBUS 1. You can still use a bus to send another signal to the AUX without the chain, by
the way, since KDFX has been designed to offer you maximum flexibility.

Gain Staging in Effects Chains

When chaining Presets together, it is sometimes necessary to adjust the levels between blocks,
most often to pad the level going into the next block to prevent unwanted clipping. While most
algorithms have both an In Gain and an Out Gain parameter, In Gain is not selectable as a Bus
Mod. In fact, any Preset beyond the first in a chain cannot use In Gain, and will display the value
inside the Preset in parentheses. We suggest, when necessary, choosing Out Gain as a Bus Mod
to adjust the output level of an effect, instead of trying to pad the input of the following effect.
Of course, you can always edit FX Presets directly and customize them for your chain.

Checking Out Some Chains

For examples of studios with chains, check out studios 700-719. By setting the FX Ctrl parameter
(KDFXMode:CTRL page) to Master, and the OutPair parameter (MIDIMode:Channels page) to
KDFX-A, you can scroll through Programs on a given MIDI channel and audition these studios
as they were intended to be heard, with a variety of input source material.

1-12

KDFX V2 Objects

Listed below are the new KDFX Objects added with version 5.xx (K2500) or 3.xx (K2600) of the
Base Objects file. These include new FX Algorithms, Presets, and Studios added to the
K2500/K2600 with the new object files. Objects marked “Additional XX new to K2500” were
previously available in the K2600 but not in the K2500.

New FX Algorithms

138 Degen Regen BPM 792 Gate+TubeAmp
139 Switch Loops 914 Reverse LaserVrb
140 Moving Delay 915 Gated LaserVerb
161 Allpass Phaser 3 916 Poly Pitcher
741 Rotor 1 917 Frequency Offset
742 VC+Dist+HiLoRot2 918 MutualFreqOffset
743 Subtle Distort 919 WackedPitchLFO
744 Quantize+Alias 920 Chaos!
745 Pitcher+Miniverb 948 Band Compress
746 Reverb+Compress 949 CompressDualTime
781 St Chorus+Delay 971 3 Band EQ
784 St Flange+Delay 972 HF Stimulate 1
790 Gate+Cmp[EQ]+Vrb 975 HarmonicSuppress

Introducing KDFX Version 2

KDFX V2 Objects

Additional FX Algorithms new to K2500

738 VC+Dist+1Rotor 2
739 VC+Dist+HiLoRotr
740 VC+T ube+Rotor 4

New FX Studios

700 Flanger Trio 710 Blues/R&R Guitar
701 Thin Cloud Layer 711 Clean Rhythm Gtr
702 Fazetortion 712 Sweeping Verb
703 Ultraphasulate 713 Pad Ambience
704 Chutney Squishy 714 Coming of Dawn
705 BuddMeetsTomita 715 Wide Raindrops
706 2 Buses 2 Chains 716 Robot Voice
707 RingMod Envelope 717 Before The Crash
708 Drum Megashaper 718 Piano Multi-Verb
709 Dist Lead Guitar 719 Mastering Studio

1-13

Introducing KDFX Version 2

KDFX V2 Objects

Additional FX Studios new to K2500

167 auxChorEnvF Hall 182 auxFlgChDl Hall
168 auxChRvEncr Chor 183 auxDstLsr CDR
169 auxChrDstEQ Room 184 CPDlEnFltCmpGtRv
170 aux ChDlSRS Hall 185 RotoOrgFX2 Hall
171 aux EQFlng DstEQ 186 ChDlFlPtLzVb Plt
172 auxFlngPhsr Lasr 188 CDR FlgRvb Hall
173 auxFlShQFlg Hall 190 DistRoom GrphEQ
174 auxFlgDist+ Room 191 Enh Ch 4T Hall
175 aux GtVbFl4T Bth 192 FiltCmpExpFl CDR
176 auxRvRvQFlg Hall 193 LzVbFlDstEQ Room
177 auxRvRbShapeChmb 194 PhseDist Room
178 auxSpinMDly Room 195 ChDlyRvFlRv Hall
179 aux SweepEchoBth 196 RmRotr&DstChrPlt
180 auxRoto&DsFDRPlt 197 Clear Studio
181 auxRot&Ds2FDRPlt

1-14

New FX Presets

104 Cool Dark Place 793 Very Nazty Rotor
105 Gunshot Verb 794 80's Funk Guitar
106 Rvrb Compression 795 Mean 70'sFunkGtr
107 Snappy Drum Room 796 Crunch Guitar
108 Roomitizer 797 Classic Gtr Dist
109 Live T o Tape 798 SaturatedGtrDist
123 Rvrs Laserverb 799 TubeDist DlyChor
124 Growler 928 Gated Laserverb
125 Ringy Drum Plate 929 Waterford
126 Oil Tank 930 A little dirty
127 Wobbly Plate 931 Slight Overload
128 Pitcher Hall 932 Blown Speaker
129 DistantPitchRoom 933 Ring Linger
139 Fanfare In Gmaj 934 Drum Shaper
140 Basic Delay 1/8 935 Aliaser
141 Diffuse Slaps 936 Quantize+Alias1
142 Multitaps ms 937 Quantize+Alias2
143 Timbre T aps 938 Drum Mortar
144 Ecko Plecks 939 Superphasulate
145 Degenerator 940 Rich Noodle
146 Nanobot Feedback 941 Nickel Chorus
147 Takes a while... 942 HF Stimulator
148 Wait for UFO 943 OddHarmSuppress
149 News Update 944 AM Radio
162 Full Chorus 945 U-Shaped EQ
163 Dense Gtr Chorus 946 Drum Crusher
164 Standrd Gtr Chor 947 Vocal Room
165 Bass Chorus 948 Vocal Stage
166 StChorus+Delay 949 Mid Compressor
167 StChor+3vs2Delay 981 Poly Pitcher
168 CDR for Lead Gtr 982 CheapVoxChanger
169 PinchChorusDelay 983 Hip Hop Aura
179 Soft Edge Flange 984 Woodenize
180 Ned Flangers 985 Marimbafication
181 Wispy Flange 986 Frequency Offset
182 Crystal Flange 987 Drum Loosener
183 NarrowResFlange 988 Drum Tightener
184 TightSlapFlange 989 V ox Honker
185 Flanged Taps 990 Glacial Canyon
186 StFlange+Delay 991 Spring Thing
187 StFlng+3vs2Delay 992 Contact
188 Singing Flanger 993 Drum Frightener
189 DampedEchoFlange 994 Mad Hatter
197 Slippery Slope 995 Fallout
198 Westward W av es 996 Ascension
791 Slow Res Rotor 997 60Hz Buzz Kill
792 Smooth Rotors

Introducing KDFX Version 2

KDFX V2 Objects

1-15

Introducing KDFX Version 2

KDFX V2 Objects

Additional FX Presets new to K2500

11 Viewing Booth 817 Non-Linear 846 Flange Echo
122 Reverse Reverb 2 818 Slapverb 847 Rotary Club
196 Static Phaser 819 Full Bass 848 Rotary Hall
782 VibrChrDstRotor1 820 Room + Delay 849 Chorus
783 VibrChrDstRotor2 821 Delay Big Hall 850 Soundbrd/rvb
784 VibChrDstRotor3 822 Chorus Room 851 Percussive Room
785 FullVbChTubeRotr 823 Chorus Smallhall 852 Brt Empty Room
786 ChorDlyHall 2 824 Chorus Med Hall 853 Mosque Room
787 Flange Hall 2 825 Chorus Big Hall 854 New Gated
788 SpeeChorusDeep 826 Chor-Delay Room 855 Chorus Slap Room
789 Fluid Wash 827 Chor-Delay Hall 856 Chorus Bass Room
790 VC+DistRotor 828 Flange-Dly Room 857 New Chorus Hall
800 Sweet Hall 829 Flange-Dly Hall 858 Spacious
801 Small Hall 830 Stereo Chorus 859 Wash Lead
802 Medium Hall 831 Stereo Flanger 860 New Hall w/Delay
803 Large Hall 832 Stereo Delay 861 Rich Delay
804 Big Gym 833 4-Tap Delay 862 Glass Delay
805 Bright Plate 1 834 Chorus Delay 863 Real Plate
806 Opera House 835 Flange Delay 864 Real Niceverb
807 Live Chamber 836 Chorus 4-Tap 865 ClassicalChamber
808 Bathroom 837 Flange 4 Tap 866 Empty Stage
809 Med Large Room 838 Chorus Echo 867 Long & Narrow
810 Real Room 839 Chorus Echoverb 868 Far Bloom
811 Drum Room 840 Fast Flange 869 Floyd Hall
812 Small Dark Room 841 Wash 870 With A Mic
813 Small Closet 842 Into The Abyss 926 Simple Lazerverb
814 Add Ambience 843 Space Flanger 927 TripFilter
815 Gated Reverb 844 Flange Room 979 Simple Panner
816 Reverse Reverb 845 Predelay Hall 980 Big Bass EQ

1-16

Chapter 2
A Tour of KDFX V2

Let’s take a tour through several KDFX V2 studios. After you do this, you should have a pretty
good idea of what it’s like to work with Effects mode.

Note: If you have a K2600, the information in this chapter replaces the information on 9-12
through 9-26 in the Rev. A K2600 Musician’s Guide; If you’r e a K2500 user, the information in this
chapter replaces pages 2-1 through 2-14 of the KDFX User’s Guide.

Load the Tutorial files

From the K2600 Demos disk that came with your K2600, load the file KDFXTUTR.K26 into
bank 200...299. K2500 users should load the file TUTOR1B.K25 from their KDFX Objects disk.
You can use a different bank if you like, but then your numbers and the ones in this chapter will
be different.

1. Insert the disk into the drive

2. Press Disk to go into Disk mode

3. Set Current Disk to Floppy

4. Press Load

5. Cursor down to KDFXTUTR.K26 (or TUTOR1B.K25)

6. Press OK

7. In the “Load this file as:” dialog, select 200...299

8. Press OK

9. Press OverWrt (this will erase all objects in the 200s bank, so you should save anything
you want to keep before doing this; press Cancel if you want to save objects before
proceeding). If the 200s bank is empty, then OverWrt will not be displayed as an option; in
this case, you should select Append.

10. Press Exit to get back to Program mode.

A Tour of KDFX V2

A Simple Studio

A Simple Studio

Call up Program #199 on your K2600/K2500. In Program mode, either scroll the Alpha wheel to
Program 199 Default Program, or press 1-9-9-Enter on the Alphanumeric pad.

Now go into Effects mode by pressing the Effects button, and you’ll see this page:

KDFXMode:MAIN|||FXCtrl:Auto|||||<>Enable

Studio:199|Default|Studio|||||||||Free:4
FX1|||199|No|Effect|||||||||||-|||Size:0
FX2|||199|No|Effect|||||||||||-|||Size:0
FX3|||199|No|Effect|||||||||||-|||Size:0
|
Aux|||199|No|Effect||||||||||||-||Size:0

MAIN||CTRL|||EQBYP||FXBYP||BUSMUT|BypAll

Now press the CTRL soft button. A screen such as this one will appear:

KDFXMode:CTRL||||FXCtrl:Auto||||<>Enable

Studio:199|Default|Studio|||||||||||
FXCtrl:Auto|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FXChan:Current|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dither:Medium||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MAIN|||CTRL|||EQBYP||FXBYP||BUSMUT|BypAll

Scroll the Alpha wheel until the Studio parameter’s value is 200 Simple.

The FXBus Page

Now press Edit, and this page appears:

EditStudio:FXBus|Size:1|Free:3|<>FXBus:1

|||||qWWWWT|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX1|!kDly|©!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h|
|||||CVVVVB|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX:|200*4|Tap|BPM|||||||||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:35%wet|||||||||||||||||||||||
Tempo|||||:120BPM||||||||||Alloc:Auto|||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add||Remove||more>

This is the FXBus page for FXBus1. It is where an FX preset is assigned to the FXBus. Put the
cursor on the box containing 200*4 Tap BPM—this is the current FX preset, a four-tap delay
whose speed is expressed in terms of tempo (Beats Per Minute). Use the Alpha wheel to scroll
through the many other FX presets that come with KDFX. Like all K2600/K2500 objects, those
that are in RAM (like this one) will have an asterisk in their name, and those that are in ROM
will not. There are three more FXBuses, which you can view by pressing the Chan/Bank
buttons. In this studio they are all empty (No Effect).

Go back to 4 Tap BPM on FXBus1, and play the piano sound from your keyboard. The arrow
next to FX1 flashes, showing that there is audio passing through this FXBus. The arrow keeps
flashing as long as the FXBus is processing audio.

Below the FX preset selector is a Wet/Dry control, which determines how much of the signal
will pass through the FX preset. Below that is a Tempo control, which sets the timing of the

2-2

A Tour of KDFX V2

A Simple Studio

delays. These parameters are called “bus overrides,” because they override parameters which
are actually inside the FX preset itself—these parameters can be adjusted from inside the
FX preset, or they can be set from out here, where they are much mor e convenient. If you change
FX presets, these values change, because their values inside the various FX presets are all
different. There will be more about bus overrides a little later in this chapter.

Allocation

The Allocation parameter determines how many processor allocation units (PAUs) are reserved
for this FXBus. The number of PAUs an FX preset uses is dependent on the algorithm at the core
of the FX preset. Algorithms can use anywhere from 1 to 4 PAUs, depending on their
complexity. As you scroll through the FX presets, the number of PAUs required by each one is
shown on the top line of the display (Size:), along with the number of PAUs that are available
(Free:) for other algorithms.

The 4 insert FXBuses have 4 PAUs to share among them, so if any bus uses more than one PAU,
it means that some buses cannot be assigned an FX preset. This is a very common situation, as
you shall see. The Aux bus has its own set of 3 PAUs, which are completely independent and are
not shared with the insert FXBus PAUs.

You can preassign a PAU value to an FXBus, in which case any FX presets that require more
PAUs than you have given the bus cannot be loaded into the bus. If you try to put an FX preset
into a bus that requires more PAUs than are currently available on that bus, the preset’s name
appears in parentheses—exactly the way a KB3 program appears if you try to select it on a
channel that’s not the KB3 channel.

In most factory studios, the Allocation parameters are set to Auto, in which case PAUs are
assigned dynamically as you assign FX presets to the various buses. As you unassign FX presets
from buses, or assign FX presets with smaller PAU requirements, the PAUs freed up are
automatically reassigned to other buses where they are needed.

A value of Auto for this parameter allocates PAUs to lower-numbered FXBuses first, as needed.

The INPUT Page

Press the soft button labeled INPUT. This page appears:

EditStudio:INPUT||||||||||||<>Input:||A|

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||y

SP

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||VVVVVVVV

||||qwwwwwwwtqwwwwwwwtqwwwwww†qwwwwwwtÓ|||||||
||A!kLoShelfgkHiShelfjkFXBus1fONone||g»||||||
||||CVVVVVVVBCVVVVVVVM<>>>>>>S?VVVVVVB

|||G:0.0dB||G:6.0dB||Lvl:-6.0d
|||F:123Hz||F:1568Hz|Pan:0%
|||||||||||||||||||||Wid:100%|||||||||||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS||||||||||||||||more>

This is the INPUT page. It is showing Input A, as indicated both on the left side and in the upper
right corner—use the Chan/Bank buttons to view the other three inputs. Input A is the first
stereo signal pair coming from the K2600/K2500 Program Editor’s Output section. Depending
on how the K2600/K2500 is set up, this could be a single layer of a single program, or multiple
layers, or multiple programs, or one or more zones from a setup, or the output fr om one or more
MIDI channels.

2-3

A Tour of KDFX V2

A Simple Studio

The S at the upper left says that the Input A is being handled as a stereo feed; this can be
changed to two mono feeds. The P means that the stereo feed has a Pan control; you can choose
to make this a Balance control instead, by setting this parameter to SB.

If you play on the keyboard, you can see the arrow next to the letter A flashing, as audio is being
passed through this part of the studio. The arrow on this page flashes only as long as there is an
input signal present.

Equalization

The first two blocks are the low and high EQs on the input. Put the cursor on either box and turn
the Alpha wheel, and you will see the options you have available for types of EQ—these include
None, which bypasses that EQ. The first block has more choices than the second.

The G underneath each block is its Gain; 0.0dB is unity gain; the signal passes through without
change. (There is no Gain parameter when a block is set to LoPass or HiPass.) F is the equalizer’s
frequency. In the input section for this example, the high frequencies are boosted 6.0 dB above
1568 Hz.

Sends

The third and fourth blocks determine the destinations of the Input A signal: each block can be
set to route the signal to any of the four insert FXBuses, or to None. You cannot, however, set
both blocks to the same destination.

The Lvl control is the FXBus send; it sets the level of the signal to the FXBus above it. In this
example, the level is backed off 6.0 dB, to compensate for the treble boost in the equalizer, so that
the signal doesn’t overload the FXBus.

Pan determines the position of the signal respective to the left and right sides. Width (which is
not shown when you are using mono inputs) determines how much the left and right sides’
signals will be separated or blended.

The FXSEND Page

Press the more> soft button to display additional soft buttons for this page. Then press FXSEND
to see the FXSEND page:

EditStudio:FXSEND|||||||||||||<>FXBus:1|

|||||!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h

||||||0wwwwt||||||||||0wwwwt|||||||||
FX1|||KAux|1||||||||||KMix|1|||||||||
||||||CVVVVB||||||||||CVVVVB|||||||||
|||||||Aux|Lvl:3.5dB|||Mix|Lvl:-4.5d|||||
|||||||Aux|Pan:0%||||||Mix|Pan:0%|||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
<more||FXSEND|AUXFX|OUTPUT|||||||||more>

Levels

There are two sets of level and pan controls from the FX preset to the output mixer. Use the first
set, Aux Lvl and Aux Pan, to specify how much of the sound will go to the global or Auxiliary
effects bus, and how its two channels are panned. On this FXBus, the signal to the Aux bus is
boosted 3.5 dB. The second set determines how much of the sound goes to the Mix bus. On this
FXBus, the Mix signal is attenuated -4.5 dB.

2-4

A Tour of KDFX V2

A Simple Studio

The AUXFX Page

Press the AUXFX soft button. This page appears:

EditStudio:AUXFX|Size:3|Free:0||||||||||

||||qWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW||||qwwwwt|!h
Aux!k204*Big|Chamber|||||||!!!!kMix|g!||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||CVVVVB|||

Wet/Dry|||:58%wet||||||||||||Lvl:0.0dB||
Out|Gain||:1.5dB|||||||||||||Bal:0%|||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
<more||FXSEND|AUXFX||OUTPUT||||||||more>

This is the Global AUXFX page, and shows us what is happening on the Auxiliary effects bus.
The Aux bus is a second processor, which follows the four insert FXBuses. It has its own
FX preset, with bus overrides, and level and balance controls to feed it into the Mix bus. It
doesn’t share PAUs with the FXBuses; it has three PAUs of its own, and consequently doesn’t
have an Allocation parameter. The Aux bus can be routed all by itself to an output, as we’ll see.
In this studio, the Aux bus contains a chamber reverb.

The OUTPUT Page

Press the OUTPUT soft button.

EditStudio:OUTPUT||||||||||||||||||||||||

Mix|Lvl:0.0dB||||||Output|A:Mix
Mix|Bal:0%|||||||||Output|B:FXBus1
|||||||||||||||||||Output|C:Off
|||||||||||||||||||Output|D:Off

<more||FXSEND|AUXFX||OUTPUT||||||||more>||

The OUTPUT page is the interface to the real world. It determines which of the signals going
through the various effects buses show up at the K2600/K2500’s four sets of physical outputs: A,
B, C, and D. These four outputs, all stereo, are both analog and digital (through the KDS bus).
Output A also goes to the K2600/K2500’s AES/EBU digital output.

In this studio, Output A is carrying the Mix, that is, the combination of the outputs of the four
FXBuses (only one of which is in use) and the Aux bus. Output B is carrying FXBus1, which is
the signal after it passes through the delay on FXBus1, but before it gets to the reverb on the Aux
bus. The other outputs are carrying no signal.

Note: If you’re using the Mix audio outputs, keep in mind they carry the summed signals of audio

outputs A through D. Normally you would assign each of the audio outputs differently. In the example
above, you might set Output B to Off, or Output A to AuxFx, to avoid applying the FXBus1 effect to the
entire program.

2-5

A Tour of KDFX V2

A More Complex Studio

Here’s a diagram of what this studio looks like:

Program
output A

-6dB

EQ

Figure 2-1 Structure of Studio 200*

A More Complex Studio

Press Exit as many times as necessary to get to Program mode. Call up Program 200
ElecPno/Flute. This is a split keyboard program: On Layer 1, which has been assigned to the

KDFX-A outputs, is an electric piano, whose key range goes up to B4. On Layer 2, which goes to
the KDFX-B outputs, is a flute, whose key range starts at C5.

Press the Effects mode button, then the CTRL soft button and set FXCtrl to Master. Then call up
Studio 201 RngMd/PFD/Plt. Press Edit to look inside of this studio.

FXBus1

On the first FXBus is an FX preset called 201*Tut Ring Mod. The algorithm this uses is a ring
modulator, which is a processor that takes the sounds coming into it and combines them with
static waveforms by adding and subtracting their frequencies, thereby creating interesting
nonharmonic effects. Notice that this FX preset uses 1 PAU.

FXBus1

4 Tap BPM

AuxFXBus

Big Chamber

+3.5dB

-4.5dB

Mix

+

Physical
output A

Output B

2-6

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:1|Free:1|<>FXBus:1

|||||qWWWWT|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX1||kRMod©!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h|
|||||CVVVVB|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX1:|201*Tut|Ring|Mod|||||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:90%wet|||||||||||||||||||||||
Out|Gain||:0.0dB||||||||||||Alloc:Auto||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add|||Remove|more>

As you play on the lower part of the keyboard, the arrow next to FX1 flashes, but as you play on
the upper part it doesn’t. That’s because the upper part of the keyboard (the flute sound) is
routed to a different FXBus.

Bus Overrides

There are two FX preset parameters on this page: Wet/Dry mix and Output Gain. These
parameters actually exist inside the FX preset, and are placed on this page so you can control
them without editing the FX preset itself. These are bus overrides, as described earlier. You can
change both the value of the override parameter and the name of the parameter that shows up in
the bus override: to select a different parameter, simply highlight its name and scroll the Alpha
wheel. As you do so, you will see the other parameters inside the FX preset that can be brought
out to this page.

A Tour of KDFX V2

A More Complex Studio

These overrides (that is, which parameters are available, and their values) are stored as part of
the studio, not as part of the FX preset, and therefore you don’t have to create new FX presets
just because you want to change a couple of parameters. There are two bus overrides available
for each of the four insert FXBuses and the Aux bus.

If you don’t want any parameter control on this page, select the parameter’s names, then scroll
the Alpha wheel until you see None.

FXBus2

Press the Chan/Bank Up button to get to FXBus2:

EditStudio:FXBus|Size:2|Free:1|<>FXBus:1

|||||qWWWWT|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX2|!kFDRv©!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h|
|||||CVVVVB|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX:|202*Flg+Dly145BPM|||||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:90%wet|||||||||||||||||||||||
Out|Gain||:-2.5dB|||||||||||Alloc:Auto||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add|||Remove|more>

On this bus is an FX preset called Flg+Dly145BPM, which uses a combination algorithm that
has flanging, delay, and a reverb all rolled into one. The 145BPM part refers to the fact that the
delay times are based on a tempo of 145 BPM,

As you play the flute sound, the arrow next to FX2 flashes, and it keeps on flashing as long as the
various feedback delays are sounding. It doesn’t flash when you play on the lower part of the
keyboard.

This FX preset uses 2 PAUs. Along with the 1 PAU in use on FXBus 1, this makes 3 of the 4
available PAUs accounted for, so the Free parameter has a value of 1.

Press more>, then FXSEND to see that the output configuration of this FXBus has the signal
going to the Aux bus attenuated by -9.5 dB, and going to the main Mix bus at unity gain.

The other two FXBuses are empty, which you can confirm by pressing the Chan/Bank buttons a
few times.

Inputs

Now let’s look at the inputs to the FXBuses. Press <more, followed by the INPUT soft button,
and see this page:

EditStudio:INPUT||||||||||||<>Input:||A|

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||y

SP

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||VVVVVVVV

||||qwwwwwwwtqwwwwwwwtqwwwwww†qwwwwwwtÓ|||||||
||A!kLoShelfgkHiShelfjkFXBus1fONone||g»||||||
||||CVVVVVVVBCVVVVVVVM<>>>>>>S?VVVVVVB

|||G:12.0dB|G:0.0dB||Lvl:0.0d
|||F:370Hz||F:1047Hz|Pan:0%
|||||||||||||||||||||Wid:100%|||||||||||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS||||||||||||||||more>

Input A carries the electric piano, coming from the program’s KDFX-A outputs. Play on the
piano part of the keyboard, and the arrow next to A flashes.

2-7

A Tour of KDFX V2

A More Complex Studio

This input is configured to be stereo. It has a large bass boost: 12.0 dB of everything at 370 Hz
and below, which adds a strong low-frequency emphasis to the signal being ring-modulated. Its
signal is being sent only to the first FXBus. The stereo separation (Width) of the signal is at
maximum.

Use the Chan/Bank Up button to go to Input B.

EditStudio:INPUT||||||||||||<>Input:||B|

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||y

SP

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||VVVVVVVV

||||qwwwwwwwtqwwwwwwwtqwwwwww†qwwwwwwtÓ|||||||
||B!kLoShelfgkHiShelfjkFXBus2fONone||g»||||||
||||CVVVVVVVBCVVVVVVVM<>>>>>>S?VVVVVVB

|||G:0.0dB||G:4.0dB||Lvl:0.0dB
|||F:123Hz||F:3136Hz|Pan:0%
|||||||||||||||||||||Wid:100%|||||||||||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS||||||||||||||||more>

This is the flute, coming from the program’s KDFX-B outputs. It is also stereo. The incoming
signal has a strong treble boost on it. It is sent directly to FXBus2 at unity gain and full width.
Play on the flute part of the keyboard, and the arrow next to B flashes.

The other two inputs, C and D, are not assigned to any FXBus.

AuxFX Bus

Now let’s look at the Auxiliary FX Bus (Aux bus). Press more>, then the AUXFX soft button to
look at its page.

EditStudio:AUXFX|Size:3|Free:0||||||||||

||||qWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW||||qwwwwt|!h
Aux!k203*MedWarmPlate||||||!!!!kMix|g!||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||CVVVVB|||

Wet/Dry|||:100%wet|||||||||||Lvl:0.0dB||
Out|Gain||:0.0dB|||||||||||||Bal:0%|||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
<more||FXSEND|AUXFX||OUTPUT||||||||more>

Here is an FX preset called MedWarmPlate, which is just what it sounds like: a medium-sized,
warm-sounding plate reverb. It has two bus overrides, Wet/Dry mix, and Output Gain. The
Wet/Dry level is set to 100%, because the reverb can be applied to any of this studio’s FXBuses.
You set the actual wet/dry mix for these with the Aux and Mix levels on the FXSEND pages. By
keeping the reverb level on the Aux bus set to 100%, you avoid mixing in a non-reverbed signal
twice.

Since both Insert FXBuses have signal going to the Aux Bus, the arrow next to Aux will flash as
long as any signal processing is going on in either of the insert FXBuses.

2-8

A Tour of KDFX V2

A More Complex Studio

Outputs

Finally, press the OUTPUT soft button to get to the OUTPUT page. Here we see that the four
physical output pairs are each passing different parts of the studio. If the outputs are connected
to an external mixer , you can tr eat each of them separately: r ecording them on dif fer ent tracks of
a tape deck, sending them to different outboard processors, or mixing them differently in a
monitor mix.

EditStudio:OUTPUT||||||||||||||||||||||||

Mix|Lvl:0.0dB||||||Output|A:Mix
Mix|Bal:0%|||||||||Output|B:FXBus1
|||||||||||||||||||Output|C:FXBus2
|||||||||||||||||||Output|D:AuxFX

<more||FXSEND|AUXFX||OUTPUT||||||||more>||

Output A has the Mix bus. This is the combined output of the two FXBuses, plus the reverb on
the Aux bus. Its gain and balance are at unity.

Output B has the output of FXBus1, that is, the ring-modulated piano, without any reverb.
Output C has the output of FXBus2, the delayed/flanged/ flute, without any reverb.
Output D has the output of the Aux bus, which is just the reverb signal, with no dry component,

since the value of Wet/Dry on the AUXFX page is 100%.

Note: If you’re using the Mix audio outputs, keep in mind they carry the summed signals of audio

outputs A through D. Normally you would assign each of the audio outputs differently. In the example
above, you might set Outputs B through D to Off, or Output A to Off, to avoid overlapping assignments.

Here is the overall structure for this studio:

AuxFXBus

MedWarmPlate

-9.5dB

Mix

+

Physical
output A

Output B
Output C
Output D

Program
output A

output B

EQs

-5dB

Ptc+Flg+Dly145BP

FXBus1

Tut Ring Mod

FXBus2

-2.5dB

Figure 2-2 Structure of Studio 201

2-9

A Tour of KDFX V2

Chaining Effects

Chaining Effects

Now we’ll see how you can employ multiple effects on a single bus using the new chaining
feature in KDFX V2.

Start in Program Mode by highlighting Program 199 Default Program, then pressing the Ef fects
button. From the KDFXMode:MAIN page, select Studio 199 Default Studio (highlight the
Studio name, then scroll through the list or press 1-9-9-Enter on the Alphanumeric pad).

With the Studio name still highlighted, press the Edit button to enter the Studio Editor. As
shown below, you can see that there is an empty effects block on this bus and all 4 PAUs are still
available. If you’d like, you can press the Chan/Bank buttons to see that while there are other
empty blocks (although not on FXBus 4, since it is generally used as a dry bus or a pass-through
to the AUX FX), there are no effects on any of the buses in this studio.

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:0|Free:4|<>FXBus:1

||||qWWWWT||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX1!k||||©!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h|
||||CVVVVB||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FX:|199|No|Effect|||||||||||||||||||||||
None||||||:|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
None||||||:|||||||||||||||||Alloc:Auto||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add|||Remove|more>

Now press the Add soft button to add another empty effects block to this bus:

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:0|Free:4|<>FXBus:1

||||qwwwwt|||qWWWWT|||||||||||||||||||||
FX1!k||||g!!!k||||©!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h|
||||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||||||||||||||||||||
FX:|0|None||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
None||||||:|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
None||||||:|||||||||||||||||Alloc:Auto||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add|||Remove|more>

We’ll use a distortion preset for the first effect in this block. Use the cursor keys to highlight the
first effects block, then select Preset 763 SubtleDistortion:

EditStudio:FXBUS|Size:1|Free:3|<>FXBus:1

||||qWWWWT|||qwwwwt|||||||||||||||||||||
FX1!kDist©!!!k||||g!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!h|
||||CVVVVB|||CVVVVB|||||||||||||||||||||
FX:|763|SubtleDistortion||||||||||||||||
Wet/Dry|||:100%wet||||||||||||||||||||||
Out|Gain||:-24.0dB||||||||||Alloc:Auto||
<more||INPUT||FXBUS|||Add|||Remove|more>

You can see that the effects block now displays an abbreviation that indicates the type of effect,
while the lines below show the name of the specific effect preset, as well as the bus overrides
defined for this preset. As always, you can select one of the bus overrides and change it to be any
parameter of the effect’s underlying algorithm. You’ll probably want to keep the two overrides
here, however, since they offer useful control over the preset: Wet/Dry lets you quickly adjust
how much of the signal is effected, while Out Gain lets you boost or cut the audio level of this
effect as it enters the next effect in the chain.

2-10