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GigaStudio 4
User Manual
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Teac GigaStudio 4 User Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INSTALLING GIGASTUDIO 4..................................................................................................................5
Windows Operating Systems Compatibility ..............................................................................................................5
With Other Programs and Peripherals .........................................................................................................................6
Removing a Previous Installation of GigaStudio........................................................................................................8
Installing GigaStudio 4.....................................................................................................................................................9
Installing GigaStudio 4 Content.................................................................................................................................. 12
Getting Help .................................................................................................................................................................... 12
CHAPTER 2: USER INTERFACE BASICS...................................................................................................................13
Selecting MIDI Ports ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
Selecting Components with the Toolbar.................................................................................................................... 13
Changing Pane Heights: Splitter Bar..........................................................................................................................15
Changing Component (Window) Size ....................................................................................................................... 15
Floating and Docking Components ............................................................................................................................ 15
Other View Menu Options............................................................................................................................................ 18
Resetting User Interface Settings ................................................................................................................................. 21
Fader, Knob, and Slider Adjustments ......................................................................................................................... 21
CHAPTER 3: MIDI MIXER.............................................................................................................................................. 24
MIDI Basics...................................................................................................................................................................... 24
MIDI Mixer Parameters ................................................................................................................................................ 24
The MIDI Mixer: Loading, Unloading, Attaching, and Detaching Files ..............................................................26
Stack Properties .............................................................................................................................................................. 36
Channel Properties Window........................................................................................................................................ 40
CHAPTER4: QUICKSOUND EXPLORER ................................................................................................................... 44
Launching QuickSound.................................................................................................................................................. 45
Editing QuickSound Settings ....................................................................................................................................... 46
QuickSound ToolBar Buttons ...................................................................................................................................... 60
Convert Instruments to Giga4 ..................................................................................................................................... 61
CHAPTER 5: LOADED INSTRUMENTS VIEW......................................................................................................... 62
Showing and Hiding the Loaded Instruments View ................................................................................................62
Loaded Instruments View Information ...................................................................................................................... 63
Loading Instruments into the MIDI Mixer Via Drag-and-Drop .......................................................................... 63
Loaded Instruments View Context Menu.................................................................................................................. 63
Bank/Patch Assignment Window ............................................................................................................................... 64
CHAPTER 6: THE VIRTUAL KEYBOARD .................................................................................................................66
Apply ing the Virtual Keyboard ................................................................................................................................... 66
Showing and Hiding the Virtual Keyboard............................................................................................................... 66
Color Coding .................................................................................................................................................................. 67
Virtual Keyboard Range and Size Buttons................................................................................................................. 67
Resizing the Virtual Keyboard When Floating......................................................................................................... 68
Velocity Sensitiv ity Controls ...................................................................................................................................... 68
Master Tuning Control .................................................................................................................................................69
CHAPTER 7: QUICKEDIT............................................................................................................................................... 70
Opening QuickEdit......................................................................................................................................................... 70
QuickEdit Architecture ................................................................................................................................................. 71
The Keyboard Section.................................................................................................................................................... 72
Dimensions Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 76
Wave Display .................................................................................................................................................................. 79
Articulation Section: General Tab...............................................................................................................................81
Articulation Section: Amplitude/Pitch Tab............................................................................................................... 87
Articulation Section: Filter Tab ................................................................................................................................... 95
MIDI Control Section.................................................................................................................................................... 96
Filter Envelope Section................................................................................................................................................100
Articulation Section: Dyn Expression Tab..............................................................................................................105
Articulation Section: Loop Tab ..................................................................................................................................109
CHAPTER 8: DSP STATION ......................................................................................................................................... 113
DSP Station Tabs ..........................................................................................................................................................113
Input Tab.........................................................................................................................................................................113
Aux Send Controls .......................................................................................................................................................124
Dynamics Processor ....................................................................................................................................................127
Equalizer.........................................................................................................................................................................131
Aux Returns Tab ...........................................................................................................................................................138
Groups Tab..................................................................................................................................................................... 139
Output Masters Tab......................................................................................................................................................140
CHAPTER 9: NFX PLUG-INS .......................................................................................................................................142
NFX Common Attributes ........................................................................................................................................... 142
NFX-1 Reverb Parameters .......................................................................................................................................... 147
NFX-2 Chorus Parameters .........................................................................................................................................148
NFX-3 Delay Parameters ............................................................................................................................................149
NFX-4 EQ Contour Parameters................................................................................................................................150
CHAPTER 10: GIGAPULSE........................................................................................................................................... 151
Title Bar .......................................................................................................................................................................... 151
Acoustic Space...............................................................................................................................................................152
Placement Selection......................................................................................................................................................155
Input Levels .................................................................................................................................................................... 157
Mic Masters ...................................................................................................................................................................157
Front, Wide, and Surround Mic Groups..................................................................................................................158
Microphone Replacement............................................................................................................................................ 159
Tail Model ......................................................................................................................................................................161
Mic to Mixer Routing ..................................................................................................................................................162
Importing Stereo WAVE Files into GigaPulse ...................................................................................................... 163
CHAPTER 11: MIDI CONTROL................................................................................................................................... 167
About MIDI Control ....................................................................................................................................................167
MIDI Mixer: Both Control & Controller ................................................................................................................167
DSP Station....................................................................................................................................................................168
NFX Plug-Ins ................................................................................................................................................................169
MIDI Control Parameters........................................................................................................................................... 169
CHAPTER 12: REWIRE ..................................................................................................................................................172
Configuring GigaStudio 4 for ReWire .................................................................................................................... 173
Configuring the Host Program for ReWiring with GigaStudio 4: Overview .................................................175
ReWiring GigaStudio 4 with Ableton Live 7.......................................................................................................... 178
ReWiring GigaStudio 4 with Sony Acid Pro 6.......................................................................................................179
ReWiring GigaStudio 4 with Steinberg Cubase 4 and Nuendo........................................................................... 181
ReWiring GigaStudio with Pro Tools LE 7.4......................................................................................................... 183
ReWiring GigaStudio 4 with Cakewalk Sonar 7.................................................................................................... 186
ReWiring GigaStudio 4 with Cakewalk Project5 .................................................................................................. 188
ReWiring GigaStudio 4 with Adobe Audition 3....................................................................................................189
CHAPTER 13: CONFIGURATION AND TROUBLESHOOTING........................................................................192
Giga Configuration Manager .....................................................................................................................................192
Synthesizer Settings .....................................................................................................................................................193
ReWire/Plugins ............................................................................................................................................................198
Troubleshoot .................................................................................................................................................................201
GigaStudio Settings...................................................................................................................................................... 203
General PC Optimization............................................................................................................................................ 205
More Troubleshooting Tips....................................................................................................................................... 207
Deciphering the GigaStudio log files........................................................................................................................209

CHAPTER 1: INSTALLING GIGASTUDIO 4

GigaStudio 4 can be extremely powerful; the more powerful your computer, the more you can take advantage of GigaStudio 4’s features. Following is important information about optimizing and configuring your computer for best results with digital audio production in general, and GigaStudio 4 in particular.

Windows Operating Systems Compatibility

GigaStudio 4 is compatible with Windows XP (Home or Professional Edition) running the Service Pack 2 patch (SP2), Vista 32-bit, and Vista-64 bit. GigaStudio 4 is not supported for systems running Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows 2000, Server 2000, 98, ME, NT, 95, or 3.1, nor under Apple’s Boot Camp utility for the Macintosh. Although GigaStudio 4 may run under Windows 2000, XP Media Center Edition, or Boot Camp, this is not approved by TASCAM and users do so at their own risk.
To find out if your version of XP is running Service Pack 2, right-click on the “My Computer” icon in the Start Menu and select “Properties.” In the General section, it will read “Service Pack 2” below the listed op­erating system if SP2 is installed.
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With Other Programs and Peripherals

While GigaStudio 4 co-exists well with other programs, removing or disabling startup applications, system utilities (e.g., Norton Utilities or McAfee), internal and external hardware devices (e.g., tape drives, scanners, TV tuners, non-essential sound or MIDI drivers), and other non-essential elements may increase GigaStudio’s performance. Remember—the more you demand of GigaStudio, the more GigaStudio will demand of your system resources.
It’s also a good idea to use the latest drivers for various peripherals (graphics card, audio interfaces, etc.).

With HyperThreading

GigaStudio 4 is not compatible with HyperThreading techonology. However, it is not necessary to disable this in the system BIOS.

A Word About Computers

The original GigaSampler was ahead of its time, and in some respects, had to wait for computer technology to catch up. As a result, it required top-of-the-line computers. Thanks to modern technologies like dual core processors and inexpensive RAM, even many of today’s less expensive computers can run GigaStudio 4. However, the better your computer, the further you can push GigaStudio—for example, a really good computer might make the difference between being able to run 16 and 128 instruments simultaneously.
For those seeking the ultimate level of performance, GigaStudio 4 can run on newer, 64-bit operating systems like 64-bit Vista that let GigaStudio access virtually unlimited amounts of RAM. But it’s equally at home with 32-bit systems like Windows XP.

Disk Management

It’s best to have separate drives for your:
• OS and applications (C: drive)
• DAW data files
• GigaStudio 4 sound libraries. Defragment this drive often using the Windows Defragment
utility. (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter)
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As all these processes are hard disk-intensive, dividing the load over different drives allows for more complex projects, with more stable operation. Creating a separate audio partition on the same drive as your OS and programs is not satisfactory; this causes the OS drive to work even harder, as it is simultaneously seeking application data in one partition and streaming audio data from another. A dedicated drive for your content frees up both drives to separately access the program data and the audio data.
If your motherboard has only two IDE or SATA connectors, you would normally connect the system drive to the primary connector (IDE 1 or SATA 1) and the audio drive to the secondary connector (IDE2 or SATA 2). Set each hard drive’s jumper to master (a diagram on the drive itself will show where to place the jumper to select master mode). Configure your CD or DVD drive as the slave device on IDE1 or SATA1, and make sure that it is sharing the system drive connection ribbon cable and not the audio drive connection ribbon cable to which your dedicated audio drive connects. This will insure uninterrupted data flow to and from the more critical audio drive. If your motherboard has a separate IDE or SATA controller(s), your setup will be more flexible as well as allowing for more physical drives.
The impulse content should ideally be placed on yet another separate drive from the .Gig content, or on the system drive with the OS and programs.
Also, each IDE drive must have DMA enabled (System > Control Panel). To do this in Windows XP:
1. Right-click My Computer, located on the Desktop or in the start menu, and choose Properties.
2. Select the Hardware tab.
3. Click the Device Manager button.
4. Double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers entry to expand it.
5. Locate and double-click the device for your IDE/ATA controller channel.
6. In the Properties dialog, click the Advanced Settings tab.
7. Under Transfer mode, select DMA if available, and click OK.
8. Repeat for any additional IDE/ATA drives.
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9. Click OK to close the Device Manager dialog.
10. Close the System Control Panel.
Once you have restarted, follow steps 1-6 above once again to make sure “DMA” is in fact still set to enabled. If your computer is unable to keep this setting or your computer doesn’t allow enabling DMA, and you are having problems running GigaStudio, you (or one of your technically -minded friends) may need to change a setting in your system BIOS (Basic Input Output System).
To access your computer’s BIOS you must restart your computer. During the initial startup your computer will tell you which key to press in order to enter the setup program. Typically, repeatedly pressing either the [Delete] or [F2] key during the initial stages of the boot process will access the BIOS on most (but certainly not all) motherboards. Refer to your motherboard manual for manufacturer specific BIOS commands. Press the corresponding key during startup. You should see an “Entering Setup” message. If present, make this change to your computer’s BIOS:
Allow PCI Bus Masters = Enabled
In addition to checking the BIOS if DMA is not available, you can also check in device manager under “Hard disk controllers” and make sure that you have the IDE controller and not the ATA controller. If you have an ATA controller, update the hard disk controller driver to “standard dual IDE controller.”

Removing a Previous Installation of GigaStudio

Before installing GigaStudio 4, you will need to remove any previous version of GigaStudio from your computer. If you attempt to install GigaStudio 4 without removing a previous version, you’ll see a screen that tells you a previous version of GigaStudio 4 is installed, and will be removed.
However, you may have performance (.GSP), articulation (.ART), and/or instrument (.GIG) files saved in the same directory as you GigaStudio installation. Any .GSP, .ART, or .GIG files that show up under either of
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the directories C:\Program Files\Nemesys or C:\Program Files\Tascam will be removed during the uninstall process and you will lose all of the data in those directories.
Be sure that you back up any performance files (.GSP), articulation files (.ART), and instruments (.GIG) before proceeding with the uninstall. You will still be able to use any of these with GigaStudio 4.
Check for these file types visually with the Windows file explorer, or using the Windows search tool.
To uninstall your previous GigaStudio installation:
1. Click the Windows Start button.
2. Go to the Control Panel item on your Start Menu. Double-click the Add or Remove Programs option in the list.
3. In the installed programs list, locate and click on the Tascam GigaStudio item.
4. Click the Change/Remove button to remove the previous version of GigaStudio.
Windows will ask you if you want to continue with the removal of the previous version of GigaStudio. When the removal process is complete, you will be prompted to restart the computer. At this point you may want to save any open files and close any open programs. If you just want to keep working and install GigaStudio 4 later, you can choose not to restart at this time.
Once the computer has restarted, you have successfully uninstalled your previous version of GigaStudio.

Installing GigaStudio 4

1. Insert the GigaStudio 4 Installation disc in your computer’s drive; allow it to spin up and be recognized.
2. When the “splash” screen appears, click on Install GS4. (If this screen does not appear, navigate to your CD drive, right-click on it and select Open, then double-click on the Giga4_Install.exe fi le.)
3. If you are prompted to remove a previous version of GigaStudio, refer to the preceding section on Removing a Previous Version of GigaStudio. It is not possible to proceed any further until you have successfully removed your existing version of GigaStudio. Otherwise, continue.
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4. The GigaStudio 4 Setup Wizard screen appears. After reading the Warning, click on Next to continue.
5. Look over the license agreement, which is a legally binding contract between you and TASCAM. If you agree to the terms, click on “I Agree” then click on the Next button. Otherwise, click on Cancel.
6. The Select Installation Folder screen appears. Here you can choose whether to install GigaStudio 4 for all users (Everyone) or just yourself. Unless you have a compelling reason not to install GigaStudio on your C: drive under Program Files, TASCAM highly recommends that you retain the defaults. Otherwise, you can click on Browse and navigate to a different drive.
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7. The Confirm Installation screen appears. Click on Next to start the installation process, or Back if you entered information incorrectly and want to re-enter it. After clicking on Next, a progress bar appears to inform you of the overall progress.
8. After a successful installation, the Installation Complete screen appears. If this screen does not appear, the two most likely causes are that your system does not meet the minimum requirements, or that you have tried to install GigaStudio 4 into a drive that lacks sufficient space. Correct the source of the
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problem, reboot your computer, then start the installation process over. Otherwise, click on Close. The main GigaStudio 4 program is now installed.
9. Restart your computer before attempting to use GigaStudio 4.

Installing GigaStudio 4 Content

The content provided with GigaStudio 4 can be installed now or later. To install all or part of the content now, double-click on the content you want to install, and follow the instructions to assign the drive and folder location for the content to be installed.
• The folder destination option for factory instruments is [drive letter]:\Tascam\Gigs. The folder destination option for factory impulses is [drive letter]:\Tascam\Gpulse\Common.
• When you run GigaStudio for the first time, you will need to make some settings and specify some user information. Also, see the GigaStudio Configuration Manager section for details on matching GigaStudio with the sound and MIDI hardware installed on your system.

Getting Help

The first place to check is the TASCAM web site at www.tascam.com. GigaStudio 4 receives periodic updates to improve performance, and you should check for these first. Also, updates to this manual, as well as tutorials, are posted there, as well as all information regarding how to contact tech support.
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CHAPTER 2: USER INTERFACE BASICS

The user interface has many user-definable features that let you customize GigaStudio 4’s look and feel for the way you like to work. As with any set of tools, as your experience increases you’ll be able to refine GigaStudio’s look and feel to best fit your working style.
GigaStudio consists of many components that can be resized, selected, hidden, and further configured and manipulated in multiple ways.

Selecting MIDI Ports

At the bottom of the MIDI Mixer Port window are tabs for each of the eight available MIDI Ports. (Note: Your MIDI interface hardware may not support eight independent ports.) Each port allows up to 16 MIDI channels of instruments, and you can stack up to 128 instruments per channel. So, with a sufficiently powerful computer, it’s theoretically possible to have 16,384 instruments loaded simultaneously.
Click on a port’s tab to view the 16 MIDI channels of the selected MIDI Port. Or, use the keystroke Alt + n where n is the number of a MIDI Port. Example: Alt + 3 selects the Port 3 view and brings its 16-channel display to the front. (For a complete list of keystroke shortcuts, see the Keystroke Appendix.)

Selecting Components with the Toolbar

The toolbar selects various views and functions; clicking on a button calls up a particular function. When you hold your mouse cursor over a button, a tooltip text tells you the button’s function. From left to right, these buttons are:
New Performance: Creates a new GigaStudio 4 performance (alternate: Go File menu > New Performance or type Ctrl-N) Open Performance: Opens a browser to find a GigaStudio 4 performance (alternate: Go File menu > Open Performance or type Ctrl-O). Save Performance: Save the current GigaStudio 4 performance (alternate: Go File menu > Save Performance or type Ctrl-S).
Launch Giga Editor: Opens GigaStudio 4’s Instrument Editor. Launch Sequencer: Opens the sequencer program specified when configuring GigaStudio 4. Launch Wave Editor: Opens the wave editing program specified when configuring GigaStudio 4.
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Launch QuickSound: Opens the QuickSound Explorer database for finding files easily (alternate: Go Tools menu > Launch QuickSound Explorer or hit the F10 function key on your computer’s keyboard). Show/hide MIDI Mixer: Toggles between showing and hiding the MIDI Mixer window (alternate: Go View menu > MIDI Mixer or type Ctrl-M). Show/hide DSP Station: Toggles between showing and hiding the DSP Station window (alternate: Go View menu > DSP Station or type Ctrl-D). Show/hide Loaded Instruments: Toggles between showing and hiding the Loaded Instruments window (alternate: Go View menu > Loaded Instruments or type Ctrl-L). Show/hide Virtual Keyboard: Toggles between showing and hiding the Virtual Keyboard window (alternate: Go View menu > Keyboard or type Ctrl-K). Start Audio Capture: Click to capture GigaStudio’s master output channels to disk. (Note: This is not available in ReWire mode, described later).
Stop Audio Capture: Click to stop audio capture. Discard: Click to discard a complete or partial audio capture. Capture tool status: Shows the status of the audio capture tool. This has no editable parameters.
Available hard disk space for recording: Shows the hard drive space available for recording. This has no editable parameters. Audio Engine on/off: When on, click on the red square to stop the engine. When off, click on the green arrow to start the engine. Reset: Reset GigaStudio 4 to a preferred state. The options are described later in this chapter.
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Changing Pane Heights: Splitter Bar

When several panes are viewable within the main GigaStudio 4, splitter bars appear between the windows. When the cursor is over a splitter bar, it becomes an up/down arrow cursor. Click and drag to move the splitter bar so that one pane increases in height while the other decreases.

Changing Component (Window) Size

According to standard Windows protocol, you can adjust a component’s overall size by placing the cursor over any of its corners. When the cursor becomes a diagonal two-headed arrow, click and drag the component to increase or decrease its size.

Floating and Docking Components

You can “float” or “dock” the Loaded Instruments list, Virtual Keyboard, and DSP Station components (the QuickSound Explorer opens in its own window, so it is inherently floating). Docking places the component within the main GigaStudio window. Floating allows removing the component from the window, which is particularly handy with dual- and triple-monitor setups—for example, you might want to place the MIDI Mixer in one monitor, and the DSP Station in another.
Floating Components
To float a component, click on its name label along the left-hand edge, and drag it away from where it is docked. The component will now float above the rest of the user interface.
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Note that to float the DSP Station, you must first select the View Menu option “Show DSP Station in a separate pane.”
To move a floating object around the screen, grab its title bar and drag it with the mouse. When you find a suitable place for the component, release the mouse and the object will stick in place until it is moved again or hidden from view.
To hide a component and free up screen space, you have several options (remember, the component is only a click away if you need to use it again).
If the component is f loating, click on the X (standard Windows close function) in the upper right corner.
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If the component is docked, click on the X in the upper left corner, above the name label, of the component you want to hide.
In the View menu, you can check (show) or uncheck (hide) the MIDI Mixer, DSP Station, Loaded Inst ruments Pane, and Keyboard Pane.
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Docking Components
To dock a floating component, click on the title bar, and drag so that the left side of the component’s window approaches the left side of the main GigaStudio window. Upon releasing the mouse, the component will dock within GigaStudios’s main window.

Other View Menu Options

Bring to Foreground
This option allows selecting a particular window and bringing it to the front. For example, if the DSP Station and Loaded Instruments components are floating on top of the Keyboard and you go Bring to Foreground > Keyboard (or type the Alt – K shortcut), the Keyboard will jump to the top of the stack.
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Show One DSP Channel in the MIDI Mixer
This is somewhat like the “Inspector” feature found in DAWs like Cubase and Sonar, as it shows the DSP channel st rip for the selected MIDI Mixer channel. Its location is fixed toward the right side of the MIDI Mixer.
Link Loader Pane Visibility to MIDI Mixer
If checked, the Loaded Instruments Pane will show if you’ve selected the MIDI Mixer, and will hide if you select the DSP Station. However, note that the Show/Hide Loaded Instruments toolbar button or menu option takes priority, even with the DSP Station selected and the Link Loader option checked.
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Status Bar
This shows/hides the Status Bar along the bottom that displays CPU and memory consumption, MIDI Port activity, and the like. Hide this to regain a little bit of screen space.
Saving User Interface Settings
All the aspects of the user-defined interface components can be saved in the “Save As…” options (located in the File menu) of a saved performance. To do this, check the Use Customized Performance button, and click on Customize to see your options of what can be saved.
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Resetting User Interface Settings

There are several user-defined options from the adjacent drop-down menu.
• Reset just Instruments (unloads all instruments from memory)
• MIDI Mixer and Channel Properties (returns mixer to the default state)
• Hardware (re-establishes audio connection)
• DSP Station Mixer (returns DSP Station to the default state)
• User Interface (returns window sizes and positions to the default state)
• Load Default Performance Settings (loads user-defined default settings).
• All (resets all of the above options to the default state). All will likely reset any instruments you may
have loaded, so you will be asked if you want to save anything before the reset occurs.

Fader, Knob, and Slider Adjustments

To adjust the various control widgets in GigaStudio 4, click directly on the control and drag.
As soon as you drag the mouse, the cursor will disappear so you can see the widget movement as well as its displayed value. If you prefer that the cursor not disappear, go Configuration > GigaStudio Settings > General tab and under Visual Preferences, uncheck the “Auto hide cursor” option.
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The direction in which you drag the mouse determine the widget movement behavior:
For knobs, click and drag the cursor:
• Up or right to adjust knob clockwise
• Down or left to adjust knob counter-clockwise
• Diagonally for fine adjustment
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For faders (vertical), click and drag the cursor:
• Up to adjust the fader upward
• Down to adjust the fader downward
• Diagonally left-to-right to make fine adjustments upward
• Diagonally right-to-left to make fine adjustments downward
For Sliders (horizontal), drag the cursor:
• Right to adjust the slider right-ward
• Left to adjust the slider left-ward
• Diagonally left-to-right to make fine adjustments rightward
• Diagonally right-to-left to make fine adjustments leftward
• Hold the [Alt] key while dragging for fine adjustment either way
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CHAPTER 3: MIDI MIXER

The MIDI Mixer section is where you load instruments (as well as stack/layer them) and perform basic MIDI mixing functions such as mute, solo, tune, pan, and set volume. Note that all of these controls affect only MIDI data; the audio data of each instrument is then routed to the DSP Station where you can apply EQ, effects, dynamics control, and more.

MIDI Basics

The MIDI spec provides for 16 channels of data, each of which can drive a separate instrument. MIDI was invented in the early 1980s, when a synthesizer was hardware that cost thousands of dollars, so 16 channels was considered adequate. Over time, this became more and more of a limitation, so interfaces started including multiple MIDI ports, each of which could provide 16 channels of data. Thus, a MIDI interface with four ports could send data to (4 x 16) 64 different instruments.
GigaStudio 4 can accept data from up to 8 MIDI ports, with 16 channels per port — that’s 128 instruments.
Furthermore, you can layer up to 128 instrument sounds on a single channel (referred to as Sub-Channels), giving the ability to address a theoretical maximum of 16,384 instruments! So for all practical purposes, GigaStudio provides an unlimited sonic palette.
MIDI Mixer Parameters
Each MIDI port channel (and sub-channel) has a full complement of mixer-like controls. Following is a numbered diagram and description of each parameter in the MIDI Mixer view.
1. Channel Slot: The channel slot field is where you load and “detach” (remove from channel) instruments
that are assigned to a particular MIDI channel. Upon attaching an instrument to a channel or sub-channel, the instrument’s name appears in the channel slot field. Cl icking on the Channel S lot drop-down menu opens a
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channel-specific menu that allows you to Load, Stack, or Detach instruments, edit Stack and Channel properties (keyboard mapping), and more.
2. MIDI activity meter: Illuminates when the channel receives MIDI data, with higher velocities causing
more meter segments to light.
3. Mute: Silences the channel’s incoming MIDI so it produces no sound. This affects all sub-channels.
4. Solo: Silences all channel’s Incoming MIDI other than the soloed channel. This affects all sub-channels.
5. Q(uickEdit) button: When a MIDI channel contains an instrument, the Q button turns bright green
(active). Clicking the Q button opens the QuickEdit View for the instrument loaded on that particular channel. Multiple QuickEdit views for multiple instruments can be open simultaneously.
6. FX: For instruments that have an embedded convolution effect using the GigaPulse Convolution Processor
included with GigaStudio, this button will be bright green. Clicking on the FX button displays the GigaPulse view. If the instrument has more than one embedded instance of GigaPulse, a popup menu appears that allows you to select the desired instance.
7. Assignable MIDI sliders: The three available MIDI sliders default to controlling a channel’s Volume,
Tune, and Pan, but can be assigned to any MIDI controller from 1 to 119 as well as prog ram change, fine tune, and course tune via the controller name’s drop-down menu. This provides a convenient way to adjust MIDI continuous controller (CC) data from the main MIDI Mixer view. Note that changing a slider assignment does not alter the value of any previous assignment. Example: If you use a slider to set a channel’s volume level, then change the slider to control LFO modulation, the volume level remains where you set it.
8. Output assign: This allows assigning a channel to a specific input of the DSP Station mixer. GigaStudio 4
defaults to the DSP Station having 32 channels (16 stereo), but this can be changed by opening Configuration > Mixer and selecting the Mixer tab. Usually, the default of one stereo DSP input for each of Port 1’s MIDI channels is the most convenient setup, where MIDI Mixer channel 1 goes to DSP Station inputs 1+2 MIDI Mixer channel 2 goes to DSP Station inputs 3+4, etc.
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The MIDI Mixer: Loading, Unloading, Attaching, and Detaching Files

GigaStudio 4 File Formats
You can load (and save) a variety of file formats into MIDI mixer slots via the File menu. These are:
.GIG Files: These can contain multiple (single) instruments, arranged in banks, that may be loaded or stacked into the MIDI mixer’s individual channels using the MIDI Channel drop-down menus or the Quicksound Explorer. When loading a GIG file that contains multiple instruments, all of the contained instruments are loaded into RAM, but only the first instrument is attached to the specified MIDI channel. .GIG files are created, edited and saved using the GigaEditor Application.
.GSP Files: G
require hardly any disk space) and contain a map of every instrument loaded, every knob, fader, audio effect (NFX and VST), slider setting, and GigaPulse plug-in setting, as well as the size and arrangement of the various graphical components as they are displayed on your monitor(s). There are two main ways to create a new performance file:
• Start with a blank new performance by going Fi le > New Performance. The default Perfo rmance has
igaStudio Performance files contain no audio or MIDI data, but instead are small files (they
empty instrument loader slots, faders at nominal settings, and no FX. After loading the desired instruments and making any desired tweaks, you can then save the performance.
• Open an existing perfo rmance file, change it as des ired, then go File > Save Performance As… to create an additional performance with a new and unique name. This lets you create variations derived from the same basic template of loaded instruments, mixer settings, tweaks, and plug-ins, but each tailored to a specific application.
.GSI Files: G
igaStudio Instrument files are simplified .GSP files that recall loaded instruments, MIDI Mixer settings/routing, as well as instrument specific QuickEdit and GigaPulse tweaks. The main difference is that loading a .GSP file resets (clears) the sampler before loading any instruments, while a .GSI file can be loaded into a session that already contains instrument assignments. .GSI files can be loaded on any empty MIDI channel and do not recall any DSP Station or graphical UI settings.
.GSI files can contain single or multiple instruments that are either loaded on separate MIDI channels or on a single MIDI channel as a stacked instrument. If you load multiple .GSI files, you can always save this collection as a .GSP file.
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Stacking vs. Loading
There are two ways to add instruments to a channel in the MIDI mixer after clicking on a MIDI Channel’s drop-down menu: Load and Stack.
Load: This replaces anything currently loaded in a MIDI Mixer channel. If the channel already contained instruments, they are “detached” from the channel but not “unloaded” from memory (see below).
Stack: This adds an instrument to a MIDI mixer channel without detaching any currently loaded instrument(s), thus la yering the new instrument with any instruments already loaded in the channel. The “Stack” option is not available until at least one instrument is loaded on a MIDI mixer channel.
Detaching vs. Unloading
There are two ways to remove instruments from the MIDI mixer: Detach and Unload.
Detach Instrument: This is available from the MIDI Channel’s drop-down menu. Detaching clears the Instrument from a MIDI mixer channel assignment. However, the instrument remains loaded in the Sampler’s memory (RAM) and can therefore be recalled by a program change either into the original channel to which it was assigned, or into an alternate MIDI channel.
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Unload ing: This is available from the Loaded Instruments window (described later) and removes the Instrument both from any MIDI channel assignments and from the Sampler’s memory altogether, thus freeing up RAM.
Loading a Single File into a MIDI Channel
A MIDI channel that contains no instrument displays “Instruments...” in its channel slot field. To load a File using a channel’s drop-down menu:
1. Click on the Down Arrow located on the right border of the channel slot field of an empty MIDI channel to open that channel’s drop-down menu.
2. Move the cursor over the “Load” menu item. Up to four Load options/sections will appear in the following order: Browse, VST Instruments, GVI Instruments, and Recently loaded Instruments.
Browse
The “Recent” field shows recently-accessed folders. If you select one of these, it will appear in the “Look In” field, which uses standard Windows navigation techniques to find folders containing GigaStudio 4­compatible files. The drop-down button (a) shows your computer’s file tree; the four navigation buttons are Back button (b), Up One Level of the file tree (c), create New Folder (d), and View Options (e).
Upon selecting a folder, the main pane shows any .GIG or .GSI files within the folder.
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In the Files of Type field, you can choose to display only .GIG, only .GSI, both types of files, or All Files (including non-GVI compatible types). Note that .GSP files are loaded using the main GigaStudio File menu since performances affect all MIDI channels simultaneously.
Click on a file name, and its name appears in the File Name field.
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Clicking on the downward arrow in the File Name field shows a list of recently-accessed files.
The individual instruments contained in a highlighted .GIG file show up in the “Instruments to load” pane. Here you can select to load an individual instrument or “All Instruments in Gig File.”
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