Waves Electric 88 Piano Users Manual
ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................................................3
WELCOME .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 PRODUCT OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4
1.3 COMPONENTS .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
1.4 FUNCTIONAL BLOCK/FLOW DIAGRAM ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER 2 QUICK START GUIDE ................................................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 3 INTERFACE AND CONTROLS .................................................................................................................................8
3.1 INTERFACE ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 CONTROLS ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
3.2.1 Keyboard Control .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
3.2.2 Piano Module .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
3.2.3 Eects Module ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
CHAPTER 4 STANDALONE APPLICATION .............................................................................................................................. 19
CHAPTER 5 THE WAVESYSTEM ...................................................................................................................................................21
5.1 THE WAVESYSTEM TOOLBAR ...................................................................................................................................................................................21
5.2 PRESET HANDLING .....................................................................................................................................................................................................22
5.2.1 Preset Types ............................................................................................................................................................................................................22
5.2.2 Loading Presets and Setups .............................................................................................................................................................................22
5.2.3 Saving Presets and Setups ................................................................................................................................................................................ 24
5.3 INTERFACE CONTROLS .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
5.4 WAVES PREFERENCES (PRO TOOLS ONLY).......................................................................................................................................................... 28
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ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Welcome
Thank you for choosing Waves! In order to get the most out of your Waves processor, please take the time to read through this manual.
We also suggest that you become familiar with www.waves.com/support. There you will nd an extensive answer base, the latest
tech specs, detailed installation guides, new software updates, and current information on licensing and registration.
Sign up at the support site and you’ll receive personalized information about your registered products, reminders when updates are
available, and information on your authorization status.
Acknowledgement
The Electric 88 Piano samples library was recorded and produced by Yoad Nevo at Nevo Sound Studios in London, UK.
Visit www.yoadnevo.com.
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ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
1.1 Pr oduc t O vervi ew
The unmistakable sound of the electric piano has shaped our musical landscape since the 70s. This sound changed the way we
think about the piano, and it opened up many new musical possibilities. Now the sound, feel, and personality of this unique piano is
available from Waves.
Waves painstakingly sampled a well-used, road-worn Mark 1 88-key electric piano to capture the nuance and detail of the original
sound. The result is the Electric 88 Piano plugin and standalone application. Every element of the instrument’s sound—down to its
beautiful imperfections—is captured to recreate the magic realism of the original. We’ve gone a few steps further by integrating our
high-quality studio eects and by adding unique features for tone shaping. And there’s a mix section that enables you to use these
tools to put your own personal stamp on this era-dening sound.
For anybody looking to grace their tracks with an electric piano full of character and soul with its own personality, look no further.
The Electric 88 Piano from Waves has arrived.
1.2 Concept s and Terminolog y
The type of electric piano that became a pop, rock, and jazz favorite in the ‘70s was invented by Harold Rhodes in the 1940s.
The technology behind the instrument consists of a hammer, similar to the ones in acoustic pianos. A hammer strikes a small metal
rod, called a tine, that’s connected to a larger tone bar, which is, in essence, a tone generator. Once struck, this tone generator
vibrates, emitting a certain pitch. This vibration is turned into an electronic signal using a pickup that sits opposite the tine. The
overall structure is somewhat similar to a tuning fork.
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ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
The richness of the instrument stems in part from the relationship between the tines and the tone bar. The response of the tines
dominates when the tines are struck by the hammer, during the attack period of the note. This sound is bell-like. The tone bar
dominates the sustain of the note. Its sounds are very sinusoidal, with varying degrees of harmonic distortion. You can control the
balance between the tines and the tone bar to inuence the eect: turn up the tines to create a more bell-like start and a more
punchy attack, or turn them down to resemble a more mellow and worn instrument.
Electric 88 Piano is powered by WSE, the Waves Sampler Engine, a state-of-the-art multi-sample engine designed to deliver solid,
high-quality performance.
1.3 C ompone nt s
The Electric 88 Piano has one component: Electric 88 Piano Stereo
Electric 88 Piano is a virtual instrument plugin and will appear under the related selection menus for virtual instruments under all
supported DAW host applications.
Waves Electric 88 Piano also works as a standalone application, using ASIO (Windows) or Core Audio (Mac) drivers to play through
your audio device of choice. Electric 88 Piano receives MIDI data to trigger notes and control changes.
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ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
1.4 Func t ional block/f low diagram
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ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
CHAPTER 2: QUICK START GUIDE
Insert Electric 88 Piano on an instrument track in your DAW or launch the standalone application. Start to play and you will
quickly understand how to get the sound you want. There are two modules with which to control the behavior and sound of the
instrument.
Use the top module to create and control eects such as tremolo, phasing, stereo imaging, chorus, and reverb.
Use the bottom module to control the characteristics of the keyboard and the amplier.
Navigating the presets
Electric 88 Piano presets are managed with the WaveSystem Toolbar at the top of the window.
Use the Next/Previous preset arrow controls on the toolbar to scroll through presets. Click the Load button to reveal all presets.
Saving, loading, and using Electric 88 Piano presets are discussed in Chapter 5 of this user guide.
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ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
CHAPTER 3: INTERFACE AND CONTROLS
3.1 Interface
The ELECTRIC 88 Piano interface is arranged into two sections.
Bottom: The Piano module includes tone controls, a vintage style compressor, and an amplied cabinet that was sampled
with both a condenser mic and a dynamic mic.
Top: The Multi-Eect processor provides modulation eects and reverb.
3.2 Controls
3.2.1 Keyboard Control
At the very bottom there’s a virtual keyboard designed to preview the sound of a note when a keyboard controller is not available.
Use a mouse or similar input device. This control cannot be automated, but it will follow any MIDI input device.
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ELECTRIC 88 PIANO
3.2.2 Piano Module
Keys Section
Vel Curve
This control changes the curve of the velocity response from logarithmic to exponential.
When the control is set to 50%, the curve is linear.
Range: -50% to +50%
Initial Value: 0
Reset Value: 0
Continuous control
Formant
The formant control changes the sound character but not the pitch. Each step equals a half-tone.
This means that when set to -12, the piano sound character will be lower by one octave, but the pitch will not change.
Range: -12 to +12
Initial Value: 0
Reset Value: 0
Discrete control, 25 steps.
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