Yamaha Audio VL Visual Editor User Manual

VL Visual Editor

Manual

Important Notices

The VL Visual Editor (the Visual Editor) provides an easy, intuitive way to create, edit, and save basic voices for Yamaha VL Plug-in Board. Do not operate the “mother” synthesizer/ tone generator while editing voices using the Visual Editor since you may inadvertently change the voice edit parameters by operating the hardware.

• The software and this owner’s manual are the exclusive copyrights of Yamaha Corporation.

• Copying of the software or reproduction of this manual in whole or in part by any means is expressly forbidden without the written consent of the manufacturer.

• Copying of the commercially available music sequence data and/or digital audio ﬁles is strictly prohibited except for your personal use.

Trade Marks and Registered Trade Marks

• OMS® and are trademarks of Opcode Systems, Inc.

• The company names and product names in this Owner’s Manual are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Notices

• Yamaha makes no representations or warranties with regard to the use of the software and documentation and cannot be held responsible for the results of the use of this manual and the software.

• The windows and illustrations in this manual are for instructional purposes only, and may slightly different from the ones shown on your software.

About this manual

The screens shown in this manual are almost all on Windows systems. Although some screens may diff er f or Macintosh systems, the basic operations are the same.

For Windows users

When you use the VL Visual Editor, set “Font Size” to “Small Fonts” at the “Control Panel | Display | (Settings |) Advanced” page. If “Large Fonts” is selected, messages in some dialog boxes may not be displayed properly.

For Macintosh users

When you use the VL Visual Editor on MacOS 8.5 or later, set “Large System Font” to “Charcoal” at the “Control Panels | Appearance | Font” page. Also, uncheck the “Smooth all fonts on screen” check box.

Editing Procedure

The Visual Editor mainly consists of two windows: the Synthesis Window and Edit Window.

Synthesis

Edit

z Select the combination of the Driver, Pipe/Strings and Variation

to synthesize in the Synthesis Window.

x Switch to the Edit Window after the selection. This process auto-

matically creates a voice (a set of new voice parameters).

c Make detailed changes on the parameters in the Edit Window to

complete the new voice.

MIDI Settings

Windows

Select [VL Visual Editor MIDI...] from the [Setup] Menu to open the dialog box, which lets you select the MIDI Por t, Device Number and Transmit Channel to send. Set the same MIDI Port, Device Number and Transmit Channel as the ones you set for the tone generator. The Visual Editor is valid for the VL voice assigned to Part 1. Set the VL voice to Part 1 by operating the “mother” synthesizer/ tone generator.

Macintosh

Select [MIDI…] or [Choose Input/Output…] from the [Window] Menu to open the following dialog boxes.

Synthesis Window

Click on any of the “DRIVER” options to the left of the window to select it (the selected driver will be outlined in red). Next click on one of the PIPE/STRINGS options to the right of the window — the selected PIPE/STRINGS option will be outlined in red. A composite image representing the selected DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS options will appear in the “PREVIEW” window. The “VARIATION” buttons will also appear and be selectable. If one of the “VARIATION” buttons in the lower part of the window is now clicked, the corresponding voice data will be transmitted to, and can be played via, the connected tone generator. The transmitted voice will sound brieﬂy when the data has been successfully transmitted.

When the transmission process is completed, the Visual Editor informs you of it by playing a broken chord using the transmitted voice. You can audition the edited voice as a broken chord by clicking the composite image.

The DRIVER Options

The Visual Editor provides 6 DRIVER options. This is the part of the instrument which generates the energy which will be converted into sound and subsequently “shaped” by the PIPE/STRINGS section.

• Single Reed

A single-reed woodwind mouthpiece like the type used on a saxophone or clarinet.

• Double Reed

A double-reed woodwind mouthpiece like the type used on an oboe or bassoon. The “grass ﬂute” also works on this principle.

Synthesis Window

• Lip Reed

In a trumpet, the player’s lips are pressed against a specially-shaped mouthpiece and forced to vibrate in response to the player’s breath pressure. The trombone, horn, tuba, and most other brass instruments work on this principle.

• Jet Reed

The ﬂute, pan pipes and shakuhachi all work on the “jet reed” principle: i.e. sound is generated by the air turbulence produced by blowing across a solid edge.

•Bow

A bow drawn across a string causes the string to vibrate, thereby generating rubbedstring instrument sound: violin, cello, contrabass, etc.

• Selecting the Bow (DRIVER) and String (PIPE/STRINGS) combination allows you to select Analog synthesizer waves in VARIATION.

• Pluck

Guitar, mandolin, and harp are all plucked string instruments. “Pizzicato” is pluc k ed violin, viola, etc. This driver corresponds to plucking a string to produce sound.

Synthesis Window

The PIPE/STRINGS Options

The Visual Editor provides 6 PIPE/STRINGS options. The pipe or string is the section of the instrument that ampliﬁes and adds distinctive tonal characteristics to the sound energy generated by the driver.

• Conical (large)

This option simulates the type of conical horn used in instruments like the saxophone — a small entrance aperture, gradually expanding to a relatively large bell.

• Conical (small)

This conical pipe has a much smaller taper than the above, more like the type of pipe used in an oboe.

• Straight (double-ended)

A ﬂute pipe, for example, is essentially straight along its length, but is driven at a point somewhere between its two ends. This type of pipe is “double-ended”.

• Straight (single-ended)

Similar to a clarinet pipe — driven from one end and essentially straight right up to the ﬂare at the other end. In physical modelling terminology, this type of pipe is considered to be “single-ended”.

Synthesis Window

• Flare

This is the type of pipe found on the trumpet and other brass instruments. Although it depends on the type of DRIVER selected, this type of pipe generally produces a relatively bright sound.

• If the Pluck driver is combined with the Flare pipe, the resultant pitch can be unpredictable. This is because the Flare pipe is inherently ambiguous — e.g. a trumpet player can vary the pitch of his instrument over a wide range simply by adjusting his embouchure (the way he uses his lips).

• String

A drawn string, like the type used on a violin or guitar. The ﬁnal result depends on the DRIVER selected, but the string generally has a relatively long decay.

The V ARIA TION Options

Depending on the DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS combination selected, two or more VARIATIONs corresponding to different instrument sizes and characteristics may be available. If the DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS combination is a standard one (e.g. Lip Reed with Flare), the corresponding instrument names will appear in the VARIATION buttons (e.g. Trumpet, T rombone, etc.). You can also select V ARIATION by double-clicking, and it tak es y ou to Edit window automatically.

Edit Window

Press the [Edit ->] button in the lower right corner of the “Synthesis” window to go to the “Edit” window. This window allows further editing of the basic voice created in the “Synthesis” window. The labelled “menu tabs” in the lo w er section of the “Edit” window provide access to corresponding edit pages. By clicking each menu tab you can display various editing “pages”. You can audition the edited voice as a broken chord by clicking the composite image.

The Patch Palette

When the “Edit” window is selected, a smaller ﬂoating window labelled “Pickup” will appear to its left. This is the “Patch Palette” containing 8 men u pages for editing

Filter, Resonator, Combination-1, Combination-2, Variation, Chorus, Reverberation.

Click on the left and right facing arrows at the top of the window to switch menus as required. You can also select a menu by clicking on the solid section showing the menu name to open the pop-up menu and directly choosing a menu from it.

Pickup,

+ 16 hidden pages