Terminology for home recording

[rjalex]

Dear friends,
I am starting from scratch with just a great passion for music and a good knowledge of computing.

My equipment is a Roland PCR-800 keyboard controller and Ableton Live 8 on a Mac.

I am playing with the program and following videos on Youtube and the web and having lots of fun but now think I need to build some better understanding of the building blocks I am using

I'd like to start from the terminology I see here on KVR. Let's start in a random way. Please correct any error I am doing in the following paragraphs and add whatever you feel is important to understand the building blocks. Thanks in advance.

For what I understand a plugin is a program that extends the functions of my Ableton (DAW or host) and to be used in Ableton has to be in VST or AU formats. One example is the u-he Diva program of which I DLed the demo version.

In Diva I find "patches" which for what I understand are a snapshot of the tools Diva has to generate sounds. I seem to understand every sound is generated by chaining stuff such as oscillators, reverbs, filters and other arcane magic stuff. When you find a combination you like, maybe starting from a ready made patch, you save the new sound.

The sound patches in Diva are then triggered by the MIDI commands flowing from the keyboard and depending on the key played the sound is modulated (by Diva ? by Ableton ?) to the corresponding pitch along with the velocity data etc.

Other than these plugins Ableton also has "Instruments" (Devices) that are like built in plugins (?)

If I want to add new instruments I'm not sure of what I need.

On top of the MIDI stuff I just wrote about I can import sampled sounds in loops (longer sequences that usually play seamlessly when looped) they have to be i n audio formats Ableton recognizes (example aiff, wav, mp3, flac).

I can also import shorter samples (or use longer ones which I then "cut" which I can import in Ableton Simpler and Sampler devices and then they get modulated by the keyboard.

There are many things I do not understand at all for example what is rewire, or what are files in reaktor format.

Happy Xmas to all and your families.

[Meffy]

Looks as if you've got the idea. Think of the host (aka DAW, sequencer, etc.) -- Live, in your setup -- as the conductor and score and recording gear, and the plug-ins as instruments and effects units to be controlled by the host program. Plug-ins can't run on their own, they have to be installed in the place where your host looks for plug-ins, then called up from inside the host (though some come with stand-alone versions). Live sends incoming or recorded MIDI info to Diva (or whatever), which adjusts the pitch according to MIDI key number and so forth.

Rewire is a method of controlling one piece of music software from another. You could control an entire Reason rack from Ableton, for instance.

Reaktor is a big box of synthesizer parts and a framework for assembling synths and sample players and effects and ensembles of more than one of the above. There is a huge library of instruments and effects and such that you can download. Native Instruments provides a "Reaktor Player" so you can play Reaktor devices made by other users -- including, I think, both commercial and homemade ones -- even if you don't have the full Reaktor software to create and alter them.

[rjalex]

Thanks a lot !!! What's the difference between a patch and a bank ? I see there are banks to download here but am not sure if their format follows some standard and if they can be used by Ableton.

Take care

[Bobbotov]

Thanks a lot !!! What's the difference between a patch and a bank ? I see there are banks to download here but am not sure if their format follows some standard and if they can be used by Ableton.

Take care

A Patch is a single set of parameters for a synth sound and a Bank is a collection of patches, usually a maximum of up to 128 but sometimes less. Generically, Patches are designated with an .fxp file extension and Banks with an .fxb extension. However many synths have their own Patch file extensions which are unique to that synth. As a rule you cannot use patches between different synths as they must be used with the synth they were created on.

[experimental.crow]

don't forget , you want a phat sound ...

[rjalex]

A Patch is a single set of parameters for a synth sound and a Bank is a collection of patches, usually a maximum of up to 128 but sometimes less. Generically, Patches are designated with an .fxp file extension and Banks with an .fxb extension. However many synths have their own Patch file extensions which are unique to that synth. As a rule you cannot use patches between different synths as they must be used with the synth they were created on.

Thanks a lot, very clear. For example in the patches I see here on KVR in the Banks & Patches section, how do I understand what synth are they for ?

[rjalex]

Is is true that a Synthetizer generates sounds and than manipulates it, while a sampler takes a recorded sound (so does not generate it) and then manipulates it (for starters with attack, decay, sustain and release envelopes) ?

[Bobbotov]

Is is true that a Synthetizer generates sounds and than manipulates it, while a sampler takes a recorded sound (so does not generate it) and then manipulates it (for starters with attack, decay, sustain and release envelopes) ?

Well, in one sense they are all synthesizers but essentially you are correct. There are a number of different technologies used to create synth sounds including:

- Subtractive synthesis

- Granular synthesis

- Physical modeling synthesis

- Frequency modulation synthesis

- Phase distortion synthesis

- Additive synthesis

- Sample based synthesis

- Sub harmonic synthesis

- Wavetable synthesis

Some synths may have more than one type of sound generation available. With hardware synths originally, the sound was produced by analog oscillators. With VST's everything is digital. They can emulate analog sound generation but they are still digital. Even samples (like .wav files) are digital. When .wav files are compressed the file size is reduced. That is what MP3 does. There are other algorithms for compressing audio.

Most samplers can use uncompressed .wav files. Some also have proprietary formats. Consequently, the necessity of a large hard drive may be required to store them (and lots of RAM to play them back). Non-sampled presets are usually very small in file size as the information stored is just a list of the synth parameter settings. The synth will then use those parameters to generate sound you hear through something called a DSP (digital signal processor) algorithm. Audio cards are basically DSP's.

[Bobbotov]

A Patch is a single set of parameters for a synth sound and a Bank is a collection of patches, usually a maximum of up to 128 but sometimes less. Generically, Patches are designated with an .fxp file extension and Banks with an .fxb extension. However many synths have their own Patch file extensions which are unique to that synth. As a rule you cannot use patches between different synths as they must be used with the synth they were created on.

Thanks a lot, very clear. For example in the patches I see here on KVR in the Banks & Patches section, how do I understand what synth are they for ?

In the Banks/Patches section it will tell you what synth they are designed for. For example, in the patch "Choose Product" box, select Zebra and you will get a list of patches just for that particular synth. When you download patches you usually have to store in a location that the synth requires it to be: typically a VST's sub-folder called "presets". It is possible to store presets or samples on a secondary drive but the synth still needs to know where they are. Many (most) synths have a "file open" command that will allow you to go to a secondary drive folder where the presets or samples are stored. However, with many VST's you can specify a secondary drive during its initial installation so the synth will always look there for presets.

You'll get the hang of it after awhile. When you have acquired a lot of VSTs, file management is essential otherwise you will be lost trying to find a preset (patch). It is best to follow good practices from the beginning.

[rjalex]

Thank you so much. You are really very kind and your explanations very clear.

Is there some writeup to recommend a sound library management / directory organization scheme ? I hope it will not be very DAW specific since I now have Ableton but maybe one day I might switch or add another one and would hate to have something not portable.

Take care

[Nystul]

I think the key to getting organized at first is just to stick with a very small set of tools and focus on learning whatever it is you are going for. If you accumulate a ton of plugins and sample packs and put them all over the place, now you have a mess. But if you start out just with the tools in Ableton and learn how to use them (indeed only a few of them) first, you'll probably have some idea of how things should be before you accumulate a bunch of junk.

This whole music production concept involves a lot of different roles. There are singers, instrumental musicians, song writers, arrangers, DJs, beat makers, sound engineers, mixing, mastering, sound designers, software programmers... You really need to focus in on one path or at least one path at a time. There is so much power available to us through music software that it can be overwhelming.

[rjalex]

Your words are very wise and show a lot of experience. I am in the "playing around phase" and sustain my family with totally different profession so I'm really looking at this as a passion (which in my mind is a totally NON derogagtory term). I think that if after exploring the whole picture I find something I really like and am good at it it might become something more serious (I have switched professions a couple of times already in my life).

I do understand that resisting the "hunter gatherer" impulse is very important. Start with a small set of things and progress only when you have outgrown them ! I always say this to my mentee in photography !

Take care and happy 2013 !