The Input Controls
- - the Input area has two controls
to select the response to incoming MIDI velocity changes - adjust the Velocity knob
- - this control can compress or expand MIDI velocities; every MIDI keyboard or trigger can have a different dynamic profile, so you can use this control to match your MIDI keyboard.
- - you can expand the velocity up to 100% or compress it to 50%
to reset the velocity response to Linear - Ctrl+click the knob, or
set it to its centre position
to set the effective range of your Pitch Bend control - adjust the PB Range control
- - the range is from 0 to 7 semitones
to reset the range to 3 semitones - Ctrl+click the knob, or
set it to its centre position
The Output Controls
- - the Output area has several controlsto enable/disable the internal reverb - click the Reverb button On/Off
- - the DK+ internal reverb is intended as a simple preview effect, and it can be useful when testing the drum kits or quickly creating a song using the internal styles
- - once you start using multiple outs it's suggested that you use external effects
- - DK+ has three stereo outputs and three auxiliary outputs
to set the level for a stereo output - adjust the appropriate Volume knob
to reset the volume to 0dB gain - Ctrl+click the knob, or
set it to its centre position
- - each stereo Output has a built-in Compressor
to enable/disable a Compressor - click the upper button to the left of the Volume control On/Off
- - the Compressor is inserted AFTER the Volume control, so the Volume control is "pre-FX"
to edit the Compressor settings - click the [e] button to the left of the Volume control
- - the Compressor editor will open in a separate window
- - the output levels of each of the 3 stereo channels can be shown
to display/hide the output levels - click the Monitors button On/Off
The Compressor Editor
- - as with all compressors, the built-in DK+ compressors reduce the volume of the signal when its loudness exceeds a certain threshold
to edit the Compressor settings - click the [e] button to the left of the Volume control in the Output Controls area
to close the Compressor Editor - click the button in the top-right corner
to set the volume threshold - adjust the threshold control
- - sound levels above the threshold are those that are compressed
to reset the threshold to its maximum (-6dB) - Ctrl+click the knob, or
set it to its right-most position
to set the compression ratio - adjust the ratio control
to reset the ratio to its default (1:4) - Ctrl+click the knob
- - the ratio determines how much the volume above the threshold is compressed
- - for example, with a ratio of 1:4, a signal 12db over the threshold is reduced to 3 dB over the threshold
- - and, with a ratio of 1:6, a signal 12db over the threshold is reduced to 2 dB over the threshold
- - you can also control how fast the compression takes effect as the volume exceeds the threshold and how fast the compression is removed as the volume drops below the threshold
to set the activation speed - adjust the attack control
to reset the attack to its default (0ms) - Ctrl+click the knob, or
set it to its left-most position
to set the deactivation speed - adjust the release control
to reset the release to its default (75ms) - Ctrl+click the knob
- - as the volume above the threshold is compressed, the output volume is reduced, you can increase this volume, effectively increasing the volume of the quieter (uncompressed) parts of the sound
to increase the volume - adjust the gain control
to reset the gain to its default (+6dB) - Ctrl+click the knob
- - the Compressor also has level meters showing the effect of the compression
to display/hide the output levels - click the Monitors button on the Drums Editor On/Off
- - there are three levels shown:
- the input levels
- the amount of compression applied
- the output levels
The Drum Pads
- - on the Drums section you can see 24 drum pads, each pad has three buttons
- the main drum pad area
- the Edit button
- the Mute Group indicator
Loading and Managing Pads
to load a sample into a pad - drag it from your browser and drop it on the pad- - when a sample is loaded into a pad, the pad is highlighted and its name is shown
- - if you drag several samples at one time they will be loaded into consecutive pads
to audition a pad - click it
- - if you have set the preference to send MIDI notes when clicking on a pad, then a MIDI note (with velocity 80 and length 1 tick) will be sent to DK+'s MIDI output
- - in the screenshot, you can see that the Kick and Closed hihat (pads 1 and 7) are currently being triggered (either by a received MIDI note or from the DK+ step sequencer)
to change a pad name - click the name, edit in the changes and press Enter
to cancel the edit - press Esc or click outside the name
to clear a drum pad - right-click the drum pad >> Clear
to copy one drum pad to another - right-click the drum pad >> Copy, select the destination pad
to swap over two drum pads - right-click one of the drum pads >> Swap, select the other drum pad
to edit a drum pad - click the [e] button to the right of the pad
to close the drum pad editor - right-click the [e] button to the right of the pad
- - I guess you really want to trigger the pads from your host
to trigger a pad - send a MIDI note on any of MIDI channels 01 to 15
- - a pad will be triggered by all MIDI notes within its range (from the Low to High MIDI notes, as set in the Drum Pad Editor)
- - a single note can trigger more than one pad, if the trigger ranges overlap
Real-time Sample Replacement
- - you can change the sample assigned to a pad while DK+ is playing so you can try out different samples and hear the results in contextto access the sample replacer - right-click a pad >> Realtime sample replacer
to select the previous or next sample for triggering - [Prev] or [Next]
to select any sample for triggering - double-click it, or
click it, then [Select]
- - if the pad is triggered from the DK+ Step Sequencer or from your host, then you will hear the newly selected sample, so you can audition changes in real-time
to navigate up one folder level - click the folder icon above the samples
to display the accessible disk drives - click [Drives]
to open a folder - double-click it, or
click it, then [Select]
to keep the selected sample - click [Keep]
to revert the original sample - click [Discard]
Mute Groups
- - a Mute group is simply a mechanism that allows the triggering of one pad to terminate the sound of another pad belonging to the same group- - for example, if you have an open hi-hat sample and a closed hi-hat sample, you may want to force the sound of the open hi-hat to be interrupted when the closed hi-hat sound begins to play, just like the real instrument
- - in the screenshot at the top of this section you can see that the 3 hihats (pads 7, 8 and 9) are in Mute group 1 and the 2 triangles (pads 21 and 22) are in Mute group 2
to place the pad in a Mute group - click the [m] or [number] to the right of the pad
- - repeated clicks select the next Mute group, there are 4 groups available
The Drum Pad Editor
to edit a drum pad - click the [e] button to the right of the pad in the Drum sectionto close the Drum Pad Editor - click the button in the top-right corner
- - the main display area enables you to load one or more wave samples (up to 10) into the drum pad
- - DK+ can import wave files with 8, 16, 20, 24 and 32 bit integer resolution, and 32 or 64 bit floating point resolution, mono or stereo.
- - DK+ will also resample the sounds automatically if they are stored at a higher or lower sample rate than the sample rate used in the host application.
to improve the resampling quality - activate the option "Use quality resampling" in the Preferences dialog
- - please have a look at the Preferences section of this Guide.
to prevent normalisation of samples when loaded - enable "Do not normalise" in the Preferences dialog
- - generally, samples loaded are normalized automatically, but note that this preference does not apply to the DK+ factory samples
Assigning samples to a drum pad
to load a sample - click [+], navigate to the folder containing the desired sample, double-click it, orclick it, then [Open]
to load several samples -
- click [+], navigate to the folder containing the desired sample(s),
- click a sample, [Use sample] >> Add to pad,
- repeat for the other samples (they can be in different folders)
to audition a sample automatically when you click it - tick Auto preview
to replace an existing loaded sample by a different one -
- click [+], navigate to the folder containing the desired sample,
- click a sample, [Use sample] >> Replace in pad,
- click [+], navigate to the folder containing the desired sample,
- click a sample, [Use sample] >> Replace and use GM map, select the GM instrument
Layering Samples
- - each drum pad can have up to ten cross-velocity layers; the cross velocity is a feature that allows to play different samples at different MIDI velocity.to set the velocity threshold for a loaded sample - click the Velo value, edit it, and press Enter
- - when you change a Velocity, DK+ automatically sorts the loaded samples into velocity order
to cancel the velocity edit - press Esc or click outside the value
- - for example:
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Random Sample Selection
to play one of several samples - set the Velo value for the samples to the same value- - for example:
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- - samples with the same MIDI velocity "threshold" will be chosen at random for playback
- - this feature allows you to mix velocity selection with random selection of layers for maximum flexibility, in the screenshot
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to play samples depending on their probabilities - set the Velo values to the desired probabilities, set the Random button On
- - for example, using the same snare drum pad:
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- - each sample will be played depending on the total probabilities set in the Velo values
- - here, the total probability is (0+40+40+70+100) =250 - - so the sample with a probability of 40, will be played 40/250 = 16% of the time - - this feature allows you to mix velocity selection with random selection of layers for maximum flexibility.
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Assigning MIDI Trigger Notes
- - all notes within the key zone will trigger the pad to play
- - the samples are transposed, depending on the relationship between the defined Center note and the MIDI note received
- - for example, with a Center note of C3, and a received MIDI note of D3, the samples will be transposed upwards by 2 semitones
to set the bottom note in the key zone - click the Low value, and enter the MIDI note number, or
click [learn] beneath the Low value and press the appropriate key on your MIDI keyboard
to set the top note in the key zone - click the High value, and enter the MIDI note number, or
click [learn] beneath the High value and press the appropriate key on your MIDI keyboard
to set the root note for the pad - click the Center (or Centre) value, and enter the MIDI note number, or
click [learn] beneath the Center value and press the appropriate key on your MIDI keyboard
to rename the pad - click the name, edit in the changes and press Enter
to cancel the edit - press Esc or click outside the name
Voice controls
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to set the pad volume - adjust the level control
- - the centre position is 0 dB and the range is +/- 24 dB to reset the volume to 0 dB semitones - Ctrl+click the level control, or set it to its centre position to set the pad pan position - adjust the pan control to reset the pan position to centre - Ctrl+click the knob, or set it to its centre position |
- - the centre position is no retuning, and the range is +/- 14 semitones
to reset the tuning to none - Ctrl+click the knob, or
set it to its centre position
- - you can shift the range of the pad by changing the Center MIDI note
to enable/disable modulation by your pitch bend control - click the Pitch Bend button On/Off
- - the range pitch bend is +/- 3 semitones
FX and Output controls
- - repeated clicks select the next Mute group, there are 4 groups available
- - a Mute group is simply a mechanism that allows the triggering of one pad to terminate the sound of another pad belonging to the same group
to stop the pad playback when the trigger Note off is received - activate the Note off button
to set the FX Send level for the pad - adjust the FX Send control
- - this may send the sound to the DK+ internal Reverb or to [Aux3] depending on the Preference setting
to change the filter type to Hi Pass - click the Filter [LP] button
to change the filter type to Lo Pass - click the Filter [HP] button
- - the filter slope is -12dB/octave
to set the Cutoff frequency - adjust the tune control
to reset the Cutoff frequency to its maximum - Ctrl+click the knob, or
set it to its maximum position
to modulate the Cutoff frequency with the MIDI velocity - adjust the Filter Vel control
- - if the Vel value is set to its minimum, then the MIDI note velocity does not affect the Cutoff frequency
- - the higher the Vel value the more the MIDI note velocity will open the filter
- - for a Lo Pass filter, the Cutoff frequency is increased from its nominal setting
- - for a Hi Pass filter, the Cutoff frequency is decreased from its nominal setting
to select the output for the pad - click the desired output
- - there are three stereo outputs [1+2], [3+4] and [5+6], and three Auxiliary mono outputs [Aux 1], [Aux 2] and [Aux 3]