Alicia`s Keys Owner`s Manual
Contents
1. ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 11 3 4 Settings Press the Settings button in the Performance View to open the Settings window The Settings controls are organized in five categories each of which has Its own tab Room Keys Pedal Resonance and Noise 3 4 1 The Room Tab The settings in the Room tab let you add a room simulation of your choice to the piano sound The dimensions of a room and the type of surface materials have a big impact on the sound of the piano For example the sound of a piano played in a large concert hall is very differ ent to that experienced when the same piano Is played in a small studio space Each type of room creates a unique sound and has its own ambience because of the way sound waves are reflected by the room You can adjust the type and feel of the room using three settings Digital Ambience Convolution Reverb and Stereo Image Each of these effects is turned on and off by pressing the button next to the effect name The Room tab Digital Ambience e Amount Adjusts the amount of digital ambience e ize Adjusts the virtual size of the room Convolution Reverb Amount Adjusts the convolution reverb amount ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 12 e Location These predefined convolution effects allow you to determine the reverb that would be experienced in different acoustic spaces Select one of the following rooms to load a convolution preset o Hall o Auditorium o Studio e ize Adjus2. USER MANUAL The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH The software described by this document Is Subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media No part of this publication may be copied reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded for any purpose without prior written permission by Native Instruments GmbH hereinafter referred to as Native Instruments All product and company names are or trademarks of their respective owners Manual written by Ryan Rainer Document Version 1 0 01 2010 Product Version 1 0 01 2010 Special thanks to the Beta Test Team who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs but in making this a better product Germany Native Instruments GmbH schlesische Str 28 D 10997 Berlin Germany info native instruments de www native instruments de USA Native Instruments North America Inc 5631 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles CA 90028 USA Sales native instruments com www native instruments com ND NATIVE INSTRUMENTS Native Instruments GmbH 2010 All rights reserved Table Of Content WAVER OGG CO Woes onae E E E EE E 5 Tel AbDOUTANGIIS PIANO ssesoscssinnnnn iae a Aaaa 5 1 2 About KONTAKT KONTAKT PLAYER asasnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 6 2 GENO STANE o E tucedes castes dander cus on danse es nadcdee ees 8 2
3. Gibranes Database Monitor Modules Auto ah ew default Add Library Instr Hau Alicias Keys Alicias Keys ALICH VS o oients ec Wi Alicios Keys nki O B Output st 1 ot Voices OF Mas 128 T Midi Ch A 1 Memory O i H a een ont 2 Purge This drop down menu has options relating ta KOHTAE Ts Purge Function This allows you to remove samples From memory iF j Tata Can i ple os iba id GE they have not been used in your current project ALICIA S KEYS loaded in KONTAKT PLAYER ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 6 Enabling Multi processor Support in Stand alone mode If you are using ALICIA S KEYS on a computer with two or more processors or proces sor cores make sure to enable multi processor multi core CPU support in KONTAKT s KONTAKT PLAYER s Options dialog 1 To open the Options dialog click the Options icon in KONTAKT s KONTAKT PLAYER s main header O KONTAKT PLAYER 2 In the Options dialog select the Engine tab 3 The menu labeled Multiprocessor support Standalone should hold an entry reflecting the number of processor cores found in your computer Select this entry to enable multi processor support Interface Default Volume for new instrument and volume reset Engine i dizabled CPU overload protection Coy killing voices Handling HOTE the amount of mas playable voices may decrease substantially if this option is set Load Import Database M
4. notes will continue to ring out after they have been released The Pedal tab e Half Pedaling Click the button labeled Simulate Half Pedaling with Impulse Response to enable half pedaling simulation based upon impulse responses When this is enabled you can gradually press the Sustain Pedal and the more you press it the more resonance emerg es In this way you can go continuously from a pedal up sound to a pedal down sound This assumes that you have a Sustain Pedal that is capable of sending continuous values Note If you play a note with the pedal up and then press the pedal afterwards the triggered pedal up sample will gradually change into a more pedal down like one This is simulated using the Impulse Response However if you play a note while the pedal is down releasing the pedal afterwards will not cause a gradual change of the sound e Pedal Controllers Drag the sliders to change the amount of sustain achieved when the Sustain and Sustenuto pedals are depressed 3 4 4 The Resonance Tab About Sympathetic Resonance On a real piano when a particular note is played and the Sustain pedal is depressed other strings corresponding to the harmonics of that note will also vibrate in sympathy This is known as sympathetic resonance ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 15 The same effect can be achieved without the use of the pedal by silently pressing the keys corresponding to these harmonics instead This has the same effect as
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7. e amount of time before a key Is released Self Masking Repetition Controls whether to fade out old notes when the same note Is played at a higher velocity Turn this feature on or off by pressing the button e Fadeout Time Determines how long it takes for a note to fade out once it is masked released e Style Select an entry from this menu to determine how often the Self Mask should set in The three options are Aggressive Repetition Friendly Kill only old notes o Aggressive fade out notes with less velocity irrespectively of the time that has passed Since they were played o Repetition friendly fade out notes with velocity values at least ten steps below the value of the most recently played note and if more than 500 ms have passed since they were played o Kill only old notes fade out notes with velocity values at least 40 steps below the value of the most recently played note and if more than 800 ms have passed since they were played ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 14 3 4 3 The Pedal Tab The settings in the Pedal tab let you adjust how the piano pedals will respond to pedal action Alicia s piano has the Sustain Damper and Sustenuto pedals The Sustain Pedal causes the dampers to be lifted off all strings of the piano allowing them to ring out while the pedal is depressed The Sustenuto Pedal has the same effect but only on the notes that are played before the pedal is depressed and afterwards are released These
8. he bottom arrow to access the next one 3 1 6 Numericals These are fields that contain numbers Pm Click on the numerical then drag the mouse up to increase the value and drag down to decrease the value or gt Double click on the numerical and type in the desired value Directly editable numericals are only available in the Instrument Header The parameter values in the Performance View can be changed only by operating the relevant controls ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 10 3 2 The Performance View The Performance View holds all the relevant controls for shaping the sound of the piano a Alicias Keys Instrument Header with Performance View open 3 3 Choosing and saving Presets ALICIA S KEYS offers a selection of a number of factory and user effect presets Choosing a Factory Preset The factory presets offer the piano in three different rooms Hall Auditorium or Studio in small or large sizes These rooms can be adjusted even further by choosing the room as experienced by the audience or the artist Together there are 14 different factory presets Creating your own Preset Once you have created a sound you like you can save your settings as a user preset To do this click the Preset drop down menu and select one of the Save as User preset entries pro vided at the end of the list This preset will now contain all the values of the Room Settings controls you have defined and can be loaded again at any stage
9. ing premium vintage microphones and preamps and carefully analyzing Alicia s playing we have successfully produced the very warm soulful and inspiring sound of Alicia s piano and It s fun to play The virtual piano has been tailored to reflect the style and sound aesthetics of Alicia Keys to an extent as it has never been done before for another artist It was recorded with her original gear and all aspects of recording and sampling technique were designed in close collaboration with Alicia The result is a plano completely true to the original instrument with the sound and feeling of Alicia s artistic personality We sincerely hope that you enjoy ALICIA S KEYS Your Native Instruments Team 1 1 About Alicia s Piano Fully redesigned at the turn of the millennium today s C Series grands benefit from a host of recent Yamaha advances The piano samples used to create ALICIA S KEYS originate from Alicia Keys own studio piano the Yamaha C3 Neo This grand piano is one of only three of it s kind in the world today ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 5 1 2 About KONTAKT KONTAKT PLAYER ALICIA S KEYS ts an Instrument powered by KONTAKT you will therefore have to have KONTAKT or the freee KONTAKT PLAYER installed on your computer in order to use ALICIA S KEYS Refer to the KONTAKT KONTAKT PLAYER documentation to learn how to load and configure KONTAKT Instruments KONTAKT PLAYER O Browse Info Files
10. nances in them ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 16 3 4 5 The Noise Tab The settings in the Noise tab help further to achieve a more authentic piano sound Here you can adjust how much sound the keys and pedals make when they are depressed and released Furthermore you can control the amount of microphone noise to create a static microphone effect The Noise tab Mechanical Key Noise e Pedal Up Level of the sound generated when a key bounces back into position after be ing released while the pedal is not depressed e Pedal Down Level of the sound generated when a key bounces back into position after being released while the pedal is depressed Sustain Pedal Noise e Released Level of the sound generated when the pedal is released e Pressed Level of the sound generated when the pedal is depressed Microphone Noise To add microphone noise to the piano sound click the Microphone Noise button Adjust the Volume knob to control the level of static microphone noise The volume of the noise is constant as long as something Is being played More static noise adds an old school vintage effect to the piano ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 17 4 Credits Produced by Alicia Keys Edited and programmed by Scarbee Concept created and piano sound engineered by Ann Mincieli Script programming Nils Liberg Additional samples recorded by Miki Tsutsumi Convolution Reverb IRs by Ernest Cholakis ALICIA S KEYS User Manual
11. pes of controls knobs sliders buttons drop down menus click menus and numericals 3 1 1 Knobs e To change a knob value click on it and drag up to move the knob clockwise or down to move it counter clockwise e Knobs can be fine tuned by holding down your computer keyboard s Shift key as you move the knob e Ctrl Click Mac OS X Cmd Click resets a knob to its default value ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 9 3 1 2 Sliders e To change a slider s value click and drag the slider to the right to increase or to the left to decrease the value e Sliders can be fine tuned by holding down your computer keyboard s Shift key as you move the slider e Ctrl Click Mac OS X Cmd Click resets a slider to its default value 3 1 3 Buttons These are all toggles click once to turn on again to turn off The background of most but tons will change its color for the On and Off states 3 1 4 Drop Down Menus These look like buttons but have small arrows that point down To access a drop down menu s entries click on the menu A list holding several entries drops down To select one of the entries move the mouse to the desired entry so that the entry gets highlighted then release the mouse button The piano takes whatever action you ve requested then closes the menu 3 1 5 Click Menus These are only available in the Instrument Header Click the top arrow to access the previous setting Click t
12. pressing the Sustain Pedal on these strings Using this method allows you to determine exactly which harmonics you would like to resonate Sympathetic Resonance Rules Setting these rules allows you to determine how much Sympathetic Resonance Is experienced when playing the piano You can set the number of rules for Pedal Up and Pedal Down mode separately Click the button to enable or disable Sympathetic Resonance Rules In Pedal Down mode it Is generally better to use fewer rules for performance reasons Note More rules means more sympathetic resonance harmonics but also a higher voice count which could negatively affect performance The Resonance tab e Volume Adjusts the overall volume of resonance sounds e Pedal Up Controls the number of different resonance intervals for keys that are physi cally pressed rather than sustained using the pedal The higher the number the higher the voice count and CPU usage e Pedal Down Controls the number of different resonance intervals for keys that are not physically pressed but rather sustained using the pedal The higher the number the higher the voice count and CPU usage e Voices Determines the maximum number of voices This should be lowered if you expe rience performance problems e Allow Silent Key Strokes Activating this control will cause notes with velocity 1 notes pressed very softly to be completely silent Even though such notes are silent you can get sympathetic reso
13. tic Sound ALICIA S KEYS has many controls tor tweaking the piano to produce a more authentic instru ment sound A few of these controls can be found in the Noise settings under the Noise tab in the Settings window Here you can adjust the sounds produced when keys are played and released as well as the sound the pedal makes while being played Finally you can adjust the level of static microphone noise to create that old school sound ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 8 3 Interface and Operation This chapter will introduce you to ALICIA S KEYS specific controls which are situated in the Performance View section of the Instrument within your KONTAKT KONTAKT PLAYER software Pm Press the Performance View button PV in the lower right of the Instrument Header to show hide the Performance View EZ Alicias Keys las F o Output st 1 th Voices OF Maos 128 urge re k Jono See Gl Hidi Ch A 1 g Memory O MI fle The Performance View button in the Instrument Header To learn how to operate the Instrument Header s controls refer to the documentation of your KONTAKT KONTAKT PLAYER software T Note that ALICIA S KEYS will not work properly if you transpose it using KONTAKT s Instrument option MIDI Transpose Instrument Options gt Instrument gt MIDI Transpose pedal noises will not sound and pedal down samples will not be released but play until end 3 1 Basic Controls There are six basic ty
14. ts the virtual size of the room Stereo Image e Spread adjusts the width of the stereo effect The larger the value the greater the width of the stereo image and vice versa e Position Choose the perspective from which the piano is heard either artist or audience 3 4 2 The Keys Tab The settings in the Keys tab deal with how the piano will respond and give expression to your individual playing style The Keys tab Velocity Curve Changing the Velocity Curve will affect how the piano will respond to your playing at different MIDI velocities that is how hard or softly you play the keys With a positive or convex slope the piano will be more sensitive to softer playing When the slope is negative or concave there is less response to softer playing and more sensitivity to harder strokes There are 10 different velocity curves to choose from ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 13 COMCAYE 100 gt Select the entry that matches your playing style from the Velocity Curve menu Finger Attack Turn the Latency knob to adjust how much the sample start is offset At 100 you get a slower attack but more of the noise as the finger touches the key With lower values you get a quicker attack and less latency Select a low percentage for low latency Select a high percentage for a larger part of the original attack of the note to be Included The default latency value is 50 Key Release Adjust the Decay Time knob to determine th
15. ultiprocessor support Standalone Memory Audio choose options Send MIDI to outside world DI like realtime Offline Interpolation Quality Kfor mixdown Note that your multi processor equipped computer will only achieve its full performance if Multiprocessor support is enabled De selecting this option will result in a lower voice count ALICIA S KEYS User Manual 7 2 Getting Started This section will take you through a few basic tasks to get you started with your new piano These steps will help you begin to get the sound you want out of ALICIA S KEYS For more detail on how the various controls work refer to the Interface and Operation section of this manual 2 2 1 Choosing a Preset Once you ve experimented a bit with the dry sound try the different factory presets until you find a suitable sound Each preset represents the sound of the piano in a different room and whether you are hearing the sound from behind the piano or from the audience 2 2 2 Setting the Ambience For more control over the Room settings check out the Room controls Press the Settings button to open up the Settings window Here you can adjust the digital ambience and select the type of room you want the piano to be played in You ll hear how each room experiences different reverb amounts when the piano is played You can also choose the perspective of where the sound of the piano Is being heard from here artist or audience 2 2 3 More Authen
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