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1. GREEN The port is working properly LI LIE UL LI LIE l Y o 2 LAUNCH e YELLOW The port is working but the device is not responding properly RED The port is unavailable or not work All four rows will show green when vKA has been stopped 1 2 3 4 5 mee i i p E NM SN AN RM 6 7 8 MASTER LJ LLL LL L L IL cur LEVEL r APC40 input port APC40 sa lt Kyma MIDI or emm e Kyma MIDI or OSC output port Inc Am CONTROL SEN SENDC BANK SELECT TAP TEMPO L lt e m c a DEVICE CONTROL er e m z CE ON OFF L REC QUANTIZATION MIDI OVERDUB CLIP TRACK UM e I METRONOME PLAY STOP REC DETAIL VIEW VKA Additional Set Up for Ableton Live Once you ve finished the standard Setup steps in the last chapter and you plan on us ing the APC40 and vKA with Ableton Live you will need to use a slightly different set up than you would normally have for Live Configure Ableton Live Start Live bring up its prefer ences and select the MIDI Sync tab Make sure that you have APC40 selected as at least one of the control surfaces Use the drop down menu selector to choose 40 as its in put and APC40 as its output You can have additional APC40 controllers provided they do2. Paca rana beslime 245 _ 1 Run at Login Auto restart Licensed to Valued Customer Paca rana Will show lt unavailable gt if no Paca rana is located To APC40 Shows the name of the current License Indicators show the status of each input and output connection They will glow green if the connection is good yellow if the external device is not properly responding and red if the connection itself has failed Light green indicates recent activity Press this button to see a more detailed report of why vKA is unable to successfully start You can access a detailed description of the problem by pressing the help button the question mark near the bottom right of the screen This shows a dialog with informa tion to guide you to fix th e problem vKA is experiencing problems power cycling the APC40 The APC40 is not responding to vKA s requests Try C ok Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA If the APC40 is con nected and powered it will notify you of problems Essentially this duplicates the status indicators shown in the prefer ence pane This fea ture eliminates the need to keep the preference pane open This feature does not work if vKA is unable to commu nicate with the 40 Delora Software by Harmony Systems These four rows show status information when vKA detects a problem LL lI l LL I l
3. One of the limitation of the VCS is that it does not convey the current value for any sound setting assigned to a rotary This makes sense when you think about the MotorMix and how its eight rotaries had no way of showing current values But the APC40 s rotaries all have LED rings and do not suffer this limi tation So VKA re purposed swap mode to mean show the values currently assigned to my rotary controls In practice this is quite useful VCS snapshot next previous and roll dice has three buttons you can use to load sound s snapshot like a synthe sizer preset Each Kyma sound stores one or more histories or snapshots of all of the sound s current VCS settings These buttons are grouped together in the APC40 upper right below the group of eight rotary controls LOAD NEXT nudge loads the next available snapshot into the current sound LOAD PREVIOUS nudge loads the previ ous snapshot The list of snapshots wraps around meaning if you press either LOAD NEXT or LOAD PREVIOUS enough times in a row you will return to the same snapshot ROLL DICE tap tempo randomly chooses new values for all of the current VCS set tings except those you exclude with the VCS lock feature those setting names show in gray on the computer screen This button performs identical to pressing the small dice icon with your mouse on the VCS s computer display VCS Sync vKA and Kyma work in concert to insure
4. Strictly speaking these are not VCS features but they are handy to have previous next VCS faders CLIP TRACK MASTER DETAIL VIEW REC QUANTIZATION MIDI OVERDUB METRONOME REC I I I master volume Kyma master volume level Master volume fader and mute button The mute button is not lit when the sound engine is playing at whatever master volume you have set When you press the mute button it sends a turn the volume all the way down message to the sound engine The button remains lit to remind you that you have turned off the sound Press mute again and the sound engine returns to its previ ous volume setting tracks any changes that you make to the master volume fader while the sound engine is muted When you unmute these changes take hold Since the APC40 faders are not motorized it is possible for the fader position to not reflect the current sound engine s master volume level This can happen if the level is Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA changed by another means like through the Kyma preferences or the Paca rana s front panel vKA s master volume fader and mute button work in a such a way that if you prefer to set master volume level by other means and do not often change it then vKA will not get in the way Basically vKA keeps track if you have adjusted the master volume fader previously It saves whatever the last value you set and restores this value
5. VKA reinitializes for any reason for example if your OSX MIDI configuration changed when you turned on a USB MIDI controller issues a request to the VCS This command causes the VCS to send information about the fader switch LEDs and other current settings Normally vKA automaticly does this when ever it needs to and stays in lock step with the VCS However occassionally the VCS and vKA can get out of step This is normal and is a direct result of how the VCS works with the MotorMix and other controllers Most of the inconsistencies will be in the faders LED rings showing incorrect values and or the LEDs on swl sw32 being incorrect The remedy is to press VKA s VCS Sync button This button sends a resync re quest to Kyma Kyma replies with the needed information to bring things back in line Finally the volume slider and mute button deserve special mention Kyma s master volume command is write only meaning that never informs what the current value master volume is set to remembers how you has changed the master volume and mute setting in the past and will use the latest value each time vKA initializes If you never adjust master volume or mute using vKA then vKA leaves Kyma s master volume unchanged In other words if you prefer to set volume by another means then do not use vKA volume controls Getting the Most Out of vKA With the Kyma VCS Kyma s VCS integration prov
6. App lt n vKA engine APC Control Surface vKA APC virtual MIDI port CoreMidi USB External USB MIDI I O MIDI Capybara This diagram illustrates the differences when vKA operates in Capybara mode What this really means is that a physical MIDI connection is used to send and receive MIDI with the Capybara or Paca rana should you choose to use conventional MIDI with it No application virtual MIDI port is available the Paca rana virtual port The reason this is omitted is that there is already a MIDI interface connected to the Capybara and any application can send and receive MIDI with that even while is operating How ever the APC virtual MIDI port is still provided as that is essential to sharing the APC40 between the VCS and Ableton Live So how does the APC40 provide the necessary controls that the VCS expects This is covered in the Operation section but a few words are in order here regarding faders The VCS uses a banking strategy to allow eight physical faders to control a some Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA what unlimited number of VCS settings Button presses are used to change what sound setting is currently assigned to one of the eight faders This is how many DAW con trol surfaces work so you are probably already familiar with it The problem with these bank changes is that the physical controls have to somehow adjust to reflect the current
7. SPECIAL EXEMPLARY OR CONSE QUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTI TUTE GOODS OR SERVICES LOSS OF USE DATA OR PROFITS OR BUSINESS INTERRUP TION HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY WHETHER IN CONTRACT STRICT LIABILITY OR TORT INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA oscpack Open Sound Control packet manipulation library Copyright c 2004 2005 Ross Bencina lt rossb audiomulch com gt Permission is hereby granted free of charge to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files the Software to deal in the Software without restriction including without limitation the rights to use copy modify merge publish distribute sublicense and or sell copies of the Software and to permit per sons to whom the Software is furnished to do so subject to the following conditions The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software Any person wishing to distribute modifications to the Software is requested to send the modifications to the original developer so that they can be incorporated into the ca nonical version THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRA
8. it Works Limitations Requirements About Your License Installation Updating vKA Set Up Run the vKA Preference Pane and Enter Your License Setup the vKA Preference Pane Run vKA Enable Kyma s VCS Troubleshooting with the Preference Pane Additional Set Up for Ableton Live Configure Ableton Live Using vKA How the VCS Uses the APCAO s Controls Important Notes About the VCS Getting the Most Out of vKA With the Kyma VCS Removing vKA Troubleshooting Acknowledgements Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA TM 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 20 23 23 27 27 33 34 37 38 40 Introduction to Symbolic Sound s Kyma X sound design workstation and environment is a powerful yet flexible tool for creating or discovering fantastic new sounds A user can interact with a Kyma system using typical personal computer devices mouse or trackball keyboard and the display monitor But Kyma also offers another means of interaction that can be far more satisfying a physical control surface with faders knobs switches and lights Kyma s control surface support is through its Virtual Control Surface often simply referred to as its VCS Kyma sounds are by their very nature unconstrained to a spe cific arrangement of knobs faders and other control elements Yet does a re markable job of automatically creating a usable VCS setup for each sound that you can modify as necessary The V
9. not use the physical APC40 you are using with Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Look at the MIDI de vice list and find the entry Akai APCAO if you have more than one APC40 locate the one used with vKA Turn off the Track Sync and Remote op tions for both input and output Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Now locate the two lines APC40 Input APC40 and APC40 Out put 40 Turn off Track Sync and Re mote Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Finally if you have set up vKA in Paca rana mode and wish Live to control or be controlled by a Kyma sound locate the lines Set Track on Sync off and Remote off Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Using vKA is designed to work automatically in the background once you have everything properly set It will load each time you log into your OSX account and sit quietly in the background waiting until you need to use the controller When vKA sits idle it con sumes very little computer resources and can generally be ignored However if you are the type of user that prefers to only have software running when you are actually using it then you can manually start and stop vKA from its preference pane If you like to turn off the APC40 when you are not using it vKA will be idle until you turn the APC40 on vKA will then come alive wi
10. order they occur on screen left to right top to bottom Now imagine a box or frame that encloses eight consecutive faders Whatever sound setting assigned to the faders currently in the box are controlled by the eight APC40 faders When bank mode is off light extinguished BANK LEFT and BANK RIGHT moves this box one position left or right So if the box is currently around faders 1 8 pressing BANK RIGHT moves it to enclose VCS faders 2 9 and the APC40 now controls those set tings APC40 fader 1 controls VCS fader 2 APCAO fader 2 controls VCS fader 3 and so on Likewise BANK LEFT moves the box one position to the left Notice that no mat ter how many times you press BANK LEFT it never goes past the first position The box also stops at the last VCS fader currently assigned no matter how many times you press BANK RIGHT If you press BANK to turn bank mode on light glowing BANK LEFT and BANK RIGHT moves this box eight positions left or right or if it runs out of faders to the first or last fader respectively Bank mode on is useful when you have a large number of faders and your VCS is constructed to place related settings in groups of eight Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA VCS fine control Sometimes you need to precisely adjust a sound setting Press FINE to turn on the fader fine adjust mode When Fine is on the light in the F NE button will glow the VCS ad Note that not all settings assigne
11. that the various vKA switches LED rings and so on reflect the current VCS settings Normally this happens automatically However there are rare cases where the two may become out of sync If you should suspect this then simply press the VCS Sync button up arrow in four way navigation switch Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Ableton Live mode The APC40 is at its heart a purpose built control surface for Ableton Live So its entirely likely that you purchased yours with this use in mind and would like to share the APC40 between Kyma duties and Live duties vKA has special smarts that enable it to alternate between Live mode and VCS mode without missing a beat The ABLETON LIVE MODE Send C button is used to toggle between these two modes Whenever vKA is in VCS mode this button is lit Simply press and release it immedi ately to switch to Live mode When in Live mode things are a bit more complex Ableton Live makes full use of each and every switch light rotary and fader on the APC40 As such there is no safe button that can be used to switch back to VCS mode nor is there any fool proof way to indicate that you are now in Live mode So vKA has to resort to trickery to facilitate switching back To return to VCS mode press and hold the ABLETON LIVE MODE Send button for about two seconds When you release the button you will have returned to VCS mode As far as how do
12. the fader VCS display on your computer these indicators change to reflect the latest value Fight VCS Rotaries The four by two group of rotary controls in the APC40 s upper right corner provide VCS rotary controls These are endless rotaries meaning that the information the VCS re ceives when you adjust one relates to how much you have changed the control and not Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA the absolute position These rotaries work the same way they do in the MotorMix the original VCS controller It is for this reason that these controls do not have their LED ring lit The VCS does not provide any feedback about the current value of a setting assigned to a pot or ro tary encoder However there is a trick described in the swap feature section that you can use to instantly learn what each of these are set to VCS bank control Kyma allows for a large number of rotaries and faders more than just the eight of each vKA provides Kyma uses a bank system to choose which of the eight VCS faders and rotaries are currently affected by vKA Please note that VCS switches and lights are not banked You only have thirty two of each Three buttons control the VCS bank system BANK BANK LEFT and BANK RIGHT The BANK button has a light that is on whenever the VCS is in the bank mode Imagine that all of the faders currently showing on the VCS computer display are ar ranged in one long line in the
13. CS is often controlled with simple mouse movements Where it really shines though is when coupled with one of the supported hardware control surfaces If you do not have one of these VCS compatible controllers then you are missing a lot of the joy of physical interaction with your Kyma creations However not many hardware devices work seamlessly with Kyma s VCS The grand mother of all VCS controllers is the MotorMix But these are getting harder and harder to find The VCS also supports the affordable Behringer BCF2000 though its very na ture limits the VCS support to only a subset of what is possible Harmony Systems Delora vM2 product in 2009 expanded Kyma VCS support to in clude the JazzMutant Lemur an innovative forward looking controller that pioneered multitouch technology vM2 combined with the Lemur provides arguably a superior interaction with the Kyma VCS over even the MotorMix Unfortunately Lemurs are ex pensive is the latest addition to the Delora Software V Family of control surface solutions that work together with Kyma s VCS vKA transforms the popular affordable Akai APC40 into a VCS controller It delivers most of the features of the VCS in an intuitive easy to use manner If you already own an 40 and if you regularly use Ableton Live you really should vKA represents an inexpensive addition to your Kyma studio that will pay for itself in time saved and the pleasure you gain from using Kyma in a hands
14. D E L A S F T W A E by Harmony Systems Inc Akai 40 control surface for VCS CLIP LAUNCH SESSION OVERVIEW TRACK CONTROL 55500500 NUDGE NUDGE m ALL CLIPS j uc i l l l DEVICE CONTROL M M a e L3 898 M M M CLIP TRACK DEVICE ON OFF 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DETAIL VIEW REC QUANTIZATION MIDI OVERDUB METRONOME PLAY STOP REC 2010 Harmony Systems Inc All rights reserved Under the copyright laws this manual may not be copied in whole or part without the written consent of Harmony Systems Inc Your rights to the software are governed by the accompanying software license agreement Delora Software and vKA are trademarks of Harmony Systems Inc Other company and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks of their respective companies Mention of third party products is for informational purposes only Harmony Systems assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance or use of these products Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this manual Please contact De lora Product Support supportdelora com should you have questions regarding in formation in this manual Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA D E L A S O F TW A E by Harmony Systems Inc Table of Contents Introduction to vKA in Summary How
15. NTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT TORT OR OTHERWISE ARIS ING FROM OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA
16. OSX guru you can do something similar from the Terminal application If neither of these ap proaches work then you will need to log out and restart your Mac Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Acknowledgements In addition to Harmony Systems Inc s proprietary code contains some code pro vided by generous and dedicated independent developers The follow code was used AquaticPrime Copyright c 2005 Lucas Newman rights reserved Redistribution and use in source and binary forms with or without modification are permitted provided that the following conditions are met Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice this list of conditions and the following disclaimer Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and or other materials provided with the distribution Neither the name of Aquatic nor the names of its contributors may be used to en dorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS AS IS AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT INDIRECT INCIDENTAL
17. OSX user agent program that is compatible with Intel and G5 Macs running Leopard or Intel Macs using Snow Leopard Transforms the Akai APC40 s MIDI commands to and from appropriate Kyma s VCS control messages Supports Symbolic Sounds Capybara sound engine and Paca rana family of sound engines Works with a direct MIDI connection to the sound engine or optionally with the Paca rana using its MIDI over OSC network MIDI protocol Provides a virtual MIDI port when used with the Paca rana and MIDI over OSC This affords MIDI applications direct communication with the Paca rana without requiring additional MIDI or USB interfaces Retains Ableton Live APC40 compatibility Easy one button switching between controlling Ableton Live or Kyma VCS Can be used with Harmony Systems PacaMidi utility to further expand the Pa ca rana s MIDI connections Set up once and forget about it ease of use Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA How it Works vKA is a small light weight OSX application that run unobtrusively in the background It is easy to set up and once you have done this you can pretty much forget it s even there You do not really even need to understand what is happening behind the scenes So what is happening behind the scenes is a native OSX application that is technically a user agent program This is a special type of OSX application that does not require nor offer an
18. VCS value Controllers like the MotorMix or BCF2000 em ploy motorized faders that move the fader handles to the correct value vVM2 accom plishes the same feat by commanding the Lemur s virtual faders to also update Unfor tunately the APC40 s faders are not motorized making them inappropriate What the APC40 does have is sixteen endless rotary controls each with an LED ring that can be set to show a current value Essentially these rotaries can be used like a conventional potentiometer or knob When you adjust one of them the LED ring will show the new value Likewise when the VCS adjusts one it will also then show the cur rent value vKA s engine uses the APCAO s Device Control group of eight rotaries as VCS faders You will find that the operation is accurate smooth and intuitive In a short time you will reach for one of these knobs whenever you wish to adjust a VCS fader For now the APC40 s physical faders are unused by the VCS That way they remain fully available to Ableton Live without the undesired consequences when switching be tween VCS and Live mode Limitations vKA only provides a subset of the VCS functionality you would find if you used a Mo torMix or vM2 with a Lemur This is not unlike using the BCR2000 except vKA pro vides many additional features In practice what is missing is probably not some thing you will miss The APC40 was chosen because it is one of the few physical con trollers av
19. ailable that can provide a substantive VCS experience Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Requirements Mac OSX 10 5 or higher Compatible with Leopard and Snow Leopard G5 Macs are supported on Leopard only Akai APC40 Ableton Controller Symbolic Sound Kyma system with Capybara or Paca rana sound engine To be used with Kyma Capybara or Paca rana without the MIDI Over OSC feature vKA requires a Firewire USB or other physical MIDI interface connecting the Kyma hardware to your Mac Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA About Your License vKA requires a license that is contained within a special file You received this license when you purchased vKA or when you requested the vKA demo Your license file is unique to you It contains your name and contact information Please take proper measures to insure that it remains safe and secure If you are evaluating the demo license that we sent you is valid for a limited time The time interval should be sufficient for you to do a proper evaluation and hopefully see how invaluable vKA is in your daily workflow However if you need additional time please contact sales Ssales delora com to discuss your specific requirements Entering your license is the step 5 of the Setup process see Chapter Set Up Once the license is installed vKA will work on that computer even if you later add more memory add or replace hard drives or reinstal
20. ason its first action is to attempt to reconnect using Bonjour Bonjour however takes a while to notice that the Paca rana is no longer available and continues to provide vKA with it s here which in turn uses to attempt the reconnect All while this is happening shows the status as yellow It is only after Bonjour has finally decided that the Pa ca rana is no longer available that vKA is informed it is completely offline and the MIDI over OSC To Paca rana status is shown as red This can take a minute or so There is a rare situation where the vKA application can still be found loaded in memory and is running more or less but is not responding The run status indicator will show Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA clear leading you to conclude it is not running However any attempt to start will fail The usual cause is that a prior run of vKA is still lingering in memory This is what computer experts refer to as a zombie process Unfortunately like the zombies found in video games and horror movies a zombie process can be quite difficult to kill The easiest way to clear this condition is to log out of OSX and log back in However if you are comfortable working under the hood then you can use OSX s Activity Monitor application to display active processes Search for _ Quit that process and you should be able to restart from the preference pane If you are a real
21. ciciciivcc Show All Q Personal c P Bj o Q Appearance Desktop amp Dock Expos amp Language amp Security Spotlight Screen Saver Spaces Text Hardware a p Uu gm s CDs amp DVDs Displays Energy Keyboard Mouse Print amp Fax Processor Sound Saver Internet amp Wireless mA iu MobileMe Network Bluetooth Sharing System A GN 9 z aM Cc 9 Accounts Date amp Time Parental Software Speech Startup Disk Time Machine Universal Controls Update Access Other s j Remove vKA Preference Pane i Control Center MenuMeters PacaMidi If you would like to completely remove all traces of vKA delete these files YOUR HOME FOLDER Library LaunchAgents com delora vKA plist YOUR HOME FOLDER Library Preferences com delora vKA agent plist Applications vKA remove entire folder Library Documentation vKA remove entire folder Note that you must have administrative rights to perform the final two deletions Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Troubleshooting is usually very transparent in daily use once it is properly configured It also has a sophisticated self configuration system that means in many situations little or no con figuration is needed Most of the initial connection issues are straight forward to diag nose Typical problems arise due to selecting an incorrect MIDI port when using it in Capybara mode The pre
22. computation engine only supports standard MIDI it can also be used with the newer Paca rana should you wish to use standard MIDI instead of the new MIDI over OSC features This mode requires a physical MIDI interface connected to the Kyma sound engine 2 Paca rana uses the Paca rana s MIDI over OSC capabilities to send MIDI to and from the Kyma sound computation engine This mode also creates a virtual MIDI port call Pacarana that is available in your sequencer and other software that can be used to send and receive MIDI from your Paca rana All communication ports in this mode are automatically configured vKA s Paca rana mode only works if you have a Paca or Pacarana e O vKA VKA by Delora Software Copyright Harmony Systems Inc 2009 2010 APC40 MIDI Status Version 1 0 0 100 0 9 From APC40 To APC40 FULL license Paca rana mode uses MIDI over OSC to communicate with your Paca rana O Capybara Paca rana MIDI over OSC Status From Paca rana To Paca rana Select target sound computation engine Paca rana Any Paca rana selector is _ Run at Login Auto restart displayed when Run tol multiple Paca rana s are available Licensed to Valued Customer License Select target application Select your target sound engine Notice that the preference pane changes if you select the Paca rana see screenshot above 1 If you have selected the Capybara target Kyma Mi
23. d Customer License If you have previously installed a demo or BETA version press this button to locate your full license is for the most part self configuring for typical use The one exception is when you use it with a Capybara or elect to use MIDI instead of MIDI over OSC with the Pa ca rana Select your sound engine FULL license vKA VKA by Delora Software Copyright Harmony Systems Inc 2009 2010 Version 1 0 0 100 0 9 VKA automatically finds your APC40 s MIDI ports APC40 MIDI Status From APC40 To APC40 Run status indicator Run w Manually start and stop vKA with these two buttons Delora Select target sound computation engine Capybara 7 Kyma MIDI Paca rana y Choose the MIDI port your Kyma sound engine uses to send to the vKA VCS Capybara From Kyma VCS Capybara 1 Run at Login _ Auto restart Licensed to Valued Customer License Check this if you want Check this if you want vKA to automatically restart when there is a major problem Press to license vKA to automatically start up when you login Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA vKA 2 0 has two modes of operation 1 Capybara uses MIDI to communicate with a Capybara or Paca rana Kyma sound computation engine Though it is named Capybara since the older Capybara sound
24. d to a justs the values of vKA s faders so that they VCS fader have a meaningful fine ad all are half way meaning the LED rings just Sometimes the corresponding will light to the half 12 o clock position Any sound setting will have only a couple of increases or decreases you now make in a actual values The VCS will not center value will adjust the corresponding setting the LED display in this case when you from its current setting but with a much activate fine mode smaller change for each degree you rotate the controller Press FINE again to return to nor mal operation VCS swap Rotary controls are very different than fader controls so sometimes it is handy to tem porarily reassign faders to rotaries and rotaries to faders Kyma s VCS has a mode called swap mode that does just this When swap mode is off the faders and rotaries behave as normal but when swap mode is on the roles are reversed Sound settings previously assigned to faders are now placed on the rotaries and the ones that were on the rotaries before now are controlled by the faders vKA s SWAP button engages this mode When swap is on the button s light also glows Each time you press SWAP it toggles between swap and normal Since vKA has no real faders and instead assigns the faders to one of the eight groups of APCAO rotaries swap mode works a little different then you might first ex pect When swap is active does not change what i
25. di To Kyma VCS From Kyma VCS vKA uses a MIDI input and output port to communicate with the Capybara Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Assign to use the physical MIDI ports that connect to the hardware device To use with Capybara or with the Pacarana without the MIDI over OSC fea ture you must have a Firewire USB or other physical MIDI interface connected to your Mac This is usually a USB MIDI interface or perhaps the MIDI interface from another USB controller The physical inputs and outputs of this MIDI interface must connect to the Capybara s corresponding MIDI input and output The Pa ca rana s MIDI interface is the one you plugged into its USB or Firewire connec tion Note the Capybara Flame s MIDI over FireWire feature will not work Set the desired ports using the pull down selectors for To Kyma VCS and From Kyma VCS Normally the same interface is used for both input and output but vKA gives you the flexibility to make these different 2 If you have selected the Paca rana target The new MIDI over OSC feature eliminates the need for you to provide MIDI In and MIDI Out parameters in the Preference Pane vKA uses Bonjour technology to automatically configure the Paca rana s network details Run at Log in Auto restart If you would like vKA to run every time you log in tick the Run at login checkbox This is the way we recommend you use vKA The Auto restart checkbox dete
26. e If you have set your Mac up with only a single OSX user account then vKA works pretty much as you would expect Each time you log in to your account or if you have automatic log in turned on OSX starts vKA up and it is ready to go When you log out of your account vKA is halted If on the other hand you share your Mac with other users who each have their own account then there are a few things to consider vKA is installed as a system wide re source meaning that each user account can potentially use is designed to work seamlessly in this situation For example your license once installed validates all possible user accounts Each account can also have its own settings for vKA vKA only runs in an account in which it has been set up to operate This includes the account you were in when was installed To turn on you must visit its pref erence pane in System Preferences at least once to enable vKA to operate in an ac count So each user account will have to do so in order for vKA to operate when that account is active Conversely if you do not want vKA to run when an account is active simply do not ever turn it on or if was enabled in the past use the preference pane to disable it Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Updating vKA If you are updating your production version of vKA after an initial installation please follow these procedures Run System Preferences and click on t
27. each time you start So if you never adjust this setting never sets your sound engine s master volume VCS switches and lights The APC40 s upper most grid of eight by four pushbuttons provide the thirty two switches and lights that the VCS supports When you press one of these buttons the VCS is sent the appropriate message that the corresponding VCS switch has been pressed The action the VCS takes in response to this action is left to the current sound running It s important to understand that the light within the switch is completely controlled by the VCS and will be on or off depending on the nature of the sound setting assigned to the companion switch Some sounds use a toggle switch and the light will alternate between on and off on each press Others use a push button style switch and the light will remain off One useful VCS trick is that you can use these switches for the light function and ignore any switch action Fight VCS faders The four by two group of rotary controls in the 40 lower right corner provide the VCS faders The top row corresponds to faders 1 4 the bot If you adjust a VCS fader on the com puter screen be aware that Kyma does not send the updated value to its tom 5 8 The LED rings around the rotaries are control surface until you release the used to display the current fader position So if mouse button after dragging the you change Kyma sounds or adjust a fader on
28. ference pane also a help button to assist in diagnosing problems after the initial installation See the Set Up chapter for more on this Problems though can arise from time to time even with a set up that was working just a minute If your APC40 no longer seems to be functioning as a VCS controller and you have double checked it is not in Ableton Live mode then it is possible that vKA has encountered a problem and may even have become stuck or crashed If you suspect this then visit the vKA preference pane and see whether its run status is show ing green or the indicators are dark It is very rare that status would be all green while vKA is otherwise confused or has failed If the status is all green then first look elsewhere perhaps restarting Kyma If you are using vKA in Paca rana mode then your computer network is used to communicate directly with your Paca rana and Kyma vKA uses Apple s Bonjour tech nology to set up this connection Normally this is completely automatic However there are some operational aspects that may at first seem confusing or incorrect When the network connection between the Paca rana and vKA is disconnected for any reason vKA takes note of this almost immediately If you have the preference pane open you will see both of the MIDI over OSC ports showing yellow This is true even when you turn the Paca rana off When vKA decides that the Paca rana is unresponsive for any re
29. he vKA preference pane Press the STOP button Quit close System Preferences Click on the vKA updated installer file sent to you and follow the installation in structions Run System Preferences and click on the vKA preference pane If the new version offers new or changed features through the preference pane adjust your settings ac cordingly then run vKA Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Set Up Once you ve finished the OSX install you will need to complete these setup procedures to begin using vKA l 2 8 Plug your 40 into an available USB port If you are using a Capybara or a Paca rana with MIDI instead of MIDI over OSC verify that the USB or FireWire MIDI interface connected to your Capybara is also plugged in and powered Note that if plan on using MIDI with the Paca rana it too needs a USB or FireWire MIDI interface alternative to 2 If you are using a Paca rana with MIDI over OSC Make sure that the Paca rana is connected to the same computer network as the Mac running Power up the APC40 and Capybara or Paca rana Run the vKA preference pane and enter your license Setup the vKA preference pane Run vKA Enable Kyma s VCS Completing the setup procedures establishes the necessary connections between the various components working in a typical vKA usage Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Run the vKA Preference Pane and Enter Yo
30. ides a number of useful features that are not fully docu mented or the documentation requires a careful reading of Kyma X Revealed Here are a few of our favorites Viewing a rotary s value If you want to see quickly all the rotary values in one go just press SWAP vKA s rotaries will switch to fader mode and the LED rings will display the current value Feel free to adjust a rotary s value while they are swapped When you are finished hit SWAP again For a quick check just toggle SWAP in quick succession Optimize the VCS for vKA Kyma provides substantial easy to use VCS editing It is easy to adjust a sound s VCS to fit your particular needs Often though a sound s VCS Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA is laid out best for the computer s display and not vKA If you use a sound frequently or rely on adjusting it in a performance setting then it makes sense to adjust the vari ous widgets to better fit Here are a few hints 1 Use faders for any control where immediate visual feedback is important vKA and the VCS work in tandem to display many more that just eight faders through the bank facility So there is no reason to hamper your interaction with a sound simply to fit it all on one screen Assign rotaries to those set tings where visual feedback is of less value 2 If you require more than eight faders or rotaries make sure that they are or dered in such a way to show in groups of eight on vKA Kyma ass
31. igns the order automatically but often the choice is not what is best for use on vKA Study Kyma X Revealed for how you can move VCS widgets around on the screen to get the grouping you desire on vKA This takes a little experiment ing but the results are well worth it 3 The 32 switches can be used as status indicators The VCS will display the first 32 push buttons or toggle buttons on vKA s thirty two push buttons If a toggle button is used then its on off status will show on each switch s LED You can assign toggle switches to any of your sound s hot values and it is easy to control its value from the sound itself A great example of this is the sound SequencerWithlndicator kym available on the Kyma Wiki This is a analog style step sequencer that uses the switch indicators as a case light to show in real time the currently playing step This is just one example of an excellent alternative use of a VCS toggle widget Create alternative VCS pages Each sound can have as many pages as you wish Nor mally this is used to provide VCS access for each sound contained within a sound but an alternative use is to provide a different style VCS for specific needs For example you might have one VCS page that is optimized for computer display but another one that is more appropriate for use with Another example is a VCS page that only shows those controls used during performance optimized for ready access from vKA You will have to
32. ile for operation Use the button below to locate your license If the problem persists please contact product support support delora com so that we may promptly help you resolve this license issue Unknown user License Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc Press the License button and use the file dialog to locate the license file you received as part of your order or demo request You will also see this mes sage if you are a demo or beta user and your demo beta license has expired VKA If you are installing your first production version of vKA but have a Beta or demo li cense installed that is still valid the license file is missing message will not dis play on the preference pane screen Instead you will see the mes sage in the bottom right corner licensed to demo user or licensed to beta user License button and use Press the the file dialog to locate the production version license file you received as part of your purchase Setup the vKA Preference Pane e n vKA by Delora Software Copyright Harmony Systems Inc 2009 2010 Version 1 0 0 100 0 9 vKA APC40 MIDI Status From 40 To 40 FULL license 9 Capybara N Kyma MIDI 7 Paca rana y VCS Capybara B From Kyma VCS Capybara B L Auto restart Select target sound computation engine Run at Login Licensed to Value
33. know when in Live mode goes it is usually fairly obvious One of more of the buttons that are never used in VCS mode will be glowing Another hint is that the Send C button may or may not be lit whereas in VCS mode it is al ways lit So if you notice that button s light is extinguished you are in Live mode If on the other hand the light is on and you press it it will not extinguish if is in Live mode The light will stay lit Note that there is nothing wrong with switching modes at any time so you can simply press ABLETON LIVE MODE Send C and see what happens If you end up in a different mode than you expected simply switch back Important Notes About the VCS Kyma s VCS has some operational attributes that impact the Some of these may at first appear strange or wrong until you understand the idiosyncrasies VCS was made to work well with a MotorMix so some of its flavor remains in the stew Two ex amples of note 1 When you move an on screen fader using the mouse the VCS does not send any in dication of change to vKA or any other control surface until you release the mouse button However if your mouse or trackball has a scroll wheel that is set up prop Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA erly you can adjust the on screen fader using that and vKA will display the change as expected 2 If you start while is already displaying the VCS for a playing sound or
34. l OSX provided the license file is not deleted Should your license file ever become damaged or inadvertently removed you will be greeted by a message on the vKA preference pane like the one that occurred when you first installed the program A similar message will pop up on the Lemur the next time you use vKA Repeat the same steps you used before to reinstall your license or replace it with a new one If you continue to encounter difficulties or you have misplaced your license file please email product support support amp delora com and we will help you work through the issue Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Installation Note If you are updating to a new version of vKA please go to the next chapter Up dating for the installation procedure vKA uses OSX s standard installation application to place its required files in the ap propriate locations on your Mac s hard drive The entire vKA application is contained in the single file vKA provided on the distri bution media To install vKA simply double click on this file The OSX installer will then walk you through the installation vKA consists of two program components its preference pane and the user agent You interact as needed with vKA through its preference pane The user agent compo nent works silently in the background and is managed by OSX directly The preference pane settings inform OSX and the agent how you wish it to operat
35. ning There is no need to restart when you run quit or change applications Enable Kyma s VCS Bring up Kyma s preferences and press the Performance button Then on the dis played Performance Preferences panel select MotorMix under External Midi Control ler Close this panel and then preferences and Kyma should be ready to use vKA Troubleshooting with the Preference Pane vKA helps you diagnose potential set up issues After pressing the Run button some indicators may show as follows please refer to the next diagram yellow hardware connections are likely OK but information is not being ex changed properly between and the APC40 and or Kyma s VCS red an error indicating a critical connection problem This signifies a hardware problem usually a MIDI port that is no longer available the APC40 is no longer powered or connected or the Paca rana is no longer powered or is not con nected to the network Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA e n lt gt Cshow an vKA by Delora Software Copyright Harmony Systems Inc 2009 2010 Version 1 0 0 100 0 9 FULL license Capybara Run The run status indicator shows yellow if vKA has started but is currently experiencing difficulties Press stop to make changes to settings vKA APC40 MIDI Status From APC40 MIDI over OSC Status From Paca rana To Paca rana
36. nt engine Ableton Live E APP to APR APP ODO MIDI Application APC Control Surface Logic Live etc vKA APC virtual MIDI port Paca rana virtual MIDI port MIDI over OSC port Network connection This diagram highlights how vKA works when in the Paca rana mode The vKA en gine monitors MIDI traffic from the Paca rana for VCS related messages These mes sages are transformed into an appropriate sequence of APC40 messages This is done so that the APC40 provides the necessary faders more on this in a moment rotary controls switches and lights that the VCS requires Likewise interprets APC40 messages into VCS user actions like moving a fader or setting a switch All of this works so that the user can use APC40 rotary controls and switches to change the VCS vKA provides an OSX CoreMidi compatible virtual MIDI port that applications like Logic Ableton Live or any other application that supports CoreMidi can use to send MIDI to and from a Kyma sound This VKA feature is like gaining a USB MIDI interface for free In fact since the Paca rana normally also needs a USB MIDI interface you are getting two for free PacaMidi another Harmony System product is a virtual MIDI in terface and patchbay that not only replaces these physical USB MIDI interfaces but also provides MIDI merging and routing support for two external MIDI devices You can use PacaMidi along side vKA if your MIDI set up
37. on matter Furthermore since Akai manufactured its APC40 to withstand the rigors of live performance vKA may well be the best option if you like to use Kyma on stage Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA The APC40 is by some measures a dedicated control surface for Ableton Live Harmony Systems designed vKA so that it works in concert with Ableton Live You can continue to use the APC40 with Ableton Live even at the same time you are controlling a Kyma sound keeps track of messages from both Ableton Live and Kyma s VCS A simple button press toggles you at any time between Live and Kyma This seamless sharing between Live and Kyma means you can have one less controller surface taking up valu able desk space in your studio or in your performance setup VKA has built in support for Symbolic Sound s new MIDI over OSC feature now sup ported in Paca rana based setups can communicate directly with the Pa ca rana without the use of a physical MIDI interface This saves the expense of a MIDI interface on your Mac and one for your Paca rana plus MIDI cables In addition provides a utility virtual MIDI port named Paca rana that sends MIDI to and from your Mac using the previously mentioned MIDI over OSC feature Sequencers Max MSP and other music software can send MIDI directly to and from the Paca rana sound computation engine without requiring a MIDI interface in Summary Native
38. requires these extra features What has been described thus far is sufficient to transform the 40 into a VCS con troller But does not stop there You probably would like to continue using your Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA APCAO to control Ableton Live without switching cables settings or running MIDI pipes MIDI patchbays or other applications virtualizes the APCAO so that Ableton Live and the Kyma VCS can both use it at the same time vKA provides a second virtual MIDI port named vKA If you set Ableton Live to find the APC40 on this port instead of the APC40 s actual port then can keep track of Ableton Live You switch between VCS mode and Live mode using one of the APC40 s buttons When you are controlling the VCS vKA continues to monitor MIDI arriving over the 40 virtual port It takes note of the commands and remembers what these com mands did If you then switch to controlling Ableton Live vKA makes sure that the APC40 s lights and rotaries are where Live expects them to be Meanwhile still lis tens to VCS commands arriving from the Paca rana or Capybara and takes note of those When you switch back to VCS mode makes sure that the APC40 reflects the current VCS settings Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA vKA Capybara mode Akai APC40 Mac vKA OSX user agent Ableton Live App to
39. rmines whether vKA will start up again in the event that OSX determines it has become stuck or crashed This is an unusual happenstance but stuff does happen The recommenda tion is to have this setting on if you have also checked the Run at Log in box Run vKA Run Stop The Run and Stop buttons do exactly what they imply they control whether vKA is running or not The three segment progress indicator above those buttons indicates the status of the Run process In general all segments green vKA appears to be running properly two segments yellow the program is in the process of starting up or shutting down one segment red a serious condition in which the process has become stuck and the program is unable to shut down logout force quit or restart should this occur Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA At this point of your first installation and setup the indicator segments should be grey darkened since vKA has never been started Press the Run button The indicator should turn yellow then green While vKA is start ing the control panel panel indicators may momentarily display red or yellow This is normal If however the red or yellow remains and the vKA progress indicator shows yellow then vKA has detected a problem with the current setup Go to Troubleshoot ing with the Preference Pane below to determine the likely causes and remedy You can start or stop Kyma or Ableton Live while vKA is run
40. s being controlled between the two groups of rotaries Instead it changes how each of the groups operate Normally swap is off the upper group of eight rotaries correspond to the VCS rotaries and work in an incremental fashion see Eight VCS Rotaries for more discussion Their LED rings are always off The lower group is used for the VCS faders They work in an absolute fashion and the LED rings always reflect their current setting When you activate swap mode the two groups of eight rotaries change how they work The upper eight now work in an absolute fashion with their LED rings displaying the current value The lower eight become incremental and their LED rings are extin Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA guished Note that what these rotaries control does not change The upper eight rota ries still control the same sound settings are it did before the swap likewise the lower eight rotaries Why does vKA operate in this fashion Unlike a MotorMix or other hardware controller where there are different types of physical controls for the faders and rotaries the APC40 has identical ones for both functions So there was really no advantage to have a sound setting physically jump from control to control when you toggle swap In stead the setting stays with the same rotary This is of course useful if you are learning how to control a sound for performance it helps develop muscle memory So why even offer the swap mode
41. select the active page from the computer but once selected everything is controlled from vKA Note that you can determine which page is shown when a sound is first run by selecting that page before saving the sound Roll the dice The dice roll is one of the coolest features in Kyma and can be an ex tremely effective way to explore a sound s possibilities provided the sound s VCS is set up appropriately This is discussed thoroughly in Kyma X Revealed What you might Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA have missed though is how easy it is to use this feature with vKA vKA has a dedicated push button that you can press whenever you wish to create a brand new variation from the current sound Use this liberally when you first encounter a sound after surf ing the snapshots of course or you just want some inspiration from a well traveled one Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA Removing vKA If you need to remove vKA from your Mac for any reason First go to the preference pane and press STOP to stop from running Next close the vKA preference pane then right click on the vKA icon see diagram be low Select Remove vKA Preference Pane This will remove the vKA preference pane and the user agent program from your system Once this is removed vKA will no longer run on your system Run the installer should you decide to you wish to use it at a later time wy X7 gt l i
42. th a reset sequence to bring every thing into proper operating order You can also power down your Capybara and MIDI interface or Paca rana when not in use and vKA will perform the same initialization sequence when your equipment again is powered or connected How the VCS Uses the APC40 s Controls Kyma s VCS requires eight sliders eight rotaries and thirty two push buttons The push buttons are also required to have lights that the VCS can turn on and off Eight additional push buttons control VCS operation three of which also offer lights The diagram on the next page highlights each of these controls on the APC40 s panel Notice also that many of the APC40 s switches and other controls are currently unused by to provide VCS functionality In some cases they are unused because the choice was inappropriate for proper VCS usage Let s tour the main controls groups and dig in a bit Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA VCS VCS switches rotaries CLIP LAUNCH SESSION OVERVIEW TRACK CONTROL SENDA BANK SELECT STOP ALL CLIPS S L Bank it The Paca rana and Capybara each offer a hardware volume control feature that can be adjusted from the Kyma preferences or by sending the proper MIDI command to the sound engine The Paca rana also offers a way of adjusting master volume from its front panel vKA taps the master volume feature to offer a volume control fader and a mute function
43. ur License Note You must run the vKA preference pane at least once otherwise vKA will not run Also you must ac cess the preference pane the very first time and en ter your license from an account that has adminis trator privileges Once this has been done you can ac cess the preference pane from any account Select System Prefer ences from the Apple Menu upper left corner of screen Click on the icon highlighted in the screen shot above eo System Preferences Show All Q Personal pc M o Q Appearance Desktop amp Dock Expos amp Language amp Security Spotlight Screen Saver Spaces Text Hardware BA 1 1 s L CDs amp DVDs Displays Energy Keyboard Mouse Print amp Fax Processor Sound Internet amp Wireless n o 0 MobileMe Network Bluetooth Sharing System A 9 Accounts Date amp Time Parental Software Speech Controls Update Other lt WW Q M2 Control Center MenuMeters PacaMidi vM2 e Startup Disk Time Machine Universal Access The first time you select the vKA preference pane from the System Preferences appli cation you will encounter a message like the one in red text in the graphic below by Delora Software Copyright Harmony Systems Inc 2009 2010 Version 1 0 0 100 0 9 MISSING LICENSE vKA o nd The vKA license file is missing vKA requires a valid license f
44. y direct user interface Its operation is fully under OSX s direc tion vKA can automatically start when you log into your OSX account If OSX detects any type of problem it can automatically restart vKA If you need to manually control vKA s operation or adjust its few settings it has a control panel available through OSX s System Preferences just like you control your mouse keyboard and other OSX components There are however very few settings In fact when used with a Paca rana set up is pretty much automatic A brief comment about being native was created using OSX s standard de veloper tools and languages It does not require a special run time or other unique components for it to operate It is literally built for OSX This ensures smoother op eration less processing and memory demands and better overall compatibility Since vKA was created with the same tools Apple uses for its applications you can expect a smoother transition when OSX or your Mac changes in the future Delora Software by Harmony Systems Inc vKA vKA Paca rana mode Akai APC40 USB Lll b Mac mA OSX user age
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