minimonsta-manual-en..
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1. Copy and Paste Buttons COPY PASTE Use the COPY button to copy ALL current modulation settings both LFO and XADSR into the internal clipboard Use PASTE to apply them to another parameter This is very useful to quickly duplicate modulation settings across a large amount of parameters For example if you ve set up complex LFO amp XADSR settings on the Filter Cutoff Knob and you want to transfer these settings to the Emphasis Knob simply click on the Filter Cutoff Knob followed by the COPY button then click on the Emphasis Knob followed by the PASTE button The settings from the former will be duplicated to the latter XADSR Envelope S Ami U U fy These knobs and sliders allow AMP independent shaping of any XADSR parameter that can be O O O O O controlled by this section VEL ATT DEC SUS S TIME REL XADSR Amplitude Knob With positive and negative values this knob determines the amplitude of the XADSR Envelope XADSR Velocity Knob Again with both positive and negative values this knob determines how velocity affects the XADSR Envelope XADSR Attack Slider Definable between O and 256 beats or O to 128 00 milliseconds depending on the status of the MS BEATS button this governs the Attack Time of the XADSR Envelope Attack begins once a Note On event is received XADSR Decay Slider Definable between O and 256 beats or O to 128 00 milliseconds depending on the status of the MS BEATS button this governs t2. In the Minimise position the Up Down Arrow buttons select the previous or the next Meta Patch from the centre of the window You will notice that as you scroll through the sounds in this manner the selected sound will always be in the centre of the screen In the Maximise position the effect of these Up Down Arrow buttons remains the same whereas the other evident Up Down Arrow buttons are used to scroll through the entire list of Meta Patches WITHOUT changing the Meta Patch When using these simply click on a Meta Patch to select it When the Window is minimised the selected Meta Patch will be in the middle of the screen DOWH HIH Expression Saw lt Glide Minimised Meta Patch Select Window A Minimensieniela Patches A ROOT DIRECTORY M PgA ATFH ChimeraLead Chord AndLeads Classiclead Cumedlead Emerson sSquare Expre ssionaieSqu are Expression Saw Glide FruityFlooty Fu sioanHellLead SnanynisonLlead JellyLead KethLleads LitleLegaloLeads LyleToHell Moon weed OclavereOs OldLeadDelays DOWN MIH OldSchoollead Maximised Meta Patch Select Window Meta Patch Refresh Button i l REFRESH M PgA RTFH This refreshes the selected Meta Patch folder For example if you have edited Meta Patch names outside the Minimonsta click on this button to refresh the list Program Assign RTFM Button i E REFRESH FJA ETFH Clicking on this button assigns a MIDI Program Change number to each of the Meta Patches in the select
3. Minimoog patches that were recreated for the Minimonsta all the Meta Patches provided contain Patch variations so spend some time playing with them and see just how the Patches within each Meta Patch differ Who knows You may find a Patch that inspires you to create an entirely new Meta Patch MODE Morphing This is the simplest way of morphing between Patches Morphing changes the Patch according to which key is played in the Melohman Octave and according to the duration set via the Time Knob When pressing a Melohman key the sound starts to Morph to the Patch associated with the depressed key and stops morphing when you release the key or its Morph Time has been reached Pressing another key initiates a morph to the new Patch associated with that key but will morph back to the previous one if you release this second key while keeping the first one pressed Morph Back amp Forth cow This is quite similar to the Morphing mode except that the Minimonsta will morph back to the state it was in when the first key was pressed If you have chosen a long morphing time releasing all the keys will result in a long morph back to the original Patch However at any point within a morph you can double hit a key to make this new Patch the reference which will be morphed back to after releasing any subsequently pressed Melohman keys HOCE Morph Sequence In this mode holding a Melohman key plays a sequence of morphs The seque
4. Preset Window and select Nothing Connected Q Can control switches via MIDI control A Yes That s what those little LEDs are for see Tutorial 9 Page 49 wV _ _ gee POLS Mono LEGHTO UNISOH 7 SETTINGS DE TUNE MHS EEATS Sey A ry ry Omni a o eo 0 HIDI CHH POLYPHOHS TEMPO Unlike the original instrument which was only monophonic the Minimonsta has several additional modes which can be selected via this section Mono Mode i Modo L Plays one note at a time and each note played re triggers the envelope generators oo Unison Mode ATO UHISOH Turns a monophonic Mini into a total Monsta by taking all the polyphonic voices and assigning them to a single note The amount of voices is controlled by the setting in the polyphony window ie 6 note polyphony with 3 VCOs playing in unison will provide a unison of 18 oscillators Unison Detune Knob fo UAITSOH Used in conjunction with the Unison mode to detune all Wis DE TUNE the assigned oscillators A feature particularly adored loved by trance heads r Legato Mode LEGATO 1J To play legato means that you play a new note before the previous note is released In the Minimoog playing legato was the way of avoiding the envelope generators re triggering each time a new note is played However the original Minimoog legato was only low note priority whereas in the Minimonsta it s both high and low note priority We ll assume that you
5. but to sacrifice Oscillator 3 as a tone source This is no longer necessary in the Minimonsta but there are times when authenticity is everything To replicate this original feature make sure you have a non modulated Patch and set the Minimonsta as follows 1 Turn the Oscillator 3 off via the blue Switch in the Mixer section 2 Turn the red Oscillator Modulation Switch to On 3 Turn the red Ose 3 Ctrl switch to Off 4 Select Lo on the Oscillator 3 range selector 5 Turn the Mod Mix Knob in the Controllers section fully anti clockwise to the Osc3 mark 6 Move the Oscillator 3 Waveform Knob to Triangle 7 Raise the Modulation Wheel You will now hear the pitch modulating The Modulation Wheel controls the depth of modulation while the Oscillator 3 Fine Tune Knob controls the speed of modulation Additionally you can use this to modulate the Cutoff Frequency as follows 1 Again make sure the Oscillator 3 is Off via the blue Switch in the Mixer section 2 Turn the red Filter Modulation Switch to On 3 Turn the red Oscillator Modulation Switch to Off 4 Make sure the red Osc 3 Ctrl Switch is Off 5 Select Lo on the Oscillator 3 Range Selector 6 Turn the Mod Mix Knob in the Controllers section fully anti clockwise to the Osc3 mark 7 Move the Oscillator 3 Waveform Knob to Triangle 8 Raise the Wodulation Wheel You should now only hear the filter cutoff modulate The Modulation Wheel controls the depth of filter m
6. can see which Patch you re editing at any time by referring to the illuminated key 2 Click and hold on the blue button on the right of the Patch 1 12 Window You ll see each Patch displayed in a vertical list and a tick will be next to the currently selected Patch Loading an existing Patch into a Meta Patch If you want to load an individual Patch into a different Meta Patch all you have to do is have the desired Patch playing and then right click click on a Mac on the Meta Patch that you want to transfer the Patch into The original Patch will still be the currently active one but you must then save this to one of the Patch allocations before finally saving the entire Meta Patch to disk if you want to store this new configuration ld ad TUTORIAL 6 HOW DO I TAKE A PATCH AND USE IT FOR THE BASIS OF A META PATCH When you find a Patch that you d like to use as the basis of a Meta Patch and subsequent variations all you have to do is copy that sound to all Patch allocations and save as a separate Meta Patch as follows Have the desired sound currently active Click on the MEM Button so that it s illuminated red Click the ALL button You be warned that this will overwrite the whole Meta Patch ClickeGke Click the SAVE button to the left of the Meta Patch Select Window Rename your new Meta Patch i e make sure you don t save it under the same name as the original Now you will have a Meta Patch that c
7. interface Then there s the famous Ohm Force feature of applying an additional LFO or ADSR to almost every parameter This gives nigh on unlimited sound design capabilities ranging from the sublime to the downright disturbed as well as helping to circumnavigate limitations of the original instrument such as having to lose the third oscillator to the LFO During development the Minimonsta in much the same way as the original instrument underwent several revisions and even invoked a couple of near mutinies But as the instrument progressed we all began to realise that we d created far more than a simple emulation we d created a Monster and from that moment the name of the synth was born The name Minimonsta also encapsulates the instrument because it operates on two distinct levels Firstly it can operate as a straightforward but highly accurate emulation of the original Mini by way of the familiar and intuitive user interface In this mode you could largely ignore the upper section of the GUI containing the LFO XADSR and MIDI sections and instead focus on the familiar controls and the creation of all manner of authentic Mini tones with the minimum of effort At its second level though the Mini becomes a true Monster by way of the additional LFO ADSR and dynamic MIDI controllability for every main GUI parameter Unparalleled real time sound mangling via the Melohman Patch Morphing options and a plethora of triggering options includ
8. made and the knob or slider you have moved will remain associated with the selected parameter As a useful aid if you have already selected a parameter before its name will be displayed in the menu between brackets for example Auto bind target Cutoff Freq Each of the Minimonsta s parameters can be bound to different MIDI CCs and you can also save various different configurations as cfg files To leave the Auto bind mode simply uncheck it in the setup menu and your previously bound CCs will control the relevant parameters Input amp Output Devices Depending on your host your MIDI devices and your system settings you may have one or more available MIDI ports for input and for output It is possible to select the virtual ports for receiving and sending MIDI events To choose the input port the one on which MIDI data is received by the plug in just go to the MIDI gt Input device menu and select the one you want Similarly to select the output port simply go to MIDI gt Output device and select the one you want The selected MIDI ports will now have a tick against them NB It is possible to choose only one MIDI port for input and one for output AUDIO UNIT SECTION Linear automation Linear automation Melohman settings Use Linear Automation when controlling an AudioUnit from hardware consoles such as Logic Control In linear mode the Minimonsta outputs data type as Hertz and dB etc and controllers such as Logic Co
9. small development team in many personal and financial sacrifices Nonetheless we have tried to keep the cost of the instrument at an affordable level and make the copy protection as unobtrusive as possible We will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who infringes our copyright but we would prefer to kindly ask you not to post the Minimonsta on any newsgroup or P2P group and to respect our work Many thanks Mini web resources www moogarchives com www sonicstate com synth moogmini cfm http groups yahoo com group The_Lords_of_the_Mini Mini book resources A Z of Analogue Synthesisers Part One A M Pete Forrest Vintage Synthesisers Mark Vail Analog Days Frank Trocco amp Trevor Pinch Developed by Ohm Force and GMEDIA Music as GForce Laurent de Soras Jerome Noel Raphael Dinge Gr gory Makles Dave Spiers Chris Macleod lan Legge and a supporting cast of many more Thanks to Angus Hewlett Flemming Bloch Lee Groves Matt Hooper Jay Ahern Ellis Breen Bruce Satinover Phil Hartnol Dave Goodwin Robin Rimbaud Darren Price Marius DeVries James Towler Steve Winwood Art Gillespie Pascal Gabriel Geoff Downes Frank Hoffmann Nick Batt Meffy Ellis Putte Malcolm Corbett Mr Smith amp Mr Hyde Orren Merton Uwe Bauer Rick Wakeman Sound Design Dave Spiers Rick Wakeman Chris Macleod Davy Blakely Huston Singletary Howard Scarr Hans Jorg Schleffler Matt Hooper Brian Desmond Markus Hastreiter Brice Dunc
10. the Meta Patch Convoluted Pad You can already see there is MIDI control over the Level and Cutoff Frequency knobs as well as LFO control over Cutoff Freq and Pan Go to the Noise Volume Knob and make sure it s turned up to maximum Now go to the adjacent On Off switch and click on it twice to turn it on and off again You should now see Noise Switch Off indicated in the Main Edit Window You should also see Noise Switch in the Parameter Name Window In the MIDI Source Window click and navigate to Key Velocity Now move the Sensitivity Knob to 100 9 A red LED will illuminate next to the Noise On Off Switch 10 Now when you play the keyboard hard the Noise Switch is activated and you will hear this in the sound However when you play softly no noise will be heard NB All switching occurs without you actually seeing the switch move so please don t email tech support asking why the switches aren t animated TUTORIAL 10 LFO Once you re familiar with the main controls of the Minimonsta you ll probably want to start delving into the more comprehensive areas of sound design and take the Moog sound into some uncharted territory For example instead of relying on Oscillator 3 to provide the LFO the Minimonsta has the ability to provide an LFO for almost every parameter Similarly it s possible to assign an ADSR to almost every parameter too See Tutorial 7 page 47 1 Select the parameter which y
11. the personality out of it Nonetheless we feel it s good to take risks and after the successes of the faithful Oddity and more daring impOSCar we began to look at how we could do justice to such an icon while at the same time adding features that could take it into very different sonic territory Several ideas were discussed but nothing sat in harmony with the ethos of the original instrument until a meeting with Oddity co conspirators Ohm Force This proved to be the pivotal moment and after witnessing their Symptohm Melohman synth a joint venture was agreed Soon after the Melohman functionality was witnessed in all its glory on an early alpha version of the Minimonsta and we all began to salivate at the potential of this expressive intricacy sitting in tandem with the simple operation of the original instrument Q MELOHMAN THE CONCEPT MC onm Force s Melohman feature set is based around an interactive set of tools that transform the playing experience of a software instrument via unique and inspirational concepts In essence it offers a user defined octave that can be used to trigger timed or instantaneous morphs between up to twelve Patches The morph modes are Morphing Morph Back amp Forth Morph Sequence Mutate and Partial Mutate In terms of playability this goes a considerable way to countering the argument that software synthesisers are not expressive enough in performance due to the inherent lack of a dedicated tactile
12. E US VEL ATT BEC SUS S TIME PEL r No Modulation ne CONTROLLERS TURE Tune Knob This sets the global tuning for the Minimonsta oscillators from anywhere between 12 and 12 semitones To return to the default setting at any time simply double click on the knob GLIDE Glide Knob When used in conjunction with the Glide On Off Switch this sets the glide time Like the original instrument the Minimonsta s portamento is Time Constant which means that glides are faster over larger intervals Moo MI Mod Mix Knob When Oscillator 3 is used as an LFO this knob determines the mix between the oscillator tone and noise Noise can be either Pink or White and is selected by a switch in the Mixer Section NB To hear any modulation mix settings the modulation wheel on the left of the keyboard should be pushed forward J Oscillator Modulation Switch ret cs Uap Sets the Oscillator 3 Modulation to On or Off wondering what the LED is See page 12 Red Highlights THE OSCILLATOR BANK As per the original instrument there are three oscillators on the Minimonsta and the flow of each one Is laid out horizontally The only real differences between them is that Oscillator 1 does not have control over its fine tune and Oscillator 3 can be used as an LFO Oscillator 3 also substitutes the sawtooth triangular waveform for a reverse sawtooth waveform Oscillator 1 Range Selector in feet as in the length of an orga
13. Knobs Melohman Octave CM The Melohman Octave is used for real time performance functions and can be assigned to any octave of the Minimonsta s keyboard range It is also directly associated with the control knobs to the right hand side of the keyboard For further details see the Morphing Section on page 28 i gg As mentioned before a Meta Patch is a group of W SS Rael cree up to 12 Patches that you load from your hard Meta Patch Patch select window drive The Minimonsta works as following having loaded a Meta Patch you can select or morph between its Patches in a variety of ways Let s start by looking at how to create a Meta Patch with the same sound across all its Patches 1 Create a sound on the Minimonsta that you would like to keep over go ee Be f r f f g SET i gE gt is 6 fs lo fiz UP 2 Click on the Patch window and name your sound 3 Click the MEM button it will be illuminated red over gg o g rrr E 4 Click the ALL button this assigns your sound to all ee E EE E Patch memories A window asking if you are sure you want to overwrite all your patches will appear Click OK Mac window shown 5 Click on the SAVE button to the left of the Meta Patch Window navigate to your Root Directory then name and save the Meta Patch to disc xpre sion SawGiid IMPORTANT YOU MUST SAVE TO DISC BEFORE SELECTING ANOTHER META PATCH OR YOUR NEW SOUND WILL BE LOST Having saved your Meta
14. Minimonsta contains an extensive and highly flexible MIDI Control Section where you can assign control using controls such as velocity sensitivity channel pressure MIDI response curves and much more NB The settings in this section are global this means that any setting or changes made to an individual Patch will affect every Patch within that Meta Patch See Tutorials 11 and 12 page 51 Parameter Name Window Emphasis PARAMETER HAME This shows the currently selected parameter to be controlled via MIDI In our Velocity to Filter Cutoff tutorial on page 53 as soon as you clicked on the Filter Cutoff Knob the window displayed VCF Cutoff indicating that this was the parameter you intended to control via MIDI MIDI Source Window Notconnecied By clicking on the blue arrowed button you can select from a list of 21 MIDI control Sources that offer an assortment of MIDI control options Only one source per parameter can be selected but it can modulate as many parameters as you wish See Tutorial on page 53 Modulation Preset Window Cusiom MODULATIOH PRESET Here you can choose from a menu of factory Preset MIDI modulation settings Selecting one of the options clears all current MIDI modulation settings and installs the ones contained within the selected Preset MIDI Panic Button MIDI Ga PANIC Got the odd hanging note Even in the wonderful world of M1D1 it happens occasionally so when it does hit the panic butto
15. Patch you will now be able to see and select it from within the Meta Patch Example1 Select Window Expre ssionateSquare Expression SawGlide For a more in depth explanation of Patch Managment see Tutorial 5 page 47 BLUE HIGHLIGHTS Whenever a parameter name and position indicators are lit in BLUE this indicates that the parameter is being modulated by the additional Minimonsta LFO and or XADSR Per bea VCF Emphasis 6 Ami 000 430 MAIN EDIT AMP t 6 XADSR fz o0o70e7d Oo PY PASTE VEL ATI DE SUS S TIME REL RED HIGHLIGHTS TENTS Whenever parameter positional indicators are lit in RED this indicates that the parameter is being controlled modulated by MIDI This is also applicable wherever you see an LED BLUE AND RED HIGHLIGHTS aiiis FREQ a l Whenever a parameter is lit in BLUE AND RED this indicates that the parameter is being modulated controlled by both the LFO XADSR and MIDI Am 000 y D ie NAME fs Notconnecied T EIA a XADSR K e MI TEN fe a CURVE PANIC FREE SELEY ENS Tn ms Fe C 000 MODULATION PRESET z SITIVITY 2 GREYED OUT LFO AND XADSR Certain parameters cannot be modulated by the Minimonsta s additional LFO and XADSR for example the Oscillator Wave Form Select Knobs When this is the case the LFO XADSR section is greyed out and No Modulation appers in the displays TT MAIN EDIT aMp LFO XADSR ERRE aa Vooooo 4 SYNC COPY PAST
16. VCF Emphags Tt m renean B MIDIQ CONTROLLERS ypressionaieSquare n inimonsia xpre ssion SawGlide User Manual 11 01 2005 THIS MANUAL IS COPYRIGHT C GFORCE SOFTWARE LIMITED 2005 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NO PART MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION VST TECHNOLOGY BY STEINBERG MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AG ALL TRADEMARKS ACKNOWLEDGED Minimum System Requirements PC 64 MB of system memory Pentium class CPU Pentium4 recommended Win98 98 NT4 ME 2000 XP Minimum screen resolution 1024x768 VST or RTAS instrument compatible host program Minimonsta is optimized for 3dNow and SSE instruction sets MAC G4 1GHz Dual G5 1 8GHz recommended 256 MBytes of total system memory VST RTAS or AudioUnit instrument compatible host program Minimonsta is optimized for Altivec instruction sets Contents 1 Minimorphosis Melohman The Concept The GForce Team Installing the Minimonsta Registration Quick Start Minimonsta Patch Management Mini Controls The Controllers Panel The Oscillator Bank The Mixer Panel The Filter Modifiers Panel The Loudness Contour Modifiers Panel The Delay Panel The Output Panel Performance Section Monsta Controls Patch Management Section The Melohman Panel and Morph options 10 LFO and XADSR Section 11 MIDI Section 12 Settings 13 Tutorials 14 Default MIDI CC Settings Q cM This logo represents the Melohman feature set a unique set of performance controls by Ohm Fo
17. a 3 4 beat delay on the left Decay Switch see Performance Controls section aa la output and a 1 beat delay on the right output it s possible to create a larger l j stereo image than if both left and right delay times were identical This probably should have been called a release switch as it allows the sound to fade out at the specified decay time instead of snapping shut immediately a note is Mac users should hold the key and click on a Delay Left or Delay Right released This decay or release takes effect after the sustain level part of the contour knob to independently adjust their times THE DELAY PANEL THE OUTPUT PANEL Delay Amount Knob Level Knob Controls the level of the delay signal i l Turn clockwise for louder turn anti clockwise for quieter Delay Feedback Knob Pan Knob Controls the amount of feedback signal output by the delay rou l Moves the Minimonsta signal through the stereo image A short feedback time would produce a minimal amount of repeat echoes and a long feedback time would produce an infinite quantity of repeat echoes oO rota HOLO ceca D 20 EEHD PITCH Moo Hold Button When using the Minimonsta as a Plug In Effect you need to activate this then play and release a note on the Minimonsta s GUI keyboard in order to allow the external signal to pass through the Minimonsta Glide Switch roa D Turns glide or portamento on and is used in conjunction with the Glide Time Knob see C
18. an Andreas Ehrhardt Rory Dow Geoff Downes Phil Hartnol Steve Winwood Marius DeVries Pascal Gabriel amp Lee Groves Included on the Master CD are multiple versions of the Minimonsta The Minimonsta installer allows you to install any or all versions via a single installer one for Mac and one for PC Insert the Minimonsta Master CD into your CD ROM drive and select the Minimonsta installer applicable to your machine type PC or Mac Please follow the on screen instructions carefully entering your unique User Name and Registration codes EXACTLY as you find them printed within your Getting Started guide or from the email you received after purchase Finally launch the plug in host and load the Minimonsta into an instrument channel see Loading a Meta Patch on page 10 Register Your User Name and Registration Codes are printed on the back of your Getting Started guide or have been emailed directly to you Please fill in the following fields carefully Select the versians you wish to install by clicking on the logos below IF you have any problems please contact support gforcesoftware com User Name falas Ste Lets PE SOCLGSLPTHEYSTLELEY Register Mac installer shown www gforcesoftware com Registration is required to receive free technical support Let s face it reading a manual from cover to cover isn t much fun Most of the time when you buy a synth you just want to get started immediately and discover th
19. automation Melohman setting SETTINGS Load Save Autoload Undefined v Enhanced mouse mode Load Used to load the cfg files as outlined in the Auto Bind section below Save Used to save the cfg files as outlined in the Auto Bind section below Autoload With Autoload enabled loading the Minimonsta automatically loads the last used configuration file This is useful if you have a specific Auto bind configuration that you regularly use Enhanced Mouse Mode Selecting this mode makes the mouse cursor disappear when a slider is moved It s more comfortable for editing because it allows you to move the sliders accurately despite their small size There is an option to deactivate this mode because it may not work correctly with some trackballs and graphic tablets on a Mac MIDI SECTION Auto bind Input device Output device Auto bind Although each parameter of the Minimonsta has its own pre assigned Continuous Controller number see CC list page 52 you can use Auto bind to create your own specific MIDI controller templates before saving them as a cfg file in the Settings Section as above To use Auto bind first enter the Auto bind mode by checking Auto bind in the Setup menu Now simply move the required knob slider or switch on the Minimonsta and then turn a knob or slider on your external MIDI controller As soon as the Minimonsta detects this external controller movement the connection is
20. aveform Osc3 Waveform Osc1 Range Osc2 Range Osc3 Range Noise Colour Switch Feedback Switch Osc Mod Switch VCF Mod Switch VCF KYBD 1 Switch VCF KYBD 2 Switch Osc 3 CTRL Switch Tune Delay Time L Delay Time R Delay Feedback Mod Mix Polymode Unison
21. cate it to a Patch Patch Buttons 1 12 This is where you store and recall the 12 Patches contained within a Meta Patch When in Morph Mode the layout of these buttons replicates the Melohman Octave For example Patch 1 is the C in the Melohman Octave Patch 2 is the C and so on Once you have a sound that you wish to assign to a Patch simply press the Memory Button until it is illuminated red and then click on a Patch Button to which you want the sound saved Within a Meta Patch you have 12 Patches However you should give special consideration to Patch 1 which will be the first one heard when the Meta Patch is loaded ALL Button If you want to take a sound and apply it to ALL Patch memories simultaneously simply click on the MEM button and then on ALL You will then be warned This will overwrite the whole Meta Patch agreeing to this places your sound across all Patch memeories see page 12 NB You do not permanently store a Patch until you have saved the Meta Patch to your hard disc see Tutorial 5 page 48 Be careful that you don t change Meta Patches before permanently writing the currently edited one to disc or you will lose your work SETUP Button This allows you to specify how the instrument responds to certain functions See page 40 Meta Patch Window functions To aid with the selection of Meta Patches you can minimise and maximise the Meta Patch select Window via the dedicated Screen Switch
22. cky to be able to play it at all because pitch wise it was literally all over the place Also a less well known fact was that the Mk 1 used to suffer from radio interference remember playing one show at Alexandra Palace in front of twenty thousand people and just as we were about to start all you could hear through the PA was Arsenal 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 It was hilarious Teething troubles aside though the portability the sound and the immediacy of the controls made the instrument essential for any touring keyboard player and it couldn t fail to be anything but a huge commercial success During its life approximately 13 000 were made and it remains one of the world s most loved electronic instruments to this day The Minimonsta is based on our much loved early Minimoog serial number 1794 chosen because it represents all that was best about the hallmark Mini sound namely a super fat filter snappy envelopes and those distinctive effervescent and rich tones In keeping with Rick Wakeman s statement all Minimoogs did indeed sound slightly different and this is evident in our Mini in a couple of ways Firstly the oscillators were the less stable earlier ones liable to drift at the drop of a hat Secondly the filter emphasis kicked in sooner than on later versions However while it was important to stabilize the oscillator tuning we felt it was important to remain true to our instrument s filter and not iron any of
23. ed directory alphabetically The first Meta Patch in the list is assigned MIDI Program Change number 1 the second Meta Patch MIDI Program Change number 2 and so on Q NM THE MELOHMAN PANEL AND MORPH OPTIONS These three control knobs determine how the Melohman Octave responds HODE Mode Knob This selects the way in which the sound will morph between each Patch There are five Morph Modes as follows Morphing Morph Back amp Forth Morph Sequence Mutate Partial Mutate L L Octave Knob OCTAVE Z LZ This knob controls the position of the Melohman Octave on the GUI and therefore your controller keyboard Selecting OFF turns it off As an example selecting Octave 3 positions the Melohman Octave so that Patch 1 is active when C1 is played and Patch 12 is activated by playing B1 You can also see this by the LEDs on the keys in the Melohman Octave When an LED is fully on it indicates that the corresponding Patch is active When playing a Melohman key you will not hear a sound as these keys are specifically used for Morphing functions Time Knob This determines the duration of the morph which can be displayed in beats or milliseconds The display status is selected using the MS BEATS button MORPHING OPTIONS In the hands of an accomplished player using the Morph section in conjunction with carefully programmed Patches can lead to some uniquely expressive and creative results With the exception of the original
24. he Decay Time of the XADSR Envelope after which the envelope moves to the sustain point Decay occurs right after the Attack XADSR Sustain Slider With positive and negative values this controls the level of the XADSR s sustain point XADSR Sustain Time Slider Definable between O and 256 beats or O to 128 00 milliseconds depending on the status of the MS BEATS button this governs the Sustain Time of the XADSR Envelope i e the time it takes for the envelope to move from the sustain point to zero XADSR Release Slider Definable between O and 256 beats or O to 128 00 milliseconds depending on the status of the MS BEATS button this governs the Release Time of the XADSR This Release stage occurs as soon as the Note Off event is detected LFO amp XADSR FAQ S Q Why are some parameters illuminated in Blue A This shows at a glance that the function is modulated by the LFO or affected by the XADSR To quickly remove this from any parameter bring the LFO Amp Slider back to 0 and or double click the XADSR Knob to also bring it to 0 Q What parameters can apply an LFO or XADSR to A You can apply an LFO or XADSR to almost any Minimonsta Parameter The only exceptions are the Oscillator Range and Oscillator Waveform Knobs SSG x p PARAMETER HAHE ors Woiconnected fe MIDI e s fe HIDI SOURCE ss CURLE PANIC ai GURGOM lt gi 0 O00 f MODULATION PRESET FREE SELECT SEMSITIVITS The
25. her it plays a fixed pitch across the whole keyboard This switch is likely to be in the Off position when Osc 3 is 7 This is where the levels of the three oscillators and if required a noise generator used as an LFO for uniform modulation across the entire keyboard and and or an external signal are mixed In this section we have also painstakingly On when used as a third oscillator See Tutorial 3 page 45 recreated a famous Mini trick called the Loop Feedback function See Tuorial 4 page 46 Lo LU ME Oscillator 3 Range Selector TER Osc 1 Volume Knob amp Switch As per Oscillator 1 amp 2 this selects the octave for the Oscillator 3 i l Determines the level of Osc 1 signal that s fed into the tone This ranges from 2 to 32 and Lo Mixer The adjacent switch instantly turns the oscillator ON or OFF External Input Volume Knob amp Switch It s possible to place an external signal into the Minimonsta and then to process this signal using the onboard filter envelopes amp delay etc See Tutorial 1 page 44 Logic 7 users please see Tutorial 2 page 44 Osc 2 Volume Knob amp Switch Determines the level of Osc 2 signal that s fed in to the Mixer The adjacent switch instantly turns the oscillator on or off Noise Volume Knob amp Switch Once the noise generator switch is turned on the Noise Volume Knob adjusts the level There are two types of noise generated by the Minimonsta determined by the adjacent swi
26. ilter Cutoff Emphasis and External Input Volume knobs TUTORIAL 5 ASSIGNING SOUNDS Here we will look at how to assign individual sounds to Patch memory allocations 1 12 1 Start by creating a Meta Patch with the same sound across all Patches See page12 2 Create a variation of the current Patch by changing its Filter Cut Off Emphasis or Pan position etc Click on the MEM button once so that it turns red Click on the 2 button this now allocates the sound variation to Patch 2 Click on the Patch window and name your sound variation something appropriate such as Filtered or Pitched Clicking the Patch 1 amp 2 buttons will call up the respective variations and it s these variations that we ll be morphing to and from shortly Firstly though continue to create variations saving them as above to all 12 Patch memory allocations NB Once you have created all the variations you should save the entire Meta Patch to disc again firstly by pressing the Save button on the left of the Meta Patch Select Window then by naming the Meta Patch and finally storing it to your hard drive TIP When creating Patch variations within a Meta Patch sometimes it s easy to forget exactly which Patch you re editing To help with this and to avoid accidentally overwriting a Patch we recommend the following 1 Move the Octave Knob to 2 so you can see the Melohman Octave on the left of the Minimonsta GUI Keyboard You
27. ing Monophonic Polyphonic Legato and Unison modes An enormous amount of care and work has gone into making sure all these elements have collided to ensure an authentic Mini tone meets a weapons grade monster and we sincerely hope you enjoy this instrument and make serious creative use of Its unique functionality and sublime tones The two years of development has left no stone unturned in the pursuit of sonic excellence and rest assured that no one has spent any time looking at their fingernails or gazing at their navels If you re reading this from the pdf manual the chances are you paid for this software and as such we d like to say a heartfelt thanks The money that we receive from sales of the Minimonsta will be put back into further development projects and used to create other interesting and valid musical products However if you did not pay for this instrument please try and understand the implications of piracy for small companies such as ours Piracy is seriously damaging to small software companies and with the abundance of free instruments available there is no excuse for this kind of theft As musicians ourselves we respect anyone who creates good music using limited tools far more than those who make average music using every tool in existence Pick your tools wisely and learn them well this is far more creative and rewarding From our perspective this product took almost two years to produce and has involved the
28. ings as you progress Because the Minimonsta works on two levels provided you have a fundamental grasp of subtractive synthesis it s quick and easy to get going before delving in to the more complex functions of the instrument However there are a few things that are useful to learn from the off Patch Structure What is a Meta Patch The Meta Patch is a group of up to 12 Patches sounds that you load from your hard drive At its simplest it contains only a single Patch and at its most complex 12 different Patches All Meta Patches supplied with the Minimonsta contain 12 different Patches except the ones within the OriginalMiniPatches folder which contain a single sound across all Patches These sounds were transcribed from original Minimoog patch charts Patch 1 Patch 2 Patch 3 Patch 4 Patch 5 Patch 6 Patch 7 Patch 8 Patch 9 Patch 10 Patch 11 Patch 12 m ETA PATC E A Meta Patch is group of up to 12 Patches sounds META PATCH BoomBass Default Default Default Default Default Default Default Default Default Default Default A Meta Patch containing a single Patch META PATCH BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass BoomBass A Meta Patch consisting of 12 identical Patches META PATCH BoomBass Filtered MoreRez SlowAttack LongDelay LevelMod FilterWah SnapDecay Sweepi
29. is also known as resonance or Q and effectively adds emphasis at the cutoff frequency AM OU HT OF COHTOUP Amount of Contour Knob This determines the amount of filter envelope applied to the cutoff frequency The shape of this envelope is determined by the filter attack decay and sustain settings Filter Attack Time Knob SURN 3 45 Kybd Ctrl 2 Switch Boo 1 a This knob determines the initial fade in or attack of the filter Sri P In the same way as above this and Kybd Ctrl 1 Switch are used Ww H SEC long 12 Seconds the keyboard envelope Times can vary between immediate 1 millisecond and separately or in conjunction with each other to set the filter tracking across The Kybd Ctrl 2 Switch applies more filter tracking than Kybd Ctrl 1 and with both SPREE Switches set to the On position full response filter cutoff tracking is enabled BOO 41 i f cc This determines the time the filter envelope takes to fall from its eee THE LOUDNESS CONTOUR MODIFIERS PANEL initial peak to its sustain level Times vary between 4 and 48000 Seat i Filter Decay Time knob milliseconds Filter Sustain Level Knob SUSTAIN LEVEL This knob determines the level at which the filter envelope levels MEMES UTS TAM ean eels Pelt eI USN E This section governs the amplitude envelope of the Minimonsta s audio signal b Attack Time Knob ATTACK TIME SOG LT T rE Filter Modulation Switch MODULATION Th
30. is knob determines the initial fade in or attack of the amplitude rhe y E envelope Times can vary between immediate 1 millisecond and ihe X Determines whether or not filter cutoff is affected by the long 12 Seconds modulation wheel i Decay Time knob DECAY TIME ee EDD sl Kybd Ctrl 1 Switch N O ee ee This determines the time the amplitude envelope takes to fall from fiiis amp 107 10 H SEC This and Kybd Ctrl 2 Switch are used separately or in conjunction CTR its initial peak to its sustain level Times vary between 4 and 48000 with each other to set the filter tracking across the keyboard Without the milliseconds switches enabled notes played on the lower part of the keyboard will sound brighter than those played in the upper registers The Kybd Ctrl 1 Switch applies a minimal amount of filter tracking LI Sustain Level Knob SUSTAIN LEVEL Delay Left and Right Knobs EA EROR MESE 4 i A eee E E ee eee W ol an a ee i i i Th the delay times for left and right delays 7 u W This knob determines the level at which the amplitude envelope 2 amp SOME uals CELE UES RO LENE e MGA CEE ki f wen f thy 10 D 10 levels off after the initial rise attack and fall decay fy NB When using a left mouse click both knobs are linked and will be set to the same values as each other However when using a right mouse click each knob can be set to an independent delay time For example by setting
31. know what polyphonic mode means by now In this mode the number of voices available is determined by the value in the Polyphony display window NB The above settings are Patch specific and not global For example within a Meta Patch it s possible to have one Patch with a Unison setting and another with a Poly setting On the other hand the following parameters in the Settings Section ARE global j Cp MIDI Channel Window Omni fe HIDI CHH This determines the MIDI channel that the Minimonsta receives on This is usually set to Omni meaning every channel Polyphony Window a ypnony B y POLYPHONY In Poly mode this selects the maximum of voices assigned to the sound With the Minimonsta the maximum amount of voices permissible is 32 but this largely depends on the power of your computer Tempo Window nooo TEMPO Selects the tempo at which the Minimonsta s LFOs and Delay settings run This is usually the same as the sequencing host application MS Beats Button M EBEGQT Illuminate this to see the LFO XADSR amp Delay settings in Beats per Bar or de activate to view in Milliseconds Set Up Button Product info Clicking on the Set Up Button reveals a menu Register Updates Documentation can be accessed continued on Page 41 Presets from where various user specific functions Load Save Autoload Undefined v Enhanced mouse mode Auto bind Input device Output device Linear
32. l and switch routed Model B and then to the Model C which introduced the hinged back These prototypes ultimately lead to the production Model D but to get that far was not as straightforward as you might believe Due to the success of the modular instruments Bob Moog was an in demand Speaker and synth demonstrator and before departing for a few weeks on the road he authorised the production of ten more Model C s However no doubt due to the expense involved he specifically stated that no printed circuit boards were to be used in this small production run According to one of the designers Jim Scott as soon as Bob left most of the staff got together and argued that unless they got the instrument to a point where it could be manufactured they d probably be out of work in the not too distant future So it was agreed that they would disregard Bob s orders and build the instruments using PCBs On his return Bob found several instruments in assorted stages of completion and immediately called everyone into his office demanding to know who was responsible According to Jim No one said a word and we did a lot of observing our fingernails and such He couldn t very well fire his whole staff so the first ever run of D Models was completed The Model D Minimoog was the version that saw release in 1970 and for musicians all over the world the synthesiser had truly arrived So too had many of the things that players would soon take for g
33. l over the LFO parameters and waveforms once assigned to a specific enenenenene Minimonsta parameter PP AMP TIME DEL S amp H SMTH SYHC LFO Amp Slider This determines the overall amplitude of the LFO 0 means that the LFO does not affect the sound LFO Time Slider Determines the time of the LFO waveform ranging between 1 64th of a beat and 256 beats or 0 0078 to 128 00 milliseconds depending on the status of the MS BEATS button LFO Delay Slider Sets a delay before the LFO setting becomes effective The delay time ranges between O and 256 Beats or O to 128 00 milliseconds depending on the status of the MS BEATS button LFO Sample amp Hold Slider Adds a random element to an LFO waveform by Sampling and Holding Specific points of it The higher the slider value the longer the Sample amp Hold period the lower the slider value the quicker the Sample amp Hold period LFO Smooth Slider This allows you to smooth out fast transitions of an LFO signal and is applied after the Sample amp Hold The smoothing factor is scaled to the main LFO Time and therefore the final shape doesn t change when the Time is changed 0 disables the smoothing and leaves the waveform untouched LFO Sync Slider This allows the LFO phase to be reset at every Note On The phase value will be the indicated percentage You can turn the Sync off and allow the LFO to run free by moving the slider all the way to its top position marked Off
34. l the parameters change simultaneously because of performance issues Instead they rotate The Melohman density indicates how many parameters are updated in a second Low 10000 Medium 20000 Hi 30000 and allows you to choose between morph smoothness and light CPU loads Melohman Channel This determines which MIDI channel the keys in the Melohman Morph octave respond to ad ld ad TUTORIAL 1 USING THE MINIMONSTA AS A PLUG IN EFFECT Of course the original Minimoog filter was such that it quickly became the accepted benchmark for 24dB oct lowpass filters Fortunately the designers saw to it that external sounds could also be processed through it via the External Input functions Similarly we saw to it so that you can use the Minimonsta s filter to process other sounds too 1 Open the Minimonsta as a Plug In Effect on an audio track where you have some audio being played A drum loop for example Using the blue buttons in the Mixer section turn all the oscillators off In the same section turn the External Input Volume switch on and also turn up the External Input Volume Knob to 50 Make sure the Filter Cutoff knob is open Click on the Hold Button to the left of the Minimonsta s keyboard Using your mouse click on a note on the Minimonsta s keyboard You should now hear the audio part assigned to that track but will be able to process the sound using the Minimonsta filter envelopes LFO the delay sec
35. mum and vice versa Stores Reference Patch l 3 Ramp Up The waveform goes linearly from the minimum point to the Applies Reference Patch maximum point Mutate C G i 4 Ramp Down Like Ramp up but in the other direction different factors Set reference A 5 Cosine Up A bit like Ramp up but the LFO rises more gently at the extreme points a kind of shelf 6 Cosine Down Like Cos up but in the other direction 7 Square The LFO stays a half period at the maximum point then the other half period at the minimum point 8 Random This waveform is a chaotic oscillator It is based on a sine wave sometimes slowing down sometimes accelerating or even going back and forth These random variations always keep the same average phase 9 Brown Noise The LFO value changes randomly combining wide and slow moves with small and fast oscillations With a very long period this kind of LFO Apply last mutated A Apply reference B is perfect to give a parameter a natural and nervous random variation 10 Red Noise A bit like Brown Noise but fast variations are more damped There are additional functions that are directly linked to the Melohman morph giving even smoother random movements parameters such as linking the Morph Time to a Melohman key Note On velocity For details of this and other Melohman morph functions see SET UP on Page 41 LFO Controls Per Dig k These sliders give you a huge of amount contro
36. n and all should be cured Curve Window It is possible to change the intensity mapping for example to correct the response curve of a control device or to obtain specific effects There are several curves some of which are strictly positive while others are bipolar and can generate negative modulation values Here are some special curves 1 4 and 16 steps The 128 MIDI values are divided equally into 4 and 16 steps 2 Octave This curve is dedicated to Note Key modulation There is a step for each octave of the keyboard from C to B 3 Octave Note The modulation value is the same for each key regardless of the octave For example G3 and G5 generate the same value D 1 and D 7 also This curve is complementary to the Octave curve Sensitivity Knob amp Window 000 SENSITIVITY This parameter controls the intensity of any MIDI modulation or control At O the modulation is off FAHIC Free Select Button 3 fz x FREE SELECT SE When active on this enables the MIDI Modulation of a sub parameter such as the LFO Amp or the XADSR attack time etc MIDI FAQ S Q Why are some functions illuminated in Red A This shows at a glance that the function is modulated by MIDI To quickly remove this from any parameter simply click on an illuminated parameter and double click the Sensitivity Knob to bring it to 0 Alternatively if you want to remove all MIDI control from every parameter you can go to the Modulation
37. n pipe 2 is the highest and 32 is the lowest The Lo setting is effectively 64 but this is so low that you ll probably only hear a series of clicks when selected Oscillator 1 Waveform Selector WAVEFORM AS The Minimonsta has six basic waveforms Broadly speaking the ar R triangle waveform has the least harmonic content and the narrow rectangular waveform has the most 1 Triangle 2 Saw Triangle 3 Sawtooth 4 Square 5 Wide Pulse 6 Narrow Pulse OS CILLATOR s Oscillator 2 Range Selector TE Oscillator 3 Fine Tune Knob 4 As per Oscillator 1 this selects the octave for the Oscillator 2 i i This sets the fine tune value of this oscillator between 8 and 8 tone This ranges from 2 to 32 and Lo i semitones NB When the Osc3 Ctrl Switch is Off the frequency range of this knob is wider than when the switch is on See Tutorial 3 page 45 Oscillator 2 Fine Tune Knob OS CILLATOR e This sets the fine tune value of this oscillator between 8 and 5 Oscillator 3 Waveform Selector 8 semitones e Allows Oscillator 3 the choice of the six waveforms as per Oscillator 1 amp 2 with the exception of a substituted reverse sawtooth in place of Osc 1 amp 2 s triangle waveform Oscillator 2 Waveform Selector Allows Oscillator 2 the choice of the six waveforms as per FUN THE MIXER PANEL Oscillator 1 Osc 3 Ctrl Switch This determines whether the keyboard controls the pitch of Oscillator 3 or whet
38. nce for each key is listed below with the notes indicating the corresponding Patch slots me aD CA CDE Dre DEE C DEF GA C C D D E F F G C C D D E F F G G A A B C Co DiD CoC 4E ID Cir Random presets C and D only Random all presets Velocity modifies the morphing time Slows down the sequence by a factor of 2 but not the morphing time Resets mutation time as indicated on the Time display Accelerates the sequence by a factor of 2 The duration between each morph is controlled by the Melohman Time Knob setting Mutate HODE a This mode revolves around Patch randomisations related to a specified reference Patch This means that newly generated Patches are variations of the original reference Patch When you select this mode the current Patch is always selected as the reference Patch The nine lower keys of the Melohman Octave from the C to the G are dedicated to progressively higher mutations of the reference Patch When you press one of the nine lower keys a new setting is computed and the synthesiser morphs to it as per the normal Preset Morphing mode with optional velocity sensitivity The morphing stops if you release a key within a morph if the Morph Time has not been reached thus allowing you to reach sonic states between Patches You can return to the reference Patch by pressing the top B key then morph back to the last mutated Patch by pressing the top A key You can create a
39. new reference Patch from the mutations at any time by pressing the Bb key In this mode and the Partial Mutate Mode all parameters are intelligently managed For example LFO and ADSR timed parameters are always bound to tempo values If an LFO or an ADSR amplitude is set to O its chance of being mutated are smaller However we recommend using the morphing function with care as it can occasionally lead to high output levels Mutate C G different factors s p Set reference A y Apply last mutated A Apply reference B HODE Partial Mutate 7 Partial Mutate works similarly to the Mutate but with subtle differences Per ate C Filter FM Keyboard Control without modulation LF C Filter FM Keyboard Control with modulation D Filter FM Keyboard Control modulation only LFO ADSR WAVES AMP TIME DEL S amp H SMTH SYNC Oscillators w modulation Osc 3 Control Osc Modulation Tune Glide l LFO Waves Oscillators without modulation Timbre Osc range Osc WF Osc volumes Osc SW Osc Modulation There are 10 LFO waveforms and these are selected by clicking Envelopes VCA env VCF env Contour Pan mod only Volume mod only on the appropriate waveform button The waveforms are as Mixer I O feedback Noise color follows Delay 1 Sine The default waveform WAVES 2 Triangle A waveform with a linear transition between maximum and Applies last mutation mini
40. ng MultiMods A Meta Patch consisting of 12 Patches each being a variant of Patch 1 Loading a Meta Patch The first time you open the Minimonsta after installing it open the Meta Patch Select Window to it s maximum size via the dedicated rocker switch From here click in the small top window marked Root Directory Navigate it to the MinimonstaPatches folder Once you ve done this you simply select a sound from the list and play Your selected Root Directory will be remembered by the Minimonsta when you open it subsequently Flying Knobs lassacLead umedLead quare Expre ssionaieSquare xpre ssion SawGlide Axxe ChimeraLead Chord AndLeads ClassicLead CurmiedLead Emer son are Expre ssionateSquare Expression SawGlide FruityFlooty Fu sionHellLead GnarnyUnisonLead JellyLead KeithLeads Little egatoLeads LyleToHell Moonweed Octaver805 OldLeadDelays OldSchoolLead Meta Patch Select Window shown at maximum size With this feature you can grab and throw the knob of most main GUI parameters and make it move automatically through its range to its highest or lowest setting To make this work simply click and hold on the highest or lowest text marking around the base of the knob and throw to the right to increase that parameter s value or throw to the left to decrease the value The faster you throw the quicker the knob moves NB This does not work with the Oscillator Range and Waveform
41. ntrol use these values to correctly identify and display parameters Note that in this mode all automations are linear and with parameters such as Filter Cutoff the low frequency range 10 Hz 100 Hz occupies a very small part of the automated range whereas the 10kHz 20kHz range occupies the half of the automated range MN SETTINGS Melo hman Sensitivity In non linear mode only the knob course is exposed to the host This means that the automations are exactly like the knob courses On the other hand hardware controllers will display only opaque parameters ranging from O to 1 NB Both modes are not inter compatible and to play back automations in a different mode from the recording will give wrong results Q MELOHMAN gt Melohman settings b Melohman Density p ne lie Melohman Channel E Melohman Sensitivity You can adjust the sensitivity settings of the Melohman Octave to allow keyboard velocity to alter the Patch Morph Times This is directly related to the MIDI curve mapping too Hi Sensitivity Playing a key in the Melohman Octave with a low velocity will give a slow morph time the same as indicated in the Morph Time Window Playing a key in the Melohman Octave with a high velocity will give an instant morph time Low sensitivity Playing a key in the Melohman Octave with any velocity will give the same morph time as indicated in the Morph Time Window Melohman Density In a Melohman morph not al
42. odulation while the Oscillator 3 Fine Tune Knob controls the speed of filter modulation NB You can combine filter cutoff and pitch modulation by having both the red Filter Modulation Switch and the red Oscillator Modulation Switch On You can also mix Osc3 modulation with white or pink noise selected by the blue White Pink Switch in the Mixer Section via the Mod Mix Knob in the Controllers section When you want to get even more extravagant you can experiment with changing the Oscillator 3 Waveform shapes and by changing the Frequency Range from Lo to any of the other settings Careful experimenting with these functions can lead to some superb tones giving a similar effect to that of a ring modulator TUTORIAL 4 THE FEEDBACK TRICK For sounds with extra balls a few original Minimoog users had a neat trick whereby they took the low level output and routed it back into the instrument via the external input With careful adjustment of the external inout volume knob it was possible to get another palate of sounds ranging from bass sounds with more bass to wild howling feedback We ve taken away the hassle of manually patching this effect with jack plugs and replaced it with a far easier method 1 Turn ON the blue Feedback Switch in the Mixer section 2 Turn ON the blue External Input Volume Switch in the same section 3 While playing a sound turn up the External Input Volume Knob 4 Experiment with different settings with the F
43. off Frequency knob 2 In the Parameter Name Window you should now see VCF Cutoff displayed 3 Click on the arrow next to the MIDI Source display and navigate it to Key Velocity 4 Change the Sensitivity knob from O to a value of say 100 5 Play the keyboard and fine tune the Sensitivity Knob to suit the dynamics of your playing There are also a host of other things you can do here such as using velocity to control the level of each oscillator or even using velocity to switch oscillator waveforms The possibilities are almost limitless TUTORIAL 12 MODULATION WHEEL As an example of using the Modulation Wheel to control Filter Cutoff Frequency let s have a look at the following steps 1 Select the Cutoff Frequency a oa 2 In the Parameter Name Window you will now see VCF Cutoff displayed 3 Click on the arrow next to the MIDI Source display and navigate it to Modulation Wheel 4 Make sure the Sensitivity Knob has a value of say 100 5 Play the keyboard and move the modulation wheel to hear the effect 14 DEFAULT MIDI CC SETTII Modulation Master Volume Decay Switch Pan Glide Switch Glide Amount Filter Emphasis Filter Cutoff Filter Contour VCA Attack VCA Decay VCA Sustain VCF Attack VCF Decay VCF Sustain Delay Amount Unison Detune Osc1 Switch Osc2 Switch Osc3 Switch Ext Input Switch Noise Switch Osc1 Mix Osc2 Mix Osc3 Mix Noise Mix Ext Mix Osc2 Transpose Osc3 Transpose Osc1 Waveform Osc2 W
44. ontains 12 identical Patches from which you can begin to make variations and save as Patches within your new Meta Patch TUTORIAL 7 XADSR Load the ABoogieOnBass patch from the Meta Patch Select Window and play a note Click on the Cutoff Frequency Knob in the Filter Section of the main GUI Move the Amp Knob in the XADSR section to approximately 25 or type this value into the XADSR display Move the XADSR Attack Slider to 1 4 and listen to the difference in the attack of the Cutoff Filter now compared to the original sound Change the Sustain Slider to 60 and listen to the effect this has on the envelope Finally change the Decay Slider from O Beats to 4 Beats and listen to the effect on the envelope To remove the XADSR Envelope from the Cutoff Frequency change the value of the Amp Knob from 25 back to to 0 or simply double click it TUTORIAL 8 FREE SELECT BUTTON Here s an example of how to use it 1 Activate the Free Select Button Click on the Filter Emphasis Knob Click on the LFO Amp Slider Now the MIDI Section is relative to the LFO Amp Slider Continue by Selecting Channel Pressure in the MIDI Source Window Turn the Sensitivity Knob up to 200 Play a note Providing your keyboard transmits aftertouch you can use this to control the amount of LFO Amp applied to Emphasis TUTORIAL 9 MIDI CONTROL LED S An example of how this can be used is shown as follows 1 Load
45. ontrollers Section Decay Switch pecans FO This allows the sound to fade out at a specified decay time see Decay Time Knob in the Loudness Contour Modifiers Section Page 21 instead of snapping shut immediately a note is released This decay or release takes effect after the sustain level part of the contour Pitchbend Range Selector Allows the pitchbend range to be set between 2 and 24 semitones EEHD Pitch Bend Wheel If you don t know what this is frankly you ve bought the wrong instrument Modulation Wheel In its simplest form the mod wheel is used to control how much MOD MIX is applied to pitch and or filter cutoff It can also be used in a more complex way to control multiple parameters at the same time H Moo Q cM As we have already shown the Minimonsta can be used as a straightforward emulation of the classic Minimoog However through application of the Melohman feature set the instrument becomes a true monster Applying the Melohman features to the basic instrument gives limitless scope in terms of both programmability and playability PATCH MANAGEMENT SECTION This section is used to organise Patches and to Load and Save Meta Patches to and from your hard disc See Getting Started page 12 and Tutorial 5 page 48 MEM Button Once you ve created a sound on the Minimonsta that you want to keep clicking on the MEM Button puts that sound into temporary memory before you then allo
46. ou wish to assign an LFO to In this case we ll assign it to the Filter Cutoff Frequency 2 Click on the Filter Cutoff Frequency Knob 3 Go to the LFO section of the GUI and move the AMP Slider until the display above reads about 10 4 Play a note and you will now hear the effect of the LFO on the Filter Cutoff 5 You should also see a blue illumination around the Filter Cutoff Knob This indicates that there is an LFO or XADSR assigned to this parameter The above example shows how simple the LFO assignation can be but there are a host of other functions that can be applied too See LFO details on page 32 ad TUTORIAL 11 VELOCITY RESPONSE Firstly let s look at how to set up something simple such as assigning velocity response to volume 1 Select the Volume Level knob 2 In the Parameter Name Window you should now see Volume displayed 3 Click on the arrow next to the MIDI Source display and navigate it to Key Velocity 4 Change the Sensitivity knob from O to a value of say 100 5 Play the keyboard and fine tune the Sensitivity Knob to suit the dynamics of your playing You will notice how the Level Knob has a red illumination around the outside This indicates that it is being controlled by MIDI in some manner This also applies to all switches too if it s controlled by MIDI it ll have an illuminated red LED next to it Now let s look at how to set up Velocity to Filter Cutoff response 1 Select the Cut
47. ranted For example those vertical pitch and modulation wheels became pretty much standard fare as did everyone s desire for a 24dB oct lowpass filter And that s where the Minimoog really shone with both its playability and its sound Countless musicians quickly adopted it From early pioneers such as Rick Wakeman Keith Emerson amp Chick Corea through to latter day explorers like Gary Numan amp Adrian Utley And although the Mini ceased production in 1981 a quick glance at its user base reveals a Who s Who of contemporary music Rick Wakeman reveals The Minimoog is my favorite synthesiser of all time and at one point had nine of them with each sounding slightly different The first one owned cost me 35 from the actor Jack Wilde It should have been about 1200 but Jack told me he had bought it about two weeks previously that it didn t work properly and he wanted rid of it figured that it would cost less than 1200 to get it fixed so collected it took it home turned it on and couldn t find anything wrong with it called him up and told him it was fine but he said that it was definitely faulty because it wouldn t play more than one note at a time That was a fairly common misunderstanding back then There were however more genuine problems with early models as Rick once again explains The obvious nightmare was the tuning instability and kid you not sometimes when we used the Minimoog live we were lu
48. rce Wherever you see this logo it refers to the Melohman feature set Prior to 1970 it s fair to say that synthesisers were mostly giant modular monsters more suited to a luxury recording studio or laboratory than being transported from Stage to stage The problems with lugging around a beast of this nature were many as GMEDIA Music s Chris Macleod remembers from his days as Keith Emerson s grunt Lugging the Moog around was a bloody nightmare especially as it was only used for one or two sounds in the show It was always breaking down to the extent we took along a dedicated Moog technician who we nicknamed Mr Diode Head know it was all part of Keith s performance but frankly couldn t walt to see the ass end of it As a result my back still suffers today and at the penultimate gig put a big sign on it saying FOR SALE OWNER LEAVING PLANET much to everyone s amusement Of course in 1970 there was already one portable synthesiser the EMS VCS3 but this still largely clung to its academic apron strings Clearly if the synthesiser were to become a mainstream instrument then a portable solution based around the needs of a musician would have to be found The first hint of this was the pre production Minimoog Model A which largely consisted of a basic collection of modules plundered from the modular instruments and which still needed basic patch cords for routing This was further refined initially to the single pane
49. tch White Pink Noise Switch RSN oe OM As mentioned above this is used in conjunction with the Noise Volume Knob amp Switch and simply selects between White or Pink noise As a ERT ER HAL INPUT VOLUME 4 HOISE VOLUME 4 1 amp Ci ie WHITE general rule White Noise is high pitched and Pink Noise is low pitched Osc 3 Volume Knob amp Switch Determines the level of Osc 3 signal that s fed in to the Mixer The adjacent switch instantly turns the oscillator on or off THE FILTER MODIFIERS PANEL The Minimonsta filter is a detailed and highly accurate reproduction of the original Moog lowpass ladder filter Much has been said about this type of filter design since its origin and over the years many companies have tried to emulate it in both hardware and software forms The Minimonsta filter was modeled from an early generation Minimoog complete with its own foibles and unique character and as such it will sound slightly different to other Mini emulations This is entirely deliberate CUTOFF FREQ Cutoff Frequency Knob This attenuates or cuts out the frequencies above the cutoff point while allowing those frequencies below this point to pass through If this knob is turned all the way to the right all the frequencies will pass through and no filtering takes place However if the knob is turned all the way to the left the entire signal will be cut off Emphasis Knob EMPHASIS This
50. tion and even the Melohman LFO and XADSR de K TUTORIAL 2 USING THE MINIMONSTA AS A PLUG IN EFFECT USING LOGIC 7 Due to some differences between Logic 7 and previous versions there is a different method involved in feeding audio into the Minimonsta Instead of inserting the Minimonsta as an Insert Effect within an Audio Channel you must Side Chain it to an audio track as follows 1 Open the Minimonsta as a Plug In Effect on an AUDIO INSTRUMENT track 2 Using the blue buttons in the Mixer section turn all the oscillators off 3 In the same section turn the External Input Volume switch on and also turn up the External Input Volume Knob to 50 4 Make sure the Filter Cutoff knob is open 5 Click on the Hold Button to the left of the Minimonsta s keyboard Using your mouse click on a note on the Minimonsta s keyboard Click in the Logic box marked SIDE CHAIN and select the track that you want to route audio from You should now hear the audio part from that track but will be able to process the sound using the Minimonsta filter envelopes LFO the delay section and the Melohman LFO and XADSR To remove the original audio part and only hear the audio being routed through the Minimonsta go to the Logic Mixer Channel associated with the original audio part and switch the output to NO OUTPUT TUTORIAL 3 USING OSCILLATOR 3 AS A PITCH LFO On the original instrument if you wanted to use an LFO you had no choice
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