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Version 2.0 User's Guide

1. Makes the selected program active in the sampler For example even though you may be editing PROGRAM 1 in ak Sys it might not be the selected program in the sampler itself In this case use MAKE ACTIVE to select the appropriate program in the sampler Allows you to create new keygroups in the selected program This will pop up a window where you can enter the number of keygroups you would like to create Page 28 SAMPLES NODE REFRESH DELETE ALL SAVE TO MAC PC PURGE SORT ALPHABETICALLY SORT BY SIZE SORT BY PITCH SORT BY SAMPLE RATE ak Sys Version 2 00 AK SYS BROWSER Refresh Delete All Save to Mac Purge Sort Alphabetically Sort By Size Sort By Pitch Sort By Sample Rate Updates all sample data in ak Sys Deletes all samples in memory Allows you to save all samples in memory to your Mac PC s disk drive Operation is the same as the save procedures described earlier Deletes all unused samples that is samples not used in any programs Sorts the sample list into alphabetical order Sorts the samples in the list according to size Sorts the samples in the list according to pitch Sorts the samples in the list according to their sample rates Page 29 AK SYS BROWSER SAMPLE Samples a Refresh a Delete a Rename 4 Save to Mac 4 Edit Audition a Properties REFRESH Updates data for the selected sample EDIT Launches your preferred sample
2. AKA professional Control amp Network Systems Version 2 0 User s Guide professional AK AI INTRODUCTION ooo O a aa 1 MULTIPLE MACHINE CONTROL 000 0 eee ee eee e tence aeeee conan nana nnn nn rnnnnnn nn nn 2 CONNECTING AKAI DRIVES TO YOUR COMPU ER seser 3 NOTES REGARDING CONNECTING AKAI DISKS TO YOUR MAC PC eee 5 IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT CONNECTIONS 000 ee cee eeneeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeneeeees 6 CONNECTING 24 8 AND S5 6000 ccc cee ee eenennee eee teeeeeencneaeeeeeeeeeeneeeaas 7 IN USE NOTES FOR EXISTING 85 6000 USERS 9 ABOUT THIS USER S GUIDE niai aat oa reana in p EnaA nn nn aE EE aTa Ee 10 INSTALLATION orita 11 INSTALLING AK SYS PE cional leida rita 12 INSTALLING THE USB DRIVER PCoooccinnncccnnnnonnnnnnonnnnncononnnnccnnnn nano nnnnnnnncancnnnnss 12 INSTALLING AK SYS MAC oooccccccccononnnnnnnononcnnannnano nono nn nn nn n naaa n nen rn nn n nn carne nen 12 LAUNCHINGAK SYS unico adi 12 THE AK SYS BROWSER MAC VERSION cccceseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeees 13 MENU BAR MAC ONLY cece eee eennnte cree sete teeaaeeeeeeeeeseenenaaeeeeesennenenaaaees 15 THE AK SYS BROWSER PC VERSION ccceeeeeeeeee eee nr 17 TOOLBAR PG LONELY Vivito wake td ie ie ae ee A 19 MENUS ITEM Sino tonal a qdenadeadiea ances 20 BROWSER CONTEXTUAL MENUG 00 cccceeee eee cnn 21 VIRTUAL Z8 REMOTE PANE L cccccc cnn 33 MULTIUEDITOR out a Sede teed sei lene 34 CONTEXTUAL MENUS
3. PROGRAM EDITOR If TIME is selected the TIME control sets the portamento effect so that the time of the effect is constant regardless of the interval played For example if the rate is set to give a glide of 1 second it will take one second to glide up a semi tone or seven octaves For example When TIME is selected When set to SPEED the speed of the effect takes depends on the interval For example if it takes one second to cover an octave it will take two seconds to cover two octaves four seconds to cover three octaves eight seconds to cover four octaves etc For example 16 secs When SPEED is selected You may use these two portamento modes to create a range of different musical effects The GLISS option allows you to select a glissando effect This is similar to portamento i e a glide between notes except that the glide is quantized into semitone steps ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 47 PROGRAM EDITOR GLOBAL GLOBAL PS Fat Pwr LO Logate P roa ne X fade E Lin E Exp Log Inthe GLOBAL section of the upper panel you can set certain parameters that affect the program as a whole You can rename the program in the Program Name field PS Fat PWM Hi Simply click on the field and you will enter a name entry mode where you can enter a 20 character name Hit RETURN to confirm the entry NOTE You can enter a longer name than 20 characters if you wish but only the first 20 will be show
4. TIME NORMAL PLAYBACK NO PORTAMENTO eN TIME WITH PORTAMENTO SWITCHED ON IOW3 U As you can see when portamento is on each note slides to the next and the speed with which it slides is set by the portamento s TIME parameter The portamento effect is useful when playing acoustic sounds such as stringed instruments that have no frets violins violas etc fretless bass and instruments such as trombone penny whistle etc It is also effective on vocal sounds as few if any singers hit the note accurately and most slide into it Of course portamento was also a standard feature on older analogue synths particularly monophonic ones where it was often called GLIDE and was responsible for the creation of some highly distinctive although often over used synth effects Using the switch to the right of the PORTA GLISS label the effect can be switched ON or OFF red ON grey OFF When it is switched ON you will hear the portamento effect as you play The TIME control sets the speed of the portamento It is difficult to specify its range as this depends on whether SPEED or TIME is selected using the switch to the bottom left of the PORTA GLISS panel You will note that if the TIME parameter is set high but you play notes quickly the portamento effect may be so slow that your notes never hit the right pitches If you anticipate playing a particular sound quickly set lower portamento rates ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 46
5. onto Cl on the keyboard graphic and a keygroup with a keyspan of C1 C1 will be created and KICK1 will be assigned to that keygroup Drag a sample called SNARE1 onto D1 and a keygroup with a keyspan of D1 D1 will be created and SNARE1 will be assigned Etc ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 42 PROGRAM EDITOR When you drag a sample onto a note the note is highlighted in red ME Pulse se You will note that if a keygroup already exists on the note you are dragging a sample to the new keygroup will be layered on top of the existing one To overwrite an existing keygroup i e replace one keygroup with another using CTRL drag will cause the existing keygroup to be deleted and replaced with the new keygroup NOTE Mac users should drag and then press CTRL pressing CTRL first will pop up thej tem s contextual menu This function makes program creation very quick and easy Of course once you have done the keygroup creation sample assignment process arguably the most tedious aspect of program creation using the above method the program can be edited in the usual way CLEAR Clears the sample from the currently selected keygroup zone AUDITION Allows you to hear the assigned sample NOTE This auditions the sample in its raw state regardless of the settings of the PLAYBACk parameter in the selected KG zone or other program parameters such as filter setting etc So for example if the
6. W Waveform LFO 75 Xx X Fade keyspan 50 X Z4 8 and 85 600 7 Z8 Remote panel 33 ZONES 51 54 55 ak Sys Version 2 00 Printed in Japan
7. Each zone s parameters are identical and are as follows SAMPLE ee Here you can see the name of the sample assigned to the zone Samples may be assigned here by clicking on the field This will pop up the following contextual menu PS Fat Ph GO search Assign PF Audition Edit Dragging down to ASSIGN will pop up a list of samples in memory simply drag to the one you want to assign and release the mouse Alternatively samples can be dragged from a desktop drive directly onto the field NOTE Samples can be stereo or mono and a single stereo file can be assigned to a single sample field If a stereo sample is assigned to a zone the PAN control acts as a balance control Please note that stereo samples use two voices each This doesn t mean that the sampler s polyphony is halved as soon as a stereo sample is assigned just that any time a stereo sample is played it uses two voices Theoretically if every sample was stereo then yes overall polyphony would be halved but in practice you are going to use a mixture of mono and stereo samples and the voice allocation is totally dynamic and transparent ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 55 PROGRAM EDITOR LEVEL PAN These two controls allow you to set the level and pan position of the zone Level is expressed in dBs OUTPUT MULTI a Using this field you can assign the zone to the sampler s individual outputs Clicking on thi
8. Eb How To Register 21 4 98 ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 84 SAMPLE EDITING MAC You should click on OPEN when you have located your sample editor The window will close and the sample editor will be selected Once nominated as your preferred editor it will launch under the following circumstances e When you double click on a sample in the ak Sys BROWSER e When you select EDIT in the contextual menu in the sample name field of a keygroup zone e When you select EDIT in the sample SEARCH window see later regarding this When you use your sample editor in any of the ways described above the sample is automatically transferred via USB to your computer where it can be edited in your nominated sample editor When you are happy with the results of your edits use the editors SAVE or SAVE AS function to save the sample it will be automatically transferred back to the sampler ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 85 SAMPLE EDITING PC SAMPLE EDITING WITH AK SYS PC Ak Sys does not include its own sample editor The reason for this is that there are so many good third party sample editors that are very popular it seems a waste of resources to re invent the wheel and develop one specifically for ak Sys However third party sample editors are supported with clean integration between them and ak Sys There should be no special setup procedure to launch your sample editor from with ak Sys on a PC and basically if opening files with a
9. all the samplers functions are available via the virtual remote panel and any functions not directly supported in an ak Sys editor can be accessed via the panel emulator When using ak Sys with multiple samplers on the network you can have several front panel emulators open with each one controlling their respective samplers ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 33 MULTI EDITOR MULTI EDITOR It is possible to create and edit multis using the MULTI EDITOR To launch the MULTI EDITOR simply double click on a multi in the ak Sys BROWSER hilo hide hi ie hi de Vice ci 621008 00 pres prog mo prog no P mo prog ina prog inc prog no prog no pre Faea Lal A A i priority priority priority priority priority priority p mii midi midi midi mi 2 E Li F 200300050505 aE Sogo oe Fender Ahodes Hi Meloton Choir MAY E e o gt J T LJ Camel p te Each part is represented as a channel of a mixer and the mixer can have up to 128 channels You can set level pan output assign effects assignment effects level tuning MIDI channel and note range for each part using the mouse You may also set certain MIDI parameters such as low and high note range program number and polyphony priority Channels may be solo d and muted using the S and M keys on each channel strip These keys illuminate making their status clear Channel levels may also be grouped using the 8 light blue group keys
10. an Ooooh sound If you modulate this filter type you can create vocal articulations Of course the results depend very much on the sample s being processed and you may need to experiment with the cutoff frequency and resonance controls and modulation settings to produce the vowel effect you want And finally this filter type doesn t have to be used solely for the creation of vocal or vowel sounds it can be used as an interesting filter in its own right With the exception of the VOWELISER the grey area in the graphics give a rough indication of how the incoming audio will be processed ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 67 PROGRAM EDITOR CUTOFF This control sets the initial cutoff frequency of the selected filter type The nature of the sound depends very much on the type of filter being used RESONANCE Resonance This allows you to sharpen the point at the cutoff frequency thereby emphasising the harmonics at that point in some way the exact effect depends on the type of filter selected The range is 0 64 NOTE Because of the high amounts of gain boost that take place with resonance high settings of resonance can cause distortion If you experience such distortion either back off the resonance parameter a bit or alternatively reduce the input level to the filter using the ATTENUATION parameter described below In extreme cases where the above measures do not reduce distortion one option
11. samples and MIDI Song Files may be loaded using drag and drop You can drag each item onto its own node if you want i e samples onto the Samples node programs onto the Programs node etc but ak Sys will sort out which node the items should be placed into so that if you do drop a WAV onto the Multi node for example it will actually be placed correctly into the Samples node ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 13 AK SYS BROWSER MACINTOSH Similarly you may drag items from the Browser onto your desktop or internal HD to effectively save them to your Mac s drive These may subsequently be loaded into memory by dragging them from the desktop onto the ak Sys Browser If you also have an S5 6000 attached you may drag and drop data from it to the 24 8 and vice versa If the S5 6000 has one or more drives attached to it the drive will appear in the Browser and you may drag and drop data from that drive onto the 24 8 to load it and from the 24 8 to the drive to save it Similarly if your 24 8 has a drive attached the S5 6000 can share it HANDY TIP You can drag a folder from your Mac s disk drive onto the ak Sys Browser to load the entire contents of that folder Similarly you can drag the Memory icon onto your Mac s desktop drive to save the entire contents of the sampler s memory This will create a folder called MEMORY on your drive which you can rename to something more meaningful IMPORTANT NOTE
12. the add mode Below that are the keygroup tabs which allow you to select keygroups When ALL or ADD are selected all the tabs are highlighted in red ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 37 PROGRAM EDITOR Below the keygroup tabs are the keygroup parameters These are sib divided into logical pages ZONES Parameters related to setting up keygroup zones FILTER KGRP Parameters related to setting up the filters and keygroups ENVELOPES For setting up the amplitude filter and auxilliary envelopes LFOs For setting the two Low Frequency Oscillators MODULATION For assigning and setting modulation sources and destinations Parameters can be changed simply by dragging on the appropriate pot on the panel if you have an Intellimouse or similar multi button mouse with a wheel the wheel may be used to adjust pots Envelopes are set by dragging on the handles on the envelope shape graphic Some parameters LFO waveform filter type etc present you with pop up lists from which you can select your options in the usual way by scrolling up to them and releasing the mouse on the appropriate selection Waveform TRIANGLE SINE T SQUARE SAWUP Phasa SAWDOWN RANDOM Shift Simply move the mouse through the list to select the LFO waveform If your mouse is equipped with a wheel you should be able to scroll through the list using that The filters work in a similar fashion OFF 2 POLE LP 2 POLE L
13. 1 When dragging multis and programs across to the ak Sys Browser data contained within them is not automatically loaded as they are when loaded from the sampler s own LOAD mode For example drag a multi across and the programs it uses and the samples they use will not automatically follow Similarly dragging a program across will not automatically load the samples it uses either However by using CTRL drag with these items you can drag the item and its dependants onto the Browser The converse is also true drag items from the Browser to a drive to save them and the items they might contain will not automatically be saved as they would be in the sampler s own SAVE mode However please note that you cannot CTRL drag items to your PC s drive to save the item s with dependents One way around this is to save multis plus their programs and the samples they use to their own unique folders or drag the Memory icon across to save the entire contents of your sampler as described above In future these can be dragged onto the Browser so that all the correct data will be loaded in one transaction Wherever possible it s advisable to use the LOAD SAVE functions on the appropriate contextual menu IMPORTANT NOTE 2 When dragging and dropping items from your hard disk to thel ak Sys Browser ak Sys has no way of knowing that the sampler s wave and or CPU memory is full Attem
14. CUTOFF As is clear to see VELOCITY is controlling AMPLITUDE the FILT ENV is routed to filter CUTOFF but with a DEPTH of 0 has no effect LFO is routed to PITCH for vibrato and MODWHEEL is controlling LFO1 DEPTH for modwheel control of the vibrato AFTERTOUCH is routed to filter CUTOFF as is the AUX ENV Complex and elaborate modulation patching can be set that allow you to exercise an astonishing degree of sound manipulation and performance control ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 83 SAMPLE EDITING MAC SAMPLE EDITING WITH AK SYS MAC Ak Sys does not include its own sample editor the reason being that there are so many good third party sample editors that are very popular it seems a waste of resources to re invent the wheel and develop one specifically for ak Sys However third party sample editors are supported with clean integration between them and ak Sys Your preferred sample editor is nominated in the ak Sys FILE menu GG Edit Windows Help New Browser Window aN L Choose Sample Editor Using the CHOOSE SAMPLE EDITOR menu item you can nominate your preferred sample editor that will be used for editing samples within ak Sys Selecting it will allow you to navigate your way to the application Selecta sample editor Applications b E Chess 8 12299 b ES Claris 4 2747400 b E Colourtt 2 0 23 2 98 Ada D SoundPRO 3 5 1 2111 98 E D SoundPRO 3 5 1 17 8 98 Eb DSPRO 3 5 1 Manual 21 8 98
15. Sys Version 2 00 Page 23 AK SYS BROWSER LOAD FROM MAC PC This will pop up a typical load window which you can use to navigate your way to sound library stored on your Mac PC s disk drive Open File i Rhodes 13 9 01 i saxes 18 9 01 5 soso 5 9 01 i Stereo Roland 25 8 01 G Synthex 3 11 01 Y TR 808 snares 24 9 01 O Load Dependants The LOAD DEPENDANTS option allows you to select whether the various components that make up multis programs and samples are also loaded For example if a multi is selected to load with this option unchecked only the multi would be loaded However if LOAD WITH DEPENDANTS is checked the programs associated with that multi and the samples associated with those programs will also be loaded PURGE UNUSED ITEMS This will delete all unused items such as samples not used in any programs or programs and their samples not used in any multis This is a quick and easy way of freeing up some memory TAG UNUSED ITEMS This will tag any unused items These will be shown in the Browser with a tick next to them Uly ARP Strings 4423 a ARP Strings Avs This is useful for identifying unused items in memory DELETE TAGGED ITEMS Allows you to delete items tagged as described above ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 24 MULTIS NODE REFRESH DELETE ALL SAVE TO MAC PC CREATE MULTI MULTI REFRESH DELETE AK SYS BROWSER Refresh Delete All Save to Mac Create
16. Sys has no way of knowing that the sampler s wave and or CPU memory is full Attempting to drag items across to the Browser when the sampler s memory is full will not cause any problems in fact nothing will happen However once you have reached this state it is advisable to delete unwanted items from ak Sys and or not attempt any more drag and drop loading IMPORTANT NOTE 3 It is not possible to drag items to the Recycle bin to delete them Items should be deleted by way of the contextual menu available by right clicking ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 18 AK SYS BROWSER PC TOOLBAR PC ONLY Across the top of the window is a toolbox which has the following functions ak Sys Version 2 00 This allows you change the view style of the right window of the Browser You may select LARGE ICON SMALL ICON or DETAIL VIEW Takes you back up a level This will update the selected node folder For example if you have loaded some samples from the sampler s front panel you can click on the Samples node and click on the Update function to update ak Sys with the latest sample list This shows a list of all the currently open editor windows Editors E x Hz Sampler LU Program 1 28 Sampler Multi 1 28 Sampler active The editor windows can be managed using this window Editors can be opened closed by clicking on their names in this window or more simply by clicking on th
17. all keygroups but instead of all the other keygroups parameters changing to the value you set in the selected keygroup as is the case when ALL is selected the change you make in the selected keygroup will be added to the other keygroups For example you have a program where the release times are set as follows KG1 40 KG2 45 KG3 50 KG4 55 With KG1 selected if you change the release time to 50 the other keygroups will be affected as follows KG1 50 KG2 55 KG3 60 KG4 65 This is useful where you have different keygroups whose parameters vary and you want to retain the relative differences between the keygroups A practical example of this might be a piano sound to cater for the fact that low notes sound for longer than high notes the amplitude envelopes decay times may be different with each keygroup getting progressively faster as you play up the keyboard range Selecting ALL would be inappropriate because editing the decay time on one keygroup would force all other keygroups decay time to be the same However by selecting ADD the decay times would retain their relative offsets Page 52 PROGRAM EDITOR KEYSPAN Keyspan is set using the keyboard graphic es ARMINIA do Aaa a SSS Sea ES Simply click and drag the left and or right edges of the keyspan to set low and high note range accordingly Some useful keyboard modifiers may also be used SHIFT DRAG Moves both the high and low note ranges in paralle
18. and pasting for example programs samples keygroups etc are either done with drag and drop or via contextual menus SELECT ALL This has no function ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 15 AK SYS BROWSER MACINTOSH WINDOWS OUTPUT PITCHED Horm E Held Semi Y Trans Level Down Aftertouch OUTPUT PITCHBEND Hermal Held Lara Down Aftertauch This shows the currently open editor windows Windows can be brought to the front by selecting them in this menu or by touching the actual windows with the mouse ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 16 AK SYS BROWSER PC THE AK SYS BROWSER PC VERSION When you launch ak Sys you see the ak Sys Browser oh Soe Sam ple rim ple Rate Fitch Tin S5 1 ELCANO cs Loor o 44100 c 400000 RAM 16 E z da AGEI Looe ED 4400 CI H RAMO ob ES I dangles Qeuec reco C4 LOO 52220 44100 C4 0000 RAMO 15 gt Memory QE DE PECE LOOP EM EO OO RAM l i Th Hts Qe DEPOS LOOP 41876 LO c3 D000 RAMO l Gi Prosas ie pE Pic Lo 44871 44100 ci 0000 RAMO i iE dia Et Looe 241656 44100 Ci 4000 RAM da CA MIDI Fes Ta paea LO OR aio CA 40000 RAM 14 ie Perr Looe A IM CA HE RAM l In the Browser you can see the sampler and the contents of its memory Each file type i e multi program samples etc is contained within a suitably named sub folder referred to as nodes in this User s Guide When you click on a node i e file type folder Multis Programs S
19. any that do not have any samples assigned to them SEARCH Allows you to search for samples to assign to the currently selected keygroup This will pop up the SEARCH window where you may enter the name of the sample s you are looking for SEARCH is described later in this User s Guide ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 41 PROGRAM EDITOR Clicking on the SAMPLE name field in the top right ZONES section of the Program Editor pops up the following contextual menu ZONES PS Pulse Bass Audition Edit j The same pop up is shown when you click on the SAMPLE name field in the ZONES window Sampla Level Pan PS Pulse Bass Search Assign Em clear Audition Edit SEARCH Launches the ak Sys SEARCH function more later ASSIGN Pops up a list showing all the samples in memory Scroll up and down this list and release the mouse on the appropriate sample to assign it to the selected KG zone More conveniently perhaps you can also drag and drop samples from the ak Sys BROWSER directly onto the sample name field This will assign the sample into the selected zone of the selected keygroup Furthermore it is possible to drag a sample directly on a note in the keyboard graphic shown on the panel The logic is simple Drag a sample onto a note on the keyboard graphic and a one note keygroup willbe created and the sample you are dragging will be assigned to it For example drag a sample called KICK1
20. effects bus selection set when the program is placed in a MULTI but you may also select OFF i e the selected keygroup is not routed to the effects or FX A B C D A and B or C and D NOTE REGARDING THE USE OF FX OUTPUT OFF Please be aware of the following situation that could arise In some commercially available sound library some programs are set so that all keygroups FX OUTPUT is set to OFF Of course this is something you may also do in your own programs This is not a problem in itself but there is one situation where this can cause confusion if you use such a program in a multi and then attempt to assign that part to an effects channel nothing will happen and regardless of what you do no effect will be added The reason of course is that the programs FX OUTPUT setting is forcing the effects routing to OFF so that effects cannot be applied To overcome this edit the program set keygroup edit to ALL and change the FX OUTPUT to MULTI In fairness this isn t a common problem and it seems to be related mostly to S3000XL sound library where for some reason this parameter was set to OFF by the programmers However it is mentioned in case you come across this situation ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 72 PROGRAM EDITOR PLAY TRIGGER Play Trigger Hote On E Hote Off Trigger This parameter determines how notes trigger the Keygroup The options are as follows NOTE ON
21. iiiar oeaiei deatr red cnn eredetin Seeded aeaa 36 PROGRAM EDITOR GENERAL 0000 37 PROGRAM EDITOR PANELS CONTROLS o oococccccccncncnnnnnnnononinannn non cnnnnnananannnos 44 PANEL PAGES iaa dt 54 FILTER KGRP ereina ranea a Tea a EE AEA ATE AEA EEN TEENA 62 ENVELOPES a dias 74 AORE N A tut inne ielt paces E E E E A a ies eee ried ath E 75 MODULATION MATRIX cence nnonononcnnn cananea a rn r anar ren rn 80 USING THEMOD MATRIX ccococoooiiat dico ia cogceeuetecd eiea a das 82 SAMPLE EDITING WITH AK SYS MAC cc ccccceeeceee ec ee ence eee eeeeneeeeeneees 84 SAMPLE EDITING WITH AK SYS PC cc cccccc cece cece ence eee eeeeeneeeeeeeenees 86 AK SYS SEARCH ENGINE ooo da e cue netecsguess 88 Z48 MPC OS LOADER serieren a a A a aa 92 INSTALLING THE OS LOADER PCooocccccnnoconcnoncnonannnnnoncnnannnnnnnnnninnn non nnnnnnannnnnss 92 INSTALLING THE Z48 MPC OS LOADER MAC ooooooocccccononnncnnononncnnnonnancnnnnnannnos 92 USING THE Z48 MPC OS LOADER ooccciccnccnoncncnnonononnononcnnnncnnnnnnnonnnnnncnnanennnn anno 92 APPENDIX ociosa tito ias ind aaa 93 USING AK SYS WITH A WHEEL EQUIPPED MOUSE ON A MAGC ee 93 KEY FEATURES OF AK SYS FOR THE Z4 8 Control of up to 32 samplers inc S5000 and or S6000 from your Mac or PC No SCSI conflicts all control and data transfer is done via a single USB cable Run your Z4 8 on your desktop alongside your preferred sequencer DAW Double click on a multi in ak Sys to launch the Multi
22. is to re scale the level of the actual sample s in your sample editor Attenuation d This allows you to turn down the level of the signal going to the filters to compensate for potential distortion when using high resonance settings The range is 0 30dB in 6dB steps OdB is the normal setting but if you experience any distortion with extreme resonance settings try adjusting ATTENUATION ATTENUATION NOTE The gain boost produced by the type filters that offer enhanced resonance can bel so severe that even an ATTENUATION setting of 30dB may not be enough to reduce distortion In this case back off the resonance a little or try other means of level reduction ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 68 PROGRAM EDITOR TRIPLE MODE TRIPLE mode is a special mode of filter operation where three independent multi mode filters are separately available The filter options for each filter in this mode are These are wired in series and allow you to create your own unique filter combinations The cutoff frequency and resonance for each filter can be separately modulated in the modulation matrix allowing an enormous range of synth sounds to be created ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 69 PROGRAM EDITOR KEYGROUP FX Level F a PS 00 00 240 o Polyphony FX Output a MULTI 64 Mute Group Play Trigger OFF Note On g Note Off Trigger This panel offers parameters that affect the selected keygroup
23. sampler ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 92 APPENDIX 1 USING AK SYS WITH A WHEEL EQUIPPED MOUSE ON A MAC ak Sys supports control movement of parameters via the wheel on suitably equipped mice for example Microsoft Intellimouse To achieve this however you should visit your mouse s Control Panel and set FORWARD ROLL of the wheel as KEYSTROKE and BACKWARDS ROLL as KEYSTROKE for the ak Sys application Please consult your mouse s documentation and or experiment for best results ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 93 1 POLE HP 64 1 POLE HP 64 2 POLE BP 63 2 POLE BP 63 2 POLE HP 64 2 POLE HP 64 2 POLE LP 62 2 POLE LP 62 4 POLE BP 63 4 POLE BP 63 4 POLE HP 64 4 POLE HP 64 4 POLE LP 63 4 POLE LP 63 6 POLE BP 64 6 POLE HP 64 6 POLE LP 63 A ADD 52 ak Sys and SCSI 6 ak Sys Browser Mac 13 ak Sys Browser PC 17 ALL 52 Assigning FX Keygroup 72 Assigning samples 51 55 ATTENUATION 68 B BAND lt gt HI 65 Bandpass Filters 63 Browser Mac 13 Browser PC 17 C Clock Division LFO 78 Connecting to a USB hub 2 4 7 Connecting to USB 1 2 Contextual menus 27 CUTOFF 68 D DELAY 77 Disk Drives and ak Sys 1 E Editing Samples Mac 84 Editing Samples PC 86 ENVELOPES 54 74 F Filter Keygroup 62 Filter Zones 58 Filter Triple Mode 69 Filter Types 62 FILTER KGRP 54 Find Search 88 FX Assign Keygroup 72 FX Level Keygroup 72 ak Sys Version 2 00 INDEX
24. sampler s drives to your Mac it must have a SCSI connection This is standard on older Power PCs and G3 Macs but newer models will require al SCSI board installed PC e Pentium 200 with USB 32 Mb ram Monitor video card capable of at least 800 x 600 resolution in 16 bit colour ideally a 17 monitor with 1280 x 1024 resolution is recommended e USB support software Windows98 e 20Mb of free disk space NOTE 1 For Windows 98 users it is also necessary to ensure that Comctl32 dll v5 0 is installed This dll is available at http www microsoft com downloads release asp ReleaselD 1 1916 NOTE 2 If you plan to connect your sampler s drives to your PC it must have a SCSI card installed SAMPLER e Z4 or Z8 with Version 1 00 or later Operating System installed NOTE Older Akai samplers such as the S1000 series S2000 and S3000 series cannot be used with ak Sys However it is possible to use the S5000 and or S6000 with ak Sys V2 00 The software components installed with ak Sys include ak Sys BROWSER e VIRTUAL FRONT PANEL MULTI EDITOR e PROGRAM EDITOR ak Sys SEARCH engine Z48 MPC OS LOADER ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 11 LAUNCHING AK SYS INSTALLING AK SYS PC Double click on the file AKSYS1 EXE and follow the on screen instructions INSTALLING THE USB DRIVER PC With both units powered down attach your sampler s USB connector to the PC s USB connector using an
25. sweeps with your song For example with it set to 4 one complete LFO cycle will take place over the space of four crotchet beats so in a 4 4 time signature that equates to one cycle per bar ee ee PERRERA Triangle wave set to 4 Beats Cycle To set the LFO to cycle for example over 4 bars of a 4 4 piece you should set 16 and for 8 bars 32 etc The total amount is 64 beats per cycle or 16 bars This scheme also allows you to cater for 3 4 time signature and so for example to set the LFO to have one cycle over 4 bars of a 3 4 time signature you would set 12 or to have two cycles every two bars you would set 6 You may also set how many cycles there will be per beat and once you go back beyond 1 the parameter changes to 1 x Thus a setting of 1 8 will give you not surprisingly 8 cycles for every crotchet beat NOTES ABOUT MIDI CLOCK SYNC The MIDI clock tempo is actually a global value that affects all programs equally However each program may have its own clock division so that for example in one multi you coulal have four programs each set to sync to MIDI clock Program 1 could be set to sweep the filter once every four bars whilst program 2 could do the same over sixteen bars whilst program 3 is panning back and forth over eight bars and program 4 uses a faster clock division to sync vibrato to MIDI clock e You should only receive MIDI clock through on
26. the OS file you want to load and double click on it The operating system will be sent to your sampler via USB you will see progress displays and at the end you will be notified that the update has completed You must now reboot your sampler to use the new version of the sampler Operating System IMPORTANT NOTES REGARDING THE Z48 MPC OS LOADER e If you have several samplers connected via USB each one should be updated in turn MAKE SURE ONLY ONE SAMPLER IS CONNECTED TO YOUR PC VIA USB WHEN USING THE 248 MPC OS LOADER i e turn off or disconnect the other samplers Make sure there are no other applications running AFTER UPDATING YOUR SAMPLER VIA USB USINGt THE Z48 MPC OS LOADER IT IS VITAL THAT YOU RESTART YOUR SAMPLER I E TURN IT OFF THEN BACK ON AGAIN DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ATTEMPT TO UPDATE YOUR SAMPLER TWICE IN SUCCESSION VIAt THE Z48 MPC OS LOADER WITHOUT REBOOTING THE SAMPLER IN BETWEEN UPDATES Failure tol observe this precaution may result in a corrupted OS e DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SWITCH YOUR SAMPLER OFF DURING THE UPDATE PROCESS NOTE FOR MAC USERS f you use AppleScript an easy way to use the Z48 MPC OS LOADER is to simply drag the BIN OS file onto the script called Drop bin file on me in the Z48 MPC OS LOADER folder the process will just take place automatically Once done restart your
27. to the new note but the attack of the new note is not re triggered A A Of course the sample either has to be looped or has to be of sufficient length to allow this For example Even when MONO LEGATO is ON playing each note separately will cause the attack of each note to be re triggered a daian eee This function is extremely useful for emulating the playing styles and phrasing of solo instruments such as flutes oboe clarinet saxophone etc It can also be effectively used on solo and ensemble strings and brass It is almost essential when playing synth bass sounds as it emulates the classic monophonic synth keyboard You will find it useful too when playing leadlines of any kind ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 49 PROGRAM EDITOR The X FADE switch determines whether keygroup crossfade is enabled or not Sometimes when multi sampling certain instruments it is beneficial to crossfade adjacent keygroups to achieve a smoother transition from one keygroup to another The X FADE switches the function on all overlapping keygroups will be affected and the LIN EXP LOG switch below it allows you to select different crossfade curves They are as follows El cz cz Linear Ci C2 CS KG 1 KG 2 Exponential El cz cz EG 1 e EG Logarithmic ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 50 PROGRAM EDITOR ZONES ZONES PS Fat PW GO Although not strictly a global function this section of the panel shows the sample
28. wav extension opens your sample editor elsewhere on your PC then the association between wav files and the sample editor has been made and samples can be edited from within ak Sys as well NOTE If there is some problem opening wav files within ak Sys you may like to visit Windows Explorer click on My Computer and in the VIEW menu select FOLDER OPTIONS and then in the FOLDER OPTIONS window select FILE TYPE here you can set your own file associations manually However you can also nominate a sample editor by clicking on the SAMPLE EDITING menu item In the menu select CHOOSE SAMPLE EDITOR The usual navigation windows will be shown and you should find your way to the sample editor you want to nominate For example Select a sample editor Look in Wavelab do f mi ake System Help Tools Presets E UNWISE EXE A Wavelab exe Pome Fo Files of type Ewecutables exe 5 Cancel Curent C Program Files Steinberg wavelabswavelab Use system association a Simply double click on the application s icon You can revert to the default system association using the USE SYSTEM ASSOCIATION button Also if the nominated application is deleted or uninstalled or can t be found for whatever reason ak Sys will revert to the system association ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 86 SAMPLE EDITING PC Your sample editor will launch within ak Sys under the following circumstances e When you dou
29. way ID 1 A hub is required to connect multiple samplers and the samplers are controlled via USB as with a single machine setup However in this setup drives can be shared between the two samplers and data can be dragged from the CD ROM or hard disk onto either Sampler ID 0 or ID 1 Similarly data from either sampler may be saved back to the hard disk drive ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 4 INTRODUCTION NOTES REGARDING CONNECTING AKAI DISKS TO YOUR MAC PC Connecting your sampler s drive s to your Mac PC is a very convenient way of working as you can view the files on your disk s CD ROM etc using a large monitor and folders can just be double clicked directly to see their contents However you should be aware that older Akai formatted CD ROMs and hard disks i e those made for S1000 S3000 etc may not be seen by your computer only MS DOS disks and ISO9660 and Joliet encoded CD ROMs can be used TIP To overcome this limitation you may like to keep your sampler s CD ROM drive attached to your sampler just for use with older Akai CD formats that cannot be recognised by your Mac PC E g SO9660 and Joliet encoded CD ROMs however can be used in your computers CD ROM drive and data can be loaded into the sampler very quickly and conveniently using drag anal drop HARD DISK oooo88 O E E 2009 IL 0 Because the CD ROM will show up in the ak Sys Browser da
30. you can route the various modulation destinations to the various modulation sources The modulation sources available are MOD WHEEL BEND UP BEND DOWN AFT TOUCH VELOCITY TILT VELO OFF VELO KEY BOARD LFO1 LFO2 AMP ENV FILT ENV AUX ENV CONTROLLER Control Changes can be assigned EXT 1 8 for use with the front panel Q Link controls MODWHEL BEND UP BEND DWN EXT1 8 LFO1 LFO2 CTRL NOTE The controllers prefixed with a_ e g MODWHEEL only have an effect at note on The control sources are selected simply by clicking on the appropriate field A list of the possible controllers listed above will be shown drag and release to make your selection ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 80 PROGRAM EDITOR The available modulation destinations are as follows AMPLITUDE PAN PITCH LFO1 RATE LFO2 RATE LFO1 DEPTH LFO2 DEPTH LFO1 DELAY LFO2 DELAY CUTOFF RESONANCE TF CUTOFF 1 triple filter TF RES 1 TF CUTOFF 2 TF RES 2 TF CUTOFF 3 TF RES 3 AMP ENV ATT AMP ENV DEC AMP ENV REL FILT ENV R1 FILT ENV R4 AUX ENV R1 AUX ENV R4 ZONE SELECT ZONE1 LEVEL ZONE1 PAN ZONE1 PITCH ZONE1 START ZONE1 FILT same again for Zones 2 4 Modulation destinations are selected simply by clicking on the appropriate field A list of possible destinations is shown drag to the one you want to use and release to make your selection ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 81 PROGRAM EDITOR USING THE MOD MATRIX Up to 64 p
31. AMPIL PROM WECO 4 4 4 Y TI e UTES BE LOAD MEAN amp amp amp Every function in the sampler is available in real time and operation is pretty much the same as on the sampler itself The various sampler modes Multi FX Edit Sample Program etc are selected by clicking on the keys along the bottom underneath the LCD Functions may be selected in a variety of ways e You can click on the parameter directly on the LCD using your mouse e You can use your Mac PC keyboards cursor keys to move around the LCD e You can use the Z8 s panel cursor keys In all cases the DATA wheel can be used to enter parameter values However you can also enter a parameter s value directly using your Mac PC keyboard s numeric keys If you have a mouse equipped with a wheel this can be used to set parameter values as well Simply click the parameter and move the wheel to edit the parameter s value NOTE Some wheel equipped mice may need to be specifically set up for this via a control panel on your Mac PC ppanel on your Mac O OOOO You may also use your computer keyboard s function keys F1 F6 to emulate the function keys on the sampler You can use your mouse to rotate the 8 Q Link controls NOTE FOR Z4 USERS Even though you have access to the 8 Q Link controls on thel virtual front panel you won t of course be able to use Q5 Q8 on the actual front panel itself But of course you realised this As mentioned
32. Conversely data can be dragged from the sampler onto the drive to save it If you have your sampler s drive s connected to your Mac multis programs samples and MIDI Song Files may be loaded using drag and drop You can drag each item onto its own node if you want i e samples onto the Samples node programs onto the Programs node etc but ak Sys will sort out which node the items should be placed into so that if you do drop a WAV onto the Multi node for example it will actually be placed correctly into the Samples node Similarly you may drag items from the Browser onto your PC s hard disk drive to save them These may subsequently be loaded into memory by dragging them from that drive onto the ak Sys Browser If you also have an S5 6000 attached you may drag and drop data from it to the 24 8 and vice versa If the S5 6000 has one or more drives attached to it the drive will appear in the Browser and you may drag and drop data from that drive onto the 24 8 to load it and from the 24 8 to the drive to save it Similarly if your 24 8 has a drive attached the S5 6000 can share it ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 17 AK SYS BROWSER PC HANDY TIP You can drag a folder from your PC s disk drive onto the ak Sys Browser to load the entire contents of that folder Similarly you can drag the Memory icon onto your PC s disk drive to save the entire contents of the sampler s memory This will create a folder called M
33. EMORY on your drive which you can rename to something more meaningful IMPORTANT NOTE 1 When dragging multis and programs across to the ak Sys Browser data contained within them is not automatically loaded as they are when loaded from the sampler s own LOAD mode For example drag a multi across and the programs it uses and the samples they use will not automatically follow Similarly dragging a program across will not automatically load the samples it uses either However by using CTRL drag on these items you can drag the item and its dependants onto the Browser The converse is also true drag items from the Browser to a drive to save them and the items they might contain will not automatically be saved as they would be in the sampler s own SAVE mode However please note that you cannot CTRL drag items to your PC s drive to save the item s with dependents One way around this is to save multis plus their programs and the samples they use to their own unique folders or drag the Memory icon across to save the entire contents of your sampler as described above In future these can be dragged onto the Browser so that all the correct data will be loaded in one transaction Wherever possible it s advisable to use the LOAD SAVE functions on the appropriate contextual menu IMPORTANT NOTE 2 When dragging and dropping items from your hard disk to thej ak Sys Browser ak
34. Editor mixing console Double click on a program in ak Sys to launch the Program Editor synth panel Use the virtual Z8 remote panel to access every function in the sampler Use the context sensitive Search engine to find what you want Double click on a sample in ak Sys to launch your favourite sample editor Save samples edited in your sample editor directly back to your sampler Drag and drop data from your disk drives into the sampler s Drag and drop data from your sampler s to your computer desktop Drag and drop keygroups between programs Drag and drop samples into keygroups Drag and drop programs into Multi parts Drag and drop data between samplers Sort data by name date size sample rate External sampling hardware places no overhead on your computer Superior sound quality through dedicated external hardware And more INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ak Sys is a suite of software components that allow remote control and editing of your Z4 and or Z8 from your Mac or PC It uses USB Universal Serial Bus for this control and does away with potentially dangerous SCSI connections between your computer and sampler Here we see a single Z8 connected to a computer via a single USB connection A hard disk drive and a CD ROM are connected via SCSI to the sampler All control is via the USB link and all data transfer between the sampler and its disk drives is initiated via USB All data transfer between the sampler and the computer is al
35. G GLOBAL 48 H Highpass Filters 64 l Installing ak Sys 11 K Keyboard Track Zones 59 KEYGROUP 70 KEYSPAN 53 KG EDIT 52 L Layering samples 61 Level Keygroup 70 Level Zones 56 LFO Delay 77 LFO Depth 76 LFO MIDI Clock Sync 78 LFO Rate 77 LFO Re trigger 77 LFO Sync 78 LFO Waveform 75 LFOs 54 75 LO lt gt BAND 65 LO lt gt HI 65 Lowpass Filters 62 63 M Menu Bar Mac only 15 Menu items PC 20 MIDI Clock Sync LFO 78 MODULATION 54 Modulation Destinations 81 Modulation Matrix 80 Modulation Sources 80 MONO LEGATO 49 Multi Editor 34 Multiple machine control 2 4 MUTE GROUP 70 N Notch Filters 65 O OS Loader 92 Output Program global 45 Output Zones 56 INDEX P Pan Zones 56 Peak Filters 66 Phase Shift Filters 67 Pitch Zones 59 PITCHBEND 45 PLAY TRIGGER 73 Playback Zones 59 Polyphony Global 48 Polyphony Keygroup 70 PORTA GLISS 46 Program Editor 37 Program Name 48 R Range Zones 60 RATE 77 RE TRIG 77 Remote panel 33 RESONANCE 68 S S5 600 and Z4 8 7 Sample editing Mac 84 Sample editing MPC 86 SAMPLE field Zones 55 Sample Start Zones 58 SCSI 6 Search Engine 88 SHIFT PHASE 76 Show Front Panel 33 Start Zones 58 SYNC 78 T Toolbar PC only 19 Track Zones 59 TRIPLE MODE 69 Tune Program global 44 Tune Zones 59 Tune Keygroup 71 U USB Connection 1 2 USB Hub 2 4 7 V Velocity Switch Xfade 60 61 VIEW 44 VOWELISER 67
36. G3 Closed hi hat Out 3 KG4 Open hi hat Out 4 KG5 Low tom Out 5 KG6 Mid tom Out 6 Etc Of course this is easily possible in a program and individual keygroups can as we have seen be routed to the individual outputs with great flexibility KG7 Hitom Out 7 However you should be aware that if you have made up such a drum percussion program some odd but logical things can happen when you assign that program to a multi For example let s imagine you have made up a multi as described in the above example To that you now add the drum program we created above You can probably imagine what is going to happen That s right the kick drum is going to share the piano s output the snare is going to come out of the same output as the bass the hi hats and low tom will share the stereo strings output etc Of course it doesn t have to be a drums program you could load a program from al commercially available CD ROM library where the programmers for some reason have routed the programs keygroups to say outs 1 and 2 in this case you might add it to the multi and wonder why however much you tweak the part s output assignment its always coming outl through outputs 1 and 2 Other than re organising your output assignments there s not much that can be done to avoid this However it is mentioned in case you add a program to a multi and odd things
37. Multi Canelar Diarrea Updates all multi data in ak Sys Deletes all multis in memory Allows you to save all multis in memory to your Mac PC s disk It pops up a typical SAVE prompt Operation is the same as described earlier Allows you to create a new multi This pops up a prompt where you can name the multi and set the number of parts that will be included Refresh Delete Rename Save to Mac Edit Make Active Create Parts Delete Blank Parts Updates data for the selected multi Deletes the selected multi NOTE FOR MAC USERS You can also delete a multi or any item in the Browser by dragging it to the wastebasket trash can However please note that the multi will not be placeal in the wastebasket trash can for deletion later on it will be deleted immediately RENAME ak Sys Version 2 00 Allows you to rename the selected multi Page 25 SAVE TO MAC ba qu b Backup lga bS EN gt m isc b O59 O Save Programs 3 EDIT MAKE ACTIVE ak Sys Version 2 00 AK SYS BROWSER This pops up a typical SAVE window Operation is exactly the same as described earlier except that you have the option of deciding whether to save the programs and their samples used in the selected multi Choose a folder to save into G O 14 2 02 10 30 am f a 14 2 02 10 30 am 14 2 02 10 30 am Today 12 24 pm 13 2 02 4 32 pm Today 6 22 pm O Save Samples ha
38. NOTE OFF TRIGGER ak Sys Version 2 00 Sample playback is triggered by MIDI note ons and playback is stopped by MIDI note offs in other words normal operation When this option is selected a new control appears above the switch don t you just love virtual control panels a ee Play Trigger Mote On Note Off E Trigger Playback of the selected keygroup is now triggered by MIDI note off At first this might seem a bit odd but this function allows you to do many creative things As an example you have a program comprised of acoustic guitar samples By also including samples of the various squeaks and scrapes that often occur during an acoustic guitar performance and assigning these to keygroups set to NOTE OFF you can play the guitar sound but at note off some of the characteristic squeaks and scrapes can be made to sound Of course this technique could be applied to any sound the grunt of a damped heavy metal guitar the rattle of a plucked acoustic double bass string as the player takes his finger off the neck of the instrument You could even trigger a completely different sample at note off trigger a swirling sound effect when you stop playing a pad sound for example With the virtual control that appears you can set whether the note off sample will trigger at the note on velocity i e N ON as shown above or at a different velocity setting For example with the co
39. P 4 POLE LP 4 POLE LP 6 POLE LP 2 POLE BP J P F AP Simply move the mouse up and down the list to select the filter type you want to use If your mouse is equipped with a wheel you should be able to scroll through the list using that ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 38 PROGRAM EDITOR Keygroups are selected using the keygroup tabs shown underneath the keyboard icon H ea UU 000 20 EE E E E Simply click on a tab to select a keygroup You can also use CURSOR lt gt on your Mac PC keyboard to select keygroups sequentially You can also use ALT CLICK on the keyboard graphic itself to select keygroups However you select a keygroup it is shown with red lettering in the keygroup tab However when ALL or ADD are switched on all the keygroup tabs are highlighted irrespective of which keygroup is selected JASE 4 aes es 4 Es Drag and drop of keygroups is also supported in the PROGRAM EDITOR You can e Drag and drop keygroups between programs e Drag and drop a keygroup within a program to effectively copy paste an existing keygroup Drag and drop keygroups to from the desktop ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 39 PROGRAM EDITOR Right clicking on the Program Editor panel pops up the following contextual menu The functions are REFRESH DELETE RENAME SAVE TO MAC EDIT MAKE ACTIVE CREATE NEW KEYGROUPS DELETE CURRENT KG ak Sys Version 2 00 Refresh Delete Rename Save to Mac Create Ne
40. This will pop up a prompt allowing you to name the new program as well as set how many keygroups it will contain PURGE This will delete all unused programs from memory that is programs that are not used in any multis SORT ALPHABETICALLY Sorts the Browser s list of programs alphabetically SORT BY TYPE This will sort programs alphabetically with normal keygroup programs listed first and drum programs listed after those ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 27 PROGRAM AK SYS BROWSER Im Programs REFRESH DELETE Refresh Delete Rename Save to Mac Edit Make Active Create New Keygroups Delete Current Keygroup Copy Current Keygroup Paste Keygroup Duplicate Keygroup Search Updates data for the selected program Deletes the selected program NOTE FOR MAC USERS You can also delete a program or any item in the Browser by dragging it to the wastebasket trash can However please note that the program will not be placed in the wastebasket trash can for deletion later on it will be deleted immediately RENAME SAVE TO MAC PC EDIT MAKE ACTIVE CREATE NEW KEYGROUPS ak Sys Version 2 00 Allows you to rename the selected program Allows you to save the selected program to your Mac PC s disk drive The SAVE pop up offers the option to select that the program s samples will also be saved Launches the Program Editor or brings that program s Editor window to the front if already open
41. a keygroup to create a fat foundation to your track Do the same with snares and other drum percussion sounds e Assign a kick drum to Zone 1 and a low frequency almost sub sonic sine wave to Zone 2 This will create a deep speaker rattling kick drum Following on from the kick drum fattener above assign a synth bass to Zone 1 Now add a low frequency sine or triangle wave to Zone 2 it should be in tune with the synth sample in Zone 1 of course The result will be a solid synth bass sound reinforced by the strong fundamental frequency provided by the sine triangle wave Ina similar vein to the suggestion above Some commercially available sound libraries use very short loops on some of their synth samples The result is that you can have a fat juicy attack where you hear the oscillator detune at the start of the sample but when the loop kicks in it goes thin buzzy and lifeless To overcome this sample a single sawtooth or whatever other waveform may be appropriate and loop it simple single waveforms such as this are easy to loop Put the buzzy sample in Zone 1 and your sawtooth or whatever sample in Zone 2 now detune them slightly using the FINE TUNE control The result will be that you hear the attack but when the lifeless loop of the original sample kicks in it will be detuned against your waveform sample and so will have some life and movement Adjust the fine tune detune between them as appropriate for the su
42. ak Sys has been developed for both Mac and PC and a great deal of effort has been made to ensure that operationally and functionally they are as similar as possible Of course some platform dependent differences exist due to differences in the computer s operating systems Apart from that most windows dialogue boxes pop ups and functions are almost identical As a result screen shots used in this User s Guide refer equally to both Where there are differences between the two versions these will be described specifically NOTE FOR PC USERS It should be mentioned that this User s Guide was written on a Mac and so most of the screen shots were taken from the Mac version of ak Sys As a result they may vary slightly from the actual dialogue boxes that appear on your screen However as functionality is so similar between the two versions Windows users can use them for reference as almost all the functions are the same Where there are differences screen shots from the Windows version are used as appropriate ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 10 LAUNCHING AK SYS INSTALLATION Minimum requirements MACINTOSH e Any Power PC Mac with USB PCI or internal 8 Megabytes of free RAM e Monitor capable of at least 800 x 600 resolution in thousands of colours ideally a monitor capable of 1280 x 1024 is recommended USB Manager 1 21 or newer e Mac OS 8 6 15Mb of free disk space NOTE If you plan to connect your
43. amples etc the right window changes to show the contents of that folder in the above example you can see the Multis node and hence the multis loaded into memory When any item is edited or changed in any way a red cross appears alongside it It is also possible to tag items by clicking on slightly to the right of the item a tick appears alongside the item Items can untagged by clicking on the tick To the right of the various files when in DETAIL VIEW you can see information about each item For example with the Memory node selected the right hand window shows you how many samples programs multis etc are in memory with the Multis node selected it tells you how many parts it contains and when the Programs node is selected you can see how many keygroups each one contains The Samples node shown above shows a more comprehensive set of details such as playback mode length sample rate etc None of these fields are editable and are shown for reference only The browser also allows you to name rename files in the usual way You may also delete files It is also possible to use the Browser to load and save data using drag and drop For example you can drag a WAV file from your PC s HD to the Browser to load samples into memory If your 24 8 has a drive connected to it that will show up in the Browser and data may be dragged from it to the MEMORY node to load data into the sampler
44. appropriate USB cable Turn the sampler on and wait for it to complete booting Now turn on your PC At some point Windows will pop up a prompt saying that it has found new hardware i e the sampler and that its driver needs to be installed Follow the on screen instructions exactly as you would were you installing a new printer scanner or whatever INSTALLING AK SYS MAC Double click on the ak Sys V2 00 Installer and follow the on screen instructions LAUNCHING AK SYS Locate the ak Sys folder on your desktop Open this and locate the ak Sys application icon With the sampler s connected and switched on double click on this to launch ak Sys ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 12 AK SYS BROWSER MACINTOSH THE AK SYS BROWSER MAC VERSION When you launch ak Sys you see the ak Sys Browser M ARP String Ena Phase Fender Rhodes Hi MM Mel Choir Her Watcher Mi Parar Me PS Fat PML E DET We PS Fat Pe Aer Bass Ev My PS Fat PWM Smooth oy HER Wu PS Fat Pe Swell rf HEC Me PS Fat Pe Syne mM xRIO DRUMS El i NERE p h Samples In the Browser you can see the sampler and the contents of its memory Each file type i e multi program samples etc is contained within a suitably named sub folder referred to as nodes in this User s Guide These can be opened by clicking on the triangle to their left or by double clicking on the actual folder Within each folder you will see a list of
45. as a whole They are LEVEL This sets the overall level of the keygroup The value is expressed in dBs POLYPHONY Sets the polyphony of the keygroup The range is 1 64 MUTE GROUP This allows you to group several keygroups together so that they are essentially monophonic The main reason for this is for drums where sometimes you want a sample to stop playing when another is played For example you would want a closed hi hat to stop an open hi hat To do this simply assign all the relevant keygroups to the same Mute Group For example if all your hi hats are in keygroups 3 6 assign those keygroups to say Mute Group 1 All other keygroups will be unaffected but all those in mute group 1 will be mutually exclusive that is if one is sounding when another is played it will be cut For example OPEN HI HAT CLOSED HI HAT or triangle etc or triangle etc V OPEN AND CLOSED HI HAT WITH MUTE GROUP OFF ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 70 PROGRAM EDITOR OPEN HI HAT CLOSED HI HAT or triangle etc or triangle etc La e OPEN AND CLOSED HI HAT WITH MUTE GROUP ON In the first diagram the open hi hat continues to sound even though the closed hi hat is played In the second example however the open hi hat is shut off by the closed hi hat thereby creating a more natural effect This function may also be used to emulate the characteristics of older drum machines On these early drum machines whilst they offered maybe 8 voic
46. ble click on a sample in the ak Sys BROWSER e When you select EDIT in the contextual menu in the sample name field of a keygroup zone e When you select EDIT in the sample SEARCH window see later regarding this When you use your sample editor in any of the ways described above the sample is automatically transferred via USB to your computer where it can be edited in your nominated sample editor When you are happy with the results of your edit use the editors SAVE or SAVE AS function to save the sample it will be automatically transferred back to the sampler NOTES ABOUT SAVING TRANSFERRING SAMPLES When you edit a sample in your sample editor via ak Sys the file is transferred from the sampler to your computer and placed in a temporary invisible ak Sys folder called AKSYS WATCHED The sample editor is also launched if not open already and the sample can be edited in the editor When you come to save the sample it is saved to this watched folder and then automatically transferred back to the sampler The SAMPLE WATCH menu option allows you to clear this folder if disk space is at a premium However please note that the watched folder is automatically flushed whenever you exit ak Sys NOTES ABOUT SOME SAMPLE EDITORS Some sample editors save their loop information in a separate file within the WAVE file If you edit a sample from the sampler in such an edit
47. d two octaves apart Resonance increases the depth of the notches and narrows their width A notch filter with a two notches spaced three octaves apart Resonance increases the depth of the notches and narrows their width Another dual notch filter with one notch in the upper frequencies and the other in the lower frequencies Resonance has the same effect as the other notch filters Page 65 PROGRAM EDITOR BI NOTCH d A dual notch filter based on NOTCH 1 in which modulation sweeps the notches in opposite directions As one moves up through the frequency range the other moves down and vice versa NOTE The differences between the five notch filters are subtle it must be said but with different cutoff frequency and resonance settings and depending on the modulation settings and the sound being processed you will hear quite distinct differences PEAK 1 d A peak filter with a single peak that can be used to emphasise a band of frequencies much like a single band of EQ Resonance increases the intensity of the peak PEAK 2 P A peak filter with a two peaks spaced two octaves apart Resonance increases the intensity of the peaks PEAK 3 d A peak filter with a two peaks spaced three octaves apart Resonance increases the intensity of the peaks WIDE PEAK E Another dual peak filter with one peak in the upper frequencies and the other in the lower frequencies w m m gt A A dual peak filt
48. e Mac PC Of course if you are using CD ROMs on either or both that are rejected by your Mac PC older 1000 or S3000 format CD ROMs for example the following might be a sensible setup In this setup you could employ your computer s CD ROM drive to load sounds from an ISO format sound library CD ROMs e g those created on an S5 6000 into either sampler whilst each sampler s CD ROM drive could be used for loading older Akai sound library or foreign sound library formats that would otherwise be rejected by the computer due to their proprietary disk formats However because it is possible for the two samplers to share one CD ROM drive within ak Sys it may not be strictly necessary for both samplers to have their own CD ROM drive When you launch ak Sys with an S5000 and or S6000 attached you will see the S5 6000 and the 24 8 in the ak Sys Browser GF ak Sys1Z8 SamplertSamples Fie Go View Sample Editing Help Ea Sl es Gy Ey AKAISS5O00 a A ak Sys b Ki Memory EN 55K 1 b No disk E SSK 2 b 2 56000 Vol 1 28 28 Sampler gt a AKAIS56K 7 ml 28 Sampler b Ki Memory ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 8 INTRODUCTION IN USE NOTES FOR EXISTING S5 6000 USERS If you already have an S5 6000 and ak Sys you will already be very familiar with its operation Double clicking on a program in the S5 6000 ak Sys will launch the original Program Editor and double clicking on a multi in the S5 6000 ak Sys
49. e actual editor window When an editor is open a tick is shown Switching the pin icon on keeps the selected window at the front at all times In the above example the top line shows that the editor is open the tick and topped the pin The second line shows an editor open but not topped whilst the third shows that a program is available to open but closed This launches the FIND function which allows you to search for items by name see later in this User s Guide Opens the front panel emulator see later in this User s Guide Page 19 MENU ITEMS AK SYS BROWSER PC The MENU ITEMS are very simple FILE SAMPLE WATCH VIEW HELP ak Sys Version 2 00 Offers just one option EXIT which will quit ak Sys Offers you the ability to clear the watched sample editing folder see the chapter that describes sample editing for the PC for information on this Allows you to select how you will view items in the Browser i e large icons small icons detail Shows the ABOUT AKSYS splash screen It also provides a link to our website Page 20 AK SYS BROWSER BROWSER CONTEXTUAL MENUS ak Sys supports contextual menus that offer options appropriate to the selected node NOTES FOR MAC USERS e Ifyou have a mouse with two or more buttons pressing and holding down the right key whilst pressing the left key will pop up contextual menus e Ifyou are using the standard one button Mac mouse pressing and h
50. e of the sampler s MIDI inputs A or B DO NOT SEND MIDI CLOCK TO BOTH MIDI INPUTS If you do you will get extremely unpredictable results the LFOs will run twice as fast in fact as well as having erratic sync If your sequencer has multiple MIDI outputs and two are connected to the Z4 8 for 32 channel sequencing you should disable clock transmission on one the outputs it doesn t matter which SYNC When set to ON all 64 LFOs one per voice run together at the same rate When switched to OFF they each run at a slightly different speed to create a more ensemble effect on sounds such as strings brass pads etc ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 78 PROGRAM EDITOR IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE LFOs FOR EXISTING AKAI SAMPLER USERS In previous Akai samplers the LFOs were set at the global level that is anything you set for the LFOs affected all keygroups equally However on the Z4 8 the LFOs are now set at the keygroups level This means that every keygroup in a program can have its own unique settings For example KG 1 could use LFO2 set to SQUARE wave at a RATE of 55 whilst KG2 3 and 4 could use LFO 2 set to TRIANGLE at a RATE of 10 If you want the an LFO to affect all keygroups equally just switch KG EDIT to ALL ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 79 PROGRAM EDITOR MODULATION MATRIX A O A A US JUNO OUP La 5 P k p b r In the MODULATION panel
51. e polyphony each individual drum sound was usually monophonic This only became apparent when you tried to perform a snare roll or something similar Instead of the snare s natural decay being allowed to sound the next hit would cut the previous one dead resulting in a rather unnatural staccato effect Of course at the time this was undesirable but the dictates of musical fashion now say that this effect is popular in some music styles By assigning your snare drum into a mute group you may re create this effect For example SNARE DRUM ROLL WITH MUTE GROUP OFF In this example each snare hit is allowed to decay naturally SNARE DRUM ROLL WITH MUTE GROUP ON In this example each hit is cut short by the next one Up to 32 mute groups may be set SEMI Allows you to tune the keygroup As with other tuning controls we have seen the button to the top right of the control allows you to switch between setting semitone tuning and fine tuning ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 71 PROGRAM EDITOR FX LEVEL Sets the level going to the internal effects unit if fitted Normally effects are set in the MULTI and applied to the program overall However using the FX OUTPUT field it is possible to override this And you may send the keygroup to the effects as follows FX Output This allows you to send individual keygroups to the effects by overriding the main program s effects routing The default will be MULTI i e the routing uses the
52. editor see later DELETE Deletes the selected sample NOTE FOR MAC USERS You can also delete a sample or any item in the Browser by dragging it to the wastebasket trash can However please note that the sample will not be placed in the wastebasket trash can for deletion later on it will be deleted immediately RENAME Allows you to rename the selected sample SAVE TO MAC PC Allows you to save the sample to your Mac PC s disk drive Selecting this will pop up the usual SAVE window and you should proceed as described earlier EDIT Allows you to edit the selected sample Selecting this will launch the sample editor you have nominated as your preferred editor AUDITION Allows you to hear the selected sample NOTE 1 If the sample is looped the loop will play indefinitely You must click again to stop playback NOTE 2 Ifthe sample is a one shot sample you must click on again to stop playback Note also that even if the one shot sample has stopped playback you must click again to cancel the audition function ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 30 PROPERTIES ak Sys Version 2 00 AK SYS BROWSER This will pop up a window where you can edit the selected samples pitch tuning and loop type PS Fat Pwt G3 LOOP FUL UL Length 00m 03s 0 ms Rate 44100 Bit depth Regions This is offered for convenience as it allows you to edit these basic parameters without needing to launch your sample edi
53. er based on PEAK 1 in which modulation sweeps the peaks in opposite directions as one moves up through the frequency range the other moves down and vice versa NOTE The differences between the five peak filters are subtle it must be said but with different cutoff frequency and resonance settings and depending on the modulation settings and the sound being processed you will hear quite distinct differences ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 66 PHASER 1 F PHASER 2 4 BI PHASE VOWELISER 75 ES PROGRAM EDITOR A phase shifter created with a notch and peak filter at around the same frequency Resonance increases the intensity of the peak and the depth of the notch A phase shifter created with a notch and peak filter with offset frequencies that has a slightly swirlier sound as the frequency is modulated Resonance increases the intensity of the peak and the depth of the notch A phase shifter based on PHASER 1 in which modulation sweeps the peak and notch in opposite directions as one moves up through the frequency range the other moves down and vice versa This is a special filter configuration that is able to produce certain vowel sounds and articulations EE OO EE OR EE AH and OO AA OO EH OO OW The graphic depiction indicates that a cutoff frequency setting of around 75 will give an Aaah sound Increasing cutoff will create and Eeeeh sound and lowering the cutoff below 75 will give
54. filter with resonance 2 POLE LP a This is another 12dB Octave lowpass filter but with enhanced resonance ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 62 4 POLE LP P Ai da O e m e U N N p U gt U U U O O O O e e e E m m m m W U U E U E U U 4 POLE BP ak Sys Version 2 00 PROGRAM EDITOR This offers a 24dB Octave lowpass filter with resonance This does the same as the 12dB Octave filter except that the roll off slope is steeper Thus high frequencies are attenuated more dramatically giving what some people refer to as a punchier sound compared with the slightly fizzier sound of the 2 POLE lowpass filter This also offers a 24dB Octave filter but with enhanced resonance This offers a 36dB Octave lowpass filter This is a resonant bandpass filter with a 6dB Octave roll off slope either side of the band This is a bandpass filter with a 6dB Octave roll off slope either side of the band but with enhanced resonance This is a resonant bandpass filter with a 12dB roll off slope either side of the band This has a similar effect to the 2 POLE bandpass filter but its steeper rolloff attenuates the harmonics more profoundly This is a resonant bandpass filter with a 12dB roll off slope either side of the band but with enhanced resonance Page 63 PROGRAM EDITOR 6 POLE BP al This is aresonant bandpass filter with an 18dB Octave rolloff either side of the band 1 POLE HP 1 A 6dB Octave hi
55. ghpass with resonance This allows high frequencies to pass though unaffected but attenuates low frequency harmonics as the cutoff frequency is raised from 0 to 100 1 POLE HP This offers a 12dB Octave highpass filter but with enhanced resonance i 5 O m I A 12dB Octave resonant highpass filter similar to the 1 POLE HP but with a steeper roll off Another 12dB Octave resonant highpass filter but with enhanced resonance A 24dB Octave resonant highpass filter y y N U U TU e m m m I I I TU TU U Another 24dB Octave resonant filter but with enhanced resonance P Ea O m I 1 A 36dB Octave resonant highpass filter ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 64 Zz w T T O gt O O Y d Z A A O O LA Y I Q gt ce I Z z U Z O 4 O I ine 4 NOTCH 3 4 WIDE NOTCH 4 ak Sys Version 2 00 PROGRAM EDITOR A resonant filter that is lowpass at the lower end of the frequency spectrum and highpass at the upper end A resonant filter that is lowpass at the lower end of the frequency spectrum and bandpass at the upper end A resonant filter that is band pass at the lower end of the frequency range and highpass at the top end A notch filter with a single notch that attenuates harmonics The cutoff control sets the point of attenuation whilst resonance simultaneously increases the depth of the notch and narrows its width A notch filter with a two notches space
56. h equates to 0 1Hz to 10Hz in 1Hz steps The value shown above therefore is 5 8Hz DELAY This control sets the length of time it takes for the LFO to fade in to full depth after a note is played This allows you to set whether or not the LFO will re trigger with every new note on or not With RETRIGGER setto ON each note you play will reset the cycle of the selected waveform For example with the triangle wave selected you would get this result RE TRIG MIDI NOTE ON AQ This is useful for certain types of modulation effects where you want the effect to start at the same point in the modulation waveform for every note you play However there are occasions when you want the LFO to be free running in the background For example on filter or panning sweeps where you want the effect to be gradual as you play you will want to switch RETRIGGER to OFF to get this result MIDI NOTE ON ae DSS Here the modulation waveform will ignore incoming note on messages and will be rising and falling giving you a gradual sweep through whatever it is applied to ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 77 PROGRAM EDITOR MIDI SYNC MIDI sync This allows you to switch MIDI clock sync on or off When it is switched on the LFO will only run when the sampler receives MIDI clock signals When MIDI SYNC is on the RATE control sets how many beats there will be for each complete LFO cycle This way you can synchronise filter panning or other
57. ill search only the selected device MEMORY Same as DEVICE NAME MULTIS Only searches for multis PROGRAMS Only searches for programs SAMPLES Only searches for samples MIDI FILES Only searches for MIDI song files If you have a drive attached it will also show up in this list If you also have an S5 6000 attached it will show up in the list as well in fact anything you can see in the ak Sys Browser will be shown in the list of available nodes folders you can search in ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 89 AK SYS SEARCH ENGINE To search for something click on the FIND WHAT window and type a string i e some characters from the item you wish to search for As you type so items with those characters will be shown in the list below For example ak5ys Search AKAL SSODO Devi DO Hemory Programs brun A Mellotron Choir AKA SS O00 Derib O MemoryF MW Heliotran Strings ARACSS O00 Devi b OA AKA BO e DC Ple ma ya Bl arana tell M elotron Strings ARAL SS O00 Oevil Dire moryProgeamastallotra Once the item you are looking for is shown in the list you can edit it or delete it In the case of samples you can audition it and then maybe drag it onto a program editor to assign it to the currently selected keygroup In the case of programs these can be dragged onto a channel of the multi editor to assign that program to a part ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 90 AK SYS SEARCH ENGINE Right clicking on an item in the SEARCH window
58. in it this option will turn it off If of course the sample has no loop set this option has no effect LOOP This will turn looping on in the assigned sample However you will need to use your sample editor to actually set the loop start and end points RANGE These controls allow you to set how the four zones react to incoming velocity and it is possible to switch or crossfade between different samples in different zones For example you could have three separate samples SOFT BASS in Zone 1 HARD BASS in Zone 2 and PULL BASS in ZONE 3 and their velocity ranges could be split as follows ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 60 PROGRAM EDITOR As you play across these ranges you can switch between the different samples allowing you to emulate more closely the many tones available from just one note of a real bass guitar The same could be done with drums or any other instrument If the velocity ranges overlap i e 0 70 63 100 and 93 127 and X FADE shown above is switched on i e illuminated then the velocity zones will crossfade giving a smoother transition between zones in some cases You can select from three crossfade profiles according to the crossfade you want to achieve The crossfade curves are the same as those described for KEYSPAN OTHER USES FOR KEYGROUP ZONES As well as velocity switching and crossfading keygroup zones can be used for layering sounds Some examples e Assign various kick drums to the zones in
59. l For example in a keygroup spanning C1 C2 SHIFT DRAGGING to C3 will move the keyspan to C2 C3 CMND CLICK Using CMND CLICK on a note on the keyboard graphic will set a one note keyspan e g CMND CLICK on C3 to set a keyspan of C3 C3 useful for setting drum keygroups NOTE The HILO note fields to the right of the keyboard icon are merely for indication only and are not used to set note ranges this is done purely by dragging on the keyboard graphic ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 53 PROGRAM EDITOR PANEL PAGES Down the left of the lower panel are buttons that select different pages within the Program Editor Filter fKgrp Envelopes LFO s Modulation They are ZONES Displays a page where you may set parameters related to keygroup zones FILTER KGRP Displays a page where you may set parameters related to the filters and master keygroup settings ENVELOPES Displays a page where you may set the Z4 8 s envelope generators LFOs Displays a page where you can set the Z4 8 s low frequency oscillators LFOs MODULATION Displays a page where you can set the 74 8 s extensive modulation matrix These are described in detail next The various pages are selected simply by clicking on the appropriate button ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 54 PROGRAM EDITOR In the ZONES panel you can assign samples to each of the keygroup s 4 zones and these may be balanced panned tuned sent to individual outputs and more
60. l Warn Qverwrite It is recommended that you check SAVE PROGRAMS and SAVE SAMPLES so that loading this multi in the future will also cause the programs and samples used in the multi to be loaded correctly Launches the Multi Editor or brings that multi s Editor window to the front if already open Makes the selected multi active in the sampler For example even though you may be editing MULTI 2 in ak Sys it might not be the selected multi in the sampler itself for example you may have selected another multi on the sampler itself In this case use MAKE ACTIVE to select the appropriate multi in the sampler Page 26 AK SYS BROWSER CREATE PARTS Allows you to add parts to the selected multi This will pop up a prompt Add Parts Parts to add Cancel You should enter the number of parts you want to add to the multi and press OK DELETE BLANK PARTS Allows you to delete empty parts from the selected multi PROGRAMS NODE Refresh Delete All Save to Mac Create Program Purge Sort Alphabetically Sort By Type P5 Rez Uni Bass REFRESH Updates all program data in ak Sys DELETE ALL Deletes all programs from memory NOTE This does not delete all the programs associated samples These have to be deleted separately SAVE TO MAC This pops up a SAVE window Operation is the same as the save procedure described earlier CREATE PROGRAM Allows you to create a new program from scratch
61. n in this field Whilst you are free to enter whatever name s you want please bear in mind that the last characters in the name will not be shown making it potentially difficult to identify certain program names It is recommended to stick with the 20 character limitation wherever possible The PROG NO field allows you to enter a program number for the selected program useful if you plan to select programs via remote MIDI program change Simply type in the program number you wish to assign to the selected program NOTE The range is 0 OFF no program number assigned through 1 128 Typing in numbers greater than 128 will round to 128 The POLY field allows you to set the polyphony of the selected program The default is of course 64 voices but this can be set as you wish according to your circumstances best to keep to 64 and let the sampler s dynamic voice allocation take care of the rest NOTE This field is ranged within the Z4 8 s limits For example entering a value of 999 willl set a value of 64 the X4 8 s maximum polyphony entering a value of 000 will set a value of 1 the Z4 8 s minimum polyphony ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 48 PROGRAM EDITOR The MONO LEGATO switch red ON grey OFF allows you to turn the selected program into a monophonic synth with single triggering The effect of single triggering is that if you hold one note and play another the pitch changes
62. ntrol set at 110 playing below this value will not trigger the note off sample but hit the keyboard hard i e above a velocity of 110 and the note off sample will sound A MIDI note on will trigger the sound and it will play until another note on is received the new note off will stop playback This is useful for triggering looped samples trigger the sample and it will sound loop for as long as you want until you hit the key again to stop it This option can be used for very long samples too even if they are not looped Page 73 PROGRAM EDITOR ENVELOPES Pre ae Terni Terapia The ENVELOPES panel is where you set the 24 8 s envelopes The 24 8 has three envelope shapers an ADSR for amplitude and a multi stage filter and auxilliary envelope These envelopes are set by dragging handles and these are highlighted as you hover over each envelope Not only that but as you hover over each envelope the envelope times and levels are displayed as shown above To change an envelope click and drag the handle To assist in the creation of envelope shapes each envelope shaper has a series of presets that can be selected from the TEMPLATE field PIANO CLAV HARPS ELEC ORGAN PIPE ORGAN STRING WOX Cl Mal CTO ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 74 PROGRAM EDITOR LFOs The 24 8 has two Low Frequency Oscillators LFOs and both are identical Each one can be employed for a variety of uses from
63. olding CTRL whilst clicking on the mouse will also pop up the contextual menus You can just press and hold the mouse and wait a second to pop up the contextual menu The contextual menu items in the ak Sys Browser are SAMPLER NODE REFRESH SCAN DISKS PREFERENCES Refresh Scan disks Preferences Show Front Panel pl Lock Front Panel Updates all data in ak Sys This will scan all disks connected to the sampler s and update ak Sys This shouldn t need to be used much if at all but can sometimes be useful when using certain types of removable media that may not automatically mount unmount Selecting this pops up this window 3 O Program edtors activate items E Muti editors 4ctivete beans EA Shion Midi folder ak Sys Version 2 00 You can select whether launching a program or multi editor actually makes that the active item in the sampler itself With these options disabled you can launch a program multi editor but you won t necessarily hear it With these options enabled you will automatically hear the items when they are launced You can also choose whether to display the MIDI song file folder in the ak Sys Browser or not Page 21 AK SYS BROWSER SHOW FRONT PANEL Launches the remote front panel emulator see later LOCK FRONT PANEL This function allows you to lock the sampler s front panel to prevent tampering on the front panel when you are using ak Sys If you are using the vir
64. or when transferred back there is a risk that loop information will not be preserved ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 87 AK SYS SEARCH ENGINE AK SYS SEARCH ENGINE One powerful function of ak Sys is it s search engine that allows you to find items by name SEARCH is available in the FILE menu on the Mac and pops up this window akSys Search Bright Pig AALS S000 Devil OF Memory Programa Clovi net 1 AKAD SS O00 Devi DOMME mor y Programs Drum Set 1 ARAISS OOO Davi Oy MemorysPrograma ory Fat Baas AKAD SSOO0 Devi O Demori Programa Fat Mellotron Choir ARALSS O00 DaviD 0 HemoryiPrograma Mel Mellotron Strings AKAD SSO00 Derib 0 merry Programas e MIM PGMI ARAL SS O00 Dori E Orriemoryi Praami Mih Pick Bai AKALSSODO Der D Dure mir yi Programs Pici Rodes ARAISS O00 DaviD Dieron Programs Rho Rich Strings AKA ASOD Devi D Due miaryi Programs R keh m pul H m m m m On the PC the find function is available by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the Browser s toolbar It shows a similar window Functionally both are identical ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 88 AK SYS SEARCH ENGINE You can choose the type of item you want to search for using the IN FOLDER pop up atthe top of the Window In Folder E e ak Sys eo Sampler Find what Memory Multis Programs Samples MICI Files The options are AKSYS Searches the whole of ak Sys If multiple samplers are on line they will all be searched DEVICE NAME W
65. ossible connections can be made in any one program and these connections are selected simply by clicking on the appropriately numbered field You can scroll up and down the connection fields using the scroll bar to the left of the fields To make a connection click on a SOURCE field to pop up the list of possible sources none MODW HEEL BEND UP BEND DOWN AFTERTOUCH VELOCITY TILT VELO OFF VELO KEYBOARD LFO 1 LFO 2 AMP ENV Now click on the appropriate DESTINATION field to pop up the list of possible destinations E ee eer LFO 2 OFFSET CUTOFF RESONANCE TF CUTOFF 1 TF RES 1 TF CUTOFF 2 TF RES 2 TF CUTOFF 3 ik TF RES 3 m ur AMP ENV REL FILT ENV Ri You may now set a modulation amount using the DEPTH control NOTE Selections made for modulation sources and destinations affect all keygroups equally For example if MODWHEEL is assigned to FILTER CUTOFF in connection slot 7 in KG1 alll keygroups will have MODWHEEL assigned to FILTER CUTOFF in that connection slot However the depth of modulation is individually and separately adjustable_in each keygroup ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 82 A typical modulation configuration may look something like this Source TILT ELO FILT ENY LFO 1 hob WHEEL AFTER TOUCH AL EMY A A A F Y F 7 R 100 E PROGRAM EDITOR Destination AMPLITUDE CUTOFF PITCH LFO 1 DEPTH CUTOFF
66. ound The same technique can be usefully employed with other sounds that have a distinctive attack ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 58 PROGRAM EDITOR TUNE J ULI This allows you tune the zone The control works in exactly the same way as the global tuning controls described earlier You can switch the control for setting semitones or fine tuning using the button at the top right of the control PITCH This allows you to turn keyboard control of pitch off or on There are only two options ON or OFF Switching keyboard off is best suited for drum or phrase samples loops etc that need to played only at their nominal pitch PLAYBACK Playback SAMPLE This parameter allows you to override the assigned sample s playback characteristics Playback SAMPLE ONE SHOT NO LOOP LOOP The options are SAMPLE The sample assigned to the zone will playback according to the playback settings of the sample ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 59 PROGRAM EDITOR ONE SHOT The sample will play to its end regardless of how long you hold the note This is useful recommended even for drum samples NOTE A quick way of getting drum and or percussion samples to playback with ONE SHOT is to press ALL to edit all keygroups equally and select ONE SHOT in the PLAYBACK field This is far easier than setting the same parameter on all the samples individually in your sample editor NO LOOP If the sample has a loop set
67. pear in Windows Explorer Again files to be loaded into the sampler can be dragged from Explorer onto the ak Sys Browser NOTE The external CD ROM shown in the above setup is not really required because youl can use your computer s internal CD ROM In both the Mac and PC versions of ak Sys as well as dragging Akai sound library onto the Browser any valid data e g wav files from your Mac s PC s hard disk s and CD ROMs can be dragged to the Browser to load them into the sampler To save data back to your sampler s or computer s drives simply drag the items you want to save from the Browser to the destination drive all this will be covered in more detail later in this User s Guide For Mac users Using drag and drop from the Browser you can save sampler data to a Mac formatted HFS disk and you don t have to set up a special DOS formatted drive or partition Of course you may also load such data from a Mac formatted HFS disk into the sampler using drag and drop from the Mac disk to the Browser It is also possible to load AIFF samples into the sampler However please note that these get converted to WAVs in the sampler itself if you save them back to your Mac HD the samples will be saved in this format 2 Of course this requires your computer to have a suitable SCSI connection ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 3 INTRODUCTION Multiple samplers may be connected in a similar
68. pops up a contextual menu according to the selected file type For a program the following is shown Refresh Edit Delete Create New Keygroups Delete Current Keygroup Copy Current Keygroup Paste Keygroup Duplicate Keygroup REFRESH This will cause ak Sys to update itself to allow for any changes that may have been made useful if any changes have been made from the sampler s own front panel EDIT Will launch the PROGRAM EDITOR DELETE Will delete the selected item The greyed out options have no function Different file types show different contextual menus of course ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 91 OS LOADER Z48 MPC OS LOADER Another component that comes with ak Sys is a sampler OS Loader This allows you to dump a new sampler operating system to your sampler s via USB Updates to the 4 8 Operating System will be posted regularly at our website http www akaipro com Be sure to visit regularly to ensure you have the latest OS in your sampler Updates to ak Sys will also be posted on the site INSTALLING THE OS LOADER PC Locate the Z48 MPC OS LOADER installer Double click on this and follow the on screen instructions INSTALLING THE Z48 MPC OS LOADER MAC No installation is required simply drag the Z48 MPC OS LOADER folder to your Mac s hard disk drive USING THE Z48 MPC OS LOADER Locate the 248 MPC OS LOADER exe and double click on it to launch it You will see a typical load window locate
69. pting to drag items across to the Browser when the sampler s memory is full will not cause any problems in fact nothing will happen However once you have reached this state it is advisable to delete unwanted items from ak Sys and or not attempt any more drag and drop loading 3 Sampler data may be saved to and loaded from Mac formatted HFS disks However please note that this is only via ak Sys if that drive is connected to the sampler directly the disk will not be recognised 4 Because CTRL click pops up the Mac s contextual menus you should start dragging the item and then press CTRL ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 14 AK SYS BROWSER MACINTOSH MENU BAR MAC ONLY The menu bar items for the Mac version of ak Sys are as follows FILE a GO Edit Windows Help r ENT ao Choose Sample Editor NEW BROWSER WINDOW Opens a new Browser window CLOSE Closes the front most window SEARCH Launches the ak Sys Search function more on this later CHOOSE SAMPLE EDITOR Allows you to specify which sample editor will be used for editing samples within ak Sys more on this later QUIT Quits ak Sys EDIT File i Windows Help Can tUndo 2 Cut SEX Copy a6 C Paste W Clear Select All UNDO Will undo redo the last control movement in the Program Editor and Multi Editor It has no function in the Browser CUT COPY PASTE CLEAR These have no function Functions such as copying
70. s field pops up the following menu T L R 1 2 3 4 a 6 Fi 8 When MULTI is selected the zone will be automatically assigned to the output used by the program when it is used in a multi However it is also possible to send individual keygroup zones to stereo pairs of outputs or single individual outputs This is useful for use with drum and percussion programs where each drum can be connected to individual channels on an external mixing console where they may be separately processed ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 56 PROGRAM EDITOR NOTE When a stereo sample is routed to a single output the left right legs of the sample are summed to the mono output NOTES ON USING THE INDIVIDUAL OUTPUTS Normally programs are assigned to the individual outputs within a multi Part 1 Chan1A Piano Out 1 l Part 2 Chan 2A Bass Out 2 Part3 Chan 3A Stereo strings Out 3 4 Part 4 Chan 4A Flutes Out 5 Etc In this way each part can be brought up in separate channels of a mixing console where they can be more easily balanced as well as have EQ compression etc applied However in the case of drums and percussion the situation is slightly different as it is likely that rather than apply a single effect at one level to the whole program you would probably want the individual drums to have their own outputs for balancing and processing on a mixing console For example KG1 Kick Out 1 KG2 Snare Out 2 K
71. s BROWSER directly onto the multi part channel simply grab the program you want to assign in the BROWSER and drag it onto the appropriate channel of the MULTI EDITOR to assign it You can also drag and drop programs from your Mac PC disk drive directly onto a multi channel this will load the program and its samples and will of course assign the program to the selected multi channel Multiple Multi Editor windows may be opened simultaneously and you can select them simply by bringing the appropriate one you want to edit to the front or by way of the WINDOWS menu Multi windows can be collapsed in the usual way NOTE FOR MAC USERS 128 part multis use a lot of the Mac s memory If you plan to have a lot of large multis open simultaneously increase the memory allocation for ak Sys ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 35 CONTEXTUAL MENUS MULTI EDITOR Right clicking on a blank portion of the Multi Editor panel pops up this contextual menu REFRESH DELETE RENAME SAVE TO MAC EDIT MAKE ACTIVE CREATE PARTS DELETE BLANK PARTS ak Sys Version 2 00 sami semi sarmi Refresh Delete Rename Save to Mac Edit Make Active create Parts Delete Blank Parts a a Updates data for the selected multi Deletes the selected multi No function hence greyed out This pops up a typical SAVE window Operation is exactly the same as described earlier No function the editor is open Makes
72. s assigned to Zones 1 4 of the currently selected keygroup at all times regardless of which keygroup panel is selected Samples may be assigned here by clicking on the SAMPLE name field this will pop up the following contextual menu ZONES PS Pulse Search Assign b ZONES q P3 Fat PWM Go Search Assman PS Fat PWM GO PS Fat PWM G1 PS Fat PWM G2 Audition PS Fat PWM G3 _Edit P5 Fat PWM G4 PS Fat PWM G5 P5 Fat Rez Bass P3 Hi Rez Bass PS Hisuwnr Rass Drag to the sample you want to assign and release the mouse the selected sample will be assigned to the selected zone Alternatively you can simply drag samples from a desktop drive directly onto one of the name fields to drop them into the selected zone ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 51 KG EDIT PROGRAM EDITOR Here you can select the type of keygroup editing you want to perform There are three options ONE ALL ADD ak Sys Version 2 00 Editing actions will affect only the selected keygroup all other keygroups will remain unaffected This is useful in drum programs and the like where you may only want to edit the characteristics of one sound Any editing actions will affect all keygroups equally This is useful for editing certain instrument sounds for example you might want to adjust the attack time and or release time of a strings pad Any editing actions performed with this option enabled will affect
73. sample is looped even though you may set ONE SHOT in the zone s PLAYBACK parameter this local Program override is ignored and the sample will have cael playback EDIT Will launch your preferred sample editor more on this in the next chapter The actual program parameters should be fairly obvious if you are familiar with using your sampler from the front panel If some parameters are not clear please consult the 24 8 Operator s Manual and update documentation ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 43 PROGRAM EDITOR PROGRAM EDITOR PANELS CONTROLS The top panel deals mostly with global parameters These are from left to right VIEW This has just one button OPEN Clicking on this allows you to collapse or minimise the Program Editor window so that only the upper global portion is shown thus maximising available screen space on your monitor TUNE TUNE Semi Y Trans E 6 1 2 00 oO This has two controls SEMI and TRANS SEMI allows you to adjust tuning of the program in semitone steps and also allows you to fine tune the program The button alongside the SEMI label allows you to swap the control below it between semitone tuning and fine tuning Semi m e 12 00 12 00 When the SEMI button is illuminated the control below shows a collar of LEDs around it and you may adjust semitones When the SEMI button is not illuminated you can adjust the fine tuning In this sta
74. simple vibrato to filter sweeps panning and more The parameters are WAVEFORM Waveform TRIANGLE Clicking on this field pops up a list of available modulation waveforms TRIANGLE SINE i T SQUARE SN SAWUP Phase E SAWDOWN RANDOM Selecting one shows the waveform in the graphic display These are as follows Triangle Sine Square Sawtooth Up Sawtooth Down Random ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 75 PROGRAM EDITOR SHIFT PHASE shin Phase E These two controls allow you to set the control shape of the selected waveform SHIFT sets the rotation point of the selected waveform At a setting of 00 the waveform rotates around a zero crossing but you can move this up or down in variable amounts shit E shin A Phase E z Phase E The PHASE control allows you to set where in the waveform the cycle will start T Y Phasa E You can see that in the screen shot to the left the cycle will start at the waveform s leading edge whilst in the screen shot to the right the cycle starts midway through the waveform NOTE RE TRIGGER see the next page needs to be switched ON for the PHASE function to have an effect DEPTH This sets the modulation amount for the LFO A value has to be set here regardless of any modulation levels set for the LFOs in the modulation matrix ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 76 PROGRAM EDITOR RATE This sets the speed of the LFO The range is 0 100 whic
75. so via USB Of course to use ak Sys your computer needs to support USB ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 1 INTRODUCTION MULTIPLE MACHINE CONTROL It is also possible to control two or more samplers via ak Sys ID 1 EGSA CD ROM HARD DISK E CD ROM HARD DISK To allow this a USB hub is required These are inexpensive and readily available in any decent computer store Once connected in this way both samplers may be controlled via USB in much the same way as a single sampler and data transfer between the samplers and the computer is via USB NOTE In this set up each sampler has its own drives It is not strictly necessary to equip both samplers with disk drives as it is possible in ak Sys to load data from drive to the other sampler _ Up to 32 samplers may be controlled using ak Sys These can also include S5000 and or S6000 ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 2 INTRODUCTION CONNECTING AKAI DRIVES TO YOUR COMPUTER Another way to connect your sampler to your Mac PC is as follows Instead of connecting your sound library disk drives to the sampler they are connected to your computer On the Mac you will see the sampler s drives on the desktop by opening these you will see the contents of the drive s folders These can be loaded into the sampler simply by dragging them from the folder and dropping them onto the ak Sys Browser shown in the background In the PC Version the Akai drives would ap
76. stain portion of the sound In a pad sounds layer the same samples on top of each other E g Zone 1 String pad C1 Zone 2 String Pad C1 Repeat this for all the other keygroups in the program if any Now use FINE TUNE to set a detune between them this will create a rich thick chorused pad As above assign the same samples to Zones 1 and 2 and add some detune Now pan Zone 1 hard left and Zone 2 hard right to create a pseudo stereo program As above assign the same samples to Zones 1 and 2 but tune them apart by say 7 semitones so that they play a fifth apart Pan them if you want This is a common trick used on preset ROMplers i e synths that use samples as their waveforms to create dramatic film soundtrack presets Food for thought ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 61 PROGRAM EDITOR FILTER KGRP In this panel you can adjust parameters relating to the Z4 8 s powerful multi mode filters and to the master keygroup functions These are FILTER Resonance A 36 Attenuation Ode The TYPE menu allows you to choose from 34 filter types including various lowpass bandpass and hipass filters and also various combination filters peak filters notch filters and phase shift filters Each filter s response graph is shown below the TYPE field which give an indication of the effect they will have on the sound The filters types are as follows 2 POLE LP This is a 12dB Octave lowpass
77. start happening with the output assignments in a multi you are creating ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 57 PROGRAM EDITOR FILTER This allows to set an offset for the filter cutoff frequency in each zone Not only does this control allow you to fine tune the filter cutoff slightly to maintain a consistent tone between keygroups and zones but can also be used more dramatically with filter sweeps As an example layer the same sample s in Zone 1 and 2 and set a filter offset between them the effect will be two filters sweeping in parallel There are many other possibilities START This parameter allows you to determine the way in which velocity affects the playback starting point for each sample in a keygroup The higher the positive number the earlier in the sample playback will start relative to the key velocity i e a high key velocity will start playback earlier in the sample A negative number has the opposite effect a high key velocity will start playback later in the sample than a low key velocity Played with a high velocity and a setting of 1000 the sample starts at the beginning allowing the attack to be heard Played with a low velocity and a setting of 1000 the same sample starts later in the sample thereby missing the attack of the sample This can be effective on drums where a low velocity hit skips the drum s natural attack creating a softer sound but hitting hard will cause the natural attack to s
78. ta may be loaded into the 24 8 using drag and drop ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 5 INTRODUCTION IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT CONNECTIONS You will have seen that whichever way you choose to set your system up i e drives connected to the sampler or drives connected to your Mac PC there is no SCSI connection between the computer and the sampler Itis absolutely vital that your sampler and computer are not connected via SCSI For example the following connection is potentially very dangerous THIS SETUP IS NOT RECOMMENDED AND SHOULD NOT BE USED In this setup there are two SCSI masters on the bus the sampler and the computer which may well cause contention on the bus resulting in general system unreliability crashes and even irreparable data loss Whichever way you choose to set your system up please ensure that your computer and sampler are only connected using USB AKAI Professional cannot accept any liability for damage to equipment and or data loss if the advice given above is not heeded and this precaution is ignored ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 6 INTRODUCTION CONNECTING Z4 8 AND S5 6000 It is possible to connect a mixture of S5000 S6000 Z4 and or Z8 ID 1 CD ROM HARD DISK In this setup each sampler has its own drives Another way to connect the samplers would be as follows ID 1 ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 7 INTRODUCTION In this setup both samplers can share the same drives via th
79. te the collar of LEDs is not shown and the control becomes more like an encoder which can be continuously rotated As you rotate the control round and round as you pass a semitone boundary i e past xx 99 the semitone field advance to the next semitone The TRANSPOSE control also tunes the program but is a MIDI offset function i e with a setting of 12 if the program receives C3 the sample s on C4 will actually be played This is often a better way of tuning a program as it avoids the unpleasant artefacts you get munchkinisation when samples are played at higher or lower pitches ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 44 PROGRAM EDITOR OUTPUT This single control sets the overall output level for the program The value shown represents the program s output level in dBs PITCHBEND PITCHBEND Normal E Held Up Down Aftertouch pe Z p l Here you may set the pitchbend range for the program You have independent control over pitch bend up and pitch bend down both have a range of 24 semitones The NORMAL HELD toggle switch affects the way the pitchbend works and allows you to choose whether the pitchbend will happen on all notes or only on held notes This is particularly useful on sounds with long releases Let us say for example that you have a sound that has a long release and you are performing a solo that uses a lot of pitchbend Using NORMAL when you pitchbend the note all of the notes that are sounding
80. the items loaded into memory When any item is edited or changed in any way a red cross appears alongside it It is also possible to tag items by clicking on slightly to the right of the item a tick appears alongside the item Items can untagged by clicking on the tick To the right of the various files you can see information about each item For example next to the memory icon it tells you how many samples programs multis etc are in memory next to each multi it tells you how many parts it contains whilst next to the programs you can see how many keygroups each one contains The sample list shows a more comprehensive set of details such as playback mode length sample rate etc None of these fields are editable and are shown for reference only The browser also allows you to name rename files in the usual way You may also delete files from the Browser and hence the sampler by dragging them to the Mac wastebasket trash can It is also possible to use the Browser to load and save data using drag and drop For example you can drag a WAV file from your Mac s HD to the Browser to load samples into memory If your 24 8 has a drive connected to it that will show up in the Browser and data may be dragged from it to the MEMORY node to load data into the sampler Conversely data can be dragged from the sampler onto the drive to save it If you have your sampler s drive s connected to your Mac multis programs
81. the selected multi active in the sampler For example even though you may be editing MULTI 2 in ak Sys it might not be the selected multi in the sampler itself for example you may have selected another multi on the sampler itself In this case use MAKE ACTIVE to select the appropriate multi in the sampler Allows you to add parts to the selected multi This will pop up a prompt where you may enter the number of parts you want to add Allows you to delete empty parts from the selected multi Page 36 PROGRAM EDITOR GENERAL ak Sys also features a PROGRAM EDITOR To launch it simply double click on a program in the ak Sys BROWSER Tempa Pn E Tisa Fem Of fs e Tora md me Tira Pas Mar OL Tele ee e e a hora Pug ma PROGRAM EDITOR Program parameters are presented with a knobby synthesiser interface The knobs have a pointer that show its position but around the knob is a virtual collar of LEDs that also show the knob s position Below the knob is a small window that shows the parameter s value NOTE It is also possible to CTRL click on these windows to enter values numerically from your Mac PC keyboard The panel is divided into logical sections Across the top are the global program parameters i e those that affect the program as a whole Below that you can set keyspan whilst the ALL button allows you to switch between EDIT SINGLE and EDIT ALL and ADD allows you to select
82. to the left of the channel fader Once two or more channels are grouped moving a fader in any of the grouped channels will cause all other faders in the group to move You will note that relative offsets between channels are retained as you move the grouped faders At the bottom of each channel strip is a meter This is not an actual level meter as such but instead represents voice usage for that channel In other words the more notes a particular part is playing the higher this meter will be ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 34 MULTI EDITOR Clicking on the name field directly to the right of the each channel s fader provides the following options SEARCH ET E E a A mr E F Ir loto sE EEREERE Mi ir Les 75005 me Ono Search 1 Assign P tear il sll L kas in B3 1 VIO 3 Audition Edit Accesses the ak Sys SEARCH function more later so that you may search for a program to assign to the part ASSIGN and release the mouse on the appropriate program CLEAR AUDITION EDIT Clears the program from the currently selected multi part No function the Multi Editor Pops up a list showing all the programs in memory Scroll up and down this list Will launch the ak Sys Program Editor for the program assigned to the channel see the next section for details of the Program Editor More conveniently perhaps you can also drag and drop programs from the ak Sy
83. tor It also allows access to certain parameters that maybe your sample editor does not have access to Using the AUDITION button you can play the sample However you might find it more convenient to use your Mac PC s keyboards spacebar as this allows you to audion whilst using the mouse to tune the sample Page 31 AK SYS BROWSER MIDI FILES NODES Refresh Delete All Save to Mac REFRESH Updates all MIDI FILE data in ak Sys DELETE ALL Deletes all MIDI FILES from memory SAVE TO MAC PC Allows you to save all MIDI files loaded into memory to you Mac PC s disk drive MIDI FILE MIDI Files Delete Save to Mac DELETE Deletes the selected MIDI FILES NOTE FOR MAC USERS You can also delete a MIDI song file or any item in the Browser by dragging it to the wastebasket trash can However please note that the MIDI Song File will not be placed in the wastebasket trash can for deletion later on it will be deleted immediately SAVE TO MAC PC Allows you to save the selected MIDI file to your Mac PC s disk drive ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 32 REMOTE PANEL VIRTUAL Z8 REMOTE PANEL By right clicking on the sampler icon at the top of the BROWSER window you can launch the ak Sys virtual remote panel 1 248 User s Gi Ll des Lan Out Char Ho 1 XRLG DRUMS MI E 2 P5 Lo Rez Bass FOO 7 MID 3i Fender Rhodes Hi i 688 MID i d Mellotron Violins i tebe MID ad PLAT man FE T
84. tual remote the pages on the sampler s front panel LCD will change according to those selected on the virtual panel but you cannot make any changes on the sampler itself using the front panel s DATA wheel or numeric keypad To unlock the front panel simply un tick the LOCK FRONT PANEL menu item NOTE It is not a good idea to use the 24 8 LOAD SAVE and other disk operations from the sampler s front panel AND also perform disk based operations in the ak Sys Browser at the same time Data can get out of sync and serious problems could arise It is recommended tol lock the front panel so that whilst you are using ak Sys no one can tamper with the front panel ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 22 AK SYS BROWSER MEMORY NODE Z8 Sampler Refresh Delete All Save to Mac Load from Mac Purge Unused Items Tag Unused Items Untag all Items Delete Tagged Items REFRESH Updates all data in memory DELETE ALL Clears the samplers memory completely This issues an Are you sure prompt SAVE TO MAC PC Pops up a typical SAVE prompt allowing you to save data to your Mac PC ojoj 14 2 02 10 30 am 14 2 02 10 30 am 14 2 02 10 30 am Today 12 24 pm 13 2 02 4 32 pm Today 5 56 pm O Save Programs isave Samples O Warn Overwrite 8 Corn Cancer Carcass You should navigate your folder structures to where you want to save the memory contents to and press CHOOSE to save the data ak
85. w Keygroups Delete Current Keygroup Copy Current Keygroup Paste Keygroup Duplicate Keygroup Delete Blank Keygroups Updates data for the selected program Deletes the selected program No function hence greyed out This pops up a typical SAVE window Operation is exactly the same as described earlier No function the editor is open Makes the selected program active in the sampler For example even though you may be editing PROGRAM 2 in ak Sys it might not be the selected program in the sampler itself for example you may have selected another program on the sampler itself In this case use MAKE ACTIVE to select the appropriate program in the sampler Allows you to add keygroups to the selected program This will pop up a prompt where you may enter the number of keygroups you want to add Allows you to delete the currently selected keygroup Page 40 PROGRAM EDITOR COPY CURRENT KEYGROUP Allows you to copy the currently selected keygroup This may be subsequently be pasted into either the currently selected program or indeed any other program NOTE It is not possible to copy paste keygroups between the 24 8 and an S5 6000 that ma yl be connected via ak Sys PASTE KEYGROUP Allows you to paste the copied keygroup the currently selected program If a keygroup has not been copied the PASTE KEYGROUP selection is greyed out as shown DELETE BLANK KGs Allows you to delete blank or empty keygroups i e
86. whether they are being held or are notes currently in the release stage of their envelope will bend Sometimes this is what you want but there can be times when this spoils the effect you are trying to create By selecting the HELD mode of pitchbend ONLY THE KEY S YOU ARE CURRENTLY HOLDING DOWN WILL BEND and all those notes you are not playing but which are fading through their release stage will remain unchanged If you release your finger from the key with the pitchbend up or down as the note dies away if you let the pitchbend return to zero that last note s pitch will not change If you release just one note of a chord with pitchbend up or down if you let the wheel or lever settle at zero only the notes you are holding will bend The AFTERTOUCH control allows you to use your keyboard s aftertouch facility to pitchbend notes i e play a note and then press harder on the key to pitchbend up or down accordingly The range is 12 to 12 You may only bend up or down depending on the selection made and unlike the bend wheel lever you cannot pitchbend both ways Whilst this is a useful performance tool it has to be said that it takes some practice to control it accurately ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 45 PROGRAM EDITOR PORTA GLISS PORTA GLISS FW Time Porta E Gliss Speed Time E Portamento is a function that allows you to glide from one note to another instead of moving in steps as is normally the case IOW3 U
87. will launch the original Multi Editor However you will note that the new facilities in ak Sys V2 00 and the new graphics can only used with the new Z4 8 samplers ak Sys V2 00 retains the original themed styles used in ak Sys V1 xx However please note that multis programs and samples can be dragged and dropped between machines for example you can drag a program from your S5000 to your Z8 or vice versa NOTE If you try to drag 24 bit samples from your Z4 or Z8 to your S5 6000 within ak Sys these will be rejected It is not possible to use 24 bit samples in the S5 6000 You can also drag multis programs and samples from the S5 6000 s disk drive CD ROM to the 24 8 NOTE You cannot drag and drop folders from your S5 6000 s disk drive CD ROM to the Z4 8 but you can select the entire contents of a folder and drag those to achieve the same thing If you are an old hand with ak Sys V1 xx you can probably put this User s Guide away now and get on with enjoying your new purchase as the concepts presented here are pretty much the same as previous versions of ak Sys for the S5 6000 However it might be worth skimming through the Guide to gain a full understanding of the system as a whole and to understand some of the functionality unique to the Z4 8 The remainder of this User s Guide will refer only to operation of ak Sys with regard to the Z4 8 ak Sys Version 2 00 Page 9 INTRODUCTION ABOUT THIS USER S GUIDE

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