STEREO DIGITAL SAMPLER WARNING To prevent fire or shock hazard, do not expose this appliance to rain or moisture.
WARNING WARNING!! To prevent fire or shock hazard, do not expose this appliance to rain or moisture. 1-En CAUTION RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT OPEN CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT REMOVE COVER (OR BACK). NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL. THE SYMBOLS ARE RULED BY UL STANDARDS (U.S.A.
WARNING IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS WARNING - When using electric products, basic precautions should always be followed, including the following; 1) Read all the instructions before using the product. 2) Do not use this product near water - for example, near a bath tub, washbowl, kitchen sink, in a wet basement or near a swimming pool or the like. 3) This product should be used only with a cart or stand that is recommended by the manufacturer.
WARNING GROUNDING INSTRUCTIONS This product must be grounded. If it should malfunction or breakdown, grounding provides a path of least resistance for electric current to reduce the risk of electric shock. This product is equipped with a cord having an equipment-grounding conductor and a grounding plug. The plug must be plugged into an appropriate outlet that is properly installed and grounded in accordance with all local codes and ordinances.
WARNING WARNING THIS APPARATUS MUST BE EARTHED IMPORTANT This equipment is fitted with an approved non-rewireable UK mains plug. To change the fuse in this type of plug proceed as follows: 1) Remove the fuse cover and old fuse. 2) Fit a new fuse which should be a BS1362 5 Amp A.S.T.A or BSI approved type. 3) Refit the fuse cover.
WARNING FCC WARNING This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
WARNING WARNING The CD3000XL is designed to be used in a standard household environment. Power requirements for electrical equipment vary from area to area. Please ensure that your CD3000XL meets the power requirements in your area. If in doubt, consult a qualified electrician or Akai Professional dealer. 120 VAC 220~230/240 VAC 240 VAC @ 60 Hz for USA and Canada @ 50 Hz for Europe @ 50 Hz for Australia PROTECTING YOURSELF AND THE CD3000XL • Never touch the AC plug with wet hands.
WARNING WARRANTY AKAI Electric Co. Ltd. warrants its products, when purchased from an authorized “AKAI professional” dealer, to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 12 (twelve) months from the date of purchase. Warranty service is effective and available to the original purchase only, and only on completion and return of the AKAI Warranty Registration Card within 14 days of purchase.
WARNING CD-ROM care Dust, dirt, scratches or warps on the CD-ROM may lead to faulty CD-ROM playback. In order to take full advantage of the CD-ROM player’s performance capabilities, follow the precautions outlined on this page. Removing the disc from its case After opening the CD-ROM case, depress the centre section of the case with the forefinger of one hand and use you other hand to lift the disc up by its edge.
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 FEATURES ......................................................................................................... 2 ABOUT THIS MANUAL........................................................................................... 5 FRONT PANEL...................................................................................................
PROGRAM EDITING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 6 WHAT IS A KEYGROUP? ....................................................................................... 57 KEYGROUP ZONES ............................................................................................. 58 OVERLAPPING AND CROSSFADING KEYGROUPS ...................................................
THE PARAMETER PAGE ........................................................................... 154 REVERSING SAMPLES............................................................................. 156 SECTIONAL EDITING ............................................................................... 157 THE JOIN PAGE ...................................................................................... 160 SPLICING SAMPLES ................................................................................
AUTO LOADING FROM DISK .................................................................................. 226 SEARCHING FOR FILES - USING THE FIND FUNCTION ............................................... 227 USING THE TAG DIRECTORY SYSTEM .................................................................... 229 NAMING TAGS ........................................................................................ 231 NOTES ON USING THE TAGGING SYSTEM ..................................................
APPENDIX 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 9 1 CONNECTING AN EXTERNAL HARD DISK DRIVE....................................................... 291 NOTES ON USING HARD DISK DRIVES.................................................................... 291 SCSI CABLES ......................................................................................... 291 TERMINATION.........
INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Akai CD3000XL stereo digital sampler and thank you for buying it! The CD3000XL features 32-voice polyphony, expandable memory, DSP functions, etc., and using the CD3000XL’s resonant lowpass filters, multiple LFOs, envelope generators and extensive modulation possibilities, your new sampler can double as a first class synthesiser as well.
INTRODUCTION FEATURES • Polyphony 32 voices • A-D Conversion 16-bit stereo with 64-times oversampling • Internal processing 28-bit accumulation • D-A Conversion 18-bit with 8-times oversampling • Sampling rates 44.1kHz/22.050kHz • Phase locked stereo sampling and playback • Internal memory 8Mbytes standard, expandable to 32Mbytes using SIMMs • Sampling times 8Mbytes 92.13 seconds mono @ 44.1kHz 32Mbytes 5.92 minutes mono @ 44.
INTRODUCTION The CD3000XL can also read CD-ROMs made for other manufacturer’s samplers1. 1 • Data storage A variety of storage devices may be used to store data including floppy disk, hard disk, Syquest™ removable cartridges and Magneto Optical (MO) disks. Hard disk data may be backed up to a normal DAT tape using the digital i/o. • Flash ROM You may install up to 16Mbytes of FLASH ROM over and above the 32Mbytes of ordinary RAM giving you a total of 48Mbytes of memory.
INTRODUCTION • EDITING FEATURES EDIT SAMPLE Trim, Loop (with FIND and CROSSFADE functions), Join, Merge, Splice, Chop, Extract, Reverse, Gain normalisation, Timestretch, Re-sample.
INTRODUCTION ABOUT THIS MANUAL This manual has been written to allow you to get the most out of your new sampler. Please take the time to read it as a fuller understanding of the instrument will enable you to use the CD3000XL’s remarkable facilities to the full. Not only are the controls and screens explained in detail but you will find hints and tips to help you with your sampling and programming.
INTRODUCTION FRONT PANEL CD-ROM DRIVE RECORD LEVEL EMERGENCY EJECT LCD DISPLAY DATA ENCODER STEREO CD- ROM SAMPLER MAIN VOLUME DATA REC GAIN MIN F1 F3 F2 F4 F5 F6 F7 MA X MAIN VOLUME MIN MA X F8 CURSOR DISPLAY CONTRAST MARK SCREEN FUNCTION POWER ON F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 SINGLE MULTI SAMPLE EFFECT EDIT GLOBAL SAVE LOAD JUMP NAME –/ +/ PUSH ON / OFF PHONES ENT/ PLAY OFF POWER SWITCH FLOPPYDISK DRIVE MODE KEYS SOFT KEYS Page 6 CURSOR KEYS −/ ,＋/ HEADPH
INTRODUCTION PHONES This stereo jack socket allows you to monitor the L/R (stereo) output of the CD3000XL through stereo headphones. The level is regulated using the MAIN VOLUME control (see below). DISPLAY CONTRAST Sets the viewing angle for the LCD. You will note that pressing this control in switches off the LCD’ backlight thus preserving the LCD (think of it like a ‘screen saver’ on a computer).
INTRODUCTION MAINTAINANCE You need to perform maintenance if the BUSY LED indicator flashes at an interval of 2-3 seconds, indicating that the pick-up or the disk is dirty. * Dirty disk Do not touch the disk reading area (bottom surface of the disk), since dirt or a stain on the surface may slow down the access speed. To clean a disk, simply wipe the bottom of it with a clean, soft cloth. * Dirty optical head A dirty or dusty pick-up may lengthen access time.
INTRODUCTION FLOPPY DISK DRIVE The 3.5 inch floppy disk drive will accept high density and low density disks. Disks are inserted into the drive thus: DISK ACTIVITY LED DISK EJECT BUTTON WRITE PROTECT TAB HIGH DENSITY DETECTION TAB The label should be facing upwards when it is inserted (actually, it is physically impossible to insert disks the wrong way round without using an extreme amount of brute force!). To eject the disk, simply press the DISK EJECT button.
INTRODUCTION TAKING CARE OF YOUR DISKS These floppy disks contain valuable sound data and, as such, should be treated with extreme care. Please observe the following points, therefore: 1 Never slide the metal cover back and touch the disk. Finger marks may render the disk unreadable. 2 Don’t leave the disk in the drive wherever possible.
INTRODUCTION REAR PANEL INDIVIDUAL AUDIO OUTPUTS ANALOGUE AUDIO INPUTS DIGITAL IN/OUT MODEL NUMBER CD3000XL 12-14, HIGASHI-KOJIYA 2-CHOME, OHTA-KU, TOKYO, JAPAN MADE IN JAPAN CLASS 1LASER PRODUCT INPUT L / MONO OUTPUT R 1 2 3 4 CERTIFICATION: PRODUCT COMPLIES WITH DHHS RULES 21 CFR, CHAPTER I, SUBCHAPTER J.
INTRODUCTION SCSI This 25-way connector is used to attach hard disks, CD-ROMs, Magneto Optical (MO) disks and removable cartridges to the CD3000XL for data storage and retrieval. You may also connect the CD3000XL to a Macintosh™ computer for use with the editing software that is bundled with the CD3000XL. MIDI Your MIDI controller (keyboard, drum pads, EWI, etc.) should be connected to the MIDI IN.
INTRODUCTION SETTING UP THE CD3000XL This short section tells you how to get ‘up and running’ fast. For full details of operation, please refer to the appropriate section in this manual. CONNECTIONS Don’t switch the CD3000XL on for the moment. L/R OUTPUTS SCSI IND OUTS - to mixer cd3000xl HARD DISK, CD-ROM, MO DRIVE, etc... MIDI IN DIGI I/O DAT MIDI OUT AKAI mx1000 Connect the MIDI output of your MIDI controller (in this example, an Akai MX1000 master keyboard) to the MIDI input of the CD3000XL.
INTRODUCTION LOADING THE DEMO FLOPPY DISKS To get you started, some sounds are provided on floppy disk. To load the sound library disk, insert it into the drive and press the LOAD key. Now simply press F7 - CLR. You will receive a prompt asking you if you want to clear the entire memory. Respond by pressing F8 - YES The library disk supplied comes with several programs.
INTRODUCTION MOUNTING THE CD3000XL If you plan to rack mount the CD3000XL, try to leave some ‘breathing space’ around it to prevent overheating. It is recommended you leave 1U of rack space above and below the sampler. If you are placing the sampler on a table, make sure that the table is sturdy and that the sampler is not positioned precariously. If you are using the CD3000XL with a hard disk device of any kind, the disk drive MUST be mounted horizontally.
INTRODUCTION GETTING AROUND THE CD3000XL The CD3000XL is pretty straightforward to use. Basically, it operates in different ‘modes’ which are selected according to what it is you want to do. In these modes, you navigate your way around the functions using the soft keys. You move around the screens using the CURSOR keys and data is entered using the DATA wheel .
INTRODUCTION SOFT KEYS The SOFT KEYS directly under the LCD call up various functions and pages within each mode - these vary from mode to mode and have no pre-defined function. As such, they cannot be easily explained here! F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 There are many common keys in many of the functions, however, such as, for example, COPY, RENAME and DELETE which are always on F6, F7 and F8 in those pages where they appear. Commands such as GO, and ABORT always appear on F7 and F8.
INTRODUCTION If a number such as 123456.
INTRODUCTION NAMING FILES - THE NAME KEY When samples, programs, effects or drum input settings are changed, they should be given a name for easy reference. NAME Pressing the NAME button in certain pages enables you to name data. To name something, simply press NAME and use the cursor keys to move around the name field and use the DATA wheel to select the characters. The name is finalised by pressing the ENT/PLAY key.
INTRODUCTION RECORD LEVEL, MAIN VOLUME, HEADPHONE OUTPUT Next to the DATA wheel, you will find the RECORD LEVEL and MAIN VOLUME controls: REC GAIN MIN MA X MAIN VOLUME MIN MA X Input level for sampling is regulated using the RECORD LEVEL control and the CD3000XL’s overall output level is controlled, not surprisingly, by the MAIN VOLUME control. This also governs the level of the sound appearing at the HEADPHONE OUTPUT.
INTRODUCTION HOW THE CD3000XL WORKS Despite its versatility, the CD3000XL is very straightforward and once you have a basic grasp of the flowcharts shown on the next pages, things will make more sense. Basically, you can have SAMPLES. These are the pieces of raw digital audio that are always the basis of any sound in the CD3000XL.
INTRODUCTION Once you have placed your sample(s) into a program, you may play them from a MIDI controller in SINGLE mode. If the optional effects processor EB016 is fitted in your CD3000XL, you may add powerful multi-effects such as simultaneous distortion, EQ, chorus/flange, delay and reverb to these programs. Once you have several programs in memory, you may use the MULTI mode to combine them together.
INTRODUCTION ANALOGUE INPUTS DIGITAL INPUTS FLOPPY DISK HARD DISK/CARTRIDGE CD ROM SAMPLE(S) EDIT SAMPLE TRIM CHOP CUT EXTRACT LOOP (X4) JOIN XFADE TUNE FADE REVERSE NORMALISE/RE-SCALE TIMESTRETCH RESAMPLE EDIT PROGRAM KEYGROUP(S) FX SEND PER KEYGROUP TUNE SAMPLE 1 TUNE SAMPLE 2 12dB/8ve LOWPASS RESONANT FILTER TUNE SAMPLE 3 TUNE SAMPLE 4 KG PITCH VEL SW/XFD IND. OUT 1 - 8 IND.
INTRODUCTION MULTI-MODE PARTS 1-16 FX SEND LEVEL PER PART PROGRAM SELECT MIDI CH TUNE OCTAVE LEVEL PAN FX BUSS PRIORITY OUTPUT ASSIGN 4-CHANNEL EFFECTS PROCESSOR MULTI-EFFECTS CHANNEL x 2 DISTORTION/EQ DISTORTION EQ MOD/DELAY EFFECTS RING MOD CHORUS or FLANGE or PHASE or PITCH SHIFT or PAN/FMOD REVERB DELAY REVERB REVERB ONLY CHANNEL x 2 REVERB REVERB Page 24 CD3000XL OperatorÕs Manual
SINGLE MODE SINGLE MODE SINGLE is where you may select and play programs. Pressing SINGLE gives this screen display. NOTES REGARDING THE CD3000XL’S SINGLE MODE Before we look at the functions in this mode, please bear the following in mind. SINGLE mode, as the name suggests, is essentially designed to play single programs. However, for historical reasons, in order to be compatible with sound disks created on Akai S1000, S1100 and the S3000 series, you can, in fact, play several programs at once.
SINGLE MODE CD3000XL is that it is possible to be playing one program whilst another is being selected. For example, whilst holding down a low string note you could select, say, a brass sound. The strings will continue to sound and you may now play the brass part. Please note, however, that if you are using the internal effects on either or both of these sounds, there may be a noticeable change as only one effect can be used at once. In this case, the brass program’s effects would take priority.
SINGLE MODE may not make any sense to you when you come to load it in three weeks time!! When you have many different setups saved onto the disk, sensible naming practices will really pay off. MIDI select: This allows you to set a MIDI program change number to a setup so that you may remotely load everything from your MIDI controller.
SINGLE MODE This will execute the currently selected setup and will load marked programs and their samples and then load any changes and edits to those samples you might have saved. NOTE: For a setup to load any edits you may have made top samples or programs, it is necessary to save these to the floppy in the DISK mode. MARKING FILES Pressing will give you a screen display such as: The primary function of this page is to mark files.
SINGLE MODE SEARCHING FOR FILES ON THE CD-ROM Pressing will display this screen: Here, you may search for particular files on the CD-ROM. Entering the name is done in the normal fashion by pressing the NAME key. You will receive this display: You can now enter the name of the file you are searching for. Pressing ENT/PLAY will finish the naming process. Pressing will now locate the file placing it at the top of the right hand part of the screen.
SINGLE MODE SCROLLING THROUGH MARKED FILES The key allows you to sequentially step through marked files. Each press of this key will take you to each marked file in turn. If no files are marked, you will receive this prompt: NOTES ON SAVING SETUPS If you have edited any samples or programs, when you save a setup, you are not actually saving the changes at this point. This must be done in the main DISK mode.
SINGLE MODE SETTING PROGRAM LEVELS, PAN, FX SENDS In the MIX page of SINGLE, you may view the programs in memory and set their level, pan, etc.. This is a convenient and quick way to adjust the levels of single programs en masse without having to edit each one individually in EDIT PROGRAM.
SINGLE MODE SETTING PROGRAMS’ MIDI PARAMETERS Pressing F3 - will display the following screen: This could be regarded as a ‘MIDI mixer’ as it follows a similar layout to the MIX page described above. This page allows you to set various MIDI parameters for each program. The parameters are: This shows the number of the program 1-128 selected in the main SINGLE page although you may select another program or group of programs in this field.
SINGLE MODE This is an abbreviation of TRANSPOSE and sets the basic octave range for the program. The range is +/- 50 semitones. You will note that this is not a pitch shift function as such but a MIDI transpose function - this overcomes the problem of playing back samples out of their range. What this function does is introduce an offset so that, even if you play C3 on the keyboard, this is offset to play the samples on C4 (with a +12 setting) - it is not playing the samples on C3 an octave higher.
SINGLE MODE LOADING FROM FLOPPY DISK The next key along, F5, gives you access to some basic disk functions for loading sounds into the CD3000XL. Pressing in the SELECT PROG mode gives you this screen: Here, you have a choice of two options: loading a particular program and its associated samples ( ) or loading the entire contents of the disk ( ). If you have inserted a disk, pressing will bring up a list of all programs stored on that disk.
SINGLE MODE LOADING FROM HARD DISK If you have a hard disk of any description connected via SCSI for loading sounds, you will receive the following display when F5 is pressed: This is almost the same as for floppy except that you can see it tells you that it is a hard disk. You may select from different volumes by moving the cursor to the field and scrolling through the volumes on the disk. By moving the cursor to where it says ‘ ‘ after , you may select different partitions to choose other volumes.
SINGLE MODE DELETING PROGRAMS Programs and their associated samples may be deleted from memory in this page, which is accessed by pressing the key. Pressing this key displays this screen: When this page is displayed, the cursor will highlight a program. Highlight the program you want to delete using the CURSOR keys.
SINGLE MODE This, of course, is the most drastic of these three options. If you answer GO and YES to the questions regarding released samples, then all programs, (except for an CD3000XL generated program - TEST PROGRAM) and samples will be deleted. Deleting samples and rearranging memory space may take a little time, so be patient while this takes place. NOTE: Obviously, is an option to be used with some caution.
SINGLE MODE RENUMBERING PROGRAMS On the CD3000XL, program numbers correspond to patch numbers on a synthesiser. When a MIDI Program Change message is received, the appropriate program is selected. However, to match CD3000XL programs with the patch numbers on your synthesiser, you may want to renumber the programs, so that selecting a brass sound on the CD3000XL will call up a similar (or complementary) patch on a remote synthesiser module. To do this, press the key.
SINGLE MODE USING THE CD3000XL IN ‘OLD AKAI’ MODE! The next group of explanations deal with using the SINGLE mode like the SELECT PROG mode on earlier Akai samplers such as the S1000, S1100 and S3000 series. As mentioned, these functions have been retained in order to preserve compatibility with data created on these samplers. In keeping with other sound modules, the CD3000XL sees the introduction of a new MULTI mode.
SINGLE MODE USING RENUMBERING TO CREATE MULTI-TIMBRAL SETUPS One of the most appealing things about MIDI is its multi-channel ability. Originally, synth modules could be set to a specific MIDI channel number so that several modules could be set to play several musical parts from a sequencer. Of course, as technology advanced, it became possible to do this within one module and such a module is known as ‘multi-timbral’ - i.e. ‘many sounds’.
SINGLE MODE SINGLE VS MULTI As mentioned, you may avhieve similar results in the MULTI mode where you can create multitimbral setups, key splits, layered programs (and combinations of these) very quickly and easily. The advantages MULTI has over the ‘old Akai’ methods are • Selection of programs for a part is quick and easy. • You can try out different sounds very easily and is therefore ideal for loading in, say, a few pianos, a few basses, a few drum kits, etc.
SINGLE MODE • When you assign a new program to the setup, its level, pan, effects routings are recalled with it. This may be an advantage for some users but it does mean you have to reset the mix every time you replace one sound with another. Furthermore, even though a program’s effects channel is recalled when you assign a new program to the multi-timbral setup, the effects preset associated with that effects channel may be different and so cause unpredictable results.
MULTI MODE MULTI MODE - COMBINING SEVERAL PROGRAMS Multi mode is where you can combine up to sixteen programs together so that they may be played in combination. The MULTI mode has 16 ‘parts’ - slots into which up to 16 programs may be assigned and typically, this is used to sequence several programs multi-timbrally2 by setting each part to be on a different MIDI channel.
MULTI MODE Pressing MULTI will give you this screen: ASSIGNING PROGRAMS TO PARTS To assign a program to a part, simply move the cursor to the program name field and use the DATA wheel to scroll through the programs in memory. Once you’ve done that, move the cursor to the next part and select the program for that and so on.The other parts show a “?” indicating that no programs are assigned (the “?” would also show if a program was assigned to a part but that program wasn’t currently in memory).
MULTI MODE ASSIGNING PARTS TO THE INDIVIDUAL OUTPUTS Pressing F2 - will take you to the output assignment page: Here, you can set which of the 8 individual outputs each part will appear through. You may also set the level of the sound appearing at any of the outputs. TUNING AND TRANSPOSING PARTS To tune the parts, press F3 : The column allows you to tune the part in semi-tone steps and the allows you to fine tune parts. column NOTE: The range of the TRANSPOSE parameter is +/- 50 semitones.
MULTI MODE SETTING A PART’S PRIORITY When sequencing multi-timbrally, you may need to give certain parts higher or lower priority to prevent ‘note stealing’ when the 32-voice limit is exceeded. This is done in the PRIO(rity) page: The choices available are: LOW If the program is set to LOW priority, then notes from this program will be stolen first. NORM NORM is, of course, normal priority and sets standard dynamic voice allocation and note stealing will take place with no particular priority.
MULTI MODE SETTING UP A MULTI Assigning programs to a multi is simplicity itself. You simply move the cursor to the appropriate part and selecting the program using the DATA control. To set parameters such as level, pan, etc., move the cursor to the appropriate column and adjust the value for the selected part. The MULTI mode is always active for modifying with no special edit mode to enter. Let’s now see how to make up a simple multi. Firstly, you need to load in a few sounds.
MULTI MODE MODIFYING THE MULTI The beauty of the CD3000XL’s MULTI mode is that, as the sequencer is playing back your sequence, you can interact with the parts, assigning different programs to parts ‘on the fly’ within the context of the sequence (you can also edit program parameters such as envelope and filter settings, etc., within the context of your tune as we shall see later).
MULTI MODE NAMING A MULTI You may wish to name the multi file to something more suitable. Simply press the NAME key. You will receive the usual naming prompt: In conjunction with the CURSOR keys which can be used to move the cursor around within the name, use the DATA control to scroll through characters. Once you have completed the name, press ENT/PLAY to finish the naming process. NOTE: Because only one MULTI can exist in memory at any one time, you cannot copy the multi file, only rename it.
MULTI MODE RENUMBERING PROGRAMS There will often be occasions when you load in several programs, maybe from different disks and the programs you have loaded have the same program numbers or the numbers of the programs you have loaded are not well ordered, etc.. To overcome this, F7 in the MULTI screen ( ) takes you to the RENUMBER page: In this example, you have loaded a variety of programs some of which have the same program number, others of which are non-sequential.
MULTI MODE This is probably the best selection as it will simply renumber the programs 1-? sequentially regardless of the programs’ original numbers. I.e.: Once you are happy with the result of your renumbering, press F7 to return you to the main MULTI screen display. If you change your mind and do not wish to renumber any programs, simply press without pressing F3, F4, F5 or F6.
MULTI MODE IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT MULTI PARAMETERS The parameters in the multi such as level, pan, tuning, etc., are unique to the multi and override any similar parameters in the program assigned to any part. For example, it is possible to set a pan position within a program. You may load a sound, the pan position of which is set to L50. However, when you first assign that sound to a part, the part will be set to MID, the MULTI’s PAN setting. This has another implication.
MULTI MODE USING MULTI MODE FOR LAYERING PROGRAMS So far we have seen how to use the MULTI mode for creating multi-timbral set-ups for sequencing. For this, you set each of the sixteen parts to a unique MIDI channel so that can they may all be played from a sequencer outputting a complex arrangement with each element of the arrangement playing on a different MIDI channel. It is also possible, however, to use the MULTI mode to layer programs.
MULTI MODE USING MULTI MODE TO SET KEYBOARD SPLITS Using the same techniques for layering programs described above, you may also set key splits. For example, you may have an acoustic bass sample and a piano which you want to set up so that the bottom two octaves play the bass sound and the upper three octaves the piano. Assign the bass to one part and the piano to another and set both parts to the same MIDI channel.
MULTI MODE And don’t forget... If you have the multi-effects processor installed, layers and splits may be sent to different effects in varying amounts to create even more variation. In the case of layering one program on top of itself, you might find sending parts to same effects processor is sufficient but, in the case of layering different sounds on top of each other (for example, bells and strings), the strings could be sent to one effects processor and the bell to another.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE PROGRAM EDITING Once you have a few programs in memory, it may be that you need to edit them to make them more suitable for your application. They may need simple tweaking such as altering the attack times or the filter cutoff or adding a bit of vibrato. You may want to totally re-program the sound or create a new program for the latest batch of samples you have made. Whatever it is you want to do with a program, all this is done in EDIT PROGRAM.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE WHAT IS A KEYGROUP? A KEYGROUP is precisely that - a group of keys which have a particular note range on the keyboard. The simplest program you can have is with one keygroup in it that spans the entire MIDI range on C0-G8. The TEST PROGRAM that always boots up into the CD3000XL is just such a program. I.e: KEYGROUP 1 Perhaps the next level up is to have a program with two keygroups. One covers the range C0B2, the other C3-G8 - this would be a simple keyboard split. I.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE KEYGROUP ZONES Within each keygroup, you may assign up to four samples in what are referred to as ZONES. These can be used for a number of things that include velocity switching and crossfading, playback of stereo samples and layering. To playback stereo samples or to layer sounds or just to do a simple velocity switch/xfade, you could have something like this: KG1 KG2 KG3 KG4 KG5 Here we have five keygroups, each with two zones being used.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE OVERLAPPING AND CROSSFADING KEYGROUPS So far we have seen keygroups side by side. This is usually fine for most applications but there are sometimes occasions where the abrupt transition between one keygroup and another can be a bit obvious. For example, in a strings program where you have five string samples each at the G of every octave, the transition between B2 and C3 may sound a little strange.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE ASSIGNABLE PROGRAM MODULATION First introduced on the Akai S2800, S3000 and S3200, the CD3000XL has Assignable Program Modulation (or APM for short) and this allows you to route virtually any controller (such as the LFOs, envelope generators, MIDI controllers such as modwheel, pitchbend, etc.) to a number of destinations (pitch, amplitude, tone, etc.).
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE This block diagram may help you to understand the concept of APM. EDIT PROGRAM KEYGROUP(S) IND. OUT 1 - 8 FX SEND PER KEYGROUP TUNE SAMPLE 1 TUNE SAMPLE 2 12dB/8ve LOWPASS RESONANT FILTER TUNE SAMPLE 3 TUNE SAMPLE 4 KG PITCH VEL SW/XFD IND. OUTPUT ASSIGN PAN MASTER OUTPUT LEVEL PAN AMP PAN AUTO PANNING PAN ENV 2 KEYSPAN MASTER PROGRAM OUTPUT ENV 1 ENVELOPE TEMPLATES MODULATION SOURCES MOD.WHL ENV 1 ENV 2 LFO 1 LFO 2 P.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE External This selects the MIDI controller set in the external control field of the main GLOBAL - MIDI page. This can be BREATH (cntl#2), FOOT (cntl#04) or VOLUME (cntl#07). Using a MIDI merger on your keyboard would allow you to merge a breath controller with your keyboard and users of the Akai EWI MIDI wind synthesiser will no doubt be able to use this function to great effect when playing the CD3000XL directly from the EWI and selecting BREATH.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE NOTES ABOUT ASSIGNABLE PROGRAM MODULATION 1. When loading S1000 or S1100 library disks (which do not have APM), the CD3000XL loads the assignments of the S1000/S1100 - i.e. the fixed assignments. Again, as a result, you need not worry about having to set these assignments yourself. On library disks developed for the CD3000XL, you will see the assignments made by our sound programmers. Please study these and see if you can learn from them. 2.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE EDIT SINGLE EDIT SINGLE is used to create programs. In the CD3000XL, we always use another program as the basis for a new one. There are several ways you can work this. You can use an existing program from your sound library that closely resembles the one you wish to create. In the main PROGRAM EDIT page, copy this to a new program. This may be edited accordingly with new sample(s) assigned, envelopes changed, filter cutoff altered, etc..
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE NAMING PROGRAMS - COPYING AND RENAMING If you have already recorded your own samples, then this procedure should be familiar as it follows the same conventions. To copy or rename a program, press the NAME key. The following prompt will appear: Use the CURSOR keys to move around the name field, rotate the DATA knob to enter a name of up to 12 characters (only caps). Use the -/< key and +/> key to enter a backspace and a space respectively.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE DELETING PROGRAMS It is possible to delete programs using the following prompt: key - F8. Pressing this will give you the You should press F7 or F8 accordingly. If you press GO, you may receive the prompt: This is asking if you want to delete the samples contained within that program as well. If the samples are used in other programs, then you will not receive this prompt. If you wish to lose the samples, press F8 - YES but if you need to keep them, press F7 - NO.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE 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.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE The soft keys along the bottom of the PROGRAM EDIT main screen are: This shows the currently selected MAIN PROGRAM EDIT page. This takes you to the parameters concerned with individual keygroups. These include the keyboard spanning, filters, envelopes, sample assignments, pitch and level adjustments, individual output assignment, etc., for individual keygroups.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE MIDI PAGE Pressing displays this screen: The top line of this page contains a field which allows you to change the program currently being edited. You may select different programs for editing here if you wish. The parameters on this page are as follows: This field allows you to set the program number of the program. This is the number which will be called up on receipt of a MIDI Program Change message and corresponds to a patch number on a synthesiser.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE This allows you to set the overall keyboard range C0-G8 of the program and this will override any keygroup range settings made in the keygroup SPAN page. For example, even though your program’s keygroups may extend up to G8, if you set, say, C4 as the high extreme in this field, no sound will be heard above C4. You may use this function to create keyboard splits with other programs of the same program number.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE OUTPUT LEVELS PAGE Pressing the button takes you to the OUTPUT LEVELS page where you can control the audio output of the program from the CD3000XL. You will receive this screen display: At the top right of the screen is the currently selected program name - in EDIT SINGLE, this may be changed and another selected for editing by scrolling with the DATA control. The parameters on the left of the screen set parameters concerned with output routing and levels, etc..
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE The parameters down the right of the screen allow you to affect the overall loudness of the program. Here you may set the overall output level 0-99 for the program. This also affects the program’s sensitivity to velocity and you will note that if this parameter is set to 99, the program will be quite loud but will have no velocity sensitivity. The default for this parameter is 80. This offers the optimum range for velocity and other dynamics.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE introduce the feedback element of the sound using pressure to create a powerful heavy metal guitar. You can, of course, change the default selection from to anything you like simply by placing the cursor where it says and scrolling through the modulation options. The effect the loudness modulation parameters have on the overall loudness of the program depends on the modulation source you select.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE PAN PAGE In this page you may set the characteristics of the auto panning functions. Pressing display this screen: will As usual, the program name of the program currently selected for editing is shown here which you may change if you like. As in the OUTPUT page, we have three modulation inputs which can control panning.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE LFO1 Use this as an alternative to LFO2. This LFO’s extra facilities allow some very odd things to be done. Try applying this and modulating LFO1’s rate with LFO2 so that the pan from side to side gradually speeds up and down or modulate LFO1’s rate with the modwheel to emulate the slowing down and speeding up of a rotary speaker in an organ program (although the ROTARY SPEAKER effect in the effects processor is probably the best choice for this).
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE THE TUNE PAGE The next soft key is the tuning page. Pressing key and this takes us, not surprisingly, to the main program will give you this display: As usual, the program name is displayed at the top right of the screen - a different one may be selected if you wish. In this page, you set up different tuning temperaments for each program, if desired.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE MODULATION PAGES The next group of pages we will look at also affects the program as a whole but also has a direct influence on individual keygroups. These are the modulation pages where you may set the parameters for the two low frequency oscillators and the pitch bend. You may also set the parameters for the sostenuto pedal.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE PITCH BEND The first page we encounter is the PITCH page where you may set the parameters associated with pitch bend. As usual, you may select a program for editing at the top right hand of the corner. The pitch bend on the CD3000XL allows you to set a different range for bend up and down as well as use pressure and a special mode is also available to make it more flexible. The parameters are: This sets the range for bending pitch up with the pitchbend wheel or lever.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE LFO1 Pressing will give you this screen display: This is the page used for setting up LFO1. Again, the program name is shown at the top right of the screen and other programs may be selected for editing if you wish. The parameters for LFO1 are as follows: This allows you to select from three waveforms. They are: TRIANGLE ( ) - This gives a rising and falling effect.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE This selects whether the LFO’s (all 32 of them!) are synchronised or not. With ON, all the LFO’s are not synchronised and so give a rich texture to ensemble sounds when being used for vibrato. When is set to OFF, all LFO’s are in sync. This latter option is probably more suited to use with synthesiser effects. You will find that slower LFO speeds are possible with set to off. The three fixed parameters for setting up LFO1 are: This sets the rate of LFO1.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE • Applying a slow LFO2 to speed will give a gradual speed up and slow down of LFO1 rate. This can be used for special effects, especially in synth sounds - for example, apply a slow LFO1 mod to the filter cutoff and assign a slow LFO2 to control LFO1’s speed, setting a value of + 50. Assigning it to depth will cause the effect of LFO1 to whatever destination it is applied to increase and decrease at a rate set by LFO2.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE SETTING LFO1 MODULATION DEPTH The master output of the LFO is set using the control and this has to be set to something other than 00 for there to be any effect unless the modwheel is moved - you may assign the LFO to a destination and set that destinations modulation level to maximum only to find that there is no effect. The reason for this is that the control in this page is not set or the modwheel is not up.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE LFO2 Pressing the key will take you to the second LFO page: This is a simpler LFO for auxiliary modulation purposes. Whilst LFO1 is normally used for vibrato via the modwheel or pressure, LFO2 can be used for secondary modulation purposes such as filter sweeps, amplitude modulation, panning, etc.. As usual, the program name is displayed in the top right hand corner. The parameters are as follows: This selects the modulation waveform.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE When the parameter is set to 00, the random steps will only change when a new note-on is received and will sustain at that level until a new noteon is received. I.e: MIDI NOTE ONS By applying this LFO in this way to, say, FILTER 1, each note you play may have a different tonal colour and this can be made into quite a dramatic synth effect by setting quite high modulation amounts and high resonance.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE Here, you can set whether or not LFO2 will re-trigger with every new note-on or not. With set to ON, each note you play will reset the cycle of the selected waveform to its leading edge. For example, with the triangle wave selected, you would get this result: MIDI NOTE ON 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.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE SETTING UP THE SOFT PEDAL Pressing will display this screen: This final page in the modulation section allows you to set the response of the CD3000XL to the soft pedal (MIDI controller 67). This can be very useful in obtaining better expression for piano sounds. The parameters are very simple and are as follows. The parameter determines how the volume of the sound will be affected when the pedal is pressed. The higher the number, the greater the amount of volume reduction.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE PORTAMENTO Portamento is a function that allows you to ‘glide’ from one note to another instead of moving in steps as is normally the case. P I T C H TIME NORMAL PLAYBACK (NO PORTAMENTO) P I T C H TIME WITH PORTAMENTO SWITCHED ON 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 RATE parameter.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE effect. Similarly, with fretless bass, the portamento pedal may be used to slide notes whenever you please. TIP: This may also be used to good effect to simulate the TB303 bassline synth so loved in dance music. One of this bass synth’s most distinctive features was (is) the programmable glide effect.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE NOTES ON USING PORTAMENTO The portamento effect can be used when playing polyphonically or monophonically. When playing polyphonically, notes in a chord will slide up or down to the next chord accordingly at a speed set by the and parameter. If one note in a chord is held when a new chord is played, it will not be affected. When playing monophonically (i.e.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE KEYGROUP PARAMETERS - CREATING KEYGROUPS All the previous parameter descriptions have so far been concerned with global or master changes to the program - i.e. not keygroup specific. This next section delves deeper into PROGRAM EDIT and examines the individual keygroup parameters. These include keyboard mapping, sample assignment and, of course, the filters and envelope generators.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE For example: OPEN HI-HAT (or triangle, etc) CLOSED HI-HAT (or triangle, etc) OPEN AND CLOSED HI-HAT WITH MUTE GROUP OFF Here, you can see that the open hi-hat continues to play even though the closed hi-hat is triggered. OPEN HI-HAT (or triangle, etc) CLOSED HI-HAT (or triangle, etc) OPEN AND CLOSED HI-HAT WITH MUTE GROUP ON In this example, however, the open hi-hat is shut off by the closed hi-hat thereby creating a more natural effect.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE On the S1000 and S1000 and in early versions of S2800, S3000 and S3200 software, you needed to create a separate program, make it 1 voice polyphonic and assign it the same program number as the rest of your drums. Now, you may do all this within one program which you may find more convenient. Another application for this function is when using the MONO LEGATO mode. When the MONO LEGATO mode is switched ON, the program becomes monophonic.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE MAPPING OUT YOUR KEYGROUPS - SETTING KEYSPAN Pressing will display this screen: This is where you can set up the note ranges for the keygroup. You can see a graphic representation of the keyboard to the left of the screen. As you adjust the LOW and HIGH parameters for a keygroup, you will see its range depicted in the graphic representation of the keyboard to the screen’s left. The notes may be represented by name or as note number simply by pressing the SPAN soft key again.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE This allows you to tune the keygroup up or down in semitones and cents. The range is ±50.00. This introduces a fixed tuning offset and can be used when layering samples to provide a chorus effect. Unlike the TUNE parameter, this offset is constant no matter what the played pitch of the sample is. The range is ±50. This soft key switches on or off the facility to input notes from the keyboard.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE ASSIGNING SAMPLES TO KEYGROUPS AND ZONES - SMP1 Samples are assigned to keygroups in the SMPL page. Pressing gives this display: This is SMP1 (the first page to do with assigning samples - there are three in total). Here, for the first time, we catch a glimpse of the zones mentioned at the start of this section. In this example, the test program has one sample in it in zone 1. This has a velocity range of 1-127 and so will play across the entire keyboard.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE For layering sounds, you might like to set something like the following: Here we have assigned two identical synth samples to zones 1 and 2 and, as in the stereo program above, both have a velocity range of 0-127. In the SMP2 page, these can be detuned against each other and panned hard left and right to create a fat, warm, pseudo-stereo synth sound. This is a quick way of achieving this kind of sound. Of course, they don’t have to be identical samples - anything will do.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE USEFUL HINT FOR ASSIGNING SAMPLES! Assuming you have a lot of samples to assign and you have made up a program with sufficient keygroups, go to keygroup 1 and press MARK/#. Now move the cursor to the sample assign field below and select the first sample. NOW PRESS JUMP/. - this will take you to the KG field again and select another keygroup. Now press JUMP again to toggle you back to the sample assign field and select your next sample, press jump, new keygroup, jump, new sample, etc..
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE SMP2 Once you have assigned your samples, you may go to the next sample page by pressing . Here you may tune and pan your samples. You will get this screen: The top line of the screen is exactly as in SMP1 and displays the currently selected keygroup’s note range and keygroup, whether you are editing one individual keygroup or all of them as well as the program name. The other fields are: Again, this shows the zone number in the column below.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE This allows you to change the loop and playback characteristics of the sample. Normally, these are set in EDIT SAMPLE but they may be changed here if you wish. This will not affect the ‘raw’ samples’ loop and playback characteristics but can be used within the context of particular programs. This eliminates the need for copying the same sample several times (and hence wasting memory) to achieve the same effect.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE SMP3 Pressing takes you to the last of the three sample pages in PROGRAM EDIT. Here you may set the velocity start time for the sample(s) assigned to the currently selected keygroup. The screen display looks like this: This page allows you to determine the way in which velocity affects the playback starting point for each sample in a keygroup. This parameter is variable from +9999 to -9999.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE THE FILTERS Pressing displays the main keygroup function select where you may access the filter and the envelope generators: From this page press the key to take you to the filter page: The CD3000XL is equipped with 12dB/octave lowpass resonant filters as found on many analogue synthesisers. As well as using them for the tonal modification of acoustic samples, they also allow you to totally transform a sound.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE (pp). Using the filter and applying velocity (or controlling the output of the filter’s envelope generator using velocity) we can have a certain amount of control over tonal dynamics as well. The CD3000XL’s filters are equipped with resonance. This allows you to selectively boost the area around the cutoff frequency thereby boosting certain harmonics.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE The next three parameters down the right hand side are the modulation inputs to the filter. The defaults for these are , and respectively. These may be mixed and the range for each modulation input is the usual +/-50. You will note that for there to be any effect, the parameter should be set to something lower than 99.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE ENV1 - SHAPING AMPLITUDE Pressing F5 - will give this screen display: Here we have the normal parameters across the top of the page where you may select your keygroup, whether one or all keygroups are being edited and the program name. Also, beneath that you can see a graphic representation of the envelope. The keyspan is also shown and this may be changed here if you wish.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE Once the basic envelope has been set up, these other factors can be used to affect the speed of the envelope. This is variable from +50 to -50, and determines the amount by which the attack speed will be changed depending on the Note On velocity. A negative value will increase the attack time if the key is pressed fast, while a positive value will slow down the attack rate if the key is pressed fast.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE ENV2 - SHAPING THE FILTER Access to ENV2 is also via the KGRP or FILT page. However you arrive there, the screen looks like this: This is a 4-stage envelope generator with 4 rates going to 4 levels. Basically, Rate 1 goes to Level 1, Rate 2 to Level 2, Rate 3 to Level 3 (which is also the sustain) and Rate 4 goes to Level 4.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE USING THE FILTER AND ENVELOPE GENERATORS One of the inherent problems of sampling is that, because of memory limitations, it is usually necessary to loop a sample. This often has the effect of reducing (or even removing!) the sound’s natural dynamics making the sample more like a snapshot than a movie. To overcome this, however, we can use the filters and the envelope generators to restore some of those attributes.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE THE SECOND FILTERS If the IB304F filter bank is installed in your CD3000XL, the second bank of filters is accessed by pressing . This will display the following screen: NOTE: If the IB304F is not installed, pressing will will show this message: Essentially, this looks very similar to the Filter 1 page except you will notice the extra parameter that selects these filters’ different modes.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE Here, frequencies below the cutoff and above are removed. You may simultaneously remove depth and top end using this selection and the result is a buzzy, thinner type of sound. As the resonance amount is increased, so the width of the response slope gets narrower so that individual harmonics are emphasised.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE The fields on the FILTER 2 page are as follows: The parameters across the top of the page follow the usual convention and allow you to select the keygroup for editing, select whether you wish to edit just one keygroup or all keygroups simultaneously and, of course, you can select another program for editing if you wish. The other fields on this page are: This shows the current keygroup’s key range.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE NOTE: The attenuator should be enough to overcome distortion that may result from very high resonance settings. If, however, it is not, then you will have to turn the program level down in the OUT page. The next three parameters down the right hand side are the modulation inputs to the filter. The defaults for these are , and respectively. These may be mixed and the range for each modulation input is the usual +/-50.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE CREATING 24db/8ve 4-POLE LOWPASS FILTER There are two types of filters commonly used in analogue synthesisers. They are sometimes referred to as ‘2-pole’ or ‘4-pole’.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE Whilst you can hear a difference between 2-pole and 4-pole filters, going to 6-pole or higher does not yield any significant differences which is why such filters are rarely, if ever found on analogue synths. NOTE: Because the resonance control in FILTER 2 has twice the range of FILTER 1’s, theoretically, you should set FILTER 2’s resonance to twice that of FILTER 1’s but in practice, you will find that this is not strictly necessary.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE THE TONE PAGE If the IB304F is fitted, the CD3000XL also features a simple tone control which is accessed via F8 . Pressing this will display this screen: The TONE section can best be described as ‘spectral tilt’. If you imagine a see-saw, the bench is the parameter and the fulcrum over which it rocks is the parameter.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE Setting a higher something like this: value with a negative slope value may produce + CENTRE FREQUENCY L E V E L FREQUENCY CENTRE FREQUENCY=75 SLOPE=-50 Here, bass frequencies and some mid range components are boosted whilst high frequencies are cut. The main purpose of this section is to be able to gently remove unwanted noise from a sound. For example, you could use it to remove some mains hum from a sound or some hiss or other high frequency noise.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE ENV3 If the IB304F is installed in your CD3000XL, a third multi-stage envelope generator is provided which is exactly the same as ENV2. This has no defined function (although its default assignment is to control the cutoff frequency of FILTER 2) but may be freely assigned to anything you wish. Typically it may be used to control FILTER 2 separately but may also be used to control pitch, panning, LFO1 rate, etc., especially if ENV2 is busy doing other things.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE KEYGROUP PITCH/AMPLITUDE MODULATION The final page in PROGRAM EDIT is where you may assign modulation to pitch and amplitude for individual keygroups. This is accessed via the KGRP page by pressing . You will receive this screen display: Along the top of the screen we have the usual parameters for selecting the keygroup and the program. The other parameters on this page are: This is a fixed, preset assignment that routes the LFO to pitch.
EDIT PROGRAM - SINGLE SUGGESTIONS FOR THE PITCH MOD2 INPUT Because the second modulation input for pitch is freely assignable, there are many possibilities you may like to try: Pitchbend Although there is a global pitchbend function in the modulation pages, you might like to use this to individually bend keygroups separately.
EDIT PROGRAM - MULTI EDIT MULTI EDIT SINGLE and EDIT MULTI are both essentially the same but there is one big difference. In EDIT SINGLE, you can select any program for editing or create new ones or delete existing ones but, in EDIT MULTI, you can only edit the sound assigned to the currently selected part.
EDIT PROGRAM - MULTI SCREEN DIFFERENCES IN EDIT MULTI When in the MULTI mode, pressing EDIT will show something like this screen display: This differs from EDIT SINGLE slightly in that you cannot select another program. To select another program for editing in EDIT MULTI, return to the MULTI mode (i.e. press MULTI) and select the part that contains the program you want to edit.
SAM PLE SAMPLE MODE In SAMPLE mode, you may record sounds and in EDIT SAMPLE mode, you may, amongst other things, trim, loop, join, merge, reverse, re-sample and timestretch recordings. But before we can do any of that, we first need to make some recordings. EDIT SAMPLE is where you edit your recordings. You may, amongst other things, trim, loop, join, merge, reverse, re-sample and timestretch recordings. But before we can do any of that, we first need to make some recordings.
SAMPLE WHAT IS SAMPLING? Sampling is a process where we record sound digitally. All natural sound comes in the form of variations in sound pressure. Using a microphone, we can convert those changes in air pressure into rising and falling voltages. Once they exist in that format, we can process them through ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL CONVERTERS (ADC) to turn those voltages into streams of digital data. Once they exist as digital data, we can edit them with alarming precision.
SAMPLE One of the inherent problems with sampling is the RAM and it is not possible to have an endless supply of it installed in the sampler (sadly!) although the CD3000XL does allow up to 32Mbytes of RAM and a further 16Mbytes of Flash ROM to be installed offering nearly nine minutes of storage. As a result, our recordings (or samples as they are more commonly known in the music industry) have to be kept fairly short.
SAMPLE RECORD MODE Pressing SAMPLE enters the record or ‘sampling’ mode. The first screen you see is the RECORD SETUP page where you may set certain parameters related to recording. This shows that you have named (or selected for over-writing) a sample called STRING C4. You may select another sample for recording over if you wish (assuming they exist, of course!) by moving the cursor to the sample name field and scrolling through the available samples.
SAM PLE This field allows you to select an input source. Options are ANALOG (INPUT L/MONO, R connector on the rear panel), DIGITAL (DIGITAL IN connector on the rear panel), and CD-AUDIO (internal CD-ROM drive). If you have selected CD-AUDIO, insert an audio CD, not a CD-ROM, in the drive. NOTE: The internal CD-ROM drive of the CD3000XL converts digital data of the loaded audio CD into analogue data prior to playback.
SAMPLE IMPORTANT NOTE - SAVING RECORD PARAMETERS TO DISK It is possible to save your own set of record parameters to disk. By setting the parameters as you need them, save the operating system to floppy disk (go to SAVE, move the cursor to ‘type of load:’ and select OPERATING SYSTEM. Now press WIPE and/or GO). This will save your personal record parameters to disk. From now on, when you boot up with this floppy in the drive, these record parameters will always be set for you.
SAM PLE Pressing this key will pause playback of the CD. Using this key and the REW and FF keys allows you to locate the top of the part you wish to start sampling. This is not a transport key, but will cause the CD3000XL to enter sampling mode. You can rename and copy samples in the same way as in analogue recording. You cannot change the recording level, which has been already set to the optimum level in the factory. Press the PLAY key (F3), then follow the normal analogue recording procedure.
SAMPLE This sets the note on which the new sample will be placed when you record it. The default is C 3 but you may set any note you like. You will note that you can set the note by specifically moving the cursor to this field and using the DATA wheel or you may set it by playing the note on your MIDI controller (i.e. keyboard). NOTE: To set the note from a MIDI controller, you must be monitoring the input signal (i.e.
SAM PLE RECORDING ON THE CD3000XL Assuming all your parameters are correctly set, all you need do is press the following prompt: . You will receive This indicates that either the threshold level has not been exceeded yet or, if MIDI NOTE is selected as the start type in the RECORD SETUP page, that a MIDI note has not been received. You may also start manually by pressing GO. If you change your mind when this prompt is displayed (i.e.
SAMPLE DIGITAL RECORDING Using the digital input, you may record digitally into the CD3000XL. This offers excellent sound quality with no deterioration of signal or increase in noise. If you own many sampling CD’s (as distinct from CD ROM which is a different thing altogether), recording digitally is the obvious choice. The digital input is selected in the RECORD SETUP page described earlier.
SAM PLE If you press GO or when the threshold is exceeded or the MIDI note is received, the CD3000XL will start recording and you will get a display something like the following: This indicates that the CD3000XL is recording digitally. As with analogue recording, the display fills with the incoming sound’s waveform. NOTE: The CD3000XL has difficulty recording at 48kHz (i.e. from a DAT machine). You will receive the following warning if you try to record at 48kHz: It is advisable not to record at 48kHz.
EDIT SAMPLE EDIT SAMPLE Assuming you have made a few recordings, let’s move on to see how we can edit these. To edit a sample, press EDIT (of course, you must first be in SAMPLE mode). You will see this screen: Here we see one of the default sample waveforms, a pulse wave called, not surprisingly, PULSE. Also on this screen is information regarding the current state of your memory and you can see the size of the selected sample, how much memory is free and how many samples are currently in memory.
EDIT SAMPLE The soft keys along the bottom are: This indicates you are on the sample select page. Press this to switch between sample points and millisecond displays. This takes to you to the TRIM page where you may edit the start and end of a sample. This takes you to the LOOP page where you may set loops for the sample.. This takes you to the gain normalise page where you may set the sample’s level to its maximum thereby getting the best signal to noise ratio and dynamic range out of the sampler.
EDIT SAMPLE NAMING SAMPLES - COPYING AND RENAMING There are times when you want to rename a sample or copy it. You may want to rename it just to give it a more meaningful name. You may want to copy a sample so that you can work on it with no harm coming to the original. To copy or rename a sample, press NAME. In conjunction with the CURSOR keys which can be used to move the cursor around within the name, you can use the DATA control to scroll through characters and numbers.
EDIT SAMPLE DELETING SAMPLES It is possible to delete samples using the following prompt: key - F8. Pressing this will give you the and you should press F7 or F8 accordingly. NOTE: Deleting samples is destructive. Please ensure that you have saved them to disk before deleting in case you want to come back to them at a later date.
EDIT SAMPLE TRIMMING SAMPLES Pressing in the main SLCT page will take you straight to the TRIM page and you will receive a display something like the following: This shows the waveform of the selected sample. You may edit the start and end of the sample accordingly. The fields along the top allow you to select whether you want to edit is STEREO or MONO (it’s pointless selecting STEREO if the sample is mono, by the way!) and you may, if you wish, select another sample for editing.
EDIT SAMPLE Moving the cursor to the field and adjusting that will give you a display such as: As with the field, you may move the cursor using the -/< and +/> keys. Running across the top of the waveform display you will see up to four horizontal lines which show you where you have set your loop point(s). Up to four may be shown simultaneously - the top one is LOOP 1, the second one down is LOOP 2, the next one down LOOP3 and the bottom one is LOOP 4. I.
EDIT SAMPLE The four cut options are: This will take you out of the CUT screen and return you to the normal TRIM page. Use this if you change your mind when trimming. This will discard audio before the start point and after the end point you have set manually. You will note that if the start or end points are within an active loop zone, the CUT action will be ignored.
EDIT SAMPLE Whilst it is possible to edit by ear with very good precision, it is sometimes desirable to see what you are doing. It is possible to zoom in on the waveform using the key. Repeatedly pressing this will enlarge the waveform display until you are looking at individual samples that are an inch wide! The display centres around the start point. Of course, now you can’t see the end point so press the key to switch between the start and end points for editing.
EDIT SAMPLE LOOPING Looping is one of the trickiest areas of sampling but not impossible and the CD3000XL makes it as easy as it can with some functions to help you make good loops. In either the SLCT page or the TRIM page, press the key to access the looping page. Again, you will see a display of the sample’s waveform in the left part of the display together with a magnified display of the point where the loop rejoins the original sample sound.
EDIT SAMPLE For the most part, you will probably find that one loop is sufficient for most sounds so don’t worry about setting multiple loops for every sound - you don’t have to use them. The name of the currently selected sample is shown next which can be changed if you wish. The memory percentage indicator is also shown. Below this line are the fields for setting the loop points. LENGTH AT Here you can select the point at which looping will begin. I.e.
EDIT SAMPLE MAKING A GOOD LOOP Making a loop is one of the trickiest things in sampling. The trick is to match two points in the sample that are similar in level and tone. For example, this would not make a good loop: You have selected a high amplitude point in the sample and set a length that loops around a very quiet part.
EDIT SAMPLE NOTE: Sometimes when crossfading, because part of the area chosen for crossfade may be slightly out of phase with the loop area, you may sometimes get a dip in level where they cancel each other out. This is not a fault of the CD3000XL but something that cannot be avoided. Using and are probably your best allies in looping. will automatically look for good points of equal amplitude whilst will ‘smudge’ the whole thing to eliminate glitches, thumps and any other unpleasantness.
EDIT SAMPLE LEVEL NORMALISATION Pressing in either the TRIM, LOOP or SLCT pages will display this screen: Here you may set new levels for the selected sample and also normalise it. Normalising is a technique where the sampler will analyse the loudest part of a signal and then adjust the whole sound to be at its optimum level - i.e. the loudest part of the signal is at the unit’s maximum level before distortion and the rest of the sound is brought up in level proportionately.
EDIT SAMPLE DSP FUNCTIONS - TIMESTRETCH, RE-SAMPLING AND EQ The CD3000XL has three powerful digital signal processing (DSP) functions which are accessed via the key in the main SLCT page. TIMESTRETCH Timestretch allows you to alter the length of a sample, shortening it or lengthening it, without changing its pitch. Before we look at how to operate the timestretch functions on the CD3000XL, let us first look briefly at how timestretch works.
EDIT SAMPLE You can see that the length in both of these examples changes quite drastically but the envelope remains pretty much the same, thereby ensuring the integrity of the sound. The timestretch on the CD3000XL works by making a copy of the original. It is necessary to make a copy for two reasons - firstly, the CD3000XL needs the original data to get the data to insert. Secondly, in the event of a stretch going wrong, you still have the original to revert to.
EDIT SAMPLE As usual, you may select the sample to be edited at the top of the page. The parameters on this page are: Here you may set two values to set the start and end of the area of the chosen sample you wish to stretch. You may only want to stretch one part of the sample so it should be set here. The first field sets the start point of the stretched area and the field sets the end. You may audition the area you have set using the key (F6). Here you can set the cycle length (in samples).
EDIT SAMPLE PERFORMING A TIMESTRETCH Set the parameters as described above - if you are stretching complex samples such as breakbeats, backing tracks, drumloops, voice over, backing vocals, etc., use the INTELL mode of operation. For stretching individual instrumental samples, maybe CYCLIC will be o.k.. First set the zone you want to stretch in the stretch and fields. If you want to stretch the whole sample (which is the usual application), this field will be set as soon as you select the sample.
EDIT SAMPLE RE-SAMPLING The re-sampling page (called RATE on the soft key because we didn’t have enough room!) allows you to re-sample your sounds at different sampling rates. This is to allow you to sample at anything other than 44.1kHz and 22.050kHz and to save memory.
EDIT SAMPLE PERFORMING A RE-SAMPLE First, create a new sample - re-sampling is a copy process and so you have to create a new sample by pressing NAME, entering a new name and pressing ENT. If you wish to use either of the two preset sampling rates, simply press either or - this will re-sample the original to three quarters or two thirds the original frequency. Alternatively, set a value of your choosing in the field and press .
EDIT SAMPLE EQ The CD3000XL is also equipped with an EQ (equalisation) DSP function. This allows you to add EQ, affecting the tone of the sample. Pressing in any of the DSP pages will give this screen display: In the EQ, you may select from four different EQ types and apply cut and boost of gain at specific frequencies.
EDIT SAMPLE The next selection is BAND THIN: FREQ Similar to BAND WIDE described above, BAND THIN has a narrower ‘bell’ and so will accentuate or remove a tighter band of frequencies. This selection is useful for picking out a specific frequency in the sound (adding mid-range ‘crack’ to a snare, for example) or for removing a tight band of frequencies (i.e. cutting back some mains hum in a sample or removing some top end noise).
EDIT SAMPLE EQ’ING A SAMPLE Select the sound you want to EQ. The EQ process must always make a copy of the source sample so press NAME and enter a suitable name for the copy. Press ENT/PLAY to complete the naming process. Now set the parameters as you think fit. As you adjust the controls, you will see the ‘shape’ of the EQ on the screen: I.e. Once you think you have set something suitable, press didn’t set a new name, you will see the message: to start the EQ process.
EDIT SAMPLE FURTHER EDITING FUNCTIONS The key in the SLCT page gives access to further editing functions such as sectional editing, splicing and joining samples together, reverse and fade up/down. THE PARAMETER PAGE The first page we see is the PARAMETERS page (the first one you access when you press the key) and looks like this: On the top line is the name of the sample you want to edit. As usual, this may be changed with the DATA control.
EDIT SAMPLE PLAY TO SAMPLE END is useful for triggering sampled drums either from a keyboard or sequencer or by drum trigger units such as the ME35T and the like. Like the previous setting, no loops are played, but an instantaneous trigger signal or key press will play the whole of the sample (the key does not have to be held down for the whole length of the sample). This allows you set a pitch shift of up to ±50 cents (one semitone) for a HOLD loop.
EDIT SAMPLE REVERSING SAMPLES In the PARAMETERS page, when the soft key (F8) is pressed, the sample will be reversed. Pressing it again will reverse the sample back to its original form. Note that any loop points you have set will stay in the same absolute positions, and will not be reversed with the sample.
EDIT SAMPLE SECTIONAL EDITING Pressing will take you to this screen: This is the SECTIONAL editing page and shows a typical drum riff, something for which the sectional editing functions are ideally suited for editing. Whereas TRIM allows you to remove audio data either side of the start and end points, these functions allow you to remove data within the start and end points.
EDIT SAMPLE Here you are presented with four choices. These offer three distinctly different edits depending on what it is you want to achieve. They are: This will exit this screen and return you to the main SECTIONAL edit screen without having any effect on the sample. This is an ‘extract’ function that will remove the isolated area and copy it across to the new sample. I.
EDIT SAMPLE As with TRIM, the CD3000XL is very considerate and won’t let you ruin good loops and if you move the start or end points into any loop zone (shown above the waveform) you will receive the warnings: or In this case, whatever editing action you perform will be ignored. As with Timestretch and Re-sampling, if you create a new sample from any of the above editing procedures, the original loop points will be lost and you will need to reset them. You may select to edit in mono or stereo accordingly.
EDIT SAMPLE THE JOIN PAGE In this page, you may join two samples end to end, crossfade them and merge them. This can be very interesting for creating long, evolving sounds and big, thick orchestral and synth textures. Pressing will display this screen: The samples to be joined together are known here as A and B, and the resulting JOINed sample is called J. Though A and B can be the same sample, the resulting (J) sample cannot be the same as either A or B.
EDIT SAMPLE SPLICING SAMPLES Select the A and B samples using the DATA control. You must then choose a name for the J sample. This can either be the name of an existing, unwanted sample, or you can enter a new name using the NAME key followed by pressing ENT/PLAY. Now you should select the portions of the A and B samples which are to be combined using the and fields.
EDIT SAMPLE CROSSFADING To avoid a sharp break in sounds when you splice them together, one sound can be crossfaded into another. The crossfading will start before the value set in the point of A, the time at which crossfading starts depending on the number of samples set in the field. This field has no effect, of course, when layering samples. Again, you can adjust the relative volumes of A and B by up to ±25dB, using the parameters.
EDIT SAMPLE MIXING AND LAYERING SAMPLES It is also possible to ‘stack’ samples on top of each other. This can be an effective way of layering sounds without eating into polyphony. The same principles apply as above. Select sample A and B and create a new sample J (or use an unwanted existing sample).
EDIT SAMPLE SETTING DIGITAL FADES It is also possible to set fades on a sample. This may seem unnecessary seeing that you may effectively set fades using the envelope generators in EDIT PROGRAM but it does have uses. Probably the one that springs to mind first is where you have a noisy drum sample. Whilst you could ‘shape’ the noise out in EDIT PROGRAM using envelope generators, it means that you have to do this every time you want to use this particular sample.
EFFECTS EFFECTS MODE If the EB16 is not installed in your CD3000XL, you will see this message when you press EFFECTS: Please contact your local Akai dealer regarding this option.
EFFECTS With the EB16 installed, the EFFECTS key gives access to the CD3000XL’s internal effects. The CD3000XL’s effects processor is a 4 channel effects processor. Two channels (FX1 and FX2) offer multi effects that include distortion, ring modulation, EQ, modulation effects such as flanging, chorus and phasing, stereo pitch shift, autopanning, rotary speaker simulations plus delay/echo and reverb. The other two channels are reverb only channels (RV3 and RV4) giving a total of four reverbs.
EFFECTS The two multi-effects channels (FX1 and FX2) are divided into three distinct sections: DISTORTION/EQ/RING MOD into MODULATION/DELAY into REVERB. The ‘reverb only’ channels (RV3 and RV4) only offer reverb effects. Single programs may be assigned to these effects channels in the SINGLE mode but the power of the multi-channel processing comes into its own when in MULTI mode as each part may be sent to different effects channels.
EFFECTS ORGANISATION OF EFFECTS FILES There are 50 ‘effects’ presets (i.e. combinations of distortion, EQ, ring mod, modulation/pitch shift/rotary speaker and delay effects) and 50 reverb files. FX1 and FX2, (the multi-effects channels) can use any of the 50 effects presets. The reverb sections of FX1 and FX2 (RV1 and RV2) and the two reverb only channels RV3 and RV4 can use any of the 50 reverb presets.
EFFECTS ASSIGNING EFFECTS TO SINGLE PROGRAMS In the SINGLE mode, you can assign the program to one of the effects channels. The easiest way to do this is to use the MIX page in SINGLE: Here, you see a list of the programs in memory. You may route them to the effects simply by selecting the effects channel FX1, FX2, RV3 or RV4 in the column. The amount of effect applied to the program is set in the column.
EFFECTS Furthermore, a single program will ‘remember’ the four effects selected on the other channels. You can use this to offer some alternative effects for a single sound. For example, you may have a guitar sound to which you wish to add effects. For effects channel 1, you could select a filthy, heavy metal distortion sound with copius amounts of chorus, delay and a large hall reverb.
EFFECTS ASSIGNING EFFECTS TO MULTI PARTS In the MULTI mode, you route the selected part to the effects in the main MIX page: column of the In this example, we see that PART 1 is routed to FX1, PART 2 to FX2, PART 3 also to FX1, PART 4 to RV4, etc.. Each parts’ send level is adjusted in the column. The actual effects presets are selected in the EFFECTS mode. Pressing EFFECTS in MULTI mode will show something like this screen: Here you may select the multi-effects and reverb presets for the four channels.
EFFECTS NOTE ABOUT EFFECTS SELECTION IN MULTI The CD3000XL makes no distinction between effects in MULTI or in SINGLE. This means that an effect created for use with a sound in SINGLE mode can be used on the same sound in MULTI mode. This has distinct advantages over other sound modules that have internal effects. Typically, the effects are tied either to the single program or the multi-file and effects created in one cannot normally be used in the other.
EFFECTS ASSIGNING EFFECTS TO INDIVIDUAL KEYGROUPS It is also possible to send individual keygroups in a program to the effects. This is of particular use in drums and percussion programs. This is done in EDIT SINGLE or EDIT MULTI in the KEYGROUP page: The and parameters allow you to send individual keygroups to the effects by overriding the main program’s effects routing. The default will be PRG (i.e. the routing is using the program’s effects buss selection) but you may also select OFF (i.e.
EFFECTS PROCESSING EXTERNAL SOUND SOURCES THROUGH THE EFFECTS As well as processing programs, parts and keygroups through the internal effects, you may also process external sound sources thereby turing the CD3000XL into a very flexible stand alone effects processor as well. You may process internal AND external sounds through the effects for even more flexibility. For example, in a mixdown, you could be mixing tracks off tape whilst running the CD3000XL ‘live’ from a sequencer synced to a timecode track.
EFFECTS In this example, an Akai DR8 8-track digital audio recorder/editor is feeding its eight tracks into the mixer providing the ‘non-MIDIable’ parts such as vocals, guitar, etc.. It is also running timecode to a sequencer which, in turn, is ‘playing’ the CD3000XL ‘live’ in the mix. The mixer’s aux sends are also being fed to the CD3000XL’s inputs so that tracks from the DR8 may be processed through the CD3000XL.
EFFECTS CHAINING EFFECTS Not only is it possible to have the multi-effects with distortion/EQ>mod/delay>reverb on FX1 and FX2 but you may also feed the outputs of these two channels to the ‘spare’ reverb channels RV3 and RV4. This allows you to add reverb to reverb. At first this may seem a bit pointless but one use that immediately springs to mind is adding a hint of ‘acoustic’ reverb to a gated or reverse reverb effect. This is done in the main EFFECTS page.
EFFECTS FX1 MOD/ECHO The output of FX1’s modulation/echo section will also be fed to the reverb in RV3: RV3 REVERB MOD/ECHO L/R outs L/R outs PATH DIST/EQ PATH CONTROL PATH REVERB L/R outs Again, you may have two reverbs applied to any sound routed to the FX1 buss. FX1 REVERB This routes the output of FX1’s reverb to RV3: MOD/ECHO L/R outs PATH DIST/EQ PATH CONTROL PATH REVERB RV3 REVERB L/R outs L/R outs This routing allows you to ‘reverb reverb’! This has several uses.
EFFECTS MUTING EFFECTS There may be times when you want to temporarily turn the effects off. You could of course, turn the send level down at the program/multi source but a quicker way is to use the soft keys. will mute all four effects channels. When pressed, it changes to this and the four individual mute keys will change to this: indicating that all effects are muted. Press F8 again to un-mute the effects. Soft keys F4-F7 show and you may also mute the effects channels independently using these keys.
EFFECTS EDIT EFFECTS EDIT As we have seen, there are 50 ‘effects’ presets (i.e. presets for the distortion/EQ/ring mod/modulation/delay effects sections of the multi-effects channels) which can be freely assigned to the two multi-effects channels FX1 and FX2. These multi-effects presets have associated with them, a reverb preset so that multi-effects and reverb are always selected whenever you select a new multi-effect preset.
EFFECTS EDIT DISTORTION/RING MODULATION The first page you encounter is the DIST(ortion) page Here, you can add ring modulation and distortion to a sound. A ring modulator is a device with two inputs and one output. One input carries the audio source and the other a sine wave signal of variable frequency. The two signals are modulated to produce a variety of different effects. If the modulating oscillator’s frequency is low, the effect will be a tremolo effect.
EFFECTS EDIT EQ Pressing in any of the effects pages will give you access to the EQ functions. The EQ section of the two multi-effects channels is a four band EQ offering lowpass control over a low frequency, two bandpass mid frequencies and a highpass high frequency control. I.e.: LP GAIN BP1 GAIN BP2 GAIN HP GAIN You may set the centre frequency and the gain for each of the four channels (on the two mid frequency ranges, you may also set the width of the EQ effect).
EFFECTS EDIT For the two mid-range frequencies, you may also set the width of the EQ. Larger values set a wider width whilst lower settings produce a narrow width. WID = 00 WID = 99 With narrow WIDTH settings, you can accentuate certain frequencies more tightly whereas with higher width settings, a wider frequency range is covered by this EQ parameter. If you are familiar with synthesiser filters, this control is similar to the resonance control.
EFFECTS EDIT MODULATION EFFECTS The next group of pages deal with the modulation effects. These include effects such as chorus, flanging and phase shifting. Also in this section are pitch shift, rotary speaker emulation effects and autopanning. The modulation effects section screen looks something like this: You must first choose which type of modulation effect you want to use in the The choices are field. PHA/FLA/CHOR This selects that the modulation effects are phasing, flanging or chorus.
EFFECTS EDIT These effects are chosen in the field and are as follows: PHASING This gives a ‘swooshing’ effect. It uses a very short delay time which is modulated by an LFO. FLANGING This also gives a ‘swooshing’ effect but, because it uses a slightly longer basic delay time, the effects are more pronounced and more ‘metallic’. CHORUS This produces an effect similar to several instruments playing at the same time.
EFFECTS EDIT ROTARY SPEAKER EFFECTS If ROTARY SPKRS is selected in the field, you will see this screen: In ‘the good ol’ days’, the sound of an organ was enhanced using a rotary speaker (it was also a popular one-off effect on guitar and other sounds as well). A rotary speaker is a speaker enclosure that has a speaker on a motor that literally spins round and round. This ‘throws’ the sound around giving a very pleasing effect.
EFFECTS EDIT Depending on the MIDI controller selected in the field, you may select whether crossing a threshold level of 64 that will cause the speed change or a switch action that will cause the speed change. When LEVEL is selected, once the controller goes past a level of 64, the speed will change. When TOGGLE is selected, the selected controller will switch between speed 1 and speed 2 and vice versa. Confused? Read on! Let’s take a practical example.
EFFECTS EDIT AUTOPAN AND FREQUENCY MODULATION EFFECTS If you selected FMOD/AUTOPAN in the field, this selects the autopanner and frequency modulator. This will cause the sound to pan backwards and forwards from left to right and back again. You may also add pitch sweep effects to this to create Doppler effects. You will see this screen: The FMOD parameters are: This sets the speed of the frequency modulation. This sets the amount of frequency modulation.
EFFECTS EDIT STEREO PITCH SHIFT EFFECTS If you selected PITCH SHIFT in the field, the screen will look like this: The pitch shifter allows you to set an interval for left and right. More often than not, a small amount of detune is set here (i.e. LEFT = -00.05/RIGHT = +00.05) but you can also set these parameters to specific intervals such as a fifth (+07.00) or an octave (+12.00) or whatever. NOTE: As with all but the most expensive pitch shifters, there is a small delay in the pitch shifted sound.
EFFECTS EDIT The parameters set the delay time for the feedback loop and the parameters set the amount of feedback (repeats) for the sound. NOTE: You will please note that when PITCH SHIFT+FBK is selected, this uses the delay line normally used for echo effects. In other words, the echo effects described later in this section are not available when PITCH SHIFT+FBK is selected.
EFFECTS EDIT BYPASSING THE MODULATION EFFECTS The final selection in the modulation effects section is not an effect as such but bypasses the modulation section completely, thereby switching it out of the effect chain: Although you may move the cursor to the fields and set values, they will have no effect in this BYPASS screen.
EFFECTS EDIT DELAY AND ECHO EFFECTS The next section in the effects allows you to set delay and echo effects. The delay line in the multi-effects is dual channel allowing you to create ping pong and many other stereo delay effects. It can also operate in a mono mode and this has the advantage of doubling the available delay time. The echo/delay effects available are MONO LEFT This will create a mono echo effect and the signal is derived through the delay line’s left input.
EFFECTS EDIT STEREO This creates stereo echo and delay effects with separate control of the left and right delay times. FBK R HF DAMP LEFT IN DELAY RIGHT FBK L HF DAMP RIGHT IN DELAY LEFT NOTE: The delay section of the effects has one large pool of memory to create the echo and delay effects. When in any of the MONO modes of echo, the whole memory is used to create long delays.
EFFECTS EDIT MONO DELAY/ECHO EFFECTS If you selected either of the MONO echo effects, the screen you will see is something like this: The parameters are: Here, you may set a delay time of up to 700mS This sets the amount of repeats the echo effect will have by setting how much of the delayed output is fed back into the delay line. NOTE: Be careful with high and cause ‘howl around’. settings as you can cause the delay line to go unstable This sets the high frequency damping.
EFFECTS EDIT PING PONG ECHO EFFECTS The field allows you to add another repeat element to the echo effect and takes a ‘tap’ off the delayed signal to produce a secondary repeat. This allows you to create pseudo stereo ‘ping pong’ echo effects that bounce back and forth from left to right. A setting of 00 creates a mono echo effect. A setting of +50 will create a ‘ping pong’ echo effect that goes from right to left and back again.
EFFECTS EDIT CROSSOVER DELAY The XOVER delay selection offers an interesting variation on ping-pong echo. Ping-pong simply ‘switches’ between left>right>left>right>etc.. The XOVER delay effect will swap the left/right signals with every other repeat - i.e. left+right>right+left>left+right>etc..
EFFECTS EDIT STEREO DELAY/ECHO EFFECTS If you select STEREO in the MODE page, the screen display will show something like this: Here you may set the delay time, the high frequency damping and feedback level for the left and right delay channels. All parameters are identical to those explained in the MONO ECHO effects except, of course, that you have two separate channels of them. You may set completely different values in both channels to create some wild echo and delay effects.
EFFECTS EDIT REVERB EFFECTS Besides all the effects described so far, the effects processor also has a reverb effect on each of the four channels. NOTE: The multi effects described above relate only to the multi-effects channels 1 and 2. They are not available on effects channels 3 and 4 which are reverb only. Reverb is a delay effect we experience almost everyday. Whether we are in a bathroom or a cathedral, most acoustic environments have some form of reverberant characteristic.
EFFECTS EDIT In the effects processor, we have access to parameters that allow you to set up a wide range of reverb effects. The reverb page is as follows: Here, you can select from a range of reverb types that include large hall, small hall, large room and small room. You may also select certain special reverb effects such as reverse and gated we will come to those a bit later.
EFFECTS EDIT As we saw in the delay section, as the sound echos so it normally gets progressively duller. The same is true of reverb. As the sound is bouncing all over the place, each time it hits a surface, that surface will absorb some high frequencies. If the room has a lot of furniture, curtains, drapes, cushions, whatever, the high frequencies are absorbed even more rapidly (which is why your living room doesn’t have a pronounced reverberant quality).
EFFECTS EDIT REVERSE REVERB So far, we have seen the parameters for the ‘natural’ reverb effects. There are, however, certain special reverb types which can also be selected in the TYPE parameter. If REVERSE is selected, you will see this screen: This has this effect on the sound: PRE-DELAY TIME In this effect, the reverb decay of the sound is read out backwards. The parameters are: This sets the time before the reverse reverb will start sounding. This sets the length of the reverse reverb.
EFFECTS EDIT GATED REVERB Gated reverb is ordinary reverb that cuts off abruptly. It was discovered by Peter Gabriel and his enginerr Hugh Padgham when setting up a drum sound and some noise gates were still connected to some mixer channels that had reverb going through them. When the drum was hit, the reverb decay on these drums was being stopped dead by the noise gates creating a dramatic sound where there was just a short burst of reverb after the sound.
EFFECTS EDIT The parameters for GATED 2 are identical: This sets the time before the gated reverb will start sounding. This sets the length of the gated reverb. This has the effect of making the gated sound more or less ‘grainy’ and ‘echoey’. Of course, GATED reverb is not only suitable for drums but can be used to add space to any sound. Try it on other percussion sounds such as congas or try it on rhythmic guitar parts or arpeggiated sequencer parts, etc.. Try it also with highly rhythmic keyboard parts.
EFFECTS EDIT EFFECTS OUTPUT SECTION The multi-effects section is laid out thus: DIST/EQ MOD FX DELAY REVERB LVL LVL PAN LVL PAN PAN L/R OUT You have control over the distortion/EQ section’s level and pan, the modulation/echo section’s output level and pan/balance and the reverb section’s output level and pan/balance. These are made available on the FX PATH & OUTPUT page: sets the output level for the sections denoted to the left of the fields and sets the pan position/balance of these effects.
EFFECTS EDIT EFFECTS DIRECTION The parameter allows you to set the flow or direction of the effects. Most multieffects processors follow a ‘traditional’ path for the effects - i.e.: DIST/EQ MOD FX ECHO REVERB However, there are times when you want to have the modulation and echo effects in parallel with each other or to be able chorus, flange or phase the reverb to add a shimmer or a ‘swoosh’ to the reverb decay.
EFFECTS EDIT Another way to picture the is as follows: REV > MOD/ECHO -50 MOD/ECHO > REV 00 +50 At values of +01 to +50, more of the mod/echo section is fed to the reverb and setting of -01 to -50, more of the reverb is fed into the mod/echo section. As you can see, the offers a great deal of flexibility in the way the effects chain is laid out with just one simple control. Normally, you will probably use a positive setting (i.e.
EFFECTS EDIT SOLOING THE CURRENT EFFECT There are times when editing the effects that you may want to hear the effect in isolation. For example, you may be setting up a reverb on one of the channels in a MULTI where several instruments are being fed to different effects but the other effects are clouding your judgement of the parameters you are setting in the effect you are currently editing.
EFFECTS EDIT COPYING EFFECTS Sometimes, you may find an effects preset that is close to what you want but needs ‘tweaking’ You can, of course, edit the preset immediately but this may affect other sounds using this preset. For example, you may have a clean chorus/delay effect with reverb whcih is being used on a string pad sound but you want to use this same combination of effects on a guitar sound but add distortion and EQ.
EFFECTS EDIT COPYING EFFECTS BETWEEN DIFFERENT EFFECTS FILES There may be occasions where you have an effect in another effects file that you wish to use in the current effects file. To copy effects between different effects files, load the effects file that contains the effect you are interested in. Select that effect and, in the COPY page, use the soft keys to copy the selected effect to a ‘clipboard’ (a small bit of ‘invisible’ memory in the sampler).
SAVE SAVE MODE Once you have some sounds in memory that you have edited, you will no doubt want to save them for future retrieval. Pressing SAVE gives this screen: SELECTING FLOPPY OR HARD DISK If the cursor is not already on the field, move the cursor to the select or as appropriate using the DATA wheel. field and NOTE: HARD-:A” will appear only when the hard disk is connected. CD-ROM:A allows you to select “CDROM:A”, but you cannot save.
SAVE The options are: ENTIRE VOLUME ALL PROGS+SAMPLES This will save the entire contents of the memory to disk. This will include all programs, samples, the multi and effects file (if the optional EB16 multi-effects processor is fitted). This will save all programs and samples only. The MULTI and any effects files will be ignored and not saved. ALL PROGRAMS ONLY This will save all the programs in memory but will not save the samples associated with them.
SAVE SAVING TO FLOPPY DISK In the main SAVE page, select the media you wish to save to (i.e. floppy). You will see something like this screen: Now make your selection in the field by moving the cursor to this field and use the DATA wheel to make your selection. Now, either press WIPE or GO as you wish. WIPE will first erase the disk completely (BE CAREFUL!!) and then save the file(s). You will receive the following prompt: You should press F7 or F8 as appropriate.
SAVE SAVING TO HARD DISK In the main SAVE page, select the media you wish to save to (i.e. hard disk). You will see something like this screen: To select the partition to save to, place the cursor on the partition field and use the DATA wheel to select the partition. Now move the cursor to the field and select the volume you wish to save to.
SAVE If, for some reason, there is a problem with the hard disk (i.e. it is not connected or not switched on or, if it’s a removable medium of some sort and the disk/cartridge is not inserted or write protected), you will receive the message: You will also receive this message if you try to save to a CD-ROM which, of course, is a readonly medium. NOTE: You will also receive this message when you select circumstances. under the same Setting SCSI ID’s, etc., is discussed later in this section.
SAVE RENAMING FILES Pressing F3 ( ) takes you to the RENAME page. In the rename page, you can rename individual files on disk, or rename a volume on disk (a floppy disk can contain only one volume, but a hard disk can contain many volumes). To name/rename a floppy disk, insert the disk which contains data to be renamed. To name a hard disk volume, select the partition and the volume to be renamed. To rename files, either insert the appropriate floppy disk or select the appropriate hard disk volume.
SAVE With a hard disk fitted, MIDI Program Change messages may be used to load volumes. Use the parameter on this page to assign a number from 1 to 128 for the current volume. Once set, you may turn this on and off freely in the field. On receipt of a Program Change message, the CD3000XL will scan all the hard disk volumes for a number set in this page which corresponds to the Program Change number in the MIDI message.
SAVE HARD DISK CONTROL SCSI (Small Computer Serial Interface) has become very popular as a means of interfacing devices and because a SCSI interface is fitted as standard on the CD3000XL, you may use a wide range of hard disks as a storage device for your sound library. Hard disks offer more in the way of size and also speed. More recently, the removable cartridge types of storage devices have become increasingly popular.
SAVE FORMATTING A FLOPPY DISK Before a floppy disk can be used with the CD3000XL, it must be formatted. To format a floppy disk, insert the disk in the drive, and press . You will see this screen display: There are two types of floppy disk available - DD (double density) or HD (high density). The higher capacity HD disks are recommended. You may select which type of disk you are formatting in the field where you may select LOW or HIGH.
SAVE The key is used as a quick format for changing the size of the directory of disks formatted on an S1000 or S1100 (please see below - NOTES ON USING S1000 AND S1100 SOUND LIBRARY). Usually, you must use to format a new disk for use in the CD3000XL. Trying un-formatted disk will display the prompt: You should use Page 218 on an .
SAVE FORMATTING A HARD DISK Hard disks can and should also be formatted before use. The maximum size of hard disk which can be formatted and used with the CD3000XL is 510Mbytes. If any larger hard disk is attached to the CD3000XL, data above this size will not be recognised or used. Switching to will display this screen: For convenience, large hard disks are split into partitions, which are named A, B, C, etc..
SAVE If the drive is not connected or the SCSI ID’s don’t match, you might receive the message when you press or : or it may say: Please check your SCSI cables and that the drive is switched on (it does happen!). Also, please check the SCSI ID settings of both the drive and the CD3000XL. You will also get this message if a removable type of hard disk is being used and the disk is not inserted in the drive.
LOAD LOAD MODE The LOAD mode allows you to load data into the CD3000XL. The main LOAD page looks something like this: A list of all files (programs, samples and drum settings) will be displayed on the right side of the page. Programs have a ‘P’ beside their name, samples have an ‘S’, and drum input settings have a ‘D’. Effects files have an ‘X’ beside them.
LOAD SELECTING THE HARD DISK OR CD-ROM VOLUME As well as being divided into partitions, each partition is divided into volumes. The volume is selected in the field (in the above example, it shows that the volume is not named - see later for details on naming volumes). To select the volume, move the cursor to the field and select using the DATA wheel. SELECTING THE TYPE OF LOAD The field allows you to select what it is you will load from disk (be it floppy or hard disk).
LOAD LOADING FROM FLOPPY DISK In the main LOAD page, select the media you wish to load from (i.e. floppy). You will see something like this screen: Now make your selection in the field by moving the cursor to this field and use the DATA wheel to make your selection. Now, either press CLR or GO as you wish. Pressing (CLEAR) will delete all programs and samples from memory, and then load the chosen file(s) from disk(BE CAREFUL NOT TO ERASE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO KEEP THAT HASN’T BEEN SAVED TO DISK!!).
LOAD LOADING FROM HARD DISK OR CD-ROM In the main LOAD page, select the media you wish to load from (i.e. CD-ROM, hard disk). You will see something like this screen: To select the partition to load from, place the cursor on the partition field and use the DATA wheel to select the partition. Now move the cursor to the field and select the volume you wish to load from.
LOAD It is possible that the chosen file(s) will occupy more memory space than is actually available, in which case the loading process will be halted and you will receive this prompt: Any files which have been completely loaded into memory prior to the prompt will remain in memory, however. Even if a file exists in memory with the same name as a file on disk, the disk file will still be loaded and the file in memory will be overwritten. If, for some reason, there is a problem with the hard disk (i.e.
LOAD LOADING S900/S950 SAMPLES AND PROGRAMS No special command is provided for S900 samples. Inserting an S900 disk will give you this display: Simply select the appropriate load type and proceed as above. The CD3000XL display will inform you when a sample for the S900 is being read, and after each S900 sample has been successfully read, an additional message, ‘unscrambling S900 sample’ will appear, as the CD3000XL converts the S900 data to CD3000XL format (12-bit to 16-bit).
LOAD SEARCHING FOR FILES - USING THE FIND FUNCTION Because of the large amount of data on hard disks, a special ‘find’ function exists to locate files more rapidly. Pressing the key will display this screen: To locate the file you want, press NAME and then enter a suitable name and press ENT/PLAY. To search for the file, press the soft key which will display the file(s).
LOAD Using the FIND function, typing in something like SYN may give a screen display such as: where all files with the characters SYN have been found. If you wanted to limit the search to only synth sounds, it would be best to type in SYNT in which case, those sounds named SYNC or SYNVOX, etc., would not be included in the search. Once you become familiar with the FIND function, you will find it an invaluable aid to quickly searching for and loading sounds.
LOAD USING THE TAG DIRECTORY SYSTEM On the CD3000XL, it is possible to ‘tag’ files. This is much the same as placing it in a special sub-directory. In this way, certain files in a partition can be categorised according to type or any other category you wish. For example, you may have a situation where all basses from all volumes in a partition have been tagged BASS and all strings tagged ORCHESTRAL. All vocal sounds may have been tagged VOICE. In this way, it is possible to access sounds much more easily.
LOAD If you make a mistake and accidentally tag a file you did not wish to tag, simply press again to un-tag it, Similarly, at a later date, should you wish to remove a file from a particular tag, move the cursor to it and press to un-tag it. NOTE 1: In order to tag files, if you are using an MO hard disk or removable cartridge, the write protect tab must be off as the tagging process requires writing to disk. NOTE 2: Because CD-ROMs are a read-only medium, you cannot tag files on a CD-ROM.
LOAD NAMING TAGS You may also name a tag simply by pressing NAME, typing in a suitable name followed by ENT. It is worth giving your tags useful names to avoid confusion at a later date. NOTES ON USING THE TAGGING SYSTEM The tagging system is very powerful and can save you a lot of time searching for files and this is especially useful if you have a busy deadline to meet or are working in an expensive studio or whatever.
LOAD HARD DISK CONTROL SCSI (Small Computer Serial Interface) has become very popular as a means of interfacing devices and because a SCSI interface is fitted as standard on the CD3000XL, you may use a wide range of hard disks as a storage device for your sound library. Hard disks offer more in the way of size and also speed. More recently, the removable cartridge types of storage devices have become increasingly popular.
LOAD IMPORTING SOUNDS FROM OTHER MANUFACTURER’S CD-ROMS On the CD3000XL, as well as having access to a vast range of Akai sound library, you may also import sounds from CD-ROMs made for certain samplers made by other manufacturers thereby giving you access to even more sounds. This is done in the SCSI page. Pressing F8 will show the following screen: To load an Akai volume (as opposed to a whole CD-ROM volume), simply move the cursor to the volume name field and press and/or .
LOAD • The CD3000XL can only read CD-ROMs up to 512Mbytes. CD-ROMs or hard disks larger than this can be used but any data stored above 512Mbytes will be ignored. • The CD3000XL comes supplied with 2Mbytes of RAM as standard. However, some manufacturer’s sounds require more than this (as do many Akai CD-ROMs, by the way) so we recommend you expand your memory to allow for this.
GLOBAL GLOBAL MODE The GLOBAL mode gives access to certain ‘system’ parameters that affect the CD3000XL as a whole. It also gives access to functions such as the disk recording, DAT back-up, MIDI song file playback, etc.. Pressing the GLOBAL key will display this screen: This is, in fact, a menu screen where you may select the functions listed on it. The functions are accessed by pressing the soft keys.
GLOBAL MIDI FUNCTIONS When you first press the MIDI mode key, the BASIC MIDI CHANNEL CONTROL page is entered. The parameter sets the MIDI channel for the CD3000XL as a whole and this is the MIDI channel used when in SINGLE mode and in SAMPLE mode (in MULTI mode, the CD3000XL responds to all 16 MIDI channels and each part has its own channel). This parameter is shown in the SINGLE mode for your information.
GLOBAL By using this filter, you can control the response of the CD3000XL to MIDI events. By filtering out aftertouch on a percussion program where it is not needed, for instance, you can improve the response of the CD3000XL when a lot of MIDI data is received. PPM PAGE - MONITORING MIDI Pressing the key (F3) will display this screen: This page has no parameters. Instead, it provides a real-time display of all Note On information received on the 16 MIDI channels.
GLOBAL MIDI RECEIVE PAGE - ANALYSING MIDI Another MIDI receive monitor is available in the of MIDI information received by the CD3000XL. page. Here, you can monitor other types Again, this is especially useful if you are faultfinding on your MIDI system. Information from the MIDI IN is displayed, and a channel filter may be set at the top of the screen (OMNI or 1 to 16). When idle (i.e.
GLOBAL MIDI SAMPLE DUMPS Samples can be transferred between the CD3000XL and other samplers via MIDI and this is done in the EXCL page: To perform a MIDI data dump, you must make a MIDI loop (MIDI OUT of the CD3000XL connected to MIDI IN of the other sampler, and vice versa). This is necessary because of the way in which MIDI sample dumps are performed (in computer terms, a handshake protocol with error detection/correction).
GLOBAL PERFORMING A MIDI SAMPLE DUMP When all the parameters are set up, press the key to initiate transmission. Once the handshake protocol has been successfully initiated between the two devices, data transfer will take place. A new soft key, ABORT, will appear. Press this if you want to terminate the transmission prematurely. There is no receive key on the CD3000XL as reception of bulk data will automatically take place once a remote device initiates the dump protocol.
GLOBAL MIDI VIA SCSI The final soft key in this mode, F7, calls up the SCSI screen: On this page you can enable or disable MIDI bulk data transmission along a SCSI buss, rather than the MIDI connections, and set the SCSI IDs for both the CD3000XL ( ) and the other SCSI device ( ). The other SCSI device can be sampler of the S3000 or newer XL series or a personal computer (equipped with the appropriate software).
GLOBAL ME35T DRUM SETTINGS Pressing displays the following screen: The CD3000XL is capable of acting as a highly sophisticated percussion sampler using the AKAI ME35T audio/MIDI trigger interface unit to produce MIDI trigger signals from a variety of sources. Two such units may be connected, and programming may be carried out from the CD3000XL rather than on the more limited displays and controls of the ME35Ts.
GLOBAL Here you may select the MIDI note number you wish to assign to the input This sets the overall velocity sensitivity for the selected input. This sets the trigger sensitivity of the selected input and should be adjusted to match your playing style and also to the nature of the drum pad, mic or bug you are using. As you adjust the trigger level, this is represented in the box to the right. This allows you to set the capture time of the selected input.
GLOBAL DAT BACK-UP AND RESTORE One very useful function of the digital interface is that of DAT backup. This allows you to make safety copies of your data on a simple DAT tape. This can be invaluable for archiving a hard disk when it is full and helps you overcome the problem of lost data in the event of a problem occurring with your hard disk. To access the DAT BACKUP functions, press F4. You will receive this screen display: Here you may set the parameters and perform a backup or restore.
GLOBAL PERFORMING A DAT BACK UP This is simple! Assuming you have made the necessary digital audio connections, simply press RECORD and PLAY on the DAT (or whatever combination is required on your particular DAT machine) and, ensuring that the DAT is actually recording, press - F7. The CD3000XL will backup to DAT. If you are saving volumes to DAT individually, 2 Meg will take about 30 seconds.
GLOBAL STANDARD MIDI FILE - MIDI SONG FILE PLAY The CD3000XL is able to load Standard MIDI Files (SMF’s) into its memory and play them as standard MIDI sequence files. Of course, you cannot edit these sequence files but this function allows you to use the CD3000XL as a sequence data filer so that, if you are playing live and require backing tracks or whatever, you can do so without the inconvenience of taking your sequencer with you. These functions are made available using the key.
GLOBAL The soft key functions are: This will take you to the SMF load page (see below). You may delete the selected song file from memory using this key. This will play the selected song at the tempo specified in the or from the bar selected in the field. As the song plays, so you will see its progress in the fields. NOTE: Although you may select another song for playback, when the current song reaches the end, it will stop - it will not then play the next SMF.
GLOBAL The soft key functions are: This will take you back to the MIDI SONG PLAY screen where you may play the songs you have loaded. This will load the selected file into memory. If you try to load a file that is not a standard MIDI file, the CD3000XL will remind you with an error message: NOTE: If you load a file that has the same name as a file that already exists in memory, the existing file will be deleted and replaced with the new one.
GLOBAL HARD DISK RECORDING The CD3000XL is capable of recording audio to a hard disk. You may record audio whilst sequencing ordinary programs and samples allowing you to effectively overdub onto disk. This may be useful for laying down vocal parts or guitar, saxophone solos and the like over sequenced backing tracks. You may also, of course, play back audio from disk whilst running programs from a sequencer.
GLOBAL FORMATTING THE HARD DISK FOR DISK RECORDING Before you can use the disk record functions, it is necessary to format your hard disk. The CD3000XL allows you to allocate a certain part of your hard disk for sound library and a certain part for disk recordings.
GLOBAL HOW THE DISK RECORD FUNCTIONS WORK The CD3000XL flowchart is something like this INPUTS SAMPLE(S) TAKE(S) RAM DISK PROGRAM(S) MIDI TRIGGER SONG The takes can be played in a number of ways: Takes can be placed into what we call a SONG and triggered from MIDI. By assigning a take a MIDI note number and channel, incoming MIDI can be used to initiate playback.
GLOBAL 3 When triggering takes via MIDI, there is always a delay in the take playing back. This is due to disk access time (i.e. the speed with which the disks heads can find the audio material and get it ready to playback). It is possible to accurately set fixed delays so that these can be accommodated when triggering takes from, say, a MIDI sequencer and the sequencers track shifting functions can cater for this. It is assumed you have a basic working knowledge of the CD3000XL by now.
GLOBAL USING THE DISK RECORD FUNCTIONS Pressing F8 - takes you directly to the disk record functions and will display this screen: Here you may select takes and view their record parameters as well as select new takes for recording or deletion, etc.. To return to the main GLOBAL functions, press the GLOBAL mode key. The fields on the DD page are: This shows the name of the currently selected take and you may select others by scrolling through them with the DATA control.
GLOBAL Pressing F7 ( ) will display this screen: The parameters on this page are used to set SCSI ID’s. The most important parameters you need to know about are and . SCSI allows up to 8 devices to be on the buss and these each have a unique number 0-7 (it’s similar to the concept of MIDI channels). In order for one SCSI device to ‘talk’ to a hard drive, their SCSI ID’s must match.
GLOBAL CREATING NEW TAKES You may create a new take for recording in the DD TAKES page if you wish simply by entering a new, unique name. Whether the take is an existing one or a new one will be indicated in the display. COPYING TAKES You may copy takes only within this DD page. This is done by pressing the NAME key, entering a unique name and pressing ENT/PLAY followed by . The process takes a little longer than actual recording. RENAMING TAKES Takes may be renamed only in the DD page.
GLOBAL MAKING A RECORDING To prepare for a recording, press display: in any of the DD pages. You will receive this screen This is the disk record set-up page and here you may select and create takes to record as well as set their record parameters. The fields are: This shows the currently selected take.
GLOBAL NOTE: Because it takes time for a hard disk to actually find the data and play it back, it is necessary to be able to set a fixed offset so that the disk always has enough time to find the take and play it back in sync with any other material that may be playing (for example, when sequencing programs in the CD3000XL). The DELAY field is of use in that you can set the CD3000XL to start recording after a certain delay when it receives a MIDI note-on.
GLOBAL The soft keys in this page are: This takes you to the DD TAKES view page This takes you the SONG mode where you may compile takes for sequential playback or MIDI triggering This takes you to the play page where you may play takes This takes you to the take editing display Shows the currently active page Takes you directly to the record page for recording new takes Takes you to the BACK-UP LOAD page where you may restore takes backed up to DAT.
GLOBAL RECORDING A TAKE Actual recording is done within the TAKE page. Pressing display: - F6 - gives you this screen This is very much like the record page you will probably already be familiar with in the sample recording pages. It shows you the type of recording you are about to make (i.e. stereo or mono), the take name, the threshold level (if INPUT LEVEL is selected in ), the free time left on disk and the length you have set for the new recording.
GLOBAL When a recording is being made, the screen shows the incoming waveform as it is being recorded. I.e: You may stop recording by pressing F8 at any time. If you are going to record digitally, when you enter the DD RECORD page, the screen will show: or whatever sample rate is being received. If no digital connection has been made or has become disconnected, the display will tell you: Please check your digital connections.
GLOBAL The soft keys in the DD RECORD page are: This takes you to the DD TAKES view page This takes you the SONG mode where you may compile takes for sequential playback or MIDI triggering This takes you to the play pages where you may play takes This takes you to the take editing display Takes you back to the RECORD SET-UP page Turns the audio meter on Turns the audio meter off This puts the CD3000XL into a ‘record ready’ state awaiting the arrival of a suitable record start command depending on the settin
GLOBAL EDITING A RECORDING After you have recorded a take, you may need or want to edit it. This is done by adjusting the take’s start and end times and is done within the EDIT page. Pressing F4 - in any of the DD pages will display this screen: When you enter this page, you see a graphic representation of the take’s waveform and you may move the start and end points around freely.
GLOBAL The soft keys in the EDIT page are: This takes you to the DD TAKES view page This takes you the SONG mode where you may compile takes for sequential playback or MIDI triggering This takes you to the play pages where you may play takes EDIT Shows the currently active screen Allows you to zoom in on a waveform for greater editing resolution Allows you to zoom out of a waveform for a more general overview of the take This toggles the cursor between the start and end marks This will cause data either si
GLOBAL USING THE EDITING FUNCTIONS The editing functions have been kept deliberately simple to use. Basically, you can trim a recordings start and end points and, to assist in this, a graphic representation of the waveform is shown. Once you have successfully made a recording, the chances are you will want to edit it so go to the EDIT page. Move the cursor to the START field and adjust the start time so that cursor is right at the start of the take.
GLOBAL PLAYING TAKES There are a number of ways you can play a take within the CD3000XL’s DD functions: 1 You can play a take in ANY page using the ENT/PLAY key 2 You can assign a series of takes to a SONG for sequential playback or for triggering from MIDI. 3 You can play ‘raw’ takes from within the PLAY page and this is accessed in any of the DD pages by pressing F3 .
GLOBAL - This will cause the take to play back upon receipt of a suitable MIDI note but with a delay offset set in the delay: field described below. If is pressed, however, playback is immediate in the PLAY page. - This will cause the take to playback when it receives a MIDI SONG START command after is pressed. NOTE: In all the above selections, the key must be pressed before a take is played. This sets the delay offset used for triggering a takes playback when is selected in the field described above.
GLOBAL USING THE PLAY PAGE Although you may play takes from within any page of the DD functions and whilst the SONG mode is provided either for sequential playback of many takes ‘back-to-back’ or for setting up lists of takes that you may wish to trigger from MIDI, the PLAY page is provided for playing individual takes in isolation and for setting their playback parameters prior to assigning them to a song.
GLOBAL EDITING A TAKE FOR SYNCHRONISED PLAYBACK When you make a recording that needs to be synchronised to other audio material (such as sequenced programs, etc.), providing you make the recording referenced to the other audio, there should be no need to worry about synchronisation and the CD3000XL will follow exactly. There may be instances, however, where some adjustments need to be made and this can be done in the following ways.
GLOBAL USING THE SONG MODE The SONG mode is where you can compile a list of takes for playback. The SONG mode has two functions, in fact. You may use the SONG mode to compile a list of takes for triggering from MIDI notes or you may use the SONG mode to append and playback a sequence of takes ‘back-to-back’. The first application, triggering from MIDI, is most likely going to be used when ‘spinning in’ recordings from a sequencer over other sequenced material.
GLOBAL FADE OUT - This sets the fade out time for the take and is also variable up to 10 seconds. REPEAT - Although not operative when triggering takes from MIDI, this field sets the number of times a take will repeat itself when you run it as a SONG from the RUN key (see below for more information on this function).
GLOBAL If you are triggering from MIDI, you will most likely want to edit the MIDI note and channel and if you are creating a song to run takes sequentially, you will possibly want to set a repeat for that step. If you are at all unsure of the take you have selected, you can press the ENT/PLAY key to audition the selected take. There are several ways you can create the next step but the easiest method is probably this: Press F5 . This will mark the first step and a small block will appear beside it.
GLOBAL TRIGGERING TAKES FROM MIDI This powerful function of the CD3000XL’s disk recording capabilities allows you to simultaneously playback audio from the hard disk whilst sequencing programs in the CD3000XL. To set up a list of takes for MIDI triggering, press the SONG key (F2 in all disk record pages) to get the following screen: This shows a blank, empty song or take list. To create a new list of takes, press F2 again. This takes you to the S.ED or SONG EDIT page where you may assemble your list.
GLOBAL milliseconds will normally do the trick. Fades longer than that can be useful for fading in a take or causing a smooth, gradual decay at the end of a take’s replay. As soon as the CD3000XL receives the appropriate note on the appropriate channel (i.e. one that is assigned to a take in a song), the following screen will be displayed: You may either issue a MIDI ALL NOTES OFF command from your sequencer/keyboard or specifically press F8 - STOP - on the CD3000XL.
GLOBAL IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT TRIGGERING TAKES FROM MIDI When triggering takes from MIDI, if you stop the sequencer and restart it somewhere in the middle of where a take should be playing, it will not sound. This is because it requires the MIDI note-on to trigger it. In such circumstances, it will be necessary to ‘rewind’ the sequencer to a point somewhere before the MIDI note to ensure that the take receives the note on and will trigger.
GLOBAL USING THE SONG MODE TO CHAIN TAKES This mode of operation allows you to playback takes sequentially ‘back-to-back’. This mode will be invaluable to remix engineers for the creation of extended remixes. It will also be of use to jingle writers and TV theme music writers who often have to provide several versions of one piece of music with different lengths. The simplest method of using the song mode is to ‘top and tail’ an entire recording (i.e.
GLOBAL As the song is playing, a small highlighted box appears to the left of the step to indicate your playback position. If the song exceeds five steps, the list of steps will scroll up the screen with the currently playing step being placed in the centre of the screen. The step number at the top left of the screen also changes to show the step currently playing. If a series repeats have been set for a step, they will count down as they are played so you can easily keep track of progress during playback.
GLOBAL This method of block copying and inserting has even more uses than just appending block onto themselves. Again, another example should demonstrate this. Let us say you have the three takes sequenced as above - TAKE 1 once, TAKE 2 three times, TAKE 3 once - and you wish to insert this just before the BREAK in your extended mix. Move the cursor to TAKE 1 and press . Move the cursor to TAKE 3 and press . Now move the cursor to the point just before BREAK - i.e.
GLOBAL NAMING SONGS To name a song, simply press the NAME key and enter a name of up to 12 characters in the usual way, completing the action by pressing ENT/PLAY. SAVING A SONG To save a song, go to the SAVE mode and select CURSOR ITEM ONLY as the save type. Move the cursor to the song name (this will be TL1 if you have not named it) and press F7 or F8 depending on whether you wish to wipe the disk/volume as you save.
GLOBAL BACKING UP TAKES TO DAT Back up of takes to DAT is accessed via the PLAY page of the disk record functions. The soft key F7 - takes you to the BACKUP SAVE page. I.e: Press F7 - - will display this screen: This simple page displays the transmit rate for the back up to DAT. This can only be set to 44.1kHz and so this field is not accessible to the user but is shown merely for information. When a take is backed up to DAT, all data related to it is also backed up, of course.
GLOBAL RESTORING TAKES BACK FROM DAT TO DISK The take restore functions are found in the DREC page on F7 - . I.e: Pressing this gives this screen display: This page looks very much like the normal record page except that you have lost the threshold field. To perform a restore of either a single take or all takes, line the DAT up to the appropriate point and press F8 on the CD3000XL.
GLOBAL Assuming you wish to proceed with the restore, press PLAY on your DAT machine. When the take is being restored to disk, the screen will show: This is virtually identical to the normal record page when a recording is being made and the take’s waveform envelope will be displayed as it is being restored. The DAT restore function is, actually, just another way of recording and this ‘confidence monitoring’ keeps you informed of progress during the DAT restore process.
FLASHROM FLASHROM When the optional FMX008 FLASHROM board is installed, it allows you to keep samples and programs in a separate piece of memory so that your favourite sounds can reside in the sampler even when its power is switched off. Two FMX008 boards may be installed to expand your internal memory beyond 32Mbytes to a maximum of 48Mbytes. HOW THE FLASHROM WORKS The FlashROM is a separate piece of the sampler’s memory area available on top of the RAM but the way it works is similar to that of harddisk.
FLASHROM FORMATTING THE FLASHROM As with a hard disk, the FlashROM needs to be formatted. This will arrange the memory on the board(s) to be ready to accept sound data and/or operating systems. Formatting should be performed when you first install the board(s). To format the FlashROM on CD3000XL, go to SAVE and press FORM (F6). You will see this screen: As with disk formatting, you may select the type of format you wish to perform. In the example shown above, FLASH is selected.
FLASHROM ARRANGING THE FLASHROM It is also possible to arrange the memory on the FlashROM board(s). However, the arrange is somewhat different from that of a disk. If you have used the FlashROM a lot and have deleted data from it and/or re-written new data to it, what happens is that the memory gets broken up and you have unusable gaps throughout the FlashROM’s memory area. This is known as ‘fragmentation’.
FLASHROM SAVING DATA TO THE FLASHROM Saving data to FlashROM is virtually identical to saving data to disk and is done in the SAVE mode. Pressing SAVE on CD3000XL will show something like this screen: As well as the usual FLOPPY or HARD-: options normally available at the top centre of the screen, you may also choose FLASH thus: As with a hard disk, the FlashROM is divided into ‘volumes’ and there are 100 volumes you can use, selected in the VOL: field to the right of the FLASH selection.
FLASHROM There are different types of FlashROM volumes you should be aware of. These are: BOOT SYSTEM In this, the first FlashROM volume, you may save an operating system and this will boot up automatically when you switch on the sampler. If you receive a software upgrade in the future, it may be saved to FlashROM and the new operating system will boot from this when you want to use the sampler. When any subsequent software upgrades are released, these may be saved to the BOOT SYSTEM volume.
FLASHROM When data is in a FlashROM volume, a ‘#’ is shown alongside the volume name to indicate this. You may, of course, save other items to the FlashROM and you may choose: MULTI+PROGS+SAMPS This will save the multi, its programs, samples and effects to the selected FlashROM volume. ALL PROGS+SAMPLES This will save all programs and samples but not the MULTI or EFFECTS file. CURSOR PROG+SAMPS You can save an individual program and its samples.
FLASHROM USING THE FLASHROM AS A FAST HARD DISK You should bear in mind that if you have a lot of RAM installed in the sampler, it could be that the amount of data you have loaded into RAM exceeds the 8Mbyte capacity of the FlashROM you have installed and so you won’t be able to save all of the sounds you have loaded to FlashROM. Even if two FMX008s are installed, it is still possible to have more RAM than FlashROM. If you have less RAM than FlashROM, you shouldn’t have problems working this way.
FLASHROM COPYING A FLASHROM SAMPLE TO RAM If you really do need to edit a sample in the FlashROM, the original sample will need to be loaded into RAM. This is done in the LOAD mode. On CD3000XL, go to LOAD and select the volume the sample is in (if you just loaded from it, this should be the selected volume) and select CURSOR ITEM ONLY: Move the cursor to the sample you wish to load.
FLASHROM SAVING FLASHROM DATA BACK TO DISK Any sounds you save to FlashROM can be saved back to disk. Assuming you have ‘loaded’ the FlashROM data, simply go to SAVE, select DISK, select FLOPPY or HDSK as appropriate and do a normal save to disk. Depending on the type of save you select, the multi and/or programs and/or samples and/or effects file will be saved as normal to disk. These can be subsequently loaded into RAM as normal. They may also be copied and used in other Akai samplers as normal.
APPENDIX 1 CONNECTING AN EXTERNAL HARD DISK DRIVE SCSI devices (hard disk drives, CD-ROMs, etc.) are connected as follows: SCSI CABLE SCSI INTERFACE HARD DISK DRIVE (or CD ROM, etc.) To other SCSI devices The CD3000XL uses a 25-pin SCSI connector. Using a suitable SCSI cable5, connect the drive(s) to the CD3000XL as shown above. Most drives have two SCSI connections and the other can be used as a ‘thru’ to other SCSI devices such as CD ROM or another hard disk drive, etc..
APPENDIX 1 TERMINATION A chain of SCSI devices must be terminated at either end and terminating resistors are fitted to most SCSI devices when you buy them. The CD3000XL’s SCSI interface is terminated. It is most likely that the CD3000XL will be at one end of the chain and so must be left terminated.
APPENDIX 2 DATA COMPATIBILITY ISSUES With any advance in technology, certain problems arise regarding data compatibility between older and newer models (witness the chaos with PowerPC software!). At Akai, we have tried to make models as compatible as possible both backwards (i.e. using data from new models on older machines) and forwards (i.e. using data from older machines on new ones). However, there are a few things owners of older Akai samplers should be aware of.
APPENDIX 2 WARNING! WHEN USING A HARD DISK, THE ACTION OF KILLING A VOLUME APPLIES ONLY TO THAT VOLUME. THIS IS NOT A FULL FORMATTING PROCEDURE. WHEN YOU SEE THE PROMPT, USE - DO NOT FORMAT YOUR HARD DISK AS THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON IT. If you are at all apprehensive about ‘killing’ the hard disk volume, save to another empty volume.
APPENDIX 3 CAUTION - These servicing only. To reduce the risk of other than that contained qualified to do so. Refer all instructions are for use by qualified personnel electric shock, do not perform any of servicing in the Operating instructions unless you are servicing to qualified service personnel. INSTALLING THE OPTIONS—TO SERVICE TECHNICIANS The CD3000XL can accommodate several options.
APPENDIX 3 INSTALLING MEMORY EXPANSION The CD3000XL’s internal memory can be expanded to 32Mbytes giving a massive recording time of nearly six minutes. The CD3000XL comes with 8Meg of memory ‘hardwired’ and there are two slots in which you can install SIMMs chips. Installation is fairly simple. The SIMMs board is inserted at a slight angle and then pushed back where it clips into place.
APPENDIX 3 INSTALLING THE FLASHROM There are two slots into which the FlashROM can be installed. If you are installing only one board, it has to be inserted into the first slot ‘A’ (P20). Of course, when you install another, then it is inserted into the second slot ‘B’.
APPENDIX 3 IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT INSTALLING THE FMX008 When you install the FMX008 board, please note that the following problems could be had. • ALWAYS disconnect the sampler’s mains lead from the mains outlet when opening the sampler’s casework. • Unless you have disconnected the sampler’s mains lead from the mains outlet, you run the risk of an electric shock which could be fatal. You also run the risk of damaging the FMX008, the sampler or any other equipment that may be connected to the sampler.
APPENDIX 4 If you are familiar with analogue synthesisers, you may like to visualise your CD3000XL as a large and sophisticated modular synth.
APPENDIX 5 MIDI CONTROLLER LIST The following is a list of the controllers that may be used as controllers within a program and which are selected in the main MIDI page in GLOBAL mode.
APPENDIX 4 SPECIFICATIONS Model Name : MIDI Stereo CD-ROM Sampler CD3000XL Sampling Data format : 16-bit linear encoding Sampling rates : 44.1 KHz 22.05 KHz Sampling time (unexpanded memory) : 92.13 seconds - mono 184.26 seconds - mono 46.07 seconds - stereo 92.13 seconds - stereo Internal Memory : 8 Mbyte standard, expandable to 32 Mbytes using 70pin SIMMs. Polyphony : 32 Voices Maximum number of Samples : 255 (20 Hz~20 KHz audio band width) (20 Hz~10 KHz audio band width) Fs=44.1 KHz Fs=22.
CD3000XL MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART CD3000XL MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART Date : JULY. 1996 Function ....
APPENDIX 5 A ABOUT THIS MANUAL 5 APM 21, 60, 299 Assignable Program Modulation 21, 60 AUDIO OUTPUTS 11 Autopan 74 C Compatibility, See DATA COMPATIBILITY Connections 13 COPY Keygroups 90 Takes 255 CURSOR KEYS 6 D DAT Backup/Restore 244-245 DATA COMPATIBILITY 293 Effects files 294 ME-35T 294 Multis 294 S1000/S1100 compatibility 293 Songs and Qlists 294 Sound data 293 DATA ENCODER 6, 17 DATA ENTRY 17 DELETE Keygroups 90 Programs 36 Samples 36, 135 Takes 255 Deleting programs 36, 66 DEMO DISKS 14 DEMO SEQUEN
APPENDIX 5 Loop time 140 EDIT SAMPLE cont.
APPENDIX 5 Features 249 Formatting disks 250 GLOBAL cont.
APPENDIX 5 MULTI cont.
APPENDIX 5 T TAKES See GLOBAL-HARD DISK RECORDING TIMESTRETCH See EDIT SAMPLE TRIMMING SAMPLES See EDIT SAMPLE TUNING Keygroups 98 Loop 155 Multi part 45 Program 76 S3000XL 235 Sample 154 Zones 98 V Velocity sensitivity 33, 72 VIBRATO See LFO1 Z ZONE See KEYGROUP Zoom In/Out 138, 140, 141, 157, 164, 262 CD3000XL OperatorÕs Manual Page 307
