User Guide

Chapter 28 Sculpture 517
Is it polyphonic or monophonic?
This is a pretty significant factor, that ties into the next question. Apart from the
obvious things such as the inability to play chords on a flute, a modelled string will
interact with any currently active string. This, of course, can’t happen in a flute. It’s
strictly a one-note instrument.
How is it played?
Is it bowed, blown, struck, plucked?
Are there other characteristics that contribute to the sonic character of the
instrument?
Examples of this are:
 Changes to lip pressure and mouth position with brass and wind instruments
 Breath or mechanical noises
 Momentary pitch changes—as an example, when fingers are pressed into a
fretboard, or when a string is plucked.
 Momentary tonal or level changes—such as when brass players are running out of
breath, or fluttering the valves.
Once you’ve mentally, or physically, written down your list of properties, try to emulate
each component that contributes to the sound’s character. This is what component
modeling is all about.
Important: Before beginning, it should be stressed that the following examples are just
that—examples. There are many ways to model each component of the sound.
Experiment with the settings that are suggested to create your own versions of
patches. You’ll note that specific parameter values are rarely given, and if they are, feel
free to use another.
Just to balance the ledger a little. Subtle changes—particularly when it comes to
Keyscaling parameters—result in more controlled sounds. Take your time, and try
everything as you’re following these examples.
You should make use of other users patches, and the factory settings that ship with the
instrument. Close study of these will provide an insight into how the sound was
created. Enable/disable different parts of Sculpture to see what each does, and then
use this knowledge for your next sonic masterpiece.
Have fun and take risks—you can’t break anything!