User Manual

49A User’s Guide to Garritan World Instruments
In addition to these four basic controls, World Instruments features other means for greater control
over your instruments, all of which are user-adjustable. Automatic Variability imparts subtle changes
in tuning and timbre, and portamento controls let you continuously glide between notes. With this
controller-based approach, you play your articulations in real time in much the same manner as a
real player does. For even more authentic sounds, you can also load in ethnic scales and tunings.
Note:
Instruments that do not sustain their sounds, such as percussion instruments and plucked strings, fol-
low the General MIDI convention of using note velocity for dynamics and sustain pedal for sustains.
1. Modulation Wheel Control
(Volume and Expression for Wind & Some Stringed Instruments)
Shaping Dynamics & Playing Expressively
One thing that makes many ethnic instruments sound unique is dynamic contrast. Every individual
note and phrase has unwritten dynamics and nuances that players interpret. Without dynamics,
music lacks its depth of expression. Dynamics and expression for the wind and sustaining string
instruments in Garritan World Instruments are achieved through the Mod Wheel. Normally, this
controller is mounted on the left side of the keyboard and is played with the left hand. In typical
General MIDI soundsets, the Mod Wheel is used to add modulation or vibrato to the sound. In
Garritan World Instruments, the Mod Wheel simultaneously controls both Volume (ppp to f) and
Timbre (brightness or tone) for all wind instruments. Especially with the wind instruments, louder
levels produce a brighter sound.
Get to Know Your Mod Wheel for expressive winds and bowed strings! e Mod Wheel controls
the dynamic ebb and ow of volume and timbre changes. In the case of a sequencer, make sure to record
a nudge of the Mod Wheel at the beginning of every MIDI track so that the selected instrument will
start with the correct volume upon playback. Remember that the Mod Wheel is not a “set and forget”
controller. It is intended to be used as an expressive controller that is in nearly constant motion, shaping
the volume and timbre of a passage. It is analogous to the air being blown through a wind instrument or
a bow being drawn across the string in a stringed instrument.