Little Phatty Editor/Librarian User Guide Macintosh / PC Edition Version 1.0.0 to current Moog Music Inc. 2004-E Riverside Dr.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Credits .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Support.....................................................................................................................................................
1 INTRODUCTION Thank you for choosing the Little Phatty Editor/Librarian! The Editor/Librarian is designed to be the ultimate tool for organizing and creating presets for the Little Phatty. Through a MIDI connection, this program can receive single presets or an entire bank of presets from the Little Phatty - as well as replace individual presets or an entire bank.
1.3 Program Features Features of the Little Phatty Editor/Librarian include: • Support for two sound banks of 100 presets each • Editing all Little Phatty parameters from a single interface window • Panel change sensing • Random patch generation - morphing, mixing and mutating from one sound to another • Preset Bank Management and Librarian functions, with support for the Little Phatty’s ‘Sound Category’ feature.
2 INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS No special software installation is required. The Little Phatty Editor Librarian is a stand alone program designed to run on Macintosh and PC computers. The software requires a 1024 x 768 minimum screen resolution. The Little Phatty Operating System should be as current as possible for best results. (updates available at www.moogmusic.com) A MIDI interface is required for the software to work with the Little Phatty.
3 STARTING UP Double clicking on the Moog Little Phatty program icon launches the Little Phatty Editor Librarian program. The first launch will produce a selection window that will ask you to choose which edition of Little Phatty you own. The program will then ask for your name and registration number as shown. To register the software, click the Register Online button (you’ll need an active Internet connection for this).
Registered users will see their name displayed on a slightly modified splash screen that includes, ”This software is registered to (your name)”. An example for this author is shown below. Note: In case of lost registration, a hard drive crash or other calamity, registered users can obtain their registration information by writing to info@moogmusic.com or moog@soundtower.com.
4 GETTING CONNECTED - MIDI SETUP 4.1 External Midi device setup: In order for the Editor/Librarian program to be fully functional with the Little Phatty hardware, the software must be registered (not in Demo Mode) and the Little Phatty must be connected to the MIDI In and MIDI Out connections of your computer's MIDI interface. After making the proper connections between the Little Phatty and the MIDI interface, launch the Editor/Librarian. In the program’s MIDI menu, select MIDI Setup.
For Mac we have implemented Moog LP SE V-Output Port and Moog LP SE V-Input Port for use with DAWs such as LOGIC or Cubase. The rest of this section holds true for both Mac and PC users. The Virtual ports for Mac will be covered in more detail in the following section 4.2. DO NOT select these ports for use. You will need to select the MIDI interface where your Little Phatty or RME is connected.
NOTE: Those ports should never be selected - they are active all the time and they are designed to be used only by other external Midi applications that you wish to have communication with the editor. Depending on your system this may cause a lock up and you will have to restart the editor. Select the external ports you will be using for the LP in the normal manner as this is how the Moog LP SE will communicate with the Moog LP.
VIRTUAL MIDI PORTS FILTERS In the MOOG LP editor's Midi Setup are included some filters that you can use to fine tune your recording session according to your needs. These you will find under the right most tab: VIRTUAL MIDI PORTS. In all dealings with the LP SE and LOGIC you should not lose sight of the fact that the Virtual Midi Port IN is IN from the Moog LP editor’s perspective.
A recording session is accomplished as you would normally with LOGIC. Play the LP, make adjustments on control console or on the editor during play and the data is recorded on track(s) as you would expect. The Virtual Port’s ability to send cc data changed directly from the LP editor to Logic while logic is recording from the virtual ports is the power behind this feature. To do so you must "Enable Cont. Controllers" under Virtual Midi Port OUT on the Midi Setup.
• Enable Midi Notes This option passes the Midi notes played from a LOGIC track to MOOG LP SE INPUT Port. • Enable Sysex. This option enables you send complete Preset Sysex dumps to the Midi Sequencer tracks via Moog LP SE VOutput Port. It also enables Sysex data to pass from Moog LP SE V-Output Port to MIDI Out PORT where the LP is connected • Enable Editor's Controls real time update (under VIRTUAL MIDI PORTS tab) If enabled, the editor’s controls (knobs and etc.
5 PROGRAM ORGANIZATION The Little Phatty Editor Librarian program is organized as shown below. The main window is always displayed when the program is launched and becomes the starting point for all preset modifications and bank operations.
6 PROGRAM WINDOW The Little Phatty Editor is the main program window, and is always displayed when the program is launched. This window contains three program components: the User Bank (1), the Little Phatty Panel (2), and the Librarian (3). The three program components interact and are always active. A detailed description of each program component follows. Note: When the program is run for the first time, the User Bank defaults to the Default Program for all of the program’s presets in all banks.
6.1 USER BANK The User Bank is where you load, save, transmit, receive, and edit Little Phatty presets. Preset banks are loaded into the program either from the Little Phatty, from a stored bank, or from one of the two preset factory banks built into the program. The Editor/Librarian preset bank is selected by selecting ‘Bank’ in main menu of main window of the Little Phatty. Note the blank entries available for user defined banks.
If you are Mac user this next point applies: You can also use the Macintosh keyboard to navigate the list, but you must select a preset in the list first. The reason is that there are actually two preset lists on the Editor window; one for the User Bank (as shown above) and one for the Librarian. Without your input the program has no idea which of the two lists you wish to control.
A second click in the ‘No.’ column toggles the sort order back to its original state. You can also sort by preset name or preset category. Clicking in the Preset column causes the User Preset Bank to be sorted alphabetically: Clicking again in the Preset column reverses the sort order. Clicking in the Category column causes the User Preset Bank to be sorted alphabetically by category Clicking again in the Category column reverses the sort order.
Note: When sorting by Preset or Category, you’ll see a directional arrow in the column heading. This arrow indicates the sort order (an ‘up’ arrow indicates an alphabetical sort, a ‘down’ arrow indicates a reverse alphabetical sort). Selecting any preset, regardless of the sort order (number, name or category), will always send the displayed Preset to the Little Phatty.
6.1.2 Working with Banks Buttons for Load, Save, Receive, and Transmit appear above the User Preset Bank display to provide for frequently used bank operations (we’ll discuss other buttons later). The Load and Save buttons allow you to conveniently load or save banks from/to the computer. The Receive and Transmit buttons allow banks to be moved to/from the Little Phatty. These four button functions duplicate commands found in the menus.
In the figure above we created a folder called Little Phatty Banks located on the My Documents folder in a PC XP environment, and used it to store some example bank files. Note that program bank files have the extension ‘.mlp’. When loading a bank file, the Editor Librarian program will allow you to see all file types, but only those files with an ‘.mlp’ extension can be loaded as a bank. All others will be ignored. The Save button allows you to save the current bank.
To transmit the User Bank from the Editor to the Little Phatty, click the Transmit button (or select "Transmit User Bank" from the MIDI menu). The transmit window appears. Clicking the Start button will transmit the contents of the current User Bank to the Little Phatty’s current bank.
• Drag and Drop mode is conventional cursor operation, allowing you to freely drag and drop presets between the current User Bank and the Librarian. (For Mac users: You can add the SHIFT and COMMAND ( ) modifier keys to make multiple preset selections. These can be groups of presets, nonadjacent selections, or a combination of both.) • Multi Select mode locks the cursor into ‘Select’ mode, allowing you to select groups of presets.
6.1.4 The Bank Menu The Bank menu shown below includes the Load User Bank Data and Save User Bank Data As commands that duplicate the functions of the Load and Save buttons. It also includes commands to generate a New Bank (creates a bank of 100 default presets), load one of the Little Phatty factory banks (Tribute or Stage Factory Bank Presets) and commands to Copy, Paste, Rename and Initialize selected presets in the User Bank.
The Rename window allows you to change the preset name or the sound category. Clicking in the preset name field allows you to change (or completely replace) the preset name up to a maximum of 13 characters. Additional characters beyond 13 per line will be ignored. The TAB key toggles the cursor between the upper and lower text lines. Note: Besides selecting Rename from the Bank menu, you can also bring up the Rename window by double-clicking on a preset name in the User Bank (or the Editor).
The Single Parameter Adjustment command allows you to alter a single parameter for any preset, group of presets or entire bank. To use this command, first select the preset, group of presets or bank that you wish to affect, then select the Single Parameter Adjustment command. A new window will appear (see below): Select the desired parameter from the Parameter pull-down menu and use the slider control or type a value within the range limit indicated just above the ‘New value’ text box to set the value.
After choosing the desired parameter and value, click on Change to apply the change, OK to quit and close the window, or Cancel to cancel the function without changes. You can repeat this process multiple times by selecting a new parameter and value, then clicking the Change button. This is especially handy for making several ‘global’ changes to groups of presets. Click OK when done. Note: You must select Change in order for the change to be applied.
• By selecting a group of presets and clicking on the Move arrow button. First we selected our Library category (‘Evolution’), then select a group of presets in the User Bank. Clicking on the Move arrow copies the selected presets into the ‘Evolution’ Library category: • By copying a preset from the User Bank and pasting to the Library. There are several methods to this. You can use the Bank menu or the shortcut Copy and Paste commands.
• The preset will be pasted into the selected Library category in one of two ways: if you use the key short cuts in PC (Ctrl-V) to paste. The set of selected presets will be pasted to the Library category currently highlighted. You may also use the Librarian menu option Paste, (as seen in the image above). This will attempt to drop what ever is in the clipboard into the Librarian list box.
When you copy a bank this way, you will be asked if you wish to sort the presets according to category before the bank is copied: If you select OK, the presets will be placed in their corresponding categories in the Librarian. If you select NO, all presets will be placed into the currently selected (i.e. boldface) category. Selecting CANCEL will cancel the command. NOTE: Because the User Bank and the Librarian are two different functions in the same window, each has its own separate copy & paste commands.
6.2 LITTLE PHATTY PANEL The Little Phatty Panel is the second component in the Editor window. The Little Phatty Panel displays the settings of the Little Phatty’s knobs and switches for the current preset. This is handy to give a visual reference as to how the selected preset is setup on the Little Phatty. While most of the knobs on the panel have a yellow dot to indicate their settings, pointer knobs and switches on the display indicate their actual positions.
6.3 LIBRARIAN The Librarian is the third component in the Editor window. The Librarian lets you store an unlimited number of Little Phatty presets. You can also have as many library files on your computer as you wish. The Librarian provides 24 sound categories to organize your Little Phatty sounds and have them available for immediate use. These categories correspond to the 24 sound categories in the Little Phatty, but any category can be renamed should you need to.
You can change to a different category simply by clicking on the desired category name. In the figure below we selected the Piano category which only contains one preset (‘CHEWY BASS’): 6.3.1 Working with Libraries The Librarian has four buttons dedicated to Library file functions: The Librarian’s Add Current Panel button adds the current preset from the User Bank to the active sound category.
Tip: You can load a new library into an existing library to combine the presets of each. You can also combine presets from different banks using the ‘Load from User Bank Data’ command. The Save button allows you to save the library file, displaying a dialog box that will allow you to name and save the current library to the location you specify. 6.3.2 Organizing Presets Presets are loaded into the Library using any of the methods described in Section 6.1.5, Organizing Presets.
6.3.3 Copying Presets to the User Bank To copy presets from the Library to the User Bank, you can either drag the presets using the mouse, or use the left-facing Move arrow. In the example below, clicking on the Move arrow will copy the four selected presets to the current User Bank: When moving presets from the Library to the User Bank, the presets in the User Bank will be replaced by the ones from the Library and will be transmitted to the Little Phatty bank.
6.3.4 The Librarian Menu The Librarian menu (shown on the left) includes commands that duplicate the functions of the New, Load and Save buttons mentioned above.
7 THE EDITOR WINDOW This is the main parameter adjustment window. Here you can delve deep into the parameters as groups or individuals, Global parameters and Pot mapping are accessed here. 7.1 The Editor Window In general clicking the Edit button on the main screen brings up the Editor window as shown below.
7.2 Parameter Resolution in the Editor The Editor window can display the Little Phatty’s parameters in 7-bit, 8-bit or 16-bit resolution. You select the bit value from the Editor’s Options menu: When 7 BIT is selected, the Editor will display all parameters values in 7-bit resolution (value range 0 – 127). When 8 BIT is selected, the Editor will display all parameters values in 8-bit resolution (value range 0 – 255).
Presets can be auditioned in the Editor window by selecting V-Piano under Options in main menu bar (or Ctrl-P in PC): To the right of the left of the piano keyboard are the Pitch and Mod wheels. You’ll find that the Editor’s on-screen Pitch Bend and Mod wheels work just like the real thing; the Pitch Bend wheel springs back to its center position when released, but the Mod wheel stays put when you adjust it.
7.4 Writing Presets to the Little Phatty The Editor’s Write command allows you to save an edited preset to the Little Phatty. The command is located under the Edit menu selecting Write brings up a dialog box as shown: You can scroll through all destinations using vertical scroll bar to the right or by rolling the mouse wheel if your mouse is equipped with a mouse wheel. Click to choose a destination and then select OK to store the preset. Click Cancel to cancel the operation.
7.5 Other Edit Menu Commands and Misc. The Editor’s Edit menu also contains commands to Copy, Paste, Rename and Initialize the current preset. Although largely self-explanatory, here’s what they do: The Copy command copies all parameters for the current preset. The Paste command pastes all copied parameters to the current preset. The Initialization command will initialize the current preset to default parameters. The Rename command allows you to change or rename the current preset.
Clicking on the category field in the preset name window brings up a menu of sound categories, allowing you to assign a category from one of the 24 available: All edits made in the Editor Window (parameters, name and categories) affect the preset in the Little Phatty’s EDIT buffer. Since the EDIT buffer is temporary, the preset will have to be stored using the WRITE command if you wish to keep it. 7.
7.6 Adjusting Visual Properties The Little Phatty’s Editor screen has incorporated into it a nice resizing feature to help accommodate for differing screen resolution and user on screen organizational needs. By mousing over to the lower right corner of the window until the cursor changes to the double sided arrow you may click and hold and physically resize the entire editing surface. The image is automatically scaled with no loss of resolution or functionality.
7.71 Global Settings Control Window When Global Settings menu button is selected the Global Settings control window is displayed with all Global adjustments made through selection from drop down lists accessible by clicking on labels. Controllable are: • Analogue Mode • Midi Channel IN • Midi Channel OUT • Tune • Keyboard Priority Enable Program Change Send/Receive and Local Control by check boxes. Single clicking on menu selection is all that is needed to set choice. 7.
7.8 Preset Control Just under the main menu there is a label displaying the Preset bank, number and name. A single click opens a list box that allows an immediate change to any other preset in currently loaded bank. This feature is there to allow user to toggle quickly between presets without having to bring the main window to the fore.
allows user-selected parameters to be excluded from the genetics function. Directly below the filters window is a single parameter adjustment function that permits you to change one of the preset parameters for an entire Little Phatty bank. Both parent banks use the presets from the User Bank, and these banks will automatically load when the Preset Genetics window is opened. Any pair of the 100 available presets can be used for the genetics functions (one each from mother and father).
Note: Experimentation by using vastly different parents and similar parents creates the most interesting results. You can also ‘interbreed’ the child patches, too. In addition, you can set filters to excluded parameters that will not take a part in the generation of new offspring. Experiment and have fun! Note: Preset names in the Kids bank also become scrambled or rearranged when you use the Genetics functions. This is normal.
When you click OK, a new Kids bank is generated from the Mommy bank. Every preset in the Kids bank now contains the newly modified parameter. To save the change, select Replace Little Phatty Bank with the Kids Bank from the FILE menu. Clicking OK will send the Kids bank to the Little Phatty. Clicking No will not update the Little Phatty bank, but will update the Mommy bank with the changes, allowing you to make additional changes if desired. 8.
8.4 The Preset Genetics Menus The File menu contains commands to manipulate the banks and files in the Preset Genetics window: Save Top Offspring as Library File permits saving the complete Top Offspring bank as a separate library file, regardless of the number of presets in the bank. Paste Top Offspring to Library will copy the contents of the Top Offspring bank to the Librarian, pasting the presets into the end of the Library (unassigned) category.
8.5 Morpher The Morpher function is a fun and powerful utility to smoothly transition between two programs. This function is accessed from the Editor window under the Generator menu: A window appears with the current program loaded as initial point of reference. In the image below the initial program BASSUSGROSSUS is represented. The Morpher will, if the slider is moved, morph all individual parameters of BASSUSGROSSUS closer to that of BIG UN seen displayed in drop box to the left.
Selecting the Keep button will set the editor to the values calculated and be given a temporary name based on the algorithm. In the image below you can see that the temporary name is: BFKFUOBFEFFGF with 66% Morphed to BIG UN parameter values completed.
9 OTHER PROGRAM FUNCTIONS 9.1 Updating the Little Phatty Operating System First make certain that MIDI connections are established and the correct MIDI Out port is selected (See MIDI Setup). To update the Little Phatty’s OS, you use the update function located in the Moog Little Phatty menu: When selected the user will be prompted by a small request window: The options above express the reality of this author selecting the Tribute mode upon initial startup of the editor.
. (The author used a 4 byte dummy file here for illustration purposes) After Start is selected the updated OS will be transmitted via MIDI connection to your Phatty. The following prompt/warning window will appear. It is imperative that you DO NOT turn off your Phatty during this process. Note: Some MIDI interfaces use different buffer sizes (normally between 128-65535 bytes), which could result in buffer errors when large messages like the OS update are transferred.
9.2 Online Help Page If you are ever stuck in your understanding or lost this file from your hard drive there is a main menu option (Help) that has a menu selection that will open your default web browser and direct it to: http://www.soundtower.com/moog/lp/help Here you will find this file in PDF format, an online version and more information on updates that have occurred since initial release of this editor. Please check often for update information.
Tip: You can sustain a note by pressing down a “note” key and while it is depressed, press an “octave” key. A MIDI Note ON command will be sent without a corresponding MIDI Note OFF, causing a sustained, or ‘stuck’ note. To un-stick the note, press the Space Bar. The Space Bar will send an ‘All Notes Off’ command that shuts off all MIDI notes.
10 SHORTCUTS & KEY COMMANDS Most of the menus in the Little Phatty Editor Librarian have key command shortcuts for certain items on the menus. A key command shortcut is a combination of one or more modifier keys and an alphanumeric key. Modifier keys used in this program are the OPTION key ( ) and COMMAND key ( ). Note: The COMMAND key is also known as the Cloverleaf key, or Apple key.
APPENDIX A – OSX AUDIO MIDI SETUP PROCEDURE Steps 1 through 4 should only be necessary if you are setting up a MIDI interface for the first time, or if you are connecting to a new MIDI interface. Some MIDI interfaces may require additional connection setup. Refer to the manufacturers instructions for details. The OSX Audio MIDI setup can also be used to connect external keyboard controller to route and play notes on your Little Phatty/RME. Step by step OSX MIDI setup: 1.
4. Click on the ‘Show Info’ icon to reveal the Properties window for the new interface. In the Properties window, click on the ‘More Information’ arrow to expand the window. Enter the desired Name, Port and MIDI information in the proper fields (this will depend on your setup) and click the APPLY button. 5.
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6. Click on the ‘Show Info’ button to rename the new external device. Here we are entering the Little Phatty information into the name fields. In this window you can also select a new display icon, change the icon color, and specify MIDI transmit and receive channels and MIDI clock options. When finished, click the APPLY button and close the Properties window by clicking on the red close button in the upper right corner: 7.
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8.
APPENDIX B – LITTLE PHATTY CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS Here are the official Little Phatty sound category descriptions from Moog Music: 1. Not assigned Category not assigned. 2. Piano A sound like a piano (acoustic or electric), generally percussive in nature 3. Organs A sustained tone with an organ-like timbre 4. Strings A sustained tone with a string-like timbre 5. Clav A decaying tone with a timbre like a clavinet or harpsichord 6. Pads A sustained tone with a mellow timbre 7.
