Tranzitone for NI Kontakt 4 and 5 Tranzitone combines the sounds and features of a transistor organ, a string machine, and an analogue-style synthesizer. Tranzitone contains: • • • • Over 700 samples at 24-bit, 44.1khz quality An easy-to-use interface for comprehensive sound design A collection of preset NKI instruments A default NKI to use as a starting point for your own patches The full version of Kontakt 4.2.3 or above is required. Tranzitone will not work with the free Kontakt Player.
Contents Introducing Tranzitone............................................................................................................................ 3 Instrument structure............................................................................................................................... 4 Signal flow ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Instrument interface: Registers ...............
Introducing Tranzitone Thanks for purchasing Tranzitone! Tranzitone expands the traditional transistor organ concept by adding powerful synthesiser functions in Kontakt 4 and 5. It combines sampled transistors and analogue synth characteristics in an intuitive instrument capable of producing organs, strings, and pads in a way impossible with either a conventional synth or a classic transistor organ.
Instrument structure Tranzitone contains twenty-nine registers, which are divided into three sections and mapped across the keyboard between C1 and C#6. The sections are Bass Manual (mapped from C1-B1), Lower Manual (mapped from C2-C#6), and Upper Manual (also mapped from C2-C#6). The registers can be soloed or played in any combination. Some of them also feature “symphonic chorus”, a special effect sampled from the Electone organ that you can activate.
Signal flow Once loaded in Kontakt, Tranzitone responds to notes played on your MIDI keyboard, either directly or via a built-in arpeggiator. The signal from each section flows through an amplifier module, containing a volume envelope specific to the section. The combined signal from all sections then flows through two filters and several global effects that you can enable or disable.
Instrument interface: Registers Our tour of the instrument interface begins with the Registers page, because this is the heart of the Tranzitone. It is shown in the screenshot below. The fifteen registers in the Upper Manual section are located in the upper part of the interface. The five Bass Manual registers are in the lower left, and the nine registers in the Lower Manual section are in the lower right.
When symphonic chorus is activated, a different sample set is used for the register, featuring an effect recorded from the source. To reset the pan, volume, or tuning for a register, control-click or command-click the respective slider. In order to keep CPU usage reasonable when layering registers, we have configured the Tranzitone with 64 notes of polyphony for each section of registers. If all registers are switched off, Tranzitone will make no sound when MIDI notes are played.
Instrument interface: Envelope and Filters The signal from the active registers flows into amplifier modules for each section. These are shown on the next page of the interface, together with controls for filters and the LFO. Amplifier modules For each section, you can shape the dynamics with an ADSR envelope, change the volume, and adjust the velocity sensitivity (the relation between note volume and MIDI key pressure). The red button next to the section name switches the section on/off.
The velocity range for the Bass Manual section is between 0 - 100%. The Lower and Upper Manual sections have velocity ranges of -/+100%. At negative values, note volume will decrease when you play with greater pressure. This means that if you set one section to -100%, and the other to +100%, you will have a velocity-sensitive crossfade between the sections. If all sections are switched off, Tranzitone will make no sound when MIDI notes are played.
Filter 2 This is an all-pass filter that creates peaks and notches in the sound, relative to a certain frequency (the cutoff) and to varying extremes (the resonance). The red button switches the filter on/off. The Cutoff and Resonance dials control the frequency and intensity of the filter. The Modulation dial controls the depth of the LFO, with a switch to set its target. The Speed dial controls the frequency of the LFO. Filter 2 can be modulated by a dedicated LFO.
Instrument interface: FX The signal flows from the section amplifier modules, via the filters if they are active, into a bank of six effects that can be individually engaged and adjusted. These are shown on the next page of the interface, together with controls for the modulation and pitch bend wheels. Leslie This is a cabinet and rotating speaker simulator. The red button next to LESLIE switches the rotating speaker on/off. The other red button switches the cabinet simulation on/off.
Chorus This doubles and thickens the sound. The red button switches the chorus effect on/off. The Amount dial controls the level of the chorus. The intensity and frequency of the chorus are controllable by the Depth and Speed dials. The Phase dial fine-tunes the tone of the chorus by shifting it in time. Phaser This is a swirling all-pass filter, with a different character from Filter 2. The red button switches the phaser effect on/off. The Amount dial controls the level of the phaser.
Delay This is a tempo-synced delay effect. The red button switches the delay on/off. The Amount dial controls the level of the delay. The rate of delay is shown above the Time dial, which controls it. The stereo width and tone of the delay are controllable by the Pan and Damping dials. The Feedback dial controls the amount of times the delay repeats. Reverb This is a convolution-based reverb that simulates a range of spaces and devices. The red button switches the reverb on/off.
Pitch wheel configuration These dials adjust several parameters affecting the pitch of played notes. The Range dial controls the effect of the pitch bend wheel, in semitone steps from 0 to +/-12. The Glide dial introduces portamento between consecutive notes. As the dial is turned up, the portamento range increases. The Speed dial controls the time it takes for the portamento to slide between notes. © Copyright Precisionsound 2012 www.precisionsound.
Instrument interface: Arpeggiator Now let’s return to the leftmost page of the interface. The arpeggiator can convert notes played on your MIDI keyboard into sequences that are automatically locked to the tempo of your host sequencer. Global controls The Mode dial switches the arpeggiator on/off. It also provides ‘Hold’ and ‘Hold +-‘ modes. ‘Hold’ means that the arpeggiator will keep playing after you release the keys.
Timing controls The tempo-synced speed of the arpeggiator is controlled by the Rate dial, and its value is displayed to the right of the dial. The Duration dial controls the length of each note in the arpeggio. The Swing dial moves the notes in the arpeggio away from the beat. At mid-point, the arpeggiator plays exactly on the beat. Pitch controls The pattern created by the arpeggiator is controllable by the Style dial. The Octave dial controls the range over which the arpeggiator notes are played.
Instrument interface: Credits The final interface page shows the team who worked on Tranzitone. Recording and editing by Lars Westin Sound editing by Fredrik Wictorsson Script programming by Iain Morland GUI graphics by Lars Westin The Tranzitone manual was written by Iain Morland, with photographs by Lars Westin. Tranzitone includes impulses from the free Bricasti M7 library by Acousticas, used under license. © Copyright Precisionsound 2012 www.precisionsound.
Presets Alongside the default NKI instrument, you will find a folder named presets. This contains a collection of Tranzitone instruments with registers, filters, and effects already tweaked by Precisionsound. A note on memory use Tranzitone loads into RAM (‘sampler mode’ in Kontakt). Kontakt also has a disk-streaming mode for lower RAM usage (‘DFD’), but during testing we experienced some clicks in the sound when using DFD mode.
Licence agreement All content on CD/DVD-ROM and in downloadable SampleSets available from Precisionsound and other resellers are licensed, not sold, to you, the single user. Precisionsound is the owner or master licensee of the content.
