USER MANUAL
Produced by Vir2 Instruments Vir2 Instruments / is an international team of sound designers, musicians, and programmers, who specialize in creating the world’s most advanced virtual instrument libraries. Vir2 is producing the instruments that shape the sound of modern music. 29033 Avenue Sherman, Suite 201 Valencia, CA 91355 Phone: 661.295.0761 Web: www.vir2.
USER MANUAL
TABLE OF CONTENTS 00 ELECTRI6ITY/ TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 01 01 INTRODUCTION TO THE LIBRARY CHAPTER 02: REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION 03 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 03 INSTALLING 04 UPDATING 04 AUTHORIZING CHAPTER 03: USING KONTAKT 05 HOW TO ACCESS THE ELECTRI6ITY LIBRARY FROM KONTAKT 05 USING KONTAKT IN STANDALONE MODE 07 USING KONTAKT AS A VST PLUG-IN IN CUBASE AND NUENDO 08 USING KONTAKT AS A VST OR AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN ABLETON LIVE 09 USING KONTAKT AS AN AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN LOGIC PRO, LOGIC
CHAPTER 04: GETTING STARTED 13 Step 1 | User Interface Overview 15 Step 2 | Articulations 19 Step 3 | Play Modes 20 Step 4 | Playing Techniques 21 Step 5 | Strumming and Picking 22 Step 6 | Release Noise 22 Step 6 | Release Noise CHAPTER 05: DETAILS 25 Performance Page 30 Settings Page CHAPTER 06: FAQS 44 FAQS CHAPTER 07: CC LIST | KEYSWITCH LIST 48 CC List | Performance Page 48 CC List | SETTINGS Page 51 Keyswitch List | Default 51 Keyswitch List | ALTERNATIVE CHAPTER 08: TECH S
CHAPTER 01 / INTRODUCTION TO THE LIBRARY 01 CHAPTER 01 ELECTRI6ITY/ INTRODUCTION TO THE LIBRARY Thank you for purchasing Electri6ity, an epic electric guitar virtual instrument containing the most advanced, detailed, and versatile collection of electric guitars ever made in a virtual instrument. Electri6ity contains eight of the most famous and distinguished guitar tones from the history of the instrument: the Strat, Tele, P90, Les Paul, Rickenbacker, Electri6ity Danelectro Lipstick, ES335, and L4.
Three pickup options (front, rear, and mixed) are available on every guitar. An impressive amount of samples allow you to play every articulation on every fret of every string for an absolutely authentic guitar sound. Downstrokes, upstrokes, seamless velocity layers, ghost notes, mutes, harmonics, hammer-ons, pulloffs, slides, releases, and FX...the sky is the limit with Electri6ity.
CHAPTER 02 / REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION 03 CHAPTER 02 ELECTRI6ITY/ REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS For Mac users, ELECTRI6ITY requires OS 10.5.x or greater, an Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz or higher, a DVD drive, and 4GB of RAM. For Windows users, ELECTRI6ITY requires Windows XP (SP2, 32-bit), Windows Vista (32/64 bit), or Windows 7 (32/64 bit), a Pentium or Athlon 1.4GHz or faster, a DVD drive, and 4GB of RAM. The library requires approximately 27GB of disk space.
04 UPDATING After installation, please make sure that you are fully updated to the most recent versions of the three components that make up the ELECTRI6ITY package: the library (which contains all the patch information and programming), the engine (which is powered by Kontakt), and the authorizer (Service Center). It is possible that any of these components may have a more recent version than shipped in your physical package, so you should check for updates to each of these three.
CHAPTER 03 / USING KONTAKT 05 CHAPTER 03 ELECTRI6ITY/ USING KONTAKT HOW TO ACCESS THE ELECTRI6ITY LIBRARY FROM KONTAKT ELECTRI6ITY ships as a Kontakt-powered library, and ELECTRI6ITY is opened from within Kontakt, which can be run either as a standalone application, or as a plug-in hosted by any major sequencer on either Macintosh or Windows platforms. All these versions are installed by the Easy Install option of the installer.
reasonably low for good latency performance. We recommend 256 samples or less. The lower the latency slider, the less latency (the split second between the physical playing of the note and the sound coming out of Kontakt) will be, but the harder the computer will have to work. Typical useful values range between 128 and 256, however very fast computers may be able to handle lower values, while very slow computers may need higher values.
07 USING KONTAKT AS A VST PLUG-IN IN CUBASE AND NUENDO Users of Steinberg’s Cubase or Nuendo sequencers can use Kontakt as a VST plug-in. These instructions have been prepared in Cubase 5, although Kontakt may also work in earlier versions if the computer meets the system requirements. Once the project is open, go to the Devices menu and choose VST Instruments: [01] 01 When the VST Instruments window appears, click in the first available slot in which “no instrument” is listed.
The Kontakt window will appear, and a MIDI track will be created, transmitting to Kontakt’s MIDI channel A-1. When it is record-enabled, it will send any incoming MIDI played on your controller into Kontakt. At this point, you can skip down in the instructions to the Getting Started With ELECTRI6ITY section below. USING KONTAKT AS A VST OR AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN ABLETON LIVE Users of Ableton Live can use Kontakt as a VST or AudioUnit plug-in, depending on the version. The functionality is the same.
09 USING KONTAKT AS AN AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN LOGIC PRO, LOGIC STUDIO, LOGIC EXPRESS, ETC. Users of Apple’s Logic can use Kontakt as an AudioUnit plug-in. These instructions have been prepared in Logic Pro 8, although Kontakt may also work in earlier versions if the computer meets the system requirements. Once inside your Logic project, go to the Track mini-menu (in the central area of your screen) and choose Track > New... [01] 01 The New Tracks dialog box will appear.
The Kontakt window will appear, and a MIDI track will be created, transmitting to Kontakt’s MIDI channel A-1. When it is record-enabled, it will send any incoming MIDI played on your controller into Kontakt. At this point, you can skip down in the instructions to the Getting Started With ELECTRI6ITY section below. USING KONTAKT IN GARAGEBAND Users of Apple’s GarageBand can use Kontakt as an AudioUnit plug-in.
11 USING KONTAKT AS AN AUDIOUNIT PLUG-IN IN DIGITAL PERFORMER Users of MOTU’s Digital Performer can use Kontakt as an AudioUnit plug-in. These instructions have been prepared in Digital Performer 6, although Kontakt may also work in earlier versions if the computer meets the system requirements. Once the project is open, go to the Project menu and choose Add Track > Add Instruments... [01] 01 In the resulting dialog box, click on the Unassigned pulldown menu, and choose Native Instruments > Kontakt 3.
12 Once the project is open, go to the Track menu and choose New... [03] 03 In the dialog box that appears, choose the appropriate options, such as the following: create 1 new stereo Instrument Track in samples. Then click Create. [04] 04 Go to the Mix window and look at the channel strip for the instrument. At the very top is an area for Inserts A-E. [05] Click on the first of the five slots, and navigate through the popup menu to choose multichannel plug-in > Instrument > Kontakt 3.
CHAPTER 04 / getting started 13 CHAPTER 04 ELECTRI6ITY/ GETTING STARTED ELECTRI6ITY | Getting Started | Step 1 | User Interface Overview Performance Page: After loading an ELECTRI6ITY instrument, you’ll find yourself on the Performance Page, which displays detailed information about which articulation is active, which keyswitch is pressed, which chord is detected, and an overview of all the main parameters which control the scripting engine behind ELECTRI6ITY: On the bottom of the page you’ll find three
controls on this page. For more information about this page please read the >ELECTRI6ITY | Settings Page chapter of this manual. Effects Page (AMPED Instruments only): On this page you can add effects to your guitar sound (Phaser, Chorus, Flanger, Delay and Reverb), you can add distortion with a Screamer FX pedal, and you can pass the guitar through a virtual guitar amp.
15 ELECTRI6ITY | Getting Started | Step 2 | Articulations Hint: ELECTRI6ITY is a very powerful instrument, but it’s easy to get lost. If you get lost at any point and you want to reset ELECTRI6ITY to its original state, simply press the [!] button on the top of the Kontakt interface. All of the core ELECTRI6ITY instruments include all available articulations and playing techniques.
16 Hint: All Articulations with an [AMT] tag have a special morph control which is available as long as the articulation is active. For more information please read >Performance Page | Changing Play Mode later, where you’ll find more info about the different setup possibilities and how you can control the morphing. Articulation Sustain Keyswitch B0 - keyswitch played hard The Sustain articulation is the articulation you most likely will use for typical strumming riffs or solo playing.
17 Articulation Muted Hammer On<->Hammer On [AMT] Keyswitch E0 - keyswitch played hard The Muted Hammer On<->Hammer On articulation allows you to play hammer ons, a playing technique where you use your left or right hand to hammer on the fretboard to make the note sound. This technique is used if notes are played very fast, if notes are played legato, or for tapping licks (for example, Van Halen uses a lot of tapping in his playing).
Articulation Slides Keyswitch A0 - keyswitch active as long as is pressed Slides are an important articulation on the guitar. On a guitar it’s possible to slide from each fret to any other fret on the same string in different speeds. ELECTRI6ITY allows you to do this on its virtual fretboard.
19 ELECTRI6ITY | Getting Started | Step 3 | Play Modes ELECTRI6ITY can be played in three modes: polyphonic (‘POLY’), monophonic (‘SOLO’), and legato (‘LEGATO’). The polyphonic mode allows chord playing and strumming, while monophonic and legato modes do not. All the articulations covered in the previous chapter can be used in the first two modes.
ELECTRI6ITY | Getting Started | Step 4 | Playing Techniques ELECTRI6ITY offers easy access to some guitar playing techniques which are hard to emulate on a keyboard. The special keyswitches allow realistic tremolo picking, trills, and slides. Play Techniques Tremolo Picking Keyswitch A#-1 + Any Notes – keep keyswitch pressed and play notes Press and hold the Tremolo Picking keyswitch. All notes played while the keyswitch is pressed will be played with tremolo.
21 ELECTRI6ITY | Getting Started | Step 5 | Strumming and Picking ELECTRI6ITY allows you to strum and pick notes to create typical strumming or picking patterns. Strum and pick trigger keys are very important to work around the one of the biggest problems which occurs if you try to mimic a guitar on the keyboard: On a guitar you can repeat notes or chords without stopping them first, but on a keyboard you have to release a key before you can press it again.
Strumming / Picking / Mute Trigger Key Pick String 3 [AMT] G6 – keep trigger key pressed Pick String 2 [AMT] F6 – keep trigger key pressed Pick String 1 [AMT] (highest string) E6 – keep trigger key pressed Pick Lowest Note & Clear Chord Memory [AMT] B5 – keep trigger key pressed Palm Mute Strings E5 Hand Mute Strings F#6 Hint: All trigger keys with an [AMT] tag are controlling the morphing not the velocity.
23 Release Noise Release Finger Noise Keyswitch A-1 + A#-1 – played together, active as long as pressed When the finger is released from the fretboard, a short noise is audible which almost sounds like a very soft pull off. This is the default release for single notes. Release Finger Noise Short A-1 + B-1 – played together, active as long as pressed Shorter variation of ‘Release Finger Noise.
Release Noise Release Slide Down Medium Keyswitch A-1 + F#0 – played together, active as long as pressed This is a longer variation of ‘Release Slide Down Short’. Note: for medium long slides you have to play a note on a higher position on the fretboard (fret 5 or higher) because otherwise a medium long slide isn’t possible since it’s not possible to slide beyond the nut.
CHAPTER 05 / deatils 25 CHAPTER 05 ELECTRI6ITY/ DETAILS ELECTRI6ITY | Details | Performance Page The Performance Page - which is the default view when first loading an ELECTRI6ITY instrument - is the most important page for controlling ELECTRI6ITY. All of the most important parameters are visible and can be changed on this page. If a certain parameter is changed by your playing (by velocity for example or if you changed a CC) it’s displayed in the table in the middle of the performance view >[2].
Performance Page | Changing CC assignments First we are going to explain how you’ll be able to change the CC assignment of the basic performance parameters: Morph AMT, Morph VMT, Guitar Pickup, Guitar Tone, Guitar Volume, Strum Time, Strum Direction, Pick Direction, Pick Position, Vibrato Type, Vibrato Strength, Vibrato Speed, Volume Releases and Volume Noise. To enter the setup mode, click on the Setup Button on the performance page >[1].
27 Mode: ‘Control articulation morphing by velocity if an AMT-Articulation is selected’ In this mode all morph articulations with an [AMT] tag can be morphed by MIDI velocity, while their volume is controlled by MIDI CC.
Mode: ‘Control articulation morphing by CC if an AMT-Articulation is selected’ This mode causes a MIDI continuous controller (MIDI CC message) to control which articulation is selected. Therefore, MIDI velocity is controlling volume. All morph articulations with an [AMT] tag can be morphed by CC in this mode.The standard CC to control the morphing is the mod wheel (CC#1).
29 Here’s an example of how the ‘Control articulation morphing by CC if an AMT-Articulation is selected’ mode can be used with expression pedal (which traditionally sends CC#11) functioning as the controller: All morph articulations with an [AMT] tag can be easily morphed with your Expression Pedal in this mode.
ELECTRI6ITY | Details | Settings Page The settings page allows you to tweak the details of ELECTRI6ITY almost infinitely. While the most important parameters controlling playback can be found on the Performance Page, the Settings Page is designed to give you the possibility to control almost every aspect of the guitar simulation.
31 to develop an algorithm which chooses the best fitting string according to your playing. But this means that if you play A#1, it won’t always sound exactly the same. If you don’t like the idea that most keys will produce different timbres in different situations, you can switch to one of the static modes. That way each note on the keyboard will always be played on the same fret on the fretboard.
(AMT) is controlled by the mod wheel in the ‘Harmonics’ articulation (by default). .4 Position | Chucka-Chuckas You can tell the engine where to play a 2 Chucka-Chucka (triggered with the Chucka-Chucka keys) here. The default setting is ‘By Last Position,’ which means that the ChuckaChucka is played on the fretboard where you played your last chord or note. 2.5 Position | Hand Mute (Release Sample) On the guitar it’s possible to mute the strings after playing with your left or right hand.
33 3.5 Picking This control governs single note playing, and works the same way as described in 3.4. 4 Playing 4.1 Trills This control changes the speed of trills (when used with the trill keyswitches). 4.2 Tremolo Picking This changes the speed of tremolo picking (when used with the tremolo keyswitch). 4.3 Silent Mode (Pick And Strum-Keys Only) We recommend you assign this CC to a pedal or button/controller knob on your keyboard, since it’s very useful to switch to Silent Mode and back.
if the sustain pedal is pressed). ‘Enhanced AI chords + singles’, means that each new single note or chord mutes the last played single note or chord. But the last played single note or chord will be held as long as you press the sustain pedal. 4.10 Guitar Chords ELECTRI6ITY can automatically translate keyboardvoiced chords into guitar-voiced chords. You can turn this feature on or off here.
35 and styles of playing. You can play with this setting and see if a more tight or more open playing suits a particular song better. 5 Legato 5.1 Mode You can choose between two different legato modes here (‘Legato I’ = typical legato playing, ‘Legato II’ = right hand legato playing) and a tapping mode. 5.2 Glue | Hammer Ons/Pull Offs Higher values smooth the legato, while lower values leave more of the attack portion. 5.
6 Strumming 6.1 Speed | Downstroke You can set the strumming speed for downstrokes here. 6.2 Speed | Upstroke You can set the strumming speed for upstrokes here. 6.3 Speed This control allows you to change the way the engine interprets the strumming speeds. If you choose relative time, the speed settings 6.1 and 6.
37 the strumming here. As you strum the strings you get faster or you slow down. You can play with this setting to find the best way to play a certain phrase. 6.10 Acceleration | Upstroke You can accelerate or slow down the strumming here. As you strum the strings you get faster or you slow down. You can play with this setting to find the best way to play a certain phrase. 6.
6.16 Auto Reset Position If a chord is held longer than the threshold time you set here before the next one is played, the position on the virtual fretboard is reset. So next time you play a chord it’s played in the lowest possible position again. 6.17 Strum Energy 1-6 On a guitar you lose some strum energy with each string you strum. You can fine-tune this energy loss here. 7 Picking 7.
39 8 Vibrato Hint: ELECTRI6ITY has an advanced vibrato engine which is capable of recreating different realistic sounding human vibratos. The results are far superior to those which use LFO vibrato with their static and machine-like pitch modulation. 8.1 Control Mode This controls the way the vibrato strength is modulated. If you set it to ‘by CC’ vibrato strength is controlled by CC (the CC number can be changed on the performance page).
this noise is a important factor for realism. All noises (except for Background noise) will use more polyphony, so if you have a less powerful CPU, you can turn them off to minimize CPU consumption. 9.3 Extra Attack If you play powerful staccato riffs or notes, your palm strikes the string which produces a sound on the higher frets. You can specify the amount of strike noise here. Note: This noise is barely audible when played clean, but with high gain sounds this noise is a important factor for realism.
41 sample is played after. 1 0.8 Volume | Lower If Muted You can change the volume of the muted release samples here. 11 Humanize 1 1.1 Double Tracking If you want to do double tracking, load two instances of the same guitar, then set one guitar to ‘Guitar 1’ and the other one to ‘Guitar 2’. This helps to eliminate phasing between two instances of the same guitar. 11.2 Double Tracking | Variation You can setup the amount of timbre variation here. This helps to eliminate the dreaded machine gun effect.
1 1.8 Position | Chucka-Chuckas You can setup the amount of humanization of the Chucka-Chucka position. 1 1.9 Pitch You can setup the amount of pitch variation of each note here. 1 1.10 Pitch | Sharpen Muted Notes We took great care to sample the muted notes to make it possible to play alongside other instruments without pitch issues. On a real guitar, muted notes tend to be played sharper than the open notes (because of the palm pressure to the strings).
43 handled as a CC with the highest possible value of 127 within ELECTRI6ITY. 12.5 VMT | Velocity Curve You can change the characteristic of the velocity curve for VMT articulations here. If you set the curve to ‘soft’ it will be easier to play notes with a low velocity. If you set the curve to ‘hard’ it will be easier to play notes with a high velocity. 12.
CHAPTER 06 If you have been reading the manually carefully to this point, you should already have a good understanding of how ELECTRI6ITY works. But maybe you still have some questions left which we can hopefully answer in the following FAQ. Can you describe the difference between VMT and AMT in more detail? VMT means Velocity Morphing Technology. It’s basically a seamless velocity layer morphing, which is controlled by the velocity you play the notes with.
45 I don’t want the velocity behavior to control AMT and VMT. Can I adjust the velocity curve? Yes. Go to the ‘Settings Page’ and select ‘Calibration’. Adjust the ‘Calibration | VMT | Velocity Curve’ and ‘Calibration | AMT | Velocity Curve’ parameters until you like the response. It‘s possible to tweak the behavior of the retrigger keyswitches there as well. I don’t like the CCs behavior to control AMT and VMT. Can I adjust the CC curve? Yes. Go to the ‘Settings Page’ select ‘Calibration’.
release articulation is overwritten as long as you keep the keyswitches pressed. If you want to release all notes with a long slide down for example, play a note or a chord, keep it pressed, now play A-1 followed by G0 (or both together) and release the played note or chord. As soon as you release the forced keyswitch, the default release articulation is used again.
47 delay, and second, you can mix chords with legato and solo lines without needing to switch the play mode to Poly. The suggested latency compensation time is displayed, if you click on the ‘Setup’ button on the ‘Performance Page’. Is ELECTRI6ITY’s whole ‘artificial intelligence’ marketing spin? No! A significant amount of time was spend on research on how to place notes played on the virtual fretboard of ELECTRI6ITY since it’s crucial for the realistic tone of the virtual guitar.
CHAPTER 07 ELECTRI6ITY CC List | Performance Page This chart indicate all the default settings, but any CC can be changed on its relevant edit page.
Electri6ity 49 Tone | Hammer Ons/Pull Offs CC#39 Tone | Chucka-Chucka CC#40 Tone | Strumming CC#41 Tone | Picking CC#42 Playing | Trills (Speed) CC#43 Playing | Tremolo Picking (Speed) CC#44 Playing | Silent Mode (Pick and Strum Keys Only) CC#45 Playing | Pitch Bend | Range CC#46 Playing | Pitch Bend | Auto Unison Bends CC#47 Playing | Slide Mode | Slide In CC#48 Playing | Slide Mode | Slide Speed CC#49 Playing | Sustain Pedal Mode CC#50 Playing | Guitar Chords CC#51 Playing | Sw
Noise | Picking CC#73 Noise | Strumming CC#74 Noise | Extra Attack CC#76 Noise | Slides CC#77 Noise | Background (Noisefloor) CC#78 Release | Duration CC#79 Release | Volume CC#80 Humanize | Variation CC#81 Humanize | Variation | Chuckas/Ghosts CC#83 Humanize | Position | Pick CC#84 Humanize | Position | Chucka-Chuckas CC#85 Humanize | Pitch CC#86 Humanize | Pitch | Sharpen Muted Notes CC#87 Humanize | Volume CC#88 Humanize | Timing CC#89 Humanize | Velocity CC#90 50
Electri6ity 51 Electri6ity Keyswitch List | Default
Electri6ity Keyswitch List | Alternative 52
CHAPTER 08 / TECH SUPPORT, ETC. 53 CHAPTER 08 ELECTRI6ITY/ TECH SUPPORT, ETC. TECH SUPPORT Vir2 Instruments stands behind its products and is committed to helping you get the most out of using them. Please check the Support area of the www. vir2.com web site if you encounter any difficulties in using the product. You may also e-mail support@vir2.com.
Instruments and are licensed only for use in the creation of a live or recorded performance that includes the licensed samples as part of a derivative musical work created by the licensed end user. This license expressly forbids resale, rental, loan, gift, or transfer of these samples in any format or via any medium, except as part of a derivative musical work. The samples may not be included, whether unmodified or as part of a derivative work, in any sample library product.
Electri6ity © 2010 Vir2 Instruments. All trademarks used are property of their respective owners. Specifications subject to change.
